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Watchdog: Banks and federal regulators dropped the ball

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:57 GMT

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Thursday, Democrats and Republicans clashed over calls to ramp up banking regulations. This comes after three regional banks collapsed.Democrats say Congress needs to put U.S. banks on a tighter leash. They point to the recent failures of three regional banks, including California's Silicon Valley Bank."The behavior of these executives and board members was irresponsible at best,” said Rep. Steven Horsford, D-NV.Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee want to re-instate 2008-era banking regulations, which were repealed during the Trump administration."That enabled this mismanagement to fester,” said Rep. Al Green, R-TX Why First Republic failed. Are other banks to follow? Green said it's clear banks were eager to abuse the relaxed rules and took on too much risk."Silicon Valley Bank increased from 56 billion to 209 billion,” Green said.But Republicans blame federal regulators for neglecting to do their jobs."Regulators had the tools at their...

Central Texas prepares for severe weather this weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:57 GMT

DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas (KXAN) - All throughout Central Texas crews are getting ready for severe weather coming our way.The Hays County Office of Emergency Management said it's monitoring low water crossings. If the water gets too high, they said they'll close the area off. They said they have cameras stationed at different locations so they can watch as the storm moves through. RELATED COVERAGE: Severe and flash flooding concerns begin late Friday While they're monitoring the flooding, the City of Dripping Springs said Thursday and Friday it's spending a lot of time trying to prevent flooding from happening. "Weed eating, cleaning out, making sure there's not brush. We're going to storm drains, making sure those are clear," Dripping Springs Public Works Director Aaron Reed said.He said they do this anytime they expect severe weather and with storms coming this weekend, they want to make sure the area is clear for the rain. "Keeping all the brush and all those things cleaned out....

Sportsmen’s group will snub Governor’s Deer Opener over Walz positions on guns, wolves

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:57 GMT

The Minnesota Deer Hunters Association won’t participate in this year’s Governor’s Deer Opener because of Gov. Tim Walz’s support for gun control legislation and efforts to ban wolf hunting in the state, the group said this week.In a unanimous decision, MDHA’s executive board voted not to support the Governor’s Deer Opener because of stances that “are in direct opposition to our mission.”MDHA, along with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Explore Minnesota, had been an organizing partner of the event since the inaugural Governor’s Deer Opener in 2002.“While this is a great event, designed to celebrate the pastime that we all love and cherish, MDHA will not be participating this year,” the Grand Rapids-based group said Wednesday in a statement posted on its Facebook page.“Until our governor represents the interests of wild deer and deer hunters around the state, we cannot, in good conscience, support the 2023 event,” MDHA added. “We encourage you to still celebrate thi...

Here’s a look at the Vikings schedule and a game-by-game breakdown

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:57 GMT

Thanks to a historic run last season — which included a perfect 11-0 record in games decided by a single possession — the Vikings will have a much tougher schedule this season.That’s the price of an NFC North championship.Because the Vikings were division champions in the 2022 season, they now have to play other teams that finished in first place in their respective divisions. That means the Vikings must play the Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals in crossover games on top of their usual games against the NFC North and their predetermined games against AFC West and NFC South teams.Despite that, the Vikings only rank No. 18 in strength of schedule this season. Looking at the results from last season, their opponents finished with a combined 143-145 record.Here’s the full schedule with a game-by-game breakdown:Week 1: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 10.While there’s no such thing as a walkover game in the NFL, it’s hard to see Bak...

Lawmakers send bill to governor's desk criminalizing celebratory gunfire

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:57 GMT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- In the final hours of session, the Missouri General Assembly sent legislation to the governor's desk to impose tougher penalties for people who fire celebratory gunshots. In 2011, bullets fired on the 4th of July, fell killing 11-year-old Blair Shanahan Lane. Since then, Blair's mom Michele Shanahan DeMoss has been coming to Jefferson City to ask lawmakers to strengthen the state's law. Nearly 12 years later, the General Assembly gave final approval to the bill Thursday. "I'm just thankful for this corner that we turned and the finish line that we've crossed," DeMoss said after the vote while holding back years. "It's incredible to me. It's been a marathon but it's been worth it."After years of pleading for tougher laws, Blair's Law is headed to Gov. Mike Parson's desk.  Man convicted of killing St. Louis County police officer challenges guilty verdict "It's not the drive back and forth, it's not the gas money or the mileage on the car, they are reliving it ...

Kirkwood High School's yearbook raises concerns from others

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:57 GMT

KIRKWOOD, Mo. - Questions about 'racy' content in this year's yearbook have been raised by some Kirkwood High School parents.Inside the 400-page yearbook is a portion where students share their opinions on hookups, the concept of a casual sexual relationship, and its benefits and consequences. A picture of birth control was in the background.Kirkwood parent Derek Byers has seen the yearbook. His son, Wyatt, is graduating in two days. Byers ran the Kirkwood scholarship program for six years. He said he's in touch with student life and is not upset about his son's yearbook."The students of Kirkwood are provided a very unique autonomy. The autonomy is both in the school yearbook and the newspaper," Byers said. "This has been a tradition in Kirkwood for decades."The Kirkwood School District released a statement on Thursday saying: Kirkwood High School has a longstanding tradition of allowing student media to be designated public forums. This practice has led to the Kirkwood High School ...

Denver Post staff predictions: Forecasting the Broncos’ 2023 record

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:57 GMT

With the Broncos’ full schedule released Thursday, The Post sports staff predicts how things will turn out in Year 1 of the Sean Payton era.Parker Gabriel, Broncos reporterRecord: 8-9The Broncos open with two home games and have a manageable finishing five-week stretch that features the Chargers twice, Detroit, New England and Las Vegas. They also have Sean Payton as their head coach instead of Nathaniel Hackett (he and Aaron Rodgers come to town in October, which will be fun). Is the roster markedly better than last year? On the offensive line it is. The rest? Debatable. So the initial projection is for a bump, but not a massive turnaround.Ryan McFadden, Broncos reporterRecord: 9-8After six straight losing seasons, Payton will lead Denver to an above .500 record in his first year at the helm. The key to the Broncos’ turnaround will be Russell Wilson, who should be 70% better under Payton’s guidance. The running back situation is still up-in-the-air, but if the wide receivers ...

Gov. Jared Polis signs “enormous package” of green energy and climate change bills

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:57 GMT

Colorado has new climate goals etched into state law and a slew of new tax credits and programs to help get it there.Gov. Jared Polis signed into law Thursday a package of bills that includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 100% come 2050, a program to automate and streamline local solar energy permitting, encourage geothermal heating and cooling and a tax credit package to incentivize more electric vehicles.“It’s sort of one enormous package that, taken together, will help to clean the air, achieve our climate targets and save Coloradans money,” Will Toor, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office said.In particular, Toor touted the new decarbonization tax credit law, HB23-1272, as “probably the single-largest investment the state of Colorado has made in climate action, clean energy, and consumer incentives.”That bill creates some $200 million in tax incentives over the next several years to promote electric bicycle, car and truck purchases...

Rockies’ Jake Bird is workhorse of vastly improved Colorado bullpen

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:57 GMT

PITTSBURGH — Daniel Bard has seen a lot of pitchers come and go since he first stepped onto the big-league stage 14 years ago.But he’s seen very few like Jake Bird, the right-hander who’s been terrific in the role of the Rockies’ bullpen workhorse over the first six weeks of the season.Allow Bard, the 37-year-old right-hander, to explain.“I was Jake’s throwing partner when he got called up in June last year,” Bard said. “His ability to move the baseball was impressive. Like, really impressive. Like, better than most of the guys I’ve ever played catch with.”Specifics, please.“He has an elite sinker and an elite ability to spin that curve, or slurve, whatever you want to call it,” Bard said. “I saw that from the get-go last year. I almost couldn’t believe he wasn’t having more success, just because of his ability to move the ball so much.”Bird’s 2022 rookie season was far from a disaster. T...

Flesh-eating 'zombie drug' saturating Los Angeles streets

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:30:57 GMT

A flesh-eating "zombie drug" called xylazine has been saturating the streets of Los Angeles with severe, deadly effects when mixed with illicit opioids.Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officials launched a new program to track the troubling prevalence of the substance, which is a sedative typically used by veterinarians to anesthetize animals. Also known as “tranq” or “tranq dope” on the streets, xylazine has become increasingly present in the illicit drug supply. The drug can be cooked down into a powder form and mixed with illicit opioids such as heroin and fentanyl or pressed into counterfeit pills or sedatives.The “zombie drug” nickname stems from the substance's known effect of rotting the skin.Growing concerns over the increasing prevalence of xylazine in L.A. have law enforcement officials and addiction specialists extremely concerned.“I’ve never seen anything like what we’re dealing with right now,” said Cary Quashen, an addiction expert.Xylazine is known to have severe effects,...