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Z'Tejas will close downtown Austin restaurant on April 1

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:28 GMT

Editor’s Note: The video above shows KXAN News Today’s top headlines for March 14, 2023.AUSTIN (KXAN) — A little more than two weeks are left for people to go and enjoy the food at a familiar Southwestern-style restaurant in downtown Austin. Z'Tejas, located on West Sixth Street by North Lamar Boulevard, will officially close its doors on April 1. According to a news release confirming the closure date, the restaurant will hold a celebratory party next week to mark 33 years in business. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Z’Tejas to close its original location in downtown Austin The goodbye party will happen on March 24. On that day, the restaurant will charge $5 all day for its house margarita, and a DJ will play at the downtown location from 6-10 p.m. "The community is encouraged to come in and enjoy one of their favorites," the news release detailed. "A few classics have been added back to the core menu. Starting on March 17, dishes like the Navajo taco, Chicken Artichoke stacker and Adobo Cho...

APD: Suspicious death investigation in north Austin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:28 GMT

Editor’s Note: The video above shows KXAN News Today’s top headlines for March 14, 2023.AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin police are investigating reports of a suspicious death in north Austin Tuesday afternoon.Police responded to 11700 Metric Boulevard, which is between Braker Lane and Gracy Farms Lane, around 4:20 p.m.APD said it expects to hold a media briefing at a later time Tuesday.This developing story will be updated.

Miss old Austin? Buy memorabilia from this vending machine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:28 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Remember visiting the Highland Mall? Shopping for party supplies at Jumpolin? Catching a movie at the Harlem Theater?A vending machine selling old Austin relics opened this week in the Paramount Theatre lobby that aims to preserve the history of the gentrified areas of the city, said Carl Settles, the executive director of Austin nonprofit E4 Youth. PREVIOUS: Is the City of Austin living up to its promise to improve quality of life for Black people? The LostIn vending machine includes items from old Austin establishments like a t-shirt from the Victory Grill in east Austin or a piñata from the now-shuttered Jumpolin or a L.C. Anderson High School pencil case. A vending machine selling old Austin relics opened this week in the Paramount Theatre lobby that aims to preserve the history of the gentrified areas of the city. (KXAN Photo/Taylor Girtman)A vending machine selling old Austin relics opened this week in the Paramount Theatre lobby that aims to preserve the hi...

How Austin's Event Operations Center keeps you safe during SXSW

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:28 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — As people flock downtown this week for South by Southwest, a joint effort between City and public safety staff monitors the crowds, ready to take action if need be."We have all of the public safety departments here in one location," said Brydan Summers, the consumer services manager for the Austin Center for Events. "We want to make sure we have all the right people in the room if we need to make decisions."The Emergency Operations Center is located on Barton Springs Road, about a block south of the river. There are also various mobile command centers set up downtown by the city's public safety departments. The Austin Police Department also has designated officers patrolling inside the street enclosures on Sixth, Rainey and Red River Streets.The Emergency Operations Center serves as a hub for transportation operations as well.You can view a full presentation of safety efforts, road closures and transportation plans here. KXAN is gathering additional information about...

Hole in the Wall employee injured in 'unfortunate accident'

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:28 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — One Hole in the Wall employee was injured, and the building was damaged following an "unfortunate accident," bar owners said in a Facebook post Tuesday."An unfortunate accident has damaged our building and injured one of our staff. He's a trooper and hanging tough despite a road of recovery ahead of him," bar owners said in part.They added an upcoming benefit and fundraising efforts are in the works. KXAN is reaching out for more information on the incident. We will update this once we receive any more details.

Duluth mall suffers partial roof collapse in wake of 12-inch snowfall; no one injured

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:28 GMT

DULUTH, Minn. — The Miller Hill Mall in Duluth was evacuated Tuesday morning after a partial roof collapse. No injuries were immediately reported after the collapse, which was presumably caused by the weight of the season’s excessive snowfall.The collapse at Duluth’s biggest indoor shopping center was reported at 9 a.m. Tuesday near the Applebee’s restaurant, according to the Duluth Fire Department.Daylight is visible through a hole left by a partial roof collapse on March 14, 2023, at the Miller Hill Mall in Duluth, Minn. (Courtesy of Scott Skar via Forum News Service)Scott Skar, manager of the Barnes & Noble in the mall, told the Duluth News Tribune he was preparing to open the store when he heard a loud noise and felt the building shake at about 8:55 a.m. After looking through the gate at the mall entrance to the store, he saw snow in the courtyard hallway near Express.Skar called out to see if anyone was hurt, but did not get a response. He then called 911 ...

Willie Nelson is bringing his Outlaw Music Festival Tour to Somerset in June

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:28 GMT

Willie Nelson will kick off his 2023 Outlaw Music Festival Tour on June 23, across the border at Wisconsin’s Somerset Amphitheater.General admission lawn tickets are $35 and seats are priced from $189 to $69. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday through Ticketmaster. Citi cardholders have access to a presale that runs through 10 p.m. Thursday.The concert also features Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. In 2021, Krauss and the former Led Zeppelin frontman released “Raise the Roof,” their second collaboration. The pair’s first record together, 2007’s “Raising Sand,” won five Grammy Awards, including album of the year and record of the year for “Please Read the Letter.”Also on the bill: Minnesota bluegrass band Trampled by Turtles, Americana act Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway and Particle Kid, a.k.a. Nelson’s son Micah.Nelson, who turns 90 next month, recently won his 11th and 12th Grammy Awards and released his 73rd solo album, “I Don’t Know a Thing About L...

NASA Webb telescope captures star on cusp of death

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:28 GMT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The Webb Space Telescope has captured the rare and fleeting phase of a star on the cusp of death.NASA released the picture Tuesday at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.This image provided by NASA shows the star Wolf-Rayet 124, center, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope in June 2022. A surrounding nebula is made of material cast off from the aging star in random ejections, and from dust produced in the ensuing turbulence. The telescope captured the rare and fleeting phase of the star on the cusp of death. (NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team via AP)The observation was among the first made by Webb following its launch in late 2021. Its infrared eyes observed all the gas and dust flung into space by a huge, hot star 15,000 light-years away. A light-year is about 5.8 trillion miles.Shimmering in purple like a cherry blossom, the cast-off material once comprised the star’s outer layer. The Hubble Space Telescope snapped a ...

Jamelle Bouie: The boys who cried ‘woke’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:28 GMT

As soon as it was clear that Silicon Valley Bank would not survive the weekend, conservative influencers and Republican politicians had a culprit in sight.Wokeness.“They were one of the most woke banks,” Rep. James Comer, the top Republican on the House Oversight Committee, said during a segment on Fox News.The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, also spoke to Fox News about the collapse of the bank, and he also blamed the bank’s diversity programs.“I mean, this bank, they’re so concerned with DEI and politics and all kinds of stuff. I think that really diverted from them focusing on their core mission,” he said.A Saturday headline in The New York Post declared, “While Silicon Valley Bank Collapsed, Top Executive Pushed ‘Woke’ Programs.” And over at The Wall Street Journal, Andy Kessler wondered if “the company may have been distracted by diversity demands.”On Twitter, a number of prominent conservatives took this message and ran with it. Donald Trump Jr. said that “SVB is what happe...

Michael Worobey: I called for more research on the COVID lab leak theory. Here’s what I found out.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:28 GMT

Recent reports that Department of Energy and FBI officials think the COVID-19 pandemic originated with a so-called lab leak appear to have provided all the “evidence” many require. As a scientist who has led or contributed to several peer-reviewed studies that tell a very different story, I’ve looked on with amazement at the growing divide between what the science shows and what much of the public — and a minority of the intelligence community — believe. But I’ve also watched with understanding for those who still suspect a lab leak because I started there myself.The nucleus of all lab leak conjectures — they are not a single hypothesis but a wide range of sometimes mutually exclusive speculations — was famously captured by the comedian Jon Stewart. “Oh, my God, there’s a novel respiratory coronavirus overtaking Wuhan, China — what do we do?” Stewart said during a June 2021 appearance on “The Late Show Wit...