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Eclipse roundtables 'like preparing for a hurricane' in the Hill Country

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:04:58 GMT

DRIPPING SPRINGS, TX (KXAN) - The Hill Country Alliance, a non-profit focused on conserving and protecting the Texas Hill Country, will host the latest of its Hill Country Eclipse Roundtables on July 25th. The total solar eclipse, happening on April 8th, 2024, is expected to bring thousands of people to Central Texas."Think of it kind of like preparing for a hurricane. You want to be totally prepared and self sufficient ready so that you don't need to go into H-E-B on the day of," said Katherine Romans, Executive Director of the Hill Country Alliance.The roundtables bring together eclipse committees from across the area to learn how other committees are handling the expected crowds, but also to get tips from communities that have dealt with past eclipses."These eclipses are gonna be a historic opportunity for the Hill Country, and also present historic challenges," Romans said.An eclipse moves over the Hill CountryTotal solar eclipses occur roughly every 18 months somewhere on the p...

Philly's opens new location in Bennington

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:04:58 GMT

BENNINGTON, Vt. (NEWS10) -- Philly’s, a restaurant focused on cheesesteaks and more, has opened its third location in Bennington. After being delayed for a year, the restaurant finally had its soft opening on Wednesday, July 19. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! “There were a few reasons for the delays but mainly it was the success and demand of our newly opened Yale location. It put a heavy strain on my team. It has required the manpower we were intending to use to get Bennington open,” said founder Shem Adams.Adams, a Philadelphia native, opened his first Philly’s restaurant in Norwich, Connecticut in 2011. On Bennington's opening day, Adams said the eatery sold out of steak in three hours. Popeyes opens new location in Latham The Philly’s menu includes cheesesteaks, nachos, fries, chicken, wings, and salads. You can view the full menu on the Philly’s website.The restaurant is located at 230 North Street. You can check the Ph...

Multifamily house fire displaces 20+ in Dutchtown Monday morning

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:04:58 GMT

ST. LOUIS - An early-morning fire in the Dutchtown neighborhood leaves four families without homes.Firefighters responded to the multifamily house on South Compton Avenue a little before 5:00 a.m. They say the fire started in the back of the building, but spread into the kitchens of two of the units.The other two units have heavy water damage from the firefighting efforts. More than a dozen children and about nine adults had to evacuate the building. Cooling centers opening again as high temperatures return Firefighters are helping them after they ran out of the house in their pajamas without any of their belongings."We have about 20 people who are displaced right now," St. Louis Fire Department Captain Leon Whitener shared. "Crews are currently salvaging shoes and clothes and bringing it out to the residents as most residents ran out in their sleeping clothes. So, if you look behind me, you'll see crews are bringing shoes out, bringing clothes out because we have people sitting o...

MCA takes a break from trauma for something rare in contemporary art shows: Humor

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:04:58 GMT

It is rare to walk into a contemporary art gallery these days and encounter the sort of direct humor offered up in the exhibition “Indigenous Absurdities,” currently at the MCA Denver. That is just not the age we are living in.Instead, trauma is all the rage as curators endeavor to use their spaces as forums for exploring current social ills and for dissecting sins of the past. Galleries are not feel-good places as much as they are classrooms for difficult learning.Anna Tsouhlarakis’ “She Must Be a Matriarch” greets visitors at the MCA Denver. (Wes Magyar / Provided by Museum of Contemporary Art Denver)Most of us see this as a necessary reckoning, overdue and legitimate in most cases, and it is bound to continue for some time. But it is not much fun for the paying customers who go to see the shows. They endure the situation because they feel they ought to, sometimes because they want to understand and grow, and sometimes because they want to alleviate whatever feelings of guil...

How to show out-of-towners a good time in Denver

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:04:58 GMT

My family moved from the Detroit area to Littleton when I was nine, and I (unofficially) became an extension of Colorado’s tourism office. I sent handwritten cards to friends and family back in Michigan inviting them to come visit Colorado.Each invitation promised a West-facing seat at the dinner table for the duration of their visit so they could take in majestic views of the Rocky Mountains, and the envelopes contained fool’s gold nuggets I bought with my allowance from a mountain town gift shop. Hey, gold lured people to our state, as I had learned in my Colorado history class, so it seemed like a good marketing strategy.I drummed up plenty of interest, and, over the decades, as visitors came to town, my family developed a few go-to’s on our itinerary to dazzle our guests. Some traditions are no more. Who remembers the Baby Do’s mine-themed restaurant overlooking Interstate 25 and downtown?But many live on. The Zip Code Man still occasionally performs on Pearl Street in Bou...

Does it take a 77-page technical manual to regulate pickleball? In Centennial, it might.

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:04:58 GMT

A maelstrom of thoughts and feelings about pickleball is on full display in Centennial, as the suburban city embarks on an effort to devise regulations to ensure that residents are able to partake in the fast-growing sport without driving their neighbors crazy.“The sound from pickleball all day is extremely bothersome,” a woman wrote, one of more than 100 comments submitted to the city on the topic in June. “Courts should either be in existing parks or areas more than 500 feet of residences, with hopefully some kind of sound barrier.”At the other end of the spectrum are those who think the government should stay off the 44-foot-by-20-foot courts that play host to the tennis and ping-pong mashup that’s taking the country by storm.“Please build more pickleball courts anywhere and everywhere you can!” one resident posted. “Those who don’t like the noise can move away — we don’t want grinches in Centennial!”Noise is...

Will tipping disappear as Colorado restaurant service fees rise?

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:04:58 GMT

Reading the fine print is always important, especially when dining at a restaurant these days.Call them “service fees” or “living wage fees” or “creating happy people” fees, as restaurateur Frank Bonanno’s restaurants do, but they can range from 4 to 22% — and they are catching on as a way to offer stability in a volatile industry.“It’s important for local diners to be aware that, now more than ever, restaurants are not money-makers,” Colorado Restaurant Association spokesperson Denise Mickelson said.The fees, she said, have lasted as the COVID pandemic ebbed because they offset pay disparities between front-of-the-house workers (servers, bartenders) and back-of-the-house staff (cooks, dishwashers) and help retain people amidst the industry-wide labor shortage across the country.While servers and customers have mixed thoughts about the use of fees (Casa Bonita is facing pushback from workers over its decision to cut tipping altogether), a re...

Think you know everything about the Manson murders? This enthralling book will make you think again | Opinion

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:04:58 GMT

Few incidents in American history have been as meticulously analyzed as the 1969 Manson murders, also known as the Tate-LaBianca murders. And few people know that better than journalist Tom O’Neill, who spent two decades obsessing over the details of Charles Manson and his infamous group of followers known as The Family in hopes of unearthing the true motivations behind the slayings of actress Sharon Tate and others.In 2019 – the 50th anniversary of the murders – O’Neill published “Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA and the Secret History of the Sixties,” an enthralling read that seeks to poke holes in the official narrative of the murders as outlined in the book “Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders.”When O’Neill started the project in 1999, his assignment was admittedly less ambitious than a 500-page investigation into one of the country’s most notorious cult leaders and the cultural context that fueled him. At the time, O’Neill was writing for Premiere magazine, which...

PHOTOS: Olathe Sweet corn harvest

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:04:58 GMT

For 41 years the Tuxedo Corn Company of Olathe Colorado has been growing and shipping its popular Olathe Sweet-brand sweet corn to grocery stores all over North America. This year’s harvest began early Thursday morning, with crews out to hand-pick the corn.This season Tuexdo Corn Company founder and farmer John Harold had planned to ship 600,000 boxes of corn to deliver his large Kroger contract. At 48 ears per box, the estimated yield in 2023 was 28.8 million ears. An infestation of ear worms has curtailed that estimate. Harold said he expects to ship about 100,000 fewer boxes than normal, with crews picking around the infested plants.The company is the largest grower of sweet corn in Colorado, with tens of thousands of acres of rural Olathe countryside planted each year. The corn is usually picked by hand due to the tenderness of its kernels, but this year workers are inspecting every single plant carefully to avoid the ear worms.Once the corn is harvested, it’s boxed,...

High rates putting “golden handcuffs” on many sellers in metro Denver’s housing market

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 10:04:58 GMT

Anna Vavruska and her husband would like to sell the home they purchased in the Sunnyside neighborhood at the start of the pandemic. But that would require a trade-off they aren’t willing to accept — a much higher mortgage payment.“Since we had a child, we definitely have thought about leaving central Denver, but it is not a good time. Even though we have equity in our home, we would still need to take on another mortgage,” Vavruska said.Instead of a 3% mortgage rate that now makes for a manageable monthly payment, they would be staring at something between 6.5% to 7%.Likewise, Tyler Bellis and his wife, Shayla, wouldn’t mind switching out the central Aurora home they acquired in 2018 for something roomier as they prepare to start a family.Yet, swapping out the low 2.7% rate they have on their mortgage for one at today’s rates would boost their monthly payment by $600 to $700  — even after slapping 31% down on the next property.“We wou...