Austin news

• Protests, vigils around US decry white supremacist rally

  13-08-2017 23:54 via kxan.com
  SEATTLE (AP) — Protesters decrying hatred and racism converged around the country on Sunday, saying they felt compelled to counteract the white supremacist rally that spiraled into deadly violence in Virginia.
  The gatherings spanned from a planned march to President Donald Trump’s home in New York to a candlelight vigil in Florida. In Seattle, police made arrests and confiscated weapons as Trump supporters and counter-protesters converged downtown.
  Some focused on showing support for
  
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• Robert E Lee Road signs vandalized in South Austin

  13-08-2017 21:48 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – Street signs in South Austin were vandalized with red spray paint this weekend along Robert E Lee Road.
  It’s a short road that runs south from Barton Springs Road, along the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum and ends at Rabb Road where the name of the street changes to Melridge Place.
  Robert E. Lee was the Confederacy’s top general during the American Civil War, and a statue of him astride a horse is at the center of the chaos that descended upon Charlottesvill
  
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• Houston woman one of 35 injured in crash at Virginia rally

  13-08-2017 21:04 via kxan.com
  HOUSTON (KPRC) — Bellaire High School graduate Natalie Romero was injured in Charlottesville Saturday when a car plowed through a crowd of protesters.
  Romero, 20, a University of Virginia sophomore, was one of 19 injured during a rally that also left three dead, her mother, Ericka Chaves said.
  Romero is recovering from her injuries Sunday and plans to continue “fighting for our rights,” Chaves said
  “She’s a strong person. She’s always fighting for our rights.&
  
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• Man in serious condition after fall into Lake Travis

  13-08-2017 17:43 via kxan.com
  LAKEWAY, Texas (AP) — Central Texas authorities say a man is in serious and potentially life-threatening condition after falling from a cliff into Lake Travis.
  Austin-Travis County EMS reports the agency received a call early Saturday evening from a boat club that a person had fallen about 20 to 30 feet into the lake northwest of Austin.
  The man, identified only as in his 20s, was recovered by boat and then was taken by helicopter to a hospital.
  
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• State of Texas: Going beyond the call for children

  13-08-2017 16:05 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – State lawmakers are just days away from the end of the special session with a lot of work ahead. But there’s still a push from some legislators to get action on one bill that’s not on Governor Greg Abbott’s call.
  Child advocates worry that Texas will have more disabled adults in the years ahead if lawmakers don’t take action now to get much-needed therapy to children. “These are services to help children swallow, and speak, and walk,” exp
  
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• Texas House gives early OK to do-not-resuscitate bill

  13-08-2017 15:25 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas House has tentatively passed a compromise on a bill requiring explicit patient approval for do-not-resuscitate orders in hospitals, advancing a much-watched end-of-life care proposal.
  Saturday night’s approval by simple voice vote means that only a largely formulaic, final vote is all that’s needed to clear the chamber and move closer to Gov. Greg Abbott to be signed into law.
  The bill is designed to prohibit doctors from unilaterally exercising d
  
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• House votes to move forward on property tax bill

  13-08-2017 05:33 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) —  After hours of heated debate Saturday, the Texas House voted to move forward on the property tax bill. With the special session set to end on Wednesday, lawmakers are working through the weekend.
  Senate Bill 1 aims to limit the rising property taxes Texans are required to pay. However, it could also limit cities, keeping them from providing services taxpayers need and expect.
  The bill would require voter approval on property tax increases in larger Texas cities. The H
  
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• Supply drive aims to help at-risk youth

  13-08-2017 05:03 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – A back-to-school drive with a different focus took place Saturday outside the Travis County Jail in downtown Austin.
  The Millions for Prisoners Supply Drive and Rally aims to help children at risk of falling into the “schools-to-prison pipeline.”
  People brought in school supplies to be handed to at-risk youth with several groups joining forces to help stop what they call a cycle.
  “We know, especially when you are talking about children whose parents are in
  
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• Police identify suspect in Virginia car ramming

  13-08-2017 04:05 via kxan.com
  CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Authorities say a 20-year-old Ohio man accused of driving a car into a group of counter-protesters at a white nationalist rally has been charged with second-degree murder and other counts.
  The Charlottesville Police Department said in a statement Saturday night that James Alex Fields, Jr., of Ohio also faces three counts of malicious wounding, and one count related to leaving the scene.
  Col. Martin Kumer, superintendent of the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regi
  
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• Big crowds pick up back-to-school supplies at Palmer Events Center

  13-08-2017 03:28 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – There were big crowds at the Palmer Events Center Saturday for a one-stop-shopping event designed for families to get their children ready to head back to class.
  More than 3,000 backpacks full of school supplies were handed out for the Austin ISD Back to School Bash and Safety Fair.
  Businesses and volunteers were also on hand to give students haircuts, immunizations and equip them with helpful information to navigate another school year.
  “It really came because of the
  
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• Devoutly Catholic Guam celebrates Mass amid N. Korea threat

  13-08-2017 03:24 via kxan.com
  TUMON, Guam (AP) — Across Guam — where nearly everyone is Roman Catholic — priests prayed for peace as residents of the U.S. Pacific island territory faced a missile threat from North Korea.
  Archbishop Michael Byrnes instructed priests in Guam’s 26 churches to offer prayers for peace between the two nations and courage for military forces on the island. He asked for prayers for “just resolution of differences, and prudence in both speech and action.”
  Guam&rsqu
  
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• Suspension of a UT student will stand in sexual assault case

  13-08-2017 03:20 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A University of Texas at Austin student suspended after a sexual assault investigation will not be allowed to attend school at UT this fall, according to his attorney.
  The decision comes after U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks declined to rule on the man’s temporary injunction.
  During a hearing Friday, Sparks said he wanted to hear from UT President Gregory Fenves before making a decision.
  The student’s lawyers served the school a lawsuit earlier this week which sa
  
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• Funeral Sunday for man crushed under falling concrete slab

  13-08-2017 03:15 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The worker killed in a concrete accident earlier this week will be laid to rest this weekend.
  Amir Kaman’s niece told KXAN a memorial will be held at Austin-Peel and Son Funeral Home at 607 East Anderson Lane from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Sunday. His burial will follow at the Cook-Walden Capital Parks Cemetery in Pflugerville.
  His family says both the memorial and burial will be open to the public.
  Kaman was killed after a slab of concrete tipped off a flatbed truck and crushed
  
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• Texas Senate OKs abortion insurance restrictions

  13-08-2017 03:12 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Latest on the Texas Legislature’s debate of insurance restrictions for covering abortion (all times local):
  7 p.m.
  Texas’ Republican-controlled Legislature has voted to restrict insurance coverage for abortions, over the objections of opponents who decried that no exception would be made in cases of rape or incest.
  The state Senate late Saturday approved 20-10 a bill requiring women to purchase extra insurance to cover abortions except amid medical emer
  
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• Family, friends pay respects to Don Baylor

  13-08-2017 02:55 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Don “Groove” Baylor’s best baseball friends paid their final respects Saturday in Austin, Texas.
  Baylor died Monday after a 14 year battle with cancer. According to teammates and friends, battle best describes Baylor’s approach to baseball. Off the diamond, he was a kind, thoughtful man intent on serving others.
  “I wasn’t too friendly with too many people in baseball. I don’t say too many nice things about them but there’s not
  
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• Man accused of threatening UT staff member with knife near campus

  13-08-2017 00:23 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A staff member at the University of Texas at Austin says a man pulled a knife on him at a bus stop near campus.
  Austin police arrested Brandon Medeiros, 38, Friday and charged him with aggravated assault, which is a second degree felony. According to the arrest warrant, the staff member, a black man, had just left work and was sitting on the bus stop bench on Guadalupe Street near The University Co-op on “The Drag.”
  He says Medeiros, who is white, approached him
  
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