Senate approves Constitutional Carry bill
A divided Texas Senate approves House Bill 1927 also known in some circles as the constitutional carry bill. Georgetown Republican Senator Charles Schwertner is a sponsor.
“To me, this is as well as about two things. The advancement of self defense and a belief in and trust of law abiding citizens to avail themselves of their Second Amendment right,” says Schwertner.
The bill will allow adults to carry a gun without a license. It’s already passed the House, but due to the addition of several amendments this week, it will head back to the House once more. Before then likely heading to Governor Abbott’s desk to be signed into law.
Abortion bill
Also, the capital legislation banning abortion at six weeks of pregnancy remains under debate in the House. The legislation sponsored by State Representatives Shelby Slawson, it would require abortion doctors to first check for a heart beat.
“Upon detection of a heartbeat, the physician is prohibited from knowingly performing or inducing an abortion and can be held civilly liable unless there’s a medical emergency,” says Slawson.
Democratic State Representative Donna Howard, a former registered nurse, spoke out against the bill.
“There have always been abortions and there always will be. What we’re talking about here is some specific actions that would be taken to obstruct access to a legal medical procedure,” says Slawson.
A final vote on that is expected today.
Temporary designated encampments
The Austin City Council is poised to order the city manager to look into creating temporary designated encampments. These encampments should come with, at a bare minimum, showers, lighting in bathrooms, local nonprofit. The Other Ones Foundation has recently taken the lead in helping those at the state created encampment, now known as the Esperanza Community. The foundation’s Max Moscoe says while the site is a work in progress, it is certainly working.
“We’ve already housed 20 people just in the past couple of months at the Esperanza Communities. And the complex isn’t even built. We’re under construction. We’re still working it out,” says Moscoe.
Like some on the City Council, Moscoe says, these kinds of assistance models are needed.
APD Academy.
The Austin Police Academy could be resuming next month if the City Council gives final approval today. The classes have undergone some pretty big changes over the past year, but city leaders remain concerned about de escalation training. Interim Chief Joseph Chacon says that’s still being worked on. The academie has grown to 10 hours of that training, but he says national standards are now up to 16 hours.
“And so we are in the process then of looking at how are we going to increase this, given all the other time constraints and demands on our time for our officers,” says Chacon.
Others want to know how the reimagined training will spread to the department’s current rank and file.
Teens accused of murder released
Two teens accused of murder are back on the street after spending 13 days in the Travis County Juvenile Detention Center. Belinda Martinez tells FOX 7 she thinks it’s a travesty of justice that a judge let the two 17 year olds out after allegedly killing her 16 year old son last fall.
“That’s just like telling me it’s okay, what they did and they’re going to go on with their daily lives while I’m over here continuing hurting for the murder of my son,” says Martinez.
This case is still pending. But late last month, the teens were given a conditional release, including no contact with the Martinez family.
Illegal gun sales at Covert Ford
Two former car salesmen are accused of selling guns illegally out of the Covert Ford Dealership in Hutto. ATF identifies the men as Joshua Ellard and Craig Dondre. They were arrested following an undercover sting. Covert Hutto says the two were immediately fired and that the dealership was not aware of the alleged gun dealing until those arrests were actually made.
Live PD lawsuit
Another lawsuit has been filed over the Williams County Sheriff’s Office as a former relationship with the TV show Live PD. The suit claims Ramsey Mitchell was pulled over two years ago for a missing front license plate and was then assaulted after deputies waited and called in a film crew. Former Sheriff Robert Chody and five deputies are named in that suit.
Child safety zones
The city of Kyle has passed an ordinance this week regulating where sex offenders can live. It creates child safety zones and prohibits most sex offenders from living or staying within 1,000 feet of those areas. Police Chief Jeff Barnett says it also includes restrictions for holidays like Halloween
“Prohibit a child sex offender from leaving decorations or exterior porch lights on or otherwise invite trick or treaters to their residents,” says Barnett.
The violation is a Class C misdemeanor. There are a bit of grandfather provisions here. It won’t apply to those who are already living within 1,000 feet of those areas or those who are convicted of a sex crime while they were still a minor.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-5-6-21
