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'It ain't working.' TxTag auto pay problems leave some drivers with big bills

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:58 GMT

Investigative Summary: This story is part of KXAN’s “TxTag Troubles” investigative project launched May 7, 2023. Following related reports in recent years, our team rededicated its resources to this major consumer issue, after hundreds of viewers complained to us about resurfaced billing and customer service problems with the state’s tollway operator and its contracted vendors. During our reporting, the Texas Department of Transportation began reaching out to viewers who had contacted KXAN to resolve their issues, and state lawmakers renewed their approach to fixing future TxTag problems.AUSTIN (KXAN) — Joe Hanson's job repairing and consulting on screen printers takes him all over Texas. “As far north as you can go, as far south as you can go, I have customers, so I do a lot of driving,” he said.With all the time Hanson spends on the road, he usually pays more than $100 a month in tolls. For years, he's relied on a TxTag — the system that touts itself as making it easy to pay...

Man shot and killed, Illinois trooper injured on I-64

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:58 GMT

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ill. - A man was shot and killed, and a trooper is recovering from injuries after an early Tuesday morning shootout.This happened around 3:00 a.m. on I-64 eastbound near Mt. Vernon. The shooting happened after the suspect displayed a gun when approached by troopers. Cherokee Street shooting: Police release images of suspects Shots were exchanged and one of the troopers were hit. He was taken to a nearby hospital. The suspect died in the shooting.The ISP Division of Internal Investigation is handling the case. FOX 2 will update this story with more information as it becomes available.

O'Fallon sewer backup costs family nearly $50,000

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:58 GMT

O'FALLON, Mo. - When a family from O'Fallon in St. Charles County returned home to find their entire basement swamped with raw sewage and human waste, it was a nightmare.It was because of a backup in the city’s main sewer, which had apparently become clogged with tree roots and other materials.The struggle for the family is that they can’t get much help. Their house was declared a biohazard. They had to relocate to a hotel for three weeks with two children, one of whom is a four-year-old with special needs. The cleanup cost $10,000, and another $7,000 was needed to replace floors and walls. The cost kept rising.It’s been heartbreaking for Rylee Rooneo and her husband, Jason."Now, the city is telling us that they’re not liable even though they’ve had our lateral scoped, and it’s 100 percent not on us," she said. "They agree with us that there’s nothing that we could have done to prevent this. They’re saying that it’s deemed an act of God because we have to prove that they knew about ...

Growing plants and grass on a slope can be an uphill battle. Here are some ideas for how to do it.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:58 GMT

One of the most challenging landscape issues is what to plant and how to manage gardening on slopes and inclines.From firsthand experience, I can confirm the ups and downs of dealing with plants on a slope. We’ve lived on one for more than 20 years, and it’s working well for us.A short incline is removed, soil leveled on top and replaced with an attractive stone retaining wall. (Betty Cahill, Special to The Denver Post)When slope plantings are well executed, it’s not only pretty to look at for you and passersby, but it also can be mostly trouble-free, which is the goal.The reality with slopes is that everything goes in one direction — downward, especially soil and water. Wasting water that rolls downhill is not good in any circumstance. And forget trying to mow grass on a steep slope: You might as well install padding and safety netting at the bottom because someone along the way (probably you) will be rolling down to the bottom.If you have several feet in length and a d...

Boston Market ordered to pay $590K to Golden HQ landlord

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:58 GMT

Boston Market has been ordered to pay nearly $600,000 to the landlord at its longtime headquarters in Golden after defaulting on its lease and ignoring a lawsuit.On Thursday, Judge Meegan Miloud in Golden ordered the fast-casual restaurant chain to pay $589,538 in back rent and fees to Tebo Properties in Boulder, which owns the building at 14103 Denver West Parkway that Boston Market has made its headquarters since 1996.Court documents that BusinessDen obtained in January show Boston Market shrank its footprint there from 63,000 to 27,655 square feet in 2019 but still struggled to pay its monthly rent of $58,000 during the pandemic. Tebo allowed it to defer payments until 2021 but the debt only piled higher and Tebo sued Boston Market at the start of 2023 to collect.Boston Market was served the lawsuit Jan. 18 but never responded in court, so Tebo asked Miloud to issue a default judgment against the company. She did so Thursday.In February, Tebo sued Boston Market for a second time,...

5 jazz festivals to hit this summer in Colorado’s high country

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:58 GMT

It’s just about time to gas up (or charge your EV) and head to the Colorado mountains for this year’s round of jazz celebrations. It’s exciting to see so many of the festivals that are back in full force this summer, and there’s something to appeal to just about everyone, at altitude.Aspen-SnowmassThe JAS June Experience takes place in venues across Aspen June 22-25. Headliners include New Orleans’ Galactic featuring Anjelika Jelly Joseph; Greyboy Allstars with saxophonist Karl Denson; vocalist Veronica Swift; pianist-singer Eliane Elias; Rebirth Brass Band and more. (It’s a deep list this time around.) Tickets are available for single events up to weekend passes, and can be purchased through jazzaspensnowmass.org.Winter ParkThis is impressive: The Winter Park Jazz Festival celebrates 40 years July 15-16. That’s quite a landmark in any facet of the music business. This year’s lineup includes smooth crowd-pleasers Jeff Lorber, Everett Harp, The Dave Koz Summer Horns with Candy Dulfer...

Federal Boulevard’s Asian food bounty is constantly overflowing | Opinion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:58 GMT

Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we will offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems). Denver’s Federal Boulevard spans an Asian and Latino cuisine paradise that only occasionally gets the high praise it deserves.Longtime Denverites know it, as do chefs, foodies and the occasional tourist. But the diverse, working-class corridor just south of Colfax Avenue seems to fall under the radar for some younger transplants, and they’d do well to diversify their eating while getting a more balanced view of the city.In this case, that’s a less polished, less bourgeois one where the people who make and deliver your food can actually afford to live. (See also: the Korean, Ethiopian and Mexican-food paradise of Aurora.)Brisket pho from Pho Duy.There, newcomers will realize that toothsome vegetarian food is more af...

Explicit Streetwear shop owner bringing bakery chain to Aurora, Colorado Springs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:58 GMT

For 14 years, Annie Song has been selling graphic tees and edgy jeans.Now she hopes you’ll try her croissants and quiches.The owner of Explicit Streetwear, which has operated in The Town Center At Aurora since 2009, is preparing to expand the Paris Baguette bakery chain’s presence in the Denver area.Song, 40, has signed a deal allowing her to open four Paris Baguette locations in the region, the first of which she plans to open at 10601 E. Garden Drive in Aurora in July.After Song’s store had to temporarily shut down during the pandemic, she said she realized she needed to expand her business portfolio. So, last February, she applied to become a Paris Baguette franchisee.“Food was an essential business during COVID, so it kind of just opened up my eyes,” Song said. The bakery and cafe sells pastries, cakes and breads, as well as salads and sandwiches. It has roughly 150 locations in the United States, including one in Park that opened under separate ownership in March. Song, whose f...

Pickleball players call fault on Denver’s plans to remove courts from two city parks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:58 GMT

Pickleball players are calling fault on a Denver Parks and Recreation plan to ban courts at two city parks and are accusing a parks official of making arbitrary decisions about where the sport should be played in the city.The players believe they are being targeted because their sport is louder than tennis and basketball and is growing ever more popular with city residents, who wait in lines to play the game on public courts that stay busy from dawn to dusk.“Denver Parks and Recreation has shown clear animosity and hostility toward pickleball,” said Hollynd Hoskins, a Denver attorney who is representing the pickleball community in its battle with the city’s parks department. “I don’t understand why.”In a 37-page appeal filed Monday to the Denver Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, Hoskins wrote that canceling plans to build new pickleball courts and ban the sport entirely at Congress Park and Sloan’s Lake were arbitrary decisions made by a ...

Disability lawsuits: Advocacy or shakedowns?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:28:58 GMT

Kate Bonnaud, operations manager of a Costa Mesa wine bar called Wine Lab, remembers clearly when a letter arrived a few months ago from an Orange County man with a bone to pick.The letter said Wine Lab’s website was inaccessible to visually impaired people like himself because it wasn’t equipped to handle screen-reading software. This meant the site wasn’t in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act."We took it very seriously -- seriously to the point that we took the website down so we could improve it immediately," Bonnaud told me.Not long after, however, the letter writer, Dominick Martin, filed a lawsuit against Wine Tribe, Wine Lab’s parent, seeking up to $75,000 in damages and legal costs.The lawsuit said Martin is a “tester” who seeks to ensure that businesses are in compliance with accessibility rules. It acknowledged that he has filed “multiple lawsuits” in this regard and intends to keep doing so."Generally speaking, we tend to see the same serial plaintiffs ov...