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: 5.7.2013

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

In Case You Missed It: April 13-14

Stories you might have missed over the weekend:

(Photo by Jenni Jones for Austin American-Statesman - More photos of Art City Austin on Saturday)

• Charles Akin stood tall for dignity and calm during the scary days of Austin school segregation: The now 80-year-old African-American man who grew up in segregated East Austin and in 1973 became the first principal of L.C. Anderson High School in white, affluent, West Austin. Anderson High was the focal point of court-mandated integration in Austin.
  
  
• Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg was arrested early Saturday morning for drunken driving. The story developed over the weekend, with Lehmberg apologizing and saying she would remain in office, then writing a letter Sunday night to prosecutors saying she would plead guilty.
  
  
• Granting of some bonds comes through backdoor practice, with no prosecutor input: The Statesman Investigates team looks at the backdoor practice by which newly arrested defendants in Travis County can be released on bond.
  
  
•  Whole Foods pushes forward on product labeling: Analysts say Whole Foods’ standards for food labeling appear to be the most stringent in the industry on subjects from genetically modified ingredients to animal welfare and seafood sustainability.
  
  
• 17 years after beauty queen’s murder, her mother and police still seek justice: Our sister paper The Palm Beach Post reports on an Austin woman who again traveled to Boca Raton, Florida this year, the city where her daughter was found stabbed to death in 1996.
  
  
• Texas falls short in providing lawyers for poor defendants: Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson noted in his recent biennial address to the Texas Legislature that Texas ranks 48th in per capita spending on indigent defense
  
  
• UT Professor says US should destroy North Korean missiles: In a New York Times op-ed this weekend, Jeremi Suri, a public affairs and history professor, urged the U.S. to take action.

Police: Four people report being hit by balloons in West Campus

More than 200 people marched from the University of Texas to the West Campus neighborhood Tuesday to protest attacks some say were racially motivated. Austin police say they received reports of residents being struck by liquid-filled balloons, possibly filled with bleach, in the area, but need more information.

UPDATE: UT officials say classes are canceled for the day and buildings can be reentered at noon.

UT campus under evacuation order

We’re continuing to post updates on the evacuation on the University of Texas campus on our blog. Officials say they are clearing each of the buildings and have not made a decision on whether to resume operations.

Photo: Ralph Barrera / American-Statesman

All Longhorn assistant coaches receive salary bumps

Mack Brown’s assistant football coaches at Texas are receiving a total of about $300,000 in extra salary from their 2011 salaries, according to figures received today by the American-Statesman from the university.

Photo: Ricardo Brazziell/American-Statesman

UT researchers demonstrate vulnerability of civilian drones to hacking

After a dress rehearsal at Royal-Memorial Stadium, University of Texas researchers traveled to New Mexico last month and demonstrated for U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials how an unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, can be commandeered by hacking into its navigation system.

“The dirty fact is it’s an open signal, and easily hacked.”

- Todd Humphreys, assistant professor in UT’s Cockrell School of Engineering

Photo: Cockrell School of Engineering