Austin news

• Parker Co. sheriff: Man calls for help, fires at deputies who arrive

  01-04-2017 23:30 via kxan.com
  
  WEATHERFORD, Texas (AP) — Authorities in North Texas have arrested a man who allegedly opened fire on sheriff’s deputies after calling for help in an apparent ruse.
  The Parker County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday that 47-year-old Allen Dewayne Thomas told call center operators two people were “loose” around his property and that he had shot two others.
  He’s accused of firing at deputies arriving at the scene, hitting a vehicle three times and narrowly missing
  
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• Ford recalling 53,000 F-250 pickups that can roll away while parked

  01-04-2017 23:12 via kxan.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Ford is recalling 53,000 2017 F-250 trucks because they can roll away even when they are parked due to a manufacturing error.
  Ford says drivers should use the parking brake to make sure that parked pickups don’t move.
  Dealers will also replace the defective part for free, but Ford doesn’t have the replacement parts yet. It will notify owners when the parts are available.
  The recalled trucks have 6.2-liter engines. They were built at a Kentucky plant from Oc
  
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• ADA nonprofit films make debut on KBVO

  01-04-2017 22:34 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Make a Hero, a nonprofit with the Americans with Disabilities Act, has two films airing on KBVO April 1.
  The organization creates films that are designed to catalyze social change and motivate others to exceed expectations while also inspiring others with disabilities.
  Make the Hero’s films,The Movement and The Current will appear on KBVO at 3 p.m. and at 4 p.m.
  Rachael Stafford from the National Network of ADA centers was at the KXAN studio to introduce the Make
  
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• State of Texas: Budget cuts raise concerns

  01-04-2017 22:12 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – The Texas House Appropriations Committee passed their preliminary budget plan, and it comes with big cuts that have some people concerned.  Committee members cut $3 billion from the first draft of the budget. Medicaid took a big hit, with $1 billion in cuts. If those cuts go through, the state will also lose $1.4 billion in federal funding for Medicaid.
  State Representative Donna Howard, D-Austin, is a member of the Appropriations Committee. She spoke to KXAN
  
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• Fall from cliff critically injures man in Barton Creek greenbelt

  01-04-2017 21:28 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) —  A man is in the hospital after falling more than 50 feet from a cliff in the Barton Creek greenbelt Saturday afternoon.
  At about 12:12 p.m., Austin-Travis County EMS medics responded to the 3500 block of South Lamar Boulevard to a report of a person who fell from a cliff.
  Austin Fire Department, STARFlight and EMS crews were able to contact the patient just after 12:30 p.m.
  Crews transported the man in his 20s via STARFlight to University Medical Center Brackenri
  
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• Round Rock police searching for suspects in aggravated bank robbery

  01-04-2017 17:51 via kxan.com
  
  ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) — The Round Rock Police Department is asking for the public’s help to locate two men involved in an aggravated robbery Thursday night.
  On March 30 around 11:25 p.m., police responded to a call from the Chase Bank in the 280 block of University Boulevard.
  According to police, the victim was at the bank making a deposit when the armed men approached his vehicle and demanded money. The victim was able to cooperate with the suspects and after the robber
  
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• Austin Diagnostic Clinic prepares for international travelers

  01-04-2017 17:25 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Many of us are going to be traveling across the country and around the world this summer.
  Before taking to the skies on vacation, planning and preparing for your health can be important.
  Austin Diagnostic Travel Clinic Director Crystal Cherico was in the studio with Kylie McGivern to talk about how to prepare for travels with health in mind.
  For more information about the travel clinic, click here.
  
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• UT researchers using equations to ‘forecast’ cancer behavior

  01-04-2017 05:56 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Through complex equations and science, meteorologists are able to anticipate where deadly disasters will hit. Researchers at the University of Texas Austin want to do the same thing, with cancer. It’s a new field called ‘computational oncology.’
  Dr. Thomas Yankeelov was brought to UT to help develop a center for computational oncology, helping to fight cancer in a new way.
  “Computational oncology is a very new field, there’s maybe half a dozen
  
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• Marine family to receive keys to new home with a heavy heart

  01-04-2017 05:20 via kxan.com
  
  NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas (KXAN) – A New Braunfels Marine and his family will be handed the keys to a new home on Monday all thanks to the Helping a Hero organization.
  Master Sergeant Blaine Scott joined the Marine Corps in 1992. In 2006, during his second deployment to Iraq, Scott was severely injured in an IED blast.
  “Forty percent of my body burned. I had a severe left ankle break,” said Scott.
  His injures make it difficult to get around his current home, so three years ago he ap
  
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• State Hospital patient disappears for 12 hours after taking employee’s keys

  01-04-2017 04:45 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — An Austin State Hospital patient walked out in what’s being called an “unauthorized” departure for about 12 hours on Tuesday.
  A spokesperson with the Texas Health & Services Commission says the patient got a staff member’s keys and left the facility — located at 4110 Guadalupe St. in central Austin — at around 2 p.m.
  Austin police were called for an “escape from custody” at around 3:33 p.m.
  The patient was found and return
  
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• Tiger Woods decides to sit out another Masters

  01-04-2017 04:16 via kxan.com
  
  (AP) — Tiger Woods won’t play in the Masters for the third time in the last four years, announcing Friday night on his website that rehabilitation on his back didn’t allow him enough time to prepare.“I did about everything I could to play, but my back rehabilitation didn’t allow me the time to get tournament ready,” Woods said on his website.
  He still plans to be at Augusta National, but only for dinner with past Masters champions on Tuesday night, just like l
  
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• Taylor High softball coach accused of having sexual relationship with student

  01-04-2017 04:06 via kxan.com
  
  TAYLOR, Texas (KXAN) — A Taylor ISD varsity softball coach has been charged with improper relationship between an educator and a student.
  Kendall Lucas, 25, is being investigated by the Taylor Police Department for her relationship with a female student who was 17 years old at the time of the relationship.
  Taylor High School officials say they learned of the relationship on Wednesday and reported it to police. The investigation revealed Lucas and the student had a sexual relationship betwe
  
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• Leander ISD addresses recent student deaths

  01-04-2017 02:16 via kxan.com
  
  LEANDER, Texas (KXAN) — The Leander Independent School District is responding to parents’ concerns about the recent deaths of several students in its district.
  In a letter sent home to parents, Superintendent Dan Troxell says the “loss of student lives has taken a tremendous toll on our community this year.” Troxell doesn’t elaborate on any death but says each one is “devastating no matter the circumstance.”
  In the past week, concerned parents have reach
  
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• Austin teens in recovery record over 300 healing songs

  01-04-2017 01:53 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — On a plot of land near South Congress Avenue sits the Phoenix House. Teenagers go to school during the day and get treatment for drug addiction at night. The facility has been helping teens fight addiction for decades, but in recent years started incorporating music into the regimen.
  “Every week we come in here, decide a subject, and then we write a song and everyone collaborates,” explains studio director, Matt Smith. “As a lifelong musicia
  
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• Teens help save families from northwest Austin apartment fire

  01-04-2017 00:59 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Michelle and Tais Mahugnos had just finished taking their State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) tests at Westwood High School on Thursday, so they decided to celebrate after walking home to the Westwood Apartments.
  “We got some Taco Bell and went to hang by the pool with our friend Oscar,” Michelle said.
  Pretty soon, the three noticed something out of the ordinary.
  “We started seeing smoke, we started smelling it and we were wondering wh
  
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• Austin officers suspended without pay after blocking activist recording them

  01-04-2017 00:44 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — An Austin police officer has been suspended without pay for 20 days after a video from November showed him blocking an activist from recording the scene of a traffic stop.
  Officer James Maufrais has been with the department for 4 years, according to his attorney Brad Heilman, who thinks his client’s punishment is too harsh.
  “He completely admitted to it, I think [there are] some mitigating factors that should’ve been taken into consideration and probably w
  
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