Austin news

• 3-year-old girl mauled to death by dog in Oklahoma

  16-01-2018 23:56 via kxan.com
  DUNCAN, Okla. (KFOR) — A 3-year-old Oklahoma girl is dead after being mauled by a pit bull Sunday afternoon.
  Jason Dodge says he left his Duncan home Sunday afternoon to go see his brother. His daughter, Rylee, stayed at home with her grandmother.
  Dodge had only been gone about 20 minutes when his mother called him to tell him the dog was attacking Rylee.
  He arrived back to find a horrific scene. His mom was laying on the dog, covered in blood, struggling to get the dog off of Rylee. She w
  
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• Authorities say Houston-area couple ambushed, slain, robbed

  16-01-2018 23:40 via kxan.com
  SPRING, Texas (AP) — Investigators say a Houston-area husband and wife were ambushed and killed during a home robbery and the suspects later returned several times to the shooting scene.
  The Harris County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday released security video in the search for suspects in the deaths of Bao and Jenny Lam. Deputies found the victims Saturday night in their ransacked home in Spring after their son was unable to reach his parents.
  Security video shows an SUV approaching the
  
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• Battle of the beasts: Gator and python entangled on Florida golf course

  16-01-2018 23:25 via kxan.com
  COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. (KXAN) — Photos showing a battle of the beasts were snapped on a Florida golf course, as a python and alligator fought to the death.
  Julianne Dell, a reporter with the NBC affiliate WBBH in Fort Myers, spoke to the man who took the photos now going viral.
  “The python’s head was in the mouth of the alligator and the alligator was just sitting there absolutely still with his eyes wide open not moving,” Dr. Richard Nadler said.
  Dr. Nadler says he never e
  
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• School delays and closings for Wednesday, Jan. 17

  16-01-2018 23:05 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — After a full closure on Tuesday, school districts are now monitoring the weather to determine what should happen Wednesday. While precipitation has moved out of the area, temperatures will remain below freezing through Wednesday morning, which could create an icy situation.
  As school district officials monitor the weather situation, KXAN will update this story as schools make their decision on what to do for Wednesday. Austin ISD said they would not make a decision until af
  
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• Thousands of cold stunned sea turtles reported along Texas Coast

  16-01-2018 22:16 via kxan.com
  SAN ANTONIO (KXAN) — This cold winter is causing thousands of sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico to become stunned.
  With this week’s cold snap, the SeaWorld San Antonio Rescue Team is traveling to the Padre Island National Seashore area to help rescue cold stunned green sea turtles from the frigid waters.
  According to the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network, an estimated 2,100 cold stunned green turtles were documented on the Texas coast in the first week of January — the l
  
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• Dash camera catches car flying through the air, slamming into building

  16-01-2018 19:57 via kxan.com
  SANTA ANA, Calif. (KXAN) — New dash camera footage shows the moment a car hit a curb and managed to get enough air to slam into the second floor of a dental office in Southern California.
  The dash camera was that of an OC Transit Authority patrol vehicle. The person was driving down the street when the camera catches a car flying across the street and hit the building. The patrol car narrowly misses getting hit by the car.
  Investigators say the driver was traveling at a high speed when it
  
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• Can companies make you come into work on bad weather days?

  16-01-2018 19:33 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — With icy weather sweeping through the Austin area Tuesday morning, several businesses, city offices and schools decided to close for the day.
  Still, some employees made their usual morning commute, causing a handful of accidents in the area. Others residents are wondering if they are required to go to work if their employer asks them to.
  The Texas Workforce Commission offers a look at what employees and employers should know when bad weather hits.Regarding work absences, if
  
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• Kim Kardashian West and husband Kanye welcome baby girl

  16-01-2018 18:46 via kxan.com
  NEW YORK (AP) — It’s a girl for Kim Kardashian West and her husband, Kanye West, via surrogate.
  Kardashian West announced Tuesday on her app under the headline “We’re so in Love” that their third baby was born early Monday and weighed in at 7 pounds, 6 ounces.
  The couple is “incredibly grateful to our surrogate who made our dreams come true,” Kardashian West says. She also thanked their surrogate’s doctors and nurses, adding that their kids North a
  
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• SXSW Music Fest wristbands now for sale

  16-01-2018 18:39 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — If you can’t get a badge to South by Southwest, the more affordable wristbands are now on sale.
  The wristbands went on sale at 11 a.m. Tuesday morning. The SXSW Music Festival takes places Monday, March 12 through Sunday, March 18. The wristbands, which run $169 a pop, will also get you into the SXSW Gaming Expo this year.
  Wristbands are for fans who live in the greater Austin area. Individuals buying the wristbands online must make the purchase with a credit card wit
  
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• Big rig driver escapes harm in chicken-fried wreck in Texas

  16-01-2018 18:27 via kxan.com
  SALADO, Texas (AP) — The driver of an 18-wheeler has escaped injury in a chicken-fried wreck in Central Texas.
  The Texas Department of Public Safety says a tractor-trailer rig hauling frozen chicken caught fire Monday morning on southbound Interstate 35 near Salado.
  DPS officials say the driver noticed flames between the cab and the trailer, pulled over but was unable to put out the blaze.
  Authorities are trying to investigate what caused the fire that engulfed the rig and its chicken carg
  
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• House panel subpoenas Bannon in Russia probe showdown

  16-01-2018 18:26 via kxan.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on Tuesday in a showdown over whether he could be forced to testify in the panel’s Russia investigation.
  Bannon walked into a closed-door meeting with House members Tuesday morning and was still being grilled Tuesday evening. Lawmakers wanted answers from him about President Donald Trump’s thinking when he fired FBI Director James Comey.
  The committee’s Republica
  
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• House panel interviewing Bannon after his fall from power

  16-01-2018 18:26 via kxan.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Steve Bannon, the onetime close confidant to President Donald Trump, arrived early Tuesday for his interview before the House Intelligence Committee.
  His interview follows his spectacular fall from power after being quoted in a book that he sees the president’s son and others as engaging in “treasonous” behavior for taking a meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign.
  In Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury,” Bannon accuses Donald Trump J
  
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• AP source: House panel wants Bannon to explain Comey firing

  16-01-2018 18:26 via kxan.com
  WASHINGTON (AP) — A House panel questioned Steve Bannon on Tuesday, aiming to find out President Donald Trump’s thinking when he fired FBI Director James Comey, according to a source familiar with the panel’s interview of the former White House chief strategist.
  Bannon also is likely being pressed on other “executive actions” taken by Trump that have drawn interest from congressional investigators prying into ties between Trump’s campaign and Russian operative
  
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• Earnhardt Jr. to help NBC Sports at Super Bowl and Olympics

  16-01-2018 17:51 via kxan.com
  CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Nearly every day brings a new experience for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who spent the first 42 years of his life living in a bubble that consisted of NASCAR and not much else.
  Now that he has retired from full-time racing, he’s got time to experience new adventures. Just last weekend, he went to brunch — his first brunch ever — with his wife and friends, then was convinced to get his first pedicure .
  The best is yet to come.
  NBC Sports announced Tuesday it
  
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• PHOTOS: Icy aftermath of winter storm in Central Texas

  16-01-2018 17:16 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Before some Central Texans braved the icy roads, they discovered another ice obstacle — ice-covered cars. Other viewers spotted icicles hanging from the usual places (houses) and the less-usual places (lawn ornaments).Submit your best photos or videos of the icy winter weather hereTemperatures dropped quickly Monday night, finally reaching the below-freezing threshold Tuesday morning to turn the rain and sleet to ice. Icy aftermath of winter storm in Central TexasCars
  
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• Airports across Texas scrap 100s of flights as icy temperatures hit

  16-01-2018 17:15 via kxan.com
  DALLAS (AP/KXAN) — Hundreds of flights have been canceled in Texas, where frigid temperatures have left runways — and roads — dangerously icy.
  The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the Houston area on Tuesday and is warning mariners of gale-force winds along the Texas coast. Sleet and freezing rain are forecast for parts of the state.
  Flights into Houston, San Antonio and elsewhere have been canceled. Houston is enduring 21 degrees (-6 Celsius) and San
  
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• VIDEO: Cars go slipping and sliding on icy roads

  16-01-2018 15:49 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — All morning long, the KXAN News Team has urged people to stay off the roads due to ice forming on major highways. But, even with the inclement weather, people had places to go.
  As of 8:30 a.m., the Austin Police Department said it had responded to more than 20 crashes related to ice Tuesday morning.
  At 8:11 a.m., as Traffic Reporter Amanda Dugan was talking about conditions on the roads, a TxDOT traffic camera pointed at Interstate 35 southbound at the upper/lower deck spli
  
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• Parents arrested after children found chained in house

  16-01-2018 15:06 via kxan.com
  PERRIS, Calif. (AP) — A 17-year-old girl called police after escaping from her family’s home where she and her 12 brothers and sisters were locked up in filthy conditions, some so malnourished officers at first believed all were children even though seven are adults.
  The girl, who was so small officers initially believed she was only 10, called 911 and was met by police who interviewed her and then went to the family home in Perris, about 70 miles southeast of Los Angeles. They found
  
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• Mom of malnourished children was ‘perplexed’ by police visit

  16-01-2018 15:06 via kxan.com
  PERRIS, Calif. (AP) — The mother of 13 malnourished children and young adults who were held in filthy conditions, some chained to furniture, was “perplexed” when deputies arrived at the family’s Southern California home, a sheriff’s official said Tuesday.
  The deputies had been summoned by a 17-year-old daughter who jumped out a window and called 911.
  Riverside County sheriff’s Capt. Greg Fellows described the reaction of the mother, Louise Anna Turpin, 49, wit
  
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• California couple’s ordinary home held torture chamber

  16-01-2018 15:06 via kxan.com
  PERRIS, Calif. (AP) — From the outside, the brown-and-beige four-bedroom home looked fairly orderly. The couple who owned it had purchased the house new in 2014 and soon arrived in this Los Angeles suburb with their 12 children.
  They lived there quietly for at least three years and had another baby. Then on Sunday, one of the children jumped out of a window, called 911 and led authorities to what they described as a torture chamber.
  Sheriff’s deputies said they found 13 children rang
  
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• LIVE BLOG: Winter storm road closures and weather updates

  16-01-2018 12:33 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — With the most significant winter storm the Central Texas area has seen in years, KXAN is tracking the impact the storm is having on roads and schools.KXAN’s First Warning Weather team tracking the winter storm
  FULL list of school closures 
  Check your flight status at ABIA
  Latest Road Conditions & Weather reports
  
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• PHOTOS: Shoppers crowd, empty shelves at Austin-area grocery stores

  16-01-2018 07:14 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Scores of Austinites flooded into local grocery stores Monday ahead of an expected winter storm that has resulted in a number of closures at school districts and government offices Tuesday.
  Along with the huge lines, KXAN viewers sent us photos of emptied shelves and a lack of basic food necessities at major grocery stores.KXAN First Warning Weather tracks the winter stormIf you see long lines at Austin-area grocery stores, send us a video or photos here.  Long lines a
  
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• Rideshare companies will operate during winter storm, but expect delays

  16-01-2018 05:53 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — In the ever-changing rideshare landscape of Central Texas, passengers can expect one more variable this week: icy roads.
  Many ridesharing companies operating in Austin who spoke with KXAN Monday said they’d be operating through the storm, so drivers can expect to continue to use their favorite apps. However, road closures and the need to decrease speeds for safety will mean longer wait times for passengers.
  Martin Galaway, a driver with the rideshare company RideAusti
  
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• Top-ranked UConn survives upset scare from No. 9 Texas

  16-01-2018 03:31 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Katie Lou Samuelson scored 19 points and Crystal Dangerfield made two free throws with 8 seconds left to help top-ranked UConn survive a tough upset bid from No. 9 Texas with a 75-71 win Monday night.
  UConn (16-0) found itself challenged like it seldom has been this season and trailed early in the fourth quarter before scrapping back for the win. Azura Stevens scored eight of her 16 points in the fourth quarter.
  UConn earned its 102nd consecutive regular-season victory
  
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• VIDEO: Long lines at Austin grocery stores ahead of winter storm

  16-01-2018 02:10 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Long lines have been reported at Austin-area grocery stores ahead of a winter storm expected to be the region’s most significant winter event since February 2011.
  In a video sent to KXAN, a checkout line at the H-E-B in the Mueller neighborhood started at the end of a long aisle. Customers were seen with carts full of bread and other food items.
  While the winter storm will be disruptive — with drivers being told to stay off the roads Tuesday and many school and
  
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• VIDEO: Austinites react to long lines ahead of winter storm

  16-01-2018 02:10 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Long lines have been reported at Austin-area grocery stores ahead of a winter storm expected to be the region’s most significant winter event since February 2011.
  In a video sent to KXAN, a checkout line at the H-E-B in the Mueller neighborhood started at the end of a long aisle. Customers were seen with carts full of bread and other food items.
  While the winter storm will be disruptive — with drivers being told to stay off the roads Tuesday and many school and
  
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• Nonprofits caring for elderly, homeless during icy weather

  16-01-2018 02:07 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The potential for some serious winter weather has multiple local organizations working overtime to make sure the elderly have a meal to eat and the homeless have a place to stay.
  It’s not often winter weather threatens to shut down everyday services in Central Texas. In fact, at the Meals On Wheels headquarters leaders only remember it happening twice in the past seven years.
  “Every so often the weather just means we can’t deliver,” said Meals on Whe
  
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• Drivers with autism encouraged to put extra info on license

  16-01-2018 01:13 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new public service announcement was unveiled urging drivers with autism to consider applying for a note on their driver’s license that informs law enforcement about potential interaction challenges. The video message informs Texans about the “communication impediment” restriction code.
  Samuel Allen, who is on the autism spectrum, said having the marker on his driver’s license feels “like a big safety net,” and makes him more comfortable
  
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• Growing number of ABIA flights canceled ahead of storm

  16-01-2018 00:17 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Airline passengers flying to or from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Monday evening into Tuesday are encouraged to check their flight status.
  Some airlines have already canceled flights in anticipation of the expected ice storm. Many flights scheduled to arrive at ABIA after 8 p.m. Monday have been canceled because airlines do not want their planes grounded in Austin when the storm hits. Those cancellations will also result in some cancellations Tuesday.
  Passeng
  
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