Austin news

• VIDEO: Friends driving on Texas highway get slithering shock

  20-06-2017 23:45 via kxan.com
  
  NEW DEAL, Texas (NBC News) — Two friends driving along a Texas highway realized they had a hitchhiker on board, but they have no idea where they picked him up.
  The men were in the town of New Deal in the Panhandle, about 12 miles north of Lubbock, when a spotted gold and white snake slowly slithered from under the hood of the car.
  The wind slowed the serpent’s progress as it tried to make its way to the front.
  Texas cat faces off with rattlesnake in viral photo
  So the men gave i
  
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• Georgia inmates help save officer’s life

  20-06-2017 23:11 via kxan.com
  
  POLK COUNTY, Ga. (WXIA) — Six Georgia jail inmates are being praised after they helped save an officer who passed out during a work detail.
  The officer was working security for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office work detail as they performed lawn maintenance at a cemetery when he collapsed.
  Six of the inmates who were there jumped into action. They opened his shirt and removed the officer’s bulletproof vest so that they could perform CPR. One inmate grabbed the officer’s ph
  
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• Hidden trove of suspected Nazi artifacts found in Argentina

  20-06-2017 22:42 via kxan.com
  
  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — In a hidden room in a house near Argentina’s capital, police believe they have found the biggest collection of Nazi artifacts in the country’s history, including a bust relief of Adolf Hitler and magnifying glasses inside elegant boxes with swastikas.
  Some 75 objects were found in a collector’s home in Beccar, a suburb north of Buenos Aires, and authorities say they suspect they are originals that belonged to high-ranking Nazis in Germany du
  
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• Brussels train station blast being treated as terror attack

  20-06-2017 22:41 via kxan.com
  
  BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian authorities said they foiled a “terror attack” Tuesday when soldiers shot and killed a suspect after a small explosion at a busy Brussels train station that continued a week of attacks in the capitals of Europe.
  Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said soldiers “neutralized” a male suspect at the Central Station immediately after the explosion there on Tuesday night. The man lay still for several hours while a bomb squad checked whether he w
  
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• 3 dangerous Austin intersections set for safety improvements

  20-06-2017 22:23 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Twenty-eight intersections with the highest number of crashes reported have been identified as top priority locations for safety improvements as part of the 2016 Mobility Bond. Construction will begin on three intersections later this year, but the city says there are still a few more things to figure out.
  Upal Barua, city traffic engineer, says the process for improvement will take time. “We have to go through a detailed safety study identifying the real issues
  
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• Police: Round Rock man traveled more than 100 miles for underage sex

  20-06-2017 20:26 via kxan.com
  
  CLIFTON, Texas (KXAN) — A Central Texas woman contacted police immediately when a Round Rock man started asking to have sexual relations with her 13-year-old daughter, police said after setting up a sting operation at a park to capture him Tuesday morning.
  Clifton police said Emit De La Rosa had met the woman through a dating app. The two talked over social media in hopes of building a relationship but things took a turn when De La Rosa began asking about her home life. When the woman told
  
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• Tropical Storm Cindy forms off Texas-Louisiana coast

  20-06-2017 20:00 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — What was once labeled as Potential Tropical Cyclone Three has officially turned into Tropical Storm Cindy in the Gulf of Mexico. The National Hurricane Center says rainfall is the primary hazard with maximum totals to 12 inches.
  As of 1 p.m., TS Cindy is located about 355 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. The system is expected to resume a motion toward the northwest at around 10 mph. Current forecast as of 1 p.m. Tuesday shows Cind
  
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• Man dies after being shot, run over with own car in San Marcos

  20-06-2017 19:12 via kxan.com
  
  SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) — Officers responded to what they thought was an auto versus pedestrian crash Monday night only to find a man shot in the chest and run over by his own car.
  San Marcos police responded to the Laundry Basket at 1525 Aquarena Springs Dr. at 11:50 p.m. Ryan Andrew Kincaid, 28, was found with a gunshot wound to his chest and trauma suggesting he had been hit by a car.
  Officers and EMS crews attempted CPR but were unable to revive Kincaid. Witnesses told authorities a s
  
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• Bus lanes on Guadalupe, Lavaca get emergency repaving

  20-06-2017 18:58 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — You’ll need to rethink your route if you frequent the Guadalupe and Lavaca Streets in the downtown Austin area from 2nd to 18th Streets.
  If you are in that area frequently, you may have had concerns about the well-being of your vehicle due to all the potholes and damage to the road. The city now says the pavement is failing due to the large amount of bus traffic moving through the area every day.
  The pavement, in some areas, is deteriorating at such a fast pace that t
  
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• RRPD: Man arrested by SWAT thought he was shooting stripper’s SUV

  20-06-2017 18:56 via kxan.com
  
  ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) — A man arrested last week after a SWAT situation in Round Rock admitted to an officer he thought he was chasing and ultimately shooting at the SUV of a stripper he had a relationship with at Rick’s Cabaret.
  Mark Harley Ferguson, 41, was taken into custody without incident Friday morning after a nearly five-hour standoff with Round Rock police. The incident began after a man delivering newspapers in the Warner Ranch neighborhood called police when his tan SUV
  
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• Parolee accused of assaulting Del Valle halfway house employee

  20-06-2017 18:48 via kxan.com
  
  DEL VALLE, Texas (KXAN) — A man who was on parole and assigned to the Austin Transitional Center in Del Valle ran away from the halfway house after, authorities say, he assaulted an employee.
  Brandon Bennett, 39, was recently sent to the halfway house this month after serving a 10-year sentence for possession of a controlled substance out of Madison County. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says Bennett assaulted an employee at the halfway house and then on Sunday, he gathered all h
  
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• Caldwell County under burn ban after several brush fires this week

  20-06-2017 17:54 via kxan.com
  
  CALDWELL COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Caldwell County is now under a burn ban after two brush fires came close to damaging homes in the past few days.
  On Monday, a brush fire that broke out in the 1700 block of Chalk Road, which is in southeast Caldwell County, burned 15 acres. Numerous volunteer fire departments assisted with the fire and were able to keep four buildings from being damaged.
  Counties currently under a Burn Ban
  Over the weekend, a fire ignited as someone was bailing hay at an agr
  
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• Iggy Pop, The Shins headline Sound on Sound Fest

  20-06-2017 17:52 via kxan.com
  
  MCDADE, Texas (KXAN) — Music festival lovers have a new reason to spend about $200 as the acts have been announced for this year’s Sound on Sound Fest, the Fun Fun Fun Fest replacement.
  Taking place Nov. 10 through 12 at Sherwood Forest in McDade, you’ll be able to check out the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in their first performance since 2013 and Grizzly Bear in their only Texas performance.
  Looking for tickets? They’re $189 plus tax for three-day general admission.
  Hopefully,
  
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• WATCH: ‘Memories Lounge’ robbed as bar patrons keep drinking

  20-06-2017 17:20 via kxan.com
  
  SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — Two bold crooks ran into a Sarasota bar with their guns drawn and quickly robbed the place while patrons were drinking just feet away. Some of those patrons were so oblivious, they didn’t even realize a robbery was going on right in front of them.
  Around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, two brazen criminals decided to rob the Memories Lounge on North Tamiami Trail.
  The surveillance video revealed they didn’t care who spotted them, their faces were uncovered. One brandi
  
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• Police: Mother drank beer while breastfeeding infant at bar

  20-06-2017 16:48 via kxan.com
  
  INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The parents of a 7-month-old are facing neglect charges after authorities say they became publicly intoxicated at a bar with the infant in tow.
  Michael Trosclair, 45, and Shari Treba, 42, both face felony neglect of a dependent charges, along with misdemeanor public intoxication charges.
  Authorities say the pair were in town for a work conference when a witness reported Treba drinking alcohol while breastfeeding a baby outside a downtown bar.
  According to a probable c
  
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• Nearly 4 years after release, Kellers declared innocent of day care abuse

  20-06-2017 15:59 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Dan and Fran Keller, accused of the satanic and ritual abuse of children in their care, served 23 years out of their 48 year sentence when a court ruled they didn’t get a fair trial and released them early in 2013. On Tuesday, Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore formally dismissed the cases against them.
  According to the motion to dismiss, there is “no credible evidence” that the Kellers committed the crimes they were accused of, including
  
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• Texas boy, 13, killed after flipping, crashing truck into house

  20-06-2017 15:03 via kxan.com
  
  GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — Police are investigating what a 13-year-old boy was doing when the pickup truck he was driving crashed into a house in Galveston, killing him.
  The incident happened early Sunday when Galveston police received a report of a suspicious driver on the island city’s Seawall Boulevard. Officers tried to stop the truck, but it sped away.
  Shortly thereafter, a witness stopped the officer to report seeing the truck crash into a house. The officer arrived to find the tr
  
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• Lawyers: Trump administration may back Texas immigration law

  20-06-2017 14:51 via kxan.com
  
  SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Attorneys trying to halt a Texas law that would crackdown on “sanctuary cities” say the U.S. Justice Department has asked to weigh in on the case.
  Luis Vera is a lawyer with the League of United Latin American Citizens. Vera believes the notice sent Monday to parties in the case including his group signals the administration of President Donald Trump will back the Texas law signed in May by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
  A Justice Department spokesman didn&rsqu
  
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• VIDEO: 10-foot alligator roped, wrangled off East Texas ranch

  20-06-2017 14:46 via kxan.com
  
  HAWKINS, Texas (AP) — A Texas rancher lassoed a 10-foot alligator and wranglers crawled atop the thrashing reptile’s back after it got a little too close to the landowner’s cattle.
  Bystanders shot video of the recent takedown near Hawkins, a town about 100 miles (161 kilometers) east of Dallas.
  Byron South of Convergent Hunting Solutions says he got a call from the landowner, Hal Conover, after the alligator broke into a pen where he was weaning calves. Game wardens were also s
  
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• 10-foot alligator roped, wrangled off East Texas ranch

  20-06-2017 14:46 via kxan.com
  
  HAWKINS, Texas (AP) — A Texas rancher lassoed a 10-foot alligator and wranglers crawled atop the thrashing reptile’s back after it got a little too close to the landowner’s cattle.
  Bystanders shot video of the recent takedown near Hawkins, a town about 100 miles (161 kilometers) east of Dallas.
  Byron South of Convergent Hunting Solutions says he got a call from the landowner, Hal Conover, after the alligator broke into a pen where he was weaning calves. Game wardens were also s
  
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• APD Interim Chief Manley holds first Chief’s Run

  20-06-2017 14:36 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Interim Austin Police Department Chief Brian Manley held his first Chief’s Run Tuesday morning.
  The run started around 7 a.m. with 70 cadets and assistant chiefs will running from the Austin-American Statesman’s parking lot up Congress Avenue and past the Texas Peace Officer’s Memorial at the Capitol.
  The run is meant to promote unity in the community and the department. Manley gave the cadets some reaffirming words before the run began.
  “E
  
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• Sources: Spicer seeks more strategic role at White House

  20-06-2017 14:04 via kxan.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — White House press secretary Sean Spicer is seeking to take on a more strategic role that would give him a limited presence in the daily press briefings that have made him a prominent face of the Trump administration.
  A senior administration official and three people familiar with the potential changes said Monday that Spicer has discussed taking a more senior communications role at the White House. The three people said he has reached out to possible successors at the pod
  
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• PHOTOS: Suspects sought in Del Valle storage unit burglaries

  20-06-2017 13:49 via kxan.com
  
  DEL VALLE, Texas (KXAN) — The Travis County Sheriff’s Office is asking your help in locating two men believed to have burglarized multiple storage units over the course of two separate days.
  The incidents happened at the Store It All Storage located at 5280 East State Highway 71. Authorities said the crimes happened on May 18 at 11 p.m. and June 3 at 1 a.m.
  In one of the incidents, the business owner attempted to confront the suspects and one of the men threatened them with a handgun
  
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• 10-month-old boy critical after incident at illegal Taylor day care

  20-06-2017 12:33 via kxan.com
  
  TAYLOR, Texas (KXAN) — Taylor Police are investigating what happened at an illegal home day care after a 10-month-old child was rushed to the hospital last week.
  Officers say they responded to an apartment on Sloan Street on June 15 for reports of a boy who was having difficulty breathing. Investigators said they aren’t sure whether the boy was hurt or suffering from a medical condition but say he is in critical condition.
  Child Protective Services confirmed their 
  
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• Child swimming at Lake Belton finds live WWII-era grenade

  20-06-2017 06:02 via kxan.com
  
  FORT HOOD, Texas (KWKT) — A Fort Hood spokesman says a hand grenade found at a Lake Belton park was in fact a live grenade of a type dating back to World War II.
  A child swimming at McGregor Park on the northeast side of Lake Belton found the grenade intact Saturday evening and a family member called authorities.
  Members of the 79th Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team from Fort Hood were called to the scene at 7 p.m. Saturday and removed the grenade, taking it to Fort Hood to be destroyed,.
  
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• Austin Community College unveils campus carry recommendations

  20-06-2017 05:38 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin Community College board of trustees presented their recommendations for campus carry, Monday night.
  Under the law, going into effect on Aug. 1, 2017, students will be allowed to carry their gun as long as they have a license to carry and it is concealed.
  Colleges are allowed to create exclusion zones — or areas where guns are not allowed. ACC’s zones include testing sites, child care areas and any area where minors are allowed. It also inclu
  
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• AISD finalizes $990M bond items, approves $1.4B budget with raises

  20-06-2017 04:26 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin ISD school board postponed their vote Monday night on calling a bond election for November.
  Instead, they approved a list of 40 bond projects totaling $990 million, and will vote on the election next week. The only trustee who voted against the measure was Dr. Ted Gordon.
  Everyone else stood their ground on keeping the bond under $1 billion despite motions by Gordon to add additional projects including a new middle school for Mueller.
  Group accuses AISD of e
  
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• AISD board approves $1.4 billion budget, land sale of $11.8 million

  20-06-2017 04:26 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin ISD could postpone their vote Monday night on calling a bond election for November. The school board adopted a $1.4 billion budget in a 7-0 vote with two absentions.
  Before the meeting, Board President Kendall Pace said trustees will consider approving the bond project list first, and push the vote on calling a bond to next week.
  Also on the agenda is approving the 2017-2018 budget, and executing the sale of two tracts of district-owned land to RSI Comm
  
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• AISD approves $1.4B budget, $11.8M land sale, $990M bond list

  20-06-2017 04:26 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin ISD school board postponed their vote Monday night on calling a bond election for November.
  Instead, they approved a list of 40 bond projects totaling $990 million, and will vote on the election next week. The only trustee who voted against the measure was Dr. Ted Gordon.
  Everyone else stood their ground on keeping the bond under $1 billion, despite motions by Gordon to add additional projects including a new middle school for Mueller.
  “We’ve got
  
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• Part of Texas coast placed under Tropical Storm Watch

  20-06-2017 04:19 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — On the same day Tropical Storm Bret developed near Trinidad, a disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico has been identified as Potential Tropical Cyclone Three by the National Hurricane Center.
  The potential track of the storm prompted the NHC to issue a Tropical Storm Warning for the coast of Louisiana and a Tropical Storm Watch for the upper Texas coast, from just north of Galveston Island to western Louisiana.
  KXAN Tropical Tracker
  The NHC predicts an 80 percent chance the syst
  
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• Part of Texas coast placed under Tropical Storm Warning

  20-06-2017 04:19 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — On the same day Tropical Storm Bret developed near Trinidad, a disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico has been identified as Potential Tropical Cyclone Three by the National Hurricane Center.
  The potential track of the storm prompted the NHC to issue a Tropical Storm Warning for the coast of Louisiana into far east Texas, and a Tropical Storm Watch for parts of the upper Texas coast.
  KXAN Tropical Tracker
  The NHC predicts an 90 percent chance the system will become a tropical de
  
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• In planned drug deal turned robbery, women were raped and kidnapped

  20-06-2017 04:09 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Five women who made plans to buy marijuana were held at gunpoint in a southeast Austin apartment last week and forced to undress. Two of the suspects are accused of raping two of the women.
  At around 5:15 a.m. on Friday, June 16, Austin police received a 911 call from one of the victims — calling from the Super 8 Motel at 5526 N. Interstate 35 — saying there was an armed robbery in progress.
  She was able to escape and call police, telling the 911 call-taker that
  
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• In planned drug deal turned robbery, 4 women were raped and kidnapped

  20-06-2017 04:09 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — “I don’t have words for it,” Chief of Police Brian Manley said about the “brutal rape” of four women in a southeast Austin apartment last week.
  In total, five women who made plans to buy marijuana at the apartment were held at gunpoint and forced to undress.
  At around 5:15 a.m. on Friday, June 16, Austin police received a 911 call from one of the victims — calling from the Super 8 Motel at 5526 N. Interstate 35 — saying there was an
  
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• Group of women held hostage, raped in Austin apartment

  20-06-2017 04:09 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — “I don’t have words for it,” Chief of Police Brian Manley said about the brutal rape of four women in a southeast Austin apartment.
  Five women visiting from out of town made plans to buy marijuana at the apartment, but were held at gunpoint and forced to undress in what the chief called an “extremely significant” incident. One of the suspects involved remains on the run.
  Chief Manley said while the women are officially listed in the police affi
  
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• Veterans ‘sweepstakes’ involving 8-liner machines deemed illegal

  20-06-2017 02:45 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — An American Legion Post in southeast Austin has lost a court case involving a sweepstakes game it was operating. In April, a District Court ruled against American Legion Knebel Post 83 claiming its actions was against the law because the operation they were running amounted to an illegal lottery.
  In 2014, a KXAN Investigation found computerized sweepstakes video games in bars and VFW posts across Central Texas that law enforcement officials, including the Texas Attorney Gen
  
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• Bicyclist’s shooting injuries spur Good Samaritans to start donation page

  20-06-2017 02:01 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Within hours of airing a report about a bicyclist who was shot and injured while riding on East Riverside Drive, KXAN viewers immediately wanted to know how they could help.
  While KXAN could not set up a donation account for Alonso Solis, we did put Solis in contact with the people who were interested in helping him raise funds for his medical treatment. Since Solis only speaks Spanish, one Good Samaritan is using her friend to help translate his needs to the group currentl
  
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• Hutto residents upset about Oncor’s tree removal

  20-06-2017 01:17 via kxan.com
  
  HUTTO, Texas (KXAN) — The big trees behind her backyard is the reason Jolene James moved to the new Carmel Creek Subdivision in Hutto a few months ago.
  The two trees behind James’ backyard were there Monday morning and when she came home for her lunch break, they were gone. “It’s extremely frustrating and it sickens me,” said James.
  James says Oncor started removing trees last week.The utility company is clearing a path to get all the greenery away from one of their
  
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• After deadly crash, Steiner Ranch neighbors push for slew of improvements

  20-06-2017 01:15 via kxan.com
  
  TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Family members and friends of the driver killed Sunday night when his car slammed into a tree in the Steiner Ranch area are mourning the loss of their loved one. Community members say they’re mourning alongside them.
  The report came in after 9:30 p.m. A caller said a man was pinned in his car and unconscious in the 4200 block of Quinlan Park Road, near Ranch to Market 620, and just north of Steiner Ranch Boulevard.
  Officials with the Texas Department of
  
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• Care about future of historic Seaholm Intake? Have your say this weekend

  20-06-2017 01:08 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The community will be able to give input on the next steps for the redevelopment of the historic Seaholm Intake building and surrounding three acres of parkland.
  The event, scheduled for Saturday, June 24, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., will be held at several locations around Lady Bird Lake: Pfluger Bridge, Butler Park and Vic Mathias Auditorium Shores.
  Kimberley McNeeley, acting director of the Austin Parks and Recreation Department, says they’re very interested in hearing
  
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• FBI missed rigged jackpot involving ex-Fayette Co. justice of the peace

  20-06-2017 00:42 via kxan.com
  
  IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Investigators were suspicious in 2006 when they heard that a rural Texas judge was trying to exchange $450,000 in consecutively marked bills.
  But Tommy Tipton, a Fayette County magistrate, told the FBI that his actions were innocent, if odd: He won the Colorado lottery but couldn’t tell his wife because gambling was against their Christian faith. The FBI accepted the story and dropped its inquiry of Tipton, who soon bought a new truck and more property around t
  
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• $2M project plans to widen San Marcos sidewalk for safety

  20-06-2017 00:42 via kxan.com
  
  SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) – A $2 million project near downtown San Marcos plans to create a safer route for bicyclists and pedestrians. Planning for the project along Hopkins Street has already started, but people will have to wait at least three years to see any major changes.
  The city says the project was first discussed in 2014, the design phase is expected to begin in the next six months. The city adds the money being spent on the project is federal funding and will help the city widen
  
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• With leaks too costly to fix, Mabel Davis Pool closed for 2017 season

  20-06-2017 00:13 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Mabel Davis Municipal Pool will remain closed for the remainder of the 2017 swim season, the city of Austin announced Monday.
  The pool, located at 3427 Parker Ln. in southeast Austin, has significant leaks that would be too costly to fix this year. The pool has been closed since May 26; officials discovered the pool was leaking 220,000 of its 600,000 gallons each day. The city says the leaks would also take too long to fix before the end of the season.
  To make sure swimmers
  
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• Travis County Jail inmate dies, no foul play suspected

  20-06-2017 00:09 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A 21-year-old man who had been in the Travis County Jail for a month died after being rushed to the hospital early Monday morning.
  The Travis County Sheriff’s Office says inmate Herman Titus was taken to the hospital in critical condition and died shortly after. Currently, evidence collected does not suggest any foul play in his death, but an official cause of death will be determined by the Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office.
  Titus was originally booked in
  
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• Austin leaders lay out their claim that sanctuary city law is unconstitutional

  20-06-2017 00:00 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — In preparation for next week’s hearing in front of a federal judge in San Antonio over the legality of the new sanctuary cities law, Austin’s mayor along with several city council members are holding a news conference on Monday afternoon to discuss why they believe the law is unconstitutional.
  Earlier this month, Austin joined San Antonio, El Paso County and El Cenizo, Texas in their lawsuit challenging Senate Bill 4, which was signed into law by Gov. Greg
  
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