Latest news with #Eckhardt
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Pflugerville officially named the Trail Capital of Texas
The Brief Pflugerville now officially the Trail Capital of Texas Abbott signed SCR 4 which was introduced by Sen. Eckhardt, Rep. Cole The city says it maintains more than 71 miles of accessible trails PFLUGERVILLE, Texas - The city of Pflugerville now has the distinction of officially being the Trail Capital of Texas. What we know Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed SCR 4, which was introduced by state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt and state Rep. Sheryl Cole. SCR 4 designates the city as the official Trail Capital of Texas for a 10-year period ending in 2035. By the numbers Currently, the city says it maintains 60 miles of public trails within its limits as well as an additional 15.2 miles in its extraterritorial jurisdiction, totaling more than 71 miles of accessible paths. Pflugerville also boasts more public trails per capita than any other city in the state, with 1.49 miles per 2,000 residents. An estimated 94.8% of community members live within a half-mile of a trail. According to the 2025 Community Satisfaction Survey, 78% of community respondents are satisfied with the quality of Pflugerville parks and trails. Nearly 40% of respondents visit the trail system weekly. What they're saying "The Texas Legislature officially recognized Pflugerville as the Trail Capital of Texas, a title clearly reflected by the community of users we see on the trails every day," said Pflugerville Parks & Recreation Director Shane Mize. "The Pflugerville trails system connects the community. It's a path to increase health and wellness and also provides an alternative connection to retail and residential locations for pedestrians and cyclists throughout the city. With over 90% of our population within a 10-minute walk to a trail, it is more than the crown jewel of our park system. Trails connect us as a community." What you can do To celebrate the designation, Pflugerville is releasing special Trail Capital of Texas T-shirts at the Pflugerville RecCenter (400 Immanuel Road, Pflugerville, TX, 78660). Information on the shirts will be released on the city of Pflugerville's Parks and Recreation Department's social media accounts. The Source Information in this report comes from the city of Pflugerville and Texas Legislature records.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Senate passes bill authorizing study of Texas mental hospital capacity
AUSTIN (KXAN) – A bill authorizing an extensive study of Texas' mental health facilities and treatment system received full Senate approval Wednesday. State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, wrote the measure, SB 719, saying Texas' state hospital system is 'overstrained and over-capacity' and experiencing increasing annual demand, according to her bill analysis. The bill now goes to the House where it will await referral to a committee. Among many duties, Texas' state hospitals treat patients charged with crimes and found incompetent to stand trial. Due to limited space, those individuals often wait months – even years in some cases – before getting to a state hospital bed. 'Currently, there is no official state estimate of future bed needs,' according to Eckhardt's bill analysis. 'In 2023, over 60 percent of adults treated inside state hospitals came from the criminal justice system, either from county jails or the prison system.' 'This is a crisis.' Lawmaker seeks transfer deadline for state hospital waitlist All those criminal cases are put on hold, until the mentally ill individuals reach a state hospital, get treatment and are returned to competency. Eckhardt told KXAN that delay can amount to 'justice denied.' KXAN has reported extensively on the impact of the state hospital's waitlist, including people dying before reaching trial and families left waiting for justice. At least 54 died since 2018 waiting for state hospital opening, senator calls for more tracking The bill would study the current supply and future needs for acute inpatient psychiatric beds in in-patient mental facilities, and researchers could collaborate with an academic institution. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rockford students team with artist to celebrate hometown pride with new mural
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Students from five Rockford Public School District middle schools are teaming up with professional artist Dustin Eckhardt to create a mural at Hillman Elementary. The design is the result of a survey that asked students what makes them proud of Rockford. 'It's cultural diversity, community. A sense of taking care of the environment and sustainability. And then play. You know, like high energy. Just sports and other artist reliefs and things like that,' Eckhardt said. There's also a portion of the mural for students to leave their own, personal touches. The artwork is part of the All-District Mural Project. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Cave rescue in Pope County takes seven hours
POPE COUNTY, Ark. – A cave rescue in Pope County took seven hours to complete. It happened on the Pedestal Rock trail by Arch Loop at the far northern corner of Pope County. Brenda Eckhardt made one wrong step on uneven ground, and her son called 911. 'As soon as I fell, my leg was at a very wrong angle. We knew it was bad,' Eckhardt said. New video shows multi-agency rescue at Arkansas River dam Blown-out tendons and severe sprains ended Brenda Eckhardt and her son's hiking trip, but it was far from the end of their day or the day of the Pope County Emergency Medical Service Hannah D'Amato and other Hector first responder volunteers arrived first. 'When I arrived on scene, we probably laid in the dirt about an hour before Pope County was able to get to us,' D'Amato said. Pope County EMS Paramedic Supervisor Brittany Phillips said the biggest challenge was getting Erkhardt out. 14 first responders were part of the call. 'It took us about 8 to 12 of us to get her out of this trail,' Phillips said. Many, including Pope County EMS Paramedic Supervisor Corey Pintado, never performed a rescue under such conditions. 'Mind you, this trail is only about a foot and a half, two feet, and the stokes basket at its narrowest point is about a foot and a half,' Pintado said. Cavers rescue 'miracle' dog found 40 to 50 feet down inside Virginia cave Walking beside the basket, they took turns over four hours, carefully navigating around trees, rocks, and ledges. Half of the people carrying Eckhardt were volunteers. 'At first, when the opportunity to do this interview came up, I was like 'Oh heck no. I don't want to go on TV and be the face of the idiot that fell on the trail, right?' But I felt about it a little bit more and you know it's a chance to honor that team because without them I wouldn't have been coming off that trail. I could not walk,' Eckhardt said. She was safely delivered to an ambulance and then a helicopter to the hospital. In the end, it was a seven-hour response. Each rescuer said they would do it again. 'It definitely takes a special kind of person, and I don't know if that's a special kind of crazy or a special kind of caring,' Phillips stated. Eckhardt will undergo reconstructive surgery at the end of April with about nine months of physical therapy to follow. American researcher doing well after rescue from a deep Turkish cave, calling it a 'crazy adventure' Paramedics asked if she would want to go hiking again, and she said yes. She wants to return to this Pedestal Rock, but she would be skipping the cave. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press
17-04-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Texas Senate approves $500 million infusion for film incentives
The Texas Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would more than double the amount of money the state spends to lure film and television production to Texas. Senate Bill 22, filed by Houston Republican Sen. Joan Huffman, would direct the comptroller to deposit $500 million into a new Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Fund every two years until 2035. That figure is more than state lawmakers have ever allocated for media production since they first started funding a film incentive grant in 2007. The bill received heavy praise from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and passed with a 23-8 vote. Those who opposed the bill raised concerns about how the governor's office will determine which productions to fund. The bill gives the governor's office complete discretion over which projects receive grant funding. The bill now moves to the House for consideration. Since 2007, lawmakers have funded the film incentive program at varying levels, with $50 million during one legislative session followed by $45 million the next. A then-historic $200 million came during the most recent session. The variability has left producers tentative to film in Texas for fear that the money might vanish at the whims of lawmakers. The program has boosted economic activity in Texas, producing a 469% return on investment, according to the Texas Film Commission, though economists and some House lawmakers have criticized that metric and denounced film incentives as wasteful spending. Huffman successfully pushed through an amendment that would give an additional 2.5% incentive to faith-based productions, despite some strong objections from Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, and Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin. The bill already directs the Texas Film Commission to offer extra grant funding to films labeled 'Texas Heritage Projects,' as determined by the governor's office. The law would ask the office to consider whether the project promotes 'family values' and 'portrays Texas and Texans in a positive fashion.' Eckhardt said that while she supports the bill's goal, she worries about the subjectivity of terms like 'faith-based' and 'family values.' 'Adding subjective criteria would tilt this away from the realm of economic development and into the realm of non-neutral subject matter propaganda,' Eckhardt said on the Senate floor. 'I don't think the promotion of family values would be propaganda,' Huffman responded. 'Of course, 'whose family values?' would be the question,' Eckhardt rebutted. Texas is one of 37 states to offer a film incentive program, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Industry insiders and Hollywood producers have for years lamented that Texas' program is not as robust as that of some other states, including Georgia and New Mexico. SB 22 would make Texas more attractive to producers who have opted to film their projects in other states that have historically offered larger and more stable incentives, Huffman said during a Senate Finance Committee hearing last month attended by Texas-born actors Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. 'Producers who want to film in Texas often have difficulty convincing the capital management side of film production companies to allow filming here when presented with more robust and consistent incentives being offered in other states,' Huffman said. Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, echoed that sentiment Wednesday, noting that the Netflix series about Selena, the beloved Texas singer, was shot in California instead of Texas. 'That should never happen again,' Alvarado said. 'We should be the default choice.' Fueled by endorsements from famous names in Hollywood, SB 22 appears to have widespread support. Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have praised the film commission for what they said is a rigorous program that audits film production's spending and only offers rebates on money spent within Texas. Eligible expenses include Texas workers' wages, meals purchased from local restaurants, and airfare on Texas-based airlines. Flanked by Harrelson, McConaughey told lawmakers during last month's hearing that increased funding would allow them and other actors to tell Texas stories in Texas. Seated behind the duo was Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has declared SB 22 one of his top pieces of legislation. 'All of the filmmakers in the faith and family category say we will become the leader in the world for faith-based and family movies for all faiths and all families,' Patrick said after the Senate voted on the bill. 'It's always a good thing to sell our Texas values, our faith values, and our family values to the world.' By committing to 10 years of sizable funding, McConaughey said, Texas could grow into a media hub with facilities dedicated to post-production editing, along with a pipeline of film crew, including makeup artists, hair stylists, lighting experts and set designers. 'There's going to be a point where we are not going to need financial incentives from the state because the infrastructure will be in place, and that will be a major game changer,' McConaughey said. Despite showing overall support for boosting Texas filmmaking, some lawmakers have questioned whether productions that aren't 'family-friendly' should be supported by taxpayer dollars. Both Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, and Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, suggested shows and movies that use profanities be ineligible for grants. Bettencourt singled out 'Landman,' a popular television series centering a West Texas oil company executive played by Billy Bob Thornton. 'It's not functionally correct, it doesn't explain what a landman does, and no offense, having Billy Bob Thornton f-bomb every sentence is not Texas values,' Bettencourt said of the show produced by Taylor Sheridan whose second season is expected next year. 'It simply is a bad product and not something the Texas taxpayers would want to be supporting.' The Texas Film Commission limits what types of projects are eligible for funding, and SB 22 would codify additional rules into statute. The bill would prohibit, for example, funding pornography or obscene material, local events or religious services, and casino-type video games. The law does not propose specific rules about foul language, but the governor's office has broad discretion to designate a project as ineligible for a grant. Adriana Cruz, executive director of the Texas Economic Development and Tourism office, said in response to Bettencourt that the office would look to state law and its own rules to determine whether to approve a project. Stephanie Whallon, the director of the Texas Film Commission, previously told The Texas Tribune that some projects had been rejected but didn't specify why. In addition to pumping more money into film incentives, SB 22 would make smaller films eligible for larger grants. Currently, projects that spend between $1 million and $3.5 million in Texas are eligible for a 10% rebate, and projects with a greater than $3.5 million spend can receive a 20% grant. The bill proposes a larger, 25% grant for feature films and television programs that spend at least $1.5 million. 'I'm excited about lowering some of these sliding scale boundaries or limitations because I think a lot of family-friendly, faith-based projects fall into that tier,' said Chad Gundersen, producer of 'The Chosen,' a television show about the life of Jesus Christ and his disciples that is mostly shot in the town of Midlothian, about 25 miles southwest of Dallas. Gundersen said during the hearing that his project was not initially eligible for a grant because it was too small. He added that it has since grown and resulted in more than $75 million spent in Texas. Campbell urged lawmakers and the film commission approving projects to remember that Texas is 'still in the Bible Belt,' and she praised 'The Chosen' as 'the greatest story ever told.' Texas' film incentive program offers an additional 2.5% incentive to productions that are shot in certain 'underutilized' or 'economically distressed areas,' as well as those that hire veterans as 5% of their total paid crew. Identical legislation, House Bill 4568, filed by Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi has not yet received a committee hearing. ___ This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
