Austin news

• VIDEO: Kangaroo attacks girl visiting safari park

  08-05-2017 23:42 via kxan.com
  
  MADISON COUNTY, Ala. (WAFF) — A 9-year-old girl is recovering after being bitten on the head by a kangaroo while visiting Harmony Park Safari in Huntsville, Alabama.
  Jennifer White happened to be recording her 9-year-old daughter Cheyenne’s interaction with the animal when the attack happened Saturday.
  The video shows spaces in the fence large enough for the kangaroos to poke their heads and arms through. They’re also large enough for children to do the same.
  The video shows th
  
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• Texas Senate OKs allowing guns in parked cars at schools

  08-05-2017 23:17 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (AP) — The Texas Senate has approved allowing concealed carry permit holders to have guns in their locked cars parked outside schools.
  Sen. Bryan Hughes’ bill was approved Monday 25-6. A similar, bipartisan measure has cleared a committee in the state House but not yet reached a floor vote in that chamber.
  It is aimed at teachers who have licenses to carry concealed handguns and want to keep guns in their cars while at work. State law bans guns on school grounds.
  Hughes, a Rep
  
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• Pizza delivery driver shoots, kills robbery suspect in Dallas suburb

  08-05-2017 23:11 via kxan.com
  
  MESQUITE, Texas (AP/KXAN) — Police in the Dallas suburb of Mesquite say a pizza delivery driver shot and killed a 16-year-old robbery suspect during an exchange of gunfire.
  The 39-year-old driver told police he was confronted by two robbery suspects after arriving to deliver a pizza Saturday night. NBC DFW reported the driver was working for Domino’s Pizza. Police later determined the house was vacant.
  Mesquite police Lt. Brian Parrish says one of the suspects was armed with a handgu
  
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• Police release video of interstate semi explosion

  08-05-2017 22:48 via kxan.com
  
  DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – The Dayton Police Department released video from police cruiser cameras that show the explosion that happened on last month on Interstate 75.
  The first police car to arrive shows the smoke from the initial fire and the explosion.
  The second and third cars to arrive show the aftermath of the explosion and a smoke-covered freeway. You can see the driver of the semi-truck that was hit standing in front of a police cruiser.
  The crash happened Sunday, April 30 when a car t
  
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• Texas sues Austin officials ahead of expected sanctuary cities ban lawsuits

  08-05-2017 22:33 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Less than a day after Senate Bill 4, a ban on sanctuary cities in Texas, was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, the state’s attorney general has filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to uphold the constitutionality of the law.
  Abbott signed the sanctuary cities ban into law Sunday night in a rare Facebook Live.
  “SB 4 guarantees cooperation among federal, state and local law enforcement to protect Texans,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement
  
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• 7-year-old shot twice while sleeping in his bed in San Antonio

  08-05-2017 21:41 via kxan.com
  
  SAN ANTONIO (AP) — San Antonio police say a 7-year-old asleep in his bed was injured after shots were fired into his home.
  Police say there were multiple gunshots to the front of the home and vehicles in the driveway after the early Monday morning shooting.
  The 7-year-old was taken to a hospital. Police Officer Douglas Greene said the boy was shot twice in his arm. Greene says the boy’s injuries were not life-threatening.
  Officials say a neighbor’s home was also hit. A 44-year-
  
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• Father and son graduate from Huston-Tillotson on the same day

  08-05-2017 20:59 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Seeing a child graduate from college is a proud moment for any parent, but for one Austin woman, she got to see her son and husband graduate from college on the same day.
  Will Purcell III, 21, and his father, Will Purcell Jr., 47, both donned their caps and gowns to walk across the stage to receive their diploma from Huston-Tillotson University on Saturday.
  Alma Purcell says her son was the one who inspired his father to return to school. The Purcell family has had their sh
  
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• Aunt Jemima pancakes, waffles, French toast recalled

  08-05-2017 20:38 via kxan.com
  
  PARSIPPANY, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey-based food company is recalling Aunt Jemima frozen pancakes, waffles and French toast because they might be contaminated with Listeria.
  Pinnacle Foods Inc. said Friday the safety of its customers is its top priority and no illnesses have been reported. It says it initiated the recall when testing indicated the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in the plant environment.
  Listeria monocytogenes can cause fatal infections in young children, frail or elderl
  
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• Austin firefighter rescues 5 animals in one week

  08-05-2017 19:51 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Alex Baumaister is now being called “animal whisperer” after saving multiple furry friends during a busy week of fighting fires.
  Baumaister, a four-year veteran of the Austin Fire Department rescued five animals, including kittens and a snake.
  On the evening of May 1, Baumaister rescued a cat from a burning apartment. The next morning, he pulled a dog from an apartment fire and assisted in its successful resuscitation. On his next shift, on May 4, he p
  
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• AISD narrowing items for potential bond, $3.9 billion in projects identified

  08-05-2017 19:49 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — On the heels of three major school bond elections in Central Texas, the Austin Independent School District is getting closer to deciding what could be on the ballot for voters in November.
  The committee that’s been working for months to assess the condition of AISD campuses and look at future needs for schools will present a preview of their preliminary bond proposal to the school board Monday night.
  The Facilities and Bond Planning Advisory Committee is trying to nar
  
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• As APD reviews new immigration law, San Antonio changes policy

  08-05-2017 19:32 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (AP/KXAN) — San Antonio’s police chief says the department will abandon a policy prohibiting officers in the nation’s seventh-largest city from asking about a person’s immigration status due to Texas’ new law banning so-called sanctuary cities.
  Chief William McManus on Monday ripped Republican lawmakers over the law signed Sunday night, which opponents say is the nation’s most anti-immigrant law since an Arizona crackdown in 2010.
  Texas’ law takes
  
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• Woman who pulled into oncoming traffic in Cedar Park dies from injuries

  08-05-2017 18:56 via kxan.com
  
  CEDAR PARK, Texas (KXAN) — A woman who was involved in a car crash in Cedar Park on April 24 succumbed to her injuries more than a week later.
  The crash happened in the 900 block of W. Whitestone Boulevard around 6:30 p.m. Cedar Park police say Raquel Kocher, 56, was trying to turn eastbound onto Whitestone Boulevard when she pulled in front of oncoming traffic and was struck by a driver in a pick-up truck.
  Kocher was taken to a hospital where she died from her injuries on Wednesday, May 3
  
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• Roommate accused of stabbing 7th and Comal murder victim

  08-05-2017 18:39 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police believe a man who was found stabbed at a bus stop at Seventh and Comal Streets in March was actually stabbed by his roommate who, other people in the house said, wanted the victim to move out.
  Austin police said on March 10, Glen Raymond Burford, 51, was found in the 1600 block of East Seventh Street by a Capital Metro bus driver who noticed a pool of blood around him while he was at the bus stop.
  When authorities arrived, they found Charles Reedy, 63, st
  
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• APD: Roommate believed to have stabbed 7th and Comal victim

  08-05-2017 18:39 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police believe a man who was found stabbed at a bus stop at Seventh and Comal Streets in March was actually stabbed by his roommate who, other people in the house said, wanted the victim to move out.
  Austin police said on March 10, Glen Raymond Burford, 51, was found in the 1600 block of East Seventh Street by a Capital Metro bus driver who noticed a pool of blood around him while he was at the bus stop.
  When authorities arrived, they found Charles Reedy, 63, st
  
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• Yates: I warned White House that Flynn could be blackmailed

  08-05-2017 18:35 via kxan.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, speaking publicly for the first time about concerns she brought to the Trump White House on Russia, told Congress on Monday she warned that National Security Adviser Michael Flynn “essentially could be blackmailed” because he apparently had lied to his bosses about his contacts with the Russian ambassador.
  The statements from Yates, an Obama administration holdover, offered by far the most detailed account of the cha
  
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• Yates: Alarm about Russian blackmail led to warning on Flynn

  08-05-2017 18:35 via kxan.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates told Congress Monday she bluntly warned the Trump White House in January that new National Security Adviser Michael Flynn “essentially could be blackmailed” by the Russians because he apparently had lied to his bosses about his contacts with Moscow’s ambassador in Washington.
  The testimony from Yates, an Obama administration holdover fired soon after for other reasons, marked her first public comments about the
  
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• Obama warned Trump about Flynn, former officials say

  08-05-2017 18:35 via kxan.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama warned Donald Trump against hiring Michael Flynn as national security adviser during an Oval Office meeting after the 2016 election, according to three former Obama administration officials.
  The information on Monday, from officials who requested anonymity in order to disclose the private conversation, came hours before former acting Attorney General Sally Yates was to testify to Congress about concerns she raised to the Trump administration about c
  
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• Girl, 10, pried open jaws of gator to free herself during attack

  08-05-2017 17:39 via kxan.com
  
  ORLANDO, FL (WCMH) — A 10-year-old girl is recovering after surviving an alligator attack at a Florida park.
  An alligator bit the 10-year-old girl on the leg as she sat in shallow water in Lake Mary Jane Saturday at Orange County’s Moss Park, wildlife officials told NBC affiliate WESH-TV.
  The girl was sitting in water roughly 2 feet deep when the 9-foot gator bit her on her knee and calf. The girl started screaming for help, but she was able to pry open its jaws to get her leg free,
  
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• Vehicle windows broken in Pflugerville, police seek suspects

  08-05-2017 16:39 via kxan.com
  
  PFLUGERVILLE (KXAN) — For more than a month, Pflugerville police have been responding to, what they’re calling, a high number of broken vehicle windows.
  Pflugerville Police Department said they have been responding to the calls since April 2 with the most recent being May 5.
  Police said the people who have been reporting the broken windows live in close proximity to one another, but have not yet released whereabouts in the city it was occurring.
  Authorities are looking for younger wh
  
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• Alex Jones’ ex-wife addresses recent custody battle

  08-05-2017 16:06 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Kelly Jones, the ex-wife of bombastic radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, is expected to address, what she is calling, the parental alienation her children faced in their father’s home.
  Kelly Jones was awarded joint custody of her children after a public battle that may have revealed that Alex Jones is nothing more than a performance artist, a claim he has denied, despite his legal team using it as his defense.
  In closing arguments, Kelly Jones’
  
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• Man taken at gunpoint, nailed to tree says he’s not a criminal

  08-05-2017 15:15 via kxan.com
  
  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – He says he’s not a criminal and he believes he was targeted.
  Days after police officers found a man with his hands nailed to a tree in Albuquerque’s Bosque, the victim at the center of the ordeal is telling his story about what happened, and why he thinks it happened to him.
  “I’m scared because… nobody believes me,” the man said.
  While his story might seem unreal, the man – who asked KRQE News 13 to protect his identity
  
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• Father heartbroken by video of bus aide slapping 6-year-old daughter

  08-05-2017 14:28 via kxan.com
  
  CHICAGO, IL (WFLA) — Police are investigating a disturbing video that shows a school bus aide hitting a young girl with autism near Chicago.
  The video shows the aide slapping Kayla Rushing, 6, in the face not once, but twice.
  Kayla, who is non-verbal couldn’t tell her parents what had happened.
  They found out about the incident from the superintendent of New Lenox School District 122, who called them and showed them the video. School administrators say they noticed something was wron
  
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• Blue Bell channels wedding day with new flavors

  08-05-2017 13:58 via kxan.com
  
  BRENHAM, Texas (KXAN) — Here comes the ice cream. Here comes the ice cream.
  After hearing from newlyweds who have served Blue Bell ice cream instead of cake after sealing the deal with their nuptials, the company decided to make it easier to have both.
  Blue Bell’s Bride’s Cake is a “a luscious almond ice cream with white cake pieces surrounded by a rich amaretto cream cheese icing swirl.” Sounds exactly like something you’d want to devote your entire life to,
  
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• Recycle or trash? Study finds Austin’s recycling rules confusing

  08-05-2017 13:26 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austinites are confused when it comes to recycling. That’s the findings from a new study conducted by Austin’s Resource Recovery.
  “We found the recycling rules in Austin are so confusing that almost nobody does it perfectly. Even the most advanced recyclers have questions,” says Katherine Duong, Design, Technology and Innovation Fellow for the City of Austin.
  With a goal of zero waste by 2040 and the diversion from the landfill becoming stagnant, cit
  
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• UT remembers former president Dr. Peter Flawn, dead at 91

  08-05-2017 12:27 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Former University of Texas president Dr. Peter Flawn is being remembered for his distinguished leadership. The university announced that Dr. Flawn, 91, died overnight Sunday.
  The geologist served as president of UT Austin from 1979 to 1985, returning to become interim president from 1997 to 1998.
  During his six years at the helm of UT, he helped raised the university’s number of faculty endowments from 112 to 851. According to a biography supplied by the universi
  
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• Rockets rout Spurs 125-104 to tie series

  08-05-2017 06:25 via kxan.com
  
  HOUSTON (AP) — James Harden scored 28 points, Eric Gordon added 22 and the Houston Rockets rebounded from consecutive losses to beat the San Antonio Spurs 125-104 on Sunday night and tie the Western Conference semifinal at 2-2.The Rockets never trailed and used hot 3-point shooting to pull away in the third quarter.
  Game 5 is Tuesday night in San Antonio.
  Jonathon Simmons had 17 points for the Spurs, and Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge added 16 apiece.
  Houston made 22 3-pointers in a b
  
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• SWAT call in south Austin ends peacefully

  08-05-2017 05:08 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police and SWAT crews are in south Austin Sunday night after reports of a person barricaded inside a home.
  Crews responded to the 2400 block of Katy Cove near Barton Hills around 9:11 p.m.
  At around 10:13 p.m., crews were able to ended the standoff when the man got out of the home.
  No further information has been released at this time.
   
  
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• Police and SWAT responding to barricaded person in south Austin

  08-05-2017 05:08 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police and SWAT crews are in south Austin Sunday night after reports of a person barricaded inside a home.P
  Crews responded to the 2400 block of Katy Cove near Barton Hills around 9:11 p.m.
  No further information has been released at this time.
  We have a crew heading to the scene and will provide more details as soon as it becomes available.
  
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• Protest against signed sanctuary cities bill sparks outside Governor’s Mansion

  08-05-2017 04:00 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Within a few hours of Gov. Greg Abbott signing Senate Bill 4 into law on Facebook Live Sunday evening, protesters showed up at the Governor’s Mansion to voice their opinion about the new law.
  Senate Bill 4, also known as the sanctuary cities bill, will ban sanctuary cities in Texas and will require government and law enforcement officials to follow federal immigration laws.
  While the new bill does not go into effect until Sept. 1, some local groups are
  
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• More protests against sanctuary cities bill scheduled for Monday

  08-05-2017 04:00 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Within a few hours of Gov. Greg Abbott signing Senate Bill 4 into law on Facebook Live Sunday evening, protesters showed up at the Governor’s Mansion to voice their opinion about the new law.
  Senate Bill 4, also known as the sanctuary cities bill, will ban sanctuary cities in Texas and will require government and law enforcement officials to follow federal immigration laws.
  While the new bill does not go into effect until Sept. 1, some local groups are
  
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• Proud mom watches husband and son graduate college together

  08-05-2017 03:37 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Seeing a child graduate from college is a proud moment for any parent.
  Saturday, a mother in the crowd at Huston-Tillotson University’s graduation ceremony was filled with double the excitement.
  Alma Purcell watched her 47-year-old husband and her 21-year-old son walk across the stage. She says her son, Will, is the one who inspired his father, Billy, to return to school. Will earned a bachelor’s degree and his father earned as associate’s.
  Purcell, t
  
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• Runners gather to support summer camp, STEM programs for low-income youth

  08-05-2017 02:36 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Silicon Labs Sunshine Run took place downtown along Lady Bird Lake Sunday morning. The event is put on by the Young Men’s Business League to help support the Austin Sunshine Camps.
  It started at 7 a.m. with a race expo. A 5k, 10k and “fastest dog in Austin 5k” all started at 7:30 a.m. A special “Kids K” followed at 9 a.m.
  The start and finish for all races took place at Vic Mathias Shores at the corner of Riverside Drive and South First Str
  
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• Sanctuary cities officially banned in Texas as SB4 becomes law

  08-05-2017 02:03 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — After a long debate at the Texas State Capitol over the sanctuary cities bill over the past several months, Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 4 into law during a rare Facebook Live appearance.
  Passing the Texas House in a 94-54 vote, SB 4 will ban sanctuary cities in Texas. The law requires local government and law enforcement to follow all federal immigration laws and detainer requests, putting in place criminal penalties if anyone breaks the new law.
  In a statement
  
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• Gov. Greg Abbott signs sanctuary cities bill into law on Facebook Live

  08-05-2017 02:03 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — After a long debate at the Texas State Capitol over the sanctuary cities bill over the past several months, Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 4 into law during a rare Facebook Live appearance.
  Passing the Texas House in a 94-54 vote, SB 4 will ban sanctuary cities in Texas. The law requires local government and law enforcement to follow all federal immigration laws and detainer requests, putting in place criminal penalties if anyone breaks the new law.
  In a statement
  
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• Eight people injured in east Travis County crash

  08-05-2017 00:24 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A total of eight people are in the hospital following a crash in east Travis County early Sunday morning.
  Travis County Sheriff’s and Austin-Travis County EMS were called to the 15000 block of east U.S. 290 shortly after 1:20 a.m.
  According to Travis County Sheriff’s both vehicles driving westbound veered off the roadway, with one found upside down.
  Upon arriving to the scene, medics transported 2 people to University Medical Center Brackenridge and 2
  
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