Austin news

• Restaurant owner accused of inappropriately touching underage employee

  08-08-2017 23:23 via kxan.com
  LEANDER, Texas (KXAN) — A restaurant owner was arrested last Thursday after he allegedly inappropriately touched an employee who was younger than 17.
  Babloo Singh, 50, faces an indecency with child sexual contact charge. Online records show Singh is the owner of Leander Diner, at 2701 S. US 183.
  According to an affidavit, the incident happened around May 27. The victim told police Singh touched her breast and buttocks while she was doing dishes, and also told her “he enjoyed sex and
  
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• Recent rains help lift a few burn bans this week

  08-08-2017 23:10 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Typically, the month of August brings an average of 2.35″ of rainfall to the Austin area. However, well more than that fell across the KXAN viewing area on Monday alone.
  A complex storm system slid into Central Texas during the overnight hours early Monday morning, bringing substantial heavy rain and, eventually, flash flooding to Llano and western Burnet counties. Over 7″ of rain fell between Llano and east of of Lake Buchanan. As for our metro counties, 3-5&Pr
  
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• Country singer Glen Campbell dies after battle with Alzheimer’s

  08-08-2017 22:51 via kxan.com
  NASHVILLE,Tenn. (WKRN) – Country singer Glen Campbell has passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. He was 81.
  Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2011. He was moved to a long-term care facility outside of Nashville in 2014.
  Earlier this year, his wife said Campbell was unable to play guitar anymore.
  Campbell’s career spanned five decades, and songs like, “Gentle On My Mind” and “Galveston” made him one of the elite singers of the la
  
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• Austin to see more clinics providing HIV preventative meds

  08-08-2017 22:14 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Within the next 5 months, two more clinics are scheduled to open and provide Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PrEP, free of charge. PrEP is an anti-HIV medication that’s approved by the FDA.
  Currently, there are just two providers for the service in Austin: the Kind Clinic and the Center for Health Empowerment (CHE).
  The move comes more than a year and half after the Austin Area Comprehensive HIV Planning Council wrote a letter to the mayor and city council, asking f
  
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• Motorcyclist killed while popping a wheelie in northeast Austin

  08-08-2017 21:46 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A 48-year-old motorcyclist died after he lost control while accelerating in northeast Austin last week.
  Austin police say the crash happened on Pearl Retreat Lane in between East Parmer Lane and Dessau Road on Wednesday, Aug. 2 around 6:20 p.m. According to witnesses, the motorcyclist, identified as Tracy Allen Dam, was riding his Ducati at a high rate of speed when he pulled alongside another vehicle traveling in the same direction.
  The motorcyclist then rode southbound in
  
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• Woman hit, killed while running across I-35 identified

  08-08-2017 21:45 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The 25-year-old woman killed while crossing Interstate 35 northbound last week has been identified.
  Police say Kenyae Monique Dixon was trying to run across the highway from east to west just before 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 3 when she was hit by a 2006 Kia driving northbound on North I-35, just north of US 183.
  Dixon was almost hit by a vehicle in the middle lane before running in front of the Kia, police said. Officers say the Kia was traveling at a high rate of sp
  
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• SH 45SW toll on track to open in 2019

  08-08-2017 21:41 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Construction on SH 45 Southwest has been underway for almost a year, and for Andrew Martin who lives in southwest Travis County, the time for the project to be complete can’t come fast enough. SH 45SW will be the new 3.6-mile toll road, with two lanes in each direction; connecting MoPac eastward to the improved FM 1626 in Hays County.
  “We want the road, I’m excited about the access to the east without having to go up to Slaughter,” said Martin.
  
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• VIDEO: Driver draws gun on another driver in North Texas

  08-08-2017 20:18 via kxan.com
  LANCASTER, Texas (KXAN/KXAS) — A North Texas woman said another driver pulled a gun on her during a road rage incident and she captured the entire incident on cellphone.
  KXAS reports the man told police he was acting in self defense and was in fear of his life when he noticed the woman approach him with something in her hand, which he believed to be a weapon. The object in her hand turned out to be the cellphone.
  Victoria Best said she was just driving to work last Friday on Interstate 35
  
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• Accused burglar doesn’t flush toilet, leaves DNA for police

  08-08-2017 19:38 via kxan.com
  VENTURA, Calif. (AP) — Investigators say a suspect accused of burglarizing a Southern California home took a bathroom break and left DNA evidence in the toilet that led to his arrest.
  Detective Tim Lohman of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office says the suspect did not flush during the October break-in in the city of Thousand Oaks.
  He says that allowed investigators to collect evidence to conduct a DNA profile.
  That profile matched another DNA profile in a national database and detect
  
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• A new low: Texas Democrats don’t have candidate for governor

  08-08-2017 18:47 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (AP) — Democrats haven’t won Texas’ governor’s race for decades, but a booming Hispanic population and the party’s dominance of the state’s largest cities have made them willing to keep trying.
  After high-profile candidates lost decisively in the last two elections, though, the party now finds itself in unprecedented territory for the 2018 election: with no major candidate to run.
  Democratic leaders haven’t yet lined up a substantial name to repre
  
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• 7 golf carts, SUV stolen from Hays CISD

  08-08-2017 17:34 via kxan.com
  KYLE, Texas (KXAN) — Officials recovered a school district’s stolen Chevy Suburban with the help of GPS locator beacons.
  Hays Consolidated Independent School District reported its transportation department discovered the SUV and seven golf carts were missing Monday morning from their main office along Interstate 35. The spokesperson for HCISD tells KXAN they believe the burglary happened sometime Sunday night into Monday morning.
  Along with the vehicles, six iPad’s and a l
  
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• Judge weighs Texas’ plan to move inmates from hot prison

  08-08-2017 17:22 via kxan.com
  HOUSTON (AP) — Lawyers will get their chance to respond to Texas’ plan to move about 1,000 inmates from an unbearably hot prison to one of the two other lockups in the state.
  U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison ruled last month that the conditions inside the Wallace Pack Unit amount to cruel and unusual punishment and ordered that inmates with certain health conditions or who are at least 65 years old be transferred or housed elsewhere in the prison where temperatures don’t excee
  
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• Six months out: PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games

  08-08-2017 16:47 via kxan.com
  PyeongChang has been waiting to host the Olympics for more than 15 years. In six months, the cauldron will be lit at the South Korean ski resort in the Taebaek Mountains.
  It took South Korea three tries to win the IOC vote to host its first Winter Olympics, after holding the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul.
  The first PyeongChang Winter Olympic bid was launched around the year 2000 for a 2003 IOC vote to determine the 2010 Olympic host city. Vancouver beat PyeongChang by three votes. For 2014, So
  
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• Torrential rains bring widespread flooding to Houston area

  08-08-2017 16:02 via kxan.com
  HOUSTON (AP) — Torrential rains have brought more flooding to the Houston area as emergency officials urge motorists to stay home until the water recedes.
  About 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain have fallen across much of Harris County, including Houston, and more has swamped suburbs west of the city.
  Authorities are warning motorists of more than a dozen areas of high water along highways. Fire officials say they’ve conducted about two-dozen water rescues Tuesday, mostly pulling dri
  
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• New brewery slated to open in downtown Austin in 2018

  08-08-2017 15:35 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — While there are a couple of bars geared towards craft beer in downtown Austin, the area has been void of a brewery for the past five years. But that is changing as Central District Brewing announces its plans to bring brewing back to the downtown area.
  Central District Brewing, owned by East Holly, LLC., recently inked a five-year contract with the Austin Convention Center to lease the property at 417 Red River St. The brewpub will take over a 3,580-square-foot space which
  
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• Pink dolphin named “Pinky” spotted playing in Louisiana ship channel

  08-08-2017 15:24 via kxan.com
  CAMERON PARISH, LA (WCMH) — There’s been another sighting of a rare albino dolphin named “Pinky.”
  According to Pawnation, Pinky is an albino dolphin that “was first seen in 2007, when the pink dolphin calf was noticed swimming with its normal-colored mother in the Calcasieu Ship Channel.” That waterway connects Lake Charles to the Gulf of Mexico.
  Over the weekend, Pinky was spotted again by people on a boat cruise, NBC affiliate KPLC reports. What’s more
  
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• VIDEO: Burglars steal nearly $20K worth of STIHL power tools

  08-08-2017 14:43 via kxan.com
  BUDA, Texas (KXAN) — A business owner in Buda says thieves broke in and stole nearly $20,000 worth of power tools over the weekend.
  Brooks Gregory of A-Line Outdoor Equipment says surveillance cameras caught two suspects burglarizing the business, which is located along Interstate 35, around 4:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 4. Video shows the burglars using a pry bar and hammer to break into the door.
  Once inside, Gregory says the suspects stole 32 STIHL outdoor power tools
  
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• 80-year-old Walmart employee pepper-sprayed by shoplifters

  08-08-2017 14:11 via kxan.com
  MOUNT STERLING, Ky. (AP) — Police are searching for a man accused of pepper-spraying an 80-year-old Walmart employee in Kentucky.
  The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that Mount Sterling police said in a Facebook post that a man shoplifted several items from the store and pepper-sprayed the woman when she tried to stop him on Saturday.
  The Facebook post includes photos of the man and a woman accused of being an accomplice and providing the pepper spray before they entered the store.
  Police
  
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• How your cellphone can potentially detect a credit card skimmer

  08-08-2017 14:03 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — As law enforcement agencies continue to come across credit card skimmers at gas station pumps, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller released a short video with some new tips on how you can avoid becoming an identity theft victim.
  One tip requires you to pull out your cellphone. According to the state agency, most of the credit card skimmers have Bluetooth technology. When you’re next to the pump, try connecting to Bluetooth and if you see “a long string of
  
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• Australian teenager suffers mysterious bites all over legs after beach trip

  08-08-2017 13:48 via kxan.com
  VICTORIA, Australia (KXAN) — In Texas, we’re familiar with flesh eating bacteria, but flesh eating sea fleas? Apparently that exists in Australia.
  Over the weekend, 16-year-old Sam Kanizay said he put his legs into the water at Brighton Beach in Victoria and what happened next was something out of a horror film. According to the New York Times, 30 minutes after Kanizay stepped out of the water, his ankles were covered in blood.
  Doctors and scientists say sea lice, also known as marin
  
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• Google CEO slams memo on gender as employee reportedly fired

  08-08-2017 13:22 via kxan.com
  NEW YORK (AP) — A memo written by a male engineer at Google about gender differences sparked a quick rebuttal from Google after it circulated widely online.
  Google CEO Sundar Pichai denounced the memo in an email on Monday for “advancing harmful gender stereotypes” and said he was cutting short a vacation to hold a town hall with staff on Thursday. The engineer, James Damore, was fired, according to Bloomberg , which cited an email from him. An email sent to an address believed
  
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• More foster families needed for Austin shelter animals

  08-08-2017 13:06 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — It’s all paws on deck at the Austin Animal Center which is running out of space to house any more animals. The shelter is in desperate need of foster parents for the animals so they are putting out a call for help.
  Roughly 1,000 animals call the center “home.” But right now there are not enough kennels so some dogs and cats are in pop-up crates and some are housed in the shelter’s multipurpose room as well.
  “Summer is the hardest time for
  
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• Austin’s new Central Library has a grand opening date

  08-08-2017 12:46 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Over budget and behind schedule, Austin’s new Central Library finally has a grand opening date.
  The city says the collection of books from the Faulk Central Library are currently getting packed up to be ready for their move to the new library located at 710 W. Cesar Chavez St. The grand opening date is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 28 at 10 a.m.
  Starting Monday, Aug. 14 and continuing through mid-September, customers will have limited access to the books at Faulk Centr
  
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• New mental health crisis center opens in Travis County

  08-08-2017 12:23 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A long-awaited facility opens its doors to its first patients Tuesday. The Judge Guy Herman Center for Mental Health Crisis will provide emergency services to people suffering a mental health crisis in Travis County. The goal is to get those suffering a crisis out of local hospitals and emergency rooms and into this facility to provide short term care and resources.
  “We are the only type of facility that accepts folks on emergency detentions that’s in a non-hosp
  
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• Coalition wants digital billboards in city of Austin

  08-08-2017 11:45 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A group is asking Austinites to sign a public petition in hopes to bring digital billboards to the city.
  Officials with Sign On Austin say a network of digital billboards would allow emergency services access to the signs for amber alerts and other warnings. Sign On Austin is a coalition of local employers and non-profit groups.
  The city currently has a ban on new billboards.
  The coalition hopes to get 20,000 signatures withing 6 months. A link to that petition can be found
  
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• 150K gallons of wastewater spills in Llano due to flash flooding

  08-08-2017 07:00 via kxan.com
  LLANO, Texas (KXAN) — Around 150,000 gallons of wastewater spilled into Oatman Creek, about 150 yards from the Llano River.
  The wastewater spilled from the city’s wastewater collection system starting around 7 a.m. Monday.
  The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality suspects flash flooding is the cause of the spill east of Ford Street.
  Officials are unable to contain the spill because of the water flow, but have increased monitoring of the water supply systems. They’re waitin
  
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• Firefighter raises donations for grandmother who lost everything

  08-08-2017 06:10 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A local firefighter is helping one family get back on their feet with a little help from social media.
  A grandmother and her four grandchildren were left with just the clothes on their backs after a fire destroyed their home Friday afternoon on Savorey Lane in southeast Austin.
  One firefighter on the scene turned to Facebook asking for donations.
  KXAN photojournalist Andrew Choat was there when those donations were delivered. Firefighter Isaac Saldivar said, “I don&rs
  
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• Victim’s mother losing hope after dismissal of suspect’s murder case

  08-08-2017 05:41 via kxan.com
  TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — The mother of a man murdered in March is shocked and disheartened now that the case against the man charged with killing her son has been dismissed.
  An affidavit shows that Travis County deputies believe 20-year-old DeAndre Conner killed 26-year-old Trevon Fox on the evening of March 16. LaNitra Collins, Fox’s mother, kept refreshing the Travis County Court Docket website Monday as she and her family were planning to attend the next hearing in that case
  
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• ‘Drug deal gone wrong’ murder case dismissed due to lack of evidence

  08-08-2017 05:41 via kxan.com
  TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — The mother of a man murdered in March is shocked and disheartened now that the case against the man charged with killing her son has been dismissed.
  An affidavit shows that Travis County deputies believe 20-year-old DeAndre Conner killed 26-year-old Trevon Fox on the evening of March 16. LaNitra Collins, Fox’s mother, kept refreshing the Travis County Court Docket website Monday as she and her family were planning to attend the next hearing in that case
  
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• Student sues UT president over sex assault policies

  08-08-2017 04:51 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — An unnamed University of Texas student is suing UT President Greg Fenves over the university’s sexual assault policies, claiming he was suspended for five semesters even though his accuser agreed to have sex with him after a sorority formal in April 2016.
  “John Doe” claims the female student decided days later she was too drunk to make a well-informed decision and went to the university’s Title IX Office.
  After the male student was investigated, the
  
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• Victim speaks after serial convenience store robbery suspect is caught

  08-08-2017 04:09 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A serial robber accused of hitting up nearly a dozen convenience stores this year is finally in jail.
  Police say someone recognized the man from a cable television program that highlighted the robberies. Austin police believe 30-year-old Jeremy Biddle robbed 11 convenience stores from San Marcos to Pflugerville.
  Het Chantyan was robbed twice when he worked at Woody’s Country Market in south Austin, located at 100 Farm to Market 1626.
  The “pointy nosed&rdquo
  
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• Advocates call rural hospital closures a ‘crisis,’ urge action to be taken

  08-08-2017 03:29 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — After two rural hospitals in Texas closed their doors this summer, advocates are urging lawmakers to ensure smaller communities aren’t left without emergency health care services.
  “Rural hospitals struggle by nature, but what has happened over these last five years are these increased Medicare cuts and underpayments that Medicaid is making… Crockett and Trinity, they’re the latest two victims,” Don McBeath, director of government relations at
  
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• Man struck, killed by vehicle while crossing Llano road in heavy rain

  08-08-2017 03:24 via kxan.com
  LLANO, Texas (KXAN) — A man died Monday morning after he was struck by a vehicle while crossing Bessemer Avenue in Llano.
  Police officers were called to the 800 block of Bessemer, near the intersection with Young Street, at 6:45 a.m. for the report of a pedestrian hit by a vehicle.
  Officers found 48-year-old Gary Mayes, of Llano, injured in the street. The driver of the vehicle and witnesses say it appeared Mayes was trying to cross the highway when he was struck.
  Police say Mayes was not
  
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• Llano Co. decides against law enforcement changes amid budget shortfall

  08-08-2017 03:09 via kxan.com
  LLANO, Texas (KXAN) — Llano County commissioners discussed several ideas Monday to fill a $1.3 million shortfall in their 2018 budget.
  Commissioners talked about the possibility of closing the Llano County Jail, as well as moving the Sheriff’s Office dispatch to a multi-agency center being proposed in Marble Falls.
  Judge Mary Cunningham says the discussion about change stems from a predicament facing Llano County: stagnant tax revenue and increasing costs for the same level of servic
  
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• Retiree claims he was drugged, forced to withdraw $20k

  08-08-2017 03:03 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) —  A retired man who lives in north Austin is out $20,000, and even his own family didn’t believe the story until they saw the evidence.
  Staci Nguyen noticed something was off when she walked into her 66-year-old dad’s house Saturday afternoon.
  “He was very distraught like he was under the influence of something, he wasn’t very coherent,” said Staci. “He just nonchalantly, calmly said I just lost $20,000. And I said ‘What? Are yo
  
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• Retired man claims he was drugged, forced to withdraw $20k

  08-08-2017 03:03 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) —  A retired man who lives in north Austin is out $20,000, and even his own family didn’t believe the story until they saw the evidence.
  Staci Nguyen noticed something was off when she walked into her 66-year-old dad’s house Saturday afternoon.
  “He was very distraught like he was under the influence of something, he wasn’t very coherent,” said Staci. “He just nonchalantly, calmly said I just lost $20,000. And I said ‘What? Are yo
  
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• Elderly man claims he was drugged, forced to withdraw $20k

  08-08-2017 03:03 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police are investigating a robbery involving an elderly man who says he was trying to be nice and offer another older looking man a ride, but that man had criminal intentions.
  The daughter of the 65-year-old man tells KXAN her father was at the MT Supermarket at 10901 North Lamar Blvd. when he was approached by someone he described as a well-dressed black man. The man asked him for a ride. The victim said he was comfortable giving him one since he was older.
  At the e
  
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• Use at your own risk: Shoal Creek Trail likely to remain open during flooding

  08-08-2017 02:44 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Monday’s heavy rains served as a powerful reminder of just how quickly showers can create life-threatening flooding in Central Texas.
  Firefighters used ladders to rescue two people who got stranded on a grassy strip in Shoal Creek next to House Park.
  Further downstream, there’s construction on the trail to connect it straight to Lady Bird Lake. It’s called the Shoal Creek Trail Gap Project, and it’s slated to wrap up by the end of this month.
  During
  
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• Texas House gatekeeper likely won’t hold another hearing on ‘bathroom bill’

  08-08-2017 02:14 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A key lawmaker to any statewide legislation tells KXAN he likely won’t hold a special session hearing on the controversial bill known as the “bathroom bill,” which could be the death knell for the bill this year.
  House Chair of the State Affairs Committee and State Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, said he heard enough in an all night, emotional hearing on the issue during the regular session. The bill must pass his committee to become law and he has not yet c
  
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• Texas mayors voice concerns on city spending caps

  08-08-2017 01:02 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (Nexstar) — A bill in the Texas Senate would limit local government spending by setting revenue caps.
  More than a dozen mayors across the state met with Gov. Greg Abbott to express their concerns over the legislation.
  “Texas is very diverse in so many ways,” Edinburg Mayor Richard Garcia said. “The [Rio Grande] valley is very diverse. We are talking about situations where one formula might affect every city in Texas.”
  Following a Friday meeting with other may
  
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• 2 men drown in rip currents at west end of Galveston Island

  08-08-2017 00:10 via kxan.com
  TREASURE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — Two men have drowned in the swift current of San Luis Pass at the western end of Galveston Island.
  A Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office statement said 67-year-old Larry Lumpkin of Willis, Texas, drowned Monday in the rip currents of the pass. His 46-year-old son-in-law, Dennis Roberson of Montgomery, Texas, drowned while attempting a rescue.
  Both were swept up to a half-mile down the coast before they could be pulled from the water.
  Armando Espinoza, a 54-
  
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