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Water customers in Travis County have questions after $500 fine, service shut off

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:35:22 GMT

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Some water customers in and around Steiner Ranch paid $500 fines to restore their water service. They said the utility was cut with little notice and for unknown reasons.KXAN received several ReportIt tips about these water shutoffs Monday. One tip said as many as 60 people were in line at Travis County Water and Control Improvement District 17 to speak with representatives about their water service. How many citations has Austin Water issued since Stage 2 restrictions began? Holley Kenney lives in Steiner Ranch and had her service cut Monday. She visited WCID17 to find out why, and said she was told she had violated water restrictions and needed to pay $550 in fines to restore utilities.Kenney said this news confused her. She said her family was out of the country this summer, the same time these water violations would have taken place."They said there must be something wrong with my system. They figured it was my irrigation, and I explained my irrig...

Austin City Council to vote on police data expansion

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:35:22 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Some Austin City Council members want more robust and frequent data from the Austin Police Department. Council will vote on a resolution Thursday that would ask the police department to post monthly data on its portal including the following: Demand for police services, including call type, priority level, how fast a unit arrived and number of officers for every callMental health services, including a list of mental health calls resulting in serious bodily injury or deathSupply of police services, including number of personnel, overtime hours worked and number of retirements each monthIf approved, that data would be published on the city's existing Open Data Portal starting in March of 2024 and would include data for the previous 36 months. It would be updated monthly, if passed as written. According to the author of the resolution, Council Member Chito Vela, it could help guide policy decisions on things like staffing shortages, response times and mental health cal...

Texas law requires data breaches to be reported to the AG office. Here's how you can check

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:35:22 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new Texas law aims to increase transparency on how data breaches impact Texans. The law requires security system breaches to be reported to the Texas attorney general. Then, the AG's office must publicly post a list of the notifications received for up to one year. The law, authored by State Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, went into effect Sept. 1. RELATED: New Texas laws go into effect The data security breach reports website lists the individual or entity name, the type of information affected, the number of Texans affected, whether notification was provided to consumers and other breach information. The report includes over 560 security breaches as of Sept. 12. The AG's office said the law requires businesses and organizations with a data breach that affects 350 Texans or more to report the breach to the attorney general's office as soon as possible or no later than 30 days after the beach is discovered. Affected businesses and organizations must also notify...

McCallum High School upgrades safety on campus with new fencing

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:35:22 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – There is a new fence surrounding one side of McCallum High School."Safety and security for our students is the top priority," said Michael Mann, executive director of construction management for Austin Independent School District. The new fencing just recently went up at McCallum, but the plans to add safety upgrades to campuses around Austin ISD were made possible back in November, when the 2022 Bond Package was passed by voters. "We are in the first wave of getting these fencing projects rolled out," Mann said. In August, students at McCallum were met outside the front of the school by demonstrators with anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion signs."That was an example of why we want to have a secure perimeter, but it wasn't what specifically spurred us, this was already in the plans," Mann said. Texas’ State of Education: ‘It’s not about us’ McCallum Principal Andy Baxa said there have been instances over the years that have raised concerns, but these new fences sho...

Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates often speak out on hot topics. Only one faces impeachment threat.

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:35:22 GMT

MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Supreme Court justice who Republicans are threatening to impeach over comments she made on the campaign trail about abortion and redistricting isn’t the first member of the court to offer public opinions about major issues of the day.One conservative justice frequently spoke out in favor of gun rights during her campaign, even producing a political mailer showing her brandishing a shotgun and wearing a hat promoting the NRA. Another had previously called Planned Parenthood, a frequent litigant in abortion cases, a “wicked organization.”And a former conservative justice faced a barrage of criticism after a campaign filled with misleading information about crime that raised questions about whether he could be impartial in cases involving criminal defendants.An Associated Press review of previous campaigns and public statements by Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates reveals that both conservatives and liberals have weighed in on topics that could come befor...

Underdog Lynx enter WNBA playoffs ready to ‘go in there and knock some socks off’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:35:22 GMT

The Lynx did not finish the WNBA’s regular season the way they had hoped to, and coach Cheryl Reeve made that abundantly clear with her postgame comments after the team’s loss Sunday to Indiana that cemented Minnesota into the No. 6 seed in the playoffs.But the good news, Lynx forward Napheesa Collier told reporters Tuesday, is none of that matters now. Sure, the 0-2 finish to the regular season pits the Lynx against a championship-caliber team in Connecticut to start the postseason.And sure, Collier noted, there are lessons to be learned from the past two losses. Minnesota needs to defend with more vigor and a closer attachment to the game plan, while also closing with better offensive execution.But now that the Lynx are locked into this matchup, all that’s of consequence is what they do moving forward, starting with Game 1 on Wednesday in Connecticut.The Lynx held a team dinner Tuesday, a tradition of sorts whenever the squad makes the playoffs. It serves two purposes — to c...

St. Paul man convicted of fatally shooting woman at East Side home where his son was shot

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:35:22 GMT

A jury has convicted a St. Paul man of fatally shooting a woman last year at her East Side home, where his son was injured by gunfire six days earlier.Jurors on Monday found Curtrez Darale Johnson, 41, guilty of second-degree intentional murder in the December killing of 40-year-old Lashonda Nix, who was shot in the head as she peeked through a curtain.Lashonda Nix (Courtesy of the family)Johnson, who denied being the shooter, was also convicted of possessing a firearm after conviction of a crime of violence. He will be sentenced Oct. 24.The case went to the jury Friday afternoon after five days of testimony, which included Nix’s younger sister, Sharonda Nix, as a “spark of life” witness. This type of testimony aims to humanize a victim for the jury.“To hear the verdict that he was guilty on both charges was a relief for my family, especially for her children and my mother, who also sat with me through most of the trial,” Sharonda Nix said Tuesday.Lashonda Nix was a “hardworking and...

Father of teen killed in crash wants more transparency from police

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:35:22 GMT

ST. LOUIS - The grief-stricken father of a Ladue Horton Watkins High School student killed with his two friends says his son was a good kid, and he was just out having fun with his two friends when they all died on the morning of Sept. 6.The father of Deion Robinson is asking for more transparency from the University City Police Department about its pursuit of the teens moments before they crashed their car into a vacant house and died.Brandon Robinson said Deion was driving the car, and friends Johnnie Ursery and Demetrius Ingram were along for the ride. All three were 15 years old.“It’s been a very hard time and we need answers. We need more answers because the video we seen was not all of what was released,” Brandon said. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Breaking News SIGN UP NOW ...

Broncos Roundtable: Did Denver’s Week 1 loss change your outlook going forward?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:35:22 GMT

Parker Gabriel, Broncos beat reporterOK, gents, welcome back to the roundtable. You just watched Josh McDaniels beat Denver for the third time in the past 12 months and the Raiders prevail for the seventh straight time in this series overall. Did the performance change your opinion of the 2023 rendition of the Broncos? If it did for me, it’s only ever so slightly. This was a team that had depth and speed questions from the day it showed up for the offseason program back in May. Those things maybe had a bigger impact than expected Week 1 — playing without Jerry Jeudy and losing Greg Dulcich hurt, but, again, depth issues aren’t new with this team — but overall they looked about as expected. They don’t have a ton of margin for error and they’re going to have to ground and pound their way to victories. Anything surprise you guys aside from the fact that, yeah, we all picked Denver to win?Ryan McFadden, Broncos beat reporterMy opinion changes a bit. Denver didn&#...

Skittles spared from California food additive ban

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:35:22 GMT

A bill that would outlaw certain additives used in processed food passed the California legislature Tuesday, clearing the way for Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign it into law.Known for its unwanted headline-grabbing "Skittles ban" moniker, the latest version of the bill actually spares the beloved rainbow-themed candy from having to make changes to its recipe after one of the chemicals in question was dropped from the list.Assembly Bill 418 would prohibit the manufacture and sale of any products that contain Red Dye No. 3, potassium bromate, brominated vegetable oil or propyl paraben. Those chemicals have already been outlawed in 27 nations in the European Union, according to the bill's author, Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino).The bill previously included language to also prohibit the use of titanium dioxide, but that chemical was removed from the banned additive list in its latest revision. Titanium dioxide was at the center of a lawsuit filed last year by a California man who alle...