Austin, TX
As freeze subsides, Austin’s efforts to restore power continue to lag
![As freeze subsides, Austin’s efforts to restore power continue to lag](https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/issvmtcQ-2h0V509Z4E-57Daees=/1200x630/filters:quality(95)/static.texastribune.org/media/files/9043223d5e43d20a9b9858a2970f7023/0201%20Ice%20storm%20EL%2001%20TT.jpg)
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When Austin officers up to date the general public on the town’s widespread energy outages Thursday afternoon, they stated they had been hopeful that main progress was coming quickly.
“I believe what you are going to see within the subsequent 24 hours is a large decline within the [affected] buyer rely,” Elton Richards, Austin Vitality’s vp of subject operations, stated at a Thursday afternoon press convention.
Greater than 107,000 properties and companies in Austin remained with out electrical energy at 6 p.m. Friday. That was down from a day earlier than, when round 150,000 prospects lacked energy.
However because the solar set on a troublesome week Friday, tens of hundreds of Austin Vitality prospects confronted the potential of spending the weekend at nighttime, given the localized and sophisticated points crews confronted in trying to revive energy throughout the town. At a Friday night press convention, Richards stated employees made vital progress given the moist working circumstances, however he stopped wanting offering residents an estimated time when their energy would return.
“Till my crews see all the things that’s on the market, it’s laborious for me to inform you when it’s going to be performed. I’d moderately wait and offer you one thing you can consider,” Richards stated.
This week’s ice storm introduced a whole bunch of hundreds of outages in Texas due to falling bushes or ice accumulating on energy strains, moderately than grid points like in 2021’s huge storm. At one level, greater than 400,000 Texas properties and companies had been with out energy, although that determine had dropped to simply below 215,000 by Friday afternoon, based on poweroutage.us.
Officers in Texas’ tech capital once more stated Friday that they couldn’t give a transparent timeline when all of the native outages will probably be fastened, regardless of initially promising full restoration by Friday night. The town’s utility service stated it had labored by means of the night time to revive energy to greater than 30,000 prospects.
“I do not consider that the town has performed what it must do by way of speaking,” Mayor Kirk Watson stated at a information convention Friday morning. “There are a variety of issues that may be put into place, together with how we go about utilizing know-how that individuals are going to rely on so as to present them the knowledge that they want. That has to vary, and we’ll change that.”
Following the night time of progress, Austin Vitality common supervisor Jackie Sargent stated officers had been “cautiously optimistic that we now have turned some extent in a single day” with fewer bushes falling and thus reducing the variety of repeated outages.
“I do know that this has been extremely irritating,” Sargent stated. “When we now have this widespread of affect it turns into actually difficult to provide estimates, and we want these patrollers out within the subject giving info again.”
Sargent added, “We don’t have a strategy to get the knowledge from the sector to provide correct info, and we do not wish to set expectations that we will’t meet. And so till we now have fewer outages that we’re managing and we now have all the details about what’s impacting the actual outage as a result of it might be quite a few issues, and we might establish one and if we report on that, it would not have the total image. That is why this explicit occasion has been so difficult for us, and we perceive the frustration. We wish to have the ability to inform folks; we would like to have the ability to give them that consolation.”
Throughout the Friday night replace, Sargent famous that the storm may need broken electrical infrastructure on properties that would require a non-public electrician to repair. Owners are liable for sustaining their electrical system, which could have been broken by falling particles, whereas Austin Electrical will proceed servicing the amenities that ship electrical energy. The utility firm released a graphic figuring out which points of {the electrical} system a house owner is liable for.
In a earlier press occasion on Thursday afternoon, Sargent added that Austin Vitality utility crews — together with some which have arrived from different areas to assist — have needed to deal with many difficult outages together with some extra complicated than these seen in 2021. Generally, Sargent famous, crews couldn’t even entry an space on account of fallen bushes and branches buckling below a “in all probability historic” weight of ice buildup.
Richards has famous that the time it requires for crews to repair outages varies. He stated a easy scenario similar to a tree limb laying on an influence line might require simply round two hours to restore. However a completely grown tree falling on and breaking poles might greater than quadruple the time wanted for the crews to revive the connection.
He described the damages caused by this 12 months’s winter storm as “horrendous.”
“I have been doing this over 20-something years and I haven’t seen this a lot devastation exterior of tornadoes up north,” he stated Thursday.
The outages and particles brought about many Central Texas faculty districts to shut for the remainder of the week. Even with temperatures climbing, the Austin, Spherical Rock, Eanes, Lake Travis, Leander and Elgin districts all canceled class Friday.
The forecast referred to as for drier and hotter circumstances within the Austin space with anticipated highs within the low 60s in some areas Friday, based on the Nationwide Climate Service. Temperatures might dip under freezing once more in a single day into Saturday; nevertheless, lows for the following couple of days had been predicted to slowly enhance into the 50s by Tuesday.
Travis County and Austin metropolis officers additionally stated Friday that they are going to signal a catastrophe declaration following this week’s winter storm, in a bid to make funds from each the state and federal degree accessible for restoration. The declaration may even enable the town and county to rent a third-party contractor to help with particles elimination.
Travis County Choose Andy Brown stated the choice got here after surveying the “broad extent of injury throughout the county at present.”
Brown emphasised the declaration is simply step one in accessing federal funds. The Federal Emergency Administration Company’s public help funds will probably be used to reimburse 75% of all bills when a $5.7 million harm threshold is reached, which Brown stated might be performed together with neighboring counties.
Watson additionally introduced the town will probably be creating an “after-action report” that he says will have a look at what else might have been performed from the town degree throughout the storm and be used to create an after-action plan. And Austin Metropolis Council member Mackenzie Kelly referred to as for a complete audit of Austin Vitality’s response to the storm. The evaluate would look into the town’s tree trimming practices and electrical utility operations.
“Throughout the February 2023 freeze, our neighborhood wanted solutions and didn’t obtain them,” she stated in a press launch.
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Austin, TX
U.S. Supreme Court denies Rodney Reed's petition for a new trial
TEXAS — The U.S. Supreme Court has turned down death row inmate Rodney Reed’s most recent petition to review his claims of innocence.
On Nov. 22, 2023, Reed filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, which is a request that the Supreme Court order a lower court to send up the case for review. This came after a judge denied Reed a new trial in 2021. The presiding judge, State District Judge J.D. Langley, stated in his ruling that Reed had not proven he is innocent. The Supreme Court denied the writ of certiorari Tuesday.
With this latest development, it is now solely up to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to determine whether Reed will be granted a new trial.
Reed was sentenced to death for the 1996 killing of 19-year-old Stacey Stites. He was accused of raping and strangling Stites in Bastrop and leaving her by the road.
Reed claimed evidence in the 1998 trial was suppressed by prosecutors that would’ve exonerated him, including that Stites and Reed were having an affair. The death row inmate has long maintained that Stites’ fiance, former police officer Jimmy Fennell, was the actual killer and killed Stites because of the alleged affair.
Lawyers for Reed also said he wanted to DNA test crime-scene evidence he believed would have exonerated him. This includes the belt that was used to strangle the victim. The Supreme Court ruled in April that the DNA testing could still be considered.
Reed remains a death row inmate presently and it is unclear when a date for his execution will be set.
Austin, TX
Texas hiker dies on trail at Grand Canyon National Park; officials warn of extreme heat
![Texas hiker dies on trail at Grand Canyon National Park; officials warn of extreme heat](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/07/River-Trail-NPS.jpg)
A hiker collapsed and died on a trail in Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona over the weekend, prompting parks officials to warn about the dangers of hiking in extreme heat.
Scott Sims, 69, of Austin, Texas, was attempting to reach Phantom Ranch via the South Kaibab Trail for an overnight stay when he was found semi-conscious around 7 p.m. Saturday, the National Parks Service (NPS) said in a statement on Monday.
Sims became unresponsive a short time later, and bystanders performed CPR until three NPS paramedics arrived, parks officials said. All attempts to resuscitate Sims were unsuccessful.
Sims collapsed on the River Trail, about halfway between the Silver Bridge and Black Bridge near Phantom Ranch, according to the NPS. Temperatures on exposed parts of the trail can reach 120 degrees in the shade, the agency said.
HIKER LOST FOR 10 DAYS FOUND ALIVE IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINS
Scott Sims was found semi-conscious on the River Trail at Grand Canyon National Park on Saturday. He became unresponsive a short time later. (National Park Service, File)
“Park rangers strongly advise not hiking in the inner canyon during the heat of the day between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.,” NPS said.
![South Kaibab Trail](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/07/1200/675/south-kaibab-trail2.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Temperatures on the trail can reach 120 degrees in the shade, NPS said. (Patrick Gorski/NurPhoto via Getty Images, File)
Officials said that its efforts to help hikers during the summer months may be delayed due to limited staff, an increased number of rescue calls, safety requirements for staff and helicopter usage being limited in extreme heat or periods of inclement weather.
COUPLE MISSING IN UTAH MAY HAVE BEEN SWEPT AWAY IN FLASH FLOOD WHILE EXPLORING TRAIL ON UTV
NPS and the Coconino Medical Examiner are investigating the death. No cause of death was immediately provided.
![South Kaibab Trail](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/07/1200/675/south-kaibab-trail.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
No cause of death was immediately provided. (Patrick Gorski/NurPhoto via Getty Images, File)
The death comes after a Salt Lake City fire captain died in a rafting accident at Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado.
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An NPS review of deaths in national parks between 2014 and 2019 found that hiking was the second-deadliest recreational activity behind driving, while drowning caused the second-highest number of unintentional deaths after motor vehicle crashes.
Austin, TX
Victim found dead in South Austin; APD investigating
![Victim found dead in South Austin; APD investigating](https://images.foxtv.com/static.fox7austin.com/www.fox7austin.com/content/uploads/2024/07/1280/720/snapshot-7.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
APD investigating homicide in South Austin
FULL VIDEO: The Austin Police Department gives more information on a homicide investigation in South Austin
AUSTIN, Texas – The Austin Police Department is investigating after a person was found dead in South Austin.
Austin police said on Monday, July 1, around 5:30 p.m., officers were called to investigate a homicide at an apartment complex in the 6700 block of Windrift Way.
When officers arrived, they found a victim who had penetrating injuries. The victim was pronounced dead on scene.
A person of interest and witnesses are being interviewed by detectives.
Police said this is believed to be an isolated incident.
This is a developing story, refresh for the latest updates
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