Austin news

• Eclipse eve: Millions converge across US to see sun go dark

  20-08-2017 22:59 via kxan.com
  Millions of Americans converged on a narrow corridor stretching from Oregon to South Carolina to watch the moon blot out the midday sun Monday for a wondrous couple of minutes in the first total solar eclipse to sweep coast to coast in 99 years.
  Veteran eclipse watchers warned the uninitiated to get ready to be blown away.
  Planetariums and museums posted “Sold out of eclipse glasses” on their front doors. Signs along highways reminded motorists of “Solar Eclipse Monday,”
  
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• Army report on fatal Fort Hood training largely redacted

  20-08-2017 22:38 via kxan.com
  FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — An investigative report on a 2016 Fort Hood training exercise that resulted in the deaths of eight soldiers and one West Point cadet broadly outlines how the accident occurred but redacts all findings, autopsy reports and recommendations.
  The Killeen Daily Herald reports (http://bit.ly/2vQ0Pmf ) that the Army’s Combat Readiness Center report released Friday says that the exercise was planned well in advance but the convoy of four military vehicles involved in
  
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• Legendary Comedian and Actor Jerry Lewis Dead at 91

  20-08-2017 20:25 via kxan.com
  Jerry Lewis, the legendary character and physical comedian, has died, his talent agency said Sunday. He was 91.
  The multi-faceted star was arguably best known as the funnier half of slapstick comedy duo Martin and Lewis, which he formed with singer Dean Martin. The two talents began their partnership at the legendary 500 Club in Atlantic City in 1946 before hitting the big time at New York City’s Copacabana Club.
  But the popular entertainer also enjoyed a long film and stage career after h
  
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• Jerry Lewis, comedy icon and telethon host dies, at 91

  20-08-2017 20:25 via kxan.com
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jerry Lewis, the manic, rubber-faced showman who jumped and hollered to fame in a lucrative partnership with Dean Martin, settled down to become a self-conscious screen auteur and found an even greater following as the tireless, teary host of the annual muscular dystrophy telethons, has died. He was 91.
  Publicist Candi Cazau says Lewis died Sunday of natural causes in Las Vegas with his family by his side.
  Tributes from friends, co-stars and disciples poured in immediate
  
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• The Latest: Police probe if body in car is 15th Spain victim

  20-08-2017 17:46 via kxan.com
  BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The Latest on the two vehicle attacks in Barcelona and the nearby seaside resort of Cambrils (all times local):
  7:00 p.m.
  Spanish police say they are trying to establish if a man found dead inside a car on the outskirts of Barcelona is another victim of the extremist attack in the city.
  Senior regional police officer Josep Lluis Trapero said Sunday that investigators haven’t yet linked the man discovered inside a car that struck two officers at a police checkp
  
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• The Latest: Notre Dame holds Mass for world’s attack victims

  20-08-2017 17:46 via kxan.com
  BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The Latest on the two vehicle attacks in Barcelona and the nearby seaside resort of Cambrils (all times local):
  11:00 p.m.
  Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has held a Mass dedicated to the victims of the suspected Islamic extremist attacks around Barcelona.
  The service also honored victims of other attacks and natural disasters around the world this summer.
  The archbhishop of Paris, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, said in announcing Sunday’s gesture: “Unfortuna
  
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• The Latest: Las Ramblas barriers idea considered inefficient

  20-08-2017 17:46 via kxan.com
  BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The Latest on the two vehicle attacks in Barcelona and the nearby seaside resort of Cambrils (all times local):
  7:45 a.m.
  A Catalan official says regional and local authorities discarded the Spanish government’s suggestion to place traffic barriers to protect the Las Ramblas promenade because they deemed them “inefficient.”
  Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont told La Sexta television that regional and municipal authorities discarded the su
  
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• The Latest: Barcelona fans, players remember attack victims

  20-08-2017 17:46 via kxan.com
  BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The Latest on the two vehicle attacks in Barcelona and the nearby seaside resort of Cambrils (all times local):
  9:35 p.m.
  Fans and players have held a minute’s silence in homage to Spain’s extremist attack victims prior to a soccer match between FC Barcelona and Betis at Camp Nou stadium.
  Before the minute was up, tens of thousands of fans broke into a massive round of applause and began shouting the chant “I’m Not Afraid” that has beco
  
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• Australian-British boy, 7, among Barcelona dead

  20-08-2017 17:46 via kxan.com
  BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish authorities say they have positively identified three more victims of the van attack in Barcelona, including a 7-year-old boy who has been missing since the rampage Thursday.
  The Catalonia region’s emergency services said Sunday that a boy with dual Australian-British nationality was one of the 13 people killed when a van swerved through a pedestrian walkway in Barcelona’s Las Ramblas district.
  Nacho Solano, a spokesman for the Catalan government
  
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• State of Texas: Conflict over Confederate monuments

  20-08-2017 17:00 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The demonstrations and violence in Charlottesville, Virginia sparked intense national debate over racism and politics. Here in Central Texas, it’s renewing the debate over whether to remove public displays honoring the Confederacy.
  Some people tried to take matters into their own hands. Vandals painted over south Austin street signs bearing the name of Robert E. Lee. A few days later, some city leaders voiced their support for a petition to rename the road.
  At the Sta
  
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• State issues Silver Alert for Houston area man

  20-08-2017 14:41 via kxan.com
  SPRING (KXAN) — The Department of Public Safety has issued a Silver Alert for Robert Emanuel Fisher from the Houston area in Spring, Texas.
  The Harris County Precinct 4 believe Fisher’s disappearance poses a credible threat to his own health and safety. He is diagnosed with a Cognitive Impairment.
  The 78-year-old man was last seen wearing an unknown color polo shirt, tan shorts, brown flip flops with a class ring and glasses.
  He was last seen in Spring, Texas driving a Beige, 2007 Hy
  
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• Unattended candle causes northwest Austin apartment fire

  20-08-2017 14:29 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Firefighters are blaming an unattended candle for a fire that ripped through the Westwood Apartment Complex in northwest Austin on Mellow Meadow Drive Sunday morning.
  Crews at the scene say the fire started in the first floor and then flames reached the balcony of the second floor apartment. Fire crews were able to put out the blaze within three minutes. They estimate that the fire caused around $130,000 worth of damages.
  A total of six people from two different families we
  
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• Unattended candle causes fire in Northwest Austin apartment

  20-08-2017 14:29 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN)–Firefighters are blaming an unattended candle for a fire that ripped through the Westwood Apartment Complex in northwest Austin on Mellow Meadow Drive Sunday morning.
  Crews at the scene say the fire started in the first floor- then flames reached the balcony of the second floor apartment. Fire crews were able to put out the blaze within three minutes.
  A total of six people from two different families were displaced in the fire but the two families affected will be able to fin
  
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• Pedestrian hit, killed in north Austin

  20-08-2017 14:03 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN)–A man in his 30s is dead Sunday morning after he was hit by a car according to Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services. The incident happened on Galewood Drive near 183 and Payton Gin road in north Austin.
  Austin police say a call came in about 3:18 a.m. on Sunday for a possible auto-pedestrian incident. First responders arrived to the scene and discovered the man’s body in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Galewood Drive where police believe the victim
  
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• Man in his 30’s hit by car, dead, Sunday morning

  20-08-2017 14:03 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN)–A man in his 30’s is dead Sunday morning after he was hit by a car according to Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services. The incident happened on Galewood Drive near 183 and Payton Gin road.
  Austin Police say a call came in about 3:18 a.m. on Sunday for a possible auto-pedestrian incident. First responders arrived to the scene and discovered the man’s body in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Galewood Drive where police believe the victim lived.
  P
  
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• AFD: Wildfire in Bastrop County is a ‘wake up call’ for Central Texans

  20-08-2017 05:54 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — As fire crews continue to work throughout the night to put out a wildfire along State Highway in Bastrop County, a battalion chief with the Austin Fire Department says Saturday’s fire “should be a wake up call for all of us in Central Texas.”
  AFD’s Josh Portie says current drought conditions are being seen across the area.
  “It’s a lot of the same conditions we’re seeing here,” says Portie. “In an area with a burn scar, w
  
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• Comedian, civil rights activist Dick Gregory dies at 84

  20-08-2017 05:34 via kxan.com
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dick Gregory, the comedian and activist and who broke racial barriers in the 1960s and used his humor to spread messages of social justice and nutritional health, has died. He was 84.
  Gregory died late Saturday in Washington, D.C. after being hospitalized for about a week, his son Christian Gregory told The Associated Press. He had suffered a severe bacterial infection.
  As one of the first black standup comedians to find success with white audiences, in the early 1960s,
  
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• Comedian, civil rights activist Dick Gregory dies

  20-08-2017 05:34 via kxan.com
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dick Gregory, who broke racial barriers in the 1960s and used his humor to spread messages of social justice and nutritional health, has died. He was 84.
  Gregory’s son, Christian, told The Associated Press his father died late Saturday in Washington, D.C. after being hospitalized for about a week. He had suffered a severe bacterial infection.
  Gregory was one of the first black comedians to find mainstream success with white audiences in the early 1960s. He rose fro
  
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• PHOTOS: Royal Pines wildfire in Bastrop County

  20-08-2017 03:15 via kxan.com
  BASTROP COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Dozens of homes in a neighborhood just east of Bastrop State Park has been evacuated due to wildfire. As of 8 p.m. Saturday, the fire has burned around 35 acres but no homes have been damaged. Royal Pines Wildfire in Bastrop County Firefighters battling Royal Pines wildfire in Bastrop County on Aug. 19, 2017. (KXAN Photo/Tim Holcomb)Firefighters battling Royal Pines wildfire in Bastrop County on Aug. 19, 2017. (KXAN Photo/Tim Holcomb)Firefighters battling Roy
  
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• Wildfire reported along Highway 71 in Bastrop

  20-08-2017 00:34 via kxan.com
  BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — Westbound lanes of Highway 71 are closed in Bastrop due to a wildfire near the intersection of Highway 71 and Tahitian Drive.
  The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management reports several fire departments are battling the blaze.
  Additional details weren’t immediately available.
  
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• Evacuations ordered as wildfire burns off Highway 71 in Bastrop

  20-08-2017 00:34 via kxan.com
  BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — Westbound lanes of Highway 71 are closed in Bastrop due to a wildfire near the intersection of Highway 71 and Pine Hill Loop.
  The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management reports several fire departments are battling the approximately 35-acre blaze on the area of Pine Hill Loop and Royal Pines Drive. The fire started around 5 p.m. Saturday.
  Residents on Royal Pines Drive, Peace Haven and Pine Hill Loop have been ordered to evacuate their homes. Around 7 p.m., a
  
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• Bastrop wildfire now 65% contained as families return to homes

  20-08-2017 00:34 via kxan.com
  BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — One lane of Wesbound Highway 71 is open as firefighters get the upper hand on a wildfire intersection of Highway 71 and Pine Hill Loop.
  The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management reports several fire departments are battling the approximately 35-acre blaze on the area of Pine Hill Loop and Royal Pines Drive, which started just after 5 p.m. As of 10:50 p.m., the fire was 65 percent contained and the TFS reports the fire’s forward progress had been stoppe
  
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• Bastrop County wildfire burns 35 acres, 80 percent contained

  20-08-2017 00:34 via kxan.com
  BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — One lane of Wesbound Highway 71 is open as firefighters get the upper hand on a wildfire intersection of Highway 71 and Pine Hill Loop.
  The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management reports several fire departments are battling the approximately 35-acre blaze on the area of Pine Hill Loop and Royal Pines Drive, which started just after 5 p.m. As of 10:50 p.m., the fire was 65 percent contained and the TFS reports the fire’s forward progress had been stoppe
  
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• Bastrop County wildfire burns 25 acres, 85 percent contained

  20-08-2017 00:34 via kxan.com
  BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — One lane of westbound Highway 71 is open as firefighters get the upper hand on a wildfire intersection of Highway 71 and Pine Hill Loop.
  The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management reports several fire departments are battling the approximately 25-acre blaze on the area of Pine Hill Loop and Royal Pines Drive, which started just after 5 p.m. Saturday. As of 10:50 p.m. Saturday, the fire was 65 percent contained and the TFS reports the fire’s forward prog
  
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• Bastrop County wildfire burns 25 acres, 80 percent contained

  20-08-2017 00:34 via kxan.com
  BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) — One lane of Wesbound Highway 71 is open as firefighters get the upper hand on a wildfire intersection of Highway 71 and Pine Hill Loop.
  The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management reports several fire departments are battling the approximately 35-acre blaze on the area of Pine Hill Loop and Royal Pines Drive, which started just after 5 p.m. As of 10:50 p.m., the fire was 65 percent contained and the TFS reports the fire’s forward progress had been stoppe
  
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