Top Stories Today: 5.17.2013

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

1. Man charged in officer-involved shooting incident: Police say the man pointed a gun at officers and sparked an hours-long SWAT standoff at the Capitol Village apartments in Northeast Austin.
   
   
2. Woman carjacked at gunpoint in South Austin
   
   
3. Police: Woman hit moped, injuring three, and drove off
   
   
4. Officials: Three Charged in double homicide in Spicewood: Three people have been charged in connection with a Spicewood house fire late Wednesday night where authorities recovered two bodies.
   
   
5. Police: Electrician stole wire while on the job at Liberty Hill school: Authorities say the man stole almost 3,000 pounds of copper wire from the project.

Top Stories Today: 5.16.2013

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

1. Officials: Cedar Avenue to reopen Friday after repair of sinkhole: A school bus drove partially into a sinkhole Thursday morning in East Austin.
   
   
2. You’re right, Austin: Traffic is getting worse: A company that collects real-time traffic data using global positioning devices rates Austin traffic as the fourth worst in the United States.
   
   
3. At least 6 confirmed dead in North Texas tornado: (AP story) 

   as a spring tornado outbreak devastated parts of North Texas, destroying or damaging dozens of homes and injuring dozens of people. 

   The worst-hit city Wednesday was Granbury.
   
   
4. Randy Travis sues agencies over drunk driving arrest footage: The country music star has sued the Texas DPS and attorney general’s office after some evidence from his drunken-driving arrest last summer was ordered released to the public.
   
   
5. Man killed in Round Rock crash Tuesday identified

Top Stories Today: 5.15.2013

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

1. Perry email to UT regents invokes Battle of the Bulge: State lawmakers who gained access to emails sent by Gov. Rick Perry to University of Texas System Regents (and grilled the regents over the contents of those letters) share some emails with the Statesman.
   
   
2. Former San Marcos mayoral candidate arrested: A man who ran for mayor in San Marcos last year at a planning and zoning commission meeting Tuesday.
   
   
3. Officials: Lightning may have sparked Lago Vista tower fire: During overnight storms, a three-story clock tower in a vacant strip center caught fire.
   
   
4. Elderly man killed in crash near Round Rock High
   
   
5. Affidavit: Man charged after Fire Department equipment found in wreck: Officials say they recovered stolen Austin Fire Department equipment from a vehicle involved in a wreck this week. 

Top Stories Today: 5.14.2013

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

1. Woman sentenced in fatal drunk-driving collision: A woman turned herself in to Travis County Jail on Monday after pleading guilty this month to two second-degree felonies in a drunk driving collision that took the life of her passenger in September 2011.
   
   
2. Woman injured in Northeast Austin shooting: A woman was injured in a shooting following an argument in Northeast Austin early Tuesday, an Austin police official said.
   
   
3. Officials: Student brought handgun to school: A seventh-grader at Paredes Middle School has been charged with a felony after police say he brought an unloaded weapon to his South Austin school Monday, officials said.
   
   
4. Woman who stole from nonprofits up for parole two years into 25-year sentence: Louanne Aponte is set to appear before the Texas parole board in July. And the idea of her release has some of her victims fuming.
   
   
5. AISD investigates complaint that teacher used racial slur in the classroom

Top Stories Today: 5.13.2013

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

1. Police: Man struck two with pickup in confrontation: A Hutto man was arrested late Saturday after sheriff’s deputies say he followed two high school girls and then struck two people with his pickup when they tried to intervene.
   
   
2. Man charged with murder in 2009 death of Cedar Park woman: A Williamson County grand jury has indicted a man in the death of 27-year-old Jessika Lynn Kalaher, who was abducted from a Wal-Mart parking lot in Cedar Park in 2009.
   
   
3.  UT launches video gaming academy: The new 12-month program will require students to create “a small-scale game from start to finish, working in teams to handle every aspect of the creation,” according to the university.
   
   
4. Police: April aggravated assault suspect still at large: A man who severely beat a person who was trying to pull into the parking lot of a Southwest Austin restaurant last month has not yet been arrested.
   
   
5. 19 New Orleans shootings victims included 2 kids: (AP story) Gunmen opened fire on people marching in a neighborhood Mother’s Day parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wounding at least 19.

In Case You Missed It: May 11-12

Some of the best stories you might have missed over the weekend:

(Photo by Ralph Berrera / Austin American-Statesman)

• Bees are the buzz at the W Hotel: Walter Schumacher, of Central Texas Bee Rescue, has started a new apiary atop the W Hotel in downtown Austin. The honey these bees produce will be used in the hotel’s bar and restaurant in specialty cocktails, desserts and appetizers.
  
  
• Drug violence: A look behind the Juarez nightmare:  In his new book, “The Fight to Save Juarez,” University of Texas psychology professor Ricardo Ainslie returns to the scene of the crime and gives us a far more nuanced look at how Juarez descended into hell. 
  
  
•  Chinese investors checking out Texas, Austin: 11 members of a Chinese delegation met with state and local officials on Thursday and Friday to hear pitches for investments and get a first hand look at Texas for their wealthy clients back in China.
  
  
• Feds demand UT student pull 3-D gun blueprints from website: UT student Cody Wilson hopes to find a lawyer to take up his cause, which is to supply the know-how to people who want to make their own guns.
  
  
•  Public encounters many hurdles when seeking risk information: Federal law requires companies that keep dangerous chemicals, such as the West Fertilizer facility that exploded last month, killing 14 people, to produce a risk management plan so local residents can know what threats sit in their neighborhoods. Our investigative team looks at what it takes to see those plans.
  
  
• West paramedic ‘vigorously denies’ link to explosion: A paramedic accused of possessing bomb-making materials after he responded to the massive fertilizer plant fire in West has denied any connection between the fire and the charges he faces.
  
  
• Kelso column: Mayor could rent out City Hall for zoo: After the news that Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell proposes leasing the airport to raise cash for urban rail for Austin, columnist John Kelso has some other ideas.

Top Stories Today: 5.8.2013

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

1. Police: Officer fired at unarmed man during traffic stop: No one was injured in the incident which occurred in East Austin a little before 8 a.m. on Wednesday.
   
   
2. Texas officials advise against eating certain fish: (AP story) “State health officials have raised mercury concerns in advising some people not to eat or to limit consumption of certain fish caught off the Texas coast.”
   
   
3. Several streets downtown to be closed for Obama visit, according to email: President Barack Obama arrives in Austin for a visit Thursday.
   
   
4. Lehmberg to be released from jail Thursday: Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg is to be released early from her 45-day sentence for drunken driving. 
   
   
5. Mistrial declared in 2011 stabbing death trial: A Travis County jury on Wednesday reported that it was deadlocked in the case of the death of a Huston-Tillotson track star.

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

Top Stories Today: 5.6.2013

The top 5 stories on statesman.com at 5 p.m.

1. President Obama set to visit Manor New Technology High School this week: The president is kicking off his “Middle Class Jobs & Opportunity Tours,” and will also be visiting an Austin tech company
   
   
2. UT student: test fire of ‘3-D printed’ handgun successful: BBC News and Forbes were on hand for the test and both reported the successful tests.
   
   
3. 3 University students die in East Texas wreck: including a Bastrop man
   
   
4. Report: FBI most wanted man spent time in Texas: An article in The Washington Post says a recently captured man from the FBI’s 10 most-wanted list worked at a computer store in Austin while on the run.
   
   
5. One man killed in I-10 rollover crash: The crash occurred Saturday night in Fayette County

Top Stories Today: 5.3.2013

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

1. President Obama coming to Austin Thursday: The last time the president visited Austin was in July 2012.
   
   
2. Rare May front breaks temperature records: Cold weather in Austin, in May?? The temperature broke and 84-year-old record for the date.
   
   
3. Threat made at Westlake High School: On Thursday, parents were informed of increased security at the school after a threat was graffitied on a wall. On Friday, police gave the all-clear that the school was secure.
   
   
4. Florence man charged with manslaughter following wreck: A 23-year-old man was arrested and charged after officials say he walked away from a fatal wreck, leaving his stepbrother’s body inside the car.
   
   
5. Franchione gets new 5-year deal at Texas State: (AP story) Texas State football coach Dennis Franchione has agreed to a five-year contract extension