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Dance teacher moves students in the right direction with confidence

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:30 GMT

WILMETTE, Ill. — From ballet to modern and hip hop, our October Teacher of the Month helps her students find the joy of movement at a high school in Wilmette.Students say Mrs. Ally Valadez, or “Mrs. V” is encouraging, positive and passionate about dance. And she’s helping them move in the right direction.Valadez is the dance teacher at Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette.“You start the program with dance foundations. So you learn the basics of ballet, jazz, modern and hip hop,” she said. “From there you can take a whole semester of modern, a whole semester of jazz and dance composition, which is one of my personal favorites because its more student led and the students learn to choreograph dances on their own.”She also runs their dance company Orchesis. Since she started six years ago, the program has stretched tremendously and now includes 70 students. That’s a third of the school. “We see all levels in Orchesis,” she said. “We have some advanced dancers that have been da...

Manor ISD investigating threats made through anonymous Instagram account

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:30 GMT

MANOR, Texas (KXAN) — Manor ISD police are investigating the credibility of school shooting threats made to one of its middle schools through an anonymous social media page this week.Chief Clarence Yarbrough said the department is aware of the social media threats made against Decker Middle School. As a result, police presence has been increased at all MISD campuses as the department continues its investigation into the threats.In a statement, Yarbrough said "we have increased our patrol presences for all Manor ISD School Campuses at this time as well as partnering with local Law Enforcement Agencies to ensure safety of students and staff is maintained through school hours. Further information will be released at the appropriate time not to hinder the current ongoing investigation."The Instagram account is a page where Decker Middle School students submit anonymous confessions which are posted to the social media platform.The posts being investigated by MISD police claim a shooting ...

People in Llano welcome Wednesday rainfall

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:30 GMT

LLANO, Texas (KXAN) -- As dark skies poured heavy rain onto Llano's Main Street, most people kept inside - but they still welcomed the wet weather."It was very nice," said Morgan Williamson, who was playing darts with her friends. The Llano County Emergency Management department said while crews were keeping an eye on the storm, they didn't expect any major flooding because the reservoir has plenty of space to hold water. “It’s good for the grass because it’s really dry," said Kacie Sagabiel. "And the river."Rain on Main Street in Llano. (KXAN photo/Brianna Hollis)Rain in downtown Llano. (KXAN photo/Brianna Hollis)People bring out their umbrellas as Llano braced for heavy rain. (KXAN photo/Brianna Hollis)Emergency management departments in Burnet and Gillespie Counties said they did not have any major flood preparations in place, but were monitoring low water crossings.

Goats and sheep grazed on a hillside on the Capitol grounds in St. Paul on Wednesday

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:30 GMT

If you thought you saw a herd of sheep and goats grazing on a hillside on the Capitol grounds in St. Paul Wednesday, you weren’t hallucinating.Thirty sheep and 85 goats made short work of undesirable species such as buckthorn as part of multi-year native plants restoration project.A group called Goat Dispatch provided the critters, which have been deployed throughout Minnesota as flesh-and-blood vegetation mowers in recent years.See are past coverage of such efforts here, here and here.Related ArticlesOutdoors | St. Paul man sentenced for killing girlfriend’s friend during domestic assault Outdoors | St. Paul Northern Iron and Machine fined over $41K by Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Outdoors | Girl, 17, missing from St. Paul found safe Outdoors | St. Paul City Council approves two sizable parks projects — a playground and sculpture garden — by Allianz Field Outdoors | St. Paul: Au...

Johnson advances in pigskin playoffs nail-biter over Como Park

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:30 GMT

Odds are heavily against the Johnson football season extending into next week, but the Governors at least have a chance to keep playing after ending the season of an intracity rival.By about 9 feet.J’Sean Jackson ran for 117 yards and a touchdown, Ali Farfan threw for a score, and Johnson held off Como Park 13-6 in a Class 4A, Section 3 playoff game Wednesday night.Postponed Tuesday afternoon because of storms with lightning that could have resulted in a daylight issue, the game was moved back a day and played at Harding High School. Johnson does not have lights at its stadium.The fourth-seeded Governors (6-3) will next play at top-seeded Hill-Murray (6-2), who had a first-round bye. Game time is 11 a.m. Saturday. Como Park, the section’s fifth seed, was beaten 56-6 by the Pioneers in last week’s regular season finale.“We pulled it out and it’s on to the next one. Just excited for the opportunity to advance,” said coach Richard Magembe. “… The next two days have to be absolute...

Timberwolves repeat last year’s mistakes in season-opening loss to Toronto

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:30 GMT

Minnesota looked slow, didn’t have any flow on offense and made far too many dumbfounding mistakes in its season-opening, 97-94 loss Wednesday in Toronto.Sound familiar?That was the recipe that got Minnesota run off the floor in a number of early-season contests a year ago. And the formula was equally as futile in Game 1 this fall in Canada.Toronto made all the hustle plays, while consistently sprinting past Minnesota’s big-ball lineups, turning the Timberwolves’ mistakes into 38 fast-break points.The good thing for Minnesota was there were positives to the fact it towered over the Raptors on the interior. The Wolves outrebounded Toronto 62-47, at least for one night correcting a major bugaboo from a year ago. The Timberwolves shot 22 free throws to Toronto’s 16.But 20 of those attempts from the charity stripe came in the first half. Over the final two quarters, Minnesota’s offensive got especially stagnant.The rhythm, flow and ball movement that were t...

Former Cuomo aide discusses new book at UAlbany's Writers Institute

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:30 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Melissa DeRosa, a former aide to ex-governor Andrew Cuomo, spoke at the University at Albany on Wednesday night. DeRosa served as Secretary to the Governor before she and Cuomo resigned amid a scandal involving sexual harassment allegations and alleged mishandling of nursing homes and COVID-19 deaths. DeRosa was a guest of the Writers Institute at UAlbany to discuss her new book, a memoir titled "What's Left Unsaid." DeRosa gave a defense of her and Cuomo's actions during the pandemic and blames much of the criticism aimed at her on a hostile media, something she said comes with the territory. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! "Everyone is entitled to have a position on what happened, and for a number of years, I was batted around like a piñata by the press, and there were a lot of things said about me that weren't true and a lot of things said about the administration that were not true," she said. "And ...

Real Kids Wear Pink hosts rock wall climb fundraiser

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:30 GMT

LATHAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A fundraiser for breast cancer awareness took place at Dick's House of Sport in Latham on Wednesday. Real Kids Wear Pink put on a charity rock climbing event at the rock wall inside the store. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Fifty percent of the proceeds from the event will go to the American Cancer Society to help find a cure for breast cancer. Carli O'Hara, who founded Real Kids Wear Pink, was pleased with the community partners who have helped her organization."It's honestly incredible, especially when you look back at all of our community partners, Dick's for example, really everyone who has supported us," she said.O'Hara said another upcoming event includes having students ride on a pink bus to school.

Police say ‘ghost nurses’ were bilking health system

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:30 GMT

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – Four women are accused of forging documents that allegedly got them big paychecks from a Clayton business. Court records say the fraud scheme netted hundreds of thousands of dollars for unworked hours.It’s Elite Medical Staffing Group on Clayton Road, which offers thousands of expert nurses for medical centers across St. Louis.Court records indicate the company reported to Clayton Police that employees who had submitted time sheets for hours never worked.Investigators say the women were claiming they’d worked at a Maryland Heights senior living center and a Troy, Missouri, senior living center, and that the alleged forged time sheets made it appear as if a supervisor had signed off on the hours.A spokesperson for Elite Medical Staffing said the company has reimbursed the senior living centers for any losses, and it’s pressing charges against the former employees to the “fullest extent of the law.” Multiple people reported dead, injured in Maine shootings Th...

Residents offer feedback on spending NFL-Rams lawsuit money

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:30 GMT

ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Board of Alderman’s Committee of the Whole met virtually Wednesday and discussed some of the ideas for spending funds received from a lawsuit over the departure of the former St. Louis Rams.The city received $280 million, including $30 million for an expansion of the Dome at America’s Center. The money has been sitting in an interest-bearing account while city lawmakers work on approving how the money will be spent.During Wednesday’s meeting, Cristina Garmendia, police advisor to the board’s president, shared feedback received from residents through an online survey.When asked about some of the challenges residents faced, some of the top responses included car damage from streets, student loan debt, and not receiving a timely or appropriate emergency response when calling 911.Residents also have an opportunity to submit ideas to address challenges. Some of those responses included implementing traffic-calming measures, creating apprenticeship programs and o...