Austin news

• M&M Mars plant in Waco catches on fire

  02-05-2017 23:38 via kxan.com
  
  WACO, Texas (KWKT) — A multiple alarm fire was burning at the M&M Mars plant in Waco early Tuesday afternoon,  leading to the evacuation of employees from the plant.
  Fire was reported in storage containers on trucks parked at the facility. A large smoke plume was visible over the area of the plant.
  Police had closed portions of Texas Central Parkway, Mars Drive, Old Hewitt Drive and Imperial Drive. The first fire alarm came in at 1:08 p.m. with the first unit arriving two min
  
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• Alcohol suspected as a factor in deadly rollover crash in southeast Austin

  02-05-2017 23:32 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Police now suspect alcohol played a role in the rollover that killed a driver in southeast Austin on Saturday, April 29.
  Kris Anthony Lugo, 29, was driving west in the 4500 block of William Cannon Drive, near South Pleasant Valley Road, at around 3:50 p.m. when he lost control and rolled over. Officers say he was driving at a high rate of speed.
  Police said that the man was partially ejected from the truck and that it landed on top of him.
  Lugo was pronounced dead at the sc
  
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• Man who drowned swimming to Lake Travis party barge identified

  02-05-2017 23:08 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The 21-year-old man who went missing in Lake Travis on Sunday has been identified.
  Tai Le, of Garland, Texas, was found 50 feet below the surface at 10:45 a.m. Monday, deputies say. Le went missing after swimming near a Lake Travis party barge on Sunday at 2:22 p.m.
  Rescue teams were on scene minutes after they were called, officials described, searching the shoreline, surface of the water and the lake from the air. At around 3 p.m. Sunday, the teams went from res
  
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• Governor signs law banning state contracts with companies boycotting Israel

  02-05-2017 22:39 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (NEXSTAR) — Gov. Greg Abbott kicked off bill-signing season on Tuesday, with his first new bill of the 2017 legislative session.
  Abbott signed House Bill 89, which prohibits state contracts and investments with companies that boycott Israel.
  According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Texas is now the 20th state with such a law. HB 89 passed unanimously in the House in April, and all but five senators in the upper chamber voted in favor of it.
  “The reason why we are even
  
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• Homeless man gets probation for manslaughter case

  02-05-2017 20:36 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A homeless man who killed another homeless person in northeast Austin last year was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to probation last week.
  Police say on June 5, 2016, John Mouton, 23, got into a fight with another man over drugs and a possible stolen cellphone. A witness told officers at the time the victim threw the suspect’s bags off of a bridge and into water as the two got into a scuffle at the homeless camp. Mouton then put the victim in a “chokeho
  
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• Alabama gives Saban 3-year extension, $4M signing bonus

  02-05-2017 20:06 via kxan.com
  
  MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama coach Nick Saban could make $65 million over the next eight years.
  University trustees approved a three-year contract extension through the 2024 season for Saban on Tuesday. Saban will get $7.125 million in each of the next two seasons, counting $400,000 completion bonuses. He also receives a $4 million signing bonus.
  UT’s Tom Herman 5-year contract details
  Saban will get up to $7.2 million in annual completion bonuses, with half of that due after the
  
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• Accused Austin mass shooting planner charged for having guns

  02-05-2017 20:03 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A man who authorities said showed signs of supporting a “sovereign citizen extremist ideology” has been formally charged for having guns when he shouldn’t have.
  A federal grand jury returned an indictment against Steven Boehle, 50, Tuesday after he was found to have three semi-automatic pistols and an “unlawful user” of a controlled substance on April 12.
  The Federal Bureau of Investigation had previously received information that Boe
  
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• Chief: Car driving away when officer fatally shot North Texas teen

  02-05-2017 19:52 via kxan.com
  
  DALLAS, Texas (AP/KXAN) — Police in suburban Dallas are acknowledging that a video showing an officer fatally shooting a black 15-year-old contradicts the department’s original account of the incident.
  Balch Springs Police Chief Jonathan Haber said Monday that Jordan Edwards’ vehicle was driving away from officers – not reversing toward them – when the shooting happened. Haber said he was troubled by what he saw in the video but wouldn’t release details other
  
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• UT stabbing suspect says he doesn’t remember the attack

  02-05-2017 18:50 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The University of Texas student who police say went on a stabbing spree, killing one and injuring three others, was suffering from mental health issues. Less than 24 hours after the attack on campus, UT police say the suspect, 21-year-old Kendrex J. White, did not have a vendetta against any particular group but that he “did have a history” with mental health. UTPD Chief of Police David Carter says White, who was a Biology major, was recently involuntarily commi
  
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• UT stabbing suspect had history of mental health issues

  02-05-2017 18:50 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The University of Texas student who police say went on a stabbing spree, killing one and injuring three others, was suffering from mental health issues. Less than 24 hours after the attack on campus, UT police say the suspect, 21-year-old Kendrex J. White, did not have a vendetta against any particular group but that he “did have a history” with mental health. UTPD Chief of Police David Carter says White, who was a Biology major, was recently involuntarily commi
  
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• Police: Suicidal 20-year-old shot, killed by officer after refusing to drop gun

  02-05-2017 18:40 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A 20-year-old armed man was shot and killed by police in northeast Austin Monday morning as he yelled at officers to shoot him.
  Austin police say they were called at 11:03 a.m. to the 11000 block of Long Winter Drive, near the intersection of Dessau Road and Braker Lane, for a report of an attempted suicide involving a man waving a gun around erratically, but not necessarily pointing it at anyone.
  “It was, ‘Boom, boom boom,'” neighbor Sean Lamphere said.&n
  
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• Austin officer shoots and kills armed 20-year-old threatening to commit suicide

  02-05-2017 18:40 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A 20-year-old armed man was shot and killed by police in northeast Austin Monday morning as he yelled at officers to shoot him.
  Austin police say they were called at 11:03 a.m. to the 11000 block of Long Winter Drive, near the intersection of Dessau Road and Braker Lane, for a report of an attempted suicide involving a man waving a gun around erratically, but not necessarily pointing it at anyone.
  A Spanish speaker who identified herself as the suspect’s mother called
  
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• Attempted suicide call turns into northeast Austin officer involved shooting

  02-05-2017 18:40 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Law enforcement has confirmed there is an officer-involved shooting in northeast Austin.
  Austin police say they were called out to the 11300 block of Long Winter Drive for a shots fired call just after 11 a.m for an attempted suicide.
  Austin-Travis County EMS says one person was taken to the hospital. No pronouncement of death has been made.
  A witness at the scene told KXAN’s Kylie McGivern that he heard yelling and three gunshots.
  This is a developing story and will
  
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• White officer pleads guilty in black man’s fatal shooting

  02-05-2017 18:24 via kxan.com
  
  CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A white police officer whose killing of a black man running from a traffic stop was captured on cellphone video pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal civil rights charges that could send him to prison for decades.
  The plea from Michael Slager, 35, came five months after a jury deadlocked on state murder charges against him in the 2015 slaying of Walter Scott. South Carolina prosecutors had planned to retry Slager, but as part of Tuesday’s plea bargain, they agreed
  
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• White ex-officer pleads guilty in black man’s slaying

  02-05-2017 18:24 via kxan.com
  
  CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A white former police officer whose killing of an unarmed black man running from a traffic stop was captured on cellphone video pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal civil rights charges that could send him to prison for decades.
  The plea from Michael Slager, 35, came five months after a jury deadlocked on state murder charges against him in the 2015 shooting of Walter Scott. South Carolina prosecutors had planned to retry Slager, but as part of Tuesday’s plea bar
  
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• Southeast Texas man arrested in separate fatal shootings

  02-05-2017 17:16 via kxan.com
  
  TEXAS CITY, Texas (AP) — A Southeast Texas man is being held on charges that he killed two people in separate shootings five weeks apart.
  Twenty-four-year-old Charles Lee Henderson of Texas City was being held Tuesday on capital murder and other charges at the Galveston County jail. His bond was $1 million.
  Police affidavits say Henderson shot a man March 14 following a fist fight at a La Marque convenience store that involved one of his friends.
  Investigators say Henderson was the gunman
  
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• Shooter calls ex-girlfriend as he unleashes terror at pool

  02-05-2017 16:18 via kxan.com
  
  SAN DIEGO (AP) — The pool party was in full swing when a lone man reclining in a lounge chair with a blank expression pulled a gun from his waistband and began shooting.
  As bodies fell on the pool deck and people ran for their lives, the gunman despondent over a recent breakup dialed his ex-girlfriend so she could listen as he continued firing at strangers.
  Although Peter Selis was white and all but one of the victims were black and Latino, Chief Shelley Zimmerman said Monday there was &ld
  
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• Mother of 3 killed in mass shooting at San Diego pool party

  02-05-2017 16:18 via kxan.com
  
  SAN DIEGO (AP) — A 35-year-old mother of three children was the lone person killed by a despondent gunman who police said shot seven people at a poolside birthday bash in San Diego after a breakup with his girlfriend.
  A childhood friend said he will miss the infectious smile of victim Monique Clark, who was devoted to her daughters, ages 2 to 13.
  “She had such a great personality,” said Vincent Howard, who met Clark in high school. “She was always smiling. She was always
  
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• Entertainer recalls ‘infectious smile’ of shooting victim

  02-05-2017 16:18 via kxan.com
  
  SAN DIEGO (AP) — Monique Clark was remembered for her infectious smile by her friends, including entertainer Nick Cannon who wrote on social media that “tears can’t express the pain and shock” that she was gunned down over the weekend in a mass shooting at an apartment complex in San Diego.
  The 35-year-old mother of three children was the lone person killed by a gunman who shot seven people at a poolside birthday bash Sunday. Police said the shooter was despondent over a
  
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• 3 Austin bars shut down for possible connection to organized crime

  02-05-2017 16:00 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A long criminal investigation by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has forced three Austin bars to close their doors.
  The three bars are:
  La Movida Night Club Bar & Grill, 2538 Elmont Drive
  Los Cocodrilos Bar, 9601 I-H 35 North
  Perikos Bar, 1611 Dungan Lane
  According to TABC, special investigators determined the bars trafficked drugs and participated in ‘drink solicitation,’ which is described as being when a “licensed business’ employees o
  
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• What on Earth might a Trump-Kim Jong Un meeting look like?

  02-05-2017 14:36 via kxan.com
  
  BANGKOK (AP) — In one corner: the unpredictable dictator, the third-generation family ruler whose nation has a seven-decade reputation of being erratic, quick to take umbrage and insistent that it is powerful enough to upend the planet. In the other corner: a sandpaper-tongued American president like no other, barely past his first 100 days as leader of the free world, liable to say just about anything — including a handful of conciliatory words at the most unexpected of moments.
  On
  
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• Family of Kyle hit and run victim increases reward for information

  02-05-2017 14:24 via kxan.com
  
  KYLE (KXAN) — The family of Michael Mince, the 15-year-old Lehman High School student who was run down by a hit-and-run driver in Niederwald the day after Christmas, has increased the reward for information leading to the arrest of the driver to $5,000. Crime Stoppers is already offering a reward up to $1,000.
  Mince had just left the gas station at the corner of Farm to Market 2001 and State Highway 21 between 7:30 and 8 p.m. on Dec. 26 when he was hit from behind by a pickup truck.
  T
  
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• Woman receives minor injuries when fire destroys east Austin home

  02-05-2017 13:44 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A mobile home has been determined to be a total loss after a fire that happened after midnight Tuesday.
  According to Travis County Emergency Service District 12, the fire began around 12:30 a.m. at 7504 Compass Drive.
  Crews knocked the fire down around 1:12 a.m. and transported the woman living in the mobile home to the hospital for smoke inhalation and minor injuries. She is expected to have a quick recovery.
  Investigators are working to determine a cause for the fire but
  
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• East Austin school accepting donations after intentional playground fire

  02-05-2017 12:54 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Neighbors in one East Austin community are upset and worried after police say someone intentionally set a nearby playground on fire.
  Police were called at about 9:15 p.m. on Saturday to Oak Springs Elementary located on Webberville Road in east Austin.
  Neighbors say they could smell burning plastic and heard a big explosion when fire crews got there.
  “They were there quick taking care of it. We didn’t know what that explosion was though at the time it was pretty
  
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• WATCH: Texas men working frantically to save children after storms

  02-05-2017 12:37 via kxan.com
  
  CANTON, Texas (AP) — Rescue efforts that followed a series of tornadoes that struck East Texas included a group of men frantically working to pull two young children from a pickup that overturned in rushing water.
  At least five men struggled against the waist-high water Saturday to free the two children and a man believed to be their father. The men were hampered by water pushing against the doors of the pickup.
  NWS: 6 tornadoes hit Canton area, including EF-4
  Cell-phone video shows a man
  
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• Stabbing in West Campus injures one

  02-05-2017 05:43 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — As authorities were gathering information on the deadly stabbing that happened on the University of Texas at Austin campus, another unrelated stabbing happened a few blocks away.
  Austin police say on Monday around 3 p.m. there was a stabbing in the 2600 block of Nueces Street. The victim told police he was stabbed when he got into a confrontation with an unknown man who he saw threaten a woman with a knife.
  The victim went home and asked his roommates to take him to th
  
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• UT faculty, students document early moments of deadly stabbing

  02-05-2017 05:17 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — As a stabbing incident unfolded on the University of Texas at Austin campus Monday afternoon, students and faculty on campus were some of the first people to witness the event which killed one student and injured three others.Many of the earliest photos, both of the attack and of the scene as first responders arrived were all documented in the social media posts of the people walking around on campus.
  Daniel Bonevac, a professor of Philosophy who’s been at UT for 37 y
  
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• ‘First Monday Trade Days’ vendor recalls taking shelter as tornado rips through

  02-05-2017 05:05 via kxan.com
  
  CANTON, Texas (KXAN) — Before tornadoes drew attention to Canton, what really put the East Texas city on the map is “First Monday Trade Days.” The event brings in hordes of people over the days leading up to the first Monday of the month.
  KXAN spoke with those cleaning up what the storms left behind, including Kristin Barlow. For the last 16 years, she and her husband have made the trek to Trade Days.
  “Three different times there has been tornadoes close or in Canton
  
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• Permitless carry could soon go to vote in Texas House

  02-05-2017 04:40 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Guns are expected to be a hot topic as state lawmakers head into the home stretch of the 2017 legislative session. Monday marked the start of the final four weeks and there are more than a dozen gun-related bills that have a decent shot at going to vote on the House and Senate floors.
  One of the most talked about proposals filed this session, House Bill 1911 would allow Texans to carry a handgun without a permit. Known as permit-less carry or constitutional carry, HB 191
  
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• Rep. Joaquin Castro won’t challenge Ted Cruz in ’18

  02-05-2017 04:28 via kxan.com
  
  SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro says he won’t run for the U.S. Senate in 2018 after spending months considering a run against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
  The Democrat’s announcement Monday helps clear the Democratic primary field for his fellow Texas congressman, Beto O’Rourke, who has already launched a Senate campaign. Cruz is coming off a failed run for president and will be seeking re-election for the first time.
  The 42-year-old Castro is a rising Democrati
  
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• SWAT situation in southeast Austin ends with no one in custody

  02-05-2017 03:32 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A disturbance involving a gun turned into a SWAT situation in southeast Austin Monday afternoon.
  The Austin Police Department says around 5:10 p.m. they received a call stating two to three people were involved in a disturbance at the Rosemont Apartments in the 2900 block of Collins Creek Drive.
  Police say they had to call SWAT because they believe a possibly armed suspect has barricaded themselves inside one of the units. Just after 9 p.m., police said the unit was em
  
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• SWAT situation in southeast Austin ends when apartment empty

  02-05-2017 03:32 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A disturbance involving a gun turned into a SWAT situation in southeast Austin Monday afternoon.
  The Austin Police Department says around 5:10 p.m. they received a call stating two to three people were involved in a disturbance at the Rosemont Apartments in the 2900 block of Collins Creek Drive.
  Police say they had to call SWAT because they believe a possibly armed suspect has barricaded themselves inside one of the units. Just after 9 p.m., police said the unit was em
  
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• Austin Council Member Greg Casar arrested during sanctuary cities protest

  02-05-2017 03:12 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin City Council Member Greg Casar along with nearly two dozen other people were arrested and cited for criminal trespassing after they staged a sit-in to protest Senate Bill 4 at Gov. Greg Abbott’s office Monday afternoon.
  Immigrant community members, faith leaders and other elected officials were at the Texas State Capitol to protest the so-called sanctuary cities bill, which is expected to head to Abbott’s desk in a few weeks. The protest was organize
  
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• Fire destroys playscape at Oak Springs Elementary

  02-05-2017 02:10 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Students at Oak Springs Elementary don’t have any jungle gyms to swing on after someone set fire to their playscape over the weekend.
  The Austin Fire Department said the fire happened around 9:15 p.m. Saturday at the school located on Webberville Road in east Austin. Authorities say the fire, which was intentionally set, caused $20,000 worth of damage to the playground.
  Since the playground was destroyed, the school is accepting donations such as playground balls
  
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• Students react angrily following stabbing on UT Austin campus

  02-05-2017 01:10 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Students at the University of Texas at Austin reacted angrily on social media Monday following a stabbing that left a student dead and three others wounded on campus.
  Many students said they believe it took too long for the university and campus police to notify them that there was a dangerous situation on campus.
  UTPD Chief of Police David Carter says an officer responded within minutes and they believe they did send out timely alerts. “So we have a timely warning sy
  
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• Kids become comedians at Austin camp

  02-05-2017 00:37 via kxan.com
  
  If you think you have a natural comedian in your house, Esther’s Follies wants to help them flex their funny bone with a hilarious summer camp.One of their young funny-men talked to our funny man Joe Barlow…..they let us in on the joke.
  Click here for more information.
  
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