Headlines

Family, friends, and supporters gathered in Bastrop at the Kerr Community Center on March 5 to agitate for the release of Rodney Reed, who sits on death row for the 1996 murder of Stacey Stites. The Bastrop native is still imprisoned more than a year after he was granted a stay of execution from the Texas Court of Appeals. See our photo gallery of the protest at austinchronicle.com/photos. (Photo by Jana Birchum)

David Joseph: APD's Internal Affairs presented its administrative conclusions concerning Officer Geoffrey Freeman's fatal Feb. 8 shooting of 17-year-old David Joseph. Chief Art Acevedo will meet with the Office of the Police Monitor's Citizen Review Panel in executive session today, Thursday, March 10, at 7:30pm. Any disciplinary decision would be made public after that. Freeman also awaits a date with a Travis County grand jury to consider indictment for the shooting.

The Austin Animal Center announced late Tuesday, March 8, that all of the roosters rescued from a cockfighting ring in Webberville have been adopted. The birds, which came into the care of Animal Services on Valentine's Day, were available for less than a full day.

As part of their effort to force newly elected GOP County Chair Robert Morrow to resign, the Travis County Republican Party Executive Com­mittee passed a resolution on March 8 denying any connection to the controversial author and conspiracy theorist. The party "hereby condemns and disavows all profane or slanderous statements" made by Morrow, the resolution reads. For more, see "Getting to Know Robert Morrow," Mar. 8.

Out of the Woods: Circuit of the Americas president Bobby Epstein confirmed that the track will host the 2016 U.S. Grand Prix, and Taylor Swift will play a concert on the Saturday of race weekend. Epstein said that the race-hosting fee was finally paid, ending concerns that the race might be canceled this year.

Education Commissioner Mike Morath lived up to his combative reputation by launching the biggest reorganization of the Texas Education Agency in decades. Classroom advocates now wait to see if this is the revamp the hidebound bureaucracy needs, or just Morath putting his education reform stamp on it.

Ammon Covino, the former Austin Aquar­ium owner sentenced in 2013 to a year in federal prison for illegally importing harvested wildlife to an aquarium in Boise, Idaho, was ordered by a federal judge in Florida to spend 90 more days in the clink thanks to a parole violation.

Republicans hammered President Barack Obama for attending South by Southwest this Friday, rather than attending the funeral of former first lady Nancy Reagan. The criticism ignores that, historically, it's the task of the current first lady to represent the White House at such events, and Michelle Obama will be at the service.

Sen. Bernie Sanders pulled off a surprise victory in the Michigan Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday, March 8, beating Hillary Clinton, 49.8-48.3%. Donald Trump won the state handily on the GOP side.