Austin news

• Suspect in deadly Taylor hit-and-run arrested at Austin job site

  16-08-2017 22:54 via kxan.com
  TAYLOR, Texas (KXAN) — The man who investigators say hit two girls with his truck in Taylor and then left the scene has been arrested.
  One of the girls, 16-year-old Sharonda Barrett, died from her injuries. The suspect, Missael Padilla Lopez, 21, of Taylor, was arrested at his job site in Austin on Wednesday.
  Taylor police detectives and the Texas Rangers determined Lopez was driving a 1995 red GMC pickup truck when he hit the two girls walking westbound on Old Thorndale Road the evening o
  
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• San Marcos man accused of threatening to bomb Hays County Jail

  16-08-2017 22:42 via kxan.com
  SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) — A San Marcos man who authorities say threatened to blow up the Hays County Jail while he was on a phone with a dispatcher has been arrested.
  The Hays County Sheriff’s Office said at 9:26 a.m. Wednesday, a man, identified as Chance Bandy, 35, called 911 and said he wanted to speak to a detective or a sergeant. When the dispatcher asked him follow-up questions, the Hays County Sheriff’s Office said Bandy became agitated and threatened to bomb the jail.
  
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• ‘Dixie Freedom Rally’ planned for downtown Austin on Sept. 2

  16-08-2017 22:15 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — An event billed as the “Dixie Freedom Rally” is scheduled to take place at Wooldridge Square in downtown Austin over Labor Day weekend.
  According to the rally’s Facebook event page, the event — slated for Saturday, Sept. 2 — is to promote the “true Confederate heritage that most of America is unaware of.” The rally Facebook page was created on July 28 and is being organized by a group called the Texas Confederate Militia.On the
  
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• Conservative groups target Speaker Straus after ‘bathroom bill’ failure

  16-08-2017 22:12 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Throughout the regular legislative session and even into the special session, one of the defining issues was restricting access to bathrooms depending on your biological sex.
  After all the debate, the Texas Privacy Act, also known as the “bathroom bill,” failed to pass. The blame, or the credit, for that goes to Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, and his leadership team in the lower chamber.
  Fearing business backlash and heeding advice from law enforcement, the
  
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• Credit card skimmers found at 2 Austin Shell stations in one day

  16-08-2017 21:38 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Inspectors with the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) were busy on Wednesday after they discovered two Austin gas stations with skimming devices installed.
  The first one was at a Shell gas station in northwest Austin at 10700 Anderson Mill Rd., where authorities found two credit card skimmers. Authorities found two skimmers at pump numbers 2 and 4.
  Austin police were notified and removed the devices. The owner of the gas station said they didn’t know the skimmers
  
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• American Girl coming to the Domain

  16-08-2017 21:00 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — There’s a new doll destination in town. American Girl is coming to Austin, at least for a few months and just in time for the holiday season.
  The dolls and their accessories will soon have a new home in the Domain at 11410 Century Oaks Terrace. The 5,000-square foot store has a grand opening celebration Sept. 2, and will be open until the end of January 2018. Many doll characters have their own background and stories, ranging from the Revolutionary War-era to the Grea
  
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• Pflugerville man accused of driving drunk, killing woman in stopped car

  16-08-2017 19:31 via kxan.com
  PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — A woman who was stopped on the side of a road in Pflugerville due to car trouble was killed after authorities say a suspected drunk driver ran into her car Sunday night.
  Cleveland Webster Harris, 35, faces a felony intoxication manslaughter charge. Just before 10 p.m. Trooper Tanner Wilson arrived at the area near Wells Branch Parkway and Immanuel Drive and saw debris scattered along the road, with the two cars upside down in a culvert about 40 feet away from w
  
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• Man accused of driving drunk, killing woman in stopped car near Pflugerville

  16-08-2017 19:31 via kxan.com
  PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — A woman who was stopped on the side of a road near Pflugerville due to car trouble was killed after authorities say a suspected drunk driver ran into her car Sunday night.
  Cleveland Webster Harris, 35, faces a felony intoxication manslaughter charge. Just before 10 p.m. Trooper Tanner Wilson arrived at the area near Wells Branch Parkway and Immanuel Drive and saw debris scattered along the road, with the two cars upside down in a culvert about 40 feet away from
  
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• Woman discovers lost ring on a carrot in her garden

  16-08-2017 19:09 via kxan.com
  ALBERTA, Canada (NBC News) — When a Canadian woman lost her diamond engagement ring in the garden 13 years ago, she thought it was gone for good.
  But this week it was found on a carrot, plucked from the soil on the family farm.
  Mary Grams, 84, said she thinks she lost the ring while pulling a large weed from the garden in September 2004.
  “I went to the garden for something and then I don’t know I seen this big, big weed and I don’t know why I had to pull it. I should have
  
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• The Latest: Peaceful candlelight vigil moves through campus

  16-08-2017 18:48 via kxan.com
  CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — The Latest on a memorial service for the woman killed when a car rammed into a crowd of people protesting a white nationalist rally (all times local):
  10 p.m.
  Hundreds of people have gathered on the University of Virginia campus for a peaceful candlelight vigil against hate and violence days after Charlottesville erupted in chaos during a white nationalist rally.
  Marchers Wednesday covered the same ground that hundreds of torch-carrying white nationalists had ta
  
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• The Latest: FBI sets up tip line for information on rally

  16-08-2017 18:48 via kxan.com
  CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — The Latest on a memorial service for the woman killed when a car rammed into a crowd of people protesting a white nationalist rally (all times local):
  ___
  4:45 p.m.
  The FBI says it has set up a tip line for the public to submit photos, videos and other information regarding the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.
  The FBI said Wednesday that it was setting up the tip line due to the volume of information already coming in from the public.
  The Depar
  
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• The Latest: Daily Stormer now has Russian domain name

  16-08-2017 18:48 via kxan.com
  CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — The Latest on a memorial service for the woman killed when a car rammed into a crowd of people protesting a white nationalist rally (all times local):
  1:30 p.m.
  The white supremacist website that demonized the woman killed while protesting a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville has found a new home: Russia.
  The Daily Stormer, a site that takes its name from the Nazi propaganda newspaper Der Stürmer, reappeared early Monday with a new domain name endin
  
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• Lawsuit claims rodent was baked into Chick-fil-A sandwich

  16-08-2017 18:25 via kxan.com
  PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A lawsuit claims a suburban Philadelphia woman got an extra topping on her Chick-fil-A sandwich: a dead rodent.
  Ellen Manfalouti sued in Bucks County Court over the tiny rodent she claims was baked into the bottom bun of her chicken sandwich.
  A co-worker picked up the sandwich for her at a Langhorne restaurant in November, and the two started to eat in a conference room at the insurance agency where they work.
  “I felt something funny on the bottom of the bun,&rdqu
  
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• Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush release statement on Charlottesville

  16-08-2017 17:59 via kxan.com
  KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (KXAN) — Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush issued a joint statement Wednesday on the incident in Charlottesville, Va. from their family retreat in Kennebunkport, Maine.
  The statement reads:
  America must always reject racial bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred in all forms. As we pray for Charlottesville, we are reminded of the fundamental truths recorded by that city’s most prominent citizen in the Declaration of Independence: we are all created equal
  
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• Gov. Abbott slams House, doesn’t rule out second special sessio

  16-08-2017 17:22 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (Texas Tribune) — Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday put blame on the House — particularly Speaker Joe Straus — for the shortcomings of the special session and left the door open to calling another one.“I’m disappointed that all 20 items that I put on the agenda did not receive the up-or-down vote that I wanted but more importantly that the constituents of these members deserved,” Abbott said in a KTRH radio interview. “They had plenty of time to
  
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• More than 500 animals adopted so far in #ClearTheShelters

  16-08-2017 16:33 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Animal shelters across Central Texas are joining forces with KXAN to Clear The Shelters on Saturday, Aug. 19. The one day mega-adoption event features free or reduced adoptions at participating shelters.
  More than 400 animals have been adopted during the first half of #ClearTheShelters day. If you can’t adopt an animal, consider donating using one of the links below.
  If you’ve been considering a new pet, you can help save a life and reduce overcrowding in Centra
  
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• More than 400 animals adopted so far in #ClearTheShelters

  16-08-2017 16:33 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Animal shelters across Central Texas are joining forces with KXAN to Clear The Shelters on Saturday, Aug. 19. The one day mega-adoption event features free or reduced adoptions at participating shelters.
  More than 400 animals have been adopted during the first half of #ClearTheShelters day. If you can’t adopt an animal, consider donating using one of the links below.
  If you’ve been considering a new pet, you can help save a life and reduce overcrowding in Centra
  
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• Let’s ‘Clear the Shelters’ today!

  16-08-2017 16:33 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Animal shelters across Central Texas are joining forces with KXAN to Clear The Shelters on Saturday, Aug. 19. The one day mega-adoption event features free or reduced adoptions at participating shelters.
  If you’ve been considering a new pet, you can help save a life and reduce overcrowding in Central Texas shelters by adopting. Consider reading Why you should adopt a shelter animal.
  If you’re worried about house training or keeping up with a puppy’s energy
  
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• Let’s ‘Clear the Shelters’ on Saturday, August 19!

  16-08-2017 16:33 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Animal shelters across Central Texas are joining forces with KXAN to Clear The Shelters on Saturday, Aug. 19. The one day mega-adoption event features free or reduced adoptions at participating shelters.
  If you’ve been considering a new pet, you can help save a life and reduce overcrowding in Central Texas shelters by adopting. Consider reading Why you should adopt a shelter animal.
  If you’re worried about house training or keeping up with a puppy’s energy
  
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• Obama’s post-Charlottesville message most-liked tweet ever

  16-08-2017 16:31 via kxan.com
  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Twitter says President Barack Obama’s tweet in response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend has taken the crown as the platform’s most-liked post ever."No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion…" pic.twitter.com/InZ58zkoAm
  — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017
  Obama tweeted a quote from Nelson Mandela Saturday night: “No one is born hating ano
  
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• Six arrested at Attorney General’s Office during DACA protest

  16-08-2017 15:44 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Six people were arrested at Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office Tuesday as they protested to try to protect the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or  DACA, program.
  The rally was one of many across the nation calling for the president and local leaders to continue the program that lets teens and young adults who came to the U.S. as children remain in the country for work or school. It also marked DACA’s fifth anniversary.
  At the end of June, Pa
  
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• ‘Respect Us or Expect Us’ event pushes back against ‘discriminatory’ legislation

  16-08-2017 14:56 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — On what was supposed to be the last day of a special session that ended early, lawmakers and members of the group One Texas Resistance are planning to gather outside the Capitol.
  The group, as well as Rep. Joaquín Castro, D-San Antonio, and State Rep. César Blanco, D-El Paso, gathered Wednesday morning at the open-air rotunda of the Texas Capitol Extension. The same coaliation protested previously during the session, calling out legislation they believed
  
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• “Respect Us or Expect Us” event planned outside Texas Capitol

  16-08-2017 14:56 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — On what was supposed to be the last day of a special session that ended early, lawmakers and members of the group One Texas Resistance are planning to gather outside the Capitol.
  On Monday, the group, as well as U.S Rep. Joaquín Castro, D-San Antonio, and State Rep. César Blanco, D-El Paso, announced they would be gathering Wednesday morning at the open-air rotunda of the Texas Capitol Extension.
  That coalition protested previously during the session, calling
  
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• VIDEO: Workers remove Baltimore Confederate monuments overnight

  16-08-2017 14:11 via kxan.com
  BALTIMORE (AP) — Confederate monuments in Baltimore were quietly removed and hauled away on trucks in darkness early Wednesday, days after a violent white nationalist rally in Virginia that was sparked by plans to take down a similar statue there.
  Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh told The Baltimore Sun that crews began removing the city’s four Confederate monuments late Tuesday and finished around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.
  “It’s done,” Pugh told the newspaper. “They
  
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• Confederate monuments removed overnight in Baltimore

  16-08-2017 14:11 via kxan.com
  BALTIMORE (AP) — Confederate monuments in Baltimore were quietly removed and hauled away on trucks in darkness early Wednesday, days after a violent white nationalist rally in Virginia that was sparked by plans to take down a similar statue there.
  Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh told The Baltimore Sun that crews began removing the city’s four Confederate monuments late Tuesday and finished around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.
  “It’s done,” Pugh told the newspaper. “They
  
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• $258M bond vote looms as students return to packed Lake Travis schools

  16-08-2017 12:38 via kxan.com
  LAKE TRAVIS, Texas (KXAN) — Students in Taylor, Elgin, Hutto and Lake Travis head back to school Wednesday. In Lake Travis, students will be walking into one of Central Texas’ fastest growing school districts with many schools at or near capacity. Superintendent Brad Lancaster gave KXAN a tour of Lake Travis Middle School which opened in 2014 and is now completely full with 1,400 students.
  Lancaster says in the past 10 years, Lake Travis ISD has grown by 76 percent or 4,200 additiona
  
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• Possible credit card skimmer found on Burnet gas pump

  16-08-2017 12:25 via kxan.com
  BURNET, Texas (KXAN) — The Burnet Police Department warns they have recovered a possible credit card skimmer from a gas pump in Burnet.
  Officers say no gas stations other than the Fastway Food Stop convenience store 1017 E. Polk St. have been affected.
  The Police Department posted the following tips to help avoid being scammed by a skimmer:
   If you are fueling up, try to avoid pumps at the end, where the clerk can’t see you. Try to stay in clear view of the clerk when you are fu
  
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• Special session wraps as finger-pointing continues

  16-08-2017 10:47 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (AP/NEXSTAR)– The Texas Legislature has adjourned for good, ending its month-long special session a day early.
  The Senate gaveled out around 10 p.m. Tuesday. That came hours after the state House surprised everyone by adjourning and declaring that it wasn’t coming back, even though the session didn’t end until midnight Wednesday.
  House members quit to force the Senate to accept their version of a contentious property tax bill. But the Senate rejected that ultimatum, and
  
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• Special session ends one day early, Gov. could call another

  16-08-2017 10:47 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (AP/KXAN)– The Texas Legislature has adjourned for good, ending its month-long special session a day early.
  The Senate gaveled out around 10 p.m. Tuesday. That came hours after the state House surprised everyone by adjourning and declaring that it wasn’t coming back, even though the session didn’t end until midnight Wednesday.
  House members quit to force the Senate to accept their version of a contentious property tax bill. But the Senate rejected that ultimatum, and als
  
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• Texas Organ Sharing Alliance calling on women to register as donors

  16-08-2017 06:04 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Organ Sharing Alliance, the agency which provides organ donation and recovery services in Central and South Texas, has just launched a campaign calling on women to sign up for the Donate Life Texas Organ donation registry.
  Michelle Segovia of TOSA explained that there is a continuous need for organ donations, with over 11,000 children, women and men waiting for transplants in Texas and around 120,000 people waiting for transplants around the country.
  “It&rsq
  
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• Taylor school will get major improvements with actual building

  16-08-2017 05:59 via kxan.com
  TAYLOR, Texas (KXAN) — This year, students at Legacy Early College High School in Taylor will get the chance to learn in an actual school building for the first time.
  Since the high school was started with grant money in 2007, its classes have been held in portable buildings. But Taylor ISD’s 2015 bond provided $3.3 million for the school to build a new, state-of-the-art building.
  Legacy ECHS is offers advanced learning opportunities, with its students earning both a high school dipl
  
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• Mike Craven is talking UT recruiting on More Than the Score

  16-08-2017 05:45 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — As Longhorn training camp continues, so does the recruiting for Tom Herman.On Tuesday hookem.com’s Mike Craven stopped by More Than the Score for some of the latest as Herman puts together one of the top rated classes in the nation.
  
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• Process of renaming Robert E. Lee Road to start this week

  16-08-2017 04:34 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — City Council Member Ann Kitchen says the steps to rename her district’s Robert E. Lee Road will begin this week, in what is expected to be a lengthy process.
  Kitchen, who represents south Austin’s District 5, said in a letter to district residents that Austin Mayor Steve Adler, Council Members Greg Casar, Leslie Pool, Kathie Tovo, Alison Alter and Jimmy Flannigan will be joining her in submitting the application for a name change.
  As to why now, Kitchen said a r
  
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• College freshman thanks his dad with touching tweet

  16-08-2017 04:04 via kxan.com
  STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCMH) — Two photos shared by a college freshman in Mississippi are touching people all across the country.
  Mississippi State University freshman Charles Brockman III shared the photos Sunday. They show Brockman walking to kindergarten accompanied by his dad, and Brocklan moving into his college dorm, again accompanied by dad.
  “From the first day of kindergarten to college move in. Thank you dad,” Brockman wrote.
  “I’m blessed to have two parents th
  
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• PHOTO: Boy and cow take nap together at Iowa State Fair

  16-08-2017 03:09 via kxan.com
  WILLIAMSBURG, Iowa (WLFA) — One sleepy boy and his cow are taking a much-deserved nap after a long day at the fair.
  They may not have won any Iowa State Fair blue ribbons, but Mitchell Miner and his cow Audri totally won the internet.
  The duo was caught on camera during a nap after a long day of showing, and the photo went viral.
  It has nearly 22,000 interactions and more than 2,000 shares as of Tuesday afternoon.Fifteen-year-old Mitchell told news sources his bond with Audri is very stron
  
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• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick calls out Texas House for adjourning early

  16-08-2017 02:52 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (AP/KXAN) — The Texas House has abruptly adjourned for good with one day still remaining in the special session — forcing the state Senate to accept its version of a contentious property tax bill or risk seeing nothing passed on the issue.
  Rep. Dennis Bonnen said Tuesday night that there wasn’t enough time to reconcile different versions of property tax measures before the session was scheduled to end at midnight Wednesday. His chamber then adjourned without plans to ret
  
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• Texas OKs bill to address its high maternal mortality rate

  16-08-2017 02:15 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (AP/KXAN) — Texas lawmakers have voted to continue — and broaden the scope of — a task force on maternal mortality and morbidity, after a study found that the state had the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world.
  The Texas Senate late Tuesday unanimously approved House changes to a bill extending and bolstering the task force, sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott to be signed into law.
  The task force was created in 2013 and would now continue until 2023.
  A Univ
  
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• Hays CISD looks at security upgrades after recent break-ins

  16-08-2017 02:15 via kxan.com
  KYLE, Texas (KXAN) — Last week thieves targeted Hays CISD and made off with a Suburban, golf carts and electronics. This week the district says it was hit again, with thieves stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of iPads from an elementary school.
  “This is the hallway where we were able to get the good pictures of them,” said HCISD Spokesperson Tim Savoy as he walks through the hallways of Camino Real Elementary, pointing at security cameras. “Summertime is typicall
  
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• 30-day pilot program around downtown homeless shelter begins

  16-08-2017 02:08 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Tuesday marks the first day of dramatic changes the city of Austin is making to address what’s become a public health and safety crisis in downtown Austin: the crowd of homeless people surrounding the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, known as the ARCH.
  For the next 30 days the city will try to reduce the crowd and drug dealing within it.
  Now that the clock’s ticking, KXAN wanted to know, what can we expect when it’s over? There’s still a numb
  
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• Austin Sobriety Center draws closer to completion, looking for a leader

  16-08-2017 01:21 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — After years of planning, the Austin-Travis County Sobriety Center is close to being ready for launch. The board opening the center has just announced they’re searching for an executive director to lead it.
  Carol Drennan, the interim executive director for the center, explained they will be looking for candidates to lead their program which is modeled after sobriety centers in Houston and San Antonio. The center is expected to launch in spring of 2018 and the executive
  
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• Ezekiel Elliott appeals NFL 6-game suspension

  16-08-2017 00:26 via kxan.com
  NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL Players Association has appealed Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott’s six-game suspension over the league’s conclusion that its 2016 rushing leader injured his former girlfriend in three separate incidents last summer.
  The union said Tuesday it will represent Elliott “to ensure that the NFL is held to its obligation of adhering to principles of industrial due process under the collective bargaining agreement.”
  The NFL suspended Ellio
  
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• Federal court orders Texas voting map changes ahead of 2018

  16-08-2017 00:19 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (AP/KXAN) — A federal court has ruled that Texas’ congressional maps are still flawed by racial gerrymandering and must be partially redrawn before the 2018 elections.
  The decision Tuesday ordered changes to two of Texas’ 36 congressional districts. One is held by Democrat Lloyd Doggett of Austin and the other by Republican Blake Farenthold.
  The ruling was not a complete victory for Democrats and minority rights groups that wanted more sweeping changes. The same three-ju
  
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