2023 St. Sophia Greek Festival returning to Albany

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:17:42 GMT

2023 St. Sophia Greek Festival returning to Albany ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The St. Sophia Greek Festival is returning for its 51st year. The festival kicks off Friday, May 19 at 6 p.m. and runs through Sunday, May 21. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! The event will have festival favorites such as souvlaki and loukoumades (sweet fried dough with honey), which will be available in the tent, and homemade bakery items like baklava. You can view the full menus on the St. Sophia website. The festival will also have over 20 local vendors, as well as Greek music and dancing. The festival will take place at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church at 440 Whitehall Road in Albany. Daily admission is $3 and children under 12 are free. A shuttle bus will be available for free parking at the Center for the Disability Services at 314 South Manning Boulevard.

5 things to know this Thursday, April 20

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:17:42 GMT

5 things to know this Thursday, April 20 ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Springtime temperatures are back on the docket today, according to Meteorologist Jill Szwed. "Our run of cloudy and cool days is coming to a close," she said. "We’ll turn up the temperature but clearing the clouds will be more problematic, for some." Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! We continue to follow the tragic death of Kaylin Gillis, after she and her friends turned into the wrong driveway in Hebron last weekend. And in other news, an Albany Police car was involved in a serious crash overnight. Read more, in today's five things to know. 1. No bail for Monahan, accused in the shooting death of Kaylin GillisAlleged shooter Kevin Monahan, 65, was remanded to the custody of Washington County Sheriff without bail. Family and friends of Kaylin Gillis heaved a sigh of relief in the courtroom. No bail for Monahan, accused in the shooting death of Kaylin Gillis 2. Driver charged after crash involving Al...

Letters: If Fox News hadn’t settled, imagine Tucker Carlson on the stand

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:17:42 GMT

Letters: If Fox News hadn’t settled, imagine Tucker Carlson on the stand If only they hadn’t settled with Fox News, democracy could have wonRe: “Dominion, Fox settle for $787M,” April 19 news storyRight now, large swathes of our country question our democracy and believe our current administration is illegitimate. At an open Fox-Dominion trial, Fox News executives and personalities, under oath, would have told our country that the presidential election was not stolen, that they never believed it was, that they did it for the money, and that the past president and his defenders had lied to them.While the trial would have been over a defamation suit, it could have cleansed our society of the poison that now debilitates us. While Dominion had its own business reasons for settling the suit, the settlement is a great disservice to our country.Steve Billig, DenverHospitals preparing for school mass casualty eventsOn March 22nd, a phone call interrupted our daily rounds on our hospitalized and critically ill pediatric patients. My colleague, a...

When Casa Bonita closed, a local family recreated it at home — sopapillas included

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:17:42 GMT

When Casa Bonita closed, a local family recreated it at home — sopapillas included This story is one in a series featuring trips down memory lane with longtime Casa Bonita fans and former employees who shared their fondest tales with The Denver Post. The restaurant and entertainment venue in Lakewood is expected to reopen in May.When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, shutting down businesses and locking locals at home, it ruined spring break plans for school-age kids nationwide. But for one Westminster family, it wasn’t enough to ruin their annual trip to Casa Bonita.Sure, the famed restaurant closed in 2020 and is only now on the cusp of reopening in May. But casa means “home” in Spanish, after all, so locals Quinn and Brent Waller decided to surprise their three children that spring by bringing the experience in-house – complete with mariachi performances, couch diving and sopapillas delivered on demand with the wave of a handcrafted red flag.As a Denver native, Quinn Waller grew up visiting Casa Bonita during spring break. And once she had kids of her...

Longmont Armenian immigrant family worries flight mix-up could derail brother’s citizenship chances

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:17:42 GMT

Longmont Armenian immigrant family worries flight mix-up could derail brother’s citizenship chances Maria Stepanyan and her brother were doing everything by the book.Stepanyan, a U.S. citizen who immigrated from Armenia after enduring war in her childhood, applied 13 years ago to have her brother join her in the U.S. and escape the continuing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.“I’ve been trying to live my life here, go to my job, take my kid to school, cook a dinner, while following the news in Armenia to see what’s happening,” Stepanyan said. “Whose name is on the screen as a dead person? Who else is drafted? Do I have touch with my brother? Is he still there?”She, their mother, and Stepanyan’s husband, Charlie Hickman, have lived in Longmont for years, and Stepanyan’s brother, whom she wished not to name for his safety in Armenia, has been visiting them on and off for the past 10 years on travel visas while they wait for the application to process.However, an apparent mix-up and possible deportation in Germany on her brother’s flight back to Armenia after his most recent vi...

Why some state park campgrounds will open later than scheduled

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:17:42 GMT

Why some state park campgrounds will open later than scheduled Campgrounds at seven Colorado state parks will have delayed openings this spring because of deep snow cover in the state’s northwest region.Four of the affected parks are near Steamboat Springs, where the current snowpack is 33 percent above normal. Two are on the Western Slope and one is west of Fort Collins near Walden.Related ArticlesOutdoors | Campground closure at Rocky Mountain National Park could have ripple effect across Colorado forests Outdoors | 5 places to camp instead of Rocky Mountain National Park’s closed Moraine campground “Staff at each state park will continue to monitor and work to get campgrounds open as soon as they can do so safely and without damage to the area,” according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. “However, CPW anticipates these campgrounds will remain closed until mid-May.”CPW’s statewide spokeswoman, Bridget O’Rourke, confirmed that those seven parks are the only state ca...

After soaring energy bills, legislation aims to level playing field for utility customers

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:17:42 GMT

After soaring energy bills, legislation aims to level playing field for utility customers Members of a joint legislative committee investigating why Colorado utility bills shot up so dramatically this winter have proposed a bill meant to protect customers against future price shocks and level what some see as a playing field tilted in the utilities’ favor.The bill, introduced Wednesday and sponsored by Democrats on the committee, proposes the short-term solution of setting a cap on how much of a regulated utility’s increased fuel costs it could pass on to customers. Regulators could spread out the costs over a period of time.Regulated utilities pass through wholesale fuel costs to customers without a markup. Legislators have suggested the companies might have more incentive to seek the lowest prices if they weren’t assured of recouping all their costs.Longer-term proposals include a study to determine whether new investments in natural gas facilities will saddle ratepayers with expensive plants and pipelines they won’t need as power increasingly c...

Popular Vietnamese food truck opening two brick-and-mortar spaces

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:17:42 GMT

Popular Vietnamese food truck opening two brick-and-mortar spaces Pho King Rapidos’ food truck might be slowing to a stop, but owners Long Nguyen and Shauna Seaman are on the move.The popular Denver food truck, which introduced its menu — Vietnamese food heavily spiced with other ethnic and geographic influences — in 2020, is getting ready to open its first brick-and-mortar space in Avanti Denver, located at 3200 N. Pecos St., on May 9, and a second in Park Hill this summer. Nguyen said the food truck will pause service at the end of April, and they have no immediate plans to bring it back yet.“Avanti gives you an opportunity to test your food in a restaurant setting, and you don’t have to set it up top to bottom like a food truck,” Nguyen said. “It also gives you the opportunity to be exposed to a lot more guests, who maybe didn’t want to travel to our brewery spots in the past and now have a central location.”Pho King Rapidos will take over Meta Asian Kitchen’s previous space on the first floor of Avanti. Meta is now at Honor Farm, t...

DPS would no longer target smallest schools when making closure plans under new board proposal

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:17:42 GMT

DPS would no longer target smallest schools when making closure plans under new board proposal As Denver Public Schools prepares to close schools to combat falling enrollment, the district’s Board of Education is considering a policy change to no longer focus solely on the district’s smallest schools.The policy, if adopted by the board, would direct Superintendent Alex Marrero to develop a consolidation plan that does not use enrollment minimums, such as the 215-student threshold recommended by a community committee last year, as a “bright line criteria.”This would mean schools of any size are “eligible for consolidation,” according to the draft policy.“As kindergarten enrollment has declined since 2014, a stigma now exists for ‘small schools,’ which can accelerate the school’s enrollment decline,” the latest draft of the policy says.By removing the threshold, board member Scott Baldermann said it is his hope that the “burden” of declining enrollment won’t be concentrated on the district’s smallest schools.The goal, he said, “Is to make sure that all s...

Oakland A's purchase land for new stadium in Las Vegas

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:17:42 GMT

Oakland A's purchase land for new stadium in Las Vegas The Oakland Athletics have signed a binding agreement to purchase land for a new retractable roof ballpark in Las Vegas after being unable to build a new venue in the Bay Area.Team president Dave Kaval said Wednesday night the team finalized a deal last week to buy the 49-acre site where the A's plan to build the stadium close to the Las Vegas Strip with a seating capacity of 30,000 to 35,000.The A's will work with Nevada and Clark County on a public-private partnership to fund the stadium. Kaval said the A's hope to break ground by next year and would hope to be move to their new home by 2027. "It's obviously a very big milestone for us,” Kaval said. “We spent almost two years working in Las Vegas to try to determine a location that works for a long-term home. To identify a site and have a purchase agreement is a big step.” The A's had been looking for a new home for years to replace the outdated and run-down Oakland Coliseum, where the team has played since arriving from Kansas Ci...