The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation announced a ten year commitment to turn Austin in a center of health care excellence. The foundation is donating $50 million to the University of Texas’s new medical school. It will be called the Dell Medical School. The foundation also pledged $10 million to Austin and Travis County community health quality and access programs over the next decade. “The establishment of a medical school at the University of Texas is good for our children, our community and our economy," Michael and Susan Dell said in a statement. The Dell Medical School is expected to be built at the southern edge of the UT campus, near the University Medical Center Brackenridge. The exact site is yet...
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The Austin City Council could decide today whether to start a pilot program aimed at keeping some hike and bike trails open 24 hours a day. The proposal by council member Chris Riley has little support from his peers because it comes with the hefty price tag: a little over $3 million a year for extra police patrols. But whether it goes forward or not, the program is making the city think about how it will patrol trails in the future. The Austin Police Department patrols the city’s trails during the day. But Assistant Chief Raul Munguia says they don’t patrol them at night. “Since historically the parks have been closed from 10 p.m. till the early morning hours, 6 a.m., we have a whole block of time that there aren’t any dedicated resources other than if something does...
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