News Briefs

Austin police name interim chief, start national search

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A nationwide search is underway for a new police chief in Texas' capitol city following the retirement of Austin's former top police officer amid a reckoning over racial injustice and use of force in law enforcement.

Austin Police Department Assistant Chief Joseph Chacon has been appointed as Interim Police Chief while a national search takes place, Austin City Manager Spencer Cronk announced Monday. Former Austin Police Chief Brian Manley announced his retirement in February.

Cronk said the search will be transparent, inclusive and take place in three phases, the first of which begins immediately and includes requests for community input to develop a candidate profile. National executive search firm Ralph Andersen & Associates will assist in the search. Cronk said he hopes a new chief will be appointed by August.

"In recent months, experiences at both the state and national level have heightened public conversations concerning law enforcement and public safety among communities of color as well as those experiencing mental illness," Cronk said. "Change can be difficult and uncomfortable but it also brings opportunity."

Chacon, who was not present at the news conference, told the AP in a statement that he was "honored" by the new appointment.

"I look forward to leading APD during this critical transition period and will fully support the nationwide search for our next permanent police chief," Chacon said.

Calls for Manley to resign had been persistent since the police shot and killed Michael Ramos in April as he drove away from officers. They were responding to a 911 call from someone who said Ramos was holding a woman at gunpoint and that the two had been doing drugs in a car parked at an Austin apartment complex. Austin Police later said Ramos was not armed.

Austin officers also caused serious injuries during protests over the death of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis police custody last May.

Train honoring Bush returns to his Texas library for exhibit

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — The locomotive painted to resemble Air Force One that carried the flag-draped body of former President George H.W. Bush to his burial has returned to his presidential library in College Station where it will become a permanent exhibit.

Union Pacific No. 4141, named in honor of the 41st president, was pulled into College Station on Sunday behind “The Spirit,” which honors U.S. military veterans.

After Bush died in 2018 at the age of 94, flag-waving crowds lined the railroad tracks as his body was taken from Houston to the family plot on the grounds of his presidential library at Texas A&M University.

The George & Barbara Bush Foundation plans to build a pavilion around the locomotive and a restaurant next to it, according to the group's CEO, Max Angerholzer. The foundation also wants to display a Marine One helicopter that Bush flew in as president.

Angerholzer said the project will be complete in time for a 2024 celebration marking Bush's 100th birthday.

Union Pacific originally commissioned the locomotive for the opening of an exhibit on trains at the presidential library. During the locomotive's 2005 unveiling in College Station, Bush talked about his fondness for trains, recalling sleeping on them as a child during trips with his family.

He quipped at the time that if No. 4141 had been around during his presidency, “I might have left Air Force One behind.”

A year after Bush's death, Union Pacific announced it would donate the locomotive to his presidential library. After that announcement, it was stored and prepared at a locomotive shop in Arkansas, Union Pacific spokeswoman Kristen South said.

Lawyer Lee Merritt says he’ll run for Texas attorney general

DALLAS (AP) — A prominent Dallas attorney who has represented the families of Black people killed by police officers says he is running for Texas attorney general.

Lee Merritt announced over the weekend that he plans to challenge Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton after mentioning the idea during a protest Friday over a man's death in a suburban Dallas jail.

Merritt has forged a national profile as an advocate for people killed in interactions with law enforcement, including Botham Jean, a Dallas man fatally shot by an off-duty police officer in his own apartment, and Atatiana Jefferson, a Fort Worth woman who died after an officer shot her through the back window of her home.

“Texas deserves an attorney general that will fight for the constitutional rights of all citizens,” Merritt tweeted Saturday.

It is unclear whether Merritt, who supported Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during the Democratic presidential primary in 2019, will seek or receive support from the state party for his run. He has not responded to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

People seeking to run for Texas attorney general cannot file candidacy papers for months, but the 2022 election has dawn early attention following new criminal allegations against Paxton.

Last year, the FBI began investigating the state's lead lawyer after his top deputies accused him of bribery, abuse of office and other alleged crimes on behalf of a donor. Paxton has denied any wrongdoing and said he'll seek reelection.

Microsoft to start bringing workers back to headquarters

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft will begin bringing workers back to its suburban Seattle global headquarters on March 29 as the tech giant starts to reopen more facilities it largely shuttered during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a post Monday on the company's corporate blog, Executive Vice President Kurt DelBene said Microsoft has been monitoring local health data and decided it can bring more employees back to its Redmond, Washington, campus.

DelBene said workers will have the choice to return to headquarters, continue working remotely or do a combination of both.

More than 50,000 people work at the company's headquarters campus in Redmond, 15 miles (24 kilometers) east of Seattle.

On Monday, Washington state moved into Phase 3 of its COVID-19 reopening plan, meaning all of the state's 39 counties will be allowed to relax coronavirus restrictions.

Under Phase 3, all indoor spaces — including indoor dining at restaurants, indoor fitness centers, and retail — can increase capacity from 25% to 50%. Larger events like concerts and graduation ceremonies will also be OK since up to 400 people will be allowed to gather for indoor and outdoor activities as long as physical distancing and masking are enforced.