Trump speaks on Hurricane Laura
President Trump will be coming to the Gulf Coast to tour the damage left behind by Hurricane Laura.
“That’ll either be on Saturday, a little bit in the afternoon or Sunday. But I just want to thank all of the people from FEMA, in particular and all law enforcement and everyone else locally,” says Trump.
The president has authorized federal emergency aid for Texas as well as for Louisiana and Arkansas. Governor Greg Abbott says, despite some pretty significant damage in parts, for the most part, the state really did dodge a major bullet.
COVID-19 update
Over the past day, Travis County has added one more to its total number of hospitalized COVID patients, 159 people are in the hospital, and 58 of those are in the ICU. The number of people on a ventilator slipped all the way down to 37. In terms of recoveries, Travis County has surpassed another major milestone, now above 25,000. There have been 26,239 total cases, and when looking at recoveries, 25,079 is the number.
The number of active cases in Williamson County has kept up a good downward trend this week and today that there is a total of 248. That’s nine fewer than this time yesterday. If we go back and look at the entire week, it’s down by 360 from where that number stood on Monday morning. The county has flagged a total of 7,867 cases. 7,619 people have recovered, and that’s an increase of 56 over just the past 24 hours.
ZOONO anti germ spray
An anti germ spray is being used by some businesses as a way to create a protective barrier between surfaces and coronavirus. Known as ZOONO, Greg Milton, with M.A.N.S. distributors tells CBS Austin it creates a layer of microscopic pins that kill off about 99% of the virus.
“Those spikes are at a higher concentration and tighter than the smallest germs and pathogens. So when those germs come into contact with those spikes, it pops them like balloons,” Milton. says.
It’s FDA registered and remains effective for 30 days on surfaces and 24 hours on your own skin.
Virtual classrooms
Kids in the Round Rock School district have been in the virtual classroom for about a week now. A group composed of both parents and students is saying enough is enough. Sophomore Reagan Vandegrift tells FOX 7 keeping them in an online setting is doing them all a great disservice.
“I’m out here because I personally have ADHD, and I don’t have the accommodations that I need to do school and actually have good grades and everything,” she says.
Some parents of special needs kids say the online settings are not working for their children and they have no support. The district says keeping kids away from the virus is their main priority.
Austin’s response to police defunding
Austin city leaders approved more than $1.5 million worth of state grants to cover some of the gaps that may arise from the defunding of police. They did postpone a vote on one grant that would pay for more targeted police patrols downtown and on Riverside. Kyran FitzGerald with the City of Austin says they’re working on other things that frant could be used for instead of police.
“A more forgiving type approach to addressing crime. We’re going to be working on a series of PSAs,” sats FitzGerald.
FitzGerald says they hope to bring in the community members to help create those PSAs.
Former Travis County Sheriff Terry Keel, meantime, has penned a letter to Governor Greg Abbott urging him to consider legislation that would see the Austin Police Department consolidated within the Department of Public Safety. He tells KVUE there’s been an extreme breakdown of local government.
“It would really get it to where it needs to be because actually, everyone in Texas has a stake in the capital cities public safety, not just Austinites,” says Keel.
Under his proposal, part of the city’s tax revenue would be used to craft a new budget for the Austin Division within DPS. He says this would completely remove local politics from the equation.
The new chair of the Republican Party of Texas says Austin leaders of plunging the city into chaos, Lieutenant Colonel Allen West says the Austin City Council’s policies have led to filth all over the streets, a lack of safety for its citizens and a shift toward extreme left wing politics.
“In Austin, the capital of Texas, you have a communist organization called the Red Guards of Austin. They’re going around, spray painting, writing hammers and sickles all over. You know how whack these people are?” says West.
He says the city had no business defunding police because even before that decision, violent crime had already begun a steady trend upward.
Lawsuit filed against Austin over abortion transportation
A lawsuit has been filed against Austin over the city’s use of taxes to fund access to abortions. Earlier this month, the city set aside $250,000 to fund transportation to and from abortion clinics. The group, Texas Value, says it violates the state’s laws that ban any local government from using taxes to fund abortions. The city says it’s not paying for abortions, it’s only driving women to the clinics so they could have that procedure performed.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-8-28-20
