Austin, TX
Florence is set of new movie premiering at the Austin Film Festival
New movie set in Florence
Florence, Texas, is the heart of a new movie premiering at the Austin Film Festival this weekend. It takes place at the Gault School of Archaeological Research.
FLORENCE, Texas – Florence, Texas, is the heart of a new movie premiering at the Austin Film Festival this weekend. It takes place at the Gault School of Archaeological Research.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this place is that, at first glance, it’s pretty unremarkable.
A creek divides the site that’s both half woods and half-open prairie. It borders next to quarries and ranches now, but take a closer look, and there is a sharp reminder of the people here first.
Even during FOX 7’s interview, Tim Brown, who is on the school’s board of directors, was picking up stones left and right. Each one had been chipped at, likely by people thousands of years ago.
“Oh yeah, you can’t walk out here without seeing this kind of thing,” said Brown. “This is probably the richest, most well-defined Clovis site in the Americas.”
The Clovis people roamed this land about 13,000 years ago. Their presence today is carved into stone.
“Blades, scrapers, all kinds of little tools that they made out of durable material,” said Brown.
Flash forward to the 21st century, and this site was almost lost.
“The owner had chosen to monetize the site,” said Brown. “He would allow people to pay a fee and come in and dig, and it was completely uncontrolled.”
In comes the main character of this story: Dr. Michael Collins.
“Without Mike, we would not be standing here,” said Brown.
Dr. Collins’ story stood out to movie director Olive Talley.
“Michael Collins overcame one challenge after another,” said Talley. “Everything from weather to money, to financing, to control of the property. He wound up purchasing the property after five years of trying to find public funding.”
And thank goodness he did.
What was under everyone’s feet the whole time would rewrite history books.
“That has produced very strong, compelling evidence of the human presence much earlier than what we refer to as the Clovis culture, which we thought was the first,” said Brown.
Collins found evidence that humans had been here long before the Clovis people.
Instead, a group likely called Central Texas home up to 20,000 years ago.
“And to think that we have a place in Central Texas that is so pivotal to the narrative of the peopling of the Americas, right here, in our own backyard,” said Talley.
This is what Olive Talley’s new movie is all about.
It’s called “The Stones Are Speaking.”
If we’re quiet enough, they have a lesson to share.
“I hope that the film is a call to action and a call for awareness, not just about the gault site but the overall awareness that cultural sites are important to preserve,” said Talley.
The movie premieres at the Austin Film Festival on Saturday, Oct. 26.
Talley is still hoping to get a contract on a streaming platform for viewers at home.
Austin, TX
Everything you need to know about Austin run clubs
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Data analyst Corey Yeung created the ATX Running Guide to help runners find community across Central Texas. What started as a personal project has become one of Austin’s most comprehensive running resources.
Looking for a Run Club? There’s a Map for That
When Corey Yeung moved to Austin three years ago, he had a simple question:
“How many run clubs are actually out there?” The answer wasn’t easy to find. While several websites listed local groups, Yeung felt none offered a complete picture. So, he decided to build one himself. What started as a spreadsheet evolved into ATX Running Guide, a website and social media platform that helps runners discover clubs throughout the Austin area.
“The list would be more useful if it were a map and search tool,” Yeung said. “The Instagram page was simply a way to communicate those free resources to the community.”
Today, the guide covers running groups from San Marcos to Hutto and serves as a one-stop resource for runners looking to connect. In this episode of KXAN’S Plus Simple Health, Corey Yeung walks us through everything you need to know about the 200-plus running clubs in Austin.
Austin, TX
Texas Volts begin first home slate Thursday at Dell Diamond
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Volts are off to a rough start in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, but maybe a little home cooking can help them get right.
After playing their first five games on the road, the Volts open play at Dell Diamond in Round Rock at 6 p.m. Thursday against the Utah Talons, kicking off an 8-game homestand.
It’s the first season the Volts will call Dell Diamond home. In the league’s inaugural season last year, the original four teams competed with a touring schedule that included a stop at Dell Diamond. This is the first year that the AUSL, now a 6-team league, will play in home markets.
They have a roster peppered with local stars, including 2-time NCAA national champion middle infielder Leighann Goode from the Texas Longhorns. Aliyah Binford, a New Braunfels native, played collegiately for Ole Miss and former Texas State pitcher Jessica Mullins made an appearance in the Volts’ previous series against the Carolina Blaze.
Goode said there’s been a bit of a learning curve, but she credits her teammates for helping her adjust to the league.
“This group has brought me in and taught me stuff, taken me under their wings,” she said. “They’ve done an awesome job.”
Legendary Texas pitcher Cat Osterman is the team’s general manager, and the head coach is Texas State’s Ricci Woodard.
“We’re ready to rock and roll at home,” Woodard said. “I’m anxious to see what happens now that we get to play in our own place.”
Texas Tech pitcher NiJaree Canady, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 draft, joined the team last weekend after a brief contract holdout.
The Volts are 1-4 this season, picking up their lone win over the Oklahoma City Spark on June 10. They’ll face the Talons in a 3-game series, the Chicago Bandits for a pair June 23-24, and finish the homestand with a 3-game set against the expansion Portland Cascade on June 26-28.
Ryan Sanders Baseball, the organization that owns and operates the Round Rock Express, is an operating partner with the Volts and an investor with the AUSL.
Austin, TX
Investigators seek clues in small jet crash that killed 1 in Texas, where bystanders rushed to help
(AP) – Investigators combed through wreckage Wednesday for clues to why a business jet crashed on a Texas highway, killing one person on board after its pilots reported mechanical problems while requesting an emergency landing at a nearby airport.
The fiery crash late Tuesday in Laredo near the Mexican border sent bystanders racing from their cars to help police rescue passengers and crew from the burning aircraft. The crash killed Joshua Baer, a leader in Texas’ technology and startup sectors, the president of Baer’s company told the Austin American-Statesman.
Video from the frantic scene showed someone trying to smash the cockpit glass with a sledgehammer, while others used makeshift levers as they worked to open the plane’s door. Local officials said a firefighter entered the smoke-filled jet to extract one person still inside after the rest had escaped.
“While the loss of life is deeply regrettable, it is nothing short of a miracle that this tragedy did not become a mass fatality event,” Laredo Mayor Victor Treviño told a news conference Wednesday.
The cause of the crash was not immediately known. The Federal Aviation Administration was investigating along with the National Transportation Board.
Laredo Police Chief Miguel Rodriguez Jr. said investigators working to reconstruct the crash were at the crash site Wednesday.
Crash victim worked to help entrepreneurs launch startups
Baer was the founder and chief executive of Austin-based Capital Factory, which helps entrepreneurs connect with investors and others to launch their businesses.
“Joshua was a fearless leader, a brilliant partner, and a dear friend to so many of us,” Capital Factory President Bryan Chambers told the Austin newspaper.
Capital Factory executives did not immediately return phone messages Wednesday from The Associated Press.
Baer lived in Austin with his wife and three children, according to his LinkedIn page. He recently taught a student entrepreneur class at the University of Texas at Austin.
“I help people quit their jobs and become entrepreneurs,” Baer said on his LinkedIn page.
In a social media post, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called Baer “one of the most significant figures driving innovation and entrepreneurship across America.”
Police did not release the name of the person killed, citing a request from family members. Rodriguez said those on the plane included two pilots and three teenagers.
Pilots reported low fuel, electrical issues, airport director says
The Cessna Citation Latitude twin jet departed Tuesday evening from the Mexican resort city of San José del Cabo and was bound for Austin, Texas, the FAA said in a statement.
The plane was operated by NetJets, a company owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway that lets people buy part ownership in private jets. NetJets said in a statement it was cooperating with authorities.
The jet went down at about 10 p.m. Tuesday on the Loop 20 highway, just a few minutes after its pilots radioed the local airport seeking to make an emergency landing. Their call to air traffic controllers “mentioned low fuel and a power outage,” Laredo International Airport Director Gilberto Sanchez said.
“They had mechanical issues and they lost communication with the tower,” Sanchez said Wednesday, “and that’s when the accident happened.”
Dashcam video posted on social media showed the aircraft careening down the highway and knocking down a light post before coming to a stop near the airport. The jet also barreled into a car, sending one motorist to a hospital in stable condition, said Laredo police investigator Jose Baeza.
Video posted to social media showed the plane on its side, smashed into a highway barrier with the tail ripped from the fuselage.
“It looked like part of a movie. I was in shock,” said Zayra Garza, an esthetician who was driving her co-workers home when she came upon the crash.
Garza, who shot video of the scene as her husband ran to help, saw motorists leave their cars to try to help smash the cockpit glass. She said the plane’s door opened and three people who looked like teenagers rushed out, followed by someone who appeared to be a pilot. Another crew member tried to pull out a person who seemed to be unconscious.
Smoke billowed from the plane as a firefighter climbed into the aircraft to rescue the remaining passenger. Police officers helping prop open the door had to back away as they doubled over coughing because of the intense smoke. Police said five officers were treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation.
“What was worrying me was the fire,” Garza said. “I was concerned that it could have just exploded at any time.”
This was the third significant aviation accident in as many days. A B-52 crashed Monday during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California and killed all eight people aboard, while on Sunday, 12 people were killed when a plane on a skydiving outing in Missouri crashed.
___
Golden reported from Seattle; Collins reported from Hartford, Connecticut; and Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. AP journalists Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, and Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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