Austin news

• Texas House OKs overhauling A-F school accountability system

  03-05-2017 22:57 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas House has approved an overhaul of an academic accountability rating system that issues schools and school districts A to F letter grades.
  The grading scale only passed last session and hasn’t even been fully implemented, but has been criticized by teachers and some groups that promoted it originally.
  The system grades schools on five categories and relies heavily on student performance on state-mandated standardized tests. Houston Republican Rep. Dan Hu
  
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• Don’t click on that fake Google doc link!

  03-05-2017 22:43 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Here at KXAN we get a lot of emails with a lot of attachments. But when we started seeing multiple emails in our inbox Wednesday afternoon from various senders about a shared Google doc we could download, we knew something was amiss.
  The phishing emails are seemingly coming from legitimate Gmail accounts so it’s easy to accidentally click on the link attached. Numerous school districts in Central Texas have fallen victim to the phishing scam, but the emails aren&
  
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• Two Burnet VFD firefighters injured in rollover truck crash

  03-05-2017 22:24 via kxan.com
  
  BURNET COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Two firefighters responding to a call were injured when their rescue truck had a tire blowout and crashed.
  The Burnet Volunteer Fire Department says the crash happened around 1:30 p.m. on Farm to Market 2340, just east of US 281 — about 10 miles north of the town of Burnet. The crew was headed to a medical call when a tire blew out, causing the driver to run off the road. The truck then hit a tree and rolled over.
  One firefighter had to be extricate
  
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• Two bodies found inside south Austin home

  03-05-2017 22:24 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The bodies of two men have been found inside a south Austin home Wednesday afternoon, police say.
  Officers were called to the 7600 block of West Gate Boulevard, just south of William Cannon Drive, for a deceased person in the home just before 1 p.m. Once officers arrived, they found the two men — who police say are related to each other — inside. A neighbor tells KXAN the victims were father and son.
  Authorities say there is no threat to the publi
  
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• Burnet Volunteer Fire truck involved in crash off of US 281

  03-05-2017 22:24 via kxan.com
  
  BURNET COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — One person was injured in a crash involving a Burnet Volunteer Fire Department truck and another vehicle.
  The Department of Public Safety could not say if a firefighter or civilian was injured in the crash. The crash happened around 2 p.m. on Farm to Market 2340, just off of US 281 — about 10 miles north of the town of Burnet.
  No additional information on the crash was immediately available.
  KXAN will update this page as we get more information. 
  
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• UT stabbing victim asked student to call his mom as he was dying

  03-05-2017 21:54 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — When Lori Brown received a phone call from her son, Harrison Brown, Monday afternoon, the person on the other line wasn’t her son, but rather the voice of a frantic girl who said he had been attacked.
  “And she said, ‘Are you Harrison’s mom?’ and you could tell there was something bad going on at the other end,” Lori said. The UT student on the phone didn’t know Harrison, she just happened to come into the gym and turned back to
  
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• Woman sexually assaulted by man she thought was her rideshare driver

  03-05-2017 19:58 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A woman who thought she was getting into a rideshare vehicle she requested was actually picked up and sexually assaulted by a random person, police say.
  Austin police say on Sunday March 19 around 1 a.m., the victim requested a ride via an app from The Domain to downtown Austin to meet some friends. The victim said she got into a white van believing it was her ride but soon after the driver took off, she received a text from the actual driver stating they were still waiting
  
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• Pedestrian hit in southeast Austin dies 3 days later

  03-05-2017 19:53 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A man who was hit by a vehicle last Thursday morning died on Sunday from the injuries, Austin police said.
  Police said Bobby Joe Duke, 48, had just exited a bus at the westbound bus stop in the 2500 block of East Stassney Lane, at the intersection of Chaparral Trail, around 6:20 a.m. when he ran in front of the bus and was hit by a 2013 Chevy Silverado traveling in the inside lane.
  Duke was transported to South Austin Medical Center with critical, life threatening
  
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• Police: 2 dead in suspected murder-suicide at Irving college

  03-05-2017 19:23 via kxan.com
  
  IRVING, Texas (AP) — Two people died Wednesday in an apparent murder-suicide at a Texas community college, prompting an active-shooter alert that instructed students and employees to barricade themselves into rooms. It was the second deadly attack on a Texas campus this week.
  Irving police spokesman James McLellan said it doesn’t appear anyone else was hurt in the shooting Wednesday at North Lake College, a two-year school in suburban Dallas. The college said classes were canceled fo
  
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• Irving community college on lockdown amid ‘intruder’ report

  03-05-2017 19:23 via kxan.com
  
  IRVING, Texas (AP) — A Dallas-area community college says it’s on lockdown following reports of an intruder, possibly armed.
  North Lake College issued an alert to students late Wednesday morning telling them to barricade themselves in the nearest room and wait for further instructions from police.
  Irving Police said on Twitter that there was an “active shooter.”
  North Lake College is a two-year school in the Dallas suburb of Irving.
  A message posted to the college’
  
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• Woman “not thrilled” about pregnancy drove around with newborn’s corpse, police say

  03-05-2017 19:09 via kxan.com
  
  WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania woman drove around with her newborn daughter’s corpse in a cardboard box, and has been jailed on abuse of a corpse and other charges, court records show.
  Chesney Anne Wheeler, 37, gave birth at home near Williamsport on April 12, then kept the child’s body in her car until it was found the next day outside Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, Old Lycoming Township police said in a criminal complaint. She remained jailed Wednesday. Williamsport
  
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• Drunken driving suspect gives her name as Hillary Clinton

  03-05-2017 18:48 via kxan.com
  
  CHALKHILL, Pa. (AP) – Authorities say a drunken driving suspect who was chased by police from Maryland into Pennsylvania identified herself as Hillary Clinton.
  Pennsylvania State Trooper Robert Politowski says the woman he arrested early Tuesday is actually 36-year-old Holly Lynn Donahoo, of Louisville, Kentucky.
  She was being chased by sheriff’s deputies from Garret County, Maryland, and Maryland State Police when she drove into Wharton Township, in Pennsylvania’s Fayette Coun
  
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• Teenage girl hit by vehicle in northwest Travis County

  03-05-2017 18:46 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A teenager is in the hospital and investigators are working to determine how she got hit by a vehicle Wednesday morning.
  According to Austin-Travis County EMS, the girl was hit at 10301 Farm to Market 2222, the Riverlodge Apartment Home in northwest Travis County. It’s unclear if she was struck in the parking lot.
  The girl was transported to Round Rock Medical Center with potentially serious injuries around 11 a.m.
  Austin police have not said if the dri
  
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• Travis County wants residents to say if bond election necessary

  03-05-2017 18:39 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — After the Travis County Commissioners Court appointed a group to research the county’s infrastructure needs, they’re now asking for the public to weigh in on if they’re interested in a bond election for November 2017.
  Projects like park improvements, natural resource acquisitions and work on roads, pedestrian-areas, bike paths and drainage are all being considered.
  Commissioners Court previously agreed to change the policy on bond elections to allow for mo
  
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• Top Texas court reduces killer’s death sentence to life

  03-05-2017 18:23 via kxan.com
  
  HOUSTON (AP) — A man on death row for killing a sheriff’s deputy during a 1983 bank robbery near San Antonio has had his sentence reduced to life in prison by the state’s highest criminal court.
  The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals says 55-year-old Pedro Solis Sosa’s intellectual disabilities make him ineligible for execution.Sosa’s trial court recommended the sentence be reduced, and the appeals court cited a March ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in another Texas
  
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• Facebook to hire 3,000 to review videos of crime and suicide

  03-05-2017 17:35 via kxan.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook says it will hire another 3,000 people to review videos and posts of crime and other questionable content following murders shown live on its site.
  That’s on top of the 4,500 people Facebook already has for such reviews.
  The announcement comes from CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a Facebook post Wednesday.
  RELATED: Hate-crime charges filed in livestreamed attack on mentally disabled man
  Facebook has been criticized recently for not doing enough to prevent videos &mdas
  
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• Williamson County Sheriff increases enforcement in school zones

  03-05-2017 17:26 via kxan.com
  
  WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Drivers in school zones around Williamson County may have noticed an extra presence of sheriff’s deputies Wednesday morning. Nothing to be alarmed about, unless you like to break the law.
  The sheriff’s office has increased enforcement this week after recognizing dangerous situations drivers are causing around schools. Speeders, drivers disregarding crossing guards and those who drive while distracted are on notice.
  On May 3 and 4, deputies
  
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• WATCH: Austin officer who staged death processed after Dallas arrest

  03-05-2017 16:31 via kxan.com
  
  DALLAS (KXAN) — The Austin police officer who was believed to have staged his own suicide and fled to the interior of Mexico has been arrested in Dallas. APD Chief of Police Brian Manley said they were transferring 29-year-old Coleman Martin to Austin where he will be booked into the Travis County Jail.
  Martin was released from jail on Thursday.
  The officer will be placed on restricted duty, Chief Manley says. Martin was booked into the Dallas County Jail at 8:36 a.m. Wednesday,
  
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• Austin officer who staged his death arrested in Dallas

  03-05-2017 16:31 via kxan.com
  
  DALLAS, Texas (KXAN) — Austin police have confirmed to KXAN that the officer who was believed to have staged his own suicide and fled to the interior of Mexico has been arrested in Dallas.
  Dallas jail records currently show a 29-year-old Coleman Martin booked in at 8:36 a.m. Wednesday. No booking photo is attached to the jail records.
  Authorities have not released additional information about Martin’s arrest other than he was arrested flying in to Dallas.
  Martin, who joined
  
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• Austin small businesses boom, face rising challenges

  03-05-2017 15:26 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin is the third best American city for small business. Biz2Credit released a list of 2017’s top 25 cities where small businesses are thriving. Austin sits behind only New York City and Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
  Some Austin-area small business owners say the boom is real, but so are the challenges they face.
  “For the past few months, as our taxes keep going up, I’ve been saying to my wife and some friends, ‘Who’s fighting for us,'” s
  
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• American Airlines to cut more legroom in economy class

  03-05-2017 15:18 via kxan.com
  
  FORT WORTH, TX (KRON) — American Airlines is planning to cut back on the amount of legroom for economy class passengers.
  The airline will decrease the front-to-back space between some of its economy class seats by another two inches.
  The airlines plans to add more seats on its coming Boeing 737 Max jetliners. To do that, it will shrink the distance between seats, also known as pitch, from 31 inches to 29 inches on three rows of the airplane, and down to 30-inches in the rest of its main ec
  
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• El Paso police accused of showing pattern of excessive force

  03-05-2017 15:04 via kxan.com
  
  EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – A federal lawsuit filed by the family of Erik Salas-Sanchez against the City of El Paso, EPPD Officer Mando Gomez, and two other officers with the El Paso Police Department late last week alleges a pattern of escalating excessive force within EPPD – especially when responding to calls regarding people with known mental illnesses.
  Salas-Sanchez was shot in the back by EPPD officer Mando Gomez during an alleged robbery call in the Lower Valley on April 29, 2015.
  
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• VIDEO: Japanese flight attendant caught in middle of violent passenger fight

  03-05-2017 14:38 via kxan.com
  
  JAPAN (NBC News) — A video has emerged on social media showing the alleged assault of one passenger to another on a flight from Japan to Los Angeles.
  Corey Hour, a passenger on board the flight, captured the incident on camera and said that an “irate customer” in a red and white shirt started assaulting another passenger in the video.
  Prior to that, he said the passenger in the red and white shirt was assaulting other passengers aboard the flight before takeoff.
  There also
  
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• WATCH: No one injured after fiery Washington plane crash

  03-05-2017 13:25 via kxan.com
  
  MUKILTEO, Washington (NBC News) — A dramatic small plane crash in Washington State on Tuesday is captured on camera.
  The Piper PA-32 Cherokee six clipped power lines and rained fuel onto cars as it plummeted into the ground in the city of Mukilteo north of Seattle.
  Authorities say the pilot had just taken off from a nearby airport when the plane suddenly lost power and crashed.
  Amazingly, neither the pilot nor anyone on the ground was injured in the crash.
  The crash did cause a traffic bac
  
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• Fire forces evacuation of Domain apartment complex

  03-05-2017 11:45 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin fire crews are investigating the cause of a fire that forced residents out of an apartment complex in the Domain for about an hour Wednesday morning.
  The Austin Fire Department said the fire was on a balcony courtyard area on the third floor of the complex on Feathergrass Court. The four story complex has businesses on the first floor. The other three floors have apartment units.
  The fire started just after 2 a.m. and was put out by 2:50 a.m. Crews were abl
  
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• UT boosting mental health support after deadly stabbing

  03-05-2017 06:18 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The University of Texas at Austin is expanding mental health support services on campus in light of the stabbing attack Monday which left one student dead and three others injured.
  UT’s Counseling and Mental Health Center has expanded hours for their counseling services. Through at least Wednesday, the CMHC will offer counseling services from 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. as well as student support groups at 5 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Student Services Building.
  The CMH
  
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• Dallas officers hailed as heroes for rushing to help shot paramedic

  03-05-2017 05:12 via kxan.com
  
  DALLAS (AP) — A police commander is praising Dallas officers as “heroic” for exposing themselves to gunfire while rushing to help a paramedic critically injured in a shooting.
  Assistant Police Chief Randy Blankenbaker said during a news conference Tuesday that the suspect, Derick Lamont Brown, opened fire on paramedics responding to a shooting call at his home Monday.
  Blankenbaker says Brown was acting erratically and killed his roommate before shooting and critically injuring
  
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• Students stabbed on UT campus remembered, honored by classmates

  03-05-2017 03:13 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Makeshift memorials of flowers dot the University of Texas at Austin campus Tuesday as students honor the 19-year-old victim of a stabbing attack that injured three others.
  One of the students hurt in the attack, Stuart Bayliss, from Katy, Texas, has been identified in a donation page set up for him online. Bayliss is a 20-year-old engineering and ROTC student.
  Flowers stretch across tables outside Gregory Gym, the center of the scene of the attack on Monday, as students re
  
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• The Domain: How Austin’s newest hot spot is seeing an uptick in crime

  03-05-2017 03:00 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – The Domain in North Austin has become an alternative to downtown Austin; a destination for Austinites of all ages and walks of life. But, it’s more than bars and restaurants. Together, The Domain and Domain NORTHSIDE offer visitors nearly 200 high-end stores, bars, restaurants and clubs.
  Although the district has become an uptown destination, it hasn’t expanded without experiencing a substantial uptick in crime.
  The number of police calls for service at The Doma
  
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• Lawsuit claims Austin ISD covered up sexual assault cases

  03-05-2017 02:02 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The parents of a 4-year-old girl who say their daughter was sexually assaulted while at Boone Elementary School has filed a federal lawsuit against the Austin Independent School District, claiming the district and the district’s police department failed to “promptly and appropriately” investigate and respond to sexual assault accusations.
  The lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday, says the lack of action by AISD resulted in a hostile education environme
  
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• Offensive fliers depicting black man with knife found on UT campus

  03-05-2017 01:07 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The University of Texas at Austin is investigating “offensive fliers” posted on campus targeting black members of the community, a day after an African-American student is accused of stabbing four students, killing one.
  The small fliers depict a black man holding a knife with the words, “Around blacks never relax!”
  “The words and ideas contained on the fliers were hateful, divisive and run counter to the values of our university and our commitm
  
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• AP Sources: Justice will not charge Baton Rouge officers

  03-05-2017 00:41 via kxan.com
  
  BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department has decided not to charge two white Baton Rouge police officers in the death of a black man whose fatal shooting was captured on cellphone video, fueling protests in Louisiana’s capital and beyond, The Associated Press has learned.
  Federal authorities opened a civil rights investigation immediately after the July 2016 police shooting that killed 37-year-old Alton Sterling outside a convenience store where he was selling homemade CDs
  
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• TxDOT: 1 in 10 Texans still not using seat belts

  03-05-2017 00:33 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Department of Transportation is reminding drivers once again to “Click It or Ticket.” This is the 15th anniversary of the campaign, but many Texans are still not buckling up.
  The agency says since the launch of Click It or Ticket, more than 5,000 lives have been saved, but just last year, one in 10 Texans were still not using their seatbelt, resulting in a nine percent increase in unbelted deaths.
  In 2002, only 76 percent of drivers in Texas wore
  
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• High school science teacher pleads guilty to making meth in New Mexico

  03-05-2017 00:07 via kxan.com
  
  LAS CRUCES, N.M. (KTSM) — His name isn’t Walter White, but a former Irvin High School chemistry teacher pleaded guilty in Las Cruces court on Monday to four counts related to manufacturing and trafficking methamphetamine.
  John W. Gose, 56, pleaded guilty to trafficking by manufacturing, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
  According to the Doña Ana District Attorney’s Office, Gose was a teacher at Irvin High School in EPISD for eight
  
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