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Data: Texas state hospital backlog sees modest decrease

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:56 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – The state mental hospital system has seen a modest decrease this year in the backlog of thousands of individuals waiting for a bed and stabilization. The improvement coincides with an uptick in the number of usable beds and higher staffing levels, according to state data and presentations at a Health and Human Services Commission advisory committee hearing Friday.The forensic waitlist is composed of mentally ill who have been charged with crimes but were found incompetent to stand trial and ordered to a state hospital for competency restoration. Those people are put on the waitlist and sit in county jails until space opens up. EXPLORE: Mental Competency Consequences KXAN has been reporting on the hospital backlog for years, including multiple profiles of mentally ill individuals who were stuck in county jail on the waitlist.There were 2,164 people waiting for a state hospital bed on Friday – a 15% decrease from the state’s all-time high of more than 2,550 people la...

DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium adds AI-powered self-checkout concession stands

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:56 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Football season is about to kick off once again, and fans will be flooding DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium to watch the Longhorns play. One thing the stadium has done to prepare for an influx of people is add an AI-powered self-checkout concessions option. Mashgin, the world’s fastest touchless self-checkout system, deployed of 14 self-checkout kiosks by Sodexo, DKR's concessions partner, at the stadium. VIDEO: UT unveils new burnt orange stadium lights The new point-of-sale, touchless self-checkout kiosks have already sped up concession checkouts at six locations across the stadium, according to a release from Mashgin. Sodexo plans to add 22 more of the kiosks for the upcoming 2023 football season.Fans can now buy food, soft drinks, beer and more, check out in 12.5 seconds on average at the kiosks, according to Mashgin. Mashgin kiosks have been deployed at several Texas Athletics venues managed by Sodexo, which include DKR, UFCU Disch-Falk Field, Red and Charlin...

Gun, drug charges filed against Myon Burrell, locked up for life as teen in killing but later freed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:56 GMT

Prosecutors filed gun and drug charges Friday against Myon Burrell, who was sent to prison for life as a teenager but was set free in 2020 after 18 years behind bars after his sentence was commuted in a high-profile Minneapolis murder case.Burrell, now 37, was arrested in the Minneapolis suburb of Robbinsdale on Tuesday after police said they found a handgun and drugs in his SUV during a traffic stop. A judge set bail at $50,000 at his first court appearance Friday, and his attorney said afterward that Burrell denies the allegations.Myon Burrell (Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office via AP)Burrell’s prosecution and punishment in the murder case raised questions about the integrity of the criminal justice system that put him away for the death 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards, of Minneapolis, who was killed by a stray bullet as she was doing her homework in 2008.The Associated Press and APM Reports in 2020 uncovered new evidence and serious flaws in that police investigation, ultim...

Trevon Jackson pledges to fulfill South End Grocery debt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:56 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The South End Grocery's windows remain dark and doors are locked weeks after a fire extinguisher reportedly malfunctioned, ruining hundreds of food items, then a roof leak that Trevon Jackson says he, his wife, and kids simply couldn't handle on their own."We did have three people come on this week to train and begin working with us, so we will be able to reopen next week with those additional hands," Jackson announces Friday.However, still hanging over their heads are unpaid loans with lenders Key Bank, Broadview, and the Albany County Capital Resource Corporation (CRC) demanding seven months of arrears. "I think everybody has extended themselves to very significant lengths to try to make this project successful, and things don’t always work out the way you want them to," says Kevin O'Connor, CEO of the Advance Albany County Alliance, which handles the loan on behalf of the CRC."Kevin has made a practice of talking to the news in a misleading fashion, inste...

New state gun laws going into effect 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:56 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – New York has new gun legislation going into effect Friday through September 13. Anyone with a concealed carry permit that was issued before September 1, 2020 was supposed to recertify their weapons by Thursday at midnight.Current Fulton County Sheriff Richard Giardino is a former licensing officer for pistol permits in his county and says the new changes are causing confusion amongst gun owners. Get the latest news, weather, sports and more delivered right to your inbox! “Effective August 31 at midnight if you hadn’t recertified then you were in violation of the new rule. A lot of people were very concerned and didn’t understand,” said Giardino.His office has received over 150 phone calls about the new rules. Concealed carry permit holders now have to recertify their permits every three years, instead of the previously required five years. And the process has moved online to the New York State Pistol Permit Recertification website.New York State has been cr...

Discovering Saratoga: Saratoga 2023 Highlights

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:56 GMT

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) - It’s the final stretch for the 2023 Summer Meet at the Saratoga Race Course. All summer long NEWS10 has been introducing you to the people, places, and history that makes Saratoga so special. NEWS10's Cassie Hudson and Meteorologist Jill Szwed look back on the season's highlights.

Pop Warner coach wants lights fixed at childhood field

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:56 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Friday night lights? Well, not really. Constant lighting issues among other problems have been plaguing Foley Field. Now, an Albany youth football coach is trying to pool resources to get the field he played on as a child, up and running. Albany Pop Warner making kids strong and fast“They’re well overdue for an upgrade, whether it's just replacing the bulbs or the entire fixtures and poles” Charles Chandler told NEWS10's Zion Decoteau. Foley Field’s aging light fixtures were around before Chandler started football here as a child in 1989. He’s now youth football coordinator and coach for the local Pop Warner league team. You might not be able to tell now, but at night, this field is dark.“Half of them work, and they're really not bright enough to like to field sufficiently” he said. The city of Albany sent over some temporary lights for night games, but Chandler is hoping for a more permanent solution. NEWS10 reached out to the Mayor’s office whose chief of s...

Threats postpone Vashon and Cardinal Ritter game

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:56 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- Tonight's football game between Vashon and Cardinal Ritter at STEM High School is postponed. School district leaders say that there were threats after an incident at Vashon High School today. They say that the safest course of action is to postpone tonight's game. Hundreds of flimsy stop signs failing across St. Louis It is not yet clear when the games will be rescheduled. There are restrictions on who can go to Friday night’s football game at Alton High School after several reported fights on campus. School officials canceled classes on Thursday due to the number of fights on Wednesday.

Wood River nurse sentenced for mother-in-law's fatal overdose

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:56 GMT

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — A Wood River nurse was sentenced to five years in prison Friday for causing an overdose that resulted in the death of her mother-in-law, who was in hospice care. Amy L. Melchert, 51, a registered nurse, pleaded guilty in April to involuntary manslaughter. The victim was 85-year-old Wilma Melchert, who was under home-based hospice care at the time.At the sentencing hearing, Amy Melchert received the maximum five-year prison term for recklessly and without lawful justification administering a non-prescribed dose of morphine that caused the overdose and death of her mother-in-law.Forensic evidence indicated that the level of morphine in Wilma Melchert’s blood was several times higher than the prescribed level. Wood River Police investigated due to an inconsistency in the amount of unused medication prescribed for Wilma Melchert.Wilma Melchert had been diagnosed with diabetes, hypertension, and dementia. According to a medical certification for her admission to hosp...

Body camera footage of police shooting in Denver is released

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:56 GMT

Denver police on Friday released body camera footage that shows a man holding a woman hostage, threatening to kill her, before the suspect was shot by an officer.The incident happened about 11:20 p.m. Aug. 25 in the 3500 block of York Street, police said.Body camera footage from two officers released Friday shows shots being fired at police from inside a pickup truck as police were pursuing suspects in the truck.In footage from the body camera worn by the officer who shot the suspect, the officer is seen pursuing the truck at a high speed as shots are fired from the truck and the officer, in a patrol SUV, bumps the truck, causing it to roll and come to step on its side.Several officers surround the truck and yell out commands for the people inside the truck to show their hands and come out of the truck for about ten minutes. Then, a man emerges from the truck, holding a handgun to a woman’s head.“I’m going to kill this bitch,” the suspect is heard saying in f...