Austin news

• Austin man who was on FBI’s Most Wanted gets 30 years for murder

  28-03-2017 23:46 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — After more than 30 years of waiting for justice, the family of Laurie Stout finally has some closure.
  On Tuesday, 51-year-old Robert Francis Van Wisse pleaded guilty in the 1983 murder of Stout and was sentenced to 30 years in prison as part of a plea deal. Van Wisse’s attorney, Perry Minton, says they actually worked with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office to work out a possible plea deal prior to Van Wisse turning himself in. Minton believes if Distr
  
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• Lubbock man found guilty of assaulting pregnant girlfriend

  28-03-2017 23:12 via kxan.com
  
  LUBBOCK, TX (KXAN) – A Texas man who beat his pregnant girlfriend because he didn’t believe the unborn child was his has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
  Jacob Pauda, 31, was found guilty aggravated assault Monday. KXAN’s sister station KLBK reported police were called to a Lubbock home on February 8, 2016 after a woman reported she was threatened and assaulted with a knife.
  According to the police report, Pauda punched the woman several times in the fa
  
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• Texas Senate approves $106 billion budget

  28-03-2017 22:26 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) —  The Texas Senate has settled on what they want the state’s budget to look like for the next two years. On Tuesday, SB 1 passed unanimously, allocating $217.8 billion in total funds, of which $106 billion is coming from state taxes—which is higher than the original Biennial Revenue Estimate amount of $104.9 billion.
  To make up for the larger budget even with less revenue coming in, state lawmakers are looking to the state highway fund. In 2015, voters
  
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• Georgetown soldier killed in motorcycle crash near Fort Hood

  28-03-2017 21:38 via kxan.com
  
  FORT HOOD, Texas (KXAN) — A Fort Hood soldier from Georgetown, Texas died in a motorcycle crash over the weekend in Harker Heights.
  Fort Hood officials say Sgt. Jonathan Garrett Garcia, 29, entered active-duty in April 2007 as a motor transport operator. He was assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas, since November 2016.
  Garcia deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from May 2009 to May 2010 and in support of Operation Enduring Freed
  
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• Severe storm risk tonight, early Wednesday morning

  28-03-2017 21:29 via kxan.com
  
  Severe thunderstorms will be possible beginning late this afternoon over the Southern Edwards Plateau and Northern Hill Country, then across much of South Central Texas late tonight. Large hail, damaging winds, and even some tornadoes will be possible. The most favorable conditions for severe weather will be west of Interstate 35. These storms will also be capable of producing heavy downpours of 1 to 2 inches.PHOTOS: Beautiful anvil cloud hovers over Fredericksburg area
  ———&md
  
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• Trump tosses Obama’s ‘clean’ energy plan, embraces coal

  28-03-2017 21:27 via kxan.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Declaring “the start of a new era” in energy production, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that he said would revive the coal industry and create jobs.
  The move makes good on his campaign pledge to unravel former President Barack Obama’s plan to curb global warming. The order seeks to suspend, rescind or flag for review more than a half-dozen measures in an effort to boost domestic energy production in the form of fossil fuels.
  Env
  
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• Trump, in break from other world leaders, digs in on coal

  28-03-2017 21:27 via kxan.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Declaring an end to what he’s called “the war on coal,” President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that eliminates numerous restrictions on fossil fuel production, breaking with leaders across the globe who have embraced cleaner energy sources.
  The order makes good on Trump’s campaign pledge to unravel former President Barack Obama’s efforts to curb global warming, eliminating nearly a dozen measures in an effort to boost domest
  
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• House speaker blocks ‘bathroom bill’ from unrelated proposal

  28-03-2017 21:26 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas House’s Republican speaker has thwarted a tea party-backed effort to tack “bathroom bill” restrictions onto an unrelated measure regulating the agency overseeing oil and gas.
  Rep. Matt Schafer of Tyler sought to ban transgender Texans from using public restrooms of their choice as part of a sweeping Railroad Commission bill. But House Speaker Joe Straus ruled Tuesday that the rule wasn’t relevant.
  Schafer and other conservative Republi
  
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• Montgomery Co. lawmaker injured in car crash

  28-03-2017 21:16 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — State Rep. Mark Keough, R-Montgomery County, is recovering in the hospital after being involved in a car crash Wednesday morning.
  Keough’s office says the crash happened while he was on his way to the State Capitol. He is in stable condition and didn’t suffer any broken bones or head trauma.
  The lawmaker’s office wouldn’t elaborate on where the crash happened or if it involved any other vehicles.
  Cards and flowers may be sent to Rep. Keough’s C
  
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• Police identify person of interest in central Austin murder

  28-03-2017 20:53 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police say they have identified 20-year-old Karl Ray Stokes as a person of interest in a deadly shooting that happened Sunday night.
  Police said it happened around 9:36 p.m. at 300 Carmen Court in central Austin, just next to the Interstate 35 and US 183 interchange. When officers arrived, they found Michael Blaylock, 26, with at least one gunshot wound. Blaylock was taken to the hospital where he died a short time later.
  Numerous homicides across Travis County
  
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• Woman pleads guilty to smuggling Mexican woman she used as sex surrogate into US

  28-03-2017 20:48 via kxan.com
  
  JACKSONVILLE, FL (NBC News) — A Florida woman is facing up to 20 years in prison after she pleaded guilty Monday to forced labor in a bizarre human smuggling case.
  Esthela Clark, 47, of Jacksonville, admitted that she paid $3,000 to smuggle a woman into the United States from Mexico in 2012 to use her as a surrogate mother.
  Prosecutors say Clark told the woman there would be medical supervision for the surrogacy, but instead held her against her will, abused her and forced her to
  
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• Audit: City of Austin can improve on discrimination, harassment training

  28-03-2017 20:01 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — You could call March 27, 2015 the catalyst. On that day, the city of Austin held a training session titled “Women Leading in Local Government.” During the session, city one of the speakers suggested women ask too many questions, do not like to deal with finances and should be spoken to differently than men.
  In response to that session, the Austin City Council stated in a resolution the session made “broad, demeaning generalizations” and relued on ste
  
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• One killed in crash on US 290 near Fredericksburg

  28-03-2017 19:50 via kxan.com
  
  FREDERICKSBURG, Texas (KXAN) — One person died and another person was taken to the hospital in a crash along US 290 near Fredericksburg.
  The Texas Department of Public Safety says they were called to investigate the two-vehicle crash just after noon Tuesday. The crash happened approximately three miles east of Fredericksburg.
  The Gillespie County Sheriff’s Office says all main lanes were blocked for several hours.
  This stretch of highway where the crash happened just saw a speed limi
  
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• Deadly crash shuts down US 290 near Fredericksburg

  28-03-2017 19:50 via kxan.com
  
  FREDERICKSBURG, Texas (KXAN) — The main lanes of US 290 West just east of Fredericksburg are blocked due to a deadly crash.
  The Texas Department of Public Safety says they were called to investigate the two-vehicle crash just after noon Tuesday. The crash is approximately three miles east of Fredericksburg. At the time, there are no reports of how many people were killed or how many people were injured.
  The Gillespie County Sheriff’s Office says all main lanes are blocked, but some t
  
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• Mayor Adler will discuss sanctuary cities during D.C. trip

  28-03-2017 19:48 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin mayor Steve Adler will be in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday for the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
  Adler will meet with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to discuss sanctuary cities. Austin has been a battleground in the sanctuary cities debate since Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez announced in January that her department would reduce its cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
  Texas Senate passes ‘Sanctuary City’ bill with
  
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• Nearly $90K worth of marijuana found hidden in truck bed

  28-03-2017 19:11 via kxan.com
  
  FAYETTE COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — A traffic stop along Interstate 10 in Fayette County Monday yielded approximately 175 pounds of marijuana.
  The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office says Sgt. Randy Thumann stopped a Ford F-250 around 1:35 p.m. While speaking with the driver, the sergeant noticed the driver was “extremely nervous” and had trouble explaining his itinerary.
  Oregon pilot arrested at Llano Airport, accused of smuggling marijuana
  After consent to search the vehicle was
  
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• Homeowner’s son shoots, kills three would-be burglars with AR-15

  28-03-2017 19:04 via kxan.com
  
  BROKEN ARROW, OK (WCMH/AP) — Oklahoma authorities say three would-be burglars have been fatally shot by a homeowner’s adult son who was armed with an AR-15 rifle.
  The Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office received a call around 12:30pm Monday from someone inside a home who told dispatchers that people had broken into the house and that shots had been fired.
  Deputy Nick Mahoney says officers arrived to find three men fatally shot. The neighborhood is in an unincorporated part of the c
  
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• Unsolved Fredericksburg murder could get tipster up to $16,000

  28-03-2017 18:21 via kxan.com
  
  FREDERICKSBURG, Texas (KXAN) — The death of a woman who was found in her Fredericksburg home after a fire was determined to be a homicide in 2007 is still unsolved. Since then, the Texas Department of Public Safety has had few leads as to who killed her.
  DPS is now asking for the public’s help to find Linda Muegge’s killer. Muegge, 55, was the owner of The Peasant Kitchen catering business at the time of her death. Police
  Linda Muegge – Cold case out o
  
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• Police: Man exposes himself to student on UT campus

  28-03-2017 18:04 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A 43-year-old man is charged with indecent exposure after, police say, he exposed himself to a University of Texas student on campus.
  A female student told UT police she was studying in the Student Activities Center Sunday evening when a man, later identified as Christopher Washington, sat in a chair across from her. The student said the man started spreading his legs in her direction, exposing himself, according to an arrest affidavit.
  The victim said he repeatedly reposit
  
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• TxDOT seeks community input on widening of FM 2001 in Kyle

  28-03-2017 17:01 via kxan.com
  
  KYLE, Texas (KXAN) — The Texas Department of Transportation is asking for public comment on the proposed widening and realignment of Farm to Market 2001 from Interstate 35 to State Highway 21.
  A meeting will be held beginning at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Studio Estates Club House, located at 6880 Goforth Rd. in Kyle.
  The 8.5 mile project would eliminate the 90-degree turns on FM 2001 and connect the road north and south of SH 21, improving travel times for commuters and emergency vehicle
  
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• Texas Senate bans some insurance coverage of abortion

  28-03-2017 16:00 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Senate has approved a bill prohibiting coverage of abortion by some health insurance plans in Texas — despite similar efforts stalling previously.
  Monday’s 21-10 vote sends Friendswood Republican Sen. Larry Taylor’s bill to the state House. It came as activists in the Senate gallery shouted “abortion is healthy care” and briefly unrolled a protest banner before being escorted out.
  The proposal bars health insurance plans offered
  
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• Houston vet charged in murder-for-hire plot leaps to death

  28-03-2017 15:37 via kxan.com
  
  HOUSTON (AP) — Authorities have confirmed that a Houston veterinarian charged with attempting to orchestrate the murder of her ex-husband has leapt to her death the day before she was scheduled to appear in court.
  The Harris County district attorney’s office says 48-year-old Valerie Busick McDaniel jumped Monday from her seventh-floor condo.
  PREVIOUS: Houston couple accused of hiring hit man to kill ex-partners
  A court hearing was scheduled for Tuesday for McDaniel, who was charged e
  
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• ‘Muny’ golf course vote expected Tuesday

  28-03-2017 15:10 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — An historic Austin golf course that many have been campaigning for is getting its day in the sun Tuesday when lawmakers will vote to move its ownership to the state parks system.
  The Lions Municipal Golf Course in west Austin was one of the first golf courses in a former Confederate state to be desegregated. It has been in the middle of controversy since 2011 when the University of Texas, who owns the land it sits on, announced it wanted to use that land for something
  
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• Family sues town to demolish house after creepy letters

  28-03-2017 14:49 via kxan.com
  
  WESTFIELD, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey family that wants to demolish their home after they claim they were stalked by an anonymous creepy-letter writer known as “The Watcher” has filed a lawsuit against their town.
  Derek and Maria Broaddus filed the suit against the town of Westfield after its planning board rejected their plan to raze the house and subdivide the land so they could build two houses. They said they can’t live in the house because of the letters.
  “My cli
  
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• Vacant east Austin home destroyed by fire

  28-03-2017 14:32 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin fire investigators are trying to determine the cause of a fire that destroyed an east Austin home Monday night.
  The home at 1141 Gunter St. was reported around 11:30 a.m.
  Officials said it was fully engulfed in flames when they arrived.
  No one was injured and it’s unknown where the owners of the home are.
  
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• Capital Metro, Round Rock strike deal for fixed route service

  28-03-2017 14:05 via kxan.com
  
  ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) — Capital Metro is officially coming to Round Rock after the transportation service’s board of directors approved an agreement with the city on Monday.
  Round Rock’s fixed-route service is anticipated to launch August 7. The new service was approved by the Round Rock City Council at its March 23 meeting.
  One of the fastest growing areas outside of Austin, Round Rock’s population grew by more than 44 percent in the last decade and the number of
  
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• Delays expected during Brodie Lane crash reconstruction Tuesday morning

  28-03-2017 13:43 via kxan.com
  
  SUNSET VALLEY, Texas (KXAN) — Drivers who frequent Brodie Lane on their way in to work will need to know about a closure that could possibly slow them down Tuesday morning.
  Various lanes in the 5800 block of Brodie Ln, between Home Depot Boulevard and Oakdale Drive, will close at 9 a.m. and are expected to be that way for at least two and a half hours. Delays are expected.
  A crash reconstruction is the reason for the closures. The crash, which happened around 11:48 p.m.
  
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• Changes made to STAAR standardized tests after glitches

  28-03-2017 13:14 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Students across Texas begin taking the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR test Tuesday, while state education officials are hoping to avoid a repeat of last year.
  Texas Education Agency officials say revamped efforts and nearly $20 million in improvements should help avoid glitches with the tests during the first year that New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) administered the Texas exams. Last March, more than 14,000 students had t
  
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• AISD approves land for new high school; no timeline for construction

  28-03-2017 07:35 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Early Tuesday morning, 12:27 a.m. to be exact, the Austin ISD school board unanimously approved the purchase of land to build a new high school in southeast Austin, along with two pieces of land to expand Bowie High School. The next question is how soon is a new high school needed, and when will it be built?
  “I really don’t know for sure,” said Trustee Yasmin Wagner. “I think it’s going to depend on how quickly the developments come online, how
  
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• Funding hardship forces Texas School for the Deaf to suspend summer program

  28-03-2017 05:34 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Each summer the Texas School for the Deaf welcomes children from around the state for its summer program, but this year they’re being forced to cut it because they don’t have enough state funding.
  Dr. Bobbie Beth Scoggins says it was a difficult decision for school leaders. “Our summer program activities, the camp-like activities, [are] state-funded and it’s not required by federal mandate, however we view it as a very necessary activity for the
  
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• Community leaders fear immigrants are not calling for help when they need it

  28-03-2017 04:52 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin City Council members and community leaders say they’re concerned the current climate surrounding immigration is making the community less safe.
  They worry people who are in the U.S. illegally may not be calling police for help because they’re afraid Immigration and Customs Enforcement could get involved in the process.
  One local non-profit says they are seeing a decrease in calls for help because of fear, but Austin police say they aren’t worri
  
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• PHOTOS: Anvil cloud looms over the Austin area

  28-03-2017 02:38 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A thunderstorm near Fredericksburg is producing a gigantic anvil cloud Monday evening.
  KXAN viewers reached out to us with a mix of fear and excitement as the Independence Day-like cloud loomed over the Austin area.
  Track the storm
  The cloud is shaped like an anvil because it’s hitting the bottom of the stratosphere, KXAN’s Natalie Ferrari explains. The air at the top of the storm is much cooler than the stratosphere, so the air expands out instead of highe
  
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• Armed robbery highlights homelessness problem near APD Headquarters

  28-03-2017 01:17 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Violent crime outside Austin Police Headquarters in downtown is shedding light on the extent of the homelessness problem in city limits.
  A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Darryl Alexander Wesley, 29, who is wanted for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, a first degree felony. According to court documents, Wesley attacked another man on March 16 at a homeless camp under the Eighth Street bridge, in the 700 block of East 8th Street, just down the street fr
  
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• Texas bill named after attacked judge approved by panel

  28-03-2017 01:11 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A terrifying moment for a local judge could lead to a new law aimed at improving courtroom security. Monday, the Judge Julie Kocurek Judicial and Courthouse Security Act (Senate Bill 42) passed the Senate State Affairs Committee and now heads to the full Senate.
  Travis County Judge Julie Kocurek spent more than a month in the hospital after being shot in her driveway in late 2015.
  The Judge Julie Kocurek Judicial and Courthouse Security Act requires security plans and
  
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• Protecting children from sexual extortion with tougher penalties

  28-03-2017 00:34 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (NEXSTAR) — A bill filed earlier this month by State Rep. Tony Dale, R-Cedar Park, would make sexual extortion of children a state jail felony, rather than a Class A misdemeanor.
  House Bill 2974 would increase the penalty for anyone accused of blackmailing a child to send sexual content such as photos or videos, in exchange for money or sex acts.
  “These crimes generally happen online,” Dale said during a press conference at the Capitol on Monday. “This bill address
  
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• Men who ran no-kill shelter in Florence arrested

  28-03-2017 00:19 via kxan.com
  
  WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — The father and son who were running the R.U.G. Animal Shelter in Florence were arrested Monday after a judge determined they would no longer have ownership of the animals that were seized from the shelter last week. 
  A spokesperson for Williamson County says the judge ruled in their favor at a hearing Monday morning. Daniel Hoch, who owns the shelter, and his father, John Hoch, are both charged with four counts of cruelty to a non-livestock animal.
  La
  
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• From breastfeeding mom to broccoli, take a look at the newest emojis

  28-03-2017 00:07 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN/NBC) — When words can’t explain how you’re feeling, it’s best to turn to an emoji. Sixty-nine new emojis have been proposed by the Unicode Consortium, which oversees the creation of new emojis (yes, that’s a thing).
  Emojipedia has created some of them in a format of how they might be displayed when released by vendors. The new ones include a breastfeeding mother, a bearded man (that’ll probably be used a lot in Austin), a woman wearing a headscarf
  
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