Ascension Seton on lockdown
Ascension Seton Hospital in Round Rock has been placed on lockdown as police search for a person they say is involved in an assault. The police say that that person was last seen around the hospital around 2:15 am this morning. There have been no reports of any gunfire there, but police say at least one person was hurt in this assault, and so the lockdown will continue as that search continues.
Vaccine schedule fixed
Austin Public Health says it’s found the problem that crashed its online covid vaccine schedule. Austin’s Mayor Steve Adler says the department hopes to have it up and running by tomorrow. In the meantime, he says APH is prioritizing people that were kicked off the site when it crashed
“Due to the technical issues, Austin Public Health staff are working overtime to be calling and emailing people that looked like they were able to get into that room, so that they can get them appointments and get them set up,” says Adler.
And if you don’t get a call or email, Adler says, retry getting on the website tomorrow.
COVID-19 updates
As COVID hospitalizations have fallen for another day in Travis County, down to a total of 173, there are 39 people on a ventilator. That number has also gone down. 1,223 cases are active out of almost 78,000 that have been confirmed, and there have been nearly 76,000 recoveries. Austin Public Health has also been discharging patients at the Austin Convention Center this week, and right now there are still 11 people there receiving treatment.
A lot of slots are opening up today for vaccines at Dell Diamond. Williamson County Emergency Services Senior Director Chris Connealy says the operation there, which is being run by Curative, is really starting to ramp up.
“Still kind of doing somewhat of a soft opening. Our goals get up to 5,000 vaccinations a day there. We’re not there yet. We’re ramping up,” says Connealy.
The county says people in 1A. 1B and 1C categories are all eligible, meaning people over 50 years old and over. Registration still required to the county’s website. But that will get you on the waitlist to be contacted.
Austin’s Legacy Business Relief Grant
The deadline to apply for Austin’s Legacy Business Relief Grant program is today. That program provides $20,000 grants to qualified businesses that do fit the city’s definition of legacy. Completing certain city approved training programs could increase the grant up to $140,000. Applications, though, have to be submitted by 5 p.m. this afternoon
Essential workers $15 minimum wage
A bill is being written that would boost the minimum wage for essential workers in Texas. Austin Democrat State Representative Gina Hinojosa says the pandemic has shown how important these workers are.
“Gotten through this pandemic, kept our city’s going, our communities going, our households going,” says Hinojosa.
These are grocery and drug store workers, support staff in schools, hospitals and many more. Hinojosa wants to see $15 an hour as the new minimum wage.
American Gateways
The Austin City Council is considering spending up to $600,000 on extending contracts with anti deportation and immigration legal aid nonprofits, among them as a group called American Gateways. Edna Yang is with that group, and she says taxpayers should be on the hook for this.
“What tax dollars are funding for everyone in the United States is the idea of due process and that you get access to the justice system, no matter how poor you are,” says Yang.
Should the council approve the extended contract, the city could send more than $1.8 million to American Gateways by 2023.
Bill to lower energy rates killed
The Texas Senate bill to retroactively lower energy rates during last month’s winter storm has been killed, just a day after the Senate came in on its day off to pass it. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick on Monday celebrated the Senate bill directing ERCOT to retroactively, lower the peak energy prices charged during the storm.
“We are clear that we believe this bill rights this mistake, which was clearly a mistake,” says Patrick,
State House speaker Dave Phelan disagreed and killed the bill under the premise that ERCOT’s decision wasn’t an error and it saved lives. In a statement Feeling called “Repricing, based on a disagreement with the PUC and ERCOT’s management decision. An extraordinary government intervention into the free market.”
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-3-17-21
