Local News - KXAN 36 Austin

DALLAS (AP) - The planned layoff of nearly 1,100 employees in the Dallas school district has begun with the cutting of 150 non-contract employees and the elimination of 100 vacant positions.

AUSTIN (AP) -- Travis County sheriff's deputies used pepper spray Thursday to break up a melee that broke out in a courtroom Thursday as a judge was sentencing a man to 25 years in prison for murder.

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- Wall Street tumbled to a five-year low Thursday. This is the third steepest single day decline in history. Financial credit markets have grown tight and investors appear to be in panic mode.

NEW YORK (AP) - The Dow Jones industrials have fallen below the 9,000 mark, hurt by a steep decline in shares of General Motors Corp. The blue chip index is extending its selling to a seventh straight day Thursday as investors grapple with worries about the credit markets and the economy.

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- A proposal to use money collected on tolls from Highway 183-A as collateral to build a toll road to Manor Expressway has some fired up. They said the toll money collected should stay in the immediate area where it was collected.

WILLIAMSON COUNTY (KXAN) -- In the Williamson County race to replace Republican Rep. Mike Krusee of Round Rock, Democrat Diana Maldonado is coming out ahead in the latest campaign finance reports released.

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- As part of the regular City of Austin Bridge Maintenance Program, the City will reduce lanes on the Lamar Bridge at Lady Bird Johnson Lake Friday through Sunday and the next weekend for maintenance. Two lanes, one in each direction, will be open at all times during the work.

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- Gov. Rick Perry said the nation must reduce its dependence on foreign oil by building a deeper, more diverse energy portfolio. Perry spoke at the Clean Carbon Policy Summit and Project Expo, hosted by the Clean Coal Technology Foundation of Texas.

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- A Williamson County man is accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl over a period of several months. Alfredo Soto Enriquez is the first person in Texas to be charged under Jessica's Law. Lawmakers passed the measure during the last session of the Texas Legislature.

NEW YORK (AP/KXAN) -- John McCain's campaign said it respects copyright and has permission to use the music of various groups on the stump. The Foo Fighters are the latest musicians to complain about McCain's use of their song to promote his campaign.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Barack Obama says the nation is suffering from "irrational despair." Obama made the comment in an interview with ABC News. He also says financial institutions have lost trust and "are afraid to lend to each other."

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- Austin City Council Member Lee Leffingwell and Mayor Will Wynn are asking Austin City Manager Marc Ott for an update on the city's financial position in the "ongoing national financial crisis."

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) - A 14-year-old boy has turned himself into Austin police in connection with a shooting on Tuesday that sent another boy to the hospital and led to the lockdown of three Austin schools for a couple of hours.

BURNET, Texas (KXAN) -- Local restaurant owners in this Hill Country community seem to be watching their customer base fall as fast as the New York Stock Exchange.

ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) - A tip has led Round Rock police to arrest a Round Rock man in the hit-and-run accident that killed a motorcycle rider last month.

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- A North Austin man was arrested for impersonating a police officer. It is the second time in less than two months that Joseph Aversa has been picked up for the same charge.

DALLAS (AP) - Don Meredith will return to SMU next weekend to have his No. 17 jersey retired. Before "Dandy Don" starred for the startup Dallas Cowboys and became a popular broadcaster on "Monday Night Football," he was a star quarterback for the Mustangs.

AUSTIN (AP) - One of the latest trends in foot massage has gone belly-up in Texas. The state today banned fish pedicures due to health and safety concerns.

AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- San Marcos Police are looking for a police impersonator who tried to pull over two off-duty police officers early Sunday morning. The two officers were carpooling home to San Antonio after their shift around 4:30 a.m. on Interstate 35 near FM 306 in New Braunfels.