Publication
Petition to close middle school in Austin frustrates parents
After years of changes meant to improve academics at Webb Middle School, families told Austin Independent School District leaders that they’re weary and frustrated over a proposed petition to close the campus. But the petition may be the only option...
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Casar says man shot by ICE agent needs surgery
SAN ANTONIO – The man who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on Sunday in North Austin is in “nonstop intense pain” and needs surgery to remove the bullet lodged near his spine, U.S. Rep. Greg Casar said this week after visiting...
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CASAR VISITS ICE CENTER
ABOVE: U.S. Rep. Greg Casar exits the South Texas ICE Processing Center on Wednesday in Pearsall after visiting with Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a Venezuelan man who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Sunday in Austin. LEFT:...
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Video contradicts parts of Garcés Pérez’s account
Minutes before a federal immigration agent shot and wounded a man Sunday in North Austin, the agent and his supervisor had pulled the man over in his blue Toyota sedan and were talking to him at the driver’s side window along a neighborhood street,...
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ICE no longer is revealing locations of thousands set for removal
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped publicly revealing where it is holding thousands of detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, an unannounced move that has made it far more difficult for lawyers and relatives to find...
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Shooting by ICE agent injures man in N. Austin
A U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and wounded a man Sunday afternoon in North Austin, city officials said, prompting calls for an independent investigation into the incident as demonstrators gathered at the scene demanding...
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TRACING AUSTIN’S TEX-MEX ROOTS
Tex-Mex is as Austin as it gets. While the rage for interior Mexican cuisine and Indigenous techniques recovered by a new generation of chefs has swept over the city during the past few decades, Tex-Mex — by definition a fusion food — is arguably as...
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Abuse victim seeks suit’s revival
AUSTIN — Standing in front of the Texas Supreme Court, Cindy Clemishire, the woman whose accusations against former Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris led to his guilty plea on child sex abuse charges, said a recent court ruling involving the...
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Ethnic, gender studies excluded as UT majors
For weeks, the University of Texas’ provost, College of Liberal Arts dean and faculty have considered proposals to decide what majors should remain in the newly formed social and cultural analysis department. But as students apply for admission to UT...
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Author, activist was trailblazer in women’s movement
NEW YORK — Gloria Steinem, the celebrated author and activist who became the most visible symbol of the U.S. women’s movement and remained a fierce and eloquent advocate for equality for six decades, has died. She was 92. With her trademark streaked...
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‘We want water; we want clean water’
“No more data centers! Go home!” That was the message from protesters as data center industry leaders converged in downtown Austin, with demonstrators opposing the rapidly expanding sector that’s now becoming a hot topic in Texas politics. The...
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Cruz to firms: Contribute to Trump Accounts
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz doubled down Monday on his call for U.S. companies to begin contributing to so-called Trump Accounts. Speaking at an event in Austin on Monday, Cruz, who led the legislation last year creating the program, described the accounts as...
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Texan dies in canyon disaster
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — The bodies of a Texas chiropractor and at least one other person have been found after a major weekend flash flood swept through the Grand Canyon, and forecasters warned that more flooding was possible as heavy rain...
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Shedding light on space mysteries
NASA launched a space telescope Sunday morning that could investigate some of scientists’ biggest questions: How does the universe work, and are humans alone? The $4.3 billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched at 6:26 a.m. Central time atop a...
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Do state takeovers of schools work?
A day before the Texas Education Agency released its 2026 school district and campus scores, Austin families gathered in front of Eastside Early College High School to protest a potential state takeover that those scores could trigger. “We’re not here...
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Trump signs order for Space Academy
NASA is getting an undergraduate university similar to U.S. military academies, President Donald Trump announced Friday. Trump signed an executive order to create the U.S. Space Academy during his trip to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where...
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Search underway for 1,400 missing after flood
DEVIGHAT, Nepal — Rescue teams and military helicopters searched Thursday for hundreds of missing people along the mountainous Nepal-China border, where a deadly torrent of water and mud several stories high swept through communities a day earlier...
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Texas to get over $1B in Meta settlement
Meta Platforms Inc. has agreed to pay as much as $18 billion to settle claims that the social media giant endangered children. Under deals announced Wednesday, the parent of Facebook and Instagram will pay Texas more than $1 billion and other states...
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GOODBYE, DOLLY
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dolly Parton, the country music icon whose soaring vibrato vocals, poignant songwriting and sparkling costumes defined her rise from a log cabin in the Tennessee mountains to the height of stardom and acclaim, has died. She was 80...
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U.S. launches more sanctions on Iran
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday announced a new round of sanctions aimed at Iran and warned every country that does business with the Islamic Republic to sever those financial ties or face retaliation from the United...
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Hopefuls offer plans on rising costs
With affordability concerns dominating this year’s election cycle, both candidates in the U.S. Senate race in Texas are pitching plans to address the rising cost of living. Attorney General Ken Paxton’s plan focuses on tax deductions that tax experts...
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Stories behind UT’s closed departments
As Longhorns return to campus Monday, decades-old ethnic and gender studies departments will no longer exist. Six months ago, University of Texas President Jim Davis announced that the university would consolidate ethnic and gender studies programs in...
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Marker dedicated to queer life on block
Just days after the city of Austin agreed to abandon the rainbow crosswalk at Colorado and West Fourth streets, Mayor Kirk Watson, along with officials and community leaders, dedicated a historical marker to queer life on the block. The mood was...
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Power-line pause raises alarm from industry
Calls to pause plans for the state’s largestever transmission lines got a reality check as industry leaders warned lawmakers that halting the project could be “catastrophic.” The alarm was sounded by the state’s utility regulator, manufacturers and...
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Protesters call for ‘no wall’
As a former state senator and commissioner of the General Land Office, Jerry Patterson is no stranger to emotional issues that divide Texans into partisan camps. But sitting outside the Texas Parks and Wildlife headquarters in Austin Wednesday, the...
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FIRST DAY CHEERS, TEARS
Samantha Yanes waved goodbye to her son, Johnny, as he walked into Casey Elementary School on Tuesday to start his first day of fifth grade. “Ready to learn some cool stuff ?” said Yanes, who also attended Casey. She was excited for her son’s last...
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Mayor works with AISD
Mayor Kirk Watson is talking with Austin Independent School District officials about how the district should respond to the rising threat of a state takeover, he told the American-Statesman on Monday. Austin ISD is facing a state takeover after two...
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Mechanics, customers steer away from shops
When Cameron Chen was told it could cost about $2,200 to fix a problem with his car, he called his dad. The price didn’t sound right. Chen, who later bought the parts himself, said they cost less than $200. And he had spent enough time driving along...
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Ground zero for Tesla’s grand goals
Gigafactory Texas is perhaps best known for its massive main building, the one with solar panels on the roof spelling out “TESLA.” To be sure, most of the work done in that building — assembling electric vehicles — is what people think of when they...
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Casar, officials slam rise in ICE activity
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar and other Austin-area elected officials on Friday denounced what they described as an escalation of federal immigration enforcement in Austin, speaking outside the Austin Spanish First Seventhday Adventist Church, where an...
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Austin ISD at risk of state takeover
Two long-struggling North Austin middle schools have scored a fifth F on the state’s accountability system, triggering a law that allows the Texas Education Agency to take over the Austin Independent School District. Austin ISD officials announced the...
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OPENING TUNE
TOP: Ronald Bellamy, left, sings for Steve Schares during the Wednesday grand opening of the new Buc-ee’s in San Marcos. Bellamy, of Waller County, has been visiting Buc-ee’s since 2018 and makes his own outfits. LEFT: Merchandise sporting the iconic...
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Search for thousands presses on in Colombia
PEREIRA, Colombia — Rescue crews and civilians in Colombia painstakingly searched through rubble Tuesday in the hopes of finding survivors trapped under debris after a powerful earthquake left thousands missing in dozens of cities and towns. The 7.4...
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Quake in Colombia leaves at least 111 dead
CALI, Colombia — A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 111 people, damaging hundreds of buildings and leaving many trapped under debris while their loved ones and rescue workers searched through...
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After latest flood, Kerr waiting for aid
After the deadly July 4, 2025, flood on the Guadalupe River, it took just two days for President Donald Trump to approve a major disaster declaration for the region, opening up significant federal assistance for Kerr County. Last month, after...
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Police protests shrink amid new tactics, fatigue
When Austin police killed Michael Ramos, an unarmed Black and Latino man, in April 2020, followed weeks later by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, thousands of Austinites took to the streets to protest police violence. Demonstrators...
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Camp sues to shield Eastland family
Camp Mystic is asking a bankruptcy judge to temporarily stop parents from seeking to hold members of the Eastland family personally responsible for the deaths of their children in last summer’s catastrophic flood at the Texas Hill Country retreat. In...
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Panel votes to hold Fauci in contempt
WASHINGTON — A Senate committee voted along party lines Thursday to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress over his refusal to answer questions at a hearing on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, setting up a referral to the Justice...
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Austin police cases could head to trial
A Travis County judge on Wednesday rejected defense efforts to dismiss felony cases against two Austin police officers, saying it is too early to determine whether prosecutors mishandled evidence despite months of accusations that the district...
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Abbott orders audit of Texas data centers
Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday ordered state regulators to conduct an audit of all data center projects seeking permits in Texas before they give any more the green light, the latest sign the Republican governor is feeling political pressure to do more to...
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Families face hurdle in bankruptcy
The five lawsuits filed against Camp Mystic by parents of campers killed in last summer’s historic flash flood seemed to get stronger when members of the Eastland family testified during pretrial hearings about their responses to the...
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‘Without consequences’
On a crisp afternoon in January 2025, Austin police officer Daniel Kessler was feverishly texting his girlfriend — often with no hand on the wheel — as he raced through the city with his emergency lights and siren activated. Seconds before the crash,...
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How Tesla missed on tax breaks
To win the latest installment of its Travis County tax breaks, Tesla Inc. had to address a grave loss. The issue stretched back to a hot day in 2021, when a worker died at the site of Gigafactory Texas, the company’s sprawling plant and headquarters...
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Austin ISD closes Paredes abruptly
A South Austin middle school will close less than three weeks before classes start, bringing the number of Austin Independent School District campuses closed this year to 11, the school board has decided. The decision to close the school, which came...
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More video of fatal shooting
Newly released security video showing Austin police fatally shooting a 17-year-old widened the lens on what happened in the moments before Anthoneil Williams II died, including when he arrived at the Northeast Austin park where the encounter unfolded...
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Pushing back at SB37 ‘censorship’
Lisa Limeri loved her life in Lubbock. A biology professor at Texas Tech University, she earned tenure after half a decade at the institution and was committed to her work teaching students the fundamentals of biology and anatomy. But when the...
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Panel skeptical of data center exemption
A key panel of state lawmakers appeared open on Monday to repealing or limiting a decade-old sales tax exemption for data centers that has come under scrutiny for costing billions of taxpayer dollars amid the boom in artificial intelligence. Facing...
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Coalition takes aim at Texas data centers
Calls are growing among data center opponents for Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session for lawmakers to rein in the projects that have roiled rural communities. On Monday morning, in advance of two interim hearings this week dealing with data...
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Kerrville businesses try to get back up
KERRVILLE — Last July, the parking lot of Gibson’s Discount Center was a hub for Kerrville’s recovery after an unimaginable flood. Volunteers cooked meals for flood victims in the parking lot, and residents bought cleanup supplies inside the store,...
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I-35 THEN AND NOW
In some ways, Interstate 35 has always been with us. While the current construction to widen and lower the freeway through Central Austin challenges and vexes us, its north-south axis, running parallel to the steep Balcones Escarpment to the west,...
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Financing plan for redevelopment OK’d
After a contentious meeting marked by hours of public testimony, criticism over a lack of transparency and some live music, the Austin City Council approved a financing plan for the redevelopment of the nearly 2,650acre Southeast Austin tract known as...
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Hinojosa wants freeze on new data centers
Gina Hinojosa, the Democrat running for governor, on Thursday called on Gov. Greg Abbott to halt all data center construction in the state until lawmakers craft rules for the projects, which have voters up in arms. The Austin state representative...
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Trump honors 4 service members killed during fighting in Middle East
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — President Donald Trump on Wednesday honored the lives of four U.S. service members who were killed in the Middle East and returned to their families at an Air Force base in Delaware. The president saluted as four transfer...
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A RARE SIGHT
Water fills Natural Bridge Caverns on Friday after heavy rainfall in San Antonio. The natural phenomenon allows visitors to view the Trinity Aquifer, which is usually hidden, and has not been visible for 10 years. The attraction offers tours daily.
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600 Hill Country homes damaged in flood
KERRVILLE — About 600 homes and 100 businesses were damaged in the Hill Country northwest of San Antonio during last week’s flooding, state officials said Monday. Kerr County, which was the epicenter of last summer’s fatal July 4 flood, has also...
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Warnings help limit deaths this time
For Lorena Guillen, one of the worst parts of the flood that roiled the Hill Country last week was the terrible memories it dredged up. In the early hours of July 4, 2025, she’d rushed from one recreational vehicle to the next at her Blue Oak RV Park...
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A prescription for huge medical bills
Last October, Caitlin Musignac experienced chest pain. The Austin mom of two who has health insurance through the federal Affordable Care Act Marketplace went to the emergency room. At St. David’s South Austin Medical Center, she received an X-ray....
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Warrant shows FBI examining van tied to Texas ICE shooting for drugs
A federal search warrant obtained by the FBI shows that investigators are searching the van driven by Lorenzo Salgado Araujo for evidence of drugs after he was fatally shot by a federal immigration agent. An FBI agent requested a warrant from a U.S....
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2 killed as floods hit Hill Country, S. Texas
At least two people died after being swept away by floodwaters and scores of others were rescued from their inundated houses, vehicles and campgrounds Thursday as heavy rain and thunderstorms pounded the Hill Country and parts of South Texas. Swollen...
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PINK IN PUDDLES
A woman shields herself from the rain Wednesday in downtown Austin. The flooding risk in Central Texas will linger Thursday before sunshine and heat return.
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VISIT BY THE VEEP
TOP: Air Force 2 waits on the tarmac of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport ahead of Vice President J.D. Vance’s departure Tuesday. RIGHT: Vance’s motorcade exits the lot for Korrect Fitness, the gym associated with Joe Rogan’s Onnit brand, in...
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Lack of transparency from ICE ‘unacceptable’
A week after an ICE agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare’s office still doesn’t know the names of the agents who were there. “That is unacceptable,” Teare said during a Monday news...
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Vigil honors man killed by ICE
Pictures of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the 52-year-old Mexican man fatally shot by federal immigration agents, sat atop makeshift altars throughout Wildflower Church in South Austin as community members gathered to honor his memory and call for...
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Families search for new roots
On a March morning, thirdgrader Talia Martinez began class in the back seat of her mother’s maroon Honda sedan. She and her co-teacher, kindergartener Lily Dowis, instructed a class of make-believe students to write sentences. The girls traced letters...
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