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High-rise residents still out one year after fire

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:13 GMT

CHICAGO — For 55 years, Mildred Richardson has called a high-rise near Lake Michigan home. But the senior citizen has been without access to her apartment for nearly a year and there’s no end in sight. “People have built large buildings in a year’s time,” Robinson said. “I don’t know whose fault it is. I don’t what the problems are. All I know is I’m out of my home.” One person died and 143 apartments were damaged last January when smoke and flames tore through several floors of the building located at 4850 South Lake Park Avenue on the South Side. Since then, they say building management has offered conflicting statements on when repairs would be complete.    Related: 1 killed, 9 injured, 50 displaced after high-rise apartment fire in Chicago The building is home to many senior citizens who tell WGN Investigates insurance that has helped cover the cost of alternate housing runs out in a few weeks.     “If I can’t find something I can afford...

Better Business Bureau investigates Austin bridal shop, brides left without dresses

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:13 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) --- The Better Business Bureau said its investigating a bridal shop in Austin. It's after customers said the shop wouldn't respond to text or calls about their orders and unexpectedly closed. The situation left brides without their wedding dress. 'It's a lot of money'Lisa Garcia had everything planned out for her wedding day in February 2024. "This is the venue we're getting married at," Garcia said. "It's Canyonwood Ridge. It's out in Dripping Springs."But something Garcia was missing was her dress; a dress she paid for but never received. "I was just like, I don't know what to do," Garcia said. "I don't have a dress and I'm 90 days out from my wedding."Garcia was one of the brides left without their wedding dress after shopping at Belle Saison Bridal in north Austin. She said she paid for the dress in full and was told it would be ready in October. "That's $3,000," Garcia said. "It's a lot of money."But when the time came for the dress to be ready, she couldn't get i...

Timberwolves down Miami for best road win of season

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:13 GMT

The Timberwolves had one box left to check during their impressive start to the season — beat a healthy, good team on the road.Check.Minnesota rallied from a 17-point deficit to down the Heat 112-108 on Monday night in Miami.It did so on the back of its defense, which hasn’t always traveled this season. That looked to be the case in the first half, as Miami scored 66 points on 58 percent shooting over the first two quarters.But, as has often been the case this season, Minnesota locked in after the break. Miami scored just 17 points in the third quarter as Rudy Gobert started to dominate the interior. Even in the fourth, the Heat went 9 for 25 from the field, often resorting to Bam Adebayo’s mid-range jump shots.Adebayo returned from an injury absence just in time for Monday’s contest. Ditto for Heat guard Tyler Herro. Herro set the offensive tone for Miami (15-12) in the first half, but he wasn’t nearly as much of a factor from there.“First half, ...

Brazen gunmen seen in Central West End in stolen cars

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:13 GMT

ST. LOUIS – Neighborhood surveillance cameras catch brazen car crime in St. Louis’s Central West End neighborhood.Authorities hope sharing the video will prevent the capture of the brazen gunmen and keep them from striking again.The video is from just before 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10.There was a man at an alley dumpster throwing away trash. He had no idea what was going on when two cars came around the corner and stopped right up the street from him. The drivers did not pull over to the curb and stopped in the middle of the street.The man at the dumpster glanced in their direction. He might have noticed the shattered glass of the rear passenger window of a black Kia next to the black Hyundai but did not approach the vehicles. That was probably a good thing.“Just somebody yelling, ‘Hey stop’ or ‘What are you guys doing’ may be enough to initiate a response from the criminals,” Jim Whyte, Central West End Security Initiative, said. “It could have been catastrophic for the community.”B...

Conflicting stories after police SUV crashes into south St. Louis bar

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:13 GMT

ST. LOUIS - FOX 2 has asked the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for additional clarification after hearing differing accounts about the cause of an overnight crash involving a police vehicle.The crash happened just before 12:30 a.m. Monday at Bar: PM along the 7100 block of South Broadway, in the Carondelet neighborhood.Two St. Louis police probation officers, each with less than one year of experience, were driving northbound on Broadway in a 2020 Chevrolet Tahoe. The driver lost control of the police vehicle, overcorrected, and crashed into the front facade of the bar.Neither officer was injured in the crash.Two bar workers, including Chad Morris, who co-owns the bar, were closing up for the evening at the time of the crash. They were also unharmed.Morris lives above the bar with his husband, James Pence. Pence was in the residence when he heard the crash and came downstairs to see what had happened.Police claim that the driver of the Tahoe "believed he was traveling too ...

Archdiocese of St. Louis, LGBTQ community react to Vatican news

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:13 GMT

ST. LOUIS – On Monday, the Vatican announced it would allow same-sex couples to receive a blessing from a priest. It’s one of many recent moves the Catholic Church has made to be more inclusive of LGBTQ Catholics.In November, the Vatican began allowing priests to baptize transgender people while also giving them the blessing to become godparents.However, Monday’s move should not be confused with a blessing of marriage, as the church still views marriage as a sacrament between a man and a woman.On Monday, the Archdiocese of St. Louis released a statement, writing, “This announcement allows for same-sex couples who seek God's grace to receive a simple blessing from a priest. The blessing should not be imparted during a ceremony or civil union. Additionally, we are discouraged from offering blessings in a manner that could be seen as or confused with a wedding."STL Pride Director of Inclusion and Diversity Jordan Braxton said the move is a step in the right direction but believes the c...

Addressing in-school fights in Ferguson-Florissant School District

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:13 GMT

HAZELWOOD, Mo. – A community-wide meeting was standing room only Monday evening as residents answered the call to action from the Ferguson-Florissant School District.Parents, staff, and neighbors lined up with suggestions on ways to address behavioral issues that are happening inside the schools.Superintendent Joe Davis opened the meeting to the public as the district addressed recent fights at McCluer High School. Brazen gunmen seen in Central West End in stolen cars Despite the number of fights being down across the district this year compared to last year, Davis said school officials are seeing an increase in fights happening at the high school level.Davis said Monday's meeting addressed a number of issues from the community and said there are some changes the district can address immediately."I think the therapy piece is critical. We have teletherapy now. We have a good relationship with Hazel Health,” Davis said. “But hiring more therapists in our schools and more counselors ...

Denver City Council signs off on two more hotels for mayor’s homeless initiative in final meeting of 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:13 GMT

Denver added two more hotels to its collection Monday to help reach Mayor Mike Johnston’s goal of housing 1,000 homeless people, even as his administration has come under fire for how it is tracking that target.The council scheduled a special public hearing at the tail end of Monday’s meeting amid vehement opposition from some residents in the southeast part of the city to plans to convert the former Embassy Suites hotel at 7525 E. Hampden Ave. into a shelter. The 205-room property would primarily serve non-binary people, transgender individuals and families with children, under the administration’s plans.Those concerns aside, the council voted 12-0 to approve the city’s purchase of that property. Councilwoman Sarah Parady was absent.Some speakers on Monday referenced fears of public drug use and negative impacts on businesses in the area. Others said they felt burned by the speed at which the hotel purchase and conversion came forward without time for adequate inp...

Heroin home delivery operators in Orange County get 24 years in prison

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:13 GMT

Two brothers from Riverside County who operated an elaborate heroin home delivery service in Orange County have each been sentenced to 24 years in federal prison, authorities announced Monday.  From at least 2003 to July 2021, 46-year-old Victor Martinez and 45-year-old Julio Martinez ran a drug trafficking organization that smuggled heroin from Mexico using couriers who concealed the drug, sometimes in their body cavities, into Orange County, according to a news release from the United States Department of Justice.  Authorities said that once the drugs were in the U.S., Julio oversaw the distribution to various call centers where customers would phone in and use coded language, such as the word “food” and “taco,” to order certain amounts of heroin.  The 45-year-old also oversaw the “runners” who would deliver the drugs and take customer payments. In an effort to conceal the income generated by the heroin trafficking operation, the Martinez brothers used co-conspirators to...

Longtime Bay Area News Group ‘Mr. Roadshow’ columnist Gary Richards dies

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:13 GMT

For millions of Bay Area motorists, there are few things more aggravating than the stew of gridlock, rude and distracted drivers, mistimed signals and potholes they’re forced to navigate as they go about their lives.But for more than three decades, they found a tireless advocate at the Mercury News and Bay Area News Group who’d hear their gripes, answer their questions and bring their frustrations to the attention of the transportation officials who could do something about them.Gary Richards, better known as Mr. Roadshow, died Sunday after a long battle with a degenerative muscle and nerve disease. He was 72.His special connection to Roadshow readers kept him writing, with the help of his beloved wife, Jan, who would become known as Mrs. Roadshow. Perhaps fittingly, his final column appeared on the day that he died.“Gary Richards was a treasure in our community and in our newsroom,” said Sarah Dussault, senior editor of the Bay Area News Group, which includ...