Austin news

• Two wanted men arrested in connection with Austin murder

  11-04-2017 23:15 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Two men who have been on the run, accused of murdering Michael Blaylock, 26, last month, have both been arrested.
  Austin police say Marvin Flint, 21, was arrested by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force on April 6. Karl Stokes, 20, was found in Hutto and taken into custody on Tuesday. Authorities say Stokes was armed with a semi-automatic pistol at the time of his arrest.
  Karl Stokes being arrested in Hutto. (Austin Police Department)According to an arrest warrant, on the nigh
  
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• Austin middle schoolers design innovative flood sensor

  11-04-2017 22:57 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Growing up near Bull Creek, Laya Yalamanchili and Satvik Dasari know how fierce flood waters can take lives. The Canyon Vista Middle School students have developed a new flood gauge that will help first responders save lives.
  “It made us very sad to see that have happened. It’s so close, it could have happened to any of us. It could have even been us. We were compelled to do something,” says Yalamanchili.
  “We wanted to create a device to save lives a
  
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• PHOTOS: San Marcos streets, cars underwater

  11-04-2017 22:27 via kxan.com
  
  SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) — Vehicles were flooded throughout San Marcos on Tuesday as a storm system dropped 7 inches of rain in less than two hours on the surrounding area.
  Hays County Office of Emergency Management says during the peak of the storm, numerous people had to be rescued from their vehicles, but no swift water rescues had to be conducted. Numerous roads were cut off due to the high water, including the frontage road of I-35, which was closed for several hours. The frontag
  
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• Texas: Vehicle found, driver missing in Fort Hood flooding

  11-04-2017 22:08 via kxan.com
  
  FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — The search for a driver missing since a flash flood swept his vehicle into a flooded creek at Fort Hood continues.
  Post spokesman Chris Haug had no immediate details on the person missing Tuesday in Clear Creek. However, a Fort Hood statement issued late Tuesday said the missing personal vehicle had been found but not the driver, and the search was to continue through the evening.
  Haug says three other people, including at least one soldier, escaped their respective
  
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• Texas: 1 person, vehicle missing in Fort Hood flooding

  11-04-2017 22:08 via kxan.com
  
  FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — Emergency officials are searching for a driver whose private vehicle was swept into a flooded creek at Fort Hood after storms dumped up to 8 inches of rain in Central Texas.
  Post spokesman Chris Haug had no immediate details on the person missing Tuesday in Clear Creek. Fort Hood officials closed all low-water crossings amid the heavy rain.
  The National Weather Service on Tuesday issued a flash flood warning for Coryell and Bell counties, following reports of up to
  
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• Germany: Pregame blasts rock soccer team bus; player injured

  11-04-2017 22:00 via kxan.com
  
  DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Three explosions went off near the team bus of Borussia Dortmund, one of Germany’s top soccer clubs, as it set off for a Champions League quarterfinal match on Tuesday evening. One of Dortmund’s players was injured.
  Police said they were working on the assumption that the blasts were directed at the Dortmund team and caused by “serious explosive devices,” which may have been hidden in a hedge near a car park.
  The explosions happened as the t
  
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• Texas attorney general wants judge off his criminal case

  11-04-2017 21:46 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wants the judge presiding over his upcoming criminal trial to step aside after moving the case out of the Republican’s hometown.
  State District Judge George Gallagher made the decision Tuesday after special prosecutors argued they couldn’t get a fair trial in the conservative Dallas suburb of McKinney, where Paxton lives. Paxton was indicted in 2015 on felony securities fraud charges over allegations he duped investors in a
  
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• Man accused of using shock collars to abuse kids

  11-04-2017 19:51 via kxan.com
  
  LOWER PROVIDENCE, PA (WCMH) — A man in Pennsylvania is facing charges on allegations that he has been abusing his kids for years.
  Investigators told KYW-TV, in a case that resembles torture, Joseph Myhre, a married father of two, has been punching, kicking, choking and using an electrical shock collar meant for a dog on his children for several years.
  Myhre also allegedly made his children sleep in wooden boxes, with holes drilled in them so the kids, ages 13 and 11, could breathe.
  “
  
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• LIVE BLOG: Heavy storms pounding San Marcos

  11-04-2017 19:32 via kxan.com
  
  This page will be updated as the KXAN team tracks severe weather moving through Central Texas Tuesday morning. Six inches fell in San Marcos between noon and 1 p.m.
  KXAN First Warning Weather Forecast
  Track the storm with the KXAN Weather App
  Interactive Radar
  CURRENT WARNINGS:
  Flash Flood Warning for Caldwell until 3 p.m.
  Flash Flood Warning for Hays County until 5:30 p.m.2:21 p.m.:
  Flooding at Old Gin Road at Redwood in San Marcos. (Report It: Marina Tristan)2:18 p.m.:2:12p – Comal
  
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• BLOG: 7 inches of rain falls on San Marcos, leads to flooding

  11-04-2017 19:32 via kxan.com
  
  This page has been archived.
  KXAN First Warning Weather Forecast
  Track the storm with the KXAN Weather App
  Interactive Radar
  PHOTOS: Flooded streets, cars in San Marcos4:57 p.m.: The storms caused minor issues along Union Pacific tracks from San Marcos up to Austin. The rain washed out the ground in some spots and made the tracks uneven in others. UP crews are bringing in some infill to stabilize each of those spots. They anticipate having southbound traffic (where the train was stalled in San M
  
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• Robbery suspect that sparked SWAT call captured nearly a month later

  11-04-2017 17:46 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A man that prompted a SWAT call after being chased by police into an east Austin business complex after allegedly robbing a gas station has been captured.
  Alfonso Miguel Chapa, 28, was taken into custody Monday by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force after a brief foot chase in the 1800 block of Wells Branch Parkway.
  Chapa ran from deputies in mid-March after leaving the gas station at 14824 North Interstate 35. Authorities thought they had him cornered at the Cameron Bus
  
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• Prostate cancer tests are now OK with US panel, with caveats

  11-04-2017 17:17 via kxan.com
  
  CHICAGO (AP) — An influential U.S. government advisory panel is dropping its opposition to routine prostate cancer screening in favor of letting men decide for themselves after talking with their doctor.
  The new draft guidelines released Tuesday echo those of several leading medical groups, but they don’t make the decision any easier for men: With their doctor’s help, they have to decide whether to take an imperfect PSA test that has a small chance of detecting a deadly cancer
  
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• So… what happened with the rain?

  11-04-2017 17:11 via kxan.com
  
   
  The heavy rain threat is not over yet. Track interactive radar as storms roll through Austin.
  A slow-moving cold front sinking our way yesterday from north Texas was expected to move overhead, then stall somewhere over Central Texas last night.
  In situations like this, a stalled cold front can act as a convergence zone — an area where colliding air masses are forced upward, producing heavy rain.
  As we told you on KXAN News, where the cold front set up overnight, and h
  
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• United CEO issues apology, calls removal ‘truly horrific’

  11-04-2017 17:05 via kxan.com
  
  CHICAGO (AP) — After people were horrified by video of a passenger getting dragged off a full United Express flight by airport police, the head of United’s parent company said the airline was reaching out to the man to “resolve this situation.”
  Hours later on Monday, his tone turned defensive. He described the man as “disruptive and belligerent.”
  By Tuesday afternoon, almost two days after the Sunday evening confrontation in Chicago, CEO Oscar Munoz issued his
  
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• Man removed from jet is Kentucky doctor with criminal record

  11-04-2017 17:05 via kxan.com
  
  CHICAGO (AP) — The man dragged from a full United Express flight by airport security officers in Chicago is a Kentucky physician who was convicted more than a decade ago of felony charges involving his prescribing of drugs.
  But David Dao’s unflattering history quickly became the focus of attention, even though there’s no indication that his past influenced how he was treated or that the airline or airport police were aware of his background.
  Dao, who is 69 and lives in Elizabet
  
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• Dragging of United passenger sparks outrage, anger

  11-04-2017 17:05 via kxan.com
  
  CHICAGO (AP) — Several minutes after a passenger recorded a video watched around the world that showed security officers dragging another passenger off an overbooked United Express flight at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, a smaller snippet of video showed an even more troubling scene.
  There stood the passenger who had been dragged on his back to the front of the plane, appearing dazed as he spoke through bloody lips and blood that had spilled onto his chin.
  “I wa
  
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• CEO issues new apology as details of passenger’s past emerge

  11-04-2017 17:05 via kxan.com
  
  CHICAGO (AP) — After people were horrified by video of a passenger getting dragged off a full United Express flight by airport police, the head of United’s parent company said the airline was reaching out to the man to “resolve this situation.”
  Hours later on Monday, his tone turned defensive. He described the man as “disruptive and belligerent.”
  By Tuesday afternoon, almost two days after the Sunday evening confrontation in Chicago, CEO Oscar Munoz issued his
  
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• Lack of encryption blamed for false Dallas emergency sirens

  11-04-2017 16:46 via kxan.com
  
  DALLAS (AP) — Dallas officials concerned about hackers blame radio signal issues for more than 150 emergency outdoor sirens falsely sounding last weekend.
  Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax on Monday said experts have determined the issue involved a radio system, not a computer issue. Broadnax says encryption has since been added.
  PREVIOUS: Sirens go off throughout Dallas in system malfunction
  Dallas officials initially blamed hackers for setting off the 156 sirens late Friday night and int
  
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• Trump to sell Nigeria attack planes for Boko Haram fight

  11-04-2017 16:22 via kxan.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration will move forward with the sale of high-tech aircraft to Nigeria for its campaign against Boko Haram Islamic extremists despite concerns over abuses committed by the African nation’s security forces, according to U.S. officials.
  Congress is expected to receive formal notification within weeks, setting in motion a deal with Nigeria that the Obama administration had planned to approve at the very end of Barack Obama’s presidency. Th
  
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• VIDEO: Man plunges into freezing water to save dog that fell through ice

  11-04-2017 15:59 via kxan.com
  
  ALBERTA, CANADA (NBC) – A man in Canada didn’t hesitate to plunge into freezing cold water to save his dog after it broke through thin ice at a park.
  The dramatic rescue was caught on camera.
  By coincidence, a news crew was at the park in Saint Albert, Alberta on Saturday for a story on ice safety as the ordeal unfolded.
  As the camera rolled, Duncan McIver jumped into the icy pond to save his dog, Cosmo, who had plunged through thin ice.
  In the video, you can see the ice breaking und
  
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• PHOTOS: National Pet Day

  11-04-2017 15:28 via kxan.com
  
  National Pet Day National Pet Day submission by Stephanie Lippke National Pet Day submission by James ShortNational Pet Day submission by Dana DeLorenzoNational Pet Day submission by Lisa LattavoNational Pet Day submission by Shannon SpradlingNational Pet Day submission by Margaret SorianoNational Pet Day submission National Pet Day submission by Richard GallowayNational Pet Day submission by Jordan MichalikNational Pet Day submission by Monica SanchezNational Pet Day submissionNational Pet Day
  
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• Jets zip through narrow Star Wars Canyon, drawing visitors

  11-04-2017 15:15 via kxan.com
  
  DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Silence and stillness settled over the deep, sunbaked gorge as a pair of photographers sat on a cliff, waiting.
  Then the rumbling started. As it grew louder, they scrambled into position.
  Within seconds, a thunderous roar reverberated from the steep, narrow canyon as an F-18 fighter jet streaked through it, passing beneath their feet. It came so close they could see the pilots’ expressions.
  This deafening show that was over in a flash is a fa
  
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• Police hunt for gun theft suspect with manifesto for Pres. Trump

  11-04-2017 14:59 via kxan.com
  
  MILWAUKEE (AP) — Before setting off a massive manhunt triggered by a gun shop break-in, authorities said Joseph Jakubowski first wanted to document the start of his self-proclaimed revolution against the government and law enforcement.“To anybody that got this letter, you might want to read it,” the 32-year-old Jakubowski said as he walked in the parking lot of a southern Wisconsin post office, holding an oversized white envelope bearing multiple stamps and containing a 161-pag
  
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• Woman hit by car in northwest Austin, driver stayed on scene

  11-04-2017 13:50 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police are investigating an auto vs. pedestrian crash that happened Tuesday morning.
  Witnesses called 911 around 6:20 a.m. from the 10200 block of Lake Creek Parkway on the northbound US 183 frontage road after seeing a woman get hit a vehicle, police said.
  The callers told police the woman is in her 30s and “hit her head on the ground.” Austin-Travis County EMS said the woman was transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
  Police said
  
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• Police: Man in ‘Hold My Beer’ T-shirt drove under influence

  11-04-2017 13:23 via kxan.com
  
  HARTFORD, CT (AP) – Connecticut police say a man wearing a T-shirt that said “Hold My Beer And Watch This” has been arrested for driving under the influence after he crashed into a graveyard.
  The Hartford Courant reports state police say 25-year-old Woodstock resident Harrison Wootton crashed his car into a graveyard’s low stone wall in Putnam early Monday.
  A mug shot shows Wootton wearing a black shirt with “Hold My Beer And Watch This” printed on the front.
  
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• Austin’s reclaimed water line project heads east

  11-04-2017 12:55 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Another big water project in downtown Austin is about to wrap up. Austin Water has been installing new reclaimed water lines – and it’s closed several downtown streets. Officials say once they complete this project they plan to head east of the city to expand the waterlines.
  Reclaimed water is treated water that is usually put back into the Colorado River since it is not clean enough to drink. Instead, the city is now using it for irrigation, toilet flushin
  
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• Coalition pushes to keep Texas 17-year-olds out of adult jails

  11-04-2017 12:07 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — In Texas, 17-year-olds are tried as adults, but one coalition says new data collected shows 17 is too young.
  The Raise the Age Coalition is working to raise the age of criminal responsibility in Texas from 17 to 18. The group says research shows that 17-year-olds are arrested for non-violent, low-level offenses that closely resemble those of 16-year-olds rather than older youth or adults.
  Raise the Age examines arrests, jail bookings and case outcomes for Texas 17-year-olds
  
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• Man shot and killed in struggle with Houston police officer

  11-04-2017 07:37 via kxan.com
  
  HOUSTON (AP) — Investigators say a man has died after he was shot during a struggle with a Houston police officer.
  The incident happened about 7:30 p.m. Monday as the officer checked a noise complaint in northwest Houston. Police Chief Art Acevedo says the officer reported finding the noise coming from a parked car with a 39-year-old man sitting inside, shrouded in the aroma of marijuana smoke.
  The officer said he asked the man to step out, but the man tried to run and the officer grabbed
  
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• Racks to remove large debris from Waller Creek tunnel get their first test

  11-04-2017 06:29 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — As heavy rains move in overnight Monday, the Waller Creek tunnel project will be using a new feature to help storm waters flow easier into the tunnel.
  The tunnel itself has been operational since 2015, but there are still parts of it that need to be completed.
  Last spring, there were some trash racks that removed large debris from entering the tunnel that were still not operational, but Monday night will be the first night to test it against a large rain event.
  In terms of
  
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• Watching the severe weather roll in with a local storm spotter

  11-04-2017 06:26 via kxan.com
  
  LAKEWAY, Texas (KXAN) — During severe weather, radar and technology can only tell us so much. Nothing beats reports from storm spotters on the ground.
  Every time mother nature is about to put on a show, Tricia Clarke, is ready to roll. Monday afternoon, she was parked at one of her go-to spots, a picturesque high point in Lakeway near her home.
  “Some days if the visibility is good I can see for 30-plus miles,” said Clarke.
  Her eyes were switching between her smar
  
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• More than the Score: Garcia wins the Green Jacket

  11-04-2017 05:59 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Sergio Garcia’s week at The Masters ends in an unfamiliar place for the Spaniard– atop the leaderboard. The KXAN guys discuss Garcia’s run to a Green Jacket on More than the Score.
  
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• KXAN Sports

  11-04-2017 05:59 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Sergio Garcia’s week at The Masters ends in an unfamiliar place for the Spaniard– atop the leaderboard. The KXAN guys discuss Garcia’s run to a Green Jacket on More than the Score.
  
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• Texas woman gets 18 years for hiring hit-man to kill daughter’s boyfriend

  11-04-2017 05:33 via kxan.com
  
  WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KFDX) — A Wichita Falls mother accepted a plea deal for her involvement in a murder-for-hire scheme where she and her husband tried to kill their daughter’s boyfriend.
  Christina Peyton was charged with criminal conspiracy to commit capital murder.
  Monday morning, she accepted a plea bargain for the lesser charge of criminal solicitation of murder. She’ll now serve 18 years in prison, but will be credited for 649 days time served.
  The husband, Jeffrey Peyto
  
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• Sesame Street debuts muppet with autism

  11-04-2017 03:54 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Sesame Street’s new muppet Julia debuted Monday.
  Julia has autism and many in Austin’s autism community hope her character can build awareness among children and their families. A Dell Children’s Medical Center psychiatrist spoke with us about the impact of seeing her on television.
  Dr. Jane Ripperger-Suhler says, “It normalizes it. It makes it a part of everyday life and gives people who are dealing with autism and people who don’t know a
  
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• Preservation of creative space isn’t happening quickly enough, artists say

  11-04-2017 02:25 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — It’s been more than a year since Mayor Steve Adler first introduced an initiative called the “Austin Music & Creative Ecosystem Omnibus Resolution” to help artists struggling to survive in the increasingly expensive city.
  City staff report they’re making progress on helping non-profit venues that are getting priced out, along with movement on other initiatives, but not quickly enough for some.
  “The Off Center” is preppi
  
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• Texas takes major step to defund abortion providers

  11-04-2017 01:56 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — During this year’s legislative session, Texas lawmakers will likely vote to cut all state funding for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. They could soon also cut funding to any city or county who provides support for those groups.
  Public dollars are tight at Planned Parenthood. While no tax money goes to abortion procedures, through grants and formulas, tax dollars help pay for other health services.
  “Patient may think she’s coming here for b
  
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• 911 caller says police were slow to respond to dangerous, drowsy driving

  11-04-2017 01:55 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The man who recorded another man driving dangerously early Friday morning tells KXAN he’s concerned about the Austin Police Department’s response to his calls to 911 dispatch.
  Luiz Chavez, Jr. called 911 twice Friday between 5:30 and 6 a.m. to report a vehicle swerving in and out of its lane on US 183, traveling northbound. Chavez says it took APD nearly 20 minutes to respond to the incident.
  “They said they’d be on their way and I continued to follo
  
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• New app gives users easy access to real-time stream conditions

  11-04-2017 01:30 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — In Central Texas where flash flooding is always an impending threat, a new mobile app and website is helping drivers identify current conditions in streams.
  The U.S. Geological Survey launched its new “Water On-the-Go” app to give Texans easy access to real-time to stream conditions. The new app can access a user’s location and give them readings from the nearest USGS gauges. Users can also access critical data such as streamflow, stream height, rainf
  
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• Texas senators switch vote to support statewide texting while driving ban

  11-04-2017 01:04 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (NEXSTAR) — The Texas Senate is expected to take up a bill this week that would make texting and driving illegal statewide.
  Senate Bill 31 would make it illegal to read, write or send a text message while behind the wheel of a moving vehicle.
  The bill’s author, Senator Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, says she has been pushing for a texting while driving ban for nearly 10 years. Zaffirini needs the support of 19 senators in order for the bill to come up for a vote in the full senat
  
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• Two killed in SH 130 wrong-way crash over the weekend identified

  11-04-2017 00:51 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The two men killed in a wrong-way crash on State Highway 130 near State Highway 71 early Saturday morning have been identified.
  Robert Escobar, 42, and Abel Luna, 38, died from blunt force injuries after the crash in the 3400 block of SH 130. One of the victims was taken to St David’s South Austin Medical Center with critical injuries and later died at the hospital.
  The other was pronounced dead at the scene. Officials have not said who was driving the wrong way.
  
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• Drunk driving suspected in wrong-way crash that killed two

  11-04-2017 00:51 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The two men killed in a wrong-way crash on State Highway 130 near State Highway 71 early Saturday morning have been identified.
  Austin police say the crash happened just after 3 a.m. in the 3400 block of SH 130. Initial information indicates the driver of a Toyota Corolla, 42-year-old Robert Escobar, was going northbound in the southbound lanes of SH 130 when he slammed into an SUV head-on.
  Escobar died at the scene. The driver of the SUV, 38-year-old Abel Luna, was taken t
  
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• Alabama governor resigns, pleads guilty to misdemeanors

  11-04-2017 00:32 via kxan.com
  
  MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley resigned Monday rather than face impeachment and pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor campaign violations that arose during an investigation of his alleged affair with a top aide.
  In a remarkable fall, the mild-mannered 74-year-old Republican and one-time Baptist deacon stepped down as the sex-tinged scandal gathered force over the past few days. Legislators turned up the pressure by opening impeachment hearings Monday. Last week, the Alabam
  
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