Austin, TX
Statesman executive editor to step down, take top editor role at Houston news outlet
American-Statesman Executive Editor Manny García will step down this month to take the role of editor in chief at the Houston Landing, a digital nonprofit news organization.
García’s last day with the Statesman will be March 29. Gannett, the Statesman’s parent company, will conduct a nationwide search for a successor.
“A career highlight for me has been leading the Austin American-Statesman for the past three years,” García said. “It is among the strongest and most talented news teams in all of Texas. No one can tell the story of Austin and Central Texas better than our award-winning newsroom. Period.
“The #MightyStatesman has a great future because of the talented bench of journalists that we have and the top-shelf leadership team that is in place.”
García joined the Statesman in 2021. The February 2021 winter storm caused a major power crisis and disruptions to water systems across Texas, including in Austin, two weeks into his tenure. García drove his truck in the snow to pick up Statesman journalists stranded in their homes and take them to the newsroom, which had power and water.
The newspaper’s “defining moment,” in García’s words, came more than a year later, when a gunman killed 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde on May 24, 2022.
Under his leadership, the Statesman became a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for meritorious public service in 2023 for “unflinching coverage of local law enforcement’s flawed response” to one of the worst mass shootings in Texas history.
García won the Benjamin C. Bradlee Editor of the Year Award from the National Press Foundation in 2022.
Judges who chose García for the top honor cited his decision to publish a video obtained by Statesman journalist Tony Plohetski that showed multiple law enforcement officers stalling in a hallway at Robb Elementary for 77 minutes before a U.S. Border Patrol SWAT team confronted and killed the gunman. The footage disproved early claims by law enforcement and government leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, that officers had rushed in heroically to save lives.
After a federal review of the shooting, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Jan. 18 in Uvalde called the police response the “most significant failure” and said a Justice Department report concluded that had police rushed to confront the shooter, “lives would have been saved and people would have survived.”
A special Texas House committee impaneled to investigate the shooting released its report in July 2022 but would not have a Spanish version of the document for weeks, it said. For Uvalde — a community with more than 80% Hispanic or Latino residents and where half the residents age 5 or older speak a language other than English at home — García got to work to get Spanish speakers the House’s shooting report sooner.
García led the translation effort through a collaboration with Spanish-speaking journalists from USA Today and across the U.S. and in Mexico. The Statesman printed 10,000 copies of the report, and staffers, including García, distributed them for free in Uvalde at churches, restaurants, convenience stores, the library and other locations.
“The Statesman is so fortunate to have had Manny García leading our team and helping us become better journalists,” Managing Editor Courtney Sebesta said. “It’s an honor to help lead the Statesman and support the colleagues I’ve worked alongside for 22 years during this transition. Our Statesman journalists are extremely dedicated to their community and will continue to steadfastly report on issues that are important to Central Texans.”
García has previously held leadership roles at the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald, The Naples Daily Herald, USA Today and the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Initiative. He has also served journalism through the Investigative Reporters and Editors, the News Leaders Association and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
“We sincerely appreciate Manny’s contributions and wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors,” said Kristin Roberts, chief content officer of Gannett. “We are excited about the opportunity to find an Austin American-Statesman executive editor to serve the community and create the growth plan for the No. 1 source for Austin and Texas breaking news, politics and business.”
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Pets Alive! (APA!) received a $10,000 donation and 30 pet beds on Thursday.
The donation was from Robert Thiele, an Amazon delivery driver and owner of Clark Courier Services, which was named in honor of his late bulldog, Clark, who passed away this spring after a battle with cancer.
“I named Clark Courier Services after Clark because just like our drivers, he delivered smiles every single day. In a world full of best friends, Clark was the bestest,” said Thiele.
According to Amazon, the donated pet beds were given a second life through Amazon Re:Turn, which repurposes textiles from customer returns that could not be resold or donated.
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Amazon delivers $10,000 donation and pet beds to APA! (KXAN photo/Tim Holcomb)
As a surprise for Thiele, APA! unveiled memorial plaques dedicated to Clark on shelter kennels, which were inscribed with his name and the words “forever delivering.”
“Our Delivery Service Partners are local, small business owners embedded in the communities they serve. Robert’s been delivering in Austin for nearly seven years, and he’s not just moving packages. He’s showing up for the people, the pets, and the neighborhoods around him. That’s what this program is about,” said Emma Crowley, Amazon spokesperson. “Today, we got to give a little back to someone who has and will continue to give so much to others.”
Almost one year ago today, the Texas Longhorns found themselves in the losers’ bracket of their own regional, falling to the No. 3 seed UTSA Roadrunners in the 2025 Austin Regional.
For just a brief moment, it looked as if history was going to repeat itself once again, as the No. 3-seeded Tarleton State Texans got another chance at an upset, beating the Longhorns back in the regular season, 6-1, at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
But today, history was not going to repeat itself — the team that the Texans saw in the regular season was a different animal than the iteration in the winners’ bracket. Under another furious day at the plate for Texas, and an outstanding night on the mound for Dylan Volantis, Texas was not going to fall into the losers’ bracket for a second consecutive year.
“Obviously that guy on the mound, he’s one of the best pitchers, if not the best pitcher in college baseball for a reason,” said Tarleton State head coach Fuller Smith about Volantis. “We didn’t do a very good job, and I don’t know if we would beat anybody tonight, to be honest.”
Longhorns Look Unstoppable
If the past two days proved anything, Texas is playing its best baseball at the most crucial time of the season — in all three fronts of the game.
After a poor showing in the Southeastern Conference tournament by the Longhorns’ top three hitters. Aiden Robbins, Carson Tinney, and Anthony Pack Jr. have carried the brunt of the Texas offense in the postseason.
In the second inning alone, the trio rocketed three straight home runs to put the Texans down an early 6-0 hole, a deficit they would not come out of.
“I remember when I stepped on home plate [Anthony] Pack Jr. greeted me at home,” Tinney said. I looked at him, I was like, ‘It’s your turn now.’ And then two pitches later, he sent one out.”
Defensively, the Longhorns’ outfield, which struggled trying to find the right combination, has finally found the right grouping in Robbins, Pack Jr., and Dariyan Pendergrass.
Robbins and Pendergrass both were able to come up with deep fly ball grabs in the past two games. In the infield, missing core member Ethan Mendoza at second base, nonetheless, has yet to skip a beat.
“Pendergrass is a pretty veteran player, he’s been around the block a few times in college baseball,” Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “Aiden has been a great teammate — Pack [Jr.] has improved greatly over the course of time.”
However, the real star of the regional so far has been the dominance on the mound from starters Luke Harrison and Volantis.
In the regional defining game, Volantis had no issue tossing up the Tarleton State order, who found great success against UC-Santa Barbara in the opening game. The sophomore pitcher lasted 6.2 innings, tossing seven strikeouts and allowing just three hits on the night.
With the giant lead by the time Volantis was pulled in the sixth inning, the Longhorns still have not used any of their premier relief arms in this regional.
“Those two innings were definitely helpful [in the SEC Tournament],” Volnatis said. “I definitely could have done the same without those two innings today.”
Texas now awaits a third rematch with Tarleton State or UC Santa Barbara and will not have to face either of their premier arms — notably Guachos pitcher Jackson Flora, a surefire first-round selection in this year’s MLB Draft.
The Longhorns will roll with Ruger Riojas tomorrow night and likely unload its best arms who have not seen action since the final regular season series against Missouri to seal up their first regional victory in three seasons.
“It’s always good to stay in the winner’s bracket and avoid those moments, but we haven’t won anything yet. We won two games,” Schlossnagle said. “I’m certainly excited about how we played to this point and yes, I’m glad we don’t have to play two tomorrow, but the tournament’s not over.”
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AUSTIN, Texas — One person is dead but has not been identified after the Austin Police Department responded to the scene of a deceased person call in South Austin Saturday afternoon.
According to officials, a deceased person was located in a parking lot just at around 12:25 p.m. at the 4400 Block of Pack Saddle Pass after officers responded to a check welfare urgent call.
The victim was pronounced deceased at 12:36 p.m. The incident is being investigated as a suspicious death, it is not being investigated as a homicide.
ALSO: I-35 frontage road at Williams Drive reopens after rollover crash with serious injuries
The identity of the victim is still unknown, and the age and sex of the victim has not been released.
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Anyone with information that could help the investigation is encouraged to call the APD homicide unit at 512-477-3588 or APD Crimestoppers at 512-472-8477.
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