Austin news

• Arrest made in 2016 murder of Lockhart teen

  18-02-2017 23:55 via kxan.com
  
  CALDWELL COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office announced that an arrest has been made in the August 2016 murder of a 19-year-old Lockhart woman whose body was found in a Caldwell County field.
  Rudy Herrera, Jr., 32, was arrested Saturday on a warrant of murder in the first degree following a seven-month investigation by CCSO and the Texas Rangers.
  He is accused of murdering Emilia Juarez, whose body was found early in the morning on Aug. 11, 2016, about 200 yard
  
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• Marathon recovery techniques for runners

  18-02-2017 21:46 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – The 26th annual Austin Marathon is near and hundreds of runners from around the world are expected to participate.
  Cassie Holman and Janelle Ronquillo from TriggerPoint Therapy were in the studio to demonstrate proper recovery techniques you you can do after running a marathon.
  To learn more about TriggerPoint Therapy recovery techniques, click here.
  
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• Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute tests new implant

  18-02-2017 21:07 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – Last year, St. David’s Medical Center used a unique implant technology which links heart health to a patient’s risk of stroke.
  Cardiac electrophysiologist doctor Rodney Horton was in the studio to talk about the new therapy option for patients and how it works.
  
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• McCorvey, who was at center of Roe v. Wade, dead at 69

  18-02-2017 20:36 via kxan.com
  
  DALLAS (AP) — Norma McCorvey, whose legal challenge under the pseudonym “Jane Roe” led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision that legalized abortion but who later became an outspoken opponent of the procedure, died Saturday. She was 69.
  McCorvey died at an assisted living center in Katy, Texas, said journalist Joshua Prager, who is working on a book about McCorvey and was with her and her family when she died. He said she died of heart failure and had been ill for
  
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• Scene cleared after Travis County Sheriff’s investigate suspicious package in North Austin

  18-02-2017 18:32 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Travis County Sheriff’s Office has cleared the scene after investigating a suspicious package in North Austin Saturday morning.
  Austin police bomb squad and TCSO were called to the McDonald’s at the 15900 block of Interstate 35 and Grand Avenue Parkway after 11 a.m.
  Round Rock and Pflugerville police redirected the area at the time of the investigation. The southbound access road of Interstate 35 has reopened.
  Authorities identified the&n
  
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• SXSW 2017: Where the big events are

  18-02-2017 16:41 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The city of Austin has released its updated list of permitted events for spring 2017, most of which are South by Southwest-related events. The city approved 146 permits this year, which is higher than its cap of 120 in 2016.
  The Special Event permit applications are needed for any Temporary Temporary Use, Temporary Change of Use and 24-hour/96-hour Amplified Music Permits for outdoor temporary events. The latest an event can submit for a permit is Feb. 28 (for a tempor
  
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• 4 men rescued from life boat in Gulf of Mexico off Galveston

  18-02-2017 16:20 via kxan.com
  
  GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — Coast Guard officials say four men have been rescued from a life raft in the Gulf of Mexico after their fishing boat capsized about 100 miles off Galveston.
  Authorities say nobody was hurt in Friday afternoon’s rescue credited to some people in a nearby fishing boat amid stormy weather.
  The Coast Guard received a satellite distress signal around 12:30 p.m. Friday. The Coast Guard dispatched search vessels and began broadcasting alerts for other boaters in the
  
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• Central Texans scheduling town halls without RSVPs from congressmen

  18-02-2017 05:53 via kxan.com
  
  DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas (KXAN) — Central Texans who live in multiple Congressional districts say their requests for town halls with their congressmen are falling on deaf ears.
  “Our intention is not to be intimidating, it’s not to be heated,” said Erin Zwiener, who lives in Driftwood. “It’s to ask our very legitimate concerns.”
  At recent town halls in other parts of the country Q&As have turned into confrontations with Congressmen,
  
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• Woman caught on video stealing fruit bowl off Mueller doorstep

  18-02-2017 05:41 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A man is hoping surveillance video will help catch the person responsible for stealing a package right off of his doorstep.
  It happened at a home on Tilley Street in the Mueller development. In the video, you can see a woman walk up the steps of the home, take the package and, shortly after, you can see a gray car take off.
  The homeowner posted the video on Nextdoor and Facebook and got plenty of responses.
  “Numerous neighbors say they’ve had the same thing
  
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• Criminals behind the wheel: Who is driving you

  18-02-2017 03:30 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Over the past several years, the word “uber” has become a verb thanks to the ride sharing company that launched in San Francisco in 2011. Because of the rapid growth of the business model, most consumers don’t even think twice about getting into an unmarked vehicle with a stranger behind the wheel.
  While the two major players—Uber and Lyft—stopped doing business in Austin last May after Austinites voted against Prop 1, clearing the way for the city
  
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• A quarter of all AISD students were absent on ‘Day Without Immigrants’

  18-02-2017 02:37 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — More than 20,000 students in the Austin Independent School District were absent on Thursday, hailed as “A Day Without Immigrants” by advocates wanting to show what they called the critical importance of immigrants in the American economy.
  Exactly 20,008 students were absent in the school district Thursday, compared to only 4,216 the previous day. AISD says they have 83,591 students in 130 schools — that’s almost 24 percent of their students marked as
  
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• ‘Over my dead body,’ Lt. Governor vows to keep A-F

  18-02-2017 02:16 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (NEXSTAR) — More than 200 school districts from across Texas want lawmakers to scrap the state’s A-F accountability system.
  “Over my dead body,” said Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
  Education lobbyists are wasting their time at the state capitol this session, according to Patrick, who promised the new rating system will not be repealed or replaced.
  Public schools and school districts in Texas will be given letter grades — A, B, C, D or F. Districts and schools will
  
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• San Marcos CISD looks to save landfills by composting

  18-02-2017 02:12 via kxan.com
  
  SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) – In an attempt to reduce the amount of trash entering the Austin landfill, the San Marcos Consolidated Independent School District started a composting program that has proved to be extremely successful.
  “On an average elementary campus, we used to throw away about 30-40 bags of trash per day per campus,” said SMCISD Director of Custodial Services Robert Gutierrez. “Once we started to compost, we averaged about six to eight bags of trash per day.
  
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• City Immigrant Commission wants “crime victim” visa policy revisited

  18-02-2017 00:24 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – The City of Austin’s Commission on Immigrant Affairs is making recommendation to the city council to ask Austin Police Department to revisit the reasons why they deny certain U-Visa certifications.
  A U-Visa, if granted by the federal government, allows victims of crime and in some cases witnesses of crimes and their families to stay in the U.S. legally as prosecution moves forward.
  First, a potential beneficiary would apply through a local law enforcement establishmen
  
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• Fired employee accused of shooting owner’s dog in the eye

  18-02-2017 00:16 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A man accused of shooting a dog in the eye and then trying to kill it with a shovel is now facing up to two years in state jail.
  James Owen Williams was indicted for felony animal cruelty by a Travis County Grand Jury on Thursday.
  Williams was charged in November 2016 following reports he shot his employer’s dog after being fired.
  The District Attorney’s Office says Travis County deputies investigated and interviewed witnesses, learning that Williams had become
  
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• Austin Marathon’s medical director braces for possible record heat

  18-02-2017 00:15 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Race day is almost here. The Austin Marathon kicks off at 7 a.m. Sunday with an expected 15,000 people crossing the finish line. This year’s race may rank among the warmest starts in more than 20 years.
  Forecasters are calling for the potential of a 65 degree start temperature. It’s one degree warmer than 2011’s race start and has the potential to break the record for the day.
  Even for experienced Texas runners like Allison Macsas, the weath
  
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• ‘Bathroom bill’ could cost Austin tourism $109 million

  18-02-2017 00:11 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – For the first time, Austin’s Convention and Visitors Bureau is predicting the economic impact of Texas lawmakers’ proposed “bathroom bill.”
  Senate Bill 6 would require people to use public facilities associated with their birth sex — effectively banning transgender people from using ones they identify with. It’s become a politically charged issue, with a range of individuals and groups taking sides.
  Friday, KXAN obtained the latest estima
  
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• Geologists may have found new continent, ‘Zealandia’

  18-02-2017 00:07 via kxan.com
  
  (WISH) – Geologists say they may have found a new continent. They are calling it “Zealandia,” according to a new study in the Geological Society of America’s journal, GSA Today.
  The study says Zealandia is hiding under New Zealand. About 94 percent is submerged in the ocean.
  Geologists say it is nearly two million square miles. That’s bigger than India.
  The authors of the study say the mass fits all four requirements for being a continent.
  Zealandia was once pa
  
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