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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

City Council is set to approve the settlement with Arellano on May 8, per a filing submitted by her attorneys last week. If that happens, she will withdraw from the trial. However, the Gonzales plaintiffs can continue with a trial, which could be set within the next week or so.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Two sets of plaintiffs (Arellano and Gonzales' mother)sued the officers and the city. 3 weeks ago, a judge ruled that plaintiffs could take the city to trial over allegations that the Austin Police Department was to blame for the shooting for creating a "culture of impunity" among officers.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Taking all of that evidence together, Pitman concluded that the city "had a practice of permitting excessive force by under-investigating and under-disciplining the majority of officers who engaged in excessive force" that a jury could conclude led to the fatal shooting.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

The plaintiffs produced key pieces of evidence that allowed them to overcome the steep legal hill that protects cities in these lawsuits. - 19 high profile police violence cases - independent investigations into APD's IA division - Testimony from three former APD chiefs

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

My HEB has taken a stand against dog culture run amok.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

It is remarkable that even a single police chief was asked about disciplinary investigations while under oath, but even more so that three police chiefs were asked about them.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

For Austin, specifically, these bills would create an avenue for the Austin Police Department to regain the G file, which voters dismantled through a 2023 ballot initiative. A leader for the statewide police union in Texas accidentally let that one slip in a hearing on one of the bills.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Here's what the two-chiefs-ago chief said when grand juries indicted Austin Police officers for shooting protesters with lead-pellet rounds in 2020.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

The statement from Lisa Davis, Austin's new police chief, is much more restrained. I was kind of surprised, given that prior chiefs have not hesitated to publicly express their own disappointment at the criminal prosecution of police officers.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

On the left is a statement from a pro-police group that is perceived in Austin politics to generally act in good faith. On the right is the statement from the statewide police union. And, well, it's what you'd expect a police union to say.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Journalists at Austin's daily have won a new labor contract following a bitter three year fight with Gannett that included two strikes and arbitration. Here's some of the benefits the Austin NewsGuild was able to secure in the contract.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Mayor Kirk Watson is out with a statement on the Clerk’s decision. He makes the case that has kinda been in the air since Llanes Pulido started talking about election regularities: doesn’t this kind of sound Trumpy?

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Here are the 11 individuals who won the chance to serve on Austin's Community Police Review Commission. They'll start meeting next year and will review critical incidents like police shootings and write disciplinary recommendations to the Chief of Police.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

I’m at Austin City Hall where staff with the city’s Office of Police Oversight are holding a lottery to select 11 volunteers to serve on the soon-to-be-resurrected Community Police Review Commission.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

It's intersting how Community Not Commodity, Austin's premiere NIMBY group, has co-opted "reimagine" in their campaigns against land use reform. The word featured prominently in 2020-era police reforms (e.g. "reimagining public safety") and is now a dog whistle to local conservatives.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

The MLK nonviolence bench on the fifth floor of the Austin Police Department’s headquarters.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

“I am not someone who will bend on civil rights,” she told me. “I will make sure trans people in Austin are defended.” Though, she did acknowledge a strategic shift in how to make sure trans people feel safe in Austin may be needed. She doesn't know what that looks like yet.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Everyone I talked to is afraid of burnout among local left wing people and groups. Among elected officials, care groups, activists, everyday people. There was so much energy behind resisting Trump's first term, even at this early stage, that just doesn't seem to be there for the second term.

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Here's a link to the original story from September 2023. But you also gotta check out the print version. The design team really killed it with this one. www.austinchronicle.com/news/2023-09...

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 12/11/2024

I've also covered Austin's Office of Police Oversight, the city civilian agency tasked with investigating community complaints against police officers. Recently, I found that the OPO is staffed mostly with former cops and military people. www.austinchronicle.com/news/2024-08...

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 30/11/2023

City Council just approved a rezoning application to turn the Genie Car Wash on burnet road into 300 apartments, 10% of which will be rented to people earning 60% of austin's median family income

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Austin Sanders @austinsanders.bsky.social · 30/11/2023

Results of a national Pew survey published today found majority, bipartisan support for a number of housing reforms — some of which Austin's City Council will vote on at a special called-meeting next week. www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-...

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