State Fire Marshal's Office and ATF officials Thursday will announce the final results of their investigation into the fertilizer plant explosion in West.

The April 17 explosion killed 15 people and injured hundreds.

He's already a Houston physician, Republican campaign donor, radio talk show host and litigant in a federal lawsuit against the roll-out of "Obamacare." Now Dr. Steve Hotze may be adding aspiring pop star to that list. 

Language on social media is honest, instant and, sometimes, inappropriate.  And the Internet’s elephantine memory holds on to every last questionable comment.  

Researchers at Humboldt State University used Twitter’s geo-coding to tag over 150,000 tweets from the better part of the past year to map what they call the “Geography of Hate,” an interactive database of hateful language all over the US.

The Austin Chamber of Commerce is looking to sell Austin abroad.

Yesterday, the chamber and the State Department invited 26 ambassadors from around the world joined top tech companies like Google, Apple, Samsung and AT&T at the Driskill Hotel, in a tour aimed at bringing more international businesses to Austin.

A new kind of comic book launches today in Austin.

Scripted by Austinites Karen Davidson and Morgan Coy, with Polish artist Chris Chalik, “Shadow Healer” is the first segment of a graphic novel in four parts

This failure of AISD bond Proposition 4 means the district's two schools for disabled children won't be getting as many renovations and repairs as the district had proposed.

Prop 4 would've put $10 million toward the district's two schools for disabled children, the Rosedale School and the Clifton Career Development Center. It also would have earmarked money for Career and Technical and Fine Art programs.

All branches of the U.S. military have been ordered "to retrain, re-credential and rescreen all sexual assault prevention and response personnel and military recruiters," the Pentagon confirmed Wednesday morning.

The Attorney General of Texas recently said he’s sued the Obama administration 25 times.

KUT's Emily Donahue checks that statement with Gardner Selby of the Austin American-Statesman’s Politifact Texas project.

In response to recent national events, the University of Texas is putting additional safety procedures in place at the commencement ceremonies.

Backpacks, tote bags or any other kind of bag larger than 12 inches on any side will not be allowed into commencement. Anyone carrying a big this large will be turned away. Additionally, smaller bags including purses, camera cases and diaper bags will be inspected and searched.

Victims of spousal abuse in Austin have a new option if their children are to receive supervised visits with the other parent. Travis County has opened PlanetSafe at 11th and Nueces, a supervised visitation and safe exchange center.  Its grand opening is today. 

The facility is operated by the local non-profit Safe Place, and was established with the help of $600,000 in federal grants from the Office of Violence Against Women. Travis County supplied the use of the building for a nominal rent and is paying for staffing. 

An Army sergeant who was part of the Fort Hood, Texas, sexual-assault response office is under investigation for abusive sexual contact.

NPR's Larry Abramson is reporting on the story for our Newscast unit:

What began as testimony on a bill to create an exoneration review commission ended with an angry outburst from the brother of Timothy Cole, one of Texas’ most well-known wrongfully convicted people.

Timothy Cole died in prison in 1999 while serving a 25-year sentence for a rape he did not commit. He was incarcerated when he died, and became the first posthumously exonerated person in Texas.

A campus carry bill declared dead earlier in the Texas legislative session has gotten a second life after a Senate committee gave it a hearing on May 14.

The packed room at the Capitol seemed familiar Tuesday – many testifying against a bill that would allow students, faculty and staff to carry concealed handguns on college campuses.

The National Transportation Safety Board is calling on states to toughen drunk driving laws, but Mothers Against Drunk Driving says there are better ways to fight drinking and driving.

The NTSB recommends lowering the legal blood alcohol limit to 0.05 percent from the current 0.08 percent.

Across-the-board federal budget cuts known as sequestration are about to have more effects in Central Texas.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced Tuesday that his department has cut all it can on the military side and that any more would affect readiness, so Hagel says the time has come for civilian defense department workers to take unpaid days off: mandatory furloughs.