JamesIrby's Blog

Ever since Austin Police Department detective Jarrett Crippen, AKA "The Defuser" won on the tv reality show "Who Wants to be a Superhero" last year, he's been spreading his message that all kids can be heroes in their communities by helping others and making good decisions like staying in school.  Friday, The Defuser stopped in at Austin Cornerstone Church for the last day of vacation bible school. The kids had gathered 733 food items for the church's food pantry and were well on their way to putting into practice that lesson of helping out. Austin Cornerstone Pastor Rick Randall says bringing in "The Defuser" was a way to help drive home the message that it doesn't matter what you have to offer, doing what you can to help your community not only makes where you live a better place, but it makes the young people feel more empowered and connected to what happens around them. You can't beat that message and kudos to The Defuser and Pastor Randall for getting those kids in that vacation bible school session involved early.

5 years ago Fox 7 was at Austin Bergstrom when a then 14-year old Linnea Weeks was brought over from Russia with her younger brother and sister.  Friday, she graduated from Johnson City High School, 17th in her class.  When she came to this country from Russia, she couldn't read, write or speak english.  Now she's set to study for her associate's degree in radiology this fall at Austin Community College.  This kind of  determination is really inspiring.  So many times we hear about kids not doing it right and this is truly a case of one who definitely has gotten it right. 

The Horseshoe Lounge on south Lamar has been around for 43 years, but they almost had to close their doors after their rent was jacked up from 750 dollars to 6-thousand dollars.  They've raised the price of beers by about 25 cents and that covers most, not all of the rent increase instituted by the new owners of the property.  I understand property values are going up and south Lamar is an attractive location, but it seems like something can be done to slow such drastic rent increases for small local businesses.  Suggestions?  

Pope Benedict the 16th is in New York, leaving tomorrow as he wraps up his trip to the United States.  He's packed stadiums and had people lined up along the streets to see him in his bulletproof Popemobile.  Religious views aside, I think it's good to see so many people young and old showing up to see the Pope.  A young girl even won a contest to design a skateboard for the Pope.  What do you think about the Pope's visit?

Volunteers were up at 8 in the morning Saturday, clearing away trash and overgrowth from the areas in and around the Williamson Creek in Oak Hill. The Oak Hill United Methodist Church, The Oak Hill Association of Neighborhoods, and The Oak Hill Trail Association took part. Its always good when people pitch in like this. Excuses aside, Why don't more people help out in their communities like this? 

 

From the first basket, it looked like Memphis was just clicking more than the horns.  By half they were down, but I still hoped they had some ball to play.  Then at the beginning of the 2nd half, they came alive and ran a 12-0 stretch before falling back behind.  Sure, they lost, but I think they played hard and were playing a team that came out strong and didn't show many weaknesses.  What do you think the horns could've used.

Today more than 300 girl scouts, brownies and volunteers loaded up boxes with girl scout cookies to send to troops serving in the middle east.  All politics or feelings about the war aside, I think it's a great way for those kids to let the troops know their service is appreciated.  What about you?

This weekend gamers from all over the country are in Austin, playing for a chance to become professional gamers.  The Championship Gamin Series is a league with 6 North American teams and another 12 teams around the world.  Last year was their first and they awarded more than 1 million dollars in prize money.  Most gamers made about 30 thousand dollars a year, last year but this year the top gamers can pull down $100,000 in salary and bonuses.  The league's commisioner just got back from China where they're building a stadium for gaming fans.  They're expecting 125-thousand fans to watch the championship competition there.  Do you think it will ever be that popular here and would you ever try to go pro?

As tax season approaches, the IRS is reporting that more and more illegal immigrants are coming forward to pay taxes.  The immigrants say they hope paying taxes will help them achieve legal status as they work to gain citizenship.  The IRS says they don't inquire about a person immigration status nor do they share information with other federal agencies like homeland security.  The IRS estimates illegal immigrants pay billions into the system each year.  Critics say it's not a good Idea, but I think I say if you want to pay, pay.  What do you think?

After a Tennesse man sued a police department for 10 million dollars, claiming an officer planted drugs on him, the dashboard camera video surfaced.  You can see the offcer looking back toward the camera.  The man's attorney says it shows the officer reaching into his pocket and taking out drugs he then planted on the suspect.  You can see the officer reaching into his pocket then in the area of the suspects so I think it lends credibility to his claim.  Without the video, it would be harder to believe.  I also think the video helps protect police from claims of police brutalilty because it gives a pretty good depiction of what happened.  Good for police good for those they arrest.  What do you think? 

It's always refreshing to see our right to bear arms in action like tonight when we ran a story about an 80-year old Texas man who fought off 2 men who'd broken into his home.  Both men have been arrested but this man brawled with them before opening fire on them.  It's good to see the man standing up and sending a message to would be robbers.  I'd like to think I could do the same.  How about you?

Lots of people have the Patriots blowing out the Giants, but I think it'll be a closer game.  I want a good game and since that rarely happens in the last game of the season.  Predictions?

After the Patriots beat San Diego and New York beat Green Bay, I was ready for the Superbowl the next day.  A 7-day wait can understand, but two weeks just creates the kind of lull that might lead some players to lose that weekly battle edge.  OK there's a lot to prepare for; the game is the most watched sporting event around, but is a two week break really necessary?

The recent UFO sightings around Texas have me wondering if the people who see what they've seen really believe their eyes or do they just want to believe there has to be intelligent life somewhere else in the universe? 

After 20-thousand gallons of oil came bubbling up from under 6th street, an underground tank that's 31 feet long by 9 feet across was uncovered.  The oil is getting soaked out of Waller Creek and it didn't make it into Ladybird Lake, but any guesses on what that underground tank was there for and how long it's been down there? (some theories include a tank for heating oil used by the Driskill Hotel, or maybe a gas station years ago).