Austin, TX

Art Acevedo turns down Austin police role after hiring backlash but still bound for Texas capital

Published

2 years ago

January 23, 2024

Art Acevedo turns down Austin police role after hiring backlash but still bound for Texas capital

AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) — Art Acevedo is bound for Austin but is now without a job at his old police department.

The former chief of the Houston Police Department announced on Tuesday he declined to return to the Austin Police Department in an interim capacity to be a resource to Chief Robin Henderson.

The video above is from a previous report.

KUT-FM in Austin reported that he was to create new recruiting strategies, review patrolling operations, and improve police academy training for APD.

In an Instagram post, Acevedo said it was clear that his hiring “has become a distraction from the critical work ahead” for the city, the police department, and the police officers’ union.

“Unfortunately, politics and power struggles have hindered our efforts to create real positive improvements for the people of this city. I firmly believe that if we are to build a future together, we cannot afford to blame others and point fingers,” Acevedo wrote in part.

Acevedo served as Austin’s police chief from 2007 to 2016 before becoming Houston’s police chief. Since then, he’s worked in Miami and Colorado and served as a CNN on-air analyst.

He has served as interim police chief for Aurora, a suburb outside Denver, for the last 13 months.

In a memo to council members, interim City Manager Jesús Garza said there were challenges facing the Austin Police Department and that he believed “additional resources are needed to better support the department, our interim police chief, and her management team to ensure success.”

Mayor Kirk Watson expressed his support for the decision in an emailed statement. He emphasized that Acevedo’s police background can strengthen the relationship between ADP, City Hall, and the community.

However, KUT reported that the decision was made without community or council input.

Last Friday, Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, expressing her surprise about Acevedo’s appointment.

Councilmembers Paige Ellis, Alison Alter, and Chito Vela also expressed concerns with Acevedo’s sudden hiring.

KUT reported that Ellis felt this was a bad move and a step in the wrong direction. She highlighted the fact that while Acevedo was police chief, hundreds of rape kits went untested.

Alter called it a slap in the face for the survivors, advocates, and others who have worked to make changes in the system around sexual assault.

Despite turning down the job, Acevedo stated that he is still moving to Austin to rejoin his family next week.

KUT-FM in Austin contributed to this report.

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Austin, TX

Taylor residents sue to halt proposed data center

Published

10 hours ago

November 27, 2025

Press Room

Taylor residents sue to halt proposed data center

TAYLOR, Texas — A proposed data center in Central Texas is getting a lot of pushback from residents. Approximately 40 minutes north of Austin, a group of neighbors in the city of Taylor sued the data center. They are pushing back against the data center that could soon be under construction roughly 500 feet from their neighborhood.

“This property is supposed to be deeded for parkland,” said Pamela Griffin, a resident in the neighborhood next to where the data center will be built. “This land was given to this community.”

The 87-acre land near Griffin’s community is embroiled in a legal battle between her and Blueprint Data Centers.

“We do not need a data center,” Griffin said. “I’m not against them, but we don’t need them in our community.”

Despite Griffin’s land deed lawsuit, a Texas judge has ruled in favor of the proposed project.

“When a judge dismisses a lawsuit because the plaintiff or the plaintiffs lack standing, what the judge means is you’re not a person who has the legal authority to bring this lawsuit,” said Mike Golden, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Griffin and other neighbors argue the data center will take away natural resources like water and what was supposed to be the future site of a park, so her fight is not over.

“We are going to the appellate court now,” Griffin said. “We did file.”

Griffin is passionate about advocating for the community because it’s the neighborhood she was born and raised in. Her grandmother bought property there in the early 1960s, and the community became a safe haven for Black people in Taylor.

“We weren’t allowed to be in the city limits at that time because they would not sell to the Black and brown community, so my grandmother realized they had to buy land outside,” she said.

She worries about the future of her small community now that construction of a 135,000-square-foot data center will begin within the next year.

It’s a project the city says will bring millions in revenue to Taylor.

“What data centers do to a community is it brings an influx of new revenue to all the taxing entities, including the city, the county and especially the school district,” said Ben White, the president and CEO of the Taylor Economic Development Corporation.

He explained how the revenue might benefit the city.

“City council will have the ultimate say on how those revenues are spent, but it could involve new parks for citizens, improve streets for the citizens, improve programs for the citizens,” he said. “There’ll be a lot of variety of different uses of those funds the council could decide to use them on.”

White also addressed the controversy surrounding the deed when asked about it by Spectrum News.

“We feel comfortable that EDC, we did everything correctly on our side,” he said.

Griffin now awaits the Third Court of Appeals to decide on her case.

“I’m asking for the community and the Taylor people to stick together and understand my fight against this data center coming into our community,” Griffin said.

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Austin, TX

How history has treated Texas Longhorns when underdogs against Aggies

Published

1 day ago

November 26, 2025

Press Room

How history has treated Texas Longhorns when underdogs against Aggies

Even before the invention of color television, savvy businesspeople were using the Texas versus Texas A&M football rivalry to bring patrons through the door.

Back in 1940, movie theaters made front-page news by offering Texans an opportunity to relive that year’s Lone Star Showdown.

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“UT To Beat A&M All Over Again,” read a small headline on the Nov. 29 edition of the Austin Statesman. The brief news story called the Longhorns’ victory “better drama than the fictional screen ever unfolded,” and declared that movie-goers would be treated to supplemental scenes from Texas’ 7-0 win over the Aggies on Nov. 28.

Texas Longhorns defensive back Jelani McDonald (4) yells in celebration after making an interception in the third quarter of the Longhorns’ game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Nov. 22, 2025.

Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman

The unlikely nature of Texas’ victory helped fuel that over-the-top public response. Scoring the only points of the game on their first drive, the Longhorns snapped a 19-game Texas A&M winning streak, unseated the defending national champions and denied the Aggies a place in the Rose Bowl.

For just the second time since that Thanksgiving day in 1940, Texas A&M is coming to Austin in 2025 with a perfect record. A place in the SEC championship game, which the Aggies have never participated in since joining the conference in 2012, is at stake.

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The Longhorns are underdogs, the bookmakers say. Most popular sportsbooks made Texas A&M a 2.5-point favorite heading into Friday’s clash at Royal-Memorial Stadium. Texas’ players aren’t exactly in a rush to adopt that narrative, though.

NO. 16 TEXAS VS. NO. 3 TEXAS A&M

When/where: 6:30 p.m. Friday at Royal-Memorial Stadium.

TV/radio: ABC; 1300 AM, 1370 AM, 98.1 FM, 105.3 FM (Spanish)

“I think we know what we’re capable of,” Texas defensive end Ethan Burke said. “Who does the sportsbooks? Have they ever played college football? Probably not.”

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Burke won’t be the only Longhorn unaccustomed to viewing the Aggies as the favorites in this longstanding rivalry. Texas holds a 77-37-5 all-time advantage over Texas A&M in the series, which dates all the way back to 1894. Texas has won 10 of the 13 matchups played this century, including last year’s tilt in College Station.

MORE: How Longhorns used Arch Manning differently against Arkansas

But, throughout history, the Longhorns have occasionally shown up to the Lone Star Showdown looking to spoil Texas A&M’s fun, as they did back in 1940.

On 28 occasions, the Aggies have entered rivalry week with at least two more victories on their ledger than Texas. When that is the case, Texas holds a 10-16-2 record. Its most recent victory under those circumstances came in 1998, when Ricky Williams broke the NCAA’s all-time rushing yards record with a 60-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

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Texas Longhorns receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. (0) gets into a verbal argument with Texas A&M defensive back Will Lee III (26) during the Lone Star Showdown at Kyle Field on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024 in College Station, Texas.

Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman

That year, the 7-3 Longhorns built a 23-7 lead over the 10-1 Aggies, but saw A&M break off 17 unanswered points to take a one-point lead with 2:20 remaining. That necessitated some heroics from quarterback Major Applewhite and kicker Kris Stockton, who booted through a 24-yard field goal with five seconds remaining for the win.

In recent history, that’s just about the only upset success the Longhorns have managed over the Aggies. Since 1960, Texas A&M is 11-1 against Texas when entering Thanksgiving week with two or more victories than Texas. Coaches Jackie Sherrill and RC Slocum routinely bested some bad Texas teams. Between 1986 and Mack Brown’s hiring before the 1998 season, the Longhorns lost five or more games nine times.

MORE: Why Longhorns appealed targeting call on Ty’Anthony Smith

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Before 1960, though, Texas often upset A&M teams with records that looked better on paper, holding a 9-5-2 mark against Aggies teams that held at least a two-game advantage in the win column. In 1938, a winless Texas team turned up at Memorial Stadium and beat the middling Aggies 7-6.

“Not a handful of fans, huddled against the autumn chill inside the huge horseshoe where an Aggie team had never won, dreamed it could happen,” the Austin American’s Weldon Hart wrote in the next day’s edition.

This year’s Longhorns don’t face the same odds. Texas, at 8-3, was the preseason’s No. 1-ranked team and has already beaten two top-10 foes on the year.

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Upsetting the unbeaten Aggies won’t require a miracle, but it would certainly make a lasting memory.

“We’ve got to prepare really well so we can play our best football,” Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian said. “Because our best football will be needed next Friday night.”

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