Only on @7NewsDC the Va Dept. of Education - VDOE - ruled Prince William Co Public Schools has "a fundamental misunderstanding" of their responsibility to special education students and have "systemically denied" necessary accommodations. Hear from affected parents tonight at 11. The VDOE ruled the school district was in violation of state and federal special education laws, in response to one parent's complaint they didn't provide special education accommodations for her daughter when applying for a theater specialty program at Colgan High School.

In case you haven't taken a look at today's committee schedule, here it is. Pretty jam-packed day today, I will try to provide updates to most of what's going on. I will be monitoring the redistricting committees for now. Here's the link to the House redistricting live stream:

tlchouse.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.ph…

Packed house in front of the Williamson County Historic Courthouse, as we wait for Williamson County DA Shawn Dick and Travis County DA Margaret Moore to discuss the grand jury indictment of Sheriff Robert Chody. This is set to start at 3. Dick starting: Grand jury heard from 19 witnesses before they turned in their indictments for Chody and Jason Nassour. Punishment can be 2-10 years with up to $10,000 fine. Both arrested and released. First court date is November 30.

The Texas Secretary of State's office announced they broke its voter registration record, with 16,617,436 Texans registered. What's notable is how much bigger an increase this is than the previous presidential election year, especially compared to other years' increases: Here's a quick breakdown of just recent elections:

2020: +1,516,349 registrations
2016: +1,454,861
2012: +71,164
2008: +476,733

Full story on @cbsaustin tonight at 5.

Dr. Mark Escott is set to have his weekly Q-and-A in minutes, I'll share what he says in this THREAD: Starts off showing the same data he shared yesterday at Commissioners Court, showing hospitalizations are going down.

#HappeningNow Travis County Commissioners Court starting up. I will keep you updated on this THREAD: They're going through budget items now. They just unanimously approved the allocation of $351,294 of unclaimed capital credits:$163,013 for hub disparity study, $100,000 for hub consultant, $40,000 to support children in CPS, cont...

#JustIn the probable cause affidavits from this weekend’s hostage situation in Cedar Park. Reading them now for new information. Here’s the new information: Taylor’s mom told 911 Taylor was trying to steal her car and was having a mental health episode, Taylor shot at officers while he was locked in his mom’s bedroom with two children - his siblings - as officers tried getting in, cont’d

CPPD Chief Mike Harmon now speaking. Starts by giving recap of what happened. Suspect identified as Joseph Desean Taylor. Officers shot identified as, Jackie Keelis, Chris Hester, and Nick Anderson (will check spelling on all of these when made available). More than 50 rounds fired. Taylor is in custody, but being checked out at hospital.

Interim Chief Mike Harmon now speaking. He said he spoke with the officers and their families, and says they’re doing well now. Officers received a call for service at 3:10. Mother said son kicked in door and was acting aggressive. He shot at officers as they entered the home. Officers returned fire, but don’t know if suspect was hit. Suspect barricaded himself with three people: his mother, a child, and another family member of unknown age.

This was the line at the TX State vote center in March. I spoke with one student who was disappointed Hays Co. commissioners didn’t vote to add another site on campus for November. Election officials say they are working to speed up lines. Full story on @cbsaustin at 6:30. This was the line during the 2018 election. In the last year, Hays Co. Elections added more than 100 hours of voting by expanding early voting by a week. They also will launch their campaign, Act Now 2020, to help voters register before. They say registration issues slow lines.

I spoke with Juan Soto, a northeast Austin man, who set out this summer to donate 100 bikes to children in underserved communities and the city’s refugee services. In just two months, he has cruised well past that, donating 150 bikes and counting. Full story on @cbsaustin at 6. His project is called 100 Bikes For Kids. He’s asking for bike donations, as well as monetary donations so he can get spare parts for tougher fixes. He’s also welcoming volunteers with mechanic experience. Here’s his website:
100bikesforkids.org

I'm following up on Education Austin's list of demands they sent to AISD on the restart of school. Among them: start school Sept. 8 (after Labor Day) instead of Aug. 18, go online-only the first nine weeks... cont'd Reopen school buildings only when there's a decline in COVID-19 cases for at least 14 straight days, guarantee 100 percent pay for all employees with no furloughs or layoffs, have 1.5 times Hero pay for hourly employees who must be in schools... cont'd

#Breaking APD release the body cam footage of the Mike Ramos shooting. I’m about to watch it now, but here’s the link:

austintexas.gov/apd-critical-i… APD spends the first two minutes explaining the investigation process and the next steps to be taken by the District Attorney’s Office.

#HappeningToday AISD will have their first of two virtual briefings to give families an idea of what back to school will look like. I will be following along and posting here, and that stream will be on AISD’S Facebook page.

THREAD: AISD starting by saying families &staff have asked for more check-ins like this, even if they don’t have answers. They also promise the virtual learning will be more comprehensive in the fall, acknowledging instruction in spring was inconsistent family to family/school to school.

#HappeningNow Austin’s Public Safety Committee is holding their meeting now. One agenda item is discussion of the public safety budget. Last week, City Manager Spencer Cronk proposed a cut to APD’S budget by $11.3 million. A little background: right now, the proposed APD budget is $434 million. The forecast budget in the spring had their budget at $445 million. Last year, the APD budget was a little more than $434 million, which was an increase by $22 million from the year before.

Tonight, I’m paying attention to school board meetings for Pflugerville ISD, Leander ISD, and Hays CISD, where they are all discussing return to learning plans. Pflugerville ISD has already committed to going online-only the first three weeks, in accordance with Travis County’s orders earlier this week, mandating virtual learning until September 7.

Just got this APD training bulletin for how to respond to complaints of people violating the face covering orders. It hasn’t been updated to reflect the new fines of up to $2,000 for violators, but includes a three step process on how to respond to these complaints. In order to minimize contact with the public, officers will call and ask the person making the complaint if the violator is still on scene without a mask. If this is outdoors, officer will ask if they’re social distancing. If person still in violation, officer will respond.

Tonight, I'm paying attention to the MJ Hegar-Royce West runoff race. Winner takes on three-term Sen. John Cornyn. Back in March, Hegar beat West by 8 percentage points, but didn't secure more than 50 percent of the vote, triggering tonight's runoff. THREAD: According to the latest UT Tyler/Dallas Morning News poll, Hegar is up 13 points on West, but almost one-third of those polled were undecided. In a June poll conducted by The Texas Politics Project at UT, 44% didn't know or didn't have an opinion on Hegar, versus 50% for West.

#HappeningNow Family members, Austin Police Association, & community groups pleading for help and offering reward money for anyone who can help lead to the arrest of the person who killed Adelaido Bernabe Urias, who was selling ice cream in his north Austin neighborhood in June. APA President Ken Casaday says Urias was known in his neighborhood, and police officers patrolling that area would buy ice cream from him.

I spoke with Mayor Steve Adler today, to ask for his response on Gov. Abbott saying he won't give more power to cities to take more measures because they have not enforced his own executive orders. Some takeaways: THREAD -Adler says his focus is not on this back-and-forth, but rather keeping the city healthy
-He is relieved Abbott issued the order requiring face coverings, but wish it came a month earlier

Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt now speaking. Starting off by giving a timeline of Vanessa Guillen’s disappearance. Says remains discovered not yet confirmed as Guillen’s. Confirms the soldier who was a suspect and killed himself was about to be apprehended by law enforcement. Says there is no connection between the sexual harassment allegation and Guillen’s disappearance.