US Marshals: Swami moving south?
Prakashanand Saraswati, the Hindu guru who disappeared in early March, two days after being convicted of molesting two teenage girls on the ashram he founded, is no longer believed to be hiding out...
View ArticleLance Armstrong lawyers demand apology for '60 Minutes' piece
Lawyers for Lance Armstrong, the subject of a recent “60 Minutes” story about doping allegations against him, demanded an apology from CBS News today, contending that several points in the network’s...
View Article'60 Minutes' responds to Lance Armstrong's demand for apology
CBS News has released a more lengthy statement defending its reporting of Lance Armstrong doping allegations in a “60 Minutes” piece earlier this month. In the letter, CBS News Chairman and “60...
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Lottery = luxury?
Sleek. Sexy. Luxurious. The Texas Lottery. Really? Earlier this year, the state’s biggest (legal) game of chance launched a new instant lottery ticket in an effort to boost revenue from a source of...
View ArticleAustin home to more high skilled immigrants than other Texas cities
While highly educated immigrants represent a sharply growing number nationally, Austin and other Texas metro areas continue to have larger numbers of low-skilled immigrant workers, according to a...
View ArticleNo charges against Jeff Ward, officials say
Travis County Attorney David Escamilla today said his office will not prosecute a drunken driving case against popular Austin radio host Jeff Ward. Ward, afternoon host on 590 AM KLBJ, was arrested...
View ArticleAponte's husband strikes deal for restitution but no jail time
One month after his wife was sentenced to 25 years in prison for siphoning more than $1 million out of the local charitable organizations she helped run, Marco Aponte struck a plea bargain with...
View ArticleDid swami's absconding start a Hays County trend?
Due at a Hays County courthouse and out on bond, the defendant, on trial for indecency with a child by sexual contact, left a judge and lawyers hanging and went on the lam. Sound familiar? But this...
View ArticleDid Perry's veto scuttle low income housing reforms?
Will Gov. Rick Perry’s little-noted veto of legislation making procedural reforms at the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs continue the ghetto-ization of low-income housing being built...
View ArticleAdding up human costs of Iraq and Afghanistan wars
At first blush, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan appear less violent and less deadly than previous American conflicts over the last century. While 53,000 U.S. service members died in the Korean War and...
View ArticleHearing tomorrow on auto loan scams that target soldiers
Take a drive through Killeen and it’s hard not to miss the legion of jewelry stores, pawn shops and especially car dealerships clustered near the massive Fort Hood Army post and its 50,000 soldiers....
View Article"The Luckiest Woman on Earth"
That’s the name of a fascinating story in the current edition of “Harper’s Magazine” about Joan Ginther, the woman who has won million-dollar jackpots four times playing the Texas lottery. (No link:...
View ArticleAfter ten years of war, shorter deployments on horizon
For much of the last decade, most American service members have cycled in and out of war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan with a regular rhythm: one year of war followed by a year at home. For hundreds of...
View ArticleArbitrator sides with fire union
An arbitrator has ruled against the Austin Fire Department and sided with the fire union in how an entrance exam for applicants should be scored. But the impact of the opinion — and how the city will...
View ArticleState police union to begin reimbursing city for officer's salary
A state police union will begin reimbursing the city of Austin for the salary and benefits of a local officer while he serves as the full-time organization president, according to a new agreement...
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Is violence spilling across the border? New report sheds little light
Few topics in Texas are more politically charged than the issue of violence spilling into Texas from the ongoing drug war in Mexico. Border politicians, many of them Democrats, tend to embrace crime...
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What role could Al Alawki play in trial of Fort Hood gunman?
News of the death of top Al Qaeda figure Anwar Al-Awlaki quickly spread Friday from the remote highlands of Yemen, where he was killed by a U.S. drone attack, to Fort Hood, where the slain cleric’s...
View ArticleHow a census form change affected same-sex couples data
When the U.S. Census Bureau released 2010 census numbers earlier this year, the percentage of same-sex couples was reported generally higher in Central Texas and throughout the country. We wrote about...
View ArticleCould Texas greyhound case affect WV governor's race?
A short video purporting to show a Central Texas greyhound trainer using live rabbits to train his dogs to race appears to have become an issue in today’s West Virgina governor’s election. In fact, the...
View ArticleWatchdog group details HNTB's lobby connections
Texans for Public Justice, the local nonprofit devoted to “tracking the influence of money and corporate power in Texas politics,” has released a report detailing the money trail between lobbyists tied...
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