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How to recycle your Christmas tree in and around Austin

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The season for holiday decorations is over, which means lots of people are going to be figuring out what to do with their live Christmas trees. Instead of dumping them, consider recycling. The Austin Resource Recovery encourages Austinites to give their trees a second life by repurposing them into mulch or compost, and starting Dec. 26, the City of Austin curbside customers can place all-natural holiday trees curbside to be collected on their regularly scheduled composting collection day. Trees can also be dropped off at Zilker Park for recycling. The City of Austin has been recycling holiday trees for over thirty years. Only all-natural trees are accepted. If being recycled curbside, trees should be set out by 5:30 a.m. All ornaments, decorations (including tinsel), lights and tree stands must be removed, and trees six feet or taller should be cut in half. Trees sprayed with flocking are not accepted, and trees should not be placed in plastic bags.The 37th Annual H...

City of Austin finishes sidewalk program funded by 2016 bond

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – City of Austin leaders said Wednesday work is done on a sidewalk program funded by a $720 million bond voters approved in 2016. According to the city announcement, the sidewalk program was finished one year ahead of schedule. Over the past six years, the city said it spent $37.5 million in 2016 bond money building or repairing more than 56 miles of sidewalk.As KXAN reported in July, there are approximately 2,800 miles’ worth of existing sidewalks within the city network, with roughly 1,500 miles of gaps existing. 1500 miles of sidewalk missing citywide Since the Austin’s Transportation and Public Works Department (ATPWD)’s last update six years ago, the city has increased its sidewalks network from 2,400 miles to 2,800 miles.Some of the equity focal points for determining which sidewalk constructions and improvements are prioritized included:Existing or planned public transit stops, stationsPopulation demographic trends, including areas seeing a high volume of new...

TownLake YMCA, local non-profit to host international bazaar Saturday

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – The TownLake YMCA and a local non-profit will team up to give refugees a chance to show off their crafts on Saturday. The Global Impact Initiative will host a Refugee Holiday Arts and Crafts Bazaar from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Y on 1100 W. Cesar Chavez. The free event will showcase the work of refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan who recently settled in Austin, the Y said.Hand-made goods including jewelry, handbags, dresses, leather goods, candles, decorative cushions, paintings and fresh-baked pastries and treats will be available. The Y said the vendors will get 100% of the proceeds. Where refugees in Texas are arriving from Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine as well as the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, more than 3000 refugees have settled in Central Texas, according to the Y. “These incredibly talented men and women are trying to rebuild their lives through entrepreneurship, drawing from their unique cultural heritage,” said Anjum Malik, ...

Heath Bartness: The experience of Rosalynn and Jimmy Carter helps widen the perception of hospice

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

In 2023 the public benefited from the willingness of President Jimmy Carter and his family to openly share their health updates. Hospice care has gotten a renewed focus, and the Carters’ end-of-life journey is illuminating a complicated story of hospice use in the United States. Different sides of the same coin, the hospice experiences of President and Mrs. Carter are kindling a much-needed conversation around this underused service.Hospice provides dignified, compassionate end-of-life care to patients and their families, offered at little to no cost through Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance. First introduced to the United States in the 1970s, the modern hospice benefit has been available to Americans for nearly five decades, but recent data reflects the general public’s hesitation to pursue end-of-life care. According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, the median length of time a person spends on hospice in the United States is only 17 days, a small fr...

Our 12 favorite dishes from local restaurants in 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

It’s that time of year when we scroll through our photos and recall just how lucky we are to have tasted so many delicious dishes by so many of the Twin Cities’ fabulous chefs.It’s never easy to choose our favorite bites of the year, but here are 12 that really stood out in 2023.Here’s to another tasty year, and if you haven’t been to any of these places, what are you waiting for? Maybe this list can serve as a to-do list of sorts for 2024.RELATED: 6 great drinks from Twin Cities restaurants in 2023Crispy Green Beans from Soul LaoEverything at Soul Lao, the new Sibley Plaza restaurant from the folks behind the food truck of the same name, is great. But the crispy green beans stood out in their simplicity: Green beans and snow peas, wok-fried with fermented soy sauce and garlic and tomatoes. The slightly sour earthiness of the sauce brings out a sweetness in the vegetables that’s just delightful. This, I think, is green beans and snow peas at their best.Green beans are shown with sev...

6 great drinks from Twin Cities restaurants in 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

Our Twin Cities culinary artisans don’t just reside in the kitchen — there are lots of great drink-makers here as well.Here are our six favorite drinks from 2023. Cheers!RELATED: Our 12 favorite dishes from local restaurants in 2023Cranberry negroni at Saint DinetteTart cranberries work really well with the classic negroni flavors here — and the holiday ingredient makes your drink just a little bit festive to boot. We love that it’s a little lighter and less astringent than a regular negroni, too. It’s just the thing to warm you up after the many outdoor events taking place in St. Paul this winter.The cranberry Negroni at Saint Dinette in St. Paul’s Lowertown. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)Saint Dinette: 261 E. Fifth St., St. Paul; 651-800-1415; saintdinette.com— J.F.Gimiwan at Makwa CoffeeWho said our favorite drinks need to be from a bar? Makwa Coffee in Roseville, owned by State Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, has quickly become an East Metro hotspot f...

Kelly McKinney: Are we as a nation ready for the next big threat? What Oct. 7 and the pandemic have taught us

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

NEW YORK — I was stunned by the early morning headline that appeared in my email. According to The New York Times, Israeli officials had known about Hamas’ plan for more than a year before it launched its Oct. 7 attacks.This could not be true. The Israel that I have come to know over the past 22 years is a beacon of vigilance, with a hard-bitten approach to threat protection that it has learned through decades of painful experience. And it has generously shared its expertise with our professionals in New York and around the world.Yet in this case instead of acting, Israeli military and intelligence dismissed this startling revelation as “aspirational.” In New York City, we call this “talking away the job,” and it is a sure sign that a healthy complacency has taken hold.Complacency comes in a variety of forms — misplaced hope, denial, faith, fatalism — but the results are always the same. It leaves you flat-footed in the face of fast-mo...

Vermont man arrested on drug sale warrant from NH

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

SHAFTSBURY, Vt. (NEWS10) -- A Bennington, Vermont man was arrested Wednesday on an active warrant out of New Hampshire for selling heroin, according to the Vermont State Police. Joshua Willette, 38, was arrested after troopers pulled him over in Shaftsbury. Get the latest news, weather, sports and more delivered right to your inbox! On Wednesday, around 11:28 a.m., troopers pulled over a car on US Route 7 in Shaftsbury. During the stop, police say the driver, identified as Willette, was found to have an extraditable warrant out of New Hampshire for heroin sales.Willette was arrested and was lodged at the Marble Valley Correctional Facility in place of $100,000 bail. He is scheduled for arrangement in Vermont Superior Court Bennington Criminal Division on Thursday.

Search efforts for missing St. Louis woman continue this morning, volunteers wanted

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- The search continues for a missing Marquisha Williams, despite her ex-boyfriend, Trenton Ivy, admitting to murder in police custody, police say. The missing 29-year-old St. Louis mother of four is feared dead after her ex-boyfriend was charged with her murder on Wednesday.“We don’t have her yet. That’s the most critical point; we don’t have her back yet,”  Williams’ stepfather, Terrence Chavis said. “When we get her back, we’ll stop. Until then, we won’t stop.”Search efforts continue Thursday morning, starting at 9 a.m. Williams’ family is asking anyone who wants to help to meet them at 9 a.m. Thursday at Mount Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, located at 1600 Belt Avenue in St. Louis. The family also plans to meet there at the same time on Friday and search until around 5 p.m. on both days.They advise people to dress for the cold weather. They’re also asking volunteers to bring flashlights, tools to help clear debris and drones to fly over areas search crews can’t acce...

A light dusting brings a winter wonderland, but no major hassles

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:11 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- It’s snowing but not really sticking. Thanks to temperatures that have been at or above freezing, even overnight, and the warm ground, our slow-moving storm has been more of a mood snow than a big problem. There have been a few communities west of metro St. Louis, Wentzville and Cuba, for example, that have seen a bit more accumulation, but most of the region just has that frosted mini-wheat look to it.  On Thursday, snow will taper off towards sunrise. The skies will stay cloudy. It was breezy today, with highs near 40. Tonight, another band of light snow will wrap around our storm and drop south into St. Louis.  It’s a little colder, so we will likely see minor slushy accumulations on grassy surfaces, car tops, and back decks, maybe up to 1 inch. Overnight temperatures are once again expected to stay just above freezing, so roads will likely stay wet.  Snow may mix with rain before ending late Friday morning. Cloudy skies tomorrow afternoon, highs in the upp...