Courts
Updated: Visit Austin provides some data, withholds some
The Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau, now operating as Visit Austin, released to the Austin Monitor on Wednesday a list of its 50 highest-paid employees, by job title and salary, not by name, as well as a compilation of the…
Courts • By Jo Clifton • May 25, 2017
Bunch sues Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau
Austin activist Bill Bunch filed suit after hours Monday against the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau (which on April 28 filed an assumed name certificate allowing it to operate under the name Visit Austin) for refusing to disclose the salaries of its…
Courts • By Jo Clifton • May 23, 2017
Judge rejects city's payday lender rules
Austin Municipal Court Judge Ferdinand Clervi struck down a section of Austin’s payday lending ordinance in March, ruling that the ordinance’s limits on frequency and amount of installment payments are preempted by state law. That ruling affected two separate cases…
Austin • By Jo Clifton • May 1, 2017
Developer wins suit against Crestview neighbors
Mark Dawson Homes has won its lawsuit against the residents of the Crestview neighborhood who tried to enforce an expired restrictive covenant against the developer that might have prevented it from building two homes on one lot at 7801 Mullen…
Courts • By Jo Clifton • Feb 22, 2017
CLEAT subpoenas Adler in officer's hearing
The Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, or CLEAT, has subpoenaed Mayor Steve Adler to give testimony at an upcoming arbitration hearing in the firing of Officer Geoffrey Freeman. Freeman lost his job after shooting an unarmed, naked teenager in…
Courts • By Jo Clifton • Nov 22, 2016
Zimmerman appeals campaign contribution limits
City Council Member Don Zimmerman has asked the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to strike down two provisions of Austin’s campaign finance laws: the $350 limit on contributions made by individuals to Council candidates and the…
Courts • By Jo Clifton • Nov 18, 2016
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Despite law intended to ensure diversity, Travis County grand juries less racially diverse
In the year since Texas lawmakers mandated random selection of grand jurors in place of the controversial “key man” system, grand juries in Travis County have become less racially diverse. “The grand juries are to be selected at random from…
Courts • By Audrey McGlinchy, KUT • Nov 14, 2016
Austin loses appeal of appraisal district lawsuit
Texas’ 3rd Court of Appeals on Thursday firmly rejected the city of Austin’s attempt to get a judicial ruling on whether the alleged disparity between appraisals for residential property and commercial property meets constitutional muster. Led by Mayor Steve Adler,…
Courts • By Jo Clifton • Nov 11, 2016
SOS loses bid for MoPac injunction
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel declined to issue a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the beginning of construction on State Highway 45 Southwest. The judge ruled that the Save Our Springs Alliance and other plaintiffs in the…
Courts • By Jo Clifton • Oct 20, 2016
Homeowners sue over neighbors' rowdy parties
Tormented by loud, amplified music that lasted all night, drunken partygoers trespassing onto their property, cars blocking their driveway and “a parade of people coming to their door late at night ‘looking for the party,'” East Austin homeowners Christian Hartnett…
Courts • By Jo Clifton • Oct 6, 2016
Environmentalists win one round of SH 45 SW suit
Federal Judge Lee Yeakel has rejected arguments from the Texas Department of Transportation and the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority that would have ended a lawsuit against the two transportation agencies. The suit was filed by various environmental organizations and…
Courts • By Jo Clifton • Sep 8, 2016
Council approves alternatives to jail time for indigent defendants
City Council members approved a measure Thursday clarifying the process to be used by municipal judges to deem a defendant incapable of paying a municipal fine – and emphasizing community service as an alternative to jail time for unpaid fines.…
