Results tagged “business”

Two of the biggest technology names in Texas have joined forces Monday as Dell acquired Perot Systems by $3.9 billion.

Spawn Labs debuts the "Slingbox for video games", City Hall throws a party for game developers, CA buys NetQoS for $200 million, and UT alumnus Bob Taylor sits down to talk about inventing the Internet.

Legislature passes a TV recycling bill: "A zombie TV can rot your brain, literally." It's official: Perry's appointment of a creationist dentist to the State Board of Education has been rejected by the Senate. Gov. Perry says he will veto the CHIP expansion bill if the Senate passes it. Rick Perry among the Political Junkie's "Most Endangered of Getting Knocked Off in the Primary Next Year" list. 24-year-old woman in trouble with the law after leaving her 4-year-old alone in their apartment for hours at a time. AG Abbott charges Conn's with aggressive and deceptive sales tactics. A paint spill closed down IH35 Northbound in Round Rock for a while today.

Something to start planning for: Time Warner Cable is going to set up tiered pricing for internet subscribers in Austin and San Antonio very soon. A Time Warner spokesman told the Statesman's Omar Gallaga that this new pricing plan will go into effect this summer. This means that if you watch a lot of streaming video or download a lot of music, your cable bill is going to increase. If you don't, perhaps your bill will remain the same as it is, but you will be charged extra if your data usage goes over your set limit. The only good news here may be for Grande, who will likely get some new business from this. [Digital Savant]

Wildflower displays this year expected to be only moderate since there wasn't much rain this fall. Hard hit by drought, Bastrop County asks Gov. Perry for state of emergency status. San Antonio and Austin city leaders working together to lure solar companies to Central Texas. Capital Metro rail test today showed that cars at 53rd Street are not stopping far enough away from the tracks. Three-alarm fire sparked at a Northeast Austin business at about midnight this morning. Is the honeymoon over? Speaker Straus refuses to hear a motion to allow Reps to voluntarily switch committee assignments. Whole Foods profits down 17.4%.

• Obama to sign the stimulus bill in Denver.
• Oooh. Real mature: House Minority Whip creates YouTube video bragging about the lack of Republicans voting for the stimulus bill.
• Wal-Mart takes one more step toward world dominance.

You may be SOL if you had paid Image Tile for work yet to be done. Three men put out a truck fire in South Austin yesterday, saving the life of the passenger. Austin man steals $178,000 worth of NASCAR tickets and tries to sell them on Craigslist. Body found 26 years ago finally identified. Austin marathon will have many streets closed on Sunday. City Council postpones public hearing and vote on Wildflower Commons. How the recession will affect Texas social services programs.

City Manager Ott's budget shaving would cut library hours from 50 a week to 40. Spansion seized for $9 million owed in taxes. House committee assignments made today: Rep. Strama to chair the Technology, Economic Development and Workforce committee. Travis County authorities trying to get a 23-year-old woman extradited from Mexico for the videotaped sexual assault of two children. City Council says no to South Texas Nuclear Plant expansion. Lesbian couple tries to get a marriage certificate in Dallas County, taking part in National Freedom to Marry Day. Preservation Texas announces the most endangered historical buildings in the state.

Storm system that brought tornadoes to OK this afternoon is headed our way. Two women robbed a man in his North Austin apartment and attacked him with a frying pan and knife; one of them has been arrested. Speaker Straus making House committee assignments this week. Texas Medical Association joins class-action lawsuit against CIGNA and Aetna Insurance companies. AMD not able to reach shareholder quorum on spinoff vote. Peanut Corporation of America suspends operations at its Plainview plant after the salmonella outbreak. Obama Interior Sec. Salazar scraps W's offshore drilling plan.

• ExxonMobil posts record $45.2 billion profit.
• IL Senate votes 59-0 to impeach Rod R. Blagojevich.
• Alaska volcano appears headed toward eruption. Say it ain't so, Joe.

Freescale will cut 90 jobs in March. Texas Instruments to cut 1,800 jobs. Austin's Capital Area Food Bank makes an appearance in WaPo article on how best to serve the hungry. Bikers visit Capitol today to protest helmet laws. wo Pflugerville students accused of hacking into the district's system Today's fog factored in to almost two dozen crashes. The misty weather is also blamed for power outages in various areas of town. Federal court grants stay of execution to Texas inmate Larry Swearingen, who had been scheduled for execution tomorrow.

Lee Leffingwell joins the Austin mayor's race. City of Austin under a hiring freeze as of today. The Austin woman accused of hitting a police horse with her shoe has been sentenced to 5 years probation. Austin-based B-Side Entertainment lands millions in new financing and will soon enter the feature distribution business. Environmentalists want more regulation of coal ash disposal in Texas. No Special Session this year on KLRU. San Antonio Toyota plant still on single shift as part of the automaker's national slowdown on vehicle production.

Israel hit the UN refugee agency in Gaza earlier today, then said that was a "grave mistake." Roland Burris officially takes Obama's Senate seat today. Bishop Gene Robinson talked to Rachel Maddow last night about Rick Warren and the Inauguration (video). I think the argument that this is a failed presidency is just dead wrong": Dick Cheney, we will miss you not a bit. Apple's Steve Jobs taking medical leave of absence. Oakland transit shooting leads to former cop being charged with murder. Ricardo Montalban has died.

• Troubled Ill. Gov. Blagojevich makes his pick for Senate: former Illinois Atty. Gen. Roland Burris.
• Israel's air attack on Gaza just first stage of several.
• Divorce sucks, but especially in a recession.

Gov. Perry wants you to "choose life" (license plates). Speaking of Perry, as of tomorrow afternoon he will be Texas' longest serving governor ever. And he can run again in 2010! This morning's fog blamed for at least 75 area accidents. Former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk to be named as US Trade Representative under Obama. More controversy in the Pedernales CoOp inquiry. Texas names its first Hispanic chief of the Texas Rangers; he's also the youngest ever. Caterpillar bringing a plant down to Seguin.

Gov. Perry makes an aside about $15,000 retreat taken by UT Board of Regents. Texas House Speaker hopefuls want a secret ballot. City Council members remember Jennifer Gale. Rodney Reed's appeal rejected by Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Judge says that Dallas red-light-camera firm needs an investigation license. Larger numbers of homeless needing help in Austin. Spanish clothing retailer Zara headed to Austin in 2009.

Round Rock woman leaves 4 kids (all under 3 years old) from her in-home daycare alone at her house while she goes shopping, and later gets in a car accident. Man driving his scooter downtown on Saturday morning was hit and killed by a driver who ran a red light. ACLU doesn't like the new state drivers license rules. A former employee of a Steiner Ranch steakhouse shot and killed a current employee there yesterday; police are still searching for him. Area of Southeast Austin currently under a boil water notice. Whole Foods is suing the FTC. Texas' dental health ain't great.

93-year-old former Texas Supreme Court justice almost drove into Lady Bird Lake today. Current Texas Supreme Court Justice Hecht facing ethics charges after accepting a dicey contribution. Nine major companies (including GE, Dell, IBM and others) are partnering with the Pecan Street Project to bring clean energy & green jobs to Austin. Tech company Analog Devices Inc. shutting down its Austin location. Former American Cancer Society employee involved in cell phone fraud, swindling $590,000 from the non-profit. New York Times fashion critic stops in Austin before Thanksgiving weekend, really likes the Counter Cafe. Farm-to-table dinner tonight at Cipollina.

Candidates for U.S. Senate Cornyn and Noriega will participate in a debate to be televised statewide on public television tomorrow evening (KLRU, 8pm). See Noriega and his mom cook Spanish rice in the video to the right. Record number of Austinites registered to vote in the crunch-time Oct. 6. Five people taken to Brackenridge Hospital after a multi-vehicle wreck on IH35 today. City of Austin sets up website to plug locally-owned small businesses. State Court of Criminal Appeals refuses to hear Pitonyak's case. Too bad if you wanted to get one of those fish pedicures in Texas. Death toll from Ike in Texas up to 37.

• Dead body found in Lady Bird lake.
• Hays County Sheriff's Office deputy injured in accident dies.
• Dell looks to sell factories worldwide.

Bush visited Austin yesterday, commended Texas for our state's emergency preparations. Mandatory evacuation orders lifted for Jefferson, Orange and Hardin counties in Southeast Texas. Evacuees taking shelter from Gustav in Austin eager to return home. Two Central Texas employers announced job cuts today.

Mediabistro's AgencySpy broke news this afternoon that an as-of-yet-unnamed creative director at Austin's own GSD&M was fired last Friday after pulling a not-so-bright stunt. It seems that this CD created a GMail address in the name of the Executive Creative Director, and then went on to send out emails to other creative department employees about salary and other information pertinent to their department -- all under the ECD's name, mind you.

The accident this morning in Smithville happened when a crane being used to dismantle an old bridge fell into the Colorado River. Red light cameras have caught 400 drivers going through red lights in the past 2 months. Traffic on Cesar Chavez may be a bigger mess than usual tomorrow. APD searching for man believed to be a serial groper.

A crane fell this morning in Smithville, and there are reports of one death and one injury. This is the latest in a run of crane accidents this year throughout the country (there was one in Houston earlier this month as well as the NYC crane collapse in March). Our state does not require crane operators to be licensed, and crane operation in Texas isn't under local or state oversight. [KXAN via Twitter]

• Obama, surrounded by a mob scene, spends only a brief few minutes at the Western Wall.
• $8.7 billion dollars gone--Ford faces worst quarter ever.
• Due to rising gas prices, STAR Flight to raise fees--a $2,000 increase for non-residents.

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Round Rock-based Dell alleging that the company failed to pay appropriate overtime wages to their customer service employees. The lawsuit - originally filed in 2007 by two employees from Dell’s Roseburg, Oregon call center - states that the company failed to keep accurate overtime records which resulted in inaccurate overtime pay.

Oh, ExpressJet, we hardly knew ye. Oops: Federal officials in town to talk with CapMetro about commuter rail were on a train when it derailed today. 29-year-old driver walked away from a car accident in March, leaving his 19-year-old sister to die. Woman found the man suspected of stabbing her sister last night and brought him back to the Southeast Austin crime scene. Brazoria County investigator injured by the bullet used by another man to commit suicide.

Mom and kids find a loaded gun at Slaughter Creek park; a cop had apparently lost it while training a police dog there earlier in the morning. 11 Central Texans receive various sentences for fraudulent house-flipping. Office of Attorney General says that the mansion surveillance videos don't have to be released to the media. Southwest Airlines may soon have flights to Canada if their deal with WestJet works out. American Airlines will be cutting over two hundred jobs at airports in Texas. FDA blocking shipments of salsa ingredients (except for tomatoes) to the States from Mexico. Could cilantro be the salmonella carrier?

In a move sure to piss a lot of people off (and conversely make others rejoice) Dell announced that they will make all of their U.S. campuses smoke-free by January 1, 2009. Citing decreased insurance costs and increased health benefits, a Dell representative stated that approximately 28,000 U.S. employees were notified of the policy change on Wednesday. In an effort to help employees kick the habit, Dell will provide employees with free smoking cessation programs and a discount in health insurance premiums for all non-smoking employees.

Local couple charged with running a prostitution ring in Northwest Austin. Cities in the Edwards Aquifer zone must cut down on their water usage because levels are low. Pure Casting in East Austin has been in operation since 1969, but there have been recent environmental concerns brought up by neighbors. Police are looking for an 18-year-old man who shot his infant daughter in the ankle. Ted Nugent held an estate sale in Waco over the weekend.