Austin news

• Study: Deadly crashes involving marijuana users didn’t increase where it’s legal

  23-06-2017 23:07 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Doctors with Seton Healthcare recently published a study finding that states with legalized recreational marijuana don’t have a greater increase rate of car crash deaths.
  The study, which was published in the American Journal of Public Health, looked at auto crash fatalities in Colorado and Washington states.
  “They were the first two states to pass legalized marijuana,” says Dr. Jayson Aydelotte, a trauma surgeon at Dell Seton Medical Center at the Univers
  
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• Las Vegas woman suffers 2nd degree burns after walking on pavement

  23-06-2017 23:00 via kxan.com
  
  LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A local woman suffered second-degree burns on both of her feet while mistakenly walking barefoot on the pavement.
  On hot days like Thursday, the asphalt can reach temperatures up to 170 degrees.
  Twenty-one-year-old Amani Fitzgerald learned a brutal lesson about protecting your feet in the heat.
  “I can’t believe it,” Fitzgerald said. “The first day, I couldn’t walk. The next day, I could barely walk.”
  Fitzgerald’s sandals broke wh
  
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• Keeping up the with Joneses: Google wants you to go solar

  23-06-2017 22:51 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Barry Lovelace says his solar panels are one of the best financial decisions he’s ever made. Lovelace, who lives in the Mueller Development in Austin, was the first on his street to get solar panels about four years ago.
  Since then, his next door neighbor has added solar panels, and the home two doors down has, too.
  Lovelace’s story is something Google is hoping to capitalize on: seeing your neighbors get solar panels will make you more likely to get them.
  The i
  
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• Quadriplegic girl paints by mouth, working toward masterpiece

  23-06-2017 21:29 via kxan.com
  
  ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) — One South Georgia teen is giving back to the hospital she says gave her new life and a new talent.
  With each brush stroke, Hannah Croker works toward a masterpiece.
  WATCH: $3 million painting sliced up by man in disguise
  Amazingly, the 17-year-old paints each stroke with her mouth.
  Read the full story at WALB.com.
  MORE: Austin artist out thousands of dollars after thieves steal paintings
  
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• Police need help identifying east Austin robbery suspect

  23-06-2017 20:50 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Authorities are releasing photos of a man accused of robbing someone last week in east Austin in hopes of identifying him.
  Austin police say the robbery happened around 9:45 p.m. on June 15 in the 3700 block of Goodwin Avenue. A victim said two men armed with a weapon robbed him at his home. Police believe the suspects followed the victim to this home.
  While there were two suspects, investigators only have pictures of one of them, plus the suspect vehicle.
  Anyone with infor
  
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• Texas A&M reigns, UH gets a boost in Texas college sports revenue

  23-06-2017 20:32 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) — The rich keep getting richer in Texas college sports, and the little guys keep having a harder time keeping up. That’s one of the key takeaways from Ballpark Figures, The Texas Tribune’s visualization of money for athletics at the state’s top university athletics programs.
  We analyzed the NCAA financial reports for the eight public schools that play the highest level of college football, the Football Bowl Subdivision. You can explore the full app
  
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• World’s Ugliest Dog Contest awards underdogs’ inner beauty

  23-06-2017 20:28 via kxan.com
  
  PETALUMA, Calif. (AP) — The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest in California is celebrating the inner beauty and imperfections of man’s best friend on Friday.
  The pooches — many of which are adoptable or previously adopted — will face off in a red carpet walk and “Faux Paw Fashion Show,” organizers said. The contestants are judged on first impressions, unusual attributes, personality and audience reaction.
  FILE – In this June 26, 2015, file photo, Quasi M
  
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• Killeen official who imposed $4B bond facing fresh scrutiny

  23-06-2017 20:25 via kxan.com
  
  KILLEEN, Texas (AP) — A Central Texas court official who imposed a whopping $4 billion bond on a murder suspect is drawing fresh scrutiny after she declined to recuse herself and oversaw a court hearing involving her son.
  Bell County Attorney Jim Nichols tells the Temple Daily Telegram that Justice of the Peace Claudia Brown may have violated ethics rules by conducting Thursday’s hearing.
  Brown arraigned her 55-year-old son, setting his bond at $2,000 on a charge of misdemeanor drivi
  
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• Sniper sets world record killing ISIS fighter from 2.2 miles away

  23-06-2017 19:26 via kxan.com
  
  OTTAWA, Canada(KWQC) – A sniper with Canada’s elite special forces in Iraq recently broke the world record for longest confirmed kill shot in military history.
  The shot traveled an astonishing 3,540 meters, or about 2.2 miles, before reaching its target – killing an ISIS insurgent in Iraq sometime in the past month, according to a report by The Globe and Mail.
  The feat shattered the previous record by more than half a mile and required the bullet to travel approximate
  
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• The internet falls in love with Zola, the dancing gorilla

  23-06-2017 19:17 via kxan.com
  
  DALLAS, Texas (KXAN) — Everyone has fallen in love with Zola, the gorilla, and his awesome dance moves.
  Earlier this week, zoo keeper Ashley Orr filmed 14-year-old Zola frolicking in a kiddie pool and having the best time spinning around. Apparently Zola has been perfecting his dance moves since he was a youngster at the Calgary Zoo. 
  Zola is a Western lowland gorilla and the youngest member of Dallas Zoo’s bachelor troop, which is made up of three other male gorillas.
  The Dalla
  
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• CPS removes 2 children from Fayette Co. home where meth was found

  23-06-2017 18:49 via kxan.com
  
  MULDOON, Texas (KXAN) — A woman was arrested after authorities say they found drug paraphernalia and meth inside her home Thursday afternoon.
  According to the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, Brandy Darlene Calhoun, 34, gave consent for her Muldoon-area home to be searched around 2:30 p.m.
  Deputies were called to the scene on Davis Road to assist Child Protective Services in removing two children from the home.
  Calhoun was charged with felony Possession of a Controlled Substance.
  No
  
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• Department of Justice announces support for Texas in SB4 battle

  23-06-2017 18:33 via kxan.com
  
  WASHINGTON (KXAN) — The United States Department of Justice is siding with Texas in the battle over the now signed into law Senate Bill 4, the ban on sanctuary cities.
  “President Trump has made a commitment to keep America safe and to ensure cooperation with federal immigration laws,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday. “Texas has admirably followed his lead by mandating state-wide cooperation with federal immigration laws that require the removal of illegal alien
  
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• Sears closes another 20 stores

  23-06-2017 18:23 via kxan.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — Sears is closing another 20 stores as the ailing retailer tries to turn around its business.
  Real estate investment trust Seritage, which owns the 20 real estate properties, confirmed the closings— 18 Sears stores and two Kmart stores — in a government filing Friday.
  In 2015, Sears Holdings Corp. sold 235 Sears and Kmart store locations to Seritage as part of an agreement in which Sears leases the stores back from the real estate company. Under the agreement it
  
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• Supreme Court could reveal action on travel ban at any time

  23-06-2017 18:21 via kxan.com
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has almost certainly decided what to do about President Donald Trump’s travel ban affecting citizens of six mostly Muslim countries.
  The country is waiting for the court to make its decision public about the biggest legal controversy in the first five months of Trump’s presidency. The issue has been tied up in the courts since Trump’s original order in January sparked widespread protests just days after he took office.
  The justices met
  
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• Who is moving to the Lone Star State?

  23-06-2017 17:54 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — People are moving to Texas in droves and if it feels like you’re meeting more transplants from California, you’re not alone.
  According to a study by the Texas Association of Realtors, more people from California are moving to Texas than any other state. In 2015, 65,546 people left California to settle in the Lone Star State. On the flip side, California is also the top state for outgoing Texans, with nearly 42,000 Texans moving there in 2015.
  The report shows mo
  
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• WATCH: Woman comes face-to-face with home intruder

  23-06-2017 17:50 via kxan.com
  
  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) – They were the most terrifying moments of this young woman’s life, a night of sheer terror where she came face-to-face with pure evil in her own home.
  On Wednesday night, while the St. Petersburg woman was out for a bike ride, a mystery man broke into her home. He began casing her home on Paris Avenue South.
  It’s all caught on camera.
  The man is seen with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, darting around the room, rummaging through things. But, his
  
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• Manslaughter charges eyed in deadly Grenfell Tower blaze

  23-06-2017 17:35 via kxan.com
  
  LONDON (AP) — Police are considering filing manslaughter charges related to the fire at a west London apartment tower that killed at least 79 people.
  In its most detailed briefing yet on the criminal investigation, the Metropolitan Police on Friday confirmed residents’ suspicions that the June 14 inferno at Grenfell Tower was touched off by a refrigerator fire. The department also said exterior cladding attached to the 24-story public housing project during a recent renovation failed
  
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• London council evacuates residents amid fire safety concerns

  23-06-2017 17:35 via kxan.com
  
  LONDON (AP) — A local London council has decided to evacuate some 800 households in apartment buildings it owns because of safety concerns following the devastating fire that killed 79 people in a west London high-rise.
  The move comes amid escalating concerns among residents of thousands of tower blocks around Britain. The Camden Council is the first to take such a dramatic step in light of June 14 fire at Grenfell Tower.
  Council leader Georgia Gould says the borough took the unusual step
  
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• Woman’s car stuck in concrete after being run off the road

  23-06-2017 16:48 via kxan.com
  
  DEKALB COUNTY, Georgia (WXIA) — It’s a tale of two construction sites: one side saying it was dangerous, neglectful, and careless. The other side saying it was safely following the rules. At the center: a shiny red BMW stuck in a block of concrete.
  Elysia Morris was driving her 2010 BMW on Rockland Road in DeKalb County. She was dropping her son off at his grandpa’s house while she headed to an appointment. On the way there, she saw the residential street was heavy with constru
  
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• Suspect sought in north Hays County burglary

  23-06-2017 16:06 via kxan.com
  
  DRIFTWOOD, Texas (KXAN) — Authorities have released a photo of a man believed to be connected to a June 1 burglary.
  The Hays County Sheriff’s Office said the man is accused of burglarizing a home in the 11000 block of Farm to Market 150 in Driftwood.
  Three 43″ televisions, a Playstation 3 and games and an airless paint sprayer were taken from the home.
  If you have information regarding the whereabouts of this individual please call the Hays County Sheriff’s Office at (512
  
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• Sesame Street exhibit at LBJ Library highlights 50 years of Public Broadcasting

  23-06-2017 15:30 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — This weekend, a new exhibit opens at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library taking us back 50 years in history. On November 7, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Public Broadcasting Act, creating the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The act established PBS and NPR as the national distribution networks for public television and radio, transforming our national media landscape.
  The new exhibit at the LBJ Presidential Library, On the Air: 50 Years of Public
  
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• North Korea says it’s the ‘biggest victim’ in death of Otto Warmbier

  23-06-2017 14:47 via kxan.com
  
  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Friday called itself the “biggest victim” in the death of an American student who was detained for more than a year and died days after being released in a coma.
  Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency denied that North Korea cruelly treated or tortured Otto Warmbier and accused the United States and South Korea of a smear campaign that insulted what it called its “humanitarian” treatment of him.
  The comments pu
  
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• WATCH: Texas 1-year-old thrown from moving vehicle

  23-06-2017 13:55 via kxan.com
  
  LAREDO, Texas (KXAN) —  A Texas child was thrown out of a moving car and it was all captured on video.
  Dashcam video captured a vehicle turning on a Laredo street, when all of a sudden, the left back door opens in the middle of the road. That was enough to throw the young child outside the car.
  The one-year-old child was treated for scrapes and bruises when paramedics arrived.
  The woman who shot the video was waiting at the light when the incident happened.
  She says she’s sharin
  
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• Dash cam rolling as 1-year-old thrown from moving vehicle

  23-06-2017 13:55 via kxan.com
  
  LAREDO, Texas (KXAN) —  A Texas child was thrown out of a moving car and it was all captured on video.
  Dashcam video captured a vehicle turning on a Laredo street, when all of a sudden, the left back door opens in the middle of the road. That was enough to throw the young child outside the car.
  The one-year-old child was treated for scrapes and bruises when paramedics arrived.
  The woman who shot the video was waiting at the light when the incident happened.
  She says she’s sharin
  
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• Texan, 47, accused of sex assault of his so-called wife, 13

  23-06-2017 13:45 via kxan.com
  
  RICHMOND, Texas (AP) — A 47-year-old man has been charged with raping a 14-year-old Houston-area girl who investigators say told a doctor she was his wife and they were having sex.
  Fort Bend County jail records Steven Carty was being held Thursday on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a child, with bond at $100,000. The girl’s 39-year-old mother was charged with endangering a child by criminal negligence, with bond at $10,000.
  “I find the whole situation terribly disturbi
  
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• Motorcyclist, 62, killed in Hutto crash hit by several vehicles

  23-06-2017 13:30 via kxan.com
  
  HUTTO (KXAN) — Williamson County and Texas Department of Public Safety authorities worked a fatal crash involving three vehicles and a motorcycle in Hutto Friday morning.
  A tweet made around 6:15 a.m. said there is a major crash at Highway 79 and Limmer Loop.
  Investigators said that Arthur Thomas Simmons Jr., 62-year-old motorcyclist, was killed after being hit by a car traveling westbound on Highway 79 as he was trying to turn eastbound.
  DPS said other vehicles ran Simmons over because th
  
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• At least 1 dead after Hutto crash, westbound 79 shutdown

  23-06-2017 13:30 via kxan.com
  
  HUTTO (KXAN) — Williamson County and Texas Department of Public Safety authorities are on scene of a fatal crash in Hutto but have released few details about the situation.
  A tweet made around 6:15 a.m. said there is a major crash at Highway 79 and Limmer Loop. Westbound 79 is currently shutdown and drivers are being asked to stay out of the area.
  One person is confirmed dead.Major crash Hwy 79 at Limmer Loop. Hwy 79 w/b shut down.1 confirmed fatality. DPS working crash. pic.twitter.com/u9
  
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• HomeAway ready for 2K more employees after leasing new office

  23-06-2017 12:52 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin’s HomeAway is ready for growth in the vacation rental business and announced Friday the company will occupy a new 16-story office tower in The Domain, the location’s largest.
  The new 315,000 square foot building, which will be located are the intersection of Domain Drive and Alterra Parkway, will accommodate an extra 2,0000 employees on the  product and design, engineering and information technology teams. HomeAway’s tech team has grown by
  
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• Council member responds to airport facility asbestos investigation

  23-06-2017 05:36 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — KXAN investigators are continuing to press city leaders for answers about an asbestos contamination at the airport that exposed 120 city workers for months. Renovation work at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport last year ended with major health concerns.
  We learned ABIA changed its policy to check for the potentially cancer-causing material before beginning renovations in the future. The city performed an emergency cleanup of the maintenance building where this happened
  
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• PHOTO: Lockhart police investigate first arson case at a business in years

  23-06-2017 05:10 via kxan.com
  
  LOCKHART, Texas (KXAN) — Police are asking for your help identifying the suspect believed to have set fire to hay bales outside Caldwell County Farm & Ranch at 519 Colorado St./US 183 over the weekend.
  An officer says this is the first arson case involving a business in years.
  Lockhart officers say the arson happened at around 5 p.m. Saturday, June 17. The suspect appears to be wearing a red in color t-shirt with white lettering, blue basketball shorts with two vertical lines on the si
  
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• City employee shines light on a remedy for nighttime bicycle-car crashes

  23-06-2017 04:51 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — It’s not hard to find a cyclist in Austin who’s been hit by a car — or at least had some close calls. Seemingly every bike rider has stories of a driver who got too close or saw the two-wheeler just in time.
  A city employee wants to change that and now she’s getting her chance to do so. It’s thanks to a program designed to give people like her exactly this kind of opportunity to improve the city.
  It can’t come soon enough for cyclist
  
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• UT’s Jarrett Allen drafted in first round by Brooklyn Nets

  23-06-2017 04:24 via kxan.com
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The Brooklyn Nets selected big man Jarrett Allen from Texas with the 22nd pick of the NBA draft on Thursday night.
  The 6-foot-11 Allen, a one-and-done player for the Longhorns, averaged 13.4 points and 8.4 rebounds for Texas last season. “I see my role is being a rim protector,” Allen said in an interview with ESPN at Barclays Center, where he will play for the Nets. He averaged 1.5 blocks per game last season.
  “I’m super excited for Jarret
  
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• Voice of Express stops by More Than the Score

  23-06-2017 04:12 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Mike Capps is the only radio voice the Round Rock Express have ever had.  Recently Capps broadcast his 2500th game.  But Capps had amazing broadcast career before making the move to the broadcast booth.  Capps stopped by More Than the Score to share part of his story.
  
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• Amber Alert: 15-year-old girl abducted in West Texas

  23-06-2017 04:02 via kxan.com
  
  ALPINE, Texas (KXAN) — Authorities in West Texas are searching for 15-year-old Stormie Clemmer.
  The Brewster County Sheriff’s Office is searching for Andrew Akers, 20, in connection with her abduction. Akers is driving a 2000 Ford Ranger with an unknown license plate number. He was last heard from in Alpine, Texas.
  Law enforcement officials believe the child is in grave or immediate danger. Clemmer is described as a white female, 5-foot-7, 100 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes.
  
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• California AG bans official travel to Texas over LGBT discrimination fears

  23-06-2017 03:52 via kxan.com
  
  SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s attorney general blocked state-funded travel to Texas and three other states on Thursday in response to what he considers anti-LGBT rights laws enacted this year.
  Democratic Attorney General Xavier Becerra added Texas, Alabama, South Dakota and Kentucky to the list of places where state employee travel is restricted. Lawmakers passed legislation last year banning non-essential travel to states with laws that discriminate against lesbian, gay, bi
  
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• Woman killed after getting trapped under vehicle in Jonestown

  23-06-2017 01:59 via kxan.com
  
  JONESTOWN, Texas (KXAN) — First responders tried to save a woman trapped under a vehicle in Jonestown, Thursday evening. The woman in her 50s has died at the scene.
  Austin-Travis County EMS medics, who were called at 6:38 p.m. to the 10600 block of Deer Canyon Road, near FM 1431, were working to extricate the woman from the vehicle.
  Additional details were not immediately available.
  KXAN has a crew on the way to the scene. We’ll update this story as we get additional information.&nbs
  
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• Texas inmates feel the heat this summer in fight for air conditioning

  23-06-2017 01:38 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (Nexstar) — As Celestina Sanchez knows first-hand, Texas summers are brutal in state prison.
  Sanchez frequently visits her husband, who is serving a life sentence at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Darrington Unit in Rosharon, Texas.
  “We just became friends and then started dating and fell in love,” she laughed as she recalled meeting Oscar in the late 1990s.
  Oscar Sanchez, Jr. has been in prison for half of his 36 years alive. “Charged with life a
  
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• Police urge famous treasure hunt to be called off after two deaths

  23-06-2017 00:46 via kxan.com
  
  SANTA FE, N.M. (KOB) — New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas is asking author Forrest Fenn to call off the search for Fenn’s treasure after another treasure hunter is believed to have lost his life on a quest to find it.
  “I think there’s a certain amount of responsibility. We’ve had two deaths in conjunction with this,” Kassettas said.
  Fenn says the treasure’s hidden somewhere in the mountains north of Santa Fe.
  This undated photo provided by Forre
  
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• Missing North Texas 14-year-old girl found dead in landfill

  23-06-2017 00:44 via kxan.com
  
  ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — A medical examiner has identified a body found at a North Texas landfill as that of a 14-year-old girl missing since Monday evening.
  The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the body Thursday as that of Kaytlynn Cargill of Bedford, Texas.
  Arlington police Lt. Christopher Cook says the body was discovered Wednesday afternoon by a waste collection worker at a north Arlington landfill. An autopsy has been ordered to determine the cause of her death
  
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• Old tool has new purpose to fix the heart, surgeons say

  23-06-2017 00:16 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Doctors are using an old tool with a new purpose to repair parts of the heart that also cuts the recovery time in half. Unfortunately, it hasn’t hit the market yet.
  A newly-designed stent allows doctors to bypass blood vessels when they place it around the aorta, the heart’s main artery.
  “My body feels like it’s 60 sometimes,” said 33-year-old Michael Thomas.
  The Louisiana-native told KXAN that years of fast fun on the town and home-cooked frie
  
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