Shooting in East Austin
Easter celebrations at an East Austin park turned violent. APD Lieutenant Charles Rohre says police were called near Edward Rendon Senior Metro Park about one person firing into a group of people but by the time they arrived, the suspect had already fled. Rohre says two people were shot and one stabbed.
“None of the injuries are determined to be life threatening at this point. We do have a person of interest that we are interviewing at this time,” says Rohre.
Rohre says they estimate anywhere between 10 to 15 shots were fired. He says they have several witnesses but are still asking for folks who’ve recorded what happened to step forward.
Prop B
Austin’s homeless campfires on Friday have gotten the attention of Governor Greg Abbott, who is now voicing public support for Proposition B. That’s the May ballot item here in Austin that would ban public camping. Mayor Steve Adler, though, is still defending the current ordinance.
“We can’t go back to the failed policies of the past that we know don’t work like criminalizing homelessness and putting people in jail and giving them fines,” says Adler.
Governor says the House and the Senate are still working on legislation that would impose a statewide ban along with “other solutions”.
COVID-19 update
The number of active coronavirus cases in Travis County looks pretty flat throughout the weekend: 1,032 reported cases, although that will be updated a little bit because of Easter, 138 of those cases said to involve hospitalization, that marks a slight tick downward for that number. About 79,500 cases have been confirmed with more than 77,600 recoveries.
Austin’s airport has continued to see far fewer passengers than normal. But numbers have been showing signs of life and probably will grow even more now that the CDC Is relaxing restrictions. This woman, arriving in Austin over the weekend, says she thinks people are starting to feel more comfortable.
“It was like a normal Southwest trip, but it was packed. The last time I flew was maybe like 3-4 months ago, and it was like two people to a row. This was just like, full on.”
And while the CDC still recommends masks, people who have been vaccinated no longer need to get tested before travel nor quarantine after arrival.
About 33% of eligible people aged 16 or older have now gotten at least one dose of COVID vaccine in Williamson County. Health officials there say nearly 16% of the county is now fully vaccinated.
Federal aid related to winter storm
You’ve only got a couple of weeks left to apply for federal aid to help cover costs related to the February winter storm. Nate Custer, with FEMA, says a lot of it has already gone to homeowners. But there is also some money to help renters with property damage and moving costs.
“All 120 six declared counties, we’ve approved about one $119 million in various forms of assistance,” says Custer.
April 20th is the deadline to apply for that help.
Austin rent is up
Austin’s rent prices have continued to build since December, and that’s according to Rob Warnock with Apartment List, who says the going rate for a two bedroom apartment in the city is about $1,500. He says local rents have grown by 1.7% over the past month, and that growth is a trend that’s really being seen across the nation.
“But a lot of the cities where we saw big declines. We are now seeing pretty rapid rent rebounds,” says Warnock.
Even with the continued increases, he says, Austin rents are still about 2.5% cheaper today than the same time a year ago.
Austin’s commercial real estate market is catching fire once again, and for a lot of companies, it couldn’t come at a better time. Gay Cororaton with the National Association of Realtors tells CBS Austin the pandemics really taken a toll.
“The Austin market, if I recall, lost about two million of square feet in occupancy,” says Cororaton.
Now commercial office space is running for about $900 a square foot in Austin. That’s above national average and the Austin Chamber of Commerce says 154 new companies made moves into the area last year.
STAR testing
STAR testing begins for Texas students today. Only seniors, though, will actually be required to take it. The rest it’ll be voluntary, but the test will have to be taken on a school campus. The TEA has waived the star graduation requirement for 5th and 8th graders.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-4-5-21
