AISD mask requirements
The Austin school district eases up on student mask requirements. AISD’s Alexandra Copeland says students won’t have to wear a mask while outside taking part in some physical activity and are still observing social distancing. Parents will need to opt their students in to take part though.
“We have also lowered our quarantine period to 10 days and then also tours and campus visitors for educational activities and instructional purposes, with prior approval by the campuses, will be allowed,” says Copeland.
She adds, students will still be required to wear a mask while indoors.
On a similar note, the Hays School district will also be changing its mask policy. Come June 1 officials say masks will be optional for with the exception of UIL Activities and possibly other limited occasions. Masks will still be required for the remainder of this semester. That includes graduation ceremonies.
Alcohol to-go
Governor Greg Abbott’s COVID waiver that’s been allowing restaurants to sell alcohol to-go for the past year plus is now officially state law.
“Alcohol to go is now law,” says Abbott.
During the course of the pandemic, Governor Abbott waved the state regulations that blocked restaurants from selling alcohol to-go in order to create a new revenue stream.
“Well, it turned out that Texas liked it so much. The Texas Legislature wanted to make that permanent law in Texas, alcoholic beverage commissions Chris Porter says the new law isn’t just for restaurants.
“If you’re a bar that wants to obtain the food and beverage certificate and start these deliveries and to-go sales on your own, we’ve made it easy to make the application for a food and beverage permit through the TABC website,” says Porter.
The new alcohol to-go law is creating a lot of buzz around Austin as business owners hope it can lead to even more recovery from the pandemic. El Arroyo Owner Ellis Winstanley tells CBS Austin the waiver the governor signed last year, temporarily allowing alcohol to go, was a game changer.
“Catastrophic event affecting a huge number of employees and employers. And I think Governor Abbott responded to it in a way that saved a ton of jobs and really helped a lot of people,” says Winstanley.
He says alcohol accounts for up to 50% of its sales.
COVID-19 update
Across Travis County this morning, Austin Public Health says 707 cases of COVID are active. 108 of those involve hospitalization and those numbers are up very slightly from a day ago. Since March of last year, 83,145 cases have been confirmed with 81,575 recoveries.
Gun surrender program
Travis County law enforcement will be targeting those accused of certain violent crimes on a new gun surrender program. County Attorney Delia Garza says if a person is accused of family violence or other similar charges and wants to bond out of jail, they’ll have to give up their guns whether or not they’ve actually been convicted.
“Additionally, when an individual is convicted of a misdemeanor assault, family violence, that individual is permanently ineligible to possess firearms,” says Garza.
She says once the guns are surrendered they’ll either be later returned once the owners are given the all clear or they’ll be destroyed.
Cadet class
The Austin Police Department has just one more day to bring in new recruits for the upcoming cadet class. It begins next month. APD Says classes in previous years had up to 90 cadets. But due to changes implemented by the city council, there could be only about 60 this year.
Cedar Park Police Chief
The Cedar Park Interim Police Chief has officially been given the job after the retirement of Former Chief Sean Mannix. Mike Harmon took over in the interim. The city says Harmon will officially take over as permanent chief on May 29th. He began his career in the mid nineties, serving at the Travis County jail and as an Austin School district police officer,
Camping ban enforcement
The slow enforcement of the voter approved camping bans is leading to a lot of new frustration with the Austin City Council. Downtown business owner Jessica Price tells KVUE camps are everywhere now and she’s not happy that the cleanups won’t even begin for about two months.
“I don’t feel like our city has been fully transparent and I think they’ve been very irresponsible and I think they did a terrible job,” says Price.
She says the problem has only gotten worse during the pandemic. The nonprofit Save Austin Now says the council is just slapping voters in the face by not clearing out the camps immediately.
Judge Millie Thompson resigns
A Hays County judge who spent the majority of the term lobbying legal challenges against her colleagues has resigned. Democrat Judge Millie Thompson filed a criminal trespass warning against two Republican judges less than a month after she took office in January, claiming that their presence creates a hostile work environment. She also changed her locks on her office and sued them. Thompson is not commenting though on her resignation.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-5-13-21
