Standoff on Wickersham
Police arrest a man following an hours long standoff at some apartments off of Wickersham Lane in southeast Austin. Officer Michael Bullock says police arrived for a domestic disturbance call involving a man and woman, but SWAT was called when the man told police allegedly if they came in he’d kill them.
“Additional information was received that the female was inside the apartment and that she was possibly in distress and being held against her will,” says Bullock.
And so at that point, Bullock says officers forced their way into the apartment to rescue the woman. She was unhurt. The man was taken into custody and APD says he’ll face multiple charges including making a terrorist threat against a peace officer.
Austin Police Academy.
The Austin City council is still mulling over resuming the Austin Police Academy and Training. Council Member Paige Ellis says while they are considering letting new classes begin, people need to know the “reimagining” is not over yet.
“And I think what’s really most important is that we maintain this line of transparency and understanding that a pilot classes something that will continue to be reviewed, continued to have public input,” says Ellis.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler says they’re making progress and he does really believe that they’ll be restarting the class on June 7.
DWI Dude
Manor attorney Jamie Balagia also known as the DWI Dude has been given 16 years in federal prison for scamming Colombian drug dealers out of more than a million bucks. Court documents say Balagia conspired with two others to convince the Colombians that they could bribe government officials for them. But they really just pocketed the money, which totaled about $1.5 million dollars
COVID-19 update
On to COVID now as the number of active cases has fallen to the lowest point since early fall of last year in Travis County as today. Today, active cases down to 788 and that’s the lowest that number has been since about October 16. Total hospitalizations are down by three to a total of 112 across the county. Almost 81,000 people have recovered from the 82,600 confirmed cases.
Vaccine incentives
Austin and Travis County leaders may be getting a bit desperate for vaccine demand to increase. The county Health Authority is pitching the idea of offering people incentives. Council Member Vanessa Fuentes likes the idea of giving people freebies to get the jab.
In order for us to really move the needle on vaccinating, particularly the latino community, I think incentives has to be part of that conversation,” says Fuentes.
She wants an update next week on what those incentives might look like and there’s a lot of speculation, they could include cash payments.
The Other Ones Foundation
In the wake of voters approving a public camping ban in Austin, a local nonprofit is working quickly to raise money to help people on the streets. Max Moscoe with The Other Ones Foundation tells FOX 7 they’ve already helped a lot of people at that state run camp off 183.
“We’ve built hygiene facilities, we have mail service, internet access, and we coordinate with other groups to do food access,” says Moscoe.
In just a handful of days since Prob B passed, more than $30,000 has been raised to help the group. Moscoe says the goal is to build 200 more individual shelter units for people currently living in tents.
Wilco homeless shelter
Northwest Austin, business owners and families continue rallying against Austin, turning a nearby hotel into a homeless shelter in Williamson County. Rupel Chaudhari’s family owns a nearby hotel and has been leading the charge against the project. She’s been collecting letters from residents noting their concerns of living next to a shelter. Chaudhari says public safety is chief among them as the site would be near a high school.
“They are worried about sending their kids to school. They are worried that they will be encountering more needles and mental illness. There are incidents already happening in the community from stabbing to guns to all of it,” says Chaudhari.
Residents also note they don’t really know what the city’s plan is and note there is no supportive services nearby
Under Republic Square Park
House Bill 3893 goes up for a second vote today at the capitol, it would grant capital Metro a 99 year lease to the earth and soil below Republic Square Park, which is where the underground rail tunnels are being planned. If approved today, HB 3893 heads to the Senate. Austin holds a 99 year lease on the surface level currently, but nothing underground
Ken Paxton refutes the New York Times
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is denying a New York Times report that claims that he will not support governor Greg Abbott for reelection. The story quotes Paxton as saying, “I don’t think he supports me. I don’t support him.” But in a tweet, Paxton says he fully supports the governor and he says the Times story is nothing more than fake news.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-5-5-21
