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Fallen Marine's family gets $3,200 bill for I-70 memorial sign

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

WENTZVILLE, Mo. – FOX 2 has learned the state of Missouri honored Marine Corps hero, Jared Schmitz, with a new memorial sign on Interstate 70 in Wentzville, but then sent a bill for the sign to his family.Missouri lawmakers are now pushing to make this the last time it ever happens.Schmitz’s father is so grateful for the sign naming the overpass at I-70 and the David Hoekel Parkway after Jared.The Missouri Department of Transportation recently erected the signs on eastbound and westbound I-70, naming the overpass the Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz Memorial Bridge. Top Story: Former St. Louis prosecutor turned star witness says she won’t be silenced The honor means the world to his family, but getting a bill from MoDOT was unforeseen.“We were a little shocked to get a bill in the mail for $3,200 to pay for our own signs,” Mark Schmitz said.His state representative and state senator, who presented the family with an official state proclamation at the sign dedication a few weeks...

This St. Charles County suburb named Missouri's safest city

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. - One suburb in St. Charles County takes the title of the "safest city in Missouri," according to a new annual report. Home security company Safewise recently released its annual "Safest Cities in Missouri" list for 2023. The list is created by examining crime rates calculated by the FBI. Safewise also evaluates results from a "state of safety" survey to determine how concerned residents in certain municipalities feel about crime. According to Safewise, the safest city in Missouri is Cottleville. Trending: Woman tracks stolen AirPods, but says St. Louis police can’t help The Top 10 safest cities all reported fewer than 2.1 violent crimes per 1,000 residents. Cottleville had a violent crime rate of 0.3 per 1,000 residents and a property crime rate of 2.2 per 1,000 residents. Both of those were among the best rates in the state. The following St. Louis-area suburbs also ranked among the Top 20 safest cities in Missouri in Safewise's annual report...Ball...

Bill governing Colorado’s legal psychedelics industry clarifies what would remain unlawful, sets limits on personal cultivation

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

Lawmakers are aiming to codify how Colorado’s newly legal psychedelics industry will take shape with a bill introduced in the state Senate on Tuesday that would shift rule-making power to a different agency, clarify penalties for unlawful activity and set limits on how much psilocybin an individual can cultivate for personal use.SB23-290, sponsored by Senate President Steve Fenberg, seeks to implement Proposition 122, the ballot measure approved by voters in November that legalized “magic mushrooms” compounds psilocybin and psilocin for medicinal use and cleared the way for healing centers to open and offer natural medical services.Fenberg has said he wants to enact the “spirit” of the ballot measure — which also decriminalized the personal use, sharing or growing of certain substances — by clarifying parts of the ballot measure and ensuring it makes sense in the state’s existing regulatory framework.“The bill basically is striving to implement Prop 122 in a way that mak...

Colorado assault weapons ban killed in late-night vote by House committee

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

Three Colorado House Democrats joined with Republican colleagues to block a bill early Thursday that would have banned the sale or purchase of assault weapons in the state, after hours of heated public testimony and a late attempt by the bill’s sponsor to dramatically scale the measure back and salvage its passage.The House Judiciary Committee’s vote came well past midnight, and its bipartisan nature comes after lingering internal disagreement among Democratic lawmakers and their leadership over the bill. Democratic Rep. Elisabeth Epps, HB23-1230’s primary sponsor, twice attempted to amend the measure before the vote and narrow it to a ban on specific equipment, a nod to the entrenched opposition even among her party colleagues on the committee, but the group narrowly rejected those amendments before nixing the bill in its entirety.Democratic Reps. Said Sharbini, Bob Marshall and Marc Snyder joined with the committee’s four Republican members to reject the fu...

California bill aims to halt organized retail theft through two-pronged approach

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

A bill before the California Assembly hopes to reduce a problem that's plagued Southern California business owners for years now: organized retail theft.Assembly Bill 1708 both allows shoplifting charges to be pursued as misdemeanors or felonies if that person has multiple previous offenses. Alternatively, with a judge's approval, shoplifters can be placed into a diversion program for rehabilitation.As the law currently stands, theft can only be charged as a felony if the amount of goods taken is worth at least $950 in most cases. If this bill is signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, that figure drops to $400."This bill is proposing a balanced approach to focus on repeat offenders, to hold them more accountable while, at the same time, providing diversion programs, treatment programs like for substance abuse addiction as well as mental health," said Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance), the bill's author.AB 1708 reverses some of the changes implemented by the controversial Prop...

Homeowner who shot Black teen Ralph Yarl pleads not guilty, expected to cite 'Stand Your Ground' law in defense

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

The 84-year-old man who shot Ralph Yarl when the Black teenager went to his door by mistake pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a case that has shocked the country and renewed national debates about gun policies and race in America.Andrew Lester walked into the courtroom with a cane and spoke quietly during Wednesday’s hearing, his first public appearance since last week’s shooting. Authorities say he shot Yarl, a 16-year-old honor student, first in the head, then in the arm after Yarl came to his door because he had confused the address with the home where he was supposed to pick up his younger brothers.The case is among three in recent days involving young people who were shot after mistakenly showing up in the wrong places. A 20-year-old woman was killed in upstate New York when the car she was in pulled into the wrong driveway. In Texas, two cheerleaders were shot after one of them mistakenly got into a car thinking it was hers.Yarl was shot at point-blank range in the head but mira...

2 people shot, 1 killed in Sun Valley

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

Two people were taken to the hospital Wednesday night after a shooting in Sun Valley, and one of them succumbed to their injuries, authorities said.  Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department responded to calls of an assault with a deadly weapon and shots fired in the 7300 block of Vineland Avenue at around 8:45 p.m. Two men, one believed to be between 17 and 19 years old and the other about 20 years old, were standing outside when the shooter drove by and opened fire on them, according to the LAPD.Crews with the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to the scene and transported the victims to the hospital, where the teen remains in stable condition. The other man, however, succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital, the LAPD said.Personnel with L.A. police were on the scene of a shooting in Sun Valley on April 19, 2023. (KTLA)Personnel with L.A. police were on the scene of a shooting in Sun Valley on April 19, 2023. (KTLA)Both victims are known gang mem...

Abbas Sajwani-Ruling the Real Estate Sector of Dubai

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

Dubai is now one of the most popular places to invest because it has a lot of fascinating real estate properties and developments for both global and local investors. Due to the artistic architectural building structures and its ideal location, many real estate investors select this region to have a connected and comfortable lifestyle. This along with a variety of other reasons and benefits draws a great population of individuals to lease or purchase property in Dubai.  It is a great time to buy real estate in Dubai as it has become a major Middle Eastern business center with outstanding real estate projects of DAMAC and AHS Group which are supervised by leaders like Abbas Sajwani.Dubai is one of the most lucrative markets for real estate investments. It is the best place to invest because there are no capital gains taxes, it is one of the most secure and safest countries across the globe as its economy is stable, and it is multicultural land. Dubai’s tallest buildings and artificia...

Larry Magid: Teens can now use Meta Horizon Worlds

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

As of this week, teens can join Meta Horizon Worlds with safeguards in place to help protect young users from some of the risks associated with virtual reality. I’ll have more on that later, but first, a little history behind Meta’s transformation into a social VR platform company.Related ArticlesBusiness | Magid: I asked ChatGPT to help me write an AI safety guide Business | Magid: Google doubles down on sleep sensing Business | Magid: Is the internet responsible for increased anxiety? Business | Magid: Is artificial intelligence the next search engine? In 2014 the company then called Facebook acquired Oculus, the leading provider of virtual reality headsets. A year later, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was already talking about integrating social networking into VR at Facebook’s annual developers’ conference where I witnessed a demonstration of people in different locations not only having social interactions, but remot...

NBA sends whistle-happy officiating crew to Warriors-Kings Game 3

Published Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:16:55 GMT

The referees have already made their presence known during the first round series between the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings.Now, as the series shifts to San Francisco and the Warriors desperately need to climb out of their 2-0 hole, they may make yet another big impact on Thursday night.The NBA announced its three-person crew early Thursday morning for the pivotal Game 3, with Eric Lewis, Kevin Scott and Sean Corbin calling the game.For a Warriors team that will be without Draymond Green, who is serving a one-game suspension for stomping on Sacramento’s Damontas Sabonis, this crew brings three referees who rank at or near the top of the league in fouls called per game officiated.Lewis, the crew chief, had the most fouls called per game of any full-time official this season, with 42.9 fouls per game in his 63 regular season games. Lewis was third overall out of the 76 referees who worked any games this year, but the two ahead of him only worked six games each.Both Corbin...