Austin news

• How does Whole Foods' new palm reader payment system work?

  23-07-2023 23:13 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Thanks to new technology, paying for groceries at Whole Foods Market stores is now, quite literally, in the palm of your hands.Amazon is set to roll out its new palm recognition payment technology at the 400-plus Whole Foods Market U.S. stores by the end of 2023. The technology is created by Amazon One, Amazon Web Service' palm recognition system that works for identification, payment, loyalty membership and store entry.PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Whole Foods Market in Austin offers
  
  Read more

• Austin artists create 50-foot Burning Man art piece

  23-07-2023 22:41 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A group of Austin artists are spearheading an approximately 50-foot art installation heading to the 2023 Burning Man festival late next month.The installation, entitled "1000 Hands," is a fabric-based art piece designed to reflect the effects of our "climate reality" amid ongoing environmental impacts due to climate change. Where to go, what to do in Texas when it’s too hot to handle"Knowing how we were going with materials led us to create the narrative that felt the
  
  Read more

• Austin artists create 100-pound, 60-foot Burning Man art piece

  23-07-2023 22:41 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A group of Austin artists are spearheading an approximately 100-pound, 60-foot art installation heading to the 2023 Burning Man festival late next month.The installation, entitled "1000 Hands," is a fabric-based art piece designed to reflect the effects of our "climate reality" amid ongoing environmental impacts due to climate change. Where to go, what to do in Texas when it’s too hot to handle"Knowing how we were going with materials led us to create the narrative th
  
  Read more

• Gas prices rise during summer travel season

  23-07-2023 22:00 via kxan.com
  
  (FOX 44) - The statewide gas price average in Texas is $3.21 for a gallon of regular unleaded fuel, according to the AAA Texas Weekend Gas Watch.
  This price is two cents more than on this day last week, and is 77 cents less per gallon compared to this day last year. Of the major metropolitan areas surveyed in Texas, drivers in El Paso are paying the most on average - at $3.47 per gallon. Drivers in San Angelo are paying the least, at $2.95 per gallon.
  In Bryan-College Station, prices rose four c
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Plane crashes into vacant home in Georgetown; 3 injured

  23-07-2023 21:24 via kxan.com
  
  GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) — First responders arrived at the site of a plane crash in Georgetown on Sunday, according to officials.The Georgetown Texas Fire Department said the plane crash occurred just before noon in the 500 block of North Wood Drive.Plane crash into Georgetown home (Courtesy Georgetown Fire Department)Plane crash into Georgetown home (Courtesy Georgetown Fire Department)Plane crash into Georgetown home (Courtesy Georgetown Fire Department)Officials said the small plane cra
  
  Read more

• 3 injured after plane crashes through roof of Georgetown house

  23-07-2023 21:24 via kxan.com
  
  GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) — A plane with three people on board crashed through the roof of a house Sunday in Georgetown.The Georgetown Fire Department said the plane crash occurred just before noon in the 500 block of North Wood Drive, which is near the Georgetown Executive Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed it was a single-engine Beech BE35 plane and that the National Transportation Safety Board would lead the investigation into the crash.A small plane crashed through t
  
  Read more

• 3 injured after plane crashes through roof of Georgetown duplex

  23-07-2023 21:24 via kxan.com
  
  GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) — A plane with three people on board crashed through the roof of a duplex Sunday in Georgetown.The Georgetown Fire Department said the plane crash occurred just before noon in the 500 block of North Wood Drive, which is near the Georgetown Executive Airport.
  GFD officials said luckily, it was an unoccupied duplex and no one is living there.
  The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed it was a single-engine Beech BE35 plane and that the National Transportation Saf
  
  Read more

• 3 injured after plane crashes into vacant home in Georgetown

  23-07-2023 21:24 via kxan.com
  
  GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) — First responders arrived at the site of a plane crash in Georgetown on Sunday, according to officials.The Georgetown Texas Fire Department said the plane crash occurred just before noon in the 500 block of North Wood Drive.A small plane crashed through the roof of a vacant house Sunday in Georgetown. Three people were injured in the crash. (Courtesy Georgetown Fire Department)A small plane crashed through the roof of a vacant house Sunday in Georgetown. Three peo
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Man accused of Austin synagogue arson pleads guilty to 2 charges

  23-07-2023 20:28 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A man accused in the 2021 arson of an Austin synagogue pleaded guilty to two charges.According to court documents filed April 21, Franklin Barrett Sechriest pleaded guilty to arson and hate crime damage to a religious property. RELATED: Arson investigators respond to fire started outside central Austin synagogueIn October 2021, arson investigators responded to a fire that started on the ground outside of a synagogue in central Austin.Court documents stated Sechriest “
  
  Read more

• Williamson County opens its largest park near Liberty Hill

  23-07-2023 16:38 via kxan.com
  
  WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — A new 1,354-acre county park is now open in Williamson County.
  River Ranch County Park opened Saturday near Liberty Hill as the county's largest park. Parkgoers can find a playground, pavilions, hiking trails, bike trails, horse trails and more at the park.PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Construction to resume on River Ranch County Park after year-long delayAn interpretive center is yet to open, but it will offer hands-on exhibits "where visitors can learn about the na
  
  Read more

• FM 1431 reopened following fatal motorcycle crash Sunday

  23-07-2023 16:30 via kxan.com
  
  JONESTOWN, Texas (KXAN) — FM 1431 reopened Sunday afternoon after a fatal motorcycle crash earlier in the day.Austin-Travis County EMS and other emergency crews responded to a two-motorcycle crash in Jonestown Sunday morning.ATCEMS was notified of a crash in the 19400 block of FM 1431 just before 9 a.m. Sunday. North Lake Travis Fire Department, Travis County Sheriff's Office and Travis County Star Flight joined ATCEMS in the response effort.In a follow-up tweet, ATCEMS said FM 1431 is shu
  
  Read more

• 2 marked trauma alerts in Travis County motorcycle crash Sunday

  23-07-2023 16:30 via kxan.com
  
  JONESTOWN, Texas (KXAN) — Austin-Travis County EMS and other emergency crews are responding to a crash involving two motorcycles in Jonestown Sunday morning.ATCEMS was notified of a crash in the 19400 block of FM 1431 just before 9 a.m. Sunday. North Lake Travis Fire Department, Travis County Sheriff's Office and Travis County Star Flight joined ATCEMS in the response effort.In a follow-up tweet, ATCEMS said FM 1431 is shut down and urged drivers to avoid the area. Two patients were marked
  
  Read more

• 1 dead, 1 transported post-Travis County motorcycle crash Sunday

  23-07-2023 16:30 via kxan.com
  
  JONESTOWN, Texas (KXAN) — Austin-Travis County EMS and other emergency crews responded to a fatal two-motorcycle crash in Jonestown Sunday morning.ATCEMS was notified of a crash in the 19400 block of FM 1431 just before 9 a.m. Sunday. North Lake Travis Fire Department, Travis County Sheriff's Office and Travis County Star Flight joined ATCEMS in the response effort.In a follow-up tweet, ATCEMS said FM 1431 is shut down and urged drivers to avoid the area. Two patients were initially marked
  
  Read more

• Where to go, what to do in Texas when it's too hot to handle

  23-07-2023 15:00 via kxan.com
  
  (NEXSTAR) – It's hot, hot, hot in Texas this summer – and national forecasters predict that will continue for at least another month.
  But if weeks of being cooped up in the air conditioning has you feeling a little restless, look no further. We asked locals from around the state what they do to beat the heat on a sticky summer day, and broke down their suggestions by metro area.
  As long as you can brave the heat long enough to get there, these spots promise to help cool you down amid
  
  Read more

• 15 counties with the highest unemployment in Texas

  23-07-2023 14:35 via kxan.com
  
  STACKER — While significantly lower than the alarming pandemic peak of 14.7% experienced in April 2020, unemployment rates remain a subject of concern, though experts' views on a potential recession are mixed. The last economic recession—the Great Recession of 2007-2009—sent rates up to 10% as of October 2009. It was not until the spring of 2019 that unemployment finally went down to the same level it sits at now.As of May 2023, national unemployment is at 3.4%, with
  
  Read more

• Some will get a few showers today

  23-07-2023 14:20 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Afternoon and evening showers and isolated thunderstorms are part of the forecast today. Much of this rain will fall in our southern viewing area close to a stationary front. The rain chance for this afternoon will be 20%.A few locations will get rain today but there won't be much measuredThe first measured rain in more than two weeks left, on average, .01" to .10". There were a few gauges with more than .10", topped by .40" at Jollyville. Camp Mabry's gauge had .01". CENTRAL TE
  
  Read more

• Drier again, but 'inverted trough' could change things

  23-07-2023 14:20 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Limited storm coverage south of Austin continues to push south out of the KXAN viewing area as we appear set for a dry evening in Central Texas.CENTRAL TEXAS RAINFALL TOTALSTonight looks dry under a partly cloudy to mostly clear sky. Overnight lows drop into the upper 70s.High pressure that had weakened and pushed a little bit west will drift eastward and strengthen during the early part of the week.
  High pressure builds back in early in the weekThis will take rain chances down
  
  Read more

• A little more rain to come

  23-07-2023 14:20 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Afternoon and evening showers and isolated thunderstorms are part of the forecast today. Much of this rain will fall in our southern viewing area close to a stationary front. The rain chance for this afternoon will be 20%.A few locations will get rain today but there won't be much measuredThe first measured rain in more than two weeks left, on average, .01" to .10". There were a few gauges with more than .10", topped by .40" at Jollyville. Camp Mabry's gauge had .01". CENTRAL TE
  
  Read more

• Child care in Travis County is the most expensive in Texas, new data show

  23-07-2023 14:00 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) —Child care in Travis County is more expensive than anywhere else in the state, according to the National Database of Childcare Prices (NDCP), a new data source released this year by the U.S Department of Labor Women's Bureau.With 2,360 counties — including the 254 counties in Texas — represented in the NDCP, the new data provide the most comprehensive federal source of child care prices at the county level in the United States, according to the U.S. Departme
  
  Read more

• 10K Texas teens are killed or injured in auto accidents every year

  23-07-2023 05:08 via kxan.com
  
  TEXAS (KIAH) - Mid-July marks the middle of the 100 deadliest days for teen drivers. Nationwide, more than 7,000 people died in teen driving-related summertime crashes from 2010 to 2019, according to AAA. According to previous research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, new teen drivers ages 16-17 are three times as likely as adults to be involved in a deadly crash.In Texas, about 10,000 Texas teens are killed or injured in auto accidents every year, according to AAA.Baylor Scott and Wh
  
  Read more

• Baby giraffe Zuri dies at Cameron Park Zoo

  23-07-2023 05:03 via kxan.com
  
  WACO, Texas (FOX 44/KWKT) -- The Cameron Park Zoo announced Saturday that Masai giraffe calf Zuri has died.She was the baby of Penelope, who died on Wednesday, July 19.The zoo says that after Penelope died, staff began hand-rearing Zuri.They started feeding her a milk formula and tried to get her to connect with a female reticulated giraffe, whose name is Jenny.Upon Zuri's death, an animal autopsy (necropsy) was completed to determine the exact caused of death.Cameron Park Zoo is having the resu
  
  Read more

• Docs: Man caught with child porn, told agents his message "Tienes CP?" stood for caldo de pollo

  23-07-2023 04:54 via kxan.com
  
  BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A man caught with child porn told agents that his message "tienes CP?" stood for "caldo de pollo," documents revealed.Daniel Robles-Contreras was arrested on a charge of possession with intent to view material containing child pornography that had been transported by foreign commerce, federal records show. 27 bodies found hacked up in shallow graves in Mexican border town of ReynosaAccording to a criminal complaint, Robles-Contreras, a Mexican resident,
  
  Read more

• Person held captive by human smugglers rescued, APD says

  23-07-2023 01:54 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Austin Police Department's trafficking unit was able to rescue a person held captive by human smugglers this week, APD Asst. Chief Jeff Greenwalt said on Twitter.According to APD, it worked for 20 hours straight after receiving a report of an adult was being held captive.More than 60 people from nine different units were able to rescue the person and arrested two suspects, according to APD.This is the 16th recovered human smuggling victim this year, police said.
  
  Read more

• State of Texas: Buoys, razor wire sparks fight on Texas border issues

  23-07-2023 01:00 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The Department of Justice is preparing to sue Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for the state’s latest border security initiative under Texas’ Operation Lone Star, according to a DOJ letter obtained by Nexstar. Department of Justice warns of lawsuit over Texas border buoys along Rio GrandeFirst reported by the Houston Chronicle, the DOJ sent Abbott a letter on Thursday warning that the buoy barrier the state deployed along the Rio Grande is unlawful. Texas ann
  
  Read more

Follow @Austin_News_US on Twitter!