Kenyan Edward Kiptum and American Shannon Bixler win the Livestrong Austin Marathon. Roads will be closed throughout the afternoon. Check out the Livestrong website for complete closure information. Also, Austin Energy is having billing system problems and records show Rick Perry doesn't check in at the Capitol very often. Let’s take a look at some top news stories across Texas today.
Austin Energy Has Billing Issues
Austin Energy is having problems with the new $57.3 million billing system IBM Corp. implemented in October. That's according to the Austin Business Journal. The errors have caused thousands of dollars in over-billing for some corporate users and has prompted the municipal utility to encourage customers to review their bills.
The over-billing doesn’t appear to be an issue for residential customers, the city-owned utility reports, and appears to be most prevalent among big corporate customers.
One large high-tech company headquartered in Austin stopped paying its utility bill after discovering its power bills had been 300 percent higher than usual for a few months.
Rick Perry Absent After Ending Presidential Campaign
Rick Perry hasn't been spending a whole lot of time in his Austin office. That's according to the Dallas Morning News. Between January 19th and February 3rd, Perry went to his office only three times and stayed only three hours each time.
Universities Thinking About Tobacco Ban as a Funding Measure
University administrators on campuses around the state are mulling campus-wide tobacco-free policies as a result of new rules established by the Cancer Research Prevention Institute of Texas. That's according to KUT's political reporting partner, The Texas Tribune.
Reporter Reeve Hamilton tells us that for schools that pride themselves on their research, like the University of Texas at Austin — which has received about $30 million in grants from the institute and is hoping for $88 million more from new requests — there is a clear financial incentive to institute changes.
First Female Yell Leader at A&M?
Samantha Ketchum is campaigning to be the first female yell leader in the history of Texas A&M athletics. That's the front page story over at the Bryan-College Station Eagle. Ketchum is quoted as saying, "There will probably be a female yell leader one day, why not me?"