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Republicans rush to defend Jason Aldean and 'Try That in a Small Town'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:17 GMT

Republicans are mounting up to defend Jason Aldean's song "Try That in a Small Town" and its music video against accusations of racist imagery and threats of violence.Aldean’s video, which went up on YouTube last week and quickly drew attention on social media, features clips of Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests interspersed with footage of crimes — including an apparent convenience store robbery, a carjacking and depictions of people setting American flags on fire.“Stomp on the flag and light it up. Yeah, you think you’re tough,” he sings. “Well, try that in a small town — See how far ya make it down the road.”But perhaps what’s raised the most eyebrows is the location where the video was the shot: the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn. In 1927, 18-year-old Henry Choate was famously lynched at the courthouse, his body hanged off the balcony after he was accused of assaulting a white girl who never identified him. The building also played a part in the “Columbia race riot” o...

Iowa poll shows Scott gaining on DeSantis; Trump with commanding lead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:17 GMT

A new poll out of Iowa shows Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) gaining momentum on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in the 2024 presidential race, though former President Trump maintains a commanding lead.The survey, which was paid for by the Trump campaign and shared exclusively with The Hill, found 46 percent of likely GOP caucus participants in the Hawkeye State support the former president.It found 16 percent of those surveyed said they support DeSantis, who is running in second place. And it showed Scott polling in third place with 10 percent support.Scott entered the race the same week as DeSantis, and he has typically polled in single digits on the national level. A super PAC backing the senator announced this week it would spend $40 million on TV and digital ads in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina this fall to further boost Scott’s White House bid.This latest poll comes about six months before the state’s caucuses.Vivek Ramaswamy, the conservative entrepreneur, polled at 5 percent,...

JFK's grandson calls RFK Jr.'s White House bid 'an embarrassment,' endorses Biden

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:17 GMT

The grandson of former President John F. Kennedy is ripping Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 White House bid and throwing his support behind President Biden.“President John F. Kennedy is my grandfather. And his legacy is important,” Jack Schlossberg, the 30-year-old son of U.S. Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy, said in a video posted Friday on Instagram.“It's about a lot more than Camelot and conspiracy theories. It's about public service and courage,” Schlossberg continued.Endorsing Biden’s reelection campaign, he said the 46th president “shares my grandfather's vision for America: That we do things not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”“He is in the middle of becoming the greatest progressive president we've ever had,” he said, citing unemployment and jobs figures, infrastructure and green energy investments and the appointment of federal judges.“He ended the COVID pandemic and he ended Donald Trump,” Schlossberg added before blasting his cousin Kenne...

Isolated weekend storms bring little heat relief

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:17 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Today is expected to be our 6th-straight day of exceeding or matching the daily record, a mark we've only reached in Austin once, back in the year 2000.Austin's forecast high of 105° is likely to tie the record we set just last year. Mainly sunny skies, dry conditions and muggy conditions can be expected areawide.Tonight will be mostly clear with some patchy low clouds by morning. Overnight lows in the upper 70s should fall just cool enough to avoid a record warm low.In case you missed it: Austin set an all-time record for number of consecutive days with highs of 105°+. The streak is now at 11 days, but we may drop below that magical number by the end of this weekend.Heat Advisories have been extended through Saturday at 8 p.m. These heat alerts will likely be further extended into the weekend and beyond. Heat Advisory extended into the weekendWeekend storm chanceA cool front dropping in on Saturday will not bring any noticeable temperature changes, but could act as...

APD hints at possible operation targeting open-air drug sales in downtown Austin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:17 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- During the Downtown Public Safety Commission Forum Thursday, the Austin Police Department said it is working to crack down on open-air drug sales in downtown Austin.Police at the meeting said complaints of shoplifting, public drunkenness and people dealing drugs in alleys in the streets are what most people walking downtown notice. Woman says she called retired officer when she couldn’t get through to Austin 911 Based on those complaints, police hinted at an operation targeting open-air drug sales.Police leaders said APD is finishing up an operation plan that was set forth by City of Austin Assistant City Manager Bruce Mills, who identified three areas where he wanted more police patrol.Furthermore, police leaders said those corridors are the Brazos Street corridor from Third Street up to Sixth Street, Congress Avenue from Fourth Street up to Eighth Street, West Third Street and the area surrounding Republic Square Park.The lieutenant promised people in the area w...

Concert review: Beyonce delivers meticulously crafted concert spectacular beneath the stars

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:17 GMT

The summer’s second in a would-be trilogy of pop music spectaculars all but took over Huntington Bank Stadium Thursday night as Beyonce thrilled a crowd of about 35,000 with an eye-popping, meticulously planned and executed evening of outsized, celebratory song and dance.Taylor Swift kicked it off last month with two sold-out U.S. Bank Stadium shows that stand among the finest-ever live pop music productions. Madonna was set to wrap the trifecta July 30 at Xcel Energy Center until she was hospitalized with a “serious bacterial infection” following weeks of relentless tour rehearsals and forced to postpone the outing’s North American leg. (The move has caused many fans to speculate her health problems are far more serious than what they’ve been told.)Like all three women, the 41-year-old Beyonce is well-known for wielding an iron fist over all aspects of her music, career and image and that fact was on full display Thursday night. (That included not allowing local p...

Flood cleanup could take weeks, after "catastrophic" flooding

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:17 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – This week on Empire State Weekly, severe thunderstorms rolled through the Northeast this week. Many areas experienced significant damage with cleanup now expected to take weeks. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Jackie Bray, the Commissioner of the State Division Of Homeland Security and Emergency Services explained that heavy equipment and teams of volunteers have been called in to help with the cleanup."Just to give you a sense of scale 8 inches of rain is 80 inches of snow it's a tremendous amount of precipitation we get 8 inches of rain over the entire summer in a heavy rain summer so this was a really catastrophic and historic rain event and the flooding was catastrophic. " Said Bray.Also this week State Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, representative for Assembly District 111, reacted to the ongoing arrival of migrants from New York City in the capitol region. In Rotterdam c"Same sort of secrecy sam...

DOH proposing changes to detect toxins in water

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:17 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (WTEN) -- The state could be upgrading guidelines for our drinking water. The Department of Health proposed a plan to notify New Yorkers about toxic chemicals known as PFAS. Right now, New Yorkers are only notified about two PFAS chemicals. The Department's proposal would set notification levels for an additional 23 that show up at a level between two and five parts per trillion.  Popeyes opens new location in Latham According to DOH some items that contain PFAS include food packaging, paint and varnish, pesticides and more. Some of these toxins do not break down over time, leaking into our soil, air and water. "PFAS pose some of the greatest threats to drinking water in New York. We cannot downplay the risks to human health from these chemicals," said Rob Hayes, Director of clean water for Environmental Advocates New York. And what exactly are those risks? Experts say PFAS can be linked to health issues such as thyroid disease, kidney and testicular cancer, preeclamp...

175 anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:17 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)---Events will be held this weekend in Seneca Falls, celebrating the 175th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention, the birthplace of the women’s rights movement"Right here in Seneca Falls in 1848, a group of women and men got together and held the first convention for women’s rights in American history."This month marks the 175th Anniversary of that historic convention organized by a small group of activists which included Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.Shannon Walsh, of the Women’s Rights National Historic Park, explained some of the rights they were calling for in the Declaration of Sentiments."A lot of them aren’t really things that we would think about today— things like women didn’t have a right to divorce her husbands," said Walsh. "Divorce is only legal for men to bring against their wives. They did not have a right to their own property. If they were married, their husband owned everything that they “owned.” They didn’t even have the right ...

Man convicted in Lansingburgh murder case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:50:17 GMT

LANSINGBURGH, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A Brooklyn man has been found guilty of second-degree murder, according to the Rensselaer County District Attorney's Office. Isaiah Williams, 25, was convicted by a jury on July 21. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! Williams, alongside Antwaun Twitty, 34, of Burlington, VT, and Idelisse Armstead, 27, of Brooklyn, were all charged in the death of 18-year-old Beyonce Wint, of New York City. Wint was found shot in the head early in the morning on September 17, 2019 on 4th Avenue in Lansingburgh. Armstead and Twitty, who were also charged with second-degree murder as accomplices to Williams, pled their cases in favor of cooperation, the two eventually pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter. Twitty was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while Armstead was sentenced to 5 years in prison, with both of them receiving 5 years post release supervision. Guilty verdict reached in fatal 2022 Ephratah ars...