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‘Mississippi miracle’: Kids’ reading scores have soared in Deep South states

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:43 GMT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — It’s a cliché that Kymyona Burk heard a little too often: “Thank God for Mississippi.”As the state’s literacy director, she knew politicians in other states would say it when their reading test scores were down — because at least they weren’t ranked as low as Mississippi. Or Louisiana. Or Alabama.Lately, the way people talk about those states has started to change. Instead of looking down on the Gulf South, they’re seeing it as a model.Mississippi went from being ranked the second-worst state in 2013 for fourth-grade reading to 21st in 2022. Louisiana and Alabama, meanwhile, were among only three states to see modest gains in fourth-grade reading during the pandemic, which saw massive learning setbacks in most other states.The turnaround in these three states has grabbed the attention of educators nationally, showing rapid progress is possible anywhere, even in areas that have struggled for decades with poverty and dismal literacy rates. The states have passed law...

Public pushes back on SROs in Denver schools

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:43 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- The proposed long-term safety plan from Denver Public Schools is not sitting well with some people. For the first time, parents, educators and students had the chance to share their opinion on the first draft at Monday night's school board meeting.The meeting lasted a little more than five hours, and topics of school closures, food insecurity and equity were discussed. Despite all that's listed in the district's 50-page safety plan, what brought criticism was the controversy of bringing school resource officers back into schools. Over 30% of Denver is considered ‘house poor’ Denver Public Schools has been under a microscope as it grapples with safety and gun violence. Superintendent Alex Marrero created the plan that zeros in on mental health resources, the possibility of weapon detection technology and panic buttons and school resource officers.District students like Sky O'Toole stood in front of the school board."We don't want our schools to be militarized. We w...

Mosquito population could boom after recent rain, raising West Nile worries

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:43 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — The recent wet weather has Denver bracing for a potential surge in mosquitoes. “It just depends on how the weather plays out over the next couple of weeks and even the next month,” said Alan Polonsky, an environmental analyst with the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.Polonsky and his team are monitoring about 70 sites across the city each week to check for the presence of mosquito larvae. The sites are in areas known to have large amounts of standing water.“We use this dipper. We call it a dipper. And we put it in the water and we look for larva mosquitoes and if we get a certain amount of them in each dip, we’ll apply larvicide,” he said. Over 800% of average precipitation measured in parts of Colorado According to Polonsky, DDPHE would be doing the same testing regardless of how much moisture Denver has had this month. However, he said the rain has the potential to support a boom in the mosquito population.“It’s definitely gotten our attention. ...

Nuggets, Rockies home games a win for local businesses

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:43 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — With both the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Rockies playing in Downtown Denver on Tuesday night, the local economy was off to a good start this week. Bars and restaurants around Ball Arena were understandably crowded. Bars and restaurants around Coors Field — not so much. But Kelly Evans said not to read too much into it. She's an assistant professor of sport management at Metropolitan State University of Denver. “The bars really focus, I think, on the weekend games,” she said. “I don’t think they’re really concerned about during the week." Photos: Nikola Jokic leads Nuggets past Lakers 132-126 in West opener Mother Nature, she added, also plays a role. “Honestly, I think this is something that happens every year with the Rockies. Whether it be a slow start or good start, mostly because of the weather," Evans said. Game 2 in the Nuggets-Lakers faceoff in the Western Conference finals is slated for Thursday night at Ball Arena.

Chula Vista City Council votes not to reopen Harborside Park yet

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:43 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- People in the South Bay are raising concerns over the conditions at Harborside Park which still remains closed.On Tuesday, the Chula Vista City Council voted not to move forward with reopening the park, as it will remain closed for council staff to do more research on how it can successfully reopen.“They would like to see on the future park site included classrooms, a water feature, exercise opportunities and a playground,” said a city staff presenter commenting on what survey respondents would like to see at the park.The council viewed a presentation of what the community what like to see at the re-imagined Harborside Park.“My concern now as a former principal and former ghetto kid, what is going to be done to improve the arts for the children and their safety?” one community member said. City Council votes to sue SeaWorld San Diego The proposal would include resurfaced basketball courts, a ranger station on-site, wrought iron permanent fencing and security...

Dispute centered around redevelopment of historic Tokyo park, iconic stadiums

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:43 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — About 1,500 trees were cut down to build the $1.4 billion National Stadium for the Tokyo Olympics.Almost two years after the Games ended, the graceful stadium sits largely unused, has no major tenant, and could cost taxpayers a reported $15 million annually in upkeep. In the interim, the Tokyo Games have been sullied by a string of bribery scandals and insider deals.Building new sports facilities is again at the heart of a redevelopment plan for one of Tokyo’s most beloved green areas. And Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is as the center, as she was in promoting the Olympics.This time it’s a famous baseball stadium and an adjacent rugby ground in a historic park area known as Jingu Gaien. The stadiums are to be razed and rebuilt, making way for a pair of nearly 200-meter (650-foot) skyscrapers and a commercial makeover. The project highlights the ties among the main actors: the governor, the realty developer Mitsui Fudosan, and Meiji Jingu, a religious organization that own...

Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss warns of China threats during Taiwan visit

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:43 GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss warned of the economic and political threats to the West posed by China during a visit Wednesday to Beijing’s democratic rival Taiwan.Truss is the first former British prime minister since Margaret Thatcher in the 1990s to visit the self-governing island republic that China claims as its own territory, to be conquered by force if necessary. Still a sitting member of the House of Commons, Truss follows a growing list of elected representatives and former officials from the U.S., EU nations and elsewhere who have visited Taiwan to show their defiance of China’s threats and attempts to cut off the island and its high-tech economy from the international community. “There are those who say they don’t want another Cold War. But this is not a choice we are in a position to make. Because China has already embarked on a self-reliance drive, whether we want to decouple from their economy or not,” Truss said in an addres...

Australia: Truck driver charged after 7 children seriously injured in collision with school bus

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:43 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A truck driver was charged Wednesday after seven children were hospitalized with serious injuries when he rear-ended a school bus on the outskirts of Melbourne in southeastern Australia, officials said.The dump truck the 52-year-old man was driving hit the back of a school bus carrying 45 students and caused it to overturn Tuesday afternoon at an intersection in Eynesbury, a semi-rural community west of Melbourne, police said. Head injuries, arm amputations and suspected spinal injuries were reported by a hospital official.The truck driver, whose name has not been made public, was charged with four counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury, a police statement said.He will appear via a video link in the Melbourne Magistrates Court later Wednesday, police said.Police Superintendent Michael Cruse said more charges were likely.“Speed will be considered as well as part of the investigation,” Cruse told reporters.Cruse paid tribute to passersby and the ...

US seeks multiple life sentences for NYC bike path killer

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:43 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Relatives of eight people killed in a Halloween terror attack on a New York City bike path as well as those who were injured are expected to speak at a Wednesday sentencing hearing for an Islamic extremist who prosecutors say deserves multiple life sentences.Sayfullo Saipov’s sentencing in Manhattan federal court comes after a jury in March rejected the death penalty for the Uzbekistan citizen and onetime New Jersey resident, leaving him with a mandatory life sentence.Prosecutors urged Judge Vernon S. Broderick to impose a sentence of eight consecutive life sentences — one for each death — and an additional 260 years in prison, according to a presentence submission.“Saipov is an unabashed terrorist — a proud murderer who deserves no leniency and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law,” prosecutors wrote.“After months of planning a vicious terrorist attack, Saipov got what he wanted: brutal carnage of innocent people, lives and families ...

Black Californians hope state reparations don’t become another broken promise

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:12:43 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco resident Pia Harris hopes for reparations in her lifetime. But the nonprofit program director is not confident that California lawmakers will turn the recommendations of a first-in-the-nation task force into concrete legislation given pushback from opponents who say slavery was a thing of the past.It frustrates Harris, 45, that reparations opponents won’t acknowledge that life for Black people did not improve with the abolition of chattel slavery in 1865. Black families have been unable to accumulate wealth through property ownership and higher education. Black boys and teenagers are still told to watch out for law enforcement, and Black businesses struggle to get loans, she said.“I want them to stop acting like it’s so far removed, and it’s not currently happening,” said Harris of the lingering effects of slavery and discrimination. “I want them to understand that we’re still going through things now as a community. It’s not — it hasn’t been ...