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Disability rights group advocates urge audit of St. Louis County Metro operations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:24 GMT

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. - A disability rights group wants the St. Louis County Council to audit the region's bus and train operations.The 'STL Metropolitan Alliance for Reliable Transit' asked council members to require bi-state development to set aside $300,000 of its $128 million proposed budget next year. The group wants the agency to hire a consulting firm to improve service for the 325,000 people in the region with disabilities. Sex offender charged after being found with missing North Carolina girl Bi-state cut routes to its Call-A-Ride service in April, saying they have a driver shortage. The county council says it will consider the budget request in the coming weeks.

Owners of large SUVs and trucks in Colorado could pay more to fund pedestrian safety measures

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:24 GMT

Drivers in Colorado’s most populated counties would pay more to register larger cars and trucks under a plan advanced by state legislators earlier this month, as policymakers look to blunt a recent surge in pedestrian and cyclist deaths.The new fees would go toward projects that make roads safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, charging the owners of larger vehicles because their heft increases the risk of injury or death.The bill, which is being prepared for potential consideration during the state legislative session early next year, would increase vehicle registration fees in Colorado’s 12 most populous counties for cars, sport utility vehicles and trucks that weigh at least 3,500 pounds. Nearly all of those counties are located along the Front Range, from Fort Collins in the north through metro Denver and Colorado Springs to Pueblo.The new fees would raise roughly $20 million annually, state analysts say. The state would dole out grants to local governments in larger ...

CU Buffs vs. UCLA Bruins football: How to watch, storylines and staff predictions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:24 GMT

Colorado (4-3, 1-3 Pac-12) at UCLA (5-2, 2-2)When/where: Saturday, 5:30 p.m. MT/Rose BowlTV/Radio: ABC/850 AM, 94.1 FMBetMGM Line: UCLA -16.5, 63.5 over/underWeather: Partly cloudy and around 50 degrees.Five storylinesThe Trail Gets Steep: After barely squeaking by ASU in the desert, then blowing a 29-point halftime lead to Stanford two weeks ago, the Buffs find themselves back in the role of underdogs. UCLA changed quarterbacks last week, switching out five-star freshman Dante Moore for junior Ethan Garbers, then proceeded to stomp Stanford, 42-7. Will the Buffs have any between-game adjustments of their own coming off a bye? Two-way star Travis Hunter was clearly gassed toward the end of the Buffs’ loss to Stanford two weeks ago — his first game back since suffering a lacerated liver in the Rocky Mountain Showdown. Perhaps it’s time to dial back his snaps on one side of the ball?Buffs’ Yellow Laundry: In the defeat to Stanford, the Buffs were penalized 17 times f...

CSU Rams vs. Air Force Falcons football: How to watch, storylines and staff predictions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:24 GMT

No. 19 Air Force (7-0, 4-0 Mountain West) vs. CSU Rams (3-4, 1-2)When/where: Saturday, 5 p.m. MT/Canvas StadiumTV/Radio: CBSSN/1600 AM, 104.3 HD2BetMGM Line: Air Force -12, 49.5 over/underWeather: Chance of snow flurries and temperature around 29 degrees at kickoff.Five storylinesThe Falcons’ Mission: Air Force is cruising toward its fourth straight 10-win season (not counting the shortened 2020 COVID year), and with QB Zac Larrier at the helm, an undefeated regular season and major bowl berth could also be in the cards. Larrier hurt his knee in the win over Wyoming two weeks ago, but returned to play against Navy the next week. He tossed a 94-yard TD pass, the longest in school history, to put Air Force up in the first half en route to a 17-6 win.The Rams’ Response: CSU let its second would-be win slip through its fingers in a brutal last-second loss last week at UNLV. The Rams took a 23-22 lead with 48 seconds left, but their secondary let them down again, just as the ...

NFL Picks: Top draft selections square off and a surprisingly big game in the Steel City

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:24 GMT

Around the AFC1 vs. 2. It’s 2023 No. 1 pick Bryce Young vs. No. 2 pick C.J. Stroud this weekend when Carolina and Houston meet in Charlotte. So far, Stroud’s been the best rookie in the NFL and Young has struggled. Of course, the two will be compared for much longer than half a season. Even still, it’s difficult to overstate how impressive Stroud’s been in getting the Texans to 3-3 and logging just one interception so far.Chargering. This was maybe, just maybe going to be the year somebody in the AFC West challenged Kansas City. Instead, Patrick Mahomes threw for 424 against the Chargers last week and KC’s defense is one of the best in football. Justin Herbert’s team? 2-4 now. At least they play Chicago this weekend. That won’t be a problem. Right?Birds aloft. The Ravens hammered Detroit last week to get to 5-2. The defense is stout. Lamar Jackson’s playing great and rookie receiver Zay Flowers is fun to watch. They take the show cross-country this weekend for a game at Arizona. The...

Broncos OLB Baron Browning is back and he’s just getting started: “Oh, that looks different.” 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:24 GMT

On Baron Browning’s first snap of the 2023 season, he showed in two ways why his return meant so much to the Broncos.First, the schematics. He debuted on a third-and-7, Green Bay’s third play of the afternoon. The down and distance gave Vance Joseph his first chance to break out Denver’s newest rush package. It featured three outside linebackers — Browning, Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper — inside linebackers Drew Sanders and Alex Singleton, and defensive end Zach Allen as the lone down lineman with five defensive backs behind.“It is fun, man. We’re getting a little more comfortable doing it. It was our first time in it,” Cooper told The Post this week. “We’re having fun with it and trying to get better at it in practice. I think it’s going to be really exciting.”Then, the skill. Browning exploded up the field on the snap and into Packers left tackle Rasheed Walker. He powered Walker backward until Walker simply grabbed Browning around the waist and didn’t let go. No penalty flag ca...

Collins: The speakership is yours, Mike Johnson. Good luck with that.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:24 GMT

That House speaker mess was all Donald Trump’s fault. Yeah, yeah, I know you’re not going to argue with me if I blame him for something bad. (“Saturday night’s block party was canceled because of the threat of rain and … Donald Trump.”) Still, follow this thought.The House Republicans are a rancorous crew, and they’ve got only a nine-member majority, one of the tightest in recent history. We’ve been hearing all week that a mere five rebels can halt progress on anything, even a basic task like electing a speaker. Interesting how narrow that majority is. Normally, in nonpresidential-election years, the party that didn’t win the White House gets a lift — often a huge one. Some voters are looking for balance, others are just kind of bored. Given the deeply nonelectric nature of Joe Biden’s victory, you’d figure the Republicans would have made a scary sweep in 2022.But no — and one of the reasons was the completely loopy candidates running on Republican lines in districts tha...

Review: ‘Persian Version’ celebrates resilient Iranian women

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:24 GMT

By Jocelyn Noveck | Associated PressLet nobody say writer-director Maryam Keshavarz doesn’t know how to start a movie.The first time we see Leila, her alter ego in the autobiographical, warm-hearted, personal, funny but also somewhat chaotic “The Persian Version,” she’s walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. Headed to a Halloween party, she’s carrying a surfboard and wearing what she calls a “burkini” — a sexy bikini, but paired with a niqab, the face-covering garment worn by some Muslim women.It’s surely not an accident that Leila is crossing a bridge, because her film (and Halloween costume) is about bridging two identities — her Iranian heritage, and her American life. Leila (an engaging Layla Mohammadi) is a New York born-and-raised aspiring screenwriter (she wants to be an Iranian Martin Scorsese) who, we learn, has never been fully comfortable in either world. American kids would call her names at school; Iranians saw her as too Ame...

Hazing or ‘horseplay?’ California high school locker room video sparks mother’s outrage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:24 GMT

A junior varsity football player at Los Osos High School was placed in a chokehold and hit with a belt by two students identified as varsity players in a locker room assault captured on video and circulated on social media.The video, which was pulled down from Instagram but obtained by the Southern California News Group, shows the 16-year-old boy crying out in anguish while struggling against the chokehold applied by one player. A second player, who is shirtless, then walks over to the bench where the boy is seated and slaps his legs with a belt.The mother of the victim, Cassondra Childers of Rancho Cucamonga, identified the second player as the son of Los Osos High School’s assistant principal of instruction, Jennifer McNatt. The two older players who allegedly attacked the 16-year-old are seniors while Childers’ son, a wide receiver on the JV squad, is a junior, she said.The Southern California News Group is withholding the name of the boy to prevent further bullying.Responding to...

Review: Found family will get you through the holidays

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:11:24 GMT

By Lindsey Bahr | Associated PressAlexander Payne brings audiences to a New England boarding school in 1970 in ” The Holdovers,” a textured, nostalgic and often funny piece about three lonely and mismatched souls stuck together over Christmas break. It’s a keeper and possibly even destined to become a classic.The holiday movie genre is suspect — even the most well-intentioned entries can be too saccharine, too wistful, too “Lifetime.” But Payne, working with a sharp script written by David Hemingston, keeps “The Holdovers” grounded and real. Even absent your own memories of smoking indoors or handsewn outerwear, this is the kind of thoughtful, precisely constructed movie where you can almost taste the cigarette smoke and feel your fingers numbing through drafty wool mittens.With its knowingly retro production titles starting the film, “The Holdovers” lets you settle in and submit to something that could very well have been made i...