Governor Abbott proposes harsher penalties for rioters
Governor Greg Abbott pushes for much stiffer penalties for people who commit riot based crimes. The governor’s laid out six pieces of legislation, including jail time for people who cause injury and or destruction.
“If you harm a police officer, you’re not gonna be walking the streets again for at least six months,” says Abbott.
Jail time would also come from using fireworks, lasers or blocking hospital entrances. Abbott is again denouncing cities like Austin for making deep cuts to policing.
“During the time when you see the greatest mayhem, they may not have their police officers there because of a decision by the local city council,” Abbott says the goal is to protect police and nonviolent protesters.
Governor Abbott’s proposal to beef up penalties for violent rioters is not something Austin Mayor Steve Adler is necessarily in favor of. Adler says he was worried Abbott would do this after seeing something similar being considered in Florida.
“I recognize the need. We don’t want riots in the street. We don’t wanna have burnings and lootings. I’m just really concerned about the policies that operate in reaction to that,” Adler says.
Calling out Republicans specifically, Adler says one governor’s decision influences others to follow suit. Adler thinks that’s what Abbott is doing here.
Breonna Taylor protest
A total of a dozen arrests were made by Austin police late Wednesday night as protesters poured into downtown following the Kentucky grand jury’s decision in the Breonna Taylor shooting. 11 of those arrests involve someone obstructing a highway.
COVID-19 update
89 people are in the Travis County hospital this morning due to complications from coronavirus. That’s up from three from a day ago. Currently, there’s 722 active cases. That’s a dozen fewer than this time yesterday and marks yet another consecutive day that number has gone down. 28,904 cases have been found and 27,768 are recoveries.
1,577 cases of coronavirus are still active in Hays County. This week, health officials said they had been under reporting the total number of hospitalizations the county has had since March. While the online dashboard still shows 181 total hospitalizations, the county says 106 had been previously unreported. So even with that change, the current hospital capacity still looks pretty good. There are only 22 people in the hospital right now and 4,201 people have made recoveries.
Back to campus plan stays the same for AISD
There’s been some discussions lately about possibly changing the return to campus plan for the Austin school district. With just a week and a half before kids are set to return, new Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde says they need to just stay the course.
“Right now just isn’t the time to adjust those plans. Therefore, we will be beginning on-campus instruction October 5th in our original plans,” says Elizalde.
25% will be allowed back on each campus, with more added back every couple of weeks.
Austin pools reopening
Some city of Austin pools will reopen tomorrow, but some schedules will look different than normal years. Those pools include Barton Springs, Big Stacy Bartholomew, Deep Eddy and Spring Woods. Barton Springs will only be open from five a.m. until 8 a.m. and there will be two hour time limits for swimmers at all pools.
Project Connect’s environmental impact
Austin area environmental groups are rolling out their support for the $7.1 billion Project Connect proposal. The project is up for a vote this November as Proposition A and would revamp Capital Metro’s transportation system. The Texas Public Interest Research Group’s Bay Scoggin says once complete, the new transit system would be a massive environmental boom..
“We are expecting the carbon equivalent of planting more than 50,000 acres of trees, and that’s each and every year,” says Scoggin.
Austin’s Mayor Pro TEM Delia Garza says fighting climate change is a matter of racial justice and true equity and believes Prop A is a way to do that.
Plane crash in San Marcos
Three people were involved in a frightening crash in San Marcos involving two airplanes. The San Marcos Regional Airport says the planes collided as they were both trying to land last night, causing one to flip over and the other to burst into flames. Two men were hospitalized with minor injuries, and one of the pilots was treated at the scene.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-9-25-20
