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Customers complain of suspected inaccuracies with Austin Water's new smart meters

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – It just kills Lori Latimer to let her plants die. “These are some Mother’s Day gifts,” she said. “I used to have beautiful pink and white flowers all over this one and now it’s just a weed almost.”Still, there’s no way she’s watering now. “With the water situation as it is,” she said. “I had to stop.”That situation is her new Austin Water smart meter.In 2020, Austin Water began an ambitious, five-year project to replace all 250,000 analog water meters in the city with new, digital meters that measure and transmit water usage by wireless transmission. Austin Water said the conversion will cost $95.1 million dollars, paid for with low-interest loans from the Texas Water Development Board.Latimer, a medical practice manager, said ever since Austin Water installed the smart meter at her north Austin home in the spring, “Each month my water usage goes up and up and up.” Central Texas drought ‘top one or two driest’ ‘Not smart at all,” she added. “This meter has a m...

Michelle Goldberg: Gerrymandered majority threatens to essentially undo an election in Wisconsin

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

For a little while this year, it looked as though Wisconsin voters had finally broken out of the straitjacket of minority rule in their state. The key to their freedom was an April state Supreme Court election that, turning on the intertwined issues of abortion and gerrymandering, flipped control of the bench from conservatives to liberals.Since 2011, Wisconsin Republicans have manipulated electoral maps to lock in their legislative dominance, even when a majority of voters chose Democratic candidates. Their grip on the state Legislature has made it impossible to repeal an unpopular 1849 law banning almost all abortions, which went into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The state Supreme Court election, which turned into the most expensive such race in history, offered voters a singular chance to make their state’s politics more democratic.Janet Protasiewicz, the left-leaning candidate in the nonpartisan contest, was careful not to declare how she would rul...

Keeler: CU Buffs QB Shedeur Sanders “can break all my records,” Sefo Liufau says. Based on how he torched those softies from Nebraska, Coach Prime’s kid just might.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

BOULDER — Sefo Liufau took a break from training to be a firefighter just long enough to watch Shedeur Sanders burn Nebraska square in the backside.“(Shedeur has) definitely got to be a little more accurate than I was my junior year,” Liufau, owner of 64 CU passing records, including yards in a season and touchdowns in a season, told me Saturday by phone after watching his beloved Buffs stomp the Huskers into corn mash, 36-14. “I would say he’s definitely more accurate.“(Sanders) has done a very good job of extending plays. He’s got good presence in the pocket. He says confident and humble at the same time. Which is very hard to find these days.”You know what’s harder? Finding a Power 5 defense that can make Sanders, son of first-year Buffs coach Deion Sanders, look remotely human.Most first-time QB1s at CU get to wade in the shallows a bit first, in order to get used to the water. The 2023 fight card chucked Shedeur straight into the ...

RV park or mobile home park? Battle over semantics has major implications in Colorado.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

GRAND LAKE — The T Lazy W Park has long served as a mountain oasis for vacationers looking to escape the summer heat and relax in Colorado’s picturesque high country.The park for recreational vehicles, nestled alongside U.S. 34, sits between Lake Granby and Shadow Mountain Lake, its cool blue waters reflecting the surrounding mountains. Just up the road, visitors can hike the vast west side of Rocky Mountain National Park or cast a line in the Colorado River.The grounds sport 55 RV and trailer sites, with another 23 mobile home units. The 80-some owners only come during the summer months as the park doesn’t have running water or sewage systems during the winter. None use it as their primary residence.Residents call it an RV park. But the state says it’s a mobile home park subject to the Mobile Home Park Act, a series of laws aimed at protecting low-income residents from predatory owners looking to jack up rents. This distinction, T Lazy W Park’s owners ...

Is CBD Crude Oil Crummy Or High-Quality?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

The term “CBD oil” now encompasses a wide array of hemp extracts. Although all CBD oils may look similar, each company uses a different refining process to extract this valuable hemp cannabinoid. Some companies refine away virtually all the secondary hemp compounds, while others focus on preserving the “full spectrum” of the hemp plant.Arguably, hemp crude oil is the most “unrefined” CBD oil on today’s market. While the name may be off-putting, this type of CBD oil is gaining popularity in the hemp community. Customers who are still considering which CBD extract to buy should consider the advantages and disadvantages of crude hemp oil.What Are The Defining Traits Of CBD Crude Oil?Simply put, crude hemp oil is the least purified form of CBD oil. Many companies that make CBD crude oil claim their extract is incredibly close to the chemical profile in hemp flowers. While CBD will be the dominant cannabinoid in hemp crude oils, they will also co...

From the Roadshow archives: Crazed by your commute? There’s always Bismarck

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

Editor’s note: Mr. Roadshow wanted to share some of his favorite columns and stories from more than 30 years of informing, entertaining and getting things changed for Bay Area (and beyond) drivers. He’ll be back on the road with new material soon. In the meantime, please keep sending Mr. Roadshow your comments or questions to [email protected] story originally was published on Feb. 2, 1997. This is it. Commuter heaven.The fewest traffic problems of any significant city in the entire U.S. of A. No traffic reports every 10 minutes. No carpool lanes. Metering lights? Bah, humbug. Triple left-turn lanes? Not here. Driver rage? You gotta be kidding.Places Rated Almanac ranks the capital of North Dakota No. 1 in the country when it comes to the shortest and least stressful commute. People here actually live five blocks from work. Compared to us, they gain an extra three weeks of vacation a year in time they save motoring to their job.“Driving in N...

570 California schools targeted for low vaccination rates

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

By Diana Lambert, Daniel J. Willis and Yuxuan Xie | EdSourceMore than 500 California public schools are being audited by the state because they reported that more than 10% of their kindergarten or seventh-grade students were not fully vaccinated last school year. Schools that allow students to attend school without all their vaccinations are in jeopardy of losing funding.The audit list, released by the California Department of Public Health, includes 450 schools serving kindergarten students and 176 schools serving seventh graders with low vaccination rates. Fifty-six of the schools serve both grade levels. Another 39 schools failed to file a vaccination report with the state.“Schools found to have improperly admitted students who have (not) met immunization requirements may be subject to loss of average daily attendance payments for those children,” the California Department of Public Health said in an email.Students who are overdue for their vaccinations or who have been admitted ...

$7 million project begins to rebuild historic Northern California wharf wrecked in huge winter storms

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

It was arguably the most dramatic image from the powerful storms that battered Northern California’s coastline in January: The Capitola Wharf, an 855-foot-long landmark that dates back to 1857, torn in half by pounding waves.Photos of the damage to the popular Santa Cruz County waterfront attraction went around the world.The heavily damaged Capitola Wharf juts into Monterey Bay on Thursday Sept. 7, 2023. The damage sustained in huge storms on Jan. 5, 2023 will be repaired as part of a $7.7 million project that begins this month. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel) “People here were just bawling that day, watching it happen,” said Capitola resident Gerry Jensen. “They were brokenhearted. I heard things like ‘I used to go fishing with my grandfather out there.'”Now the seas are calm. And in a major rebirth for the seaside town whose economy depends on tourism and the beach, construction crews are set to begin work next week on a $7.7 mi...

‘Not a lot of silver linings’ after Cal Golden Bears let another one get away in 14-10 loss to Auburn

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

BERKELEY — The road ahead got tougher for Cal after it reverted to a chronic problem of recent years in a 14-10 defeat to Auburn before 44,141 fans at Memorial Stadium and an ESPN national audience on Saturday night.The Bears cannot win the close ones.They have lost 19 games since the start of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and 13 of those defeats have come by margins of seven points or fewer.“There’s not a lot of silver linings,” coach Justin Wilcox said after this one. “We had plenty of chances and we didn’t get it done.”The Bears head into this week unsure of the status of star running back Jaydn Ott, who tried leaping over a defender and hit the ground hard late in the third quarter, staying there for at least two minutes before walking off. He did not return.“He was talking to us, trying to get us riled up,” quarterback Sam Jackson V said. “But you could kind of feel the shift in the game and the momentum and it just kind of went downhill from there.”Cal closes its no...

Lopsided loss to No. 6 USC gives young Stanford Cardinal something to shoot for

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:02:59 GMT

While Stanford’s season-opening win at Hawai’i showed what the Cardinal could become under new coach Troy Taylor, a 56-10 loss at No. 6 USC on Saturday night showed how far it still has to go, at least if it wants to compete with the top teams in the country.The Trojans (3-0) led 49-3 at halftime and rolled to the third biggest blowout in the 118-year history of the series, which has been played 102 times. USC beat Stanford 49-0 in 1977 and 54-7 in 1952.“We’re still learning about our team,” Taylor said. “What I do know, though, is they’re going to compete, they’re not going to stop and they’re going to continue to get better. And we’ll do the same as the coaching staff. Who we are — the season is early on — hasn’t been defined. It’s one day. Obviously, we’re not at their level right now. But we will shoot to be there and we will continue to work at it.”The Cardinal (1-1) will have a chance to rebound quickly. Next up is the home...