Latest news with #PropositionD
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
St. Louis Democrats dispute election board on ballot labels
ST. LOUIS – When Cara Spencer was sworn in as the city's new mayor, she vacated her seat on the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. The city will hold a special election on Tuesday, July 1, to succeed Spencer as 8th Ward alderman. Five people have filed to represent Ward 8 on the board, but the ballot itself has caused some consternation for city Democrats, who are suing the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners. The candidates will appear on the ballot sans party affiliation. But the St. Louis City Democratic Central Committee says that is unfair to its chosen candidate and wants a judge to force the election board to include party affiliations on the ballots. Last month, the DCC selected Shedrick Kelley as the official Democratic candidate. Although Republicans did not nominate a candidate for the race, Kelley is not without challengers. The city Libertarians nominated Cameron McCarty. Radar-indicated: Tornado likely rolled through Chesterfield The other three candidates—Jami Cox Antwi, Jim Dallas, and Alecia Hoyt—are registered Democrats but are running as independents after securing the signatures of 10% of registered voters in Ward 8 who voted in the April 8 mayoral election. In the November 2020 general election, St. Louis voters, by more than a 2-to-1 margin, supported Proposition D, which made elections open and nonpartisan for offices like the mayor, comptroller, and aldermen, and changed the primary system to allow voters to choose more than one candidate, with the top two choices facing off in a general election. But according to the city charter, since there are no primaries allowed for special elections, the local committees of 'established political parties' get to select their nominees and thus act as a primary. The city Democrats allege that keeping party affiliations off the ballot prevents the party from 'exercising its associational rights to participate in the political process as an established political party by issuing endorsements of candidates running for office.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Land owners of nearly a century make deal with the city of Austin to protect it
AUSTIN (KXAN) – The owners of Shield Ranch – a 6,600-acre swath of land spanning Travis and Hays Counties – made a deal with the city of Austin to conserve some of its vulnerable land and protect it from development. Last week, the ranch announced that it was selling to the city over 200 acres of its property to become a conservation easement – an agreement to prevent development into future generations. This allows the land to stay within the family while protecting vulnerable land. 98% of the entire ranch is now protected wildland, according to the Shield-Ayres-Bowen family. 'We have a long history – pushing 90 years – of connection with the land, and we've come to appreciate the value it represents,' said Bob Ayers, a co-owner of the ranch. 'This [agreement] is a way that we can realize a portion of its value – which matters to the family – and still see it protected for future generations of our family and the larger community.' Shield Ranch houses 10% of the Barton Spring Watershed. Conservationists hope preventing development in the area will protect water quality. 'Anywhere humans develop there's going to be impacts,' said Lindsey Sydow, a hydrologist with the Watershed Protection Department. 'We can do our best, but anywhere you put pavement, have cars, and have people generating wastewater and other waste there's going to be some level of impact,' she continued. The new conservation easement represents the final purchase made possible through a 2018 bond election. Among other propositions, voters in 2018 approved Proposition D, releasing $184 million for flood mitigation, open space, and water quality protection. 'Conservation easements protect the property in perpetuity,' Sydow said. 'This program is primarily for protecting water – recharging the Edwards Aquifer – but it can have all these other benefits as well, [including] biodiversity and other ecosystem services.' While the Shield-Ayres-Bowen still made money from the deal, had they chosen to develop on the land, they would have earned much more, said Jeff Francell, director of land protection for the Nature Conservancy in Texas. 'If the family were of a different mindset, it'd be very likely that property would have been developed and water quality in Barton Creek and Barton Springs would be noticeably worse,' Francell said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
