May 22, 2013 @ 5:44pm •
Text Post •
Tweet this •
Share on Facebook
Top Stories Today: 5.22.2013
The top 5 stories on Statesman.com at 5 p.m.:
- House Democrats kill welfare testing bill, and about 50 others: There are only days left until the end of the Texas legislative session, which means bills are butting up against deadlines.
- Lawsuit pending of Williamson County constable interviews: A Central Texas civil rights group is threatening legal action after Williamson County commissioners interviewed candidates for a constable job and asked about their views on abortion, gay marriage, religion and politics.
- 2nd suspect charged in sex assault during SXSW: After an alleged accomplice connected him to the case, a second man — an Army sergeant — has been charged with the sexual assault of a woman during the 2013 South by Southwest festival, according to an arrest affidavit.
- Low water in Lake Travis, but high hopes for Memorial Day: Memorial Day weekend in Austin typically means time spent on Lake Travis, Lake Austin and Lady Bird Lake, but water levels continue to fall to historic lows.
- Agencies to target aggressive Central Texas drivers: A traffic safety group has been formed to try to stem the record pace for deadly encounters on local roadways this year.
May 21, 2013 @ 2:52pm •
Text Post •
Tweet this •
Share on Facebook
In Case You Missed It: May 18-19
Some of the best stories you might have missed over the weekend:
(Photo by Rodolfo Gonzalez / Austin American-Statesman)
- South Lamar area’s transformation continues: ManyAustinites watched sadly the demolition of Lamar Plaza - which once housed The Highball and businesses like Heart of Texas Music - and the construction going on now to build the new Lamar Union is one of the most visible signs of change. Construction crews are now in the midst of excavation work, making space for underground parking garages.
- Love’s Last Resort: An investigative piece in the Statesman on Sunday looked at one last resort method that some Texas parents use to get their children expensive mental health care. Last year, parents of 130 children claimed to have abused or neglected their children in order to get them into state custody.
- Austin’s tech scene: Fewer workers but healthier ecosystem: Austin’s tech scene was on a high in 2001, before the tech bubble burst. By some measures, Austin still hasn’t fully recovered from its dot-com excesses - but the overall picture isn’t all bad.
- Missing the real story in Iraq: A reporter reflects on covering the U.S. invasion of Iraq a decade ago: The Statesman’s Robert W. Gee describes what it was like being a reporter in Iraq in the early days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq:
“Whether it was a reluctance to question government in a time of patriotic fervor, or a reckless push for scoops no matter how flimsy the sourcing, we failed.”
May 20, 2013 @ 2:30pm •
Video Post •
Tweet this •
Share on Facebook
Trifecta of drought, late freeze, hail decimate Hill Country peach crop
Picking up Fredericksburg peaches at the grocery store or a roadside stand is a tradition of the warmer months in Austin, as much as finding a patch of bluebonnets in which to take a photo. But this year, finding Fredericksburg peaches in Austin isn’t likely:
“Ricky Priess, owner of Gold Orchards in Stonewall, whose family has been growing peaches since 1940, said that he has lost has entire crop for the year. … Over the past 10 years, he’s had five years with very small crops or no crops at all. He’s only had a bumper crop in 2010. In the past four years, he’s lost 20 acres of peach trees.”
About 40 percent of Texas’ peach crop comes from the Hill Country:
“Texas typically produces 23 million pounds of peaches a year, with an annual production value of about $33 million, according to the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Gillespie County has about 1,400 acres of commercial peach orchards, and 40 percent of the state’s peaches come from the area, according to the Hill Country Fruit Council.”
Read more
1 note
