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Darkest nights: Austin's earliest sunset has arrived

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:27 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Winter hasn't even started yet, but we're already experiencing the earliest sunsets of the year in Central Texas.5:30 p.m. is the earliest the sun sets each year in Austin. This year, Nov. 25 was the first time the sun set at 5:30 p.m. and it will continue to set at 5:30 p.m. through Dec. 10.Austin sunsetsOn Dec. 11 the sun sets in Austin at 5:31 p.m. and sunset will continue getting later until late June or early July when we reach the latest sunset of the year at 8:36 p.m.Unfortunately, while our sunsets will soon start to get later, our sunrises will continue getting later as well. We don’t experience our latest sunrises of standard time until Jan. 4-16 when the sun doesn’t rise until 7:28 a.m.Austin sunrisesThis, however, is not our latest sunrise of the whole year. Our latest sunrise of the whole year happens the day before we end Daylight Saving Time. On Nov. 4 the sun rose at 7:47 a.m., the latest sunrise of the year.Why doesn’t the latest sunset occur on the ...

For 30 years, she built a garden of stone. St. Paul wants the boulevard cleared.

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:27 GMT

The way 70-year-old Iris Logan sees it, the stones, statues and decorative art works that cover her Sherburne Avenue yard were a response to a problem the city of St. Paul created. More than 30 years ago, the city dug so deep around her boulevard tree for a road repair project, the roots were exposed, as she recalls.So she hauled in bricks and dirt. She planted flowers. And then she added stones. And kept adding. And for three decades hence, her stone tapestry grew and grew.”I’m a rock lover,” said Logan, a former cotton sharecropper from Mississippi, in her signature southern twang on Tuesday. “I’m not going to lie. If I see a rock I like, I try and roll it in my car on a 2-by-4.”Her art-driven installation has grown so large, the front of her home in the 1300 block of Sherburne Avenue has commanded the attention of the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections, and not in a good way.According to a written notice, a city legislative hearing officer will addres...

Men’s basketball: Gophers’ turnovers cost them in blowout loss to San Francisco

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:27 GMT

The Gophers men’s basketball team’s game against San Francisco on Sunday represented the best remaining opportunity to get a higher-quality nonconference win this season.Minnesota gave it away in a 76-58 loss to the Dons at the Golden State Warriors’ Chase Center in San Francisco.The Gophers (4-2) have lost both non-Big Ten games against quality opponents, including the 70-68 loss to Missouri on Nov. 16. The U has five remaining nonconference contests this season.The Gophers finished with 18 total turnovers and it led to 25 points for San Francisco.“I tow as tough from the standpoint that we had a lot of self-inducted plays that just killed us on both sides of the ball,” head coach Ben Johnson said on the KTLK-AM postgame radio show. “Whether it was a quick shot, a turnover or just a defensive miscue that we are going to fix. That is the disappointing part.”As the turnovers mounted Sunday, Johnson grew frustrated. When Elijah Hawkins had his fifth...

Gophers earn bid to NCAA volleyball tournament, will face Utah State

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:27 GMT

The Minnesota Gophers on Sunday made the field for the 2023 NCAA Division I Volleyball Championships. They will face sixth-seeded Utah State at 4 p.m. Friday in Omaha, Neb.The Gophers (16-12, 12-8 Big Ten) and Aggies will compete in the first match of the evening, followed by No. 3 Creighton facing Colgate at 6:30 p.m. The winner of each match will advance to the second round at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, also at the home of  Creighton.Should the Gophers advance out of the first two rounds, they will travel to the Pittsburgh regional from Dec. 7-9. Their portion of the bracket includes No. 2 seed Louisville and No. 4 Washington State.The Gophers placed fifth in the Big Ten behind only Nebraska (19-1), Wisconsin (17-3), Penn State (15-5) and Purdue (15-5). All four of those teams also made the NCAA field. Nebraska holds the No. 1 overall seed, while Wisconsin (3) will also host one of the four regionals.Purdue will host in the first two rounds, while No. 5 Penn State travels to No. 4 seeded...

Bi-State may run Loop Trolley one year longer than planned

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:27 GMT

ST. LOUIS – The head of Bi-State Development said he’ll likely run the Delmar Loop Trolley longer than first planned.At $51 million in taxpayer money, the trolley is one of the St. Louis area’s costliest projects in recent history.Bi-State Development President and CEO Taulby Roach said the agency is making progress to keep the project afloat and is considering running the trolley for at least four years instead of three.“We solve problems for the region. This wasn’t our project. It’s not the county executive’s favorite project; it’s not the mayor’s favorite project, but what we had to do was solve a problem,” Roach said. “And you know what? We’re doing pretty well.”The trolley was forced to shut down in late 2019 because of a lack of finances brought on by poor ridership.There was a heated debate over whether to let the trolley fail and default on the money the federal government had kicked in for the project. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones led the push to get Bi-State Development ...

River's inspiring journey from Rwandan orphan to football star

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:27 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- On the surface, it looks like any other journey for a stand-out football player. Star on the high school gridiron, then move up to division one. But River Lakey's path to Lindenwood University's football team is anything but ordinary."I see how much of a blessing it is to be here," said River Lakey.River was born in Kigali, Rwanda in 2004."River was found in a ditch in a rainstorm or after a rainstorm late at night, 11 p.m. His umbilical cord scab was still in place and the lady who found him, brought him in. She didn't have much in her home," said father Jimmy Lakey. "He ended up in an orphanage. They were well taken care of, for the most part, but it was just poor."Jimmy adopted River in 2008 and moved him to Colorado. He didn't want to turn his back on River's friends from the orphanage in Rwanda. The family started a foundation called River's Promise. The goal was to make a difference in River's hometown."We totally closed out that orphanage. We gave all the kids fa...

Mizzou, KU selected to 2023 NCAA volleyball tournament

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:27 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Tigers and Kansas Jayhawks are dancing into the 2023 NCAA volleyball tournament. Mizzou is an 8-seed and will face Delaware in the first round of the tournament held in Lincoln, Nebraska, at the University of Nebraska. If the Tigers win, they face the winner of the 1-seed Huskers and Long Island University. The Tigers finished seventh in the SEC with a 17-12 record and 9-9 in conference play under first-year head coach Dawn Sullivan. They are much improved from their 9-19 record in 2022 where they finished last in the conference with only two wins in SEC play. Chiefs TE Travis Kelce leads franchise in career receiving yards Kansas is a top-16 seed and a host as a 4 seed. They face Omaha in their first match on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT and face the winner of 5-seed Penn State and Yale.If Kansas wins out in Lawrence, they could potentially face 1 seed Wisconsin and former Jayhawk middle blocker CC Crawford. The Jayhawks will enter their third straight to...

Kiszla: Russell Wilson and Vance Joseph have gone from zeros to heroes during Broncos’ five-game winning streak

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:27 GMT

Hey, Broncos Country: Now that your favorite NFL team has won five games in a row, are you ready to issue an apology to Russell Wilson and Vance Joseph?Let me make it easy for you. I will go first.When this football team was 1-5, I was ready to run Wilson and Joseph out of this dusty old cowtown. My reasons were strong. But I was wrong.After giving Cleveland a 29-12 beatdown in their most complete performance of this NFL season, the Broncos have established a winning identity that can carry them all the way to the playoffs.The quarterback and defensive coordinator who many (me included) wanted to run out of Denver are now leading an improbable run to the playoffs. During a turnaround nobody saw coming, Wilson and Joseph have gone from zeros to heroes.“I’ve never doubted,” Wilson said Sunday. “I’ve never doubted our football team and where we could go.”That identity has been established by the two people who not long ago were designated Persona Non Grata No. 1 and N...

Broncos’ recipe isn’t fancy, but they’ve finally figured out it can be an award-winner: “It’s not just our room believing in us anymore. It’s time to go.”

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:27 GMT

Denver grows more cosmopolitan by the year, but what the Broncos have cooking up isn’t likely to earn any attention from the fancy folk at Michelin.On the menu these days at Casa Sean Payton: Meat. Potatoes. And a fresh-baked pile of turnovers every weekend.Slowly but surely, Payton and the Broncos offense have learned to eat their vegetables.Vance Joseph’s defense will stick to your ribs or, more often than not, plow right through them.The whole refrigerator of ingredients nearly spoiled in the September heat. They’re not exactly the most stocked pantry in the NFL. And it took a long time for the kitchen to find its rhythm. But at the tail end of Thanksgiving weekend, this team put together its most satisfying meal yet: A big, bad, rugged 29-12 victory over Cleveland.The ingredient list:The Broncos out-gained the Browns on the ground, 169-107.They held the Cleveland offense to 2 of 13 on third down and converted 6 of 14 themselves.They took the ball away three more times — th...

Nikola Jokic, Nuggets bounce back against Spurs in Victor Wembanyama’s first visit to Denver

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:00:27 GMT

Not even the terrifyingly territorial wingspan of Victor Wembanyama can enter the House of Jokic and prevail.When the Nuggets need a win — and they needed one badly Sunday — Ball Arena is their old reliable, always waiting for them with open arms back at altitude. They are 8-0 at home this season after a 132-120 rout of the Spurs in Wembanyama’s first visit to the Front Range.The highly touted rookie registered 22 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks and six steals, but Nikola Jokic managed to win the opening tip against all 7 feet and 4 inches of Wembanyama, foreshadowing the next two hours. Jokic piled up an efficient 39 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists to hand San Antonio its 12th consecutive loss.The Nuggets’ only three wins in the last eight games have come against teams with losing streaks of five or more games. But but never mind the opponent: They needed this one coming out of a 1-4 road trip that ended with group stage elimination from the in-season ...