Austin news

• What Austin ISD wants to do with the $1.05 billion bond

  24-10-2017 23:25 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Voters in Austin will consider whether to approve the largest school bond in the city’s history. The Austin Independent School District Board of Trustees unanimously approved a bond election for $1,050,984,000. Despite the record amount of bond money, the district says the bond would not increase the tax rate.
  The district breaks the plan down into three types of bond projects:
  District-wide projects — aimed to benefit all students. (Examples: buses, technology
  
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• Oklahoma City elementary schools drop Confederate names

  24-10-2017 23:10 via kxan.com
  OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — Three elementary schools named after Confederate generals will be renamed following a unanimous vote by the Oklahoma City school board.
  On Monday night, seven members voted to rename Jackson, Lee and Stand Watie elementary schools.
  “Overwhelmingly, the people I’ve talked to have said let’s move forward,” said school board member Mark Mann. “Let’s get this behind us, and move down the road, and focus on kids and pick a name that bet
  
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• VIDEO: Heart attack triggers chain-reaction crash that sends plywood flying

  24-10-2017 22:53 via kxan.com
  MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (WLEX/NBC News) — A heart attack is being blamed in a terrifying crash that sent a truckload of plywood flying into oncoming traffic along Kentucky’s Interstate 75 over the weekend.
  Seven vehicles were involved in the crash near mile marker 90 in Madison County.
  Security cameras from a nearby storage business captured the accident.
  The footage shows a tractor-trailer begin swerving, then hit a car before drifting into the median. At that point the truck beings to
  
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• Protester in Capitol throws Russian flags at President Trump

  24-10-2017 22:24 via kxan.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — A yelling protester got several yards from Donald Trump as the president walked through a Capitol corridor on his way to a lunch with Republican senators.
  The man was standing with reporters Tuesday outside the Senate chamber on the building’s second floor. As Trump walked by accompanied by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others, the man tossed small Russian flags bearing the word “Trump” toward the president.
  The man yelled, “Trump is t
  
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• VIDEO: Woman jumps out of Travis County deputy’s moving vehicle

  24-10-2017 21:42 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A woman in the custody of the Travis County Sheriff’s Office was able to escape from a deputy’s moving vehicle in east Austin around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
  The sheriff’s office says Jessica Ann Lopez, 27, who was being brought in on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, complained to the deputy driving that she was hot, so he turned up the air conditioner.
  When she continued to complain and asked him to roll down her window, the deputy lowered i
  
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• $1.4 million in grants announced to fight bat disease

  24-10-2017 20:44 via kxan.com
  HOUSTON (AP) — A public-private partnership is granting nearly $1.4 million to test treatments to halt a disease threatening the nation’s bat population.
  The white-nose syndrome fungus, first detected in New York state in 2006, has spread to 31 states and five Canadian provinces. Texas and Nebraska are the most recent states infected.
  The grants announced Tuesday in Houston include more than $320,000 to Texas Tech University and Bat Conservation International to assess whether specif
  
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• Five teens charged in Michigan rock-throwing death

  24-10-2017 20:26 via kxan.com
  GENESEE COUNTY, Mich. (WDIV) — Five teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to a deadly rock-throwing incident on I-75 in Michigan.
  Prosecutor David Leyton announced Monday that all five teenagers will face second-degree murder charges and other felonies.
  Sheriff Robert Pickell said he wasn’t willing to call the incident a prank, since it resulted in the death of Kenneth Andrew White, 32, of Mount Morris Township.
  “It’s not a prank,” Pick
  
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• PHOTOS: Astros fans show their devotion as World Series begins

  24-10-2017 20:08 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The spirit is strong with these ones. Houston Astros fans are sharing their memorable moments as they cheered on their chosen team all the way to the World Series.
  The Astros face off against the Los Angeles Dodgers starting Tuesday. If the team wins four games, it will be its first time as World Series champions.
  Fans can submit their own photos by going to http://kxan.com/report-it/ Fans share their #AstrosMemories ahead of World Series Astros fans show their love of
  
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• With murder off the table, jury deliberates in 2015 West Campus death trial

  24-10-2017 19:59 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A jury is considering aggravated assault charges in the case of a 22-year-old accused of killing his boyfriend in West Campus in 2015.
  On Monday, a judge dismissed murder and aggravated assault with serious bodily injury charges against Bryan Canchola after a full week of murder trial proceedings. He reportedly will only allow the jury to consider the aggravated assault charge because of disputed testimony from the medical examiner.
  Canchola allegedly fought with his boyfri
  
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• Astros, Dodgers developed quite a rivalry as division foes

  24-10-2017 19:36 via kxan.com
  Long before they made it to this year’s World Series, the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers were plenty familiar with each other.
  For a quarter-century, they were in the NL West together, and back in the 1980s, their rivalry really began to take shape. Although Houston eventually moved to the NL Central and then the American League, the Astros have a history with the Dodgers that adds even more intrigue to their matchup in the coming World Series.
  Here’s a look back at 10 of the
  
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• What are the 7 constitutional amendments on the November ballot?

  24-10-2017 19:30 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Early voting is underway for this year’s constitutional amendment election. The ballot also includes bond measures for many school districts statewide.
  Texas operates in a constitutional legislation, with bills that include amendments that are approved by voters in order for the law to take effect.
  There are seven propositions on the ballot. Early voting runs from Oct. 23 through Nov. 3. Election day is Nov. 7.
  Proposition 1 (HJR 21) “The constitutional ame
  
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• Arrest made in series of east Austin convenience store robberies

  24-10-2017 18:39 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police believe they have arrested the person responsible for a series of convenience store robberies across east Austin in the past few weeks. 
  Carlton Dorsett Lewis, 39, was booked into the Travis County Jail on Saturday and charged with robbery. Police say Lewis is connected to at least seven robberies starting on Sept. 25 and running through Oct. 16.
  The suspect displayed a handgun in five of the seven robberies.
  Police said the robberies happened at the foll
  
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• Murder trial begins in deadly Sixth Street shooting

  24-10-2017 18:11 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The man who police say opened fire on a crowded East Sixth Street killing a woman and injuring four others in the summer of 2016 is facing a jury in his murder trial.
  Endicott McCray, 26, is charged with one count of murder in the death of Teqnika Marie Moultrie and four counts of aggravated assault for the other victims’ injuries. The trial, which started Tuesday morning, is being held in Judge Cliff Brown’s court.
  According to court records, McCray got into a
  
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• Father of missing Richardson girl claims she choked on milk

  24-10-2017 17:38 via kxan.com
  RICHARDSON, Texas (KXAN) — The day after Sherin Matthews’ body was found in a culvert near her Richardson home, her adopted father told police Monday the little girl’s death was caused by choking on milk, according to an arrest affidavit.
  KXAS reports Wesley Matthews and his attorney went to the Richardson Police Department and asked to speak to detectives. Matthews told police he had been trying to get his 3-year-old daughter to drink milk but she kept refusing. Eventually, Sh
  
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• Ellen Degeneres to give away Astros tickets in Houston

  24-10-2017 16:15 via kxan.com
  HOUSTON (KXAN) — In a series of not-so cryptic tweets, comedian and talk show host Ellen Degeneres announced she’s headed to Houston — and wants to treat some lucky Astros fans to World Series tickets.
  It started with an afternoon tweet Monday — where she said she was going to the University of Houston and “giving away something huge” — World Series tickets.I’m giving away something huge at @UHouston tomorrow. I’m not gonna tell you what it i
  
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• World Rallycross to be held at COTA the next 5 years

  24-10-2017 15:53 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — World Rallycross riders will be racing in Austin for the next five years, starting in 2018. It will be the first time the competition will be held in the U.S.
  The competition is a “combination of rallying and circuit racing. It is head-to-head short, sharping racing on mixed surfaces,” according to the World Rallycross website. There are races all over the world, and 12 rounds are planned for the 2018 season. Round 10 will take place in Austin.
  Circuit of t
  
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• Canadian man fined for singing ’90s dance tune in car

  24-10-2017 15:33 via kxan.com
  MONTREAL (AP) — A Canadian man’s decision to belt out a 1990s dance hit while inside his car has landed him a $149 ticket for being too loud in public.
  But Taoufik Moalla said Monday he’ll fight the ticket and denies his singing was as deafening as authorities claim.
  Moalla says he was happily singing along with the windows mostly rolled up to C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now),” which neared the top of the Billboard chart in 1991,
  
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• Judge serves eviction notice on pregnant mom’s unborn baby

  24-10-2017 14:50 via kxan.com
  PROVO, Utah (AP) — A Utah mom in her final days of pregnancy gave her baby an eviction notice and made it official with a judge’s signature. Incredibly, the baby obeyed.
  Kaylee Bays was pregnant with her third child, a girl, and thought she was going into labor last week, but it stopped.
  She went back to work to her job as a judicial assistant at the Fourth District Court in Provo, and jokingly asked Judge Lynn Davis to serve an eviction notice on her baby.
  He did. And It worked. Les
  
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• Mark Wahlberg hopes God forgives him for ‘Boogie Nights’

  24-10-2017 14:30 via kxan.com
  CHICAGO (AP) — Mark Wahlberg hopes God will forgive him for his turn as a porn star in the 1997 film “Boogie Nights.”
  Wahlberg told the Chicago Tribune ahead of an event with Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich on Friday that he hopes “that God is a movie fan and also forgiving” because he says he’s made “some poor choices” in the past. Wahlberg listed “Boogie Nights” when asked if he has prayed for forgiveness for any of his movies.
  “B
  
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• Iditarod sled dog race is engulfed in dog-doping scandal

  24-10-2017 14:14 via kxan.com
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The world’s most famous sled dog race has become engulfed in a doping scandal involving a four-time champion’s team of huskies, giving animal rights activists new ammunition in their campaign to end the grueling, 1,000-mile Iditarod.
  The governing board of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race disclosed Monday that four dogs belonging to Dallas Seavey tested positive for a banned substance, the opioid painkiller Tramadol, after his second-place finish last M
  
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• Doping scandal roils another sport: Dogsledding

  24-10-2017 14:14 via kxan.com
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Cycling. Baseball. Track. Horse racing. Now dogsledding has become the latest professional sport to be engulfed in a doping scandal, this one involving the huskies that dash across the frozen landscape in Alaska’s grueling, 1,000-mile Iditarod.
  The governing board of the world’s most famous sled dog race disclosed Monday that four dogs belonging to four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey tested positive for a banned substance, the opioid painkiller tr
  
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• 4-time Iditarod winner denies doping his dogs

  24-10-2017 14:14 via kxan.com
  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey denied Monday that he administered banned drugs to his dogs in this year’s race and said he has withdrawn from the 2018 race in protest of the allegation.
  “I have never given any banned substance to my dogs,” Seavey said in a video posted to his Facebook page.
  He didn’t immediately return calls to The Associated Press after the Iditarod Trail Committee identified him as the musher who had four dogs t
  
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• Months after Harvey, frustration continues for cities, citizens applying for relief

  24-10-2017 13:37 via kxan.com
  SMITHVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — Public officials and private citizens are discovering that the path to recovery after Hurricane Harvey is long and expensive. For residents in places like Smithville, the recurrence of disaster is starting to feel like more of a pattern. As they wait for assistance, both city leaders and residents say the unaddressed problems are piling up.
  Smithville has applied for around $300,000 in FEMA relief, explained city manager Robert Tamble. FEMA representatives have a
  
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• Local Astros super fan hopes this is their year as World Series game 1 approaches

  24-10-2017 13:11 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — This could be the year: The Houston Astros are just four wins away from their first World Series title in franchise history.
  The team has been in this position just once before, in 2005, then as a member of the National League. Now representing the American League against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Astros head into game one of the series Tuesday night to try to capture a long-awaited victory.
  Mary Priddy will be watching through her fingers. She went to game three of
  
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• The Latest: Senate sets up disaster aid vote for Tuesday

  24-10-2017 12:58 via kxan.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on a $36.5 billion hurricane relief package (all times EDT):
  8:55 p.m.
  The Senate has given preliminary approval to a $36.5 billion hurricane relief package that would provide Puerto Rico with a much-needed infusion of cash.
  The 79-16 procedural vote sets the stage for a final vote, most likely Tuesday.
  The measure also provides $18.7 billion to replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s rapidly dwindling emergency disaster accounts. On Monday, F
  
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• Red Cross stepping in after TX left out of billion dollar aid package

  24-10-2017 12:35 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The U.S. Senate is moving forward with a $36.5 billion hurricane relief package that leaves both Texas and Florida out. Monday night senators gave preliminary approval and are expected to give the final OK Tuesday.
  Most of the aid package will go to FEMA, with $16 billion going towards the federal flood insurance claims. While the bill rejects requests from Texas and Florida for more money to rebuild after Hurricane Harvey and Irma, Senator John Cornyn told the Texas Tribun
  
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• Fake Tide laundry detergent in local stores could be dangerous

  24-10-2017 05:51 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Shoppers are being warned not to buy into a deal too good to be true. Counterfeit Tide laundry detergent is being sold in stores, and it’s unknown whether it’s safe or effective.
  The knockoff detergent comes in a large bucket that weighs nearly 20 lbs. It has Tide’s name on it, but the company claims it does not make or sell that big a bucket of detergent.
  Consumers reported finding the buckets in stores last summer. At the time, Tide’s Twitter
  
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• Youth movement paces both World Series teams

  24-10-2017 05:09 via kxan.com
  OS ANGELES (AP) — Carlos Correa is such a fresh face, his first big league hit was assisted by technology.
  When he made his debut for Houston on June 8, 2015, Correa hit a three-hopper off White Sox ace Chris Sale and was called out by first base umpire Larry Vanover. About a minute later, a replay umpire in New York overruled the call , and the 20-year-old had an infield single and his first RBI.
  “It feels like it was yesterday. Not long ago, I got drafted by a team that lost 111 ga
  
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• UT creating campaign promoting fight against painkiller epidemic

  24-10-2017 04:34 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new target in the fight to reduce painkiller abuse and overdoses — the physicians who prescribe them.
  In order to help prescribers and dispensers make more informed decisions while preventing patient abuse, the Texas Legislature created the Texas Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) asking licensed pharmacies to report all prescribed controlled substances no later than the next business day after the prescription is filled.
  Some pharmacists
  
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• Macron’s dog pees on Elysee Palace fireplace as cameras roll

  24-10-2017 03:05 via kxan.com
  PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron’s dog Nemo interrupted a meeting his master was having with members of his government when he urinated against a fireplace in the Elysee Palace.
  French TV channel LCI on Sunday broadcast the incident, which was caught on film in a gilded and chandeliered room in the presidential palace.
  When Macron realized his black Labrador-Griffon cross had just relieved himself nearby, he told the ministers that the dog “was doing something quit
  
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• Eanes ISD asking voters to lower tax rate, keep more dollars local

  24-10-2017 02:48 via kxan.com
  WEST LAKE HILLS, Texas (KXAN) — As the polls open for early voting, there’s one Central Texas school district asking voters to lower its tax rate.
  The Eanes Independent School District has been busy trying to boil down their tax ratification election, by avoiding the technical term altogether.
  Under a much catchier name — 2017 Penny Swap & Drop — the district wants to redirect tax dollars, and come up with a way to send less money to the state for recapture.
  They
  
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• Al Gore praises Georgetown’s renewable energy leadership

  24-10-2017 02:15 via kxan.com
  GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) — Former Vice President Al Gore outlined several warnings on climate change during his speech in Central Texas, but also took time to praise Georgetown Mayor Dale Ross’ leadership on shifting the predominately conservative city to renewable energy.
  “We can disagree on all kinds of things and definitely do, but where we can find common cause in supporting what’s good for the public interest, then we need to do that,” he said. “It sounds
  
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• Two teenagers charged with stealing from Hutto gun store

  24-10-2017 01:34 via kxan.com
  WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Two men have been arrested after being found with guns stolen from a Hutto gun store, burglarized twice in the past few weeks.
  The sheriff’s office says a multi-agency operation led to the arrests of William Baker and Tony Moore — both 17 years old — who were arrested during a traffic stop in Manor.
  Both were booked into the Travis County Jail and charged with theft of firearms. Blackland Gun Works, located at the corner of US 79 and Farm
  
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• What was in Austin’s Amazon bid? Council members want to know

  24-10-2017 01:00 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The bids are in and competition is on, with Amazon receiving 238 proposals from cities vying to land the company’s second headquarters. Austin is one of them. But now, city council members are questioning what information was included in that bid.
  That’s because, well, they have no idea. That’s according to Council Member Leslie Pool, who expressed concerns to KXAN about whether any talk of incentives were included in the bid. She says she’s wor
  
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• Council members question if incentives were mentioned in Amazon bid

  24-10-2017 01:00 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Just days after the Austin Chamber of Commerce submitted a regional bid for Amazon’s second headquarters, council members are questioning what information was included in that bid.
  That’s because, well, they have no idea. That’s according to Council Member Leslie Pool, who expressed concerns to KXAN about whether any talk of incentives were included in the bid. She says she’s working to get answers from the city manager about the bid, information she
  
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• Nominate a wounded vet to move into new Georgetown home for free

  24-10-2017 00:56 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A wounded veteran you know could move into a new Georgetown home for free.
  The Houston-based organization Helping a Hero is looking to give the house away to a post 9/11 wounded warrior.
  Daniel Gilyeat got a home through this organization in 2007. He says it was a life-changing gift veterans he served alongside often don’t ask for.
  “I can find guys and girls that are missing both of their legs, both of their arms, they’re stuck in a wheelchair and they wil
  
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• Nominate a wounded vet to move into new Georgetown home

  24-10-2017 00:56 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A wounded veteran you know could move into a large, new Georgetown home for only $50,000.
  The Houston-based organization Helping a Hero is looking to help a post-9/11 wounded warrior. While the average value of a completed home is about $250,000, the veteran will only pay a portion of that price.
  Daniel Gilyeat got a home through this organization in 2007. He says it was a life-changing gift veterans he served alongside often don’t ask for.
  “I can find guys and
  
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• Buda voters to decide if fluoride should be added back to water

  24-10-2017 00:14 via kxan.com
  BUDA, Texas (KXAN) – People living in Buda have the chance to decide whether or not they want the city to put fluoride back into the city’s water supply.
  The city of Buda receives its water from the San Marcos treatment plant. In 2015 residents in San Marcos voted to remove fluoride from their water, ultimately removing the fluoride in Buda’s water as well.
  Late last year, the city of Buda said it would fluoridate the water once again, but received backlash from the community p
  
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• Voters asked to approve $454 million bond in Leander ISD

  24-10-2017 00:11 via kxan.com
  LEANDER, Texas (KXAN) — Leander ISD hasn’t had a bond election in 10 years; since then the district has grown by 11,828 students. All of the growth is why the district says it’s asking voters to approve a $454.4 million bond program.
  “Twelve-hundred new students are coming to our district every year, and that’s about the size of an entire middle school every year in terms of comparing that to what we have in the district,” said Leander ISD spokesman Corey
  
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• Sam Ehlinger in concussion protocol, unsure for Baylor game

  24-10-2017 00:06 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (AP) — Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger is in a concussion protocol and will be evaluated over several days to see if he can play this week against winless Baylor.
  Ehlinger was held out of practice Sunday after playing the entire game as Texas (3-4) lost Saturday to No. 11 Oklahoma State. The game ended when Ehlinger threw an interception on a pass he floated into the end zone. He had been tackled hard on the sideline a few plays earlier.
  Coach Tom Herman said Monday that Ehlinger sta
  
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• Ehlinger’s status for Baylor is unsure

  24-10-2017 00:06 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger is in a concussion protocol and will be evaluated over several days to see if he can play this week against winless Baylor.
  Ehlinger was held out of practice Sunday after playing the entire game as Texas (3-4) lost Saturday to No. 11 Oklahoma State. The game ended when Ehlinger threw an interception on a pass he floated into the end zone. He had been tackled hard on the sideline a few plays earlier.
  Coach Tom Herman said Monday that Ehlin
  
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