“This is the kind of thing that really gets everybody’s attention now. It was a big deal and a big waste of assets.” — Burnet County Sheriff Calvin Boyd
A man who claimed to have defended a Burnet church from two “suspicious” men Sunday morning has been arrested and charged with creating a false report.
Church leaders express shock and disappointment over the incident…
A shooting last week that left a 17-year-old dead and two others injured in northwest Austin started over a fender-bender. (KXAN-TV)
In the twenty-four hours before former Austin police officer Christopher Taylor was found guilty of deadly conduct, both his defense attorneys as well as the prosecution raised concerns of a compromised jury. (CBS Austin)
Austin has been gradually installing fixed cameras across the city this year. The police department reports the new data shows it has helped solve crime. (KVUE-TV)
A pre-trial hearing is set for today for the Round Rock Juneteenth celebration shooting suspect. 18-year-old Keshawn Dixon is charged in a shooting that killed two women and injured 14 others.
Urban Alchemy, a national nonprofit, has been awarded a $2 million federal grant to grow Austin’s Homelessness Engagement Assistance Response Team, or HEART ATX. It will help expand an initiative to send trained, trauma-informed practitioners to respond to nonviolent public safety needs in Central East Austin. (Austin Monitor)
Austin City Council has set October 24 as the date to vote on the police department’s recent new contract. Council members are set to receive a briefing on tentative police contract during a work session today. (Austin American-Statesman)
Lisa Davis was officially sworn in as Austin’s new police chief on Monday.
As of Monday afternoon, Travis County has 920,000 voters registered. About 10,000 of them have been added in the last month.
“We’ve had a lot of procrastinators today waiting till the last day to register and update their address. And that’s fine. We’re here for them. We want to make sure that people check to see if they’re registered at their current address, because if they’re not, today is the day to get that updated.” — Bruce Elfant, Travis County voter registrar
Yesterday was the registration deadline and thousands lined up to make sure they were on the rolls. (Fox7 Austin)
The city of Taylor issued a boil water notice Monday after a report of a water main break. (City of Taylor)
An autopsy revealed a 19-year-old cadet from Texas who died at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado last month did so from bacteria that can cause sepsis in rare cases. (KVUE-TV)
The Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal from a former Texas police officer convicted in the death of a woman who was shot through a window of her home. (KVUE-TV)
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to intervene in a clash between Texas’ near-total abortion ban and federal guidance, letting stand a lower court’s ruling that the state’s hospitals cannot be compelled to provide emergency abortions. (Austin American-Statesman)
A new survey of physicians and medical residents found one in five pregnant patients considered leaving Texas because they feel their OB-GYNs cannot provide adequate care for them under the state’s near-total abortion ban. (Austin American-Statesman)
First responders were busy Monday with two small Central Texas wildfires.
The Open Range Fire is burning across 16 acres in Williamson County, at roughly 90% containment.
The Bee Creek Fire is also active in Caldwell County, stretching along 10 acres of land south of Austin. This wildfire is 85% contained as of early this morning. (KVUE-TV)
Leaks and inefficiencies throughout the local water system cause Austin Water to lose more than 8 billion gallons per year – enough to fill 12,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. (Austin Monitor)
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced on Monday that he directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to deploy Texas emergency response and recovery resources to Florida and Tennessee, following requests from the Florida Division of Emergency Management ahead of Hurricane Milton and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency for Hurricane Helene impacts. (Fox7 Austin)
Florida is bracing…
Our recent weather pattern continues through the week…
But a look at the extended forecast finally shows more seasonable temperatures beginning around the 15th…
How Central Texas lawns are weathering the longest dry spell of 2024. (KXAN-TV)
Weather alerts for extreme cold and freezing temperatures are being simplified. The new consolidation of watches, warnings and advisories took effect October 1 nationwide. (KXAN-TV)
Texas’ rapid population growth means a possible change in election results. (KXAN-TV)
Texas Atorney General Ken Paxton sent a letter on Monday to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services requesting the federal government confirm the citizenship status of more than 450,000 of Texas’ registered voters. (Texas Radio News)
Vice President Kamala Harris is calling former President Donald Trump extraordinarily irresponsible for spreading misinformation about the federal response to Hurricane Helene.
Vice President Kamala Harris faced tough questions about how she’d pay for her economic plans, whether Democrats were too slow to enact border security measures, how she’d confront Russia over its war in Ukraine and more in a wide-ranging “60 Minutes” interview that aired Monday. (CNN)
The race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump remains a seeming dead heat less than five weeks before the election according to a string of surveys this month, with the latest three big polls showing Harris maintaining a national lead, though it might be tightening. (Forbes)
SPORTS
According to Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian, all signs point toward quarterback Quinn Ewers returning to the field for the Red River Rivalry on Saturday. (KXAN-TV)
It was announced Monday that the Longhorns’ Week 8 home contest vs. Georgia on October 19, will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT and air on ABC. (Texas Longhorns)
The next game for Austin FC will be their final one of the 2024 season when they host the Colorado Rapids on October 19. Head coach Josh Wolff was fired last weekend. (Austin FC)
The Forgotten Historical Towns of South Texas: Rio Grande City, Roma, and Hebbronville…
