📽️ Murdering movie muse makes news

🗣️ Pro-Palestinian Students Walk Out at UT

Students at The University of Texas walked out of class on Wednesday and attempted to occupy the South Lawn in a protest against the Israel-Hamas war. Gov. Greg Abbott directed Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to break up the crowd, and things got a bit contentious. The student newspaper has the play-by-play. [The Daily Texan]

• Dozens were detained on allegations of criminal trespass, including a local Fox 7 photographer, whose arrest was caught on video. And, like protests elsewhere in the country, action in Austin is expected to continue. [Fox 7]

🔕 Scanners Silenced

This week, radio channels that typically broadcast emergency communication among Austin’s police, fire, and EMS workers were officially closed to the public. The communications have been switched to an encrypted radio system, forcing members of the media to rely solely on spokespeople and officials for a heads-up when emergencies occur. [Austin American-Statesman]

🪓 Gigafactory Jobs Axed

Layoffs at Tesla will affect more than 2,600 people — 12% of the workforce — at the Headquarters Gigafactory in Austin. The cuts, which will also affect workers in California, come as the company faces “a series of mounting challenges.” [Forbes]

🥵 Deep-Freeze Murderer Pushes for AC in Prisons

One of Texas’ most famous convicted criminals, Bernie Tiede, is behind a new lawsuit challenging the lack of air conditioning in some state-run prisons. Tiede, a former funeral director who killed a widow he’d befriended in East Texas, is serving a 99-year sentence in a cell in Huntsville, where he’s come to understand how dangerously hot Texas prisons can be. [The Texas Newsroom]

• After it was reported locally, the case was publicized by reporter Skip Hollandsworth in a 1998 magazine article — which was later turned into an epic dark comedy, “Bernie,” by esteemed director Richard Linklater. [Texas Monthly]

🐦 What’s the Word?

Friends of the feathered are swooping into City Hall to push for bird-friendly building design standards like non-reflective glass and covered light fixtures. As a designated “Bird City” that sits in the middle of a major migratory path, will Austin take the bait(worm)? [Austin Monitor]