Austin news

• Texas measles outbreak expected to last for months, though vaccinations are up from last year

  21-03-2025 23:54 via kxan.com
  
  As measles cases in West Texas are still on the rise two months after the outbreak began, local public health officials say they expect the virus to keep spreading for at least several more months and that the official case number is likely an undercount.But there's a silver lining, officials say: More people have received a measles, mumps and rubella vaccination this year in Texas and New Mexico, which also has an outbreak, compared to last year — even if it's not as high as they would li
  
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• Capitol Context: How much does private school cost in Texas?

  21-03-2025 20:44 via kxan.com
  
  With the elections behind us, we’re shifting from providing you context from the campaign trail to context from the Texas State Capitol as the Texas legislature gets to work. Keep up with Capitol Context this legislative session as we examine bills being debated, the messages we’re hearing from elected leaders and how their votes impact us all.AUSTIN (KXAN) — Lawmakers from the Texas House of Representatives recently heard hours and hours... and hours... of public input on the
  
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• UK issues travel warning for US

  21-03-2025 19:44 via kxan.com
  
  (The Hill) -- The United Kingdom updated its advice for travel to the United States on Thursday, warning of harsh consequences for British passport holders who violate U.S. immigration laws.The notice comes just a day after Germany updated its travel advice after three of its citizens were detained trying to enter the U.S.The U.K. foreign office confirmed earlier this month that it was providing support to a British national detained in the U.S. after reports circulated of a woman detained at th
  
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• Transporting oil, natural gas from the Texas Panhandle through the United States

  21-03-2025 19:33 via kxan.com
  
  Project Summary: This story is supported by the Pulitzer Center and is part of the “Texas Energy Crossroads” project, a partnership between The Hill and Nexstar Texas stations examining the oil and gas industry and the politics surrounding it following President Trump’s second inauguration.`; $("header.article-header").prepend(cat4markup); const socialIcons = document.querySelectorAll("span.social-share__icon > svg > path");socialIcons.
  
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• Central Texas Food Bank's culinary program empowers job seekers, helps fight hunger

  21-03-2025 19:20 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Central Texas Food Bank is ramping up its culinary training program to help combat food insecurity and provide job opportunities in the food industry.The program aims to equip participants with a comprehensive set of skills beyond just culinary techniques so they can work in various roles within the food sector.Central Texas Food Bank opens new pantry at AISD elementary school"Not only do we teach them front of the house skills, back of the house skills, how to cook, but the
  
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• Austin clears homeless camp after months of complaints; some headed to shelter, others into the woods

  21-03-2025 19:13 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN)— In just two days a homeless camp in Southeast Austin was cleaned up after months of complaints from the community.KXAN stopped by multiple times since January only to find more people and more trash piling up on the site.Neighbors living by complained about drug use, open fires and trash building up, so KXAN took those concerns to the City."We do recognize that this specific property is posing some challenges to the community," said David Gray, the City of Austin Homeless St
  
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• 'Not going to be scared off': Transgender Texan shares experience working in state's legislature

  21-03-2025 19:05 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas lawmakers are into their third month of the state's 89th Legislative Session, which means a lot of work for their staff.Chloe Wilkinson, a legislative aide for a House representative, works at the Texas Capitol tracking and researching bills relevant to her legislator's constituents and committees. 2025 is Wilkinson's first legislative session; previously, she worked on electoral campaigns in Tennessee and Texas."As it relates to Texas politics, I've really spent a lo
  
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• Dept. of Education collapse could be good for STEM; expert says

  21-03-2025 18:53 via kxan.com
  
  President Donald Trump waves before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- On Thursday, President Donald Trump ushered in the end of the Department of Education. Following an executive order, Education Secretary Linda McMahon was ordered to dismantle DOE.The long-term impacts of this decision have yet to be felt, but experts say it could be a good thing for students studying STEM (Science, Te
  
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• How to help APA! stock its new shelter pet hospital

  21-03-2025 18:51 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Pets Alive!, a nonprofit animal shelter and rescue organization, will soon move to its new shelter pet hospital facility, but it said it needed help furnishing the space with essential equipment.The nonprofit said it needed items like:
  stainless rolling tool chestsportable refrigeratorssteel tableslockersshelving
  APA!’s full wish list can be found here.“Since April of 2024, we’ve seen the reality of new facilities begin to take shape, with the groun
  
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• Austin Bouldering Project pulls out of plans to take over Crux Climbing's South Congress location

  21-03-2025 18:45 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- After months of back and forth, and a bit of drama within the Austin climbing community, Austin Bouldering Project announced that it has pulled out of the project in which it would have taken over the space that was previously Crux Climbing Center on Pickle Road.
  ABP, which is part of the national climbing gym chain Bouldering Project, sent an email to members earlier this week making the announcement. The gym's webpage for the South Congress location also now leads to an "Error
  
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• How many perfect brackets remain in the NCAA Women's tournament, according to ESPN?

  21-03-2025 18:30 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) — It's March, and you know what that means — time for some madness!This year, more than 3.4 million NCAA Women's Tournament brackets were made on ESPN. But how many perfect
  
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• AFD rescues person after auto-ped at I-35 service road, Riverside Drive

  21-03-2025 17:49 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Austin Fire Department rescued a person who was reportedly struck by and pinned underneath a vehicle on the service road of Interstate 35 at East Riverside Drive.
  AFD posted on X at 11:31 a.m. that crews had rescued the person.
  Austin-Travis County EMS declared an adult patient as a trauma alert and transported them to Dell Seton Medical Center with potentially serious injuries, according to a post on X.
  Another person was evaluated on the scene for minor injuries but refuse
  
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• AFD rescues person after auto-ped at I-35 service road and Riverside Drive

  21-03-2025 17:49 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Austin Fire Department rescued a person who was reportedly struck by and pinned underneath a vehicle on the service road of Interstate 35 at East Riverside Drive.
  AFD posted on X at 11:31 a.m. that crews had rescued the person. Austin-Travis County EMS also responded to the scene.
  Austin Transportation and Public Works posted on X alerting drivers that multiple lanes were closed due to the crash. The department did not specify which roadway was affected.
  Drivers should avoid
  
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• Gas leak shuts down Bee Cave Parkway

  21-03-2025 17:48 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A gas leak in the 13200 block of Bee Cave Parkway has caused a temporary shutdown of the road, according to a social media post from Lake Travis Fire Rescue on Friday."LTFR firefighters are responding to a 6-inch gas line break," the post reads. "Bee Cave Parkway is shut down in both directions. Avoid the area and find an alternative route while first responders work to mitigate the incident."Courtesy Lake Travis Fire Rescue
  In a follow-up post 20 minutes later, LTFR wrote
  
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• 'Work of art to rubble': Austin reevaluating public art program, addressing concerns

  21-03-2025 17:35 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- After concerns were raised about elements of the city of Austin's Art in Public Places (AIPP) program, the city is reevaluating it."Created in 1985, by action of Austin City Council, the City ordinance establishes 2% of eligible capital improvement project budgets as a set-aside commitment to commission artists or purchase art for City-owned property and facilities," the AIPP website reads.As part of the AIPP reevaluation, city staff said they would look at the program's pu
  
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• FAA lifts ground stop at Austin airport

  21-03-2025 17:26 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary Ground Stop for arriving flights from Houston and Dallas into the Austin airport (AUS). The order has since been lifted, according to the FAA's dashboard.
  According to the FAA, the ground stop was issued due to staffing purposes, with a medium probability of extension.Austin Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes posted on X "THIS is why I've been demanding action on the critical air traffic controller staffing crisis
  
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• FAA issues ground stop at Austin airport, impacting arriving flights

  21-03-2025 17:26 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary Ground Stop for arriving flights from Houston into the Austin airport (AUS).According to the FAA, the ground stop was issued due to staffing purposes, with a medium probability of extension.“At this time, flights arriving into AUS from airports outside of Houston area are not affected. Departing flights are not affected,” AUS said regarding the ground stop.Previously in December 2024, the FAA issu
  
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• Austin woman tackles Tokyo Marathon decade after brain tumor removal, relearning to walk

  21-03-2025 17:23 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — Running a single marathon is a massive accomplishment in and of itself. Running a marathon after having a brain tumor removed, and needing to relearn how to walk? That's nothing short of miraculous.That's the journey Austinite Sara Ferniza began more than a decade ago, when a fall and head injury in 2013 revealed an undetected brain tumor growing. After an emergency room visit and an MRI uncovered the tumor in her brain, Ferniza sought the advice of a neurosurgeon in Chicag
  
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• Court rules Texas can place LGBTQ+ foster kids into unsupportive homes

  21-03-2025 16:57 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) —A federal court judge ruled March 13 that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cannot require Texas' Department of Family and Protective Services to place LGBTQ+ children in supportive foster homes. PREVIOUS: Paxton sues federal agency over protections for LGBTQI+ foster kidsDistrict Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle, appointed to the court in 2018 by President Donald Trump, wrote that HHS overstepped its statutory authority by creating "a new category of foste
  
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• Paxton impeachment cost exceeded $5.1 million, audit finds

  21-03-2025 16:27 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Texas paid over $5.1 million to prepare and conduct Attorney General Ken Paxton’s 2023 impeachment trial, according to a state audit ordered by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick a year and a half ago following Paxton’s acquittal.“As I said from the very beginning, taxpayers have a right to know how much of their tax dollars were spent on former Speaker Dade Phelan’s failed political gambit,” Patrick said in a statement following the audit’s release Friday.
  
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• Texas Senate passes bill penalizing libraries for hosting drag story time

  21-03-2025 15:08 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Senate approved legislation that would strip public funding for any library that hosts a children's reading event led by a drag performer.Senate Bill 18 passed Wednesday along a strictly party line vote of 20-11. The measure is similar to one that sailed through the Senate during the last regular legislative session in 2023, but it failed to get a vote in the House. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick released a statement expressing hope that this time could be different.PREVIOU
  
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• Inside the Investigation: Senate panel hears testimony on hospital bollard bill sparked by KXAN

  21-03-2025 14:00 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- After a year-long KXAN investigation into safety gaps at hospitals across Texas, lawmakers are hearing testimony from the team behind the reporting.
  This week on Inside the Investigation - KXAN Investigator Matt Grant explains the momentum behind a bill that would require safety bollards at nearly every hospital in the state and why one hospital advocacy group doesn’t want to see it pass. Related reporting:Senate panel hears testimony on hospital bollard bill sparked
  
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• Lockhart police investigating homicide, person of interest being questioned

  21-03-2025 13:34 via kxan.com
  
  LOCKHART, Texas (KXAN) -- The Lockhart Police Department is investigating a homicide scene at City Park and asking people to avoid the area.The city posted on social media at 6:44 a.m. about the investigation.
  A person of interest was detained for questioning, according to police.
  The department said there is no threat to the public.
  This is a developing story, refresh this story for updates.
  
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• 19-year-old suspect arrested following Lockhart homicide investigation

  21-03-2025 13:34 via kxan.com
  
  LOCKHART, Texas (KXAN) — The Lockhart Police Department said it has made an arrest after a body was found at City Park overnight.LPD said 19-year-old Aaron Jose Lopez was charged in connection with the homicide of 19-year-old Michael Glasscock.According to police, Glasscock was found with injuries consistent with gunshot wounds.The city posted on social media at 6:44 a.m. about the investigation, asking people to avoid the area while police investigated. The scene has since been cleared. a
  
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• New subdivision coming to abandoned, unfinished neighborhood in south Austin

  21-03-2025 02:16 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) -- New life is coming to a formerly-abandoned subdivision in south Austin. The property on West Dittmar Road, formerly known as Southstone, is now under new ownership.Construction by the previous owners abruptly stopped, leaving unfinished homes empty for months. However, New Home Co. acquired the property in December and started demolitions this month."We'll have duplexes and single-family detached, two-story homes," said New Home Co. Vice President of Sales Amy Scott.New Home Co.
  
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• Witness shares video of man arrested during I-35 deadly crash

  21-03-2025 00:05 via kxan.com
  
  AUSTIN (KXAN) — A witness is sharing video of the scene shortly after a crash on Interstate 35 that killed five people in Austin last week.Kendrick says he was driving southbound on I-35 when he heard loud booms and then saw a truck plowing through cars."This is insane. I don't know if I can un-see those people," Kendrick said as he filmed the scene.His video shows mangled cars and debris scattered all across the interstate."Oh my God, that is my car. Thank you Lord for protecting me," he
  
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