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Employees angry after Toyota's Kansas City office serves only watermelon for Juneteenth

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:27:00 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) — A national employer is under fire from some of its own Kansas City workers after they said the company served only watermelon to celebrate Juneteenth.Those employees also said they have photos to prove it.“Acknowledge us as people. Stop taking us as a joke," said Jarret Bolden, an employee at Toyota.It happened at the Toyota distribution center in Kansas City. Two workers spoke exclusively to Nexstar's WDAF, and the company explained how it all happened. In pictures below provided to WDAF, you can see the only food offered was watermelon.(Kimberly McCarthy)"I turned around and asked a member that's on the DNI team — which is the diversity and inclusion team — I said, 'What the heck? This isn't OK.' And he just laughed," said Kim McCarthy, who has worked at the plant for nine years.WDAF asked McCarthy if they served anything else, and she responded, "No, just watermelon."Bolden has worked at the plant for four years. As a Black man, he said things like ...

Travis County doctors encourage opioid treatment to reduce 'rapid rise' in overdose deaths

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:27:00 GMT

Editor’s Note: The video above shows KXAN News Today’s top headlines for June 21, 2023AUSTIN (KXAN) – In a town hall Wednesday, Travis County medical professionals encouraged doctors to provide drugs like buprenorphine to patients with opioid use disorders to try and slow down the growing number of opioid-related deaths in Central Texas. “The most recent Travis County coroners report shows increasing opioid-related overdose deaths in our community. This is not only a national trend but a local one,” said Dr. Blair Walker, Chief of Psychiatry at Dell Seton Medical Center, one of the physicians speaking at the town hall. Opioid deaths by the numbersLast year, more Americans died of opioid-related overdoses than any year on record. While the national trend is evening out – the number of deaths increased by only .6% percent nationwide – the number of fatalities in Texas increased by a rate of over 9%.“Texas is not good at capturing and reporting overdose deaths. There are a lot of chall...

Teen gets 20-year prison sentence in connection with October 2021 murder

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:27:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A teen was sentenced June 13 after pleading guilty to murder, according to Travis County court documents.Records showed 18-year-old Leo Zerius Sanders was sentenced to 20 years in prison in connection with the October 2021 death of a 17-year-old in east Travis County. RELATED: Teen accused of killing 17-year-old in east Travis County According to past KXAN coverage, on Oct. 21, 2021, Travis County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to reports of a shooting in the 8000 block of Decker Lane.At the scene, deputies found the 17-year-old victim in a car. He was taken to the hospital but later died.Court documents showed Sanders received a jail credit of 600 days toward his prison sentence.

'Lab-grown' chicken approved in US; could soon come to stores, restaurants

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:27:00 GMT

EMERYVILLE, California (KXAN) — You could soon be eating chicken grown in a lab. On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the sale of "lab-grown" meat by two Californian companies, according to the Associated Press.The companies, Upside Food and Good Meat, had been racing to be the first to sell meat in the United States.A meatball made using genetic code from a mammoth is seen at the Nemo science museum in Amsterdam, Tuesday March 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Mike Corder)Sometimes called "cultured" or "cell-cultivated" meat, lab-grown meat uses protein cells from a specific animal, in this case, a chicken, then has those cells replicate. The meat is grown in a steel tank and comes out in large sheets that are then formed into traditional meat shapes.“Instead of all of that land and all of that water that’s used to feed all of these animals that are slaughtered, we can do it in a different way,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and chief executive of Eat Just, which operates G...

Mud Hens rally late for 5-4 victory over Saints

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:27:00 GMT

TOLEDO, Ohio — The Toledo Mud Hens scored four runs in the final two innings to overcome a 4-1 deficit in the bottom of the eighth and beat the St. Paul Saints 5-4 on Wednesday afternoon at Fifth Third Field.The loss dropped the Saints’ record to 41-29 for the season.After St. Paul starting pitcher Randy Dobnak left the game in the seventh inning with a three-run lead, relievers Kody Funderburk and Austin Schulfer ran into trouble in the eighth and ninth. Schulfer pitched the ninth and gave up Corey Polk’s walk-off sacrifice fly that ended the game.The Saints homered for their 25th consecutive game, getting home runs from Andrew Stevenson in the second inning, Matt Wallner in the fourth and Chris Williams in the seventh. Williams has hit eight home runs in his past seven games and 15 for the season.The Saints’ home-run streak is the second-longest in professional baseball since the Triple-A Charlotte Knights homered in 26 straight games in 2019.Related ArticlesMinn...

Minnesota K-9 team wins first place at national competition

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:27:00 GMT

Canine Corrections Officer Cha Vang and his K-9 partner, Sammi, won first place in the recent United States Police Canine Association narcotics detection competition.Vang, who has been a corrections officer at facilities in Lino Lakes and St. Cloud since 2006, first started working with Sammi in 2019, according to a Department of Corrections news release. The department trains dogs to break up assaults and conduct a variety of searches, but Sammi is their first canine trained exclusively for narcotics detection.Vang and Sammi conducted nearly 200 narcotics searches from January to March 2023, according to the release. Their searches took place in cells, living units, visiting rooms and mailrooms.Vang and Sammi traveled to Evansville, Indiana, last month to compete against 64 K-9 teams from across the U.S. The team participated in narcotics-discovery simulations. Canines were assessed on responsiveness, alertness and ability to locate hidden narcotics. Handlers were assessed on their...

Coverage For All & Sammy's Law could be off session agenda

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:27:00 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) -- Wednesday is the second and final scheduled session day for the Assembly at the State Capitol. On Tuesday, lawmakers took up environmental bills, criminal justice reform and more. One controversial bill known as Coverage For All - which would expand health insurance to include undocumented immigrants is still up in the air. New York will offer free abortion pills at city-run health clinics  The federal government has given New York State permission to use surplus money set aside from the Essential Plan to offer coverage to undocumented people. Sponsor of the bill, Assemblywoman Jessica González-Rojas said this could help around 240,000 people and would cost over a billion dollars. This would be at the discretion of the Health Commissioner. "And again the max would be 250% of the federal poverty level, but again the Commissioner has flexibility to roll it out in a way to ensure that we’re not exceeding in costs, and that we’re making sure that we’re prioriti...

Chris Mathiesen talks campaign with News10

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:27:00 GMT

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) -  Primary elections for many municipal offices are happening on June 27. One of the races is for Saratoga Springs mayor. Democrat Chris Mathiesen is challenging the incumbent mayor Ron Kim in the Democratic primary.Mathiesen is no stranger to Saratoga Springs City Hall. He served as the public safety commissioner for three terms, (2012-2017). But he recently retired from his dental practice and decided to run for office again. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! The democrat says he has always been a supporter of Ron Kim but now questions some decisions he has made while the mayor and his leadership. Mathiesen points to disruptions during city council meetings."Things have gotten out of control," said Mathiesen. He adds, "Mayor Kim has allowed things to get so out of control that people feel unsafe at a city council meeting." Mathiesen sat down with News10 to discuss the issues facing the city a...

Ron Kim talks campaign with News10

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:27:00 GMT

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (NEWS10) - Primary elections for many municipal offices are happening on June 27. One of the races is for Saratoga Springs mayor. Current mayor Ron Kim is facing a challenger from fellow Democrat Chris Mathiesen. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Kim is trying for a second term as mayor. The city elects a new mayor every two years. His accomplishments include opening a 24/7 homeless shelter and creating a civilian review board.Kim sat down with News10 to discuss the issues facing the city ahead of the Tuesday, June 27 primary.

Assembly session continues into second day

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 10:27:00 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)--- Assemblymembers spent their last day in Albany debating issues such as making organized competitions to hunt wildlife unlawful."It’s really the organizing, the promoting, the registration fee, the prize at the end that is what is prohibited," explained Assemblymember, Deborah Glick. Assemblymember Marjorie Barnes is against the legislation, saying the state raises pheasants every year."To feel like we are all offended, because wildlife gets killed in the state when the state actually raises them for that expressed purpose, in order to encourage hunting activities, I think it’s in itself an auspicious argument and an auspicious purpose for the bill," said Barnes.While the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation raises pheasants for hunting purposes, it does not host competitions. This bill passed. If signed by the governor, it will take effect in November.On Tuesday, the Assembly passed legislation that would protect New York doctors using tel...