Austin news

• Pflugerville tire shop catches fire again

  15-07-2017 23:47 via kxan.com
  
  PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — For the second time in just as many weeks, a tire shop in Pflugerville caught fire Saturday afternoon.
  At about 2:53 p.m., firefighters from the Pflugerville and Austin fire departments responded to GCR Tires and Service in the 2900 block of West Pecan Street in Pflugerville.
  Photos and a video posted by the Austin Fire Department on Twitter did not show any visible smoke or flames.
  In the previous fire on July 6, black smoke could be seen billowing into the sk
  
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• Man injured in 30-foot fall over rocks at Hippie Hollow

  15-07-2017 22:51 via kxan.com
  
  LAKE TRAVIS, Texas (KXAN) – A man fell about 30 feet at Hippie Hollow Park on the east shore of Lake Travis on Saturday afternoon, said Austin-Travis County EMS.
  The call came into ATC EMS around 2:47 p.m. when it was reported that he had fallen down rocks along the shore of the lake.
  The Travis County Sheriff’s Office picked him up in one of their lake patrol boats and took him to Mansfield Dam Park.
  Medics met them there and transported him to St. David’s Round Rock Medical C
  
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• High schooler hosts emergency services for Public Safety Day

  15-07-2017 21:01 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — First responders with Austin’s police, fire and emergency services gave the public a look inside their emergency vehicles Saturday as part of Public Safety Day.
  The event was hosted by Westlake High School student and member of the Texas Youth Preparedness Council, Nolan Screen. He said he wanted to give the public an opportunity to meet and get to know their local first responders, “while having a fun time.”
  The Texas Youth Preparedness Council has 25 mem
  
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• Motorcycle crash shuts down SH 130, man has serious injuries

  15-07-2017 20:22 via kxan.com
  
  TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — A man has serious injuries after a motorcycle crash on SH 130 Saturday afternoon.
  Austin-Travis County EMS responded to the crash near Elroy Road, just south of Austin Bergstrom International Airport, around 12:20 p.m. EMS reports a man in his 40s was taken to St. David’s South Austin Hospital.
  The Travis County Sheriff’s Office confirms SH 130 is shut down near Elroy Road, and traffic is being diverted at this time.
  This is a developing story
  
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• INTERVIEW: Using art to help patients with Alzheimer’s

  15-07-2017 20:09 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — For seven decades, a woman in Texas has been using watercolors to paint nature around her. Those paintings are now helping patients with Alzheimer’s.
  Michelle Neumann and Ashley Urjil-Mills, from Silverado Onion Creek Memory Care, joined KXAN’s Gigi Barnett in studio Saturday to discuss Ann Carsey’s art.
  
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• Muguruza beats ‘role model’ Williams for 1st Wimbledon title

  15-07-2017 19:23 via kxan.com
  
  LONDON (AP) — As a kid, Garbine Muguruza sat in awe in front of the TV as the Williams sisters accumulated Grand Slam titles. They were her role models.
  Now Muguruza is all grown up, an emerging tennis star in her own right — and, as of Saturday, the only woman who can boast of beating each Williams in a major final.
  Muguruza powered her way to her first Wimbledon championship by playing fearlessly and dominating down the stretch, putting together a 7-5, 6-0 victory over a fading Ven
  
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• Hydration myths: how much water should you drink in the summer?

  15-07-2017 18:46 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — With triple-digit temperatures in the forecast, a lot of us will be reaching for our water bottles, but sometimes it’s hard to know how much water you should drink, and when.
  Trent Crum, a cardiopulmonary rehab nurse at St. David’s Medical Center, joined KXAN’s Gigi Barnett in studio Saturday to help untangle some of the confusion around staying hydrated.
   
  
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• Sinkhole stops growing after swallowing 2 houses in Florida

  15-07-2017 18:00 via kxan.com
  
  LAND O’ LAKES, Fla. (AP) — A sinkhole that swallowed a boat and destroyed two homes had stopped growing and officials said Saturday they would monitor it over the weekend before determining when cleanup can begin.
  The hole has been stagnant since Friday afternoon, said Kevin Guthrie, Pasco County’s assistant administrator for public safety. He confirmed that the hole, which is 250 feet (76 meters) wide and 50 feet (15 meters) deep, is the largest in three decades in the county,
  
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• Leander ISD hosting job fair to help fill vacant positions

  15-07-2017 15:25 via kxan.com
  
  LEANDER, Texas (KXAN) — Leander ISD is hosting a job fair Saturday for those interested in learning more about vacant positions within the school district.
  The district says it is hiring staff at various campuses in positions including custodial, transportation, food services and maintenance. A full list of openings can be found here.
  The job fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Cedar Park Recreation Center, located at 1435 Main St., Cedar Park.
   
  
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• Honolulu high-rise fire that left 3 dead like ‘horror movie’

  15-07-2017 15:14 via kxan.com
  
  HONOLULU (AP) — Karen Hastings was in her 31st floor Honolulu apartment when she smelled smoke. She ran out to her balcony, looked down, and saw flames five floors below her.
  “The fire just blew up and went flying right out the windows,” the 71-year-old Hastings said of the first moments of the high-rise blaze that killed at least three people and injured 12. “And that was like a horror movie. Except it wasn’t a horror movie, it was for real.”
  The fire broke o
  
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• Honolulu fire: Victim remembered as talented and caring

  15-07-2017 15:14 via kxan.com
  
  HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaiian Airlines in-flight manager called his brother as smoke filled his 26th-floor apartment in Honolulu before he and his mother lost their lives in the blaze, the man’s brother said.
  Pearl City Community Church Pastor Phil Reller told The Honolulu Star-Advertiser (http://bit.ly/2tXsf7e) that police confirmed that two of the three victims killed in the blaze Friday are his mother and brother.
  Reller told the newspaper he received a call from his brother, Britt R
  
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• Honolulu fire: New photos show charred remains of 26th floor

  15-07-2017 15:14 via kxan.com
  
  HONOLULU (AP) — Karen Hastings was in her 31st floor Honolulu apartment when she smelled smoke. She ran out to her balcony, looked down, and saw flames five floors below her.
  “The fire just blew up and went flying right out the windows,” the 71-year-old Hastings said of the first moments of the high-rise blaze that killed at least three people and injured 12. “And that was like a horror movie. Except it wasn’t a horror movie, it was for real.”
  The fire broke o
  
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• Honolulu fire: Most high-rise residents will be allowed back

  15-07-2017 15:14 via kxan.com
  
  HONOLULU (AP) — Karen Hastings was in her 31st floor Honolulu apartment when she smelled smoke. She ran out to her balcony, looked down, and saw flames five floors below her.
  “The fire just blew up and went flying right out the windows,” the 71-year-old Hastings said of the first moments of the high-rise blaze that killed at least three people and injured 12. “And that was like a horror movie. Except it wasn’t a horror movie, it was for real.”
  The fire broke o
  
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• Liberation from militants leaves devastation in Mosul

  15-07-2017 15:11 via kxan.com
  
  MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — There was a smell of death in Mosul’s Old City when Ayman Hashem came back this week to see what happened to his home. His neighborhood was unrecognizable.
  “All that’s left is rubble and the bodies of families trapped underneath,” the 23-year-old said. He flipped through photos on his phone, showing picture after picture of wreckage. His own house was “cut in half,” he said. He had to cover his nose with his tee-shirt because of the sm
  
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• UK police appeal for information after spate of acid attacks

  15-07-2017 15:08 via kxan.com
  
  LONDON (AP) — Five linked acid attacks in quick succession by men on mopeds in London left several people injured, British police said Friday. They are the latest in a spate of assaults with corrosive liquids that have alarmed residents and politicians.
  The Metropolitan Police force said two teenagers have been arrested in connection with the 90-minute rampage which began late Thursday. Two men on a moped tossed a noxious substance into the face of a 32-year-old moped driver, then jumped o
  
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• Cast of characters populates the Trump campaign-Russia drama

  15-07-2017 14:52 via kxan.com
  
  MOSCOW (AP) — A billionaire real estate mogul, his pop singer son and a music promoter. A property lawyer, Russia’s prosecutor general and a Russian-American lobbyist.
  These unlikely figures have come to the fore as revelations that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign sought potentially damaging information in June 2016 from Russia about his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
  In emails sent shortly after Trump secured the GOP nomination, music publicist Rob Goldstone offered to connec
  
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• Family shares details of murine typhus case and what to look for

  15-07-2017 05:46 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — An Austin man is warning people about murine typhus after his husband was recently diagnosed with the disease. The Centers for Disease Control is reporting, in Texas, there’s been an increase of 200 cases over a 10-year time span.
  So what exactly is murine typhus? It’s a disease caused by a bacteria, spread to people when they come in contact with infected fleas. People get sick when waste from infected fleas is rubbed into cuts or scrapes in the
  
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• Parents arrested after West Texas 5-year-old found to weigh 17 pounds

  15-07-2017 05:21 via kxan.com
  
  ODESSA, Texas (AP) — Odessa police say the parents of a 5-year-old boy with Down syndrome were arrested after he was found to be severely malnourished and bruised.
  Police say 42-year-old Robert Rincon Jr. and 33-year-old Isabel Rincon turned themselves in Thursday. Both remained in jail Friday on bond of $200,000 each on charges of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury. Jail records don’t list attorneys for either.
  A probable cause affidavit says the boy’s condition w
  
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• At least 3 dead as fire rages in Honolulu high-rise apartment building

  15-07-2017 04:28 via kxan.com
  
  HONOLULU (AP) — At least three people died in a fire that broke out on the 26th floor of a Honolulu high-rise Friday and hundreds fled as smoke billowed from the upper floors of the giant apartment complex.
  The blaze at the Marco Polo apartments spread from the 26th floor to at least the 28th floor and hit several units, said Honolulu Fire Department spokesman Capt. David Jenkins.
  The three dead were found on the 26th floor, said Fire Chief Manuel Neves.
  Firefighters say there were report
  
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• Seven cases of mumps confirmed on UT campus

  15-07-2017 03:42 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Seven cases of mumps have been diagnosed on the University of Texas at Austin campus in the past week, the university said Friday.
  Other members of the campus community are being tested for suspected mumps infection, a contagious disease spread through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
  UT says items used by an infected person, including a phone, can also be contaminated with the mumps virus. Symptoms of mumps include fever, headache, muscle aches, tiredness
  
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• Texas Ranger pulls gun on driver who flipped him off

  15-07-2017 03:00 via kxan.com
  
  ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) -- A Texas Ranger stationed in Austin exercised "poor judgment" in an incident where he pulled over and pointed his gun at a driver who flipped him off in traffic according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
  During the incident Round Rock police rushed to an intersection along Interstate 35 after a call for help from the driver who was on the phone with a 911 operator saying someone is trying to pull him over in an unmarked vehicle.
  “It's a white pickup truc
  
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• APD officers told by union to drive with windows down amid CO fears

  15-07-2017 02:09 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin Police Department is considering replacing Ford Explorer SUVs from their fleet, at least as a temporary solution to ongoing carbon monoxide leak issues in the vehicles.
  Austin Police Association President Ken Casaday sent out a letter to officers Friday telling them to drive the SUVs with the windows down. If a unit’s carbon monoxide detector goes off, Casaday advises officers to get out of the car, call an ambulance and have their “blood drawn asap&r
  
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• Arrested passenger ‘devastated’ by his conduct on Austin flight

  15-07-2017 01:25 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The attorney representing the man accused of punching a passenger on a Tuesday flight out of Austin says his client is “embarrassed and devastated” by his actions.
  Aaron Sweeney, 28, was arrested and charged with public intoxication, resisting transport/arrest and assault on a public servant for the July 11 incident at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
  Southwest Flight 3590 was about 30 minutes into its trip to Chicago when the captain decided to turn the
  
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• St. David’s Emergency Center in Bastrop closed due to water outage

  15-07-2017 00:46 via kxan.com
  
  BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — St. David’s Emergency Center in Bastrop is temporarily closed due to a water outage impacting city residents.
  In the event of a medical emergency, residents should call 911.
  St. David’s South Austin Medical Center CEO Todd Steward says they will update the community when the emergency center is back open.
  A boil water notice, which initially covered the entire city, was reduced at around 2:20 p.m. to include only the area east of Arena Drive to Tahitian
  
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• Pflugerville PD reorganizing department, increasing recruiting efforts to keep up with growth

  15-07-2017 00:45 via kxan.com
  
  PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) – Six new officers were sworn into the Pflugerville Police Department ranks Friday evening, bringing the total force size closer to the number of positions authorized in the department.
  A department spokeswoman said PPD’s authorized force is 87 sworn officers; Friday’s recruit graduation brings the number of officers to 79.
  The department’s new police chief told KXAN filling those spots is just part of a broader effort to make the force more res
  
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• Pflugerville PD reorganizing department, increasing recruiting efforts

  15-07-2017 00:45 via kxan.com
  
  PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — Six new officers are set to be sworn into the Pflugerville Police Department ranks Friday evening, bringing the total force size closer to the number of positions authorized in the department.
  A department spokeswoman said PFPD’s authorized force is 87 sworn officers; Friday’s recruit graduation brings the number of officers to 79.
  It comes at a time the department is reorganizing “internally to meet the diverse needs of our growing community,
  
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