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Local teen wins international Fortnite contest, splits $1 million with gaming partner 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:08 GMT

ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) – A Round Rock teenager and his gaming partner won an international Fortnite competition in Denmark on Sunday, snagging $1 million in prize money. Cooper Smith, 16, competed with his 19-year-old partner from Michigan, Matthew "Mero" Faitel, in the Fortnite Champion Series 2023 in Copenhagen, Denmark, from Oct. 13 through Oct. 15, beating out dozens of the best Fortnite players from all over the world. “I put in a lot of preparation. I mean, I was playing like six to eight hours a day [and] watching others,” Smith said. “We did not expect to win at all. Like, we went in this tournament, maybe expecting 15th place, to be honest. And I think we just, you know, came out on top.”Cooper Smith, 16, competed with his 19-year-old partner from Michigan, Matthew "Mero" Faitel, in the Fortnite Champion Series 2023 in Copenhagen, Denmark, from Oct. 13 through Oct. 15, beating out dozens of the best Fortnite players from all over the world (Photo Courtesy Lance...

Volunteers, UnitedHealthcare remake Dunning Park Playground in St. Paul

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:08 GMT

A partnership with KABOOM!, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that helps establish playgrounds in neighborhoods that need them, is bringing as many as 18 play spaces to the city of St. Paul. The first was unveiled Friday outside the Dunning Recreation Center, where a weathered playground was razed and fully replaced over three days by upwards of 150 city residents, city staff and employees of UnitedHealthcare and Sierra apparel.Located at 1221 Marshall Ave. near Central High School, the new Dunning Park Playground is expected to host some 1,300 kids each year.In August, children in the historically-Black Rondo neighborhood were invited to share drawings of their dream play spaces with project organizers. The ideas were later integrated into the playground design.The playground came together with the financial, technical and advocacy support of St. Paul Parks and Recreation, the St. Paul Parks Conservancy, UnitedHealthcare, Sierra and KABOOM! Through partnerships, St. Paul and KABOO...

DEC: 10 hiking essentials every traveler should know

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:08 GMT

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (NEWS10) - As days get shorter, a higher number of Forest Ranger incidents involve hikers staying out on trails later than is safe, stuck in diminishing daylight without proper light sources. On Thursday, rangers rescued a group of hikers on Crane Mountain, near Johnstown in the Adirondacks, under those circumstances. Last weekend, a group of 12 was rescued after getting lost on Owl's Head Mountain with minimal clothing and food, at a scene that did not clear until midnight. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! With incidents like those in mind, this week the Department of Environmental Conservation sent out a reminder: If you need a checklist, they've got one. The DEC's "10 Hiking Essentials" list is a roster of items that can make a difference on any hike. Even if one is planned as a short excursion, a wrong turn or burst of unexpected weather can change everything.The DEC's list actually offers a lot more than 1...

Want to buy a house? Here's how much you need to earn in St. Louis

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:08 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA/NEXSTAR) — Buying a house in the U.S. isn't cheap, and according to a report from Redfin, it is now harder than ever to afford one.Sky-high mortgage rates and rising home prices have made it more difficult than ever, especially for first-time home buyers, Redfin said in the report, which was released Tuesday.The average rate on the benchmark 30-year home loan rose to 7.57% from 7.49% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said earlier this month. It's the highest level in more than two decades.To afford a median-priced U.S. home now, Redfin said buyers must earn $114,627, up 15% ($15,285) from a year ago and up more than 50% since the start of the pandemic. The real estate website said a typical household earns about $40,000 less than that.St. Louis stats:Annual income required to afford median-priced home: $70,912Median home-sale price: $260,000 This is the wealthiest person in your state, new Forbes report shows "Hourly wages have risen in 2023, but not nearly a...

Eric DeValkenaere loses conviction appeal for extrajudicial killing, judge orders him arrested

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:08 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A white former detective in Missouri who shot and killed a Black man in 2019 has lost an appeal of his conviction despite unusual support from the state’s Republican attorney general, with judges on Tuesday ordering the ex-officer placed under arrest.Eric J. DeValkenaere was found guilty in 2021 of second-degree manslaughter and armed criminal action in the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb. Lamb was parking a pickup truck in his Kansas City backyard when the officer shot him after reports Lamb was in a car chase with his girlfriend. The judge who found DeValkenaere guilty in a bench trial said police were the initial aggressors and had a duty to retreat, but DeValkenaere illegally used deadly force instead.Prosecutors and Lamb’s family have alleged a handgun was planted after the shooting, but that issue was not addressed by Jackson County Circuit Court Presiding Judge J. Dale Youngs when he convicted the detective.On Tuesday, a three-judge panel ruled unani...

Local control returns for Normandy and Riverview Gardens school districts

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:08 GMT

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. - Missouri's education board voted Tuesday to relinquish state control of two provisionally-accredited school districts, Normandy and Riverview Gardens, in north St. Louis County. The decision will allow local governance of both school districts for the first time in several years and creates an opportunity for full-elected school boards in 2024, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Under Missouri DESE standards, both districts are considered provisionally accredited, not quite meeting the bar for academic performances and other standards of accreditation. DoorDash driver caught on doorbell camera swiping delivery Normandy Schools Collaborative Superintendent Dr. Michael Triplett says the district is encouraged by the decision as it seeks improvement. 'We look forward to the hard work continuing as we move the district towards full accreditation,” said Triplett. “Although we do not have the preliminary data from the s...

Expansion St. Louis City makes a splash in its first MLS season

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:08 GMT

It's not enough for St. Louis City to secure the top spot in its conference and charge into the Major League Soccer playoffs with more wins than any previous expansion club.City wants more.An MLS Cup title would sure be nice. But even beyond that, St. Louis' aim is success beyond Season 1.As the regular season draws to a close and the playoffs loom, St. Louis is the top team in the Western Conference, becoming the first MLS club to win its conference in a debut season.The team is also the first expansion club since the shootout era to win 17 or more games in the regular season. City currently sits at 17 with one game remaining, a match at home against the Seattle Sounders this Saturday on Decision Day.With 56 points, they're a point away from LAFC's single-season record of 57 points in an inaugural year.“This proves to everyone that if we have big dreams, we can accomplish big things. So we won’t give up on anything," said Diego Gigliani, team president and general manager. “We will...

Letters: Proposition HH is a money grab

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:08 GMT

Prop HH is a money grabRe: “November’s ballot showdown,” Oct. 8 Pro and Con guest commentaries on Prop. HHDon’t be fooled: Proposition HH uses so-called “property tax relief” to trick you into giving up some of your TABOR tax refunds! It’s a tiny and temporary reduction in your property taxes to lure you into giving up one of the most fiscally responsible check and balance systems in the USA.TABOR allows state spending to increase over time, but only along with the size of our population and with inflation. Any extra revenue collected must be returned to the taxpayers. It is fair, reasonable, and responsible. Some people want the state legislature to spend all the money it can collect and never return the excess to us.Many of those people are in the legislature and they keep trying to find ways to stop TABOR and spend extra revenue on whatever they want. That is not fair, reasonable and responsible. They keep trying to kill TABOR through lawsuits ...

Copper will keep free day parking at Alpine Lot for 2023-24 ski season, will charge for overnight

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:08 GMT

Copper Mountain Resort will continue to keep day parking free at the Alpine Lot for the upcoming 2023-24 ski season — though paid parking could still be in the area’s future.Related ArticlesOutdoors | South Broadway outdoor consignment shop gearing up for first ski season Outdoors | 10 ways to get cheap ski and snowboard gear in Colorado Outdoors | One of Colorado’s coolest opening-day ski traditions has nothing to do with skiing Outdoors | Silverton ski area’s new owners plan to keep the backcountry focus that makes it unique Outdoors | Colorado’s most expensive listed home on the market for $105 million in Aspen In February, Summit County commissioners, at the request of Copper officials, lifted a decades-old prohibition on paid parking in the Alpine Lot that was part of the site’s planned unit development guidelines.Representatives for Copper made the case that charging riders ...

Vail Resorts looking to expand presence in Europe, not commenting on possible Crans Montana deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:08 GMT

Vail Resorts is not commenting on speculation that the company is pursuing another acquisition in Switzerland, this time at Crans Montana.The Swiss news outlet Le Temps reported last week that Czech billionaire Radovan Vitek, the owner of Crans Montana Aminona mountain railways, was in talks with Vail Resorts regarding a sale.It would be Vail Resorts’ second ski area acquisition in Switzerland in the last two seasons, as the company also completed a 55% ownership stake in Andermatt-Sedrun during the run-up to the 2022-23 season. But there are some sticking points in the deal, including one that should be familiar to skiers in Vail’s namesake resort: parking, and the balance between municipal parking services and resort-supplied options.“What will ultimately decide this deal is whether Vail Resorts wants to take over the Crans Montana parking lots owned by Radovan Vitek,” according to one interpretation of the deal provided by Unofficial Networks. “The problem with these parking stru...