Austin, TX

Waymo To Serve Austin; Cruise In Nashville And The Myth Of Geofences

Published

1 year ago

August 5, 2023

Press Room

A Waymo Jaguar drives in Austin, TX

Waymo

Waymo announced today that it would shortly begin service in Austin, TX. Cruise also announced it will serve Nashville, following the announcement of plans (with safety drivers, for now) for Dallas and Houston. Waymo is waiting on a permit from the California PUC to do service in Los Angeles.

Both companies are demonstrating their ability to scale and serve new cities. It is somewhat surprising to see Waymo pick Austin, where Cruise already operates, since one would imagine a desire, at least when in full production, to operate without competition in a city rather than go head to head. At this time, neither service is really in commercial operation, and they are both pricing in a manner similar to services like Uber. Both services have fairly high costs, and lose money on operations, though GM recently reported that Cruise has been dropping those costs at a rapid rate, and hopes to see them reach around $1/mile fairly soon. (A base cost of $1/mile can probably be sustained at the Uber level retail price of $2/mile.) As such they are not expanding for financial reasons.

These recent expansions are interesting in relation to a frequent argument made by supporters of Tesla FSD, or rather what they hope FSD can become. They argue that Tesla is a leader in the self-driving space because FSD is operating in a supervised mode on almost all streets in the USA, and they say the robotaxi providers are inferior because they currently are “geofenced” to a few cities, even though their level of service in those cities is many thousands of times better than Tesla’s performance if you try to judge it as a self-driving system. At present, Tesla FSD can not self-drive on any street. It only will sometimes complete a drive without intervention. That’s a driver-assist system, and it performs well as one. In the self-driving world, “drive” means “drive so reliably I could go to sleep” and in particular it means “need a safety intervention less than once in a full human lifetime of driving, “which is in the range of 20,000 trips. Being able to complete 2-3 trips is very distant from being able to do 20,000 — and most self-driving teams want to surpass the human number and are probably looking to see 50,000 trips between safety interventions.

To those in the self-driving space, the current Tesla performance level is not even on the same planet. It’s like saying, “Your Tesla car can only drive on roads, which are a very limited geofence. My horse can do any road or trail and is thus clearly superior.”

Elon Musk expresses unending optimism that his team will increase the safety performance of Tesla FSD, and every year — including this year — has predicted it will reach self-driving performance levels that year. Let’s imagine for the purposes of argument that this can in fact happen in some small number of years.

The robotaxi companies have constrained their operations to specific service areas for a variety of reasons:

One must gather map data on the new area. Thanks the the improvement of crowdsourced map approaches, this has become low cost — MobilEye brags to mapping most of Europe in a month.
One must test the system in the new area, or take the risk of it driving on a road with an unexpected feature that has never been seen or tested before. Problems found must be fixed and confirmed to be very rare
One must make arrangements with governments to operate in the area
One must have resources and staff to support the new customers in the new area, unless one is only allowing old customers to travel in the new area.

A driver-assist system is saved most of these burdens because it can always fall back to the monitoring driver to deal with problems, even urgent ones. An uncrewed car can only fall back to remote assistance operators for non-urgent problems where it has the ability to pause and wait for that assistance.

This makes such a large difference in the problem that it’s likely that companies like Waymo and Cruise could, should they feel motivated to, produce a system would could drive in random new territory with just navigation maps and a supervising driver. Indeed, with their greater experience and superior sensor suites, it seems likely this system would perform far better than Tesla FSD, though that can’t be said with certainty as they have not done it and are unlikely to wish to. The Tesla system starts from a lane geometry map, and looks at sensor data to attempt to build a more complete and accurate map on the fly. It then drives based on that map. Many of the errors made by Tesla FSD systems are caused by errors in the on-the-fly map, but it also makes errors when trying to solve the same problems as any other car — perception, prediction of where things are going, and planning.

A challenge for an attempted “drive all roads” system is problem #2 above. Without extreme confidence, nobody wants to ride in, or send out a vehicle, to drive a road or situation which has never been tested before.

One way to compare the systems more readily would be to see how well the Tesla one performs if given a fully correct map, and how well the other systems perform if required to build a map on the fly. Teslas are constrained to using only computer vision, while most other teams use vision (usually with significantly superior cameras) as well as LIDARs and radar. It seems likely that with this superior sensor suite they would do well at mapping on-the-fly. When they come to roads that have changed from their map, they do mapping on-the-fly, but only need consider the regions that have changed — because they keep a fair bit of detail in their maps, they know precisely what parts of the road are the same as their map, and which are different and need reinterpretation. Tesla FSD has a somewhat harder job — it’s lane map may say there are 3 lanes, and its live mapper may see only 2, and it has to decide if the road has been restriped, or the live mapper is making one of its frequent initial mistakes. (It is normal for Tesla’s live mapper, visible on the display screen, to make a poor first guess at the geometry of a distant piece of road as it approaches, and then refine it to a better result as it gets closer.)

Waymo claims their techniques are highly scalable to other locations. Waymo group product manager Aman Nalavade says, “By leveraging cutting-edge ML, we’re building a system that can generalize from one place to another, leading to quicker scalability. In Los Angeles and Austin, the Waymo Driver demonstrated solid performance right from the outset, serving as a testament to the effectiveness of our approach.”

Tesla’s approach does take advantage of a valuable asset — the hundreds of thousands of Tesla drivers who test out the FSD software. They can greatly speed up the process of seeing how well the system does on segments of road and whether it makes mistakes requiring intervention. Data from such events can generate trouble tickets to be fixed, and provide data to load into training new machine learning models. When it comes time for Tesla to certify performance on roads, they will be able to do that more quickly and thoroughly than companies that need to send out cars, or pay drivers, to do it.

At the same time, Tesla owners are also generating problems at a rate vastly faster than any team of human coders could keep up with. The hope is that a self-supervised machine learning system might be able to make use of this data. Tesla is building a very large supercomputer which it hopes to use for this purpose — some other companies in the space, like Waymo (an Alphabet unit) and Zoox (an Amazon unit) as well as NVidia have access to such computing already, others have to rent it.

This large source of data should be helping Tesla more than it appears to, but they always promise more for each new release.

Tesla may find there’s quite a lot more to do once they get to the point of being able to perform tens of thousands of drives in a row. The last year’s headlines have been full of stories of issues with Waymo and Cruise and the cities they drive in, notably San Francisco. These started with Pick-Up/Drop-Off (PuDo) issues as the cars often do not pull over to the curb for this, and still don’t in many cases. There have been a number of incidents where cars stalled, blocking streets, waiting for a remote rescue. A lot of attention has come on problems at emergency scenes or with emergency vehicles, where vehicles were accused of blocking vehicles and disrupting the scenes.

We haven’t heard about any of these issues with Teslas, not simply because Tesla is not yet attempting to operate a ride service. If a Tesla ever behaves improperly to block traffic or at an emergency scene, the driver takes the wheel and resolves the problem — people may be unaware it was even in FSD mode. When Waymo and Cruise operated with safety drivers, they may have encountered these problems but there would never have been complaints because the safety drivers immediately dealt with them. If Tesla plans to operate a robotaxi service or let vehicles operate with nobody in them, all of the learnings from the last few years for Waymo and Cruise lie ahead of them.

Tesla hopes that they will be able to use machine learning to resolve these problems. That remains to be seen.

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Related Topics:Austin cruise driverless Featured self-driving Tesla FSD waymo

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Austin, TX

How to check voting wait times in Travis County

Published

3 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Press Room

How to check voting wait times in Travis County

Today is Election Day. The polls in Travis County are open today from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m.

Sometimes the most convenient voting location may not be the fastest. Remember, voters registered in Travis County can vote at any voting location in Travis County.

To find the nearest vote center for you and to see what the expected wait time is, click here.

Anyone in line at the time the polls close will be allowed to cast their ballot.

The FOX 7 Elections page also has breakdowns of some of the hot ticket items Texans are voting on during this election.

Texas: The Issue Is – 2024 Election Special

The Texas: The Issue Is 2024 Election Special breaks down the key issues and races across Texas. Senator Ted Cruz and his challenger, Congressman Colin Allred sit down to talk about their race. Plus, a look at the presidential election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and the issues that could drive Texas voters to the polls.

Travis County Voting Locations

Austin City Hall Media Room #1034 301 W 2nd St Austin 78701
Austin Recreation Center Dance Studio 1301 Shoal Creek Blvd Austin 78701
Sam Houston Building Break Room and Library 201 E 14th St Austin 78701
Travis County Civil and Family Courts Facility Conference Room 1700 Guadalupe St Austin 78701
Anita Ferrales Coy Facility Former Library Media Center 745 Mansell Ave Austin 78702
Cantu Pan Am Recreation Center Gym 2100 E 3rd St Austin 78702
Carver Branch Library Meeting Rooms B/C 1161 Angelina St Austin 78702
Cepeda Branch Library Meeting Room 1 651 N Pleasant Valley Rd Austin 78702
Huston Tillotson University Davage-Durden Student Union 900 Chicon St Austin 78702
Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex East Media and Conference Room 1156 Hargrave St Austin 78702
Mt Zion Baptist Church Family Life Center – Room #119 2938 E 13th St Austin 78702
Terrazas Branch Library Meeting Rooms 1/2 1105 E Cesar Chavez St Austin 78702
Howson Branch Library Meeting Room 2500 Exposition Blvd Austin 78703
O Henry Middle School Gym 2610 W 10th St Austin 78703
St Luke United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall 1306 W Lynn St Austin 78703
Westminster Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall 3208 Exposition Blvd Austin 78703
Church on Congress Avenue Fellowship Hall 1511 S Congress Ave Austin 78704
Dawson Elementary School Cafeteria 3001 S 1st St Austin 78704
Faith Presbyterian Church Wright Fellowship Hall 1314 E Oltorf St Austin 78704
Mary Lee Foundation Center Lobby 1339 Lamar Square Dr Austin 78704
South Austin Recreation Center Lobby 1100 Cumberland Rd Austin 78704
South Austin Senior Activity Center Clubroom 3911 Menchaca Rd Austin 78704
St Edwards University UFCU Alumni Gym 3001 S Congress Ave Austin 78704
St John San Juan Lutheran Church Narthex 409 W Ben White Blvd Austin 78704
St Marks Episcopal Church Parish Hall 2128 Barton Hills Dr #4651 Austin 78704
Twin Oaks Branch Library Meeting Room 1800 S 5th St Austin 78704
Wheatsville Food Coop South Lamar Community Kitchen 4001 S Lamar Blvd Austin 78704
Zilker Elementary School Cafeteria 1900 Bluebonnet Ln Austin 78704
Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary Room 211 100 E 27th St Austin 78705
Lamar Senior Activity Center MPR 2874 Shoal Crest Ave Austin 78705
LBJ School of Public Affairs Lobby 2315 Red River St Austin 78712
UT Texas Union Room 2.214 2308 Whitis Ave Austin 78712
Givens Recreation Center Game Room 3811 E 12th St Austin 78721
Greater Mt Zion Baptist Church Assembly Room 4301 Tannehill Ln Austin 78721
Southwest Key Programs Honduras Room 6002 Jain Ln Austin 78721
Campbell Elementary School Entrance Hallway 2613 Rogers Ave Austin 78722
Genesis Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall 1507 Wilshire Blvd Austin 78722
Austin Energy Headquarters Capital Training Room 4815 Mueller Blvd Austin 78723
East Nineteenth St Baptist Church Fellowship Hall 3401 Rogge Ln Austin 78723
General Marshall Middle School Community Room 4401 Tilley St Austin 78723
Memorial United Methodist Church Gym 6100 Berkman Dr Austin 78723
Windsor Park Branch Library Meeting Room 5833 Westminster Dr Austin 78723
YMCA East Communities Y Lobby 5315 Ed Bluestein Blvd Austin 78723
Community First! Village Unity Hall 9301 Hog Eye Rd Austin 78724
Delco Center Meeting Room 4601 Pecan Brook Dr Austin 78724
Turner Roberts Recreation Center Arts and Crafts Room 7201 Colony Loop Dr Austin 78724
Dailey Middle School Lobby of the Gym 14000 Westall St Austin 78725
Grandview Hills Elementary School MPR 12024 Vista Parke Dr Austin 78726
Peace Lutheran Church Narthex 10625 N FM 620 Austin 78726
Davis Elementary School Portables 9 & 10 5214 Duval Rd Austin 78727
Milwood Branch Library Meeting Room 12500 Amherst Dr Austin 78727
Affinity at Wells Branch Main Lobby 14508 Owen-Tech Blvd Austin 78728
Wells Branch Community Center Meeting Room 2106 Klattenhoff Dr Austin 78728
Wells Branch MUD Recreation Center Arts and Crafts Room 3000 Shoreline Dr Austin 78728
RRISD Hartfield PAC Lobby 5800 McNeil Dr Austin 78729
River Place Elementary School MPR 6500 Sitio Del Rio Blvd Austin 78730
Church at Highland Park Atrium 5206 Balcones Dr Austin 78731
Northwest Hills United Methodist Church Youth Center 7027 Hart Ln Austin 78731
Canyon Ridge Middle School Gym 12601 Country Trails Ln Austin 78732
Randalls Steiner Ranch Café 5145 N FM 620 Austin 78732
Ce Bar Fire Department Training Room 353 Commons Ford Rd Austin 78733
Laura Bush Community Library Commons 9411 Bee Caves Rd Austin 78733
Lake Travis ISD Educational Development Center Sage Room 607 Ranch Rd 620 N Austin 78734
Travis County Sheriff West Command Show Up Room 3800 Hudson Bend Rd Austin 78734
Community Center at Oak Hill Community Room 8656 State Hwy 71 Austin 78735
Oak Hill Fire Dept No 302 Community Room 4111 Barton Creek Blvd Austin 78735
Southwest Family Fellowship Sanctuary 8203 State Hwy 71 Austin 78735
Mt Olive Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall 10408 US 290 Austin 78736
Oak Hill Fire Dept No 301 Training Room 3 9211 Circle Dr Austin 78736
Lake Travis ISD Transportation Center Training Room 16101 State Hwy 71 Bldg A Austin 78738
Bailey Middle School Main Hallway 4020 Lost Oasis Hollow Austin 78739
Bear Creek Elementary School Art Room 12801 Escarpment Blvd Austin 78739
Circle C Community Center Meeting Rooms 1-3 7817 La Crosse Ave Austin 78739
Dan Ruiz Branch Library Meeting Room 1 1600 Grove Blvd Austin 78741
Girls Empowerment Network Community Room 2801 S I35 Frontage Rd #110 Austin 78741
Good Shepherd on the Hill Parish Hall 1700 Woodland Ave Austin 78741
Addison Amenity Center Amenity Center 6108 Kara Dr Austin 78744
Austin Lighthouse Board Room Hallway 4512 S Pleasant Valley Rd Austin 78744
George Morales Dove Springs Recreation Center Dance Studio 5801 Ainez Dr Austin 78744
Josephine Houston Elementary School Cafetorium 5409 Ponciana Dr Austin 78744
Ojeda Middle School Foyer of Gym 4900 McKinney Falls Pkwy Austin 78744
Perez Elementary School Entrance Hallway 7500 S Pleasant Valley Rd Austin 78744
Bedichek Middle School Gym Hallway 6800 Bill Hughes Rd Austin 78745
Berkeley United Methodist Church Christian Life Center 2407 Berkeley Ave Austin 78745
Dittmar Recreation Center AB Room Main building 1009 W Dittmar Rd Austin 78745
Joslin Elementary School Cafeteria 4500 Menchaca Dr Austin 78745
Menchaca Road Branch Public Library Meeting Room 5500 Menchaca Rd Austin 78745
Pleasant Hill Branch Library Meeting Room 211 E William Cannon Dr Austin 78745
Eanes ISD Admin Building Board Room 601 Camp Craft Rd Austin 78746
Lost Creek Limited District Board Room 1305 Quaker Ridge Dr Austin 78746
Randalls Flagship West Lake Hills Café 3300 Bee Caves Rd Austin 78746
Riverbend Centre QUAD3ABCD 4214 N Capital of Texas Hwy Austin 78746
Westlake United Methodist Church Gym 1460 Redbud Tr Austin 78746
Blazier Intermediate Community Room 8801 Vertex Blvd Austin 78747
St Albans Episcopal Church Assembly Room 11819 IH 35 S Austin 78747
Akins High School Gym Foyer 10701 S 1st St Austin 78748
Mosaic Church South Austin The Commons 9910 Bilbrook Pl Austin 78748
Randalls Brodie Café 9911 Brodie Ln Austin 78748
Southpark Meadows Suite C1000 9300 S IH 35 Frontage Rd Austin 78748
State Firefighters’ and Fire Marshals’ Association Training Room 707 FM 1626 Austin 78748
upRising Austin Worship Center 8601 S 1st St Austin 78748
Villages of Shady Hollow Amenity Center Amenity Center 12006 Gatling Gun Ln Austin 78748
Westoak Woods Baptist Church CMB Room #104 2900 W Slaughter Ln Austin 78748
Austin Oaks Church Family Life Foyer 4220 Monterey Oaks Blvd Austin 78749
Boone Elementary School Cafetorium 8101 Croftwood Dr Austin 78749
Bowie High School VC Room 4103 W Slaughter Ln Austin 78749
Mills Elementary School Multi Purpose Room 6201 Davis Ln Austin 78749
Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian Church Narthex 5226 W William Cannon Dr Austin 78749
Will Hampton Branch Library Meeting Room 5125 Convict Hill Rd Austin 78749
Central City Austin Sanctuary 9023 Old Lampasas Tr Austin 78750
Lakewood HOA Community Room/Main Clubhouse 7317 Lakewood Dr Austin 78750
Baker Center Alamo Drafthouse Cafetorium 3908 Avenue B Austin 78751
Winters Building Main Lobby 701 W 51st St Austin 78751
Austin Achieve Northeast Campus High School Gym 7424 E Hwy 290 Austin 78752
Austin Permitting and Development Center #1407 6310 Wilhelmina Delco Dr Austin 78752
TA Brown Elementary School Community Room 7801 Guadalupe St Austin 78752
Barrington Elementary School Building 300 400 Cooper Dr Austin 78753
Connally High School Large Gym Foyer 13212 N Lamar Blvd Austin 78753
Gus Garcia Recreation Center Senior Room 1201 E Rundberg Ln Austin 78753
North Austin Muslim Community Center Building 106 11900 N Lamar Blvd Austin 78753
Our Savior Lutheran Church Narthex 1513 E Yager Ln Austin 78753
St Mark United Methodist Church Lawshae Community Building 601 W Braker Ln Austin 78753
Village at Collinwood Breakfast Room 1001 Collinwood West Dr Austin 78753
Austin Fire Station No 41 Bay 11205 Harris Branch Pkwy Austin 78754
Congregation Beth Israel Smith Auditorium 3901 Shoal Creek Blvd Austin 78756
McCallum High School Performing Arts Center Foyer 5600 Sunshine Dr Austin 78756
Yarborough Branch Library Meeting Room 2200 Hancock Dr Austin 78756
Ben Hur Shrine Center Ballroom 7811 Rockwood Ln Austin 78757
Grace + Peace Austin Gym 6301 Woodrow Ave Austin 78757
Lamar Middle School Gymnasium 6201 Wynona Ave Austin 78757
North Village Branch Library Meeting Room 2505 Steck Ave Austin 78757
Northwest Recreation Center Classroom #2 2913 Northland Dr Austin 78757
Rosedale School Community Room 7505 Silvercrest Dr Austin 78757
Disability Rights Texas Board Rooms 2222 W Braker Ln Austin 78758
Grant AME Worship Center Leon Thomas Annex 1701 Kramer Ln Austin 78758
Jaime Padron Elementary School Music Room 2011 W Rundberg Ln Austin 78758
Juan P Navarro Early College High School Main Hallway 1201 Payton Gin Rd Austin 78758
YMCA North Austin Gym 1000 W Rundberg Ln Austin 78758
Anderson High School Library 8403 Mesa Dr Austin 78759
Balcones Woods Shopping Center Suite 102 11150 Research Blvd Austin 78759
Junior League of Austin Community Room 5330 Bluffstone Ln Austin 78759
Shops at Arbor Walk Suite A150 10515 North Mopac Expy Austin 78759
St Matthews Episcopal Church Huffman Hall 8134 Mesa Dr Austin 78759

Bee Cave City Hall Community Room A 4000 Galleria Pkwy Bee Cave 78738

Christ Episcopal Church Parish Hall 3520 Whitestone Blvd Cedar Park 78613
Deer Creek Elementary School MPR 2420 Zeppelin Dr Cedar Park 78613

Creedmoor Community Center Meeting Room 12511 FM 1625 Creedmoor 78610

Community Center at Del Valle Activity Room/ Bldg D 3518 S FM 973 Del Valle 78617
Del Valle ISD Admin Building Board Meeting Room 5301 Ross Rd Del Valle 78617
Elroy Community Library The Learning Center 13512 FM 812 Del Valle 78617

Ministerios Filadelfia Iglesia Cristiana Sanctuary 13704 County Line Rd Elgin 78621

Community Center at Jonestown Community Room 18649 FM 1431 STE 6A Jonestown 78645

K Oaks Clubhouse Meeting Room 7000 Bar K Ranch Rd Lago Vista 78645
Lago Vista High School Lobby of PAC 5185 Lohman Ford Rd Lago Vista 78645

Lakeway Activity Center Ballroom A 105 Cross Creek Lakeway 78734

Round Mountain Baptist Church Sunday School Classroom 14500 Round Mountain Rd Leander 78641

Eternal Faith Baptist Church Fellowship Hall 12720 FM 973 Manor 78653
Manor ISD Admin Building Technology Room 10335 Hwy 290 Manor 78653
New Sweden Lutheran Church Foundation Center Room 12809 New Sweden Church Rd Manor 78653
Whisper Valley Discovery and Amenity Center Media Room 9400 Petrichor Blvd Manor 78653

Bible Baptist Church of Pflugerville Auditorium 14400 Immanuel Rd Pflugerville 78660
Boulder Ridge Clubhouse Clubhouse 3300 Killingsworth Ln Pflugerville 78660
Cambridge Villas Dining Room 15711 Dessau Rd Pflugerville 78660
Hendrickson High School PAC Lobby 19201 Colorado Sand Dr Pflugerville 78660
PfISD Rock Gym Gymnasium 702 W Pecan St Pflugerville 78660
Pfluger Hall and Conference Center Great Hall 201 N Railroad Ave Pflugerville 78660
Pflugerville Lions Club Main Hall 500 N Railroad Ave Pflugerville 78660
Pflugerville Public Library 3 Meeting Rooms 1008 W Pfluger St Pflugerville 78660
Reserve at Westcreek Great Room 17701 Bridgefarmer Blvd Pflugerville 78660
Stone Hill Apartments Community Room 17900 Pfluger Farm Ln Pflugerville 78660
Travis County HHS Pflugerville Community Center Activity Room 15822 Foothill Farms Loop Pflugerville 78660
Typhoon Texas Waterpark Main Lobby 18500 TX 130 Service Rd Pflugerville 78660

Round Rock

All Nations Church Family Room 16804 Radholme Ct Round Rock 78664

Spicewood

Briarcliff POA Community Center Community Room 22801 Briarcliff Dr Spicewood 78669

Sunset Valley

Sunset Valley City Hall Council Chambers 3205 Jones Rd Sunset Valley 78745

Volente

Volente Fire Department Meeting Space 15406 FM 2769 Volente 78641

If you have questions about your ballot, voting locations, or anything else, ask your county election office.

If you have more questions about the voting process, you can find more information here.

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Austin, TX

Tensions high in Central Texas as Election Day approaches

Published

11 hours ago

November 5, 2024

Press Room

Tensions high in Central Texas as Election Day approaches

Tensions high before Election Day

As the clock winds down on Election Day, tensions are high in Central Texas. One business even decided to stop a promotion for voters.

AUSTIN, Texas – As Election Day approaches, tensions are high in Central Texas.

A popular part of elections are the freebies from local businesses, whether it’s a slice of pizza, a doughnut or even a free succulent for showing you voted.

“I think it’s a pretty fun way to get people to get out to vote,” said Austin resident, Cameron Zuniga.

“I think it’s a really good thing. I think it’s very encouraging. You know, a lot of us are going to vote anyway, so it’s good to have community support,” said Austin resident, Christine Torres.

FOX 7 Focus: Election Day Approaches

Election Day is almost here. Scott Braddock joins John Krinjak to talk about voter turnout, the key races in Texas and the race for the White House.

Soup Peddler shared its promotion of bringing your “I voted” sticker in for a free cup of soup of your choice at any of its locations.

But as the election drew closer, they took to social media again, saying, “unfortunately, for the safety of our staff, we have had to make the decision to end our free soup during the voting period promotion early.”

The director of operations at Soup Peddler says there were a couple of interactions about the promotion with members of the public that made some of its staff uncomfortable. The business didn’t say what those interactions were, but says it decided to nip it in the bud before anything escalated.

“I think maybe playing it safer than sorry is okay from a business standpoint,” said Torres.

Travis County Election Day operations

Fifty-one percent of registered voters in Travis County voted early. Election officials now are preparing for those who will show up on Election Day

The general manager at the Airport Blvd. location says he saw an increase in business as a result of the promotion. He assured the community that no threats were made.

With Election Day on Tuesday, demonstrators with anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion signs were present during drop-off at Austin High School on Monday. The demonstrators left after an hour.

Austin High School Principal Dr. Melvin Bedford notified parents in a letter saying those messages are in direct opposition to Austin High School and the district’s values.

He said in part, “Austin AISD is committed to creating a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment for all students and staff. Counseling is available for any child who was exposed to the demonstrators.”

You can read the full statement below:

“Dear Austin High School community,

I regret having to share with you that about two demonstrators with anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion signs arrived at our school today during arrival.

We immediately contacted our campus police and Austin ISD Police who remained on-site to ensure everyone’s safety. The demonstrators left after about an hour.

If your child was exposed to this hateful demonstration and needs support, please contact our counseling team at 512-414-2519.I want to emphasize that these hateful messages are in direct opposition to our values here at Austin High and to the values of our district. Austin ISD is committed to creating a safe, supportive and inclusive environment for all students and staff.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to call me at Melvin.Bedford@austinisd.org.”

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Austin, TX

Texas Longhorns LB Anthony Hill Jr. Named Semifinalist for Major Award

Published

18 hours ago

November 4, 2024

Press Room

Texas Longhorns LB Anthony Hill Jr. Named Semifinalist for Major Award

AUSTIN — Texas Longhorns linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. is officially being recognized as one of the best at his position in college football.

Hill Jr. was announced as a semifinalist for the Dick Butkus Award Monday, joining a group of 14 other players. The Butkus Award is given annually to the best linebacker in college football.

Former Texas linebacker Jaylan Ford was also a semifinalist for the award last season.

Here’s the full list of semifinalists:

Jihaab Campbell, Alabama

Deontae Lawson, Alabama

Shaun Dolac, Buffalo

Barrett Carter, Clemson

Jalon Walker, Georgia

Aiden Fisher, Indiana

Jay Higgins, Iowa

Chandler Martin, Memphis

Chris Paul Jr., Ole Miss

Sean Brown, N.C. State

Sonny Styles, Ohio State

Danny Stutsman, Oklahoma

Anthony Hill Jr., Texas

Carson Schwesinger, UCLA

Shae Suiaunoa, Wyoming

This season, Hill Jr. has posted 28 total tackles, 5.5 sacks, one forced fumble, one pass breakup and one interception.

He was recently added to the watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award, which is given annually to the best defensive player in college football.

After the loss to Georgia, Hill Jr. said that the Longhorns are staying confident. They bounced back with a win over Vanderbilt before heading into the bye week.

“Nobody wants to lose but we’re gonna look at the film, we’re gonna get better,” Hill Jr. “Our heads are up. We’re not gonna just be sad and look all disappointed. We’re happy and we’re gonna get better and look at the film. We needed this, I feel like we need some adversity and it’s gonna be good to see how we bounce back next week.”

No. 5 Texas and Florida will kick off from Austin on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT. The game will be broadcast live on ABC.

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