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All-abilities playground opens in Del Valle

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:51 GMT

DEL VALLE, Texas (KXAN) — A new playtime opportunity for all children opened Tuesday at a park in Del Valle, according to Travis County. County leaders cut the ribbon on an all-abilities playground at Southeast Metropolitan Park on Highway 71.According to the county, the playground was developed to meet "the physical, visual, sensory, auditory and mental needs of all children."The playground has a mosasaur-theme, the county said, which is a prehistoric aquatic animal. The bones of one of the creatures were discovered in Onion Creek in the 1930s, according to the county. That mosasaur fossil is now on display at newly renamed Texas Science & Natural History Museum at 2400 Trinity St. on the University of Texas at Austin campus. That museum reopened in September after undergoing extensive renovations. In February, the City of Austin Parks Department identified the Springwood Neighborhood Park as the site for a potential play-for-all-abilities park. Round Rock ISD installs new...

Texas A&M adds pharmacy tech program as response to medical personnel shortage

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:51 GMT

KINGSVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — Texas A&M University said Tuesday it is expanding as a response to a shortage of medical personnel across Texas.The university's Irma Lerma Rangel School of Pharmacy said it will add a pharmacy technician program, called Aggie PTP, in early 2024. According to the school, pharmacy technicians work with pharmacists in hospitals, clinics, as well as in independent and community pharmacies to prepare and dispense medications, manage inventory, administer vaccines and facilitate communication with patients and health care providers. ACC offering online option for bachelors in nursing "A shortage of pharmacy technicians can result in reduced pharmacy business hours, backlogs of unfilled prescriptions, delays in patients receiving their medications and suboptimal health outcomes. Texas is experiencing a shortage and is in dire need of pharmacy technicians," said Andrea Mora, Aggie PTP program director, clinical associate professor and associate department ...

Zeynep Tufekci: What Google’s multibillion payment to Apple says about privacy and power in tech

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:51 GMT

A report in The Guardian in August that lawyers who had had business before the Supreme Court gave money to an aide to Justice Clarence Thomas for a Christmas party was surprising. Just as surprising was the way the publication learned about it: from the aide’s public Venmo records. Brian X. Chen, the consumer technology writer for The New York Times, wrote that even he was surprised that such records of money transfers could be public.A few years ago it became known that Alexa, Amazon’s voice device, recorded and sent private conversations to third parties, that Amazon staff members listened to recordings and kept an extensive archive of recordings by default.Both companies responded to these startling violations of privacy by suggesting that the burden to keep this information from going public was on users, who could, they said, opt out of devices’ default settings to ensure privacy. This is often the standard industry response.Even if you’re aware of these problems, how easy is ...

Five easy dishes for busy holiday weeks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:51 GMT

Fresh ricotta is one of those magic ingredients that elevates a dish with its presence. It casts its spell in all kinds of recipes, lightening texture and adding a certain tenderness to dishes as varied as baked pasta (below), lemon pancakes and turkey meatballs. Fresh ricotta is a standout on a charcuterie board and makes a cloudlike base for squash on toast — a great Thanksgiving appetizer, as it happens.That pasta bake and four other easy dishes that will help you get through these busy holiday weeks.1. Ricotta Pasta BakeThanks to a whole lot of ricotta, this baked pasta is so creamy and milky that it’s nearly as fluffy as pudding. The dish has a sweet tang from roasted lemon and tomatoes, plus a crisp breadcrumb topping to contrast all that plushness. Because the sauce is mostly cheese, it’s worth seeking out ricotta that doesn’t have gum or stabilizers; you’ll get the best results from ricotta that is made of just milk, salt and perhaps a vinegar or natural culture.By Ali Slagl...

A fast, foolproof carbonara for orzo lovers

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:51 GMT

The Italian carbonara police don’t want you to put ham in your spaghetti carbonara; they’ve made that clear. And don’t even think about splashing in cream or grating over Parmesan instead of pecorino.But would they be so angry if the noodles were another shape — maybe small, ovalish orzo?Carbonara “is the poster child for everything that’s wrong and right with trends,” said Roberto Serrini, a filmmaker and journalist who has studied carbonara intensely. His main point is that carbonara changes with time.In the 1960s, it meant a splash of Cognac to pair with the bacon. Today, it means guanciale, eggs, Pecorino Romano and lots of black pepper (the carbon in carbonara).One thing is clear: Using orzo pasta gets you to a plate of creamy, cheesy carbohydrates in a faster, and more foolproof, way than rice or spaghetti alike.In Italy, the dish known as orzotto — a portmanteau of the words orzo and risotto — is made with pearl barley, “orzo” in Italian. Outside the country, however, and as ...

Ask Amy: Distant relationship might not be Mom’s fault

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:51 GMT

Dear Amy: I am writing to you because I have hit a stalemate with my relationship with my mother.We were always politely distant, but now that my father has died, the distance between my mother and me has grown.For the past few years I have sent her flowers on the anniversary of my father’s passing. In return I receive a polite email “thank you,” as if she is speaking to a neighbor and not to her daughter.She does not call or email unless it is to share news about someone who is ill or who has passed away.I have always found her verbal and emotional behavior to be “self-indulgent.”She always speaks in terms of herself and what happens to her.She shows little awareness or empathy to others.I believe this behavior is “narcissistic” and I am so tired of trying to communicate or create an understanding between us.I’m wondering if you have any suggestions.— Exhausted DaughterDear Exhausted: Your mother’s behavior might seem narcissistic, but you could consid...

Milk production growth comes to a standstill in 2022

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:51 GMT

EU farms produced an estimated 160 million tonnes of raw milk in 2022, indicating a year-on-year decrease of 0.3m tonnes. This relative stability contrasted with the steady growth in production since 2010.The vast majority of raw milk (149.9m tonnes) was delivered to dairies, the rest being used directly on farms. It was used to produce a range of fresh and manufactured dairy products. This information comes from data on milk and milk products just published by Eurostat. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on milk and milk products.Among other products, dairies produced 22.5m tonnes of drinking milk in 2022; 7.7m tonnes of acidified milk products from 6m tonnes of whole milk and 1.7m tonnes of skimmed milk; 2.3m tonnes of butter from 46.4m tonnes of whole milk: and 10.4m tonnes of cheese from 59.2m tonnes of whole milk and 16.9m tonnes of skimmed milk. Together, the production of cheese and butter used 70% of all the whole m...

Navigating the transition to senior communities with care and consideration

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:51 GMT

The holidays. It is a time for joy, togetherness, reflection and, for many, time to come home to spend precious moments with aging parents.“As a seniors’ real estate specialist, I often witness the subtle signs that may indicate our loved ones need additional support,” says Dayna Wilson, a seasoned Realtor with Keller Williams Realty. “Recognizing these signs early on can be crucial in ensuring health, happiness and peace of mind for seniors and their adult children,” she adds. She offers the following suggestions:Physical changes: Watch for changes in mobility, balance or appearance. Unexplained bruises, difficulty moving around or a noticeable decline in personal hygiene might indicate that daily activities are becoming challenging.Changes in the home environment: Take note of the condition of their living space. Piles of unopened mail, neglected housekeeping or an overly cluttered environment may suggest that maintaining their home has become overwhelming.Social withdrawal: Isola...

Starting today, Popeyes adds bone-in wings in 5 flavors — and says they’re here to stay

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:51 GMT

Four years after rocking the fast-food chicken world with a fried chicken sandwich, Popeyes is hoping to make a statement with wings.Starting today, locations nationwide will offer hand-battered, bone-in crispy wings in five flavors for the first time. The move comes after three years of culinary development in the Popeyes test kitchen. And while “crashing the wing party,” the company plans to throw some shade at its competitors. (More on that below.)The company says bone-in wings are a permanent addition to the menu, not a limited-time offering. They come in orders of six, 12 or 24 pieces.Three of the sauce flavors are brand new to Popeyes; two have appeared previously on the menu. They are described as:Honey BBQ Wings (new): Tangy tamarind, sweet honey and smoky molasses.Roasted Garlic Parmesan Wings (new): Caramelized garlic and parmesan and asiago cheeses.Signature Hot (new): Popeyes was founded in New Orleans in 1972, so there’s got to be a wing tossed in thei...

America's Unwavering Support for Israel Fuels Iran-Backed "Axis of Resistance"

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:45:51 GMT

On the day meant to honor Hezbollah’s own martyrs, the group’s secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, dedicated a considerable portion of his speech to fighters elsewhere in the region. In a televised address on November 11, Nasrallah praised not just Hezbollah’s strikes on Israel launched from southern Lebanon, but also “supporting fronts” in Iraq and Syria, where armed groups have carried out more than 60 attacks on American troops in the past month.“These actions reflect great courage because it is the Americans they are fighting, the Americans whose fleets, aircraft carriers, and bases fill the region,” Nasrallah said of his Iraqi allies. “If you Americans want these operations on the supporting fronts to stop, if you don’t want regional war, you must stop the aggression and war on Gaza.”Nasrallah’s words indicate growing unity among the so-called axis of resistance, a network of Iran-backed actors in the Mideast that includes Hamas, Hezbollah, the Syrian government, the Houthis i...