Austin news

• Game time, network set for Lone Star Showdown 13 years in the making

  18-11-2024 23:54 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Southeastern Conference announced football start times and networks for games over Thanksgiving weekend, and the Longhorns and Aggies will be in primetime.The Lone Star Showdown kicks off at 6:30 p.m. CT, Nov. 30 from Kyle Field in College Station and will air on ABC. Depending on how the teams do this coming weekend, the game could decide who plays in the SEC championship game Dec. 7 in Atlanta. The country’s best defense is in Austin, and Steve Sarkisian likes t
  
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• Report lays out plan for expanding Texas nuclear industry

  18-11-2024 23:52 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN)—Texas leaders are exploring the possibility of expanding the state's nuclear power industry. On Monday, the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) released a report that lays out a roadmap for the industry's development, listing benefits of nuclear power along with recommendations on how to address potential challenges.In November 2023, Gov. Greg Abbott tasked the PUCT with studying the safety, reliability and affordability of advanced nuclear reactors (ANRs), especially a
  
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• Josh Abbott Band to headline Longhorn City Limits

  18-11-2024 23:36 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Josh Abbott Band will perform as the headliner at Longhorn City Limits on Saturday before the Texas football game against Kentucky.The free concert will happen on the LBJ Lawn, with country artist Mason Lively kicking off the show at 11 a.m., followed by Josh Abbott Band at 12:30 p.m., according to UT.The Josh Abbott Band (JAB) is known for hits like, "Oh, Tonight" featuring Kacey Musgraves, "Wasn't That Drunk" with Carly Pearce and more, the release said.The Josh Abbott Band an
  
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• Rapper NBA YoungBoy pleads guilty in Utah prescription drug fraud ring case

  18-11-2024 23:31 via kxan.com
  
  LOGAN, Utah (KTVX) — Rapper NBA YoungBoy entered a Utah courtroom Monday morning with his head hung low as he pleaded guilty to his part in a large-scale prescription drug fraud ring that he operated out of his multi-million dollar home in Huntsville.The 25-year-old rapper, whose legal name is Kentrell DeSean Gaulden, was originally charged in the Logan District Court with 46 charges related to the accusations.On Monday, he pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree felony identity fraud
  
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• Record number of Texans traveling this Thanksgiving

  18-11-2024 22:56 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A record number of Texans are preparing to take some planes, trains and automobiles this Thanksgiving, according to new data from AAA Texas released Monday.AAA Texas' Thanksgiving forecast is anticipating 5.7 million residents will travel 50 miles or more from their homes to celebrate the November holiday, representing a 1.3% increase in travelers compared to last year's figures. AAA Texas' estimates are based on expected travelers from the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to th
  
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• Austinites can soon weigh in on light rail plan, potential project impacts

  18-11-2024 22:03 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — As work advances on Austin's first light rail system, community members will soon have a closer look at how that line will meld into the existing city framework.Austin Transit Partnership officials said at a Nov. 14 board work session a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) is nearing completion. The National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, requires an EIS for some major infrastructure projects, particularly those utilizing federal dollars.
   The NEPA process wi
  
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• Third Eye Blind headlining Austin New Year's celebration

  18-11-2024 21:08 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- It may be the mid-2020s, but the mid-1990s are calling, and they're ringing in the new year in Austin.The City of Austin and Visit Austin announced Monday that the 2025 edition of Austin's New Year will be headlined by Third Eye Blind.The California-based band will headline the Texas capital's annual New Year's Eve celebration.The city-wide party will take place at Auditorium Shores on Tuesday, Dec. 31 from 7 p.m. to midnight. It'll be a free, family-friendly event sen
  
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• The country's best defense is in Austin, and Steve Sarkisian likes the sound of that

  18-11-2024 20:24 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Longhorns have, at least from a statistical standpoint, the best defense in big-time college football. A certain sports cliche alludes to what a good defense can mean for a team's season.Following the Longhorns' 20-10 win over Arkansas last week, No. 3 Texas lowered its yards allowed per game average to 249 yards per game, the best in FBS and almost two yards better than No. 2 Ohio State. Texas is also the only team in FBS that allows less than four yards per play
  
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• LIVE: The country's best defense is in Austin, and Steve Sarkisian likes the sound of that

  18-11-2024 20:24 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Longhorns have, at least from a statistical standpoint, the best defense in big-time college football. A certain sports cliche alludes to what a good defense can mean for a team's season.Following the Longhorns' 20-10 win over Arkansas last week, No. 3 Texas lowered its yards allowed per game average to 249 yards per game, the best in FBS and almost two yards better than No. 2 Ohio State. Texas is also the only team in FBS that allows less than four yards per play
  
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• Pollster Ann Selzer steps aside in wake of huge Iowa poll miss

  18-11-2024 20:18 via kxan.com
  
  (The Hill) -- Top pollster Ann Selzer is set to retire from the Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll after a shocking presidential survey was so wrong.Just before the election, a poll from Selzer sent shockwaves nationwide after it found Vice President Harris leading President-elect Trump in Iowa. In reality, Trump won with more than 200,000 votes in the state.In a column Sunday, the well-respected pollster said she was leaving the industry, though it may not be because the Iowa poll was so wro
  
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• Houston Astros ballpark to be renamed Daikin Park from Minute Maid Park on Jan. 1

  18-11-2024 20:16 via kxan.com
  
  HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Astros' home will get a new name on Jan. 1, becoming Daikin Park under an agreement through the 2039 season the team announced Monday.The stadium opened as Enron Field in 2000 as part of a 30-year, $100 million agreement but the name was removed in March 2002 following Enron Corp.'s bankruptcy filing and the ballpark briefly became Astros Field.It was renamed Minute Maid Park in June 2002 as part of a deal with The Minute Maid Co., a Houston-based subsidiary of T
  
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• Elon Musk is hiring for DOGE. Here's the type of people he wants to recruit

  18-11-2024 20:11 via kxan.com
  
  (NEXSTAR) -- Just days after being tapped to co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk is searching for "high-IQ" individuals willing to work long hours to join the taskforce. But the job may not come with a paycheck.
  President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will spearhead the new department during his administration.
  Despite its name, DOGE isn't an official government agency. Instead, it's a private initia
  
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• Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants legislature to prioritize new dementia research institute

  18-11-2024 19:54 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Monday, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced a "new major legislative initiative for the Texas Senate," a state-funded research institute that could focus entirely on dementia.The Dementia Prevention Research Institute of Texas (DPRIT) would be modeled much like the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), Patrick said.
  “I am announcing a new research program priority, structured like CPRIT, and funded for a decade...DPRIT will be laser-focused on Dementia, j
  
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• Woman dies after gun fired from nearby north Austin apartment

  18-11-2024 19:07 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Police said a woman died at a north Austin apartment complex after she was shot by a gun fired from a neighboring apartment.Police responded to the 1900 block of Rutland Drive around 4 a.m. Saturday for reports of a shooting. Officers found the woman, who was not identified by police, on the ground with an apparent gunshot wound, APD said. MAP: Where have Austin’s homicides occurred in 2024?The woman was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:37 a.m., police said.De
  
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• Man arrested in deadly north Austin shooting; victim identified

  18-11-2024 18:33 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Austin police on Monday morning shared details surrounding a deadly shooting that happened overnight Thursday into Friday morning.PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Police investigating overnight homicide in north AustinAustin Police Department officers responded around 12:45 a.m. Friday to 911 calls reporting gunfire in the 8400 block of Goldfinch Court. When they arrived, they found one person dead.APD identified that person as 32-year-old Travis Holland. According to police, Holland was foun
  
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• Federal appeals court affirms ruling that Caldwell County must hold public bail hearings

  18-11-2024 18:20 via kxan.com
  
  (Texas Tribune) — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit on Friday affirmed a district court’s decision earlier this year that Caldwell County’s closed bail hearing policy is unconstitutional.Caldwell County’s policy to bar the press and public from bail hearings was challenged in a lawsuit in 2023 by two nonprofit news organizations, the Texas Tribune and the Caldwell/Hays Examiner, and advocacy organization Mano Amiga. The plaintiffs claimed the county violated t
  
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• How a 1966 wedding vinyl ended up at an Austin thrift store — and found its way back home

  18-11-2024 17:46 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — It's a reunion for the ages after a 1966 wedding record accidentally donated to an Austin thrift store is finally making its way back home.More than 58 years ago, Dr. Phil Schmidt and Donna Packer wed in Los Altos Hills, California on Aug. 21, 1966. Then college students, the Schmidts moved to Austin, where Phil taught at the University of Texas at Austin for more than 40 years. RELATED: How an Austin thrift store find sparked search for 1966 wedding coupleIn March 2022, th
  
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• State Board of Education voting on use of Bible stories in public school lessons

  18-11-2024 17:26 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The State Board of Education will vote Monday on whether the English and Language Arts textbooks provided by Texas will feature stories from the Bible.
  In September, the SBOE listened to hours of testimony from parents and groups who both supported and opposed the curriculum. The Texas Education Agency amended the curriculum following the meeting.One critic of the proposed curriculum, a grassroots organization called Texas Freedom Network, released an analysis of the curriculum
  
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• Longhorns stats: Texas-Arkansas was UT's cleanest game this season, with just two penalties

  18-11-2024 17:14 via kxan.com
  
  This story is part of the KXAN Data Hub, where numbers help tell the whole story.
  We've created several data-driven stories and databases on topics including weather and climate, politics, education, sports and growth in Texas. Each story in the KXAN Data Hub is updated as new data becomes available.AUSTIN (KXAN) — Touchdowns, third down conversions, penalty yards. When it comes to Longhorn football, there are a lot of numbers to keep track of.Follow along with the charts below as we trac
  
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• Mirasol Springs water line moving forward in west Travis County

  18-11-2024 16:43 via kxan.com
  
  Bee Cave, Texas (KXAN) -- Mirasol Springs, a 1,400-acre development in western Travis County, will get access to water from Lake Travis. Board members with the West Travis County Public Utility Agency (WTCPUA) approved drawing up a contract during their meeting on November 18.This map shows the proposed service line that would connect Mirasol Springs with the WTCPUA's water source. The line runs through the Peacock Ranch development. (Credit: Eric Henrikson/KXAN)
  "There's both good and not so go
  
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• Mirasol Springs water line decision could happen today

  18-11-2024 16:43 via kxan.com
  
  Bee Cave, Texas (KXAN) -- A decision on whether Mirasol Springs, a 1,400-acre development in western Travis County, will get access to water from Lake Travis could soon be finalized.This map shows the proposed service line that would connect Mirasol Springs with the WTCPUA's water source. The line runs through the Peacock Ranch development. (Credit: Eric Henrikson/KXAN)
  The development has submitted a proposal to the West Travis County Public Utility Agency (WTCPUA) that would lead to the constr
  
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• Study reveals 10 'never words' that make patients feel helpless

  18-11-2024 16:17 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- “There is nothing else we can do.” That phrase is just about the last thing a patient wants to hear from their doctor, and it's one of ten that researchers call doctor "never words."In a paper published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Texas A&M Professor Leonard Berry, PhD, said doctors often rely on "prescriptive communication habits" when talking with seriously ill patients.
  As a result, patients are left frightened or helpless due to a lack of sensitive communicat
  
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• WATCH: Dead at 13, her strangulation casts doubt on Texas’ antiquated inquest system

  18-11-2024 12:00 via kxan.com
  
  MARBLE FALLS, Texas (KXAN) -- Feeding into today’s Lake Marble Falls is another waterway – a smaller stream darkened by cedar elm and Chinkapin oak trees. Backbone Creek snakes its way through neighborhoods near the city’s downtown and onto its outskirts.
  Just feet from the creekbank, along Avenue N, was a small, rubble sandstone house where 13-year-old Daynon Lewis lived -- and a shed out back, where she died.
  Nearly 60 years later, the mystery of her strangulation now brings
  
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• Unraveling the autopsy expertise of Texas medical examiners

  18-11-2024 12:00 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- In Texas when a person dies, a couple of different people can perform a death investigation: a justice of the peace or a medical examiner.Only 14 of 254 counties in Texas employ a medical examiner, while the rest rely on a justice of the peace. A medical examiner has to undergo nearly a decade of study before they can officially determine cause and manner of death – through autopsy. While a justice of the peace receives training to conduct death investigations, this electe
  
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• Texas justices of the peace date back 200 years, still investigate deaths today

  18-11-2024 12:00 via kxan.com
  
  COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KXAN) -- Justices of the peace are judges, historically appointed or elected to help resolve local conflicts and keep the peace. They have both civil and criminal jurisdiction -- including being in charge of death investigations.The justice of the peace originated in England and has been an “institution in Texas since the earliest days of the colony,” introduced 200 years ago by a man known as the “Father of Texas” – Stephen F. Austin, accord
  
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• Scattered death data, missing records in Texas justice of the peace investigation

  18-11-2024 12:00 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) –  “Should the decision to call for an investigation in the cause of an unnatural death be placed in the hands of a public official or in those of a person who is trained in the medical profession?”In 1963, the Odessa American published that “hotly disputed” question in Texas about whether a justice of the peace should have authority to determine the causes of “unnatural” or “questionable” deaths. Most of Texas’ 254 c
  
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• LISTEN: Who killed Daynon Lewis? Podcast uncovers buried details in 1965 Texas mystery

  18-11-2024 12:00 via kxan.com
  
  MARBLE FALLS, Texas (KXAN) -- KXAN investigators take listeners on a winding path along Backbone Creek and the mystery behind a young girl’s strangulation in 1965. As the case unravels, our team discovers efforts underway to strengthen and modernize an antiquated system still used in most Texas counties, where an elected official may determine cause and manner of death with scant training and often without autopsies or forensic expertise.
  Experience our “Catalyst” podcast below
  
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• Growing Texas counties face renewed death investigation debate

  18-11-2024 12:00 via kxan.com
  
  WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — It’s not unusual for Williamson County Justice of the Peace Evelyn McLean to drive more than 40 miles in one night, going from the southern edge of her county to the north, to respond to death inquests.McLean is one of four justices of the peace who determine cause and manner of death, since the county has no medical examiner of its own. The justices shared concerns of juggling court dockets and death investigations over the last year with KXAN inves
  
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• EXPLORE: Death, debate and ‘A Hanging on Backbone Creek’ in Texas 

  18-11-2024 12:00 via kxan.com
  
  MARBLE FALLS, Texas (KXAN) -- The mysterious death of a quiet, young girl haunts the town of Marble Falls, Texas, nearly 60 years after her body was discovered hanging by a jump rope in a shed behind her family’s home along Backbone Creek. Quickly ruled an accidental strangulation by a local justice of the peace, questions linger not only about this case and others nearby — but also an antiquated process still used in most Texas counties, giving certain elected officials the power to
  
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• As patchwork of U.S. death investigations evolves, Texas’ justice of the peace system remains unique

  18-11-2024 12:00 via kxan.com
  
  TEXARKANA, Texas (KXAN) – A few feet can make a big difference when investigating an unexpected death in Texarkana. The state line between Texas and Arkansas bisects the city and the middle, literally, of the downtown U.S. Post Office building.If a person was found dead on the west side of that post office, a Texas justice of the peace from Bowie County would sign off on the cause of death. If the deceased was discovered on the east side of the office, the Miller County coroner in Arkansas
  
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• No. 4 Texas hammers another nonconference opponent, beats DePaul 91-61

  18-11-2024 04:25 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — No. 4 Texas dominated the offensive glass and forced 25 turnovers to blow out DePaul 91-61 in NCAA women's basketball action Sunday in Chicago, Illinois.Taylor Jones posted a double-double scoring 22 points on 10 of 13 shooting with 12 rebounds, nine offensive, to lead the Longhorns to 62 points in the paint and 22 second-chance points. Texas outrebounded the Blue Demons 45-29 for the game and scored 29 points off turnovers.DePaul guard Taylor Johnson-Matthews, left, guards
  
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• Toys for Tots Austin still looking for donations

  18-11-2024 04:21 via kxan.com
  
  TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Christmas is coming up soon, and many organizations have reached out to the community for donations, including the Marine Corps Reserve's Toys for Tots.The Austin chapter collects and distributes new and unwrapped toys to families in need. Organizers said they still need toys and donations, and that they will continue to collect over the next two weeks.Organizers told KXAN that last year they received about 45,000 toys for 20,000 kids."It means a lot to me to
  
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• Round Rock ISD student wins national STEM award

  18-11-2024 04:10 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Central Texas middle school student has the goal of helping people suffering from food allergies, and now he's working on a product to help.Samvith Mahadevan, a Canyon Vista Middle School student, has made a device that uses a sensor and AI algorithms to "smell" allergens in foods.Mahadevan said his own personal experience with food allergies inspired him to create the tool.The 14-year-old entered his design in biotechnology company Thermo Fisher Scientific's Junior Innov
  
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• No. 14 Texas stays in SEC title hunt with Alabama sweep

  18-11-2024 00:10 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas volleyball team moved into a tie for second in the Southeastern Conference with a sweep of Alabama on Sunday in Tuscaloosa.Set scores were 25-16, 25-23, 25-15.MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newslettersThe No. 14 Longhorns hit .357 for the match, led by Madisen Skinner's 14 kills. She notched a double-double with 10 digs and hit .314. Texas had 10 total blocks
  
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