Austin news

• Italy’s Emma Morano, the world’s oldest person, dies at 117

  15-04-2017 21:57 via kxan.com
  
  ROME (AP) — Emma Morano, at 117 the world’s oldest person who is also believed to have been the last surviving person born in the 1800s, died Saturday at her home in northern Italy, her physician said.
  Dr. Carlo Bava told The Associated Press by phone that Morano’s caretaker had called him to say she had stopped breathing in the afternoon while sitting in an armchair at her home in Verbania, a town on Italy’s Lake Maggiore.
  Bava said he had last seen his patient on Friday
  
  Read more

• Weekend Gardener: Preparing a butterfly garden

  15-04-2017 21:52 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A butterfly garden can be a simple addition to your spring garden.
  Growing a butterfly garden is not only a colorful attraction, but it also benefits the butterflies by providing them food and a place to stay.
  John Dromgoole with the Natural Gardener has some tips for properly planting a butterfly garden.
  
  Read more

• Neighbors evacuated after SWAT team called to burglary

  15-04-2017 20:31 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Neighbors were evacuated from their homes in a southwest Austin neighborhood early Saturday morning after SWAT was called to a nearby burglary.
  Officers got a 911 call around 10 p.m. Friday when a suspect broke into a home in the 4900 block of Trail Winds Drive. When they got to the scene, they found that the suspect was possibly barricaded inside the home and might have a weapon. For safety, immediate neighbors were evacuated.
  The SWAT team was called to the neighborh
  
  Read more

• Local volunteers shave their heads for pediatric cancer research

  15-04-2017 18:55 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Dozens are braving the shave this Saturday to support childhood cancer research.
  The Dell Children’s Medical Center is hosting their annual head-shaving fundraiser to benefit the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a national nonprofit which funds grants for pediatric cancer research.
  Cancer patients and survivors, family and friends who lost a loved one to cancer and volunteers will cut their hair for a cause.
  This marks the 12th year the Children’s Bloo
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Kicking off Earth Week with the Hill Country Conservancy

  15-04-2017 18:49 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Earth Week is right around the corner and the Hill Country Conservancy is hosting an entire week of events to celebrate.
  Director of Communication and Events Hanna Coffer and Executive Director George Cofer were in the studio to talk about the non-profit’s week of events.
  For more information about the Hill Country Conservancy and their annual events, click here.
  
  Read more

• April the giraffe in NY has calf before 1.2 million online

  15-04-2017 18:09 via kxan.com
  
  HARPURSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — And baby makes glee.
  Before an online audience of more than a million viewers, April the giraffe gave birth to a calf Saturday at a New York zoo, ending weeks of proverbial pacing by animal lovers in a virtual worldwide waiting room.
  The 15-year-old giraffe delivered her calf shortly before 10 a.m. EDT in an enclosed pen at the zoo in Harpursville, a rural upstate village about 130 miles (209 kilometers) northwest of New York City. The mama giraffe tenderly licked
  
  Read more

• Tracking down your daily steps

  15-04-2017 17:41 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — As fitness trackers continue to become popular, more people are counting their daily steps.
  Dr. Yan Liu from the Heart Hospital of Austin was in the studio with John Dabkovich to talk about the a new study that recommends how many steps to take each day.
   
  
  Read more

• Train stuck in tunnel 3 hours, then stun gun sparks stampede

  15-04-2017 15:43 via kxan.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — A train with about 1,200 passengers became stuck in a tunnel between New York and New Jersey for nearly three hours on Friday, and the chaotic scene escalated to pandemonium when Amtrak police used a stun gun to subdue a disruptive man in a station, sparking a stampede.
  It was the latest in a series of recent rail problems plaguing the metropolitan area.
  The New Jersey Transit train became disabled in the Hudson River tunnel late Friday afternoon, when Amtrak was experienci
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Police investigating woman’s body found in Waller Creek

  15-04-2017 14:58 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police are investigating the scene where a woman’s body was found in Waller Creek early Saturday morning.
  Austin-Travis County EMS and the Austin Fire Department located the woman’s body before 4:30 a.m. near the 700 block of East Sabine Street and 4th Street. According to ATCEMS, the woman was reported to have fallen into the creek.
  EMS pronounced the woman in her 20s dead at the scene.
  Detectives are at the scene. KXAN will update the story as more info
  
  Read more

• Police identify woman found dead in Waller Creek

  15-04-2017 14:58 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police have identified a woman whose body was found in Waller Creek early Saturday morning.
  Tia Shane Brooks, 24, was pronounced dead at the scene after emergency crews responded to a report of a person possibly drowning in the creek at about 3:16 a.m. She was located near East Sabine Street and 4th Street.
  Homicide detectives are conducting an investigation and are awaiting an autopsy to rule on the cause of her death. However, detectives said they do not believe th
  
  Read more

• APD responds to growing homeless complaints beyond downtown

  15-04-2017 06:44 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Concerns appear to be growing about the homeless population beyond downtown. Viewer tips have led KXAN to sprawling camps close to homes in several south Austin areas. Thursday, those tips brought KXAN to the area of Manchaca and Ben White, where complaints have been rolling in for more than a year.
  “The numbers of homeless has grown in this Southwood neighborhood,” Maria Solis told KXAN, who has called the neighborhood home for more than 20 years. She
  
  Read more

• VIDEO: Thieves snatch copper wire from Austin garage

  15-04-2017 04:41 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A southeast Austin homeowner caught two men stealing copper wire from their house on Wednesday.
  Austin police were called to the neighborhood southeast of the Bluff Springs Road and East William Cannon Drive intersection following the theft. The homeowner tells KXAN the suspects got away with about $250 worth of copper electrical wire.
  Home surveillance video shows the men trying to hide their faces from the driveway-facing camera as they steal the wire.
  The two men were in
  
  Read more

• Fending off fleas: Why pet owners are seeing more of the pesky parasites

  15-04-2017 04:35 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Beautiful weather this spring means a lot of outdoor time for cats and dogs, but Central Texas pet owners say they seem to be picking up more fleas even with protection.
  Westlake Animal Hospital was not shocked when KXAN reached out about the topic.
  “When you called me I was writing an email to a client talking to her about fleas and how it’s been such a bad flea year,” said Ashley Opyt, D.V.M.
  A mild winter, quite a bit of rain and heat and humi
  
  Read more

• Burnet Co. Sheriff’s office employee killed in Lampasas shooting

  15-04-2017 03:53 via kxan.com
  
  LAMPASAS, Texas (KWKT) — A second woman has died after a shooting Thursday morning in Lampasas, the Burnet County Sheriff’s Office said.
  Police say it started at 11:49 a.m. Thursday with a 911 call from a mobile phone at 702 West North Avenue in Lampasas.
  Officers got little information from the call before it ended, hearing only from one of the women: “She’s got a gun” and “my wife, I told her I wanted a divorce.”
  Lampasas police officers arri
  
  Read more

• Big Spring High honors students who died in crashes as prom king and queen

  15-04-2017 03:26 via kxan.com
  
  BIG SPRING, Texas (KMID) — As high schools across the country celebrate prom this spring, Big Spring High students did something pretty remarkable.
  They decided to honor two students who passed away in two separate car crashes, as honorary prom king and queen.
  Dylan Lance lost his life in a 2015 crash, and Shelley Lopez in another crash in 2014.
  Lance’s father, Blake Lance, tells Local 2/Fox 24 that he can’t find the words to describe how he feels about the thoughtful honor on
  
  Read more

• Texas Supreme Court denies request to release Ethan Couch from jail

  15-04-2017 03:05 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (AP) — Lawyers who used an “affluenza” defense for a Texas teenager in a fatal 2013 drunken-driving wreck have failed to secure his release from jail.
  The Texas Supreme Court denied the request Thursday for 20-year-old Ethan Couch, who was 16 when his crash killed four people near Fort Worth.
  Couch received 10 years’ probation after pleading guilty to intoxication manslaughter and other juvenile charges. A defense expert used the term “affluenza” d
  
  Read more

• Court won’t release Ethan Couch from jail

  15-04-2017 03:05 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (AP) — Lawyers who used an “affluenza” defense for a Texas teenager in a fatal 2013 drunken-driving wreck have failed to secure his release from jail.
  The Texas Supreme Court denied the request Thursday for 20-year-old Ethan Couch, who was 16 when his crash killed four people near Fort Worth.
  Couch received 10 years’ probation after pleading guilty to intoxication manslaughter and other juvenile charges. A defense expert used the term “affluenza” d
  
  Read more

• Parachuting Easter Bunny soars over South Texas

  15-04-2017 02:55 via kxan.com
  
  CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (KXAN) — The Easter Bunny took a different approach to hopping its way to Texas.
  The bunny jumped out of a plane and skydived its way to the Calallen neighborhood in Corpus Christi.
  Video shows the bunny’s floppy ears and cotton tail flying in the wind. He was practicing for Sunday’s festivities at the Church of Hope.
  Free fun in Austin for Easter weekend
  The skydive is part of the helicopter egg drop and other activities held for area children.
   
  
  Read more

• Power for Parkinson’s inspires movement through exercise

  15-04-2017 02:08 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — It’s a disease that will affect 60,000 Americans this year alone. Parkinson’s disease is a chronic and progressive movement disorder affecting millions around the world.
  There is no cure.
  While medication is critical in slowing the disease, a growing number of people are finding the body and mind can benefit from another type of prescription — exercise.
  That’s where Power for Parkinson’s comes in. The non-profit has been around for 4 years, enc
  
  Read more

• Family of man shot several times by APD officers aren’t allowed hospital visits

  15-04-2017 00:27 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — One week after Austin police officers shot and injured a man in east Austin, the man’s family says they have not been allowed to see their loved one in the hospital.
  “They won’t give us any access, we’re not getting any logical explanation, we’re not getting any good reasoning why the mother can’t even see him. It’s just ridiculous,” Cluren Williams, Lawrence Parrish’s older brother says. “[They] kicked us while we
  
  Read more

Follow @Austin_News_US on Twitter!