TRAVIS COUNTY

After restoring power to more than 40,000 San Antonians affected by the winter storm, CPS Energy left to help Austin Energy on Friday, February 3.

Close to 325,000 electricity customers statewide lacked power Thursday evening. Austin’s main power provider said it can no longer promise full restoration by 6 p.m. Friday.

The new XBB.1.5. Omicron subvariant accounts of 80% of new COVID-19 cases in part of the Northeastern U.S., according to the CDC.

XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant has been detected in Austin-Travis County as COVID-19 cases increase.

Areli Escobar was sentenced to death in 2011 for an Austin murder, but even prosecutors now agree his conviction relied heavily on faulty DNA testing by the discredited Travis County crime lab.

Currently, there is a 3.5-mile stretch of pedestrian barriers along I-35 between 51st Street and Rundberg Lane.

Former Austin mayor Kirk Watson won a runoff against Celia Israel on Tuesday. Voters in Williamson County were the difference.

Watson, a former state senator who was Austin’s mayor from 1997 to 2001, pitched himself as a back-to-basics candidate who could ease the city’s growing affordability crisis.

For some local relief programs, a lack of staffing, political support and effective community outreach got in the way of spending federal funds to prevent evictions, a new report found. More than $30 million went unspent and had to be returned.

The Court of Criminal Appeals scuttled nearly 450 cases, saying migrants arrested for trespassing in Kinney County can’t ask Austin judges to hear their appeals.

Plus, porch pirates spread manure on a home after getting pranked, a teen swallowed part of a dog toy, and more.

With the onset of the 2022 Midterm elections, reports of voter intimidation have surged across the country, and in Texas.

A Central Texas man was arrested after a dead woman was found buried underneath a burn pit, according to authorities.

Overdoses are up more than 200 percent in Travis County since 2019. Officials announced Austin and the county were receiving almost 10,000 doses of naloxone.

Travis County early voting begins October 24 and runs through November 4. The city will elect a new mayor and decide on Councilmembers in five Austin districts.

Although there are laws on the books preventing certain people from possessing guns, there are few places in the state where the criminal justice system has programs to hand over firearms to law enforcement — leaving survivors at a heightened risk for gun violence.

A Texas man charged with attacking his pregnant girlfriend and killing their unborn child accepted a plea deal Monday and will serve no jail time.

Nathaniel Stallings, a former Austin Police Department officer, was acquitted on two alleged misconduct charges on Monday stemming from a 2017 arrest.

As the federal judiciary has shifted to the right, many who represent migrants are wary of bringing Operation Lone Star before the nation’s highest courts.

The Hays County Commissioners Court’s discussion surrounding a letter sent by Travis County asking the county to reconsider its plan to move forward with the completion of the final section of State H[San Marcos, TX] [Hays County news] News San Marcos News, San Marcos Record [Texas State]

The Hays County Commissioners Court will discuss a letter sent by Travis County rebuking a decision to complete the final section of State Highway 45 Southwest.Travis County’s letter outlines its disa[San Marcos, TX] [Hays County news] News San Marcos News, San Marcos Record [Texas State]

A Hays County commissioner who was charged with driving while intoxicated after crashing into a vehicle in Austin last year has been sentenced to nine months of community supervision in the case, Travis County court records show.

Hays County’s decision to move forward with plans to complete the final section of State Highway 45 Southwest has been met with disapproval by the Travis County Commissioners Court.The Hays County Com[San Marcos, TX] [Hays County news] News San Marcos News, San Marcos Record [Texas State]

President of the Austin Police Retired Officer's Association Dennis Ferris reacted to George Soros-backed prosecutor's light sentence in a fatal drunk-driving crash.

A former Texas sheriff's deputy has been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for killing his ex-wife, teenage stepdaughter and the stepdaughter's boyfriend.

Another Texas lake is now considered “fully infested” with zebra mussels.

The minimum wage in Travis County will soon be $20 an hour.

Travis County has received 5,154 doses of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine.

While there are currently 780 confirmed monkeypox cases statewide, Texas cities are bracing for an increase in infections.

A woman convicted in 2016 of murdering her husband during a road rage incident provided false payroll information over a seven-year period in order to avoid more than $9 million in payments, Texas Department of Insurance officials confirmed Thursday.

Homeowners in hot housing markets got a nasty surprise when their appraisals arrived this spring. Here’s what happened when some tried to get reductions.

Austin Public Health (APH) confirmed six monkeypox cases and seven presumptive cases on Wednesday.

Monkeypox, a virus that causes rashes and skin lesions, is considered community spread in Austin, which has 6 confirmed cases in Travis County.

The couple seeks between $250,000 and $5 million in damages.

The property owner was arrested last year after a different couple discovered a recording device pointed at the bed, according to reports.

NPR's A Martínez talks to José Garza, district attorney for Travis County, about the state of abortion access in Texas, and why he vowed to not prosecute those who seek, provide or support abortions.

Institutional speculators purchased just 35% of Bexar County properties in 2020.

Daniel Alexander was enslaved when he founded a farm before the Civil War. 175 years later, his family is fighting to keep it intact as Texas plans to expand U.S. Highway 183.

A San Antonio man who pleaded guilty to setting fire to a political party office in Austin will spend six years in prison for the crime.

A suspect was charged in the murder of a man whose body was found by deputies last month, according to the Hay’s County Sheriff’s Office.

No, sorry, we can't blame the Californians. Here's more than you ever wanted to know about your home’s skyrocketing appraisal.

Casar won the Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th Congressional District in a landslide victory last month and is expected to win the general election in November.

Months after the problems became apparent, migrants are still being kept in prison in violation of state laws under Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security crackdown.

One of Texas’ most creepy crawlies is the redheaded centipede.

The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed against Governor Greg Abbott over an order he enacted that treats gender-transitioning procedures as child abuse.

Texas' S.B.1 is a newly implemented sweeping election integrity law passed by the Republican-majority state legislature and signed by Gov. Abbott.

Abbott’s move is the latest in a long clash between Texas Republicans and Austin-area officials over policing — and comes as the push for reform in the Texas capital enters a more complex and uncertain chapter.

Indictments released Tuesday accuse 19 officers of using deadly weapons to injure 11 demonstrators during protests against racial injustice and police violence two years ago.

AUSTIN (AP) — Two of the 19 Austin police officers indicted for their actions during 2020 protests over racial injustice were involved in cases that the city paid millions of dollars to settle, accord[San Marcos, TX] [Hays County news] News San Marcos News, San Marcos Record [Texas State]

Defense attorneys for eight of 19 indicted APD officers say they were following orders when they used force against 2020 protesters. So far, there are 14 lawsuits against the city for injuries suffered during those confrontations.

Justin Berry is among 19 Austin law enforcement officers indicted and accused of using excessive force on anti-police brutality protesters in 2020.

Casar has impressive progressive endorsements, from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders. But he also is tied to some of Austin’s most progressive policies, which have attracted powerful enemies and turned off some moderate Democrats.

A Pflugerville woman who disappeared late last month was likely killed by her boyfriend, who is currently on the run, according to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.

Update:

With less than a month left to vote by mail in the March primary election, hundreds of applications for mail-in ballots are being rejected as both Texas voters and local election officials decipher new ID requirements enacted by Republican lawmakers.

Last week, the Travis County district attorney’s office gave Paxton four days to turn over communications requested by the state’s largest newspapers or face a lawsuit.

A legal defense group is asking Travis County courts to throw out the arrests of hundreds of migrants swept up in the governor’s border initiative. The case is expected to draw in the Texas attorney general and address whether Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan is unconstitutional.

The Republican attorney general has four days to provide communications or face a lawsuit, multiple Texas news outlets first reported.

The Travis County district attorney, a Democrat, says the Republican attorney general has four days to provide communications, multiple Texas news outlets first reported.

A Travis County judge Thursday tossed out the trespassing charge of an Ecuadorian man who said he came to the United States seeking asylum. His lawyers argued that the governor’s directive to arrest migrants on state charges unconstitutionally usurps federal immigration law.

Texas Republicans last year enacted new identification requirements for voting by mail as part of sweeping legislation that further restricted the state’s voting process and narrowed local control of elections.

It’s unclear whether the local mandate, which requires businesses to post signs outlining their safety guidelines, is in conflict with Gov. Greg Abbott’s previous pandemic orders.

San Antonio hits peak in new single-day COVID-19 cases

The State Commission on Judicial Conduct had admonished Eckhardt in 2020 for her actions as Travis County judge.

The study by scientists from the University of Texas at El Paso looked at white-tailed deer in Travis County. Their conclusions matched research confirming COVID in deer populations in Illinois, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania. Watts and fellow researchers studied blood samples from 54 hunter-harvested deer in Travis County during the first two months of 2021. The COVID risk to hunters who harvest deer in Texas is regarded as low. The research paper on the Travis County deer herd was published in the journal “Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases.”

The pool remains closed to swimming after the deep freeze of winter 2021 destabilized the limestone overhang.

A search is underway after a 76-year-old man disappeared in Bastrop County, according to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.

Sgt. Joe Escribano of the Travis County Constable’s Office Precinct #3 Clean Air Task Force conducted an eTAG, or temporary tag, course recently at Texas State Technical College’s campus in Harlingen.

The effort to charge Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir came at a time when many Texas Republicans questioned the integrity of last year’s election despite there being no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

Developers won't be able to touch land surrounding the popular water hole.

The Austin Democrat, who has served in Congress since 1995, currently represents the 35th District, which stretches down to San Antonio. He will run in the newly created 37th District located in Travis County.

In the suit, Phillips alleged that White and Houston wanted the case back in local jurisdiction to get a more lenient plea deal. Phillips believes his firing was because he reported his belief of wrongdoing in these four incidents to DA White. While details of the specific case are not provided in the lawsuit, Phillips filed to dismiss the case. Asked why he believed Phillips had filed the suit, White said, “He’s not a happy person,” and declined to comment further on the allegations. Three of the counties named as defendants in the suit have filed to request the venue be moved to district court in the local counties.

The Molotov cocktail was accompanied by a political note.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An arson investigation was underway after a man wearing an American flag bandanna threw a Molotov cocktail into the headquarters of the county Democratic Party in Austin.

No one was injured.

For years community leaders drew a portrait of a luminous economic future for the Rio Grande Valley as one of the fastest-growing regions in Texas.

School districts made a “sufficient showing” that the ban is “unlawful ... violates the Texas Constitution and would cause irreparable harm,” the judge ruled.

For years community leaders drew a portrait of a luminous economic future for the Rio Grande Valley as one of the fastest-growing regions in Texas.

The Travis County Sheriff’s Office is investigating after a newborn child was found dead in a shallow grave near a creek south of Austin.

A letter from the Texas comptroller shows state support for the Samsung semiconductor facility, which has filed applications for tax limitation agreements locally in Travis and Williamson Counties.

Other school districts can require face coverings while cases across Texas are sorted out. [Opinion]

A Travis County District Judge Tuesday heard more testimony and arguments over several Rio Grande Valley school districts who sued Gov. The court heard several hours of testimony on masks from representatives from Hidalgo County and other parties related to the suit on Monday. Judge Catherine Mauzy, who heard the testimony and arguments, said she was set to hear testimony on two related TROs tomorrow. Representing Valley school districts, O’Hanlon, Demerath & Castillo attorney David Campbell argued the governor was overstepping his bounds with the mask fight. “Because that is the only thing the school districts are trying to do in this case,” he said.

The Brownsville Independent School District's policy of requiring face masks in classrooms remained in effect Monday after a hearing in Travis County over Gov. Greg Abbott's attempt to block mask mandates by the state's two largest school districts and several from the Rio Grande Valley including Brownsville.

Greg Abbott over the authority to mandate masks at a local level. An order issued by Hidalgo County Health Authority Dr. Ivan Melendez issued just before the start of the school year also mandates masks, unless districts vote to opt out of it. The court also heard from representatives from Hidalgo County’s largest school district, among them Edinburg CISD Board President Mike Farias, who said there’s been little local opposition to the district’s mask mandate. “As a matter of fact, on our first day of opening school our superintendent received a total of four phone calls, with expressing them not agreeing with the mask mandates. “The mask mandate for La Joya ISD is critical because we need to make sure that we keep students in school, and we believe that the mask mandate can help us (do) that,” she said.

With the U.S. Food and Drug administration’s full approval of the Pfizer vaccine, Texas is in uncharted territory when it comes to COVID-19 vaccinations.

The judge reasoned that Governor Abbott did not have the enforcement authority to ban mask mandates "against Texas independent school districts."

The Texas Supreme Court denied a motion for relief filed on behalf of Gov. Greg Abbott, thus allowing a temporary restraining order against his mask mandate ban to stand.

Back-and-forth legal rulings have left some school districts with the choice of flouting Abbott and mandating masks — or waiting for the dust to settle.

In San Antonio, EMS was unavailable for 26 minutes on August 11.

In the face of skyrocketing hospitalizations, the heads of cities, counties and school districts have grown desperate for ways to contain the virus.

House Democrats who refuse to show up for the Legislature could soon be detained by law enforcement and brought back to the state Capitol, after the Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday voided a state district judge's temporary restraining order barring their arrest.

House Democrats who refuse to show up for the Legislature could soon be detained by law enforcement and brought back to the state Capitol, after...

Here’s what to do if you lose your COVID-19 vaccine card.

Officials in Dallas, Harris and Travis counties want residents to take stronger precautions as the delta variant drives an increase in coronavirus infections across Texas.

The city’s return to Stage 3 risk-based guidelines marks the first time a major Texas city has reversed direction in the trend toward normalcy. But others are also reporting surges in cases.

State officials have added 59 deaths to the toll wrought by the February cold wave and the ensuing collapse of the Texas electric power grid.

Army Sgt. Daniel Perry shot and killed Foster, who was legally armed, after an altercation during a protest against police brutality last summer, police said. Perry argues it was in self defense.

A former Texas sheriff’s deputy has been indicted on capital murder charges in the April shooting of his ex-wife, teenage stepdaughter and the stepdaughter's boyfriend.

Due to falling rocks, Travis County Parks officials will not be allowing swimming at Hamilton Pool Preserve for the foreseeable future.

Officials in Travis and Harris counties — both early adopters of pandemic restrictions — rolled some back Tuesday in an effort to allow vaccinated residents to return to pre-pandemic living.