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Austin couple shares story as Texas abortion restrictions take center stage at DNC

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Austin couple shares story as Texas abortion restrictions take center stage at DNC


Austin couple Amanda and Josh Zurawski put a Texas face on the case for protecting abortion access Monday as they took the stage on the Democratic National Convention’s opening night.

A video introduction featured Amanda emotionally recounting the pregnancy complications that meant daughter Willow was certain to die. Even so, she said, doctors declined treatment because of the state’s strict abortion ban that went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade.

Instead, Zurawski was sent home to wait and ended up back in the hospital days later with an infection that nearly killed her and threatened her fertility. She and other Texas women sued the state saying the law put their health at risk.

The video included a clip of former President Donald Trump proudly taking credit for the overturning Roe vs. Wade.

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“I almost died because doctors were forced to follow Trump’s abortion ban,” Zurawski said in the video, which also featured Vice President Kamala Harris vowing to sign a law protecting abortion access nationwide.

Amanda and Josh Zurawski then spoke live on stage about the fear they had felt, saying a second Trump term could mean more restrictions on abortion access.

“We need to vote as if lives depend on it, because they do,” Amanda Zurawski said.

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This week’s convention in Chicago is expected to heavily feature Democratic promises to protect abortion rights as the party rallies behind Harris as its newly elevated nominee.

Democrats say Trump is responsible for tight abortion restrictions or outright bans in many states because he nominated three conservative Supreme Court justices who provided the margin for overturning Roe vs. Wade.

Texas is among 14 states that outlaw abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Texas has a medical emergency exception that allows an abortion to save the life of a pregnant person or alleviate the risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function, but critics have said the language is so vague that it has put women such as Zurawski in danger.

Zurawski took the stage Monday night alongside two women whose traumatic pregnancy experiences also have been featured in Democratic campaigns: Kaitlyn Joshua of Louisiana and Hadley Duvall of Kentucky.

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Joshua, who has been featured in a Biden ad, blamed Louisiana’s abortion ban for being turned away from two emergency rooms while having a miscarriage.

Duvall spoke next, recounting how she became pregnant at age 12 after being raped by her stepfather.

“That was the first time I was ever told you have options,” she said. “I can’t imagine not having a choice, but today, that’s the reality for many women and girls across the country because of Donald Trump’s abortion bans.”

Zurawski has previously shared her story in several forums, testifying on Capitol Hill and attending the 2023 State of the Union address as a guest of first lady Jill Biden.

Zurawski also was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit brought against the state by Texas women who said they had abortions delayed or denied during medical emergencies because of the state’s restrictions.

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The Texas Supreme Court ruled against them in May, striking down a lower court ruling that would have exempted such pregnancies from the state’s laws.

The Biden campaign released an ad in April featuring Zurawski in which she sobbed about losing Willow. The ad ended with the words, “Donald Trump did this.”

Trump has said he is “proudly the person responsible” for overturning Roe and that abortion law should be determined by the states.

He has shown he’s aware of potential vulnerability on the issue. Republicans tweaked their official platform at his urging to remove language about a national abortion ban. He did not mention abortion once during his lengthy acceptance speech at last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

Abortion rights have featured heavily in down-ballot races as well, including U.S. Rep. Colin Allred’s challenge to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

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Allred, D-Dallas, has targeted Cruz’s support for abortion restrictions and highlighted stories like Zurawski’s, saying the way to restore a nationwide right to abortion involves defeating Cruz.

Cruz has countered by saying Democrats are out of touch by refusing to back any limits on abortion.

Reproductive rights will be a focus of this week’s convention away from the stage as well. A mobile Planned Parenthood health center will be parked near the convention and offer free medication abortions and vasectomies. There also were plans to display a 18-foot-tall IUD.

During his Monday podcast, Cruz cited the offer of free abortions as evidence the Democratic Party has moved far from when former President Bill Clinton said he wanted abortion to be “safe, legal and rare,” and instead become “zealots” on the issue.

“That is just how extreme the Democrat Party has gone,” Cruz said.

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Austin, TX

Austin, TX venue Emo’s on the move again, AEG to take over the building

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Austin, TX venue Emo’s on the move again, AEG to take over the building


Emo’s in Austin is on the move again. 

After more than a decade at 2015 E. Riverside Drive (following the original Red River-era venue closing in 2011), Emo’s current Riverside space will be taken over by AEG Presents when the lease ends later this year. The Los Angeles, CA-based company will assume operations in January 2027 and plans to reopen the building under a new name in early 2027 following upgrades, renovations and a full rebrand.

AEG are also opening a new 4,000-cap venue nearby next spring as part of the River Park mixed-use development in southeast Austin.

C3 Presents, who reopened Emo’s at the Riverside location, say this isn’t the end of Emo’s — they’re working on a new home and plan to move the venue back to downtown Austin, with more updates to come.

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AEG Presents Vice President Robin Phillips shared the following:

There’s like no weirdness or any bad blood or anything. It just, you know, new lease and they’ll [Emo’s] go do something great. They have been important to the Austin music scene, so I have a lot of respect for them.

But I don’t think the Austin music scene or legacy is limited to one name. I know people will remember the original Emo’s and this Emo’s as, you know, both great venues… And I don’t think Austin’s music scene is just a name, it’s the artists, in my opinion.

 

A C3 spokesperson added:

Emo’s has a long history in Austin and we’ve been working behind the scenes for some time on a new home for this venue. After we wrap up at this venue in December, we will focus our efforts on our new location.

 

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Emo’s gave the following statement to Austin local news KXAN:

We’re grateful for all of the fans and artists who’ve shaped Emo’s to what it is today: a community of like-minded people who love live music. We have a vision for our future and will be moving into a new building downtown that celebrates our punk rock roots with the new amenities that fans are looking for from a venue. We’ll continue to share updates on the next chapter for Emo’s on social media.





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Austin, TX

Highly pathogenic virus found in herd of Texas dairy cows

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Highly pathogenic virus found in herd of Texas dairy cows


State and federal agriculture officials said highly pathogenic avian flu has been found in a herd of dairy cows in Texas.

What we know:

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Officials said the H5N1 virus was confirmed with laboratory tests in late May after cows at an unspecified farm became sick and milk production dropped. The dairy has since been quarantined and an investigation is underway.

This is the first case of avian flu in a Texas dairy herd this year, officials said.

What they’re saying:

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“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is confident that pasteurization is effective at inactivating H5N1, and that the commercial, pasteurized milk supply is safe,” officials at the Texas Animal Health Commission said in a statement.

A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026.

A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026. (Tim Evans/Bloomberg / Getty Images)

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Dig deeper:

H5N1 has a high rate of severe disease and death in animals that become infected.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk to the general public from avian flu is low. Some sporadic human infections have been reported around the world since 1997. There have been no known cases of person-to-person spreading of avian flu.

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The Source: Information in this story came from the Texas Animal Health Commission, the USDA, the FDA and the CDC.

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New Texas law tightens rules for autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo

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New Texas law tightens rules for autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo


Self-driving cars have become a common sight on Austin streets, but a new Texas law is adding tougher requirements for the companies behind the wheelless vehicles.

Senate Bill 2807 imposes stricter rules on autonomous vehicle companies operating in the state, including state authorization, emergency response plans for law enforcement, and a public portal where residents can verify operators and file safety complaints.

The changes come as Austin continues to track incidents involving autonomous vehicles. The city’s autonomous vehicle dashboard shows 75 incidents in 2026, including a collision, eight near misses, and seven incidents of ignoring police direction.

Attorney Drew Gibbs, a partner at Slingshot Law, said one crash involved a Waymo vehicle.

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“There was a T-bone collision. A pretty serious T-bone collision where a Waymo just crashed into the side of my client’s vehicle,” Gibbs said.

ALSO| Waymo files voluntary software recall over flooded-lane risks on high-speed roads

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One of the incidents of ignoring police direction happened during the mass shooting on West Sixth Street back in March, when three people died, and 15 others were injured.

Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock said autonomous vehicles can struggle in unusual situations.

“It didn’t impede on anything in the moment, but it’s not necessarily uncommon where these vehicles don’t quite know how to deal with these one-off scenarios,” Bullock said.

The new law requires autonomous vehicle companies to be authorized by the state, to provide an emergency response plan for law enforcement, and to participate in a public-facing portal that allows the public to verify operators and submit safety complaints.

Kara Kockelman, a professor of transportation and engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, welcomed the added oversight.

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“I’m glad that the state is taking this a bit more seriously now,” she said. “It’s important not to just let others slip in without kind of meeting those basic minimums.”

Bullock said the emergency planning requirement may not make a major difference in fast-moving situations. Asked how impactful it is to have a fully laid out emergency response plan, Bullock said, “These plans are great, but it takes time to work through all of those versus the immediacy of having someone behind the wheel.”

The four autonomous vehicle companies operating in Austin — Waymo, Zoox, AV-Ride, and Tesla — are all state-authorized.

The Texas DMV said an autonomous vehicle company can lose its authorization to operate in Texas if the agency deems the vehicles are operating in a way that endangers public safety.

Waymo was contacted for comment, but had not responded.

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