Latest news with #Liggins
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The yellow We Care Pedicabs are back in downtown SF
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) —Whether it's a school bus or a taxi, people are used to getting around in yellow vehicles. But now, a way to get around in a yellow pedicab is back in downtown Sioux Falls for the summer. If you're in downtown Sioux Falls on the weekends, there's a good chance you might see a bright yellow pedicab driving people around. RJ Oladejo is one of the new operators of the We Care Pedicabs. He rides for a few different reasons. 1 'critically' injured, no arrests in early morning shooting 'Getting these calves right and these calves right and the quads right. And just meeting different people all around Sioux Falls, people that visit, and just having a good conversation and enjoying the birds and the breeze and stuff like that,' Oladejo said. It's the second season that Terry Liggins and his nonprofit Hurdle Life Coach Foundation have been operating the pedicabs. 'It took a while to get the locals on board with what was happening. But plenty of the people that were at hotels and visiting our downtown, they would recognize the cabs and get on there as well. And so it was a lot of fun, super dynamic and well received,' Liggins, said. Out of the over 200 rides given last year, 40 of them were for free. This gave Liggins a new idea for this year: to try to implement a voucher program, where people or businesses could sponsor rides. 'Sometimes we're down here somewhere and we're seeing our adults who are transient, moving between the library and the banquet or the Bishop Dudley, and they're carrying a lot of weight,' Liggins said. While you may be the ones riding in the cab, it affects much more than just you. Proceeds from the We Care Pedicabs goes to benefit the Hurdle Life Coach Foundation and all the people they work with. 'Helping people out, you put in something that's got a good initiative for the youth and people around the community. So I embraced it,' Oladejo said. The operators are usually involved with the foundation or just believe in its message. 'Ideally, what we want to do with our operators is created as a workforce development opportunity for the adults. We're supporting transition. And that's not the only person who can volunteer, because we have people that are just like cycle enthusiasts, people who just want to look for another creative way to get some physical exercise and do some cardio,' Liggins said. Helping people get places, both in life and in downtown Sioux Falls. The best way to catch a ride on the Pedicabs is to hail them when you see them. Click here for more information on the We Care Pedicabs. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Chicago Tribune
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Brother Rice's King Liggins joins Morgan Park's Nasir Rankin in committing to Illinois. ‘Going to start a trend.'
When King Liggins started high school at Brother Rice, college football wasn't even his radar. But that changed quickly. The 6-foot-4, 280-pound defensive lineman, who will be a senior in the fall, has the size and toughness colleges look for. Suddenly, he decided he could dream big. 'It was crazy when I started getting offers my freshman year summer,' Liggins said. 'Me and my coaches started talking and I realized, 'Wow, I really have a chance to play at the next level and then maybe even higher than that in the NFL.' 'I've just been grinding since then, and it's really special to see that hard work start to show.' It all became a reality Wednesday when Liggins committed to Illinois. Liggins, who had 37 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks last season, is rated as a three-star recruit and the No. 18 prospect in the state for the 2026 class. After receiving over 20 scholarship offers, Liggins narrowed his choices down to Wisconsin and Illinois before picking his home state school. 'I loved the family atmosphere, and it's somewhere where I feel like I can get to the next level — the NFL,' Liggins said. 'They have a plan for me to get to that next level, and I believe that they can help me get there. 'I just thought, 'Why not stay home, create a legacy and do something that's never been done there?'' Liggins announced his choice on YouTube, starting a big day for the Illini. Hours later, Morgan Park receiver Nasir Rankin also committed to Illinois via YouTube. Liggins hopes he and Rankin can start a wave of local players staying home for college. 'Nasir and I played against each other in eighth grade, so we know each other,' Liggins said. 'It's great because not a lot of guys from our area go to Illinois. 'I feel like this is going to start a trend. We have a state with a lot of good football players. Why not stay together, stay home and go to Illinois?' Rankin is rated a four-star recruit and the No. 8 player in Illinois in the 2026 class by Rivals. He piled up 48 catches for 1,126 yards and 17 touchdowns during a breakout season last fall. Rankin, who also has a scholarship offer from the Illini for basketball, plans to attempt to play both sports in college. Liggins, meanwhile, is relieved to be done with recruiting and ready to put all his energy back into football. 'It feels great to know all the recruiting process is over and being able to just focus on my football season this year is really great,' he said. 'The process was very crazy. 'I had to do a lot of research on my own on schools and coaches and that ultimately pushed me to come to Illinois, too.' The Illini appear to be trending upward under coach Bret Bielema, going 10-3 last fall and finishing No. 16 in The Associated Press rankings. 'They're a really good program but they're not cocky,' Liggins said. 'They genuinely have a hungry team. They have something to prove. They come to work every day and that's what I want to do.' Liggins is excited for summer practices but certainly isn't satisfied. He knows there's plenty of room for him to get better for his senior season at Brother Rice. 'This offseason, I'm trying to find anything in my game that I need to work on,' he said. 'I'm working on transition pass rush a lot right now. I know there are other little things I can improve on. 'Every offseason, I want to get better. I want to get to the NFL and that's going to take hard work. I also have to be able to critique myself. I think the more you can do that, the better you can be.'
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Wisconsin football loses top class of 2026 target to a familiar Big Ten rival
Wisconsin football top class of 2026 target, defensive lineman King Liggins, committed to play for Bret Bielema and Illinois on Wednesday. Liggins chose the Fighting Illini over the Badgers, who were his only other finalist. Advertisement 247Sports lists the Chicago, Illinois, native as a three-star recruit, ranked specifically as the No. 910 player in the class of 2026, the No. 92 defensive lineman and the No. 21 recruit from his home state. The service lists a busy official visit schedule, with completed trips to Iowa on April 4, Illinois on April 11 and Wisconsin on April 23, plus upcoming trips to Purdue on May 23, Rutgers on June 6 and Virginia on June 12. Of course, that schedule may now change after his pledge to the Illini. Liggins joins an Illinois class of 2026 that sat No. 12 nationally before his commitment. That ranking is sure to rise once his addition is accounted for. Wisconsin's class of 2026, meanwhile, is down at No. 43 nationally with seven players committed. The class is far below Illinois' at this stage of the recruiting cycle, though much can still change with the official visit season set to heat up at the end of the month. In a vacuum, Wisconsin saw one of its high-priority targets commit to a Big Ten rival. Not only that, but he chose a neighboring program that is currently led by one of the program's former coaches. Advertisement That program, Illinois, is projected to continue its historic run in 2025. The team returns most of its production from a 2024 group that finished a program-best 10-3, plus it is set to face the easiest schedule in the conference. Bielema has done well in capitalizing on that on-field momentum on the recruiting trail. Wisconsin, on the other hand, is looking for a bounce-back campaign after a disappointing 5-7 finish to the 2024 season. It is also still in search of much-needed momentum on the class of 2026 recruiting trail. Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Wisconsin football recruiting target King Liggins commits to Illinois
USA Today
21-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Wisconsin football loses top class of 2026 target to a familiar Big Ten rival
Wisconsin football loses top class of 2026 target to a familiar Big Ten rival Wisconsin football top class of 2026 target, defensive lineman King Liggins, committed to play for Bret Bielema and Illinois on Wednesday. Liggins chose the Fighting Illini over the Badgers, who were his only other finalist. 247Sports lists the Chicago, Illinois, native as a three-star recruit, ranked specifically as the No. 910 player in the class of 2026, the No. 92 defensive lineman and the No. 21 recruit from his home state. The service lists a busy official visit schedule, with completed trips to Iowa on April 4, Illinois on April 11 and Wisconsin on April 23, plus upcoming trips to Purdue on May 23, Rutgers on June 6 and Virginia on June 12. Of course, that schedule may now change after his pledge to the Illini. Liggins joins an Illinois class of 2026 that sat No. 12 nationally before his commitment. That ranking is sure to rise once his addition is accounted for. Wisconsin's class of 2026, meanwhile, is down at No. 43 nationally with seven players committed. The class is far below Illinois' at this stage of the recruiting cycle, though much can still change with the official visit season set to heat up at the end of the month. In a vacuum, Wisconsin saw one of its high-priority targets commit to a Big Ten rival. Not only that, but he chose a neighboring program that is currently led by one of the program's former coaches. That program, Illinois, is projected to continue its historic run in 2025. The team returns most of its production from a 2024 group that finished a program-best 10-3, plus it is set to face the easiest schedule in the conference. Bielema has done well in capitalizing on that on-field momentum on the recruiting trail. Wisconsin, on the other hand, is looking for a bounce-back campaign after a disappointing 5-7 finish to the 2024 season. It is also still in search of much-needed momentum on the class of 2026 recruiting trail. Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fort Worth ISD board approves plan to close 18 schools over four years
The Fort Worth Independent School District's board voted Tuesday to approve a plan to close 16 schools over the next four years. The closures the board approved Tuesday are in addition to two others the board had already approved. District officials say the cuts will allow them to redirect millions of dollars toward academic priorities. The board approved the plan by an 8-0 vote, with board member Wallace Bridges absent. The closures are a part of Fort Worth ISD's facilities master plan, which has been months in the making. The plan is intended to help the district manage revenue losses from declining enrollment. Fort Worth ISD has seen its enrollment drop by 15% since the 2019-20 school year, and officials project the district will lose another 6% of its enrollment by 2029-30. District leaders didn't discuss the plan at Tuesday's meeting. But at a work session last week, Deputy Superintendent Kellie Spencer said closing the campuses would save Fort Worth ISD about $10 million over the next five years. That's money that the district can redirect toward literacy priorities, she said. During the meeting, groups of parents and other supporters of Briscoe and De Zavala elementary schools held signs asking the board not to close their schools. Several spoke during public comment, explaining what made their campuses special and how students and their families would be affected if they closed. Stephany Velez, the mother of two students at De Zavala, said she enrolled her sons at the school in spite of Fort Worth ISD's overall lackluster performance because it was a consistently high-rated campus. She had planned to home school her kids, but she changed her mind when she heard about De Zavala's dual language program. As a Spanish speaker herself, Velez said she wanted to make sure her sons had the chance to learn in both languages. Velez acknowledged that De Zavala's enrollment is well short of the building's capacity. Last year, more than half the school's seats were empty. But she told the board she doesn't think the district has done enough to attract students to the school. The dual language program is one of De Zavala's biggest strengths, she said, but the school only has one dual language class per grade. That means it's forced to turn away many students who would like to enroll. Danyelle Liggins, a fourth-grade reading teacher at Briscoe, told the Star-Telegram that the elementary school is 'a campus like no other.' More than 95% of the school's students are classified as economically disadvantaged. Every year, teachers help families with Christmas gifts and Thanksgiving dinners, Liggins said. Otherwise, many families couldn't afford either. Liggins worries about what will happen to Briscoe's students when the school closes. The majority of Briscoe's students walk to school, Liggins said. Once it closes, they'll move to Carroll Peak Elementary School, a little over a mile and a half away. The district only provides transportation for students who live more than two miles away from school. That means most students will be too close to Carroll Peak to qualify for bus service, but too far to walk, she said. Most families at Briscoe don't have the means to drive their children to school themselves, Liggins said. She worries that those students won't be able to get to school at all. 'They're going to be left out,' she said. 'And that's what we're scared of for our kids.' But not every speaker at the meeting opposed the closures. A few encouraged the board to be willing to make tough decisions that will put the district on sounder financial footing. Graham Brizendin, a member of the district's steering committee that worked on the plan, said committee members didn't take the process lightly. The plan allows Fort Worth ISD to move toward the goal of giving all its students a chance at success, he said. Brezendin acknowledged that the process is difficult for families with a personal connection to the schools being closed. It's a list that includes Brezendin himself, he said — his grandmother attended De Zavala in the 1930s. 'I'm not excited to see it close, but I am also cognizant that the future students' success should not be bound by my emotional connection to bricks and mortar,' he said. The closures approved Tuesday include: Milton L. Kirkpatrick Elementary School (Closing in June 2026) Charles E. Nash Elementary School (Closing in June 2026) Riverside Applied Learning Center (Closing in June 2026) Edward J. Briscoe Elementary School (Closing in June 2026) De Zavala Elementary School (Closing in June 2027) A.M. Pate Elementary School (Closing in June 2027) J.T. Stevens Elementary School (Closing in June 2027) Atwood McDonald Elementary School (Closing in June 2027) McLean 6th Grade Center (Closing in June 2028) West Handley Elementary School (Closing in June 2028) Harlean Beal Elementary School (Closing in June 2028) H.V. Helbing Elementary School (Closing in June 2028) Sunrise-McMillan Elementary School (Closing in June 2028) Kirkpatrick Middle School (Closing in June 2029) Morningside Middle School (Closing in June 2029) Hubbard Heights Elementary School (Closing in June 2029) In addition to the closures outlined in the plan, Fort Worth ISD is also scheduled to close S.S. Dillow and Eastern Hills elementary schools next month. District officials said S.S. Dillow, an 88-year-old building in southeast Fort Worth, has structural problems that would require 'costly, extensive, and invasive work' to fix. District officials plan to build a new campus for Eastern Hills. Students at the school will go to West Handley Elementary School until the new building is finished, and the entire consolidated student body will move from West Handley to the new Eastern Hills in 2028.
