Austin news

• Suspected drunk driver arrested while waiting for food at closed Taco Bell

  26-12-2017 23:56 via kxan.com
  PFLUGERVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — A woman who was parked in a Taco Bell drive-thru while it was closed on Christmas morning was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated.
  According to an arrest affidavit, around 2:51 a.m. on Dec. 25, a Travis County Sheriff’s deputy noticed a vehicle at the Taco Bell in Pflugerville — even though the lights inside the restaurant were off and the restaurant was closed for the holiday.
  When the officer made contact with the driver, iden
  
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• T.I. helps mothers with last-minute Christmas shopping

  26-12-2017 23:31 via kxan.com
  ATLANTA (AP) — Rapper T.I. spent Christmas Eve spreading holiday cheer among some single mothers, helping them with their last-minute shopping for gifts.
  In a video T.I. posted on social media, the Grammy-winning artist entered an Atlanta-area Target on Sunday and called for all single mothers present to follow him. He strolled through the store alongside several mothers, went to the cash register with them and then paid for their Christmas presents.
  T.I. says he spent $20,000 within a 30-
  
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• Two-thirds of Americans to make returns after Christmas

  26-12-2017 22:50 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — After a weekend full of gift-giving, many Americans will spend the next few days going back to the store to return the items they received.
  Retail sales jumped more than 4 percent compared to last year, according to initial estimates. Online shopping spiked 24 percent over the holiday season.
  However, with all that spending, there will be some returns. According to the National Retail Foundation, nearly two-thirds of Americans made a return last holiday season.
  If you got a
  
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• Ohtani bids farewell to Japan fans ahead of Angels adventure

  26-12-2017 22:37 via kxan.com
  SAPPORO, Japan (AP) — Los Angeles Angels-bound Shohei Ohtani bid farewell to fans of his former Japanese club on Monday as he sets off to join his new Major League Baseball team.
  The star pitcher and hitter wore an Angels jersey to his news conference. He opened with an introduction in English, saying: “Long time, no see. I’m Shohei Ohtani. Welcome to my press conference. Please enjoy.” The Sapporo Dome crowd erupted in laughter and applause.
  For five seasons, Ohtani call
  
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• Feral hog poison field tests in Texas, Alabama in 2018

  26-12-2017 22:36 via kxan.com
  NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Feral swine do more than $1.5 billion a year in damage around the country, and scientists are taking what could be a big step toward controlling them.
  They are field-testing poison baits made from a preservative that’s used to cure bacon and sausage.
  The tests will cover two major habitats where feral hogs are common during seasons when they’re most likely to go for bait, said Kurt VerCauteren, feral swine project leader for the U.S. Department of Agriculture
  
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• San Antonio homeowner puts up holiday display calling out burglary suspect

  26-12-2017 22:23 via kxan.com
  SAN ANTONIO, Texas (KXAN/WOAI) — A man who was caught on camera stealing Christmas decorations from a homeowner’s yard in San Antonio is being put on notice … in the form of Christmas decorations.
  Ken Lamkin, who lives on the city’s southwest side, said on early Christmas Eve, his surveillance video captured someone stealing approximately $400 worth of decorations from his lawn.
  “It reminded me of the movie ‘The Grinch,’ when the Grinch was going throug
  
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• Year-long waitlist at UT’s Stuttering Institute

  26-12-2017 22:09 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – Carter Burks knows dealing with stuttering isn’t easy as a child or an adult.
  “In a job interview, they can ask you ‘what’s your greatest strength?’ and you can have a great answer prepared, but you can’t get it out,” Burks said.
  That’s the experience he had when job hunting, prior to getting help at the Michael and Tami Lang Stuttering Institute at University of Texas at Austin. Burks describes stuttering as something that ca
  
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• Babies born on Christmas Day in Central Texas

  26-12-2017 21:39 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Several Central Texas families welcomed a baby into their family on Christmas Day.
  The first Christmas Day baby born at a Seton Hospital on Monday was Samara, coming in at 7 pounds and 6 ounces.
  Samara Truehardt was born at 7:35 a.m., only 14 minutes after her mom and dad arrived at Seton Medical Center Hays. Parents Brittis and John Truehardt along with the baby are all doing well.
  In San Marcos, Trey and Ashley Kisamore welcomed Levi at 8:08 a.m. — the fir
  
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• Onions spill on I-35 frontage in New Braunfels after big rigs crash

  26-12-2017 20:39 via kxan.com
  NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas (KXAN) — A large load of onions spilled on the Interstate 35 frontage road in New Braunfels Tuesday morning, following a collision involving two big rigs.
  The crash happened in the 5600 block of the northbound frontage, just west of Sohms Road. New Braunfels police tweeted a warning about the crash at 10:31 a.m.
  One of the trucks was carrying metal while the other had onions — now spilled along the frontage road. The frontage road is partially closed and police s
  
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• Winter Wonderland canceled Tuesday due to expected bad weather

  26-12-2017 20:38 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Winter Wonderland at the Circuit of the Americas is closed Tuesday night due to “forecasted weather conditions and for the comfort and safety of our guests and employees,” organizers said.
  All valid tickets will be automatically refunded and no action is necessary from the ticket-holder. “We welcome you to join the fun on a more pleasant evening this week,” COTA said in a tweet. “Winter Wonderland is open daily until Dec. 30 with free carnival
  
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• Longhorns close out season at Texas Bowl

  26-12-2017 20:36 via kxan.com
  HOUSTON (KXAN) — Texas and Missouri meet in the Texas Bowl Wednesday night. It’s the 23rd time in history the Longhorns and Tigers will play against each other and the second meeting in a bowl game. Missouri (7-5) finished the season on a six-game winning streak scoring at least 45 points in all six of those wins. Junior quarterback Drew Lock leads the nation in passing touchdowns with 43.
  Tom Herman said on Friday that sophomore Shane Buechele will start as quarterback for Texas. Bu
  
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• Where to recycle your Christmas tree in Austin

  26-12-2017 19:33 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Instead of throwing away your Christmas tree and sending it to the landfill, you can recycle your tree and turn it into nutrient-rich mulch and compost.
  City of Austin curbside customers can recycle their trees at the curb. Just remove all decorations from the tree and cut any trees more than 6-feet tall in half. The city also asks that you do not put the tree in a plastic bag.
  If you’re not a curbside customer, you can drop off your bare tree for recycling at Zilker
  
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• One dead in east Williamson County crash

  26-12-2017 19:29 via kxan.com
  WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — One man is dead after he crashed his truck into a ditch just north of the town of Thrall, in eastern Williamson County, Tuesday afternoon.
  Sheriff Robert Chody tweeted at 12:15 p.m. his deputies were at the scene of the crash on County Road 424, which intersects with State Highway 79. Sheriff Chody said the crash happened about a mile north of SH 79.
  The Texas Department of Public Safety says it appears the driver of the truck lost control and drove into t
  
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• At least one dead in east Williamson County crash

  26-12-2017 19:29 via kxan.com
  WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Deputies are responding to a deadly crash just north of the town of Thrall, in eastern Williamson County, Tuesday afternoon.
  Sheriff Robert Chody tweeted at 12:15 p.m. his deputies were at the scene of the crash on County Road 424, which intersects with State Highway 79. Sheriff Chody said the crash happened about a mile north of SH 79.
  The town of Thrall is located about 5 miles east of Taylor.
  KXAN will update this story as we get additional information.
  
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• Parents killed after warning daughter about boyfriend’s neo-Nazi affiliations

  26-12-2017 18:01 via kxan.com
  RESTON, Va. (AP/WCMH) — A teenager has been charged with fatally shooting a couple in their northern Virginia home.
  Police say the 17-year-old shot himself after shooting the couple and is hospitalized in life-threatening condition. He is under police guard.
  Police in Fairfax County, a Washington suburb, announced Saturday they filed charges against the teen. His name wasn’t released because of his age.
  Scott Fricker, 48, and his wife Buckley Kuhn-Fricker, 43, were shot Friday in the
  
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• Naked USPS employee shoots and kills supervisor in Ohio, police say

  26-12-2017 17:49 via kxan.com
  DUBLIN, Ohio (WCMH) — Police say a naked United States Postal Service employee shot a supervisor to death early Saturday morning at a post office before attacking and killing another supervisor at her home.
  It happened at 4:25am Saturday at the United States Post Office in the 6400 block of Emerald Parkway.
  According to documents from the Franklin County Municipal Court, postal employees told Dublin police they saw 24-year-old suspect Deshaune Stewart naked in the sorting bay. He was point
  
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• Friends for 60 years find out they’re biological brothers

  26-12-2017 17:07 via kxan.com
  OAHU, Hawaii (KHON) — An Oahu family got a life-changing surprise just in time for the holidays.
  A man searching for his father ended up finding out that his best friend since grade school was actually his brother. The men are 15 months apart in age and have known each other for decades.
  They tell KHON2 they learned they were related through a family history and DNA website.
  Alan Robinson and Walter Macfarlane have been the best of friends for 60 years. “Let’s see, well we love
  
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• ‘Sound of Music’ actress Heather Menzies-Urich dies at 68

  26-12-2017 15:20 via kxan.com
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actress Heather Menzies-Urich, who played one of the singing von Trapp children in the hit 1965 film, “The Sound of Music,” has died. She was 68.
  Her son, actor Ryan Urich, told Variety that his mother died late Sunday in Frankford, Ontario. She recently had been diagnosed with brain cancer.
  “She was an actress, a ballerina and loved living her life to the fullest,” Urich said.
  Menzies-Urich played Louisa von Trapp, the third-oldest of the seven v
  
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• Queen Elizabeth II, Markle, royals attend Christmas service

  26-12-2017 15:10 via kxan.com
  SANDRINGHAM, England (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II and senior members of the British royal family — along with newcomer Meghan Markle, an American actress engaged to Prince Harry — attended a Christmas church service on Monday as a crowd of local residents gathered.
  Markle smiled and gave a brief wave in her first public appearance with the queen. She and Harry stopped to talk with several locals on their way back to the queen’s residence.
  “She was very, very lovely,&rd
  
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• VIDEO: Couple ‘falls’ in love during Rockefeller Center ice rink proposal

  26-12-2017 14:35 via kxan.com
  NEW YORK CITY (WFLA) — A proposal on an ice rink in New York City literally knocked a bride-to-be off her feet this weekend.
  The couple had the whole ice rink at Rockefeller Center to themselves on Saturday as other skaters waited for the ice to be resurfaced.
  While they were skating, the man got down on one knee and popped the big question in a surprise marriage proposal.
  His wife-to-be said yes and gave him a kiss but when she leaned in for another kiss after he placed the ring on h
  
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• 4-alarm fire rips through Denton’s historic downtown square

  26-12-2017 14:17 via kxan.com
  DENTON, Texas (KXAN) — A large, 4-alarm fire spread through several businesses lining Denton’s historic downtown square.
  KXAS reports the fire started after 4 a.m. Tuesday at the Downtown Mini Mall, located at 108 N. Locust St., before spreading to five other businesses.
  By around 6 a.m., the flames were under control. One firefighter was treated for dehydration, but no other injuries were reported.
  Crews from Fort Worth and other neighboring cities were called to help quell the
  
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• Kyle family’s pets killed in overnight house fire

  26-12-2017 14:03 via kxan.com
  KYLE, Texas (KXAN) — A family in Kyle lost pets in an early Tuesday morning house fire, the Kyle Fire Department says.
  Firefighters from Kyle and Buda were called to the house fire in the Spring Branch subdivision, about a mile north of downtown Kyle and just west of Interstate 35, around 1 a.m.
  While first responders were able to save one pet, others were lost in the fire.
  The home has major smoke and heat damage from the fire, the department said. Photos tweeted from the scene show firef
  
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• Frustration over lingering Harvey damage highlights years of mounting repair costs

  26-12-2017 13:29 via kxan.com
  SMITHVILLE, Texas (KXAN) — Homeowners in Bastrop County are frustrated by what they see as slow progress toward replacing a bridge damaged during Hurricane Harvey, four months after the storm flooded parts of Central Texas.
  “It’s kind of like a farming community,” Gerald Henderson said, walking up to barricades blocking the bridge over Gravelly Creek on Hector Road, northeast of Smithville. “People need to get down this road.”
  The road has been closed there si
  
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• United apologizes to passenger who says US Rep got her seat

  26-12-2017 12:17 via kxan.com
  HOUSTON (AP) — United Airlines has apologized and given a $500 travel voucher to a passenger who accused the airline of giving her first-class seat to U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat.
  An airline spokeswoman said Monday that its internal systems show the passenger, Jean-Marie Simon, canceled her Dec. 18 seat from Houston to Washington, D.C. after a weather delay.
  Simon denies that she canceled the flight. She was given a seat in Economy Plus on the flight, and told the Hous
  
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• Community helps the homeless on Christmas, as city lays out plans for 2018

  26-12-2017 05:16 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — As families and friends gathered this Christmas, others gave back to a community that’s in glaring need of help: Austin’s homeless population.
  Downtown, beneath Interstate 35, dozens gathered under the bridge for a hot meal and donated warm clothes.
  “We’re just a group of caring people that want to help others. We want to share our experience, strength and hope and our blessings,” organizer Richard Phillips said.
  The city recently released
  
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• Sheriff: South Texas mother admits to suffocating infant

  26-12-2017 03:00 via kxan.com
  MERCEDES, Texas (AP) — Authorities in South Texas say a 34-year-old woman admitted to suffocating her 1-month-old daughter and is now facing a capital murder charge.
  Maria Guadalupe Cardenas was being held Monday on $1 million bond in Hidalgo County, in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley next to the US-Mexico border.
  The Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that deputies  responded to a call on Saturday, Dec. 23, 2017, from someone later identified as Cardenas, sa
  
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• Crash injures 5, including 2 boys and 2 teens in Del Valle; STAR Flight transports 1 boy

  26-12-2017 02:21 via kxan.com
  DEL VALLE, Texas (KXAN) – A two-vehicle collision injured five people including two teens and two boys in Del Valle Monday evening, said the Travis County Sheriff’s Office and Austin-Travis County EMS.
  It happened at about 6:14 p.m. in the 6900 block of Wolf Lane between Pearce Lane and SH 71, said ATC EMS. The crash included a rollover, and at least one person was ejected from a vehicle, medics said.
  One teenage boy was taken to St. David’s South Austin Medical Center with cri
  
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• Crash injures 5, including 2 boys and 2 teens in Del Valle

  26-12-2017 02:21 via kxan.com
  DEL VALLE, Texas (KXAN) – A two-vehicle collision injured five people including two teens and two boys in Del Valle Monday evening, said the Travis County Sheriff’s Office and Austin-Travis County EMS.
  It happened at about 6:14 p.m. in the 6900 block of Wolf Lane between Pearce Lane and SH 71, said ATCEMS. The crash included a rollover, and at least one person was ejected from a vehicle, medics said.
  One teenage boy was taken to St. David’s South Austin Medical Center with crit
  
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• College students come up with plug-in to combat fake news

  26-12-2017 01:15 via kxan.com
  NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A team of college students is getting attention from internet companies and Congress after developing a browser extension that alerts users to fake and biased news stories and helps guide them to more balanced coverage.
  The plug-in, “Open Mind ,” was developed earlier this month during a 36-hour problem-solving competition known as a hackathon at Yale University.
  The winning team was comprised of four students: Michael Lopez-Brau and Stefan Uddenberg, bo
  
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• Secret Service interviews person over manure sent to Mnuchin

  26-12-2017 01:10 via kxan.com
  LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. Secret Service says it has interviewed someone claiming responsibility for delivering a gift-wrapped package of horse manure addressed to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin (mih-NOO’-shin).
  The box was found Saturday at the home of Mnuchin’s neighbor in the wealthy Bel Air neighborhood in Los Angeles. The LAPD bomb squad responded to the package, which police say was marked as being from “the American people.”
  Secret Service spokesman Cody
  
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• US says it negotiated $285M cut in United Nations budget

  26-12-2017 01:06 via kxan.com
  The U.S. government says it has negotiated a significant cut in the United Nations budget.
  The U.S. Mission to the United Nations said on Sunday that the U.N.’s 2018-2019 budget would be slashed by over $285 million. The mission said reductions would also be made to the U.N.’s management and support functions.
  The announcement didn’t make clear the entire amount of the budget or specify what effect the cut would have on the U.S. contribution.
  U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki H
  
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• Wimberley restaurant opens for ‘Christmas orphans’

  26-12-2017 00:55 via kxan.com
  WIMBERLEY, Texas (KXAN) — It’s hard to find a restaurant open on Christmas Day in most towns, and it’s especially hard in a town with only a handful of places to eat to begin with. For the first time, a Wimberley family decided to open their business up to those who may not have family to celebrate with on Christmas.
  At The Back Porch in Wimberley, chefs are chopping brisket and making sandwiches for their customers. Any other day, this would be normal at the restaurant, but it
  
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