May 7, 2013 @ 6:05pm • Text Post • Tweet this • Share on Facebook

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Top Stories Today: 5.7.2013

The top 5 stories on Statesman.com at 6 p.m.

1. Round Rock woman abandons two children, but books dog into pet hotel, according to arrest warrant
   
   
2. Bidders snap up shoes, vehicles and memorabilia at RunTex auction: At an auction to raise money to pay Austin company’s past-due taxes, buyers bought items from a box of foot sizers (sold for $20) to a pair of running shoes worn by former President George W. Bush (sold for $1,450,) and more.
   
   
3. Police facing questions in Cleveland rescue: (AP story) “After three women who vanished a decade ago were found captive Monday at the peeling, rundown house, Cleveland police are facing questions for the second time in four years about their handling of missing-person cases.”
   
   
4. Southwest Airlines launches nonstop Austin to New Orleans route
   
   
5. APD chief of staff selected to lead UT police

April 22, 2013 @ 5:08pm • Text Post • Tweet this • Share on Facebook

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In Case You Missed It: April 20-21

Stories you might have missed over the weekend:

(Photo by Jay Janner / Austin American-Statesman. More photos from West, Texas after the fertilizer plant explosion)

Throughout the weekend, the Statesman continued our coverage of the aftermath of a fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas: 

• Over the course of the weekend, it was released that 12 of the 14 confirmed dead (others are still missing) were first-responders. Even though the final county wasn’t yet known, residents of the town spoke of those they knew had not been accounted for and remembered them as heroes,
  
  
• Isidro Rodriguez isn’t a firefighter, but when he heard there was a fire at the West Fertilizer Co. plant, he went to help. Through a twist of fate, he survived the explosion.
  
  
• President Barack Obama has declared a federal emergency and pledged disaster relief aid to West.
  
  
• Some residents in West began to be allowed to return to their homes after the blast this weekend, after much waiting.
  
  
• Meanwhile, the efforts to understand what happened continue. We reported that a national trade group that represents fertilizer suppliers recently sought to convince federal lawmakers that retailers that blend fertilizer — such as West Fertilizer Co. — should be excluded from rules requiring them to cooperate in the development of emergency plans and to publicly reveal their chemical inventories.
  
  
• And, how much need is there to be concerned about stores and companies that sell or store fertilizer elsewhere in Central Texas? Not much, according to our report.

Elsewhere locally:

• Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg’s drunken driving arrest led to a sentence of 45 days in prison. The Statesman investigative team looked at other similar cases and found that many Texas DAs, judges and lawmakers remain in office after DWI.
  
  
• Round Rock celebrated its centennial with the kickoff to a $65 million revamp of downtown.
  
  
• The Statesman sought Austinites’ memories of Mosaic, the web browser credited by many with opening up the World Wide Web.
  
  
• After the Supreme Court that put involuntary blood tests in question, the Austin Police Department said it would begin requiring warrants anytime a blood sample is drawn from a suspected drunken driver. According to records, Austin police drew blood without a warrant in 7 percent of DWI cases since 2011.
  
  
• On Saturday, an armed man hijacked a bus and let the driver and all passengers off before leading police on a chase from Austin to Bastrop. The man then killed himself. (On Monday, it was learned that the man who hijacked the bus was a suspended bus driver.)
  

July 27, 2012 @ 4:20pm • Photo Post • Tweet this • Share on Facebook

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ACC spending $2 million at new Round Rock campus to repair damage from shifting soil

Austin Community College is spending $2 million to fix problems caused by shifting soil, including sidewalks that kept some doors to buildings from opening properly. Officials say last year’s drought and this year’s rain are to blame. Read more:

Photo: Ricardo B. Brazziell/AMERICAN-STATESMAN