Austin

Perry Sends Military Aid to Combat North Texas Wildfires

Governor Rick Perry is sending Texas Military Forces aircraft and personnel to help fight wildfires in North Texas. Fourteen local and volunteer fire departments have been fighting the fires.

Two large fires are burning in Palo Pinto County, about 75 miles west of Ft. Worth. Together, they’ve burned more than 3,000 acres. The dry conditions, terrain, and high winds have allowed the wildfires to spread quickly.

As of yet, there are no reports of injuries or homes lost.

Update: KUT News has received a statement from the Texas Department of Public Safety. Here's DPS Media and Communications Press Secretary Tom Vinger: 

On 08/09, at approximately 6p.m., Corey Williams and Audrey Steiner were arrested for Criminal Mischief, class C misdemeanor.  Williams and Steiner were observed chalking the sidewalks at 11th Street and Congress Avenue across from the Capitol. 

The charges might be enhanced to a class B misdemeanor if the cost to the city of Austin is $50 or more but less than $500.  This is based on the cost to clean the chalk off of the sidewalks. 

According to the Criminal Mischief law (28.03), “a person commits an offense if, without the effective consent of the owner, intentionally or knowingly makes markings, including inscriptions, slogans, drawings, or paintings on the tangible property of the owner.”

Original post: Two supporters of Occupy Austin were arrested downtown yesterday, charged with criminal mischief for what appears to be drawing on the sidewalk with chalk.

Several photos were posted to the Occupy Austin Facebook page, showing the arrest of two individuals.

Update: Here's a statement from Mayor Lee Leffingwell on his dais mate, Bill Spelman: 

“Bill is a good friend and colleague. Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family as he works through this difficult process. All of us at City Hall will be working closely with Bill to make sure he and his staff have all the support they need during this time. I look forward to having him back on the dais as soon as he is able.”

Original post: Austin City Council Member Bill Spelman will be absent from the dais for weeks as he deals with a pancreatic tumor, according to a statement just released from his office. 

“Just removing the tumor may not be enough to solve the problem,” Spelman says in a statement. “We won't know what kind of follow-up attention I'll need until after surgery.  But the doctors have assured me I can be in the classroom on the first day of the Fall semester, and I expect to get back on the council dais even sooner than that.” 

Austin Community College now has complete ownership of Highland Mall. The college announced today that it has acquired the ground lease for the sections of the building it didn’t already own.

ACC now plans to quickly move forward to make new use of the site. ACC President and CEO Dr. Richard Rhodes said in a statement today that the first step will be renovating the former J.C. Penney property into classrooms and labs.

“In particular, the Penney space will house the college’s math emporium, an open-lab model that allows students to move through developmental math curriculum at an individualized pace,” reads a statement from ACC.

Update: The city has  finalized the fall 2012 ballot since this post was originally written. For a look at the City of Austin's ballot propositions, read "The 18 Propositions Before Austin Voters This November." 

Original post: While a potential 10-district scenario for electing Austin City Council members – and the council’s controversial decision to put a competing “hybrid” plan on the same ballot – may be getting the most attention when it comes to November’s city charter election, those aren’t the only items Austin voters will face.

Not by a long shot.

By KUT News’ estimation, 11 items are in the bag already, set to be put before Austin voters. And two other potential changes to the city charter – Austin’s governing document – are still a distinct possibility.

Some are small housekeeping measures. Others could impact how the city runs for decades to come. But as a charter election can only be held once every two years, when voters head to the polls  they’ll face a dozen or so proposed charter changes.  Here, we run them all down.

Nine West Nile Deaths in Dallas County

Dallas County Health and Human Services reports that nine people have died from West Nile Virus. More than 160 people have been infected.

Here in Travis County, one person has died from the virus. As of yesterday, health officials were investigating a total of eight West Nile Virus cases.

According to the Centers for Disease control, Texas has seen the most cases of West Nile Virus and the most cases of the more serious, neuroinvasive form of the disease.

The City of Austin is encouraging consumers to come to city staff with complaints about payday lenders and auto title lenders.

It’s been almost one year since the Austin City Council passed an ordinance that requires lenders to register with the city and to follow restrictions on loan amounts and refinancing.

“Recently, the City of Austin put together a resource – an informational website – for both credit access businesses as well as consumers,” says city spokesperson Patricia Fraga.

Save Our Springs Ordinance Celebrates Twenty Years

20 years ago today, Austin voters approved a historic ordinance that changed the way the city handles growth.  The Save Our Springs water quality ordinance marked the first in a series of battles between environmentalists and developers.

A proposed development project by the international mining company Freeport McMoRan catalyzed a grassroots movement to protect the Edwards Aquifer and Barton Springs.

The Save Our Springs group gathered signatures and drafted an ordinance that limited construction along the Edwards Aquifer such that only 15 percent or less of the land could be paved.  The ordinance was put on the ballot and voters passed it.

A candlelight vigil will be held on the Texas Capitol grounds tonight, in memory of the six killed and several wounded in a shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin over the weekend.   

The Sunday shooting erupted when a gunman with ties to white supremacy groups stormed into a gurdwara, or temple, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, just outside of Milwaukee.  Echoing the call after the Aurora, Colorado shootings to focus less on an alleged perpetrator than their victims, NPR notes  the Milwaukee's Journal Sentinel has an interactive set of short profiles about each of the six people who were killed.

Locally, Austin is home to some 300 Sikhs, according to a statement from the Singh Sabha Gurdwara of Austin.