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Texas homestead tax exemption increase approved by voters

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texans voted to approve Proposition 4 which will increase the homestead tax exemption and provide property tax relief, according to Associated Press projections. ELECTION DAY BLOG: Texans vote on 14 state constitutional amendments, local propositions With 40% of the vote reported, 84% voted in favor of the proposition.The changes will apply to the 2023 tax bills due in January.Proposition 4, stemming from H.J.R 2 from the 2nd special session this year, will:Raise the general school district homestead exemption to $100,000Allow legislature to set a cap on annual appraised-value increase for non-homestead real propertyEnsure appropriations for property tax relief does not count towards the constitutional spending limitAllow legislature to set four-year terms for members of an appraisal entity’s governing body in counties with 75,000+ residents Why Texas’ constitutional amendment elections historically have low voter turnout BackgroundEfforts to make this propert...

Texas Energy Fund to make electric grid more reliable approved by voters

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texans voted on a proposition that would create funding to increase “reliability” for Texas’ electric grid in the Nov. 7 constitutional amendment election. ELECTION DAY BLOG: Texans vote on 14 state constitutional amendments, local propositions The Associated Press projected Texas Proposition 7, which originated from S.J.R. 93, would pass. The proposition would create the Texas Energy Fund, which would support and finance the “construction, maintenance, and modernization of electric generating facilities.” Turnout tracker: How many people have voted in the November 2023 election? BackgroundProposition 7 comes after power grid challenges experienced most notably during winter storms in the past years.Pablo Vegas, president and CEO of ERCOT, emphasized the grid has become more “volatile” given the current resources. Election Results “The complexities of managing a growing demand, and a very dynamic load environment with those...

Billions added to Texas teacher's retirement system

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texans voted to approve Proposition 9 which will add billions to the Texas retired teacher's pension, according to Associated Press projections. ELECTION DAY BLOG: Texans vote on 14 state constitutional amendments, local propositions Proposition 9, stemming from H.J.R 2 from the 88th regular session, would make an "appropriation of $3.45 billion to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS)" to provide cost-of-living adjustments to eligible annuitants within TRS.With 40% of the vote reported, 84% voted in favor of Prop 9.BackgroundJoe Ramirez, a former high school teacher of the year from the Austin Independent School District, has been retired for 11 years, and his pension check of $2,000 hasn't increased since.“People are basically living from month-to-month. And they need to have a little bit more security to make sure that their futures in their golden years are better off,” Ramirez said. Election Results Over a quarter of the system’s beneficiaries rece...

Bertram man sentenced in child pornography case

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Central Texas man was sentenced Monday for advertising child sexual abuse material online, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.According to the DOJ, 35-year-old Neal Staton Grubert, of Bertram, received 15 years in prison, as well five years of supervised release.The DOJ said on July 12, Grubert pleaded guilty to one count of advertising child pornography.An undercover investigation found images and a video uploaded and published by Grubert on a dark website, according to the DOJ.“This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse,” the DOJ said.

Election results: 2023 St. Paul-area races

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

Check here for live election results. And remember, there’s an asterisk on all of Tuesday night’s results: Not all absentee ballots have been counted yet. That means some contests won’t be definitively called Tuesday night.App users: Try our mobile site if the chart below is not visible. MINNESOTA GENERAL ELECTION LIVE RESULTSRelated ArticlesElections | Local voters cast ballots in election featuring city council, school board races, ballot questions Elections | Kentucky Gov. Beshear wins reelection. Ohio passes amendment on abortion rights. Follow live updates Elections | What you need to know for Election Day Elections | Voters in the St. Anthony-New Brighton School District will decide on two questions on Tuesday’s ballot Elections | Stillwater School District: Voters will elect board member and decide on $175M bond referendum

City of Albany hosts job fair ahead of ShopRite closure

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The city of Albany is working to help ShopRite employees find jobs before the store closes in December. The city hosted a job fair at the ShopRite location on Central Avenue on Tuesday.It gave ShopRite employees a chance to learn about employment opportunities with the city and then connect them with employment training programs. The goal is to help as many people as possible. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! "We can't hire everyone, obviously. We do have a limited number of vacancies, but we can help people get jobs," City of Albany Dir. of Human Resources Tatiana Diaz said. "So we felt that it was very important for us to not only be able to help some people with jobs but hold their hand through their job search process."More than 500 current ShopRite employees will lose their jobs. The company said they have not brought in enough revenue to keep those stores open.

Suburban voters select new mayors in Lakewood and Arvada, decide on police and fire funding

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

Voters on Tuesday were set to elect new mayors for two of Colorado’s largest cities, bringing to an end eight-year runs at the top of Lakewood’s and Arvada’s municipal power structures.Councilwoman Wendi Strom held a sizable lead over challengers Cathy Kentner and Don Burkhart in Lakewood, the state’s fifth-largest city, with 46.7% of the vote, according to preliminary results released shortly after polls closed at 7 p.m. In Arvada, the state’s seventh-largest city, John Marriott had a slender 50.3% to 49.7% lead over Lauren Simpson.Both Marriott and Simpson currently serve on the City Council.Suburban voters had a host of candidates and ballot issues to decide on in this election, including a myriad of local tax measures and three separate ballot questions in Commerce City about whether residents can keep backyard ducks, chickens and bees. In early results, chickens and bees were in the winning column while ducks were not so welcome.The winner in Lakew...

Incumbent Mike Coffman leading Juan Marcano in Aurora mayor’s race

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

Incumbent Mike Coffman had a significant lead in the race for Aurora mayor in the first round of election results posted at 7 p.m. Tuesday.City Council member Juan Marcano is challenging Coffman for the seat, and in the early results, Coffman, who is running for a second term, had 56.61% of the vote to Marcano’s 36.35%, leading by more than 8,100 votes.The third candidate in the race, Jeff Sanford, who ran a limited campaign for the seat, had received 7.04% of the vote.Although the citywide races are nonpartisan, the candidates for mayor and City Council could take Aurora in vastly different directions, depending on who voters ultimately elect.Coffman, a Republican and former U.S. congressman, was elected to his first term leading the left-leaning city in 2019. In 2021, the City Council majority also flipped to conservative leadership. While Coffman and others running for local seats hope to see that trend continue, Marcano, a Democrat, and other progressive candidates are pus...

Proposition HH results: Colorado are rejecting complex property tax relief measure

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

Colorado’s wide-ranging Proposition HH, a property tax relief and education-funding measure pressed by the state’s Democratic leaders, was failing by a wide margin Tuesday night, with early results showing it down by more than 20 percentage points. As of 7:45 p.m., nearly 62% of voters had rejected Proposition HH while just under 39% supported it out of 966,000 votes tabulated so far.While 56% of Denver voters were supporting HH, suburban voters were handily rejecting it — “no” votes had a 57% share in Arapahoe County, a 60% share in Jefferson County and a 66% share in Douglas County.The measure, backed by Gov. Jared Polis, became a partisan battleground in an election year without any state races on the ballot. Its complexity reflected the careful aims of supporters, while rallying opposition groups against a measure that, beyond tamping down on coming property tax increases, also proposed to tinker with state tax refunds and significantly boost educat...

Denver Referred Question 2P: Voters supporting extension of preschool tax

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:38:00 GMT

Denver voters are supporting Referred Question 2P, which would permanently extend the existing city sales tax that provides preschool tuition for Denver kids, early results on Tuesday night show.Initial results posted shortly after 7 p.m. by the Denver Elections Division, 75.9% of voters supported the measure while 24.1% opposed it. The measure held a 46,491 vote lead with just under 90,000 ballots counted in that initial posting.If that lead holds, the city’s 0.15% sales tax — or 15 cents on every $100 purchase — that raises money for preschool tuition for Denver kids would become a permanent fixture of the city’s tax hierarchy.As currently written, the tax sunsets in 2026.Denverites first voted to establish a dedicated sales tax stream to provide educational opportunities for 4-year-olds in 2006. That measure established a 0.12%  — or 12 cents on every purchase of $100 dollars — sale tax to fund the city’s preschool program through 2016.In...