Austin news

• Texas principal charged with failing to report sexual abuse

  03-02-2018 22:53 via kxan.com
  WICHITA FALLS, Texas (AP) — A Texas school official has been arrested on a charge of failing to report sexual abuse of a child to law enforcement.
  The Wichita Falls Times Record News reports that Kory Fancher Dorman, a 45-year-old elementary school principal at the Wichita Falls Independent School District had been arrested and charged Wednesday.
  The arrest affidavit says three grandparents complained in December that their 7-year-old grandson had been sexually assaulted by a 6-year-old in
  
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• UT Health Austin launches team-based care to streamline treatment

  03-02-2018 21:28 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Students, faculty and staff are joining forces at Dell Medical School on the University of Texas campus to offer specialty care to people across Austin through team-based care.
  Team-based care is a way to provide resources for patients that they wouldn’t normally have access to. The doctors, nurses and medical specialists meet prior to a patient’s visit to discuss the patient’s needs and treatment plan.
  Dr. Amy Young of UT Health Austin said this method he
  
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• North Carolina man impregnates biological daughter, plans to marry her, warrants say

  03-02-2018 20:15 via kxan.com
  KNIGHTDALE, N.C. (WNCN) – A North Carolina man and his biological daughter face incest charges after warrants say they had a sexual relationship and planned to marry.
  Katie Rose Pladl was born in January 1998 to Steven Walter Pladl and her mother and then legally adopted out of state.
  When Katie Pladl turned 18, she used social media to reach out to her biological parents, according to warrants. After making contact with them, she moved to their home just west of Richmond, Virginia, in Aug
  
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• Activists rally against Roy Guerrero Park as possible MLS stadium site

  03-02-2018 19:28 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — As the search continues for a plot of land to put a potential 20,000-seat soccer stadium, one neighborhood wants their message heard clear.
  “This land is not suitable or sustainable to absorb what is being proposed,” said Linda Guerrero, the daughter of the namesake of Roy G. Guerrero Park in east Austin.
  Neighbors held a rally at the park Saturday against using any space there for the stadium.
  It is one of two sites still on the list for Precourt Sports Venture
  
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• Activists protest against Roy Guerrero Park as possible MLS stadium site

  03-02-2018 19:28 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — After activists were able to successfully petition the city of Austin to remove Butler Shores as a possible location to build Austin’s next Major League Soccer park, they are advocating to remove another popular metropolitan park from the list as well.
  The Montopolis Neighborhood Association, along with other homeowner associations and groups want to remove the Roy Guerrero Colorado River Metropolitan Park as a possible location for what is supposed to be a 20,000-sea
  
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• Activists protest against Roy Guerrero Park as possible Major League Soccer stadium site

  03-02-2018 19:28 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — After activists were able to successfully petition the city of Austin to remove Butler Shores as a possible location to build Austin’s next Major League Soccer park, they are advocating to remove another popular metropolitan park from the list as well.
  The Montopolis Neighborhood Association, along with other homeowner associations and groups want to remove the Roy Guerrero Colorado River Metropolitan Park as a possible location for what is supposed to be a 20,000-sea
  
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• Weekend Gardener: How to grow your best grapes

  03-02-2018 17:46 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – If your green thumb is itching for a new project, the Weekend Gardener says grapes are easy to plant and maintain.
  Grape plants periodically need some compost and water when they’re dry, but you can grow them anywhere.
  The trick to growing grapes is the way you prune them. You’ll be removing about 80 percent of your plant, and the Weekend Gardener shows you why that is ok.
  
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• Austin’s cutest players take the field for annual Puppy Bowl, Saturday

  03-02-2018 17:23 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) – Some of the cutest players are not taking the field in Minneapolis for the Superbowl on Sunday, they’re taking the field on Saturday right here in Austin.
  The Austin Humane Society’s 11th Annual Puppy Bowl, a football-themed puppy party, is happening from 12 p.m.to 3 p.m.
  The free event will host family and animal-friendly vendors. Plus if you are looking for your next best friend, they will have more than 50 puppies available for adoption.
  They’ll also cr
  
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• Circuit of the America hosting free races all weekend

  03-02-2018 16:17 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Circuit of the Americas is hosting free races this weekend. From February 3-4, the Hoosier Racing Tire Sports Car Club of America tour will take over the 3.41 mile circuit.  National champions drivers and more than 100 drivers from around Texas will race in speedy Porsches, Corvettes and sleek open-cockpit race cars.
  The events are free for spectators all weekend. On Saturday, races begin at 12:10 p.m. until 4:40 p.m. On Sunday races start at 8:40 a.m. until 4:20 p.m.
  
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• President calls for bipartisan action on immigration and prison reform

  03-02-2018 16:00 via kxan.com
   AUSTIN (KXAN) – President Donald Trump focused much of his first State of Union address on immigration issues.  He urged both Republicans and Democrats to come together to support his plan.
  There has been agreement among some Democrats and Republicans: they don’t like the President’s plan. Some Republicans oppose Trump’s call for a path to citizenship for DACA recipients. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the President’s plan offensive.
  “Th
  
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• Woman stabbed to death in east Travis Co., man charged with murder

  03-02-2018 14:37 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Travis County Sheriff’s office have arrested a man who they say murdered a woman in east Travis County early Saturday morning.
  Deputies responded to a 911 call at a home in the 4600 block of Sojourner St. just south of Webberville Rd. at 1:45 a.m. When deputies arrived they found and detained 51-year-old Roberto Degollado inside the home. As they continued to investigate, they found a woman who had been stabbed and was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene.
  Offi
  
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• Neighbors remember stabbing victim in east Travis County

  03-02-2018 14:37 via kxan.com
  TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — The Travis County Sheriff’s office has arrested a man who they say murdered a woman in east Travis County early Saturday morning.
  Deputies responded to a 911 call at a home in the 4600 block of Sojourner Street just south of Webberville Road at 1:45 a.m. When deputies arrived, they found and detained 51-year-old Roberto Degollado inside the home. As they continued to investigate, they found a woman who had been stabbed and was ultimately pronounced dead
  
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• Man accused of stabbing girlfriend to death in east Travis County

  03-02-2018 14:37 via kxan.com
  TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) –The Travis County Sheriff’s Office has identified the woman who was stabbed to death in a home on Sojourner Street early Saturday as 36-year-old Emily Martinez Villarreal.
  According to an arrest affidavit, deputies were dispatched to the home at the 4600 block of Sojourner Street at 1:43 a.m. Saturday following a 911 call. The caller was a “frantic” juvenile who told them his stepdad, identified as Roberto Degollado, was stabbing his mother. T
  
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• Man accused of stabbing girlfriend to death in east Travis Co.

  03-02-2018 14:37 via kxan.com
  TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) –The Travis County Sheriff’s Office has identified the woman who was stabbed to death in a home on Sojourner Street early Saturday as 36-year-old Emily Martinez Villarreal.
  According to an arrest affidavit, deputies were dispatched to the home at the 4600 block of Sojourner Street at 1:43 a.m. Saturday following a 911 call. The caller was a “frantic” juvenile who told them his stepdad, identified as Roberto Degollado, was stabbing his mother. T
  
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• Husband accused of stabbing wife to death in east Travis Co.

  03-02-2018 14:37 via kxan.com
  TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) –The Travis County Sheriff’s Office has identified the woman who was stabbed to death in a home on Sojourner Street early Saturday as 36-year-old Emily Martinez Villarreal.
  According to an arrest affidavit, deputies were dispatched to the home at the 4600 block of Sojourner Street at 1:43 a.m. Saturday following a 911 call. The caller was a “frantic” juvenile who told them his stepdad, identified as Roberto Degollado, was stabbing his mother. T
  
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• First-grader had flu and strep throat before her death, coroner says

  03-02-2018 05:13 via kxan.com
  COLUMBUS, Ind. (WISH) — Columbus schoolchildren are surprised and alarmed after a first-grader died. She had Influenza B and strep throat at the time of her death at Columbus Regional Hospital.
  Family members found 7-year-old Savanna Jessie unresponsive at home early Thursday morning. Emergency responders took her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 6:39 a.m.
  Jessie had been running a high fever but did not appear to suffer from sepsis from an infection, nor was there an indi
  
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• Subway in West Campus robbed by woman with weapon

  03-02-2018 04:43 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Police are responding to an armed robbery at a Subway restaurant on Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard in West Campus. The robbery happened exactly two weeks after two Subways, also in West Campus, were robbed by a woman with a similar description.
  Officers were called at 8:49 p.m. Friday to the Subway at 500 W. MLK Blvd. The suspect was described by witnesses as a black woman with a gray shirt and black jacket with a red flower.
  She left northbound on San Antonio Street, UT p
  
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• Texas State student president apologizes after ‘racist’ posts were uncovered

  03-02-2018 04:30 via kxan.com
  SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) — The student government president at Texas State University has apologized after posts to his Instagram account were referred to by the university president as both racist and offensive.
  University President Denise M. Trauth said student Connor Clegg posted the content to his social media accounts in 2014 and 2017.
  “I have said before that racism in any manifestation is abhorrent. We expect our students to uphold the university’s core values of diversi
  
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• George P. Bush got contractor donations after $13M Harvey contract

  03-02-2018 03:41 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (AP) — Employees of a disaster recovery accounting firm donated almost $30,000 to Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush’s re-election campaign days after his agency signed a nearly $13.5 million contract with the company to help manage the state’s Hurricane Harvey response.
  Bush’s office is overseeing the housing rebuild post-Harvey and agreed to the contract in October with Horne LLP. Three days later, 34 Horne officials collectively donated $27,500.
  The story wa
  
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• UT researchers harnessing data to predict where flu could strike next in Texas

  03-02-2018 03:07 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Most people try to steer clear of the flu, but Spencer Fox is fascinated by it.
  Fox is getting his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is tracking both pandemic and seasonal influenza numbers.
  The Centers for Disease Control releases its data every one to two weeks, and Fox uses code to crunch the numbers.
  “What we’re trying to do is harness digital health data to try and supplement those epidemiological reports so that we can predict into the f
  
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• Pregnant cow found shot, left for dead in East Texas

  03-02-2018 02:40 via kxan.com
  ATHENS, Texas (KETK) — A cow in Athens was found shot three times and left for dead.
  It happened on Farm to Market 59 and, nearly one week after it happened, the cow’s owner is now looking for the person who pulled the trigger.
  Lacey Loftis said she came home Friday to feed her cattle and horses. “I got out the tractor and they always come running.”
  On that day she said one of them was not among the others. “She was over in this pasture behind the hay bales.”
  
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• Ex-camp counselor charged with sexual assault of 14-year-old girl

  03-02-2018 02:06 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Davionne Vasquez is out on bond after being arrested in January for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
  Vasquez, 21, worked at Austin Sunshine Camps for nearly three months last summer as a counselor. The camp says the victim was also an employee — a junior counselor. Investigators say Vasquez called the girl after camp saying he wanted to see her. That is when police say the two met at the girl’s home in Round Rock and had sex.
  Detectives started investigat
  
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• The art of writing ‘thank you’ notes lives on with retired Huston-Tillotson professor

  03-02-2018 01:15 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A volunteer historian at Huston-Tillotson University has a storied past with the school. She was once a professor there who now teaches students the fading tradition of handwriting “thank you” notes.
  Dr. Marian Marshall’s mother was once a Home Economics professor at the university in the 1940s and 1950s. Her mother expected good etiquette.
  “My mother had rules and regulations and they weren’t optional,” said Marshall, who gradu
  
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• City wants to postpone Major League Soccer stadium discussion

  03-02-2018 01:01 via kxan.com
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin City Council will likely delay discussing potential Major League Soccer sites at its Feb. 15 meeting.
  A memo sent Friday to the mayor and council from the Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) requests the council postpone the Feb. 15 item as it continues to work on possible properties that can be used. “It is staff’s intention to request a postponement without a definitive future Council date,” the memo states.
  This memo comes just one
  
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• Meet Georgetown’s 4-year-old football whiz kid

  03-02-2018 00:54 via kxan.com
  GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) — Madden Crawford latches on to football factoids — fitting for a kid named Madden.
  “He’s just a regular little boy. He just has an excellent memory,” Madden’s mom, Kimri Crawford, said.
  Madden’s a 4-year-old football whiz kid with a video that’s been seen nearly 400,000 times on Facebook.
  Just dad and son hanging out on the couch talking shop, but Madden amazes all throwing out names and jersey numbers for teams and player
  
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• PetSmart groomer fired after video shows her aggressively handling dog

  03-02-2018 00:41 via kxan.com
  KATY, Texas (KXAN) — A viral video of a PetSmart grooming employee handling a dog aggressively ended with the employee getting fired.
  Brooke Vowers dropped her dog off at the PetSmart at 19945 Katy Freeway in Katy, Texas the other day to get groomed. When she came back to pick up her dog, a lady came up to her and said she had a video of how the groomer treated the dog. The woman said she had been waiting to meet the dog’s owner so she could show them what happened.
  In the video, the
  
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• 150 marijuana plants found in ‘elaborate’ home operation near Dripping Springs

  03-02-2018 00:05 via kxan.com
  DRIPPING SPRINGS, Texas (KXAN) — Deputies say an elaborate marijuana growing operation was discovered during a felony search warrant at a house in Dripping Springs on Wednesday.
  The Hays County Sheriff’s Office found around 150 marijuana plants, as well as methamphetamine and psilocybin mushrooms at the house in the 11200 block of West Cave Boulevard, in a subdivision about seven miles north of Dripping Springs.
  Twenty-one-year-old Tori Halenza was arrested at the house around 6:30 a
  
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