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St. Louis nonprofit empowers residents to reinvest in community

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - A nonprofit organization in St. Louis is offering residents in specific neighborhoods an opportunity to reinvest in their community. The initiative, called Rooted, aims to support development in predominantly Black neighborhoods and enable residents to build wealth and businesses where they reside.Under the pilot program, which falls under Invest STL, residents in the West End and Visitation Park neighborhoods receive $20,000 to invest in property, businesses, or stocks. Over 200 individuals applied for the program, and 50 were randomly selected. The program provides resources, learning tools, and financial advisors to assist the winners in making informed decisions about their money. Defendant who was serving life for murder gets unusual deal Requirements for eligible applicants included living in the neighborhoods since 2016, being African-American and making a certain percentage below the median income. Dara Eskridge, Executive Director of Invest STL, believes ...

How to grow your own garlic — and why it matters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

“Stop and smell the garlic! That’s all you have to do.” — William ShatnerThe word is out about homegrown garlic. And the word is flavor.Go ahead and ask: Doesn’t all garlic taste like … well, garlic?  Not even. Think about buying garlic at the supermarket; what’s the selection like? You’re given just one type of basic garlic bulb from a grocery store basket to bring home to finish your special sauce. Imagine if you could only buy one type of pepper or apple for the rest of your life … no jalapeno, no honeycrisp. Are you kidding?The range of garlic flavors is broad and varies whether you’re eating it raw, roasted or baked. Wine can be described as dry, oaky, fruity, etc. Garlic flavors are wide-ranging too. Add your own to the list: subtle, mellow, earthy, rich, strong, mild, spicy, sweet, lasting, explosive, nutty, hot, full, and fiery hot.The only way you’ll have a better selection of garlic, which means a broader range of flavor characteristics, is to plant...

If you want the best view of October’s solar eclipse at Mesa Verde, better start making plans now

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

A solar eclipse this October will create what could be a stunning ring of fire around the earth’s shadow on the moon, and one of the best places in Colorado to observe the mystical event may be a destination with a mystical attraction of its own, Mesa Verde National Park.The Four Corners region of southwest Colorado, where Mesa Verde is located, will be in the path of maximum eclipse when it darkens the sky on Oct. 14. For 700 years, Mesa Verde was the home of the ancestral Pueblo people, who mysteriously abandoned their cliff dwellings in the late 1200s. Park officials already are making big plans for the event including presentations by park staff, NASA scientists and other astronomy experts.“We’re going to have different stations set up where people can view and scientists can talk about what’s happening, and the significance of it,” said Kristy Sholly, the park’s chief of interpretation and visitor services.Most of Colorado will see a partial eclipse of 7...

Taylor Swift’s two Denver concerts could give Colorado economy a $140 million boost

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

Taylor Swift’s visit to Denver will be brief, with two concerts this weekend. But her time here could fill some blank spaces in the Colorado economy.“With her powerful performances that captivate millions of fans, Swift’s concerts have become the catalyst for an extraordinary economic surge, proving her indisputable impact on local businesses and communities,” Kelly Caufield, executive director of the Common Sense Institute, said in a news release the business-focused think tank put out on the economic impacts from Swift’s The Eras Tour.Common Sense Institute researchers Cole Anderson and Andy Archuleta estimate spending associated with the two shows could contribute a net $140 million to Colorado’s GDP. That surpasses the economic benefits the Denver Nuggets’ championship series run generated, according to earlier estimates from the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation.The two concerts will provide $38 million in ticket sales, or about 6...

Polis, lawmakers set to relaunch marquee housing effort, months after initial failure

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

Gov. Jared Polis and some lawmakers have begun discussing how to resurrect their plans to reform land-use in Colorado, two months after their first attempt collapsed amid fierce opposition from local governments and several Senate Democrats.The discussions are in their infancy and exact policy proposals are still being worked out, legislators involved said. Rep. Steven Woodrow, a sponsor of this year’s failed zoning reform effort, met with Polis’ office Monday to discuss a path forward in 2024, including the possibility of packaging together a slew of bills — as opposed to the single,154-page behemoth that died in May.That measure had sought to reshape zoning in cities across Colorado in the hopes that new apartment buildings and accessory-dwelling units, coupled with strategic growth and housing assessments, would ease the state’s overburdened housing market.A group of nonprofit housing providers are set to meet at the governor’s mansion later this mon...

Suspect hurls metal pipes, bottles at police officers in South Los Angeles

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

Los Angeles police officers were attacked by someone throwing metal pipes and bottles from a rooftop in the South Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles Thursday night.The incident occurred around 11:30 p.m. when officers were called to investigate a reported shooting at a shop near the intersection of East 51st Street and Avalon Boulevard. A suspect is seen with a metal pipe on a South Los Angeles rooftop on July 14, 2023. (ANG)Officers were investigating the shooting report when someone on top of a three-story apartment building began throwing metal pipes and glass bottles at them and their patrol cars. The officers made a distress call and more units arrived to help apprehend the suspect. $50,000 reward offered in armed robbery of U.S. Postal carrier in North Hollywood After about 30 minutes, the person was arrested without further incident. No officers appeared to be injured but one vehicle was damaged, video from the scene showed. It was unclear why the suspect took to the ...

U.S. Postal carrier robbed at gunpoint in North Hollywood

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

A reward of up to $50,000 is being offered to catch several robbers who held up a Postal carrier at gunpoint in North Hollywood, officials announced Thursday.  The incident occurred on July 11 at around 10 a.m. near 5522 Vineland Avenue, across the street from East Valley High School, according to a USPS bulletin.  Surveillance images released by the postal inspection service show one of the suspects holding the letter carrier at gunpoint.  That suspect is described as a Black male, approximately 25-35 years old, standing between 5 foot 11 inches and 6 foot 2 inches tall, wearing a black hoodie, black jeans and dark sneakers.  Surveillance image of a suspect robbing a U.S. Postal carrier at gunpoint in North Hollywood on July 11, 2023. (USPS)Surveillance image of a second suspect involved in the armed robbery in North Hollywood on July 11, 2023. (USPS)Surveillance image of a black BMW used during the armed robbery of a USPS letter carrier in North Hollywood on July 11...

2024's Social Security COLA increase won't match 2023

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – The next cost-of-living increase for Social Security recipients is projected to be slightly better than previously estimated, but still the lowest in years, the Senior Citizen’s League predicts.The Senior Citizen’s League (TSCL), a nonpartisan senior advocacy group, had estimated in mid-June that 2024’s COLA increase could be somewhere around 2.7% — a huge drop-off from 2023’s 8.7% increase.The group’s revised estimate, issued Thursday following the publication of the Labor Bureau’s Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners (CPI-W), now puts that number at 3%, they say.The revised estimate for 2024's COLA increase is still subject to change, the Senior Citizen's League warns. (Getty Images)Three percent, however, would still amount to the lowest COLA increase since 2020. “There are still three more months of data before the COLA is announced in October, and this estimate could change,” TSCL wrote in a Thursday news release, warning that CPI-W data in the...

Rezvan Hekmat Killed in DUI Crash on Barranca Parkway [Tustin, CA]

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

Miguel Xum Injured, Gerardo Joaquin Garcia Lopez Arrested after DUI Crash near Tustin Ranch RoadSANTA ANA, CA (July 14, 2023) – Sunday afternoon, Gerardo Joaquin Garcia Lopez was arrested after a DUI crash left Rezvan Hekmat dead and Miguel Xum injured.The incident occurred on June 4th, at around 5:15 p.m., near the intersection of Barranca Parkway and Tustin Ranch Road.According to reports, Lopez ran a red light on Barranca Parkway. As a result, Lopez’s vehicle collided with Hekmat’s vehicle. The impact of the collision caused Hekmat, Lopez, and his passenger Xum to sustain injuries.Emergency crews arrived shortly after and transported Lopez and Hekmat to a local hospital for treatment. It is currently unclear whether or not Xum needed to be hospitalized.At the hospital, officials pronounced 67-year-old Rezvan Hekmat, of Laguna Hills, dead, due to the extent of her injuries.Following his hospitalization, police arrested 25-year-old Gerardo Joaquin Garcia Lopez, of...

How an 8-year-old provided perspective on the A’s move to Las Vegas

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

The A’s impending move to Las Vegas had left me sort of .. well, unmoved. Aside from feeling badly for the faithful A’s fans, I’d mostly taken a pragmatic, almost apathetic view that comes from spending more than three decades as a journalist.Until I remembered an 8-year-old boy from my childhood. I wondered how he’d be handling John Fisher’s decision to forever uproot the A’s from Oakland.See we grew up in a neighborhood about three miles from the Coliseum. When the A’s played at home back then, you listened for fireworks coming from the stadium because it meant the A’s had won. While we all played in our dimly lit court on those summer nights, the boy often seemed distracted, as if waiting for the loud, rhythmic blasts of validation.That kid would cry every summer when his parents sent him to camp because it meant two weeks without the A’s. He loved horseback riding, boating, swimming and campfires, but he loved the A’s more, much more.That kid, when the bell rang at the end of th...