Austin news

• Wanted: Suspect in north Austin murder over driveway space

  15-03-2017 23:52 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The suspect in a deadly shooting, which started over an argument about moving a car out of a north Austin driveway, should be considered armed and dangerous, Austin police say.
  Jose Martinez-Lopez, 35, drove away from Bird Creek Drive in a gray Nissan Maxima with Texas license plate BHY-1689, after allegedly shooting Jose Dominguez-Campos, 53.
  Police were called at around 6:43 p.m. Sunday for a shots fired call in the neighborhood, near the intersection of Rundberg Lan
  
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• Kyle mother accused of mutilating her 5 year old indicted for capital murder

  15-03-2017 23:14 via kxan.com
  
  HAYS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Krystle Villanueva, the Kyle mother accused of stabbing her 5-year-old daughter to death in January, has been indicted by a Hays County grand jury.
  The jury made the decision Wednesday against the 25-year-old woman. Giovanna Hernandez was found mutilated in her home on Willow Terrace in the Green Pastures subdivision on Jan. 5.
  Sheriff Gary Cutler called the incident the most horrific case in the history of Hays County. Villanueva was also indicted for
  
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• House Committee on State Affairs takes up sanctuary city bill

  15-03-2017 22:57 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN/AP) — A bill banning so-called sanctuary cities is getting its first hearing in the House State Affairs Committee and public testimony could last hours. Senate Bill 4 has already passed the Senate, but it’s unclear if a House version would include a Senate provision that could charge and jail local officials if they don’t cooperate with federal immigration detainers.
  Before the hearing started, more than 260 people were signed up to testify; some of whom were
  
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• As sanctuary city bill is heard, further cuts could be looming for Travis County

  15-03-2017 22:57 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN/AP) — A bill banning so-called sanctuary cities is getting its first hearing in the House State Affairs Committee and public testimony could last hours. Senate Bill 4 has already passed the Senate, but it’s unclear if a House version would include a Senate provision that could charge and jail local officials if they don’t cooperate with federal immigration detainers.
  Before the hearing started, more than 260 people were signed up to testify; some of whom were
  
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• Meet a history-making Olympic swimmer at Givens Park Friday

  15-03-2017 22:31 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Your chance to meet the first African-American woman to make the US Olympic Swim Team is coming up this Friday.
  A swim safety clinic and meet and greet, hosted by USA Swimming, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, will feature Maritza McClendon, the 2004 silver Olympic medalist in the 4×100 meter freestyle.
  Swim 1922, a collaboration between Sigma Gamma Rho and USA Swimming, is working to promote healthy living and lifest
  
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• Drop in sales at San Marcos outlets impacts city’s sales tax revenue

  15-03-2017 21:36 via kxan.com
  
  SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) – The city of San Marcos claims that a drop in sales at the San Marcos outlets has caused the city’s sales tax revenue to fall flat. The city says sales tax collections from January were down 9.35 percent compared to the same time last year.
  The city’s finance director, Heather Hurlbert says this is the first time in years that sales have dropped. “We continue to believe retail sales are down partially due to reduced foreign travel and purchases b
  
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• New traffic cameras added through downtown Austin

  15-03-2017 21:28 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Department of Transportation has 11 new traffic cameras up and running along Interstate 35 through downtown Austin.
  The cameras, which were added between 51st Street to Woodward Street, allow people to see real-time traffic or incidents in the area. The Austin-area now has 40 active traffic cameras along the main corridors (US 183, MoPac, I-35 and US 290).
  List of cameras currently online
  Some of the cameras work in conjunction with the Smart Work Zone, which
  
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• ‘Bathroom bill’ clears Texas Senate but still faces hurdles

  15-03-2017 20:15 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Senate has passed a North Carolina-style “bathroom bill” that targets transgender people, but the proposal still faces big obstacles from becoming law.
  The 21-10 final vote on Wednesday came over opposition from big business, the National Football League and hundreds of people who packed the Texas Capitol last week during 13 hours of public testimony.
  The measure would require people to use public bathrooms that correspond with the sex on their bi
  
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• House passes texting while driving bill

  15-03-2017 19:46 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A statewide texting while driving ban cleared another hurdle Wednesday afternoon. After a couple hours of discussion and several amendments, the Texas House voted to approve House Bill 62 111-62.
  Critics of the bill argue a statewide ban would be an infringement on Texans rights. One amendment approved Wednesday states the first offense would be $99 and $200 for a subsequent offense. Some say they are concerned that $200 isn’t enough of a deterrent.
  A few of the
  
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• Austin man accused of hitting sister’s dog with a hammer

  15-03-2017 19:32 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A 52 year old man is in jail accused of hitting his sister’s dog with a hammer, leaving it with a fractured skull.
  A woman told police her dog, Karma, was tethered in the backyard when her brother, Richard Mizell, came home and started to taunt the dog and said he was going to kill it. According to an arrest affidavit, Mizell and the dog did not get along. The suspect’s sister said he hit the dog in the top of the head and caused her to bleed from her
  
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• Man shot, killed in east Austin

  15-03-2017 19:30 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A man is dead after he was shot in east Austin Wednesday afternoon after an altercation.
  Austin police said they received the call at 12:46 p.m. for a shooting at the Rare Apartments at 6407 Springdale Rd. Initial information indicates the shooting stemmed from an altercation between a group of individuals.
  Austin-Travis County EMS said the victim, a man in his 20s, was taken to the hospital where he died a short time later. Police say they’re searching for suspe
  
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• Alaska Airlines offers new way to get to San Diego from ABIA

  15-03-2017 18:59 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Start packing those bags if San Diego has been on your bucket list. Alaska Airlines will soon be making daily, nonstop trips from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
  Flights begin on Aug. 28 and will depart Austin daily at 8:30 a.m. and arrive in San Diego at 9:30 a.m. Flights depart San Diego daily at 6:55 p.m. and arrive in Austin at 11:35 p.m.
  This will make the fourth nonstop flight being offered by Alaska Airlines; the others being Seattle, Portland and the also so
  
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• Accused Austin rock thrower, Pat Johnson, gets trial date

  15-03-2017 18:20 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The man who turned down a plea deal that would have added 40 years to his current life sentence received his trial date Wednesday for allegedly throwing rocks onto cars on Interstate 35 between 2014 and 2015.
  Pat Johnson, 60, is currently in prison for aggravated sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy. His trial for rock throwing will take place on June 19.
  He faces 11 charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for the rock-throwing crimes, which former Austin Police C
  
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• San Gabriel Park in Georgetown to undergo renovation

  15-03-2017 17:56 via kxan.com
  
  GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) — The city of Georgetown is spending $2.5 million to improve San Gabriel Park to make it more family friendly and environmentally sound.
  The city says it will break ground on Phase 1 of improvements to the park on March 24. The project includes a new playground, signage, parking and the restoration of the spring habitat to its natural state. The intersection of Morrow Street and Chamber Way will also be realigned.
  The construction is expected to be comple
  
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• Woman, son she gave up for adoption reunite 40 years later

  15-03-2017 17:30 via kxan.com
  
  COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Lori Gray was just 14 years old when she held her newborn son in her arms, for 20 minutes. Then she gave him away forever.
  “I thought I would never see him again,” Gray says. “It’s hard. It’s probably one of the worst things I ever had to do, but I think it was the best.”
  Little did she know, 40 years later, she would be back in the hospital being treated for cancer, when she would hold her son again.
  “I still have the pictur
  
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• McDonald’s tests mobile ordering before national rollout

  15-03-2017 17:19 via kxan.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — McDonald’s has started testing mobile order-and-pay after acknowledging the ordering process in its restaurants can be “stressful.”
  The company says it will gather feedback from the test before launching the option nationally toward the end of the year. It says mobile order-and-pay is now available at 29 stores in Monterey and Salinas, California, and will expand to 51 more locations in Spokane, Washington, next week.
  The rollout comes as customers increas
  
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• McDonald’s employee jumps out drive-thru window to help cop during medical emergency

  15-03-2017 17:02 via kxan.com
  
  MIAMI, FL (WCMH) — Pedro Viloria is being called a hero for literally jumping to the aid of an off-duty officer when she began having a medical emergency.
  “I never panicked. I never panicked at all. My brain was on hero mode. Totally,” Viloria, 22, told WSVN.
  Viloria can be seen in surveillance video jumping through the drive-thru window as he runs towards the vehicle.
  “Her kids were screaming, like, mother, mother! Stop it! Mother, what are you doing,” Viloria
  
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• Yoga pants, cozy clothes may be key source of sea pollution

  15-03-2017 16:31 via kxan.com
  
  KEY LARGO, Fla. (AP) — Comfortable clothes are emerging as a source of plastic that’s increasingly ending up in the oceans and potentially contaminating seafood, according to Gulf Coast researchers launching a two-year study of microscopic plastics in the waters from south Texas to the Florida Keys.
  The project, led by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, will rely partly on volunteers participating in coastal cleanup events. It also will expand a year’s worth of data
  
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• Fader Fort still rocking, but in a smaller venue

  15-03-2017 16:10 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — South by Southwest attendees who usually mark Fader Fort on their calendar as one of the “must attend” events during the 10-day festival will notice that the popular event will now be in a smaller, more intimate venue.
  For the past several years, Fader Fort has set up shop at 1101 E. Fifth St, spanning a city block. This year, the event is taking over 1209 E. Sixth St.
  Fader Fort started in a small warehouse 16 years ago and for Fader co-founder Jon Cohen, the e
  
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• Texas woman in midst of modeling shoot when struck by train

  15-03-2017 15:46 via kxan.com
  
  NAVASOTA, Texas (AP) — The mother of a 19-year-old woman says her daughter was killed when she was struck by a train while having photos taken of her on the tracks in a bid to launch a modeling career.
  Hakamie Stevenson told The Eagle newspaper that her daughter, Fredzania Thompson, attended Blinn College in Bryan but wanted to put her education on hold to begin modeling.
  Authorities say Thompson was standing between two sets of tracks Friday in Navasota when a BNSF Railway train approache
  
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• Netflix to finish and release Orson Welles’ final film

  15-03-2017 15:11 via kxan.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Orson Welles’ last film finally has a home.
  Netflix has acquired the global rights to Welles’ “The Other Side of the Wind” and will finance its completion and restoration.
  Netflix’s announcement Tuesday brings to a close the decades-long mystery surrounding one cinema’s greatest filmmakers. Welles began shooting the film in 1970 but never completed it. The “Citizen Kane” director died in 1985.
  “The Other Side of the Wind
  
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• Woman injured in Biloxi bus crash seeks $10M in new lawsuit

  15-03-2017 14:37 via kxan.com
  
  BASTROP (KXAN) – Another victim of last week’s bus crash in Biloxi has filed a lawsuit seeking damages from the companies involved in the crash.
  Mary Hall, who was on the bus, filed suit after being rushed to an emergency room with serious injuries. She is seeking $10 million in compensation from the bus company, ECHO Tours and Charter Transportation company, as well as the train company, CSX Transportation.
  It was known the bus was not on the planned route, but in Hall’s
  
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• Rare case of strep throat leads to quadruple amputation

  15-03-2017 13:38 via kxan.com
  
  WARNING: This video contains images that some people may find disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.
  GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WOOD) — An extremely rare case of strep throat that almost killed a Michigan man has instead taken his hands and feet.
  Kevin Breen, 44, was healthy and active when he started feeling sick on Christmas Day.
  “It didn’t seem that unusual,” he said.
  Days later, the unbearable stomach pain sent him to the emergency room.
  “I never thought (I’d be
  
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• Jogger fights off bathroom attacker weeks after taking self-defense class

  15-03-2017 13:14 via kxan.com
  
  SEATTLE, WA (WCMH) — The woman says she had stopped to use the restroom when she was attacked by a man who was hiding in a stall.
  Kelly Herron says it was one of the scariest moments of her life.
  “I was here, dried my hands and then, was cornered,” she tells KIRO.
  Police say Gary Steiner, 40, hid in a stall then attacked Herron when she entered.
  Herron, however, wasn’t going to go down without a fight. “We’re down on the ground, this is where I was clawing his
  
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• SXSW tips hat to NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ for 70 year legacy

  15-03-2017 13:07 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — This year, South by Southwest is tipping its hat to longstanding NBC political program Meet the Press.
  Current host Chuck Todd host sat down with our own State of Texas host Josh Hinkle to talk about the TV trailblazer on its 70th anniversary.
  “It is kind of scary,” Todd said. “When you’re one of the moderators for a show that’s the longest running in television history, you just don’t want to be the last one, right? I’m a custodian
  
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• Tech Under Trump: Companies need to speak up, SXSW panelist says

  15-03-2017 12:23 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – President Trump hit the halfway mark of his first 100 days in office this week. On the heels of that comes a South by Southwest showcase highlighting how his policies will affect the technology industry.
  That two-day discussion starts on Wednesday. And, experts say Austin’s thriving tech community should pay attention to the discussion.
  Last year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor discovered that Austin has more jobs in the tech industry than the national average at&
  
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• Suspect who fired gun during east Austin carjacking caught after crash

  15-03-2017 11:34 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – A carjacking suspect who, police said, fired a gun while committing the crime was caught after a chase.
  According to Austin police, the incident began around 3:11 a.m. at the Exxon Mobil located at 6506 Decker Lane.
  Few details have been released, but we know someone may have been filling up their car with gas when they were approached by the suspect who pointed and ultimately fired a gun at them. The victim was not injured in the incident but their vehicle was stolen.
  
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• Cyclist killed, driver arrested in east Austin DWI crash

  15-03-2017 11:06 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN)- Austin Police are investigating after a bicyclist died in an East Austin crash Tuesday night. The driver of the vehicle that hit the bike was arrested for Driving While Intoxicated.
  Police say the crash happened around 11:40 p.m. on East Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard near Scottsdale Road. Austin-Travis County EMS gave the bicyclist CPR but pronounced him dead shortly afterward.
  According to police, the bicyclist was alone when he was hit by the driver who was heading west on
  
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• Cyclist hit, killed by alleged drunk driver in east Austin

  15-03-2017 11:06 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A driver is in jail charged with driving while intoxicated after Austin police say they hit and killed a bicyclist in east Austin late Tuesday night.
  The crash happened around 11:40 p.m. on East MLK Jr. Boulevard near Scottsdale Road. Austin-Travis County EMS gave the bicyclist, identified by the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office as Charlie Bunton Jr., 53, CPR but pronounced him dead shortly afterward.
  Police say Bunton was alone when he was hit by the driv
  
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• Hikers from Austin, Houston rescued from Oregon gorge

  15-03-2017 05:39 via kxan.com
  
  PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Search and rescue crews were sent to the Columbia River Gorge Tuesday afternoon after 12 hikers were reported missing.
  The distressed hikers from Texas were about a mile up from Multnomah Falls when they hit an unsteady snowfill and one of them fell into a hole.
  “We knew that we couldn’t cross and kind of went through a steep snow cliff to get down there and we knew we couldn’t go back,” Shyan Gandhi said.
  Lt. James Eriksen with Multnoma
  
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• MTTS hits Rangers Spring Training

  15-03-2017 05:08 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — 104.9 The Horn’s Erin Hogan joins Roger Wallace on More than the Score talking Spring Training and the Texas Rangers.
  
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• Psychologists using virtual reality to help treat PTSD in veterans

  15-03-2017 04:47 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Virtual reality is no longer reserved for entertainment and gamers, its helping solve real-world problems. Some of the latest advancements are being demonstrated at South by Southwest.
  Dr. Skip Rizzo directs the Medical Virtual Reality Lab at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies. He’s helping veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He’s up teamed with Dell to develop and spread the te
  
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• City Council wants demolition permits to come with demographic details

  15-03-2017 04:22 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — In a rapidly growing city, that’s building up and out, the Austin City Council is looking more closely at what’s being torn down. So far this year, the city has issued 157 demolition permits for family homes and duplexes. That’s nearly double the number for the same time period two years ago. In east Austin, neighbors don’t need numbers to notice the trend.
  “I’ve lived here for six years and in that time I’ve seen that large house g
  
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• Austin medics debut ‘emergency medical hotspot’ at SXSW

  15-03-2017 03:54 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — If you get into medical trouble during South by Southwest this year, city paramedics are rolling out a high tech lifesaver that could be a first in the nation.
  EMS is using a dedicated, private WiFi signal to send real-time information from EKG heart machines at the downtown festival directly to local emergency rooms.
  “It’s really nice when you can look at an EKG on a patient on a street corner and understand they’re having a heart attack as the param
  
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• Rachel Maddow: ‘We’ve got Trump tax returns’

  15-03-2017 01:55 via kxan.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP/KXAN) — Rachel Maddow says MSNBC has got President Donald Trump’s tax returns, and is airing their findings at 8 p.m. Central time.
  “BREAKING: We’ve got Trump tax returns,” Maddow tweeted Tuesday night. “Seriously.”
  The MSNBC host claims to have the president’s 1040 form from 2005.
  In January, White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway told NBC News that the president would not be releasing his tax returns. The announcement was seen as a r
  
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• State government takes aim at city of Austin ordinances

  15-03-2017 01:13 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The battle over who governs the people of Austin and Travis County is playing out again at the State Capitol. Texas lawmakers are taking up a number of bills that would override laws passed by local governments. Several Austin leaders came to tell lawmakers to defend their position and ask the state to back off.
  “It is true that Austin is a little bit different than the other cities in this state,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler.
  The mayor came to defend Aus
  
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• After accident, local singer-songwriter stands, performs on SXSW stage

  15-03-2017 00:02 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Local singer-songwriter Savannah Welch has returned to the Austin Music Awards/SXSW stage for the first time since injuries she sustained in an accident last year forced doctors to amputate her leg. Welch is a member of the folk music group, The Trishas.
  On Nov. 2, 2016, the life as Welch knew it would change dramatically. Emergency crews responded to the scene of a truck that crashed through the farmers market in Wimberley. Two people were taken to the hospital with n
  
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