Kvue

Austin-Travis County EMS Division Chief Eric Jakubauskas said the two medics went to local hospitals and are now OK but this could have been much worse. Two ATCEMS medics sent to hospital after drunk driver slams into ambulance kvue.com

Recently the editor and the Austin American Statesman and KVUE's Tony Plohetski travels to Louisiana to speak to a journalism school about their internal decision to broadcast the Uvalde hallway video in advance of announced official release that was to he handled by a three member body known as the "HOUSE INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE ON THE ROBB ELEMENTARY SHOOTING," after a contentious and disastrous seven week delay by authorities led mostly by the Texas DPS under the leadership of its director "Colonel" Steve McCraw.
https://www.reddit.com/UvaldeTexasShooting/comments/vybagl/following_the_release_of_surveillance_video_from/
This is the general reaction in this subreddit and all over social media, some seven months ago to that early release, which eclipsed a planned private screening for the families of the deceased, and the release of the House "interim" report.
All of this seems a bit of a tempest in a teacup now so many many months later, but it seems important to remember this events in context. To date, the agency overseeing "the investigation" (another topic altogether) into May 24th has made no video public whatsoever, none, zip zilch zero. And publicly seven months ago they were in lockstep agreement with the governor, the District Attorney and even the Mayor of Uvalde - as well as the sheriff and all of the federal agencies - NO VIDEO FOR THE PUBLIC.
But soon, on the whole, the outrage more or less blew over given time, since it was only a few days in advance of a planned release that soon came. The overall impact of the video - 82 minutes of cops dithering uselessly was the main topic and a huge one on all tongues and over all media. Many news reports led with "hand sanitizer applied!" and such easy targets. Few tries to even make sense of the command and control issues and interdepartmental failures, what we saw was one huge cluster-f**k by committee and that's more or less the conclusion of the House report, too. "Systemic failure" was the take-away and it's not wrong.
But at the time there were, in some quarters at least, questions about how and why the leak happened and only a few plausible theories. One was that the leak was to ensure that in the past few days before the release of the report, the governor and his forces might prevail to keep the status quo - no videos seen by the public at all, because of the "ongoing investigation" clause of the chapter of Catch-22 they are still using to refuse all requests for further public records in an Open Records Act state. So it was either a disgruntled IT person, an investigator who sided with the House view, or perhaps even the House committee itself just hoping to pre-empt some draconian shutdown by Ken Paxton or Greg Abbott somehow, who knows. This theory isn't very coherent but it did seems fairly plausible at the time. The Governor didn't want the public to see the video (he was in the miss of his re-election campaign, lest we forget) and therefore some version of his opponents opposed him.
But I had another theory: Abbott himself, and his many allies realized they were licked, that that the 2/3rds GOP-led House committee of three was going to put SOMETHING out and could not be persuaded otherwise. The public was demanding it. And, knowing this was a fait accompli, they did the only thing the knew to hurt their opposition and bend the narrative. They leaked it themselves, just to drive a wedge between the parents and the media, and also to help shape the WAY the video was seen - seen and not heard, as it were: THE SOUNDS OF CHILDREN SCREAMING HAVE BEEN REMOVED. They would edit the video first, or see to it that it was edited in a way they could live with.
At the time it seemed a bit far-fetched but I couldn't rule it out. And so I started floating it around on social media and such. But such matters were hardly important next to the plain facts of what was onto hallway video itself. HORROR. One step removed and one unlocked door away. So it sort of hovered there in the background the minor ococerns of who unleashed the proof of the horror we already knew was there. There was a Public relations war and McCraw is trained in that sort of stuff and backed by the governor's team. Yeah it may have been him but don't we have bigger fish to fry right now?
Then, as time went on, we got a better picture of who KVUE and Tony Plohetski really are tho. Looking back, many of these clues seem rather obvious. Who he is, is a mainstream television news guy who works in Austin and needs to suck up to power, IMO. And he's either not too bright, or not too picky to worry about if he's being manipulated, as long as it feeds his ratings and he thinks he can get away with it. And that's where he blew it. Because now he admits he was the link to the source, and he tells this journalism class that he picked up the recording in Austin.
Here is the story about the vest to the Journalism class.
https://veritenews.org/2023/03/07/how-a-video-changed-the-narrative-of-the-uvalde-school-shooting/
​

Tony Plohetski, an Austin American-Statesman reporter who had spent weeks covering the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, got a late-night call from a source that was a turning point in the massacre’s coverage.
“Come get the video,” the source told him.

In terms of that silly board game, it's like knowing it was "in the Drawing Room with the Candlestick." All that's left is to call out good ol' Colonel Mustard. And we got the colonel part already, it seems like. There simply wasn't any motivation to leak the hallway video early. It accomplished nothing but added derision for the greedy and insensitive "if it bleeds it leads" media. And Tony P. may not have wanted that but he did want the exclusive. By the end of the week he was being interviewed on CNN.
I'll go into the comments section so this won't be too long, but there is a litany of clues that support the basics of this speculative, unprovable theory. Exhibit one is how often KVUE and Plohetski carried water for McCraw, and the softball interview he gave him at a crucial juncture. .

Good morning, fellow educators!
Yesterday, I posted to Austin surveying interest in a rally in support of a teacher pay raise. As a result of the overwhelming support I received from the community yesterday - and after hearing about the Lobby Day being held by AFT on Monday, March 13th - I decided to create a corresponding rally event for those who want to advocate for Texas teachers!
If you want to show support for HB 1548 and voice your advocacy for Texas teachers, I implore you to join us at the Capitol on Monday, March 13th at 1 PM. Let's show our representatives and school district leaders that the people want - and demand - a raise for our teachers.
Here is the flyer I created for the event. If you could share this flyer - as well as this post - with anyone and everyone, that would be of IMMENSE help to spread the word on this rally. Teachers at my campus and the campuses of my friends are trying our hardest to raise awareness, but we definitely need y'all's help as well!
Rally for the Raise Flyer
Additionally, here are some relevant links that provide insight into why we are rallying for this raise, as well as more information and ways to help -
Teacher Vacancy Task Force Final Report
Announcement of HB 1548
AISD Let's Talk - Share Support for a Raise - click "community member", select "suggestion"
Texas AFT Public Education Advocacy Day Event Page
AISD Compensation Manual - see page 18 for a look at current pay and raise schedule
Find Your Representative - contact your representative and voice your support of HB 1548
Thank you for any support you are able to provide!

THE VIEW FROM AUSTIN, TEXAS
On Thursday, the Austin Police Department launched a new AI-based system for residents to report a wide range of non-emergency crimes, including fraud, graffiti, and assault resulting in minor injury.
The AI assistant works over voice, web, and text in multiple languages and "conducts a full interview with the person filing a report and provides key information to the police department," APD said in a statement.
According to local news reports, some residents have previously waited for weeks for a call back from a police officer to file a non-emergency report.

Several news outlets reported (https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/austin-water-testing-pfas-chemicals/269-f36c3a86-d46d-45d7-a77a-e97ce705fa21) that Austin Water was testing the water for PFAS. I can’t find the results of that anywhere and they don’t mention PFAS or PFOS in their previous water quality reports. Does anyone know where to look?

Back when news stations had helicopters.
KEYE had an Enstrom 280C-Shark, KVUE and KXAN had Bell LongRangers
KTBC had a lease agreement on a LongRanger with a local helicopter company that gave them priority over other customers when they needed one. The KVUE helicopter (N666TV_ got to love that registration) crashed when landing on the helipad at the station and written off as destroyed, later was sold to an oilfield company, probably as a parts bird. https://imgur.com/a/hisaZk7

Back when news stations had helicopters.
KEYE had an Enstrom 280C-Shark, KVUE and KXAN had Bell LongRangers
KTBC had a lease agreement on a LongRanger with a local helicopter company that gave them priority over other customers when they needed one. The KVUE helicopter (N666TV_ got to love that registration) crashed when landing on the helipad at the station and written off as destroyed, later was sold to an oilfield company, probably as a parts bird. https://imgur.com/a/hisaZk7

I follow an organization called Everytown (a non-profit fighting against gun violence) on twitter, and I just found out Harry Styles is their biggest celebrity partner andjust donated 1 million $ from his tour to them, plus an extra 100,000 when he was in Texas after the Uvalde shooting. at least this makes his whole Treat People With Kindness thing a little less corny (not completely tho).
Anyways, this plus that thing where he registered ~54,000 people who attended concerts in the US to vote, I'm kinda surprised about how active he is in USA-specific social justice? Like, I'm not complaining, it was super cool when he endorsed Beto at two of his Texas concerts right before the election. But he's British, right?
(I need to be working rn but instead I wasted 20-ish minutes googling a rich dude and writing a fking MLA-sourced post. Don't judge me too harshly please.)
(also, he's apparently been on tour for a billion years. Like wtf?)
tldr; is usual for non-US celebs to be so active in US-centric non-profits/charities? I feel weird for questioning a net-good like this but I can't help it. I've always liked (most) his music, but I'm not a stan or anything so I don't know if I'm missing something. Does he live in the US now? Is it like a John Oliver situation?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2023/02/24/uvalde-texas-shooting-austin-american-statesman-publish-video/11305929002/
The basics of this story are true and correct and I think this editor has the public good in his heart, deep down. But there is definitely more to the story.
The Statesman has a USA Today writer laud them for putting out the hallway video early. But the backstory to all is that is it's possible, and IMO likely, that they only got the video early because it was a fait accompli, a "done deal" that the House Commission was going to release it, and authorities were unhappy about this. Lacking the means to block it - which was the express wish of DPS McCraw and his boss Abbott and the DA, and the mayor of Uvlade, the only thing left to do for those who didn't want the public to see it was to ensure that the public saw it in a bad light - before the families could. The House Commission had promised them a first look, a private screening and the Statesman and KVUE beat them to the punch, when someone leaked it to softball tv reporter Tony Plohetski. The unanswered question is who was that someone an why then and why them?
This section is at the heart of it.

Yet Uvalde, and America, shouldn't have had to pick among unreliable narratives. They could have seen what happened for themselves, because there was surveillance footage of the law enforcement response.
There was a problem, though: The politicians and public officials who had that video hadn't released it.
Thank goodness we have reporters.
There was a hallway camera in Robb Elementary
American-Statesman reporter Tony Plohetski got the video on a Sunday night in July and immediately jumped on a call with García and others.
"I knew what we had," García said. "Regardless of whether you're parent or not, it just impacts you in your soul. ... And when you watched the entire video, you realized that this is one of the greatest failures of law enforcement."
García would publish, but carefully, thoughtfully. He would not rush.
Plohetski describes the layers of ethical and editorial decisions discussed.

This editorial has to fit in the space - it's only 1200 words. But that's not the issue. The editorial writer and no doubt the editor have left out the real context. It's a shallow and false version of what's really going on here, IMO. I don't have any direct proof that the video was leaked to them by McCraw and company, but Tony Plohetski is as suspect as a reporter can be. He's carried water for McCraw time and time again and he's either too stupid or too sympathetic to power to ever be trusted.
And most significantly, the apparent whistleblower who appeared at the end of September has never given any inside investigation material to the Statesman, it's parent USA Today/ Gannett, or KVUE. Whomever is feeding the media - from CNN to Sinclair to texas Tribune, The Washington Post , reporter Yami VIrgin, ProPublica, et al, they have avoided the Statesman, KVUE and Tony P.
And this editorial tries to paper over that.

This is a great step towards addressing mental health in general and the intersectionality of mental illness and the judicial process. Thank you Sheriff Gleason for your efforts reaching out to other agencies regarding best practices, and thank you Commissioner Covey for your efforts in bringing this fight for mental health awareness to the Legislature and for your efforts in attempting to secure long-term funding.
https://www.kvue.com/article/news/investigations/defenders/williamson-county-competency-restoration-program/269-1a280e20-39ac-4cc8-8f90-2679ecf3979a

Really proud of this place sticking around despite all the change and the pandemic, it's been a part of me since before I was born, and I'm decently old (GenX).
It was also my dad's hands down favorite place and he would sneak off to eat breakfast there several times a week, hiding it from my mom (she knew). RIP dad, I'll have some huevos rancheros and an empanada from Joe's soon in your honor!
Oops forgot the article: https://www.kvue.com/article/life/food/joes-bakery-austin-james-beard-award/269-e48074f0-a7aa-4ca5-985e-c5eeea9da6d8
https://www.jamesbeard.org/blog/2023-americas-classics-winners