AUSTIN (KXAN) - As Capital Metro this week ushers in a new CEO, Linda Watson , the organization Tuesday released results of a new customer satisfaction survey.

The survey was conducted by Creative Consumer Research earlier this year. The group surveyed in person 1,251 riders of local, express and University of Texas shuttle routes during a 7 1/2-week period from March to May. The three areas were equally represented.

The number one suggestion for improvement noted by consumers is to increase bus service. Changes are indeed coming for bus and rail riders, with new policies being considered to ban smoking at bus stops for the health of riders and employees.

Beginning Sept. 1, smoking will no longer be allowed at rail station platforms. The boarding areas of transit centers and park-and-rides will become tobacco-free January 1.

 

 

Texas ranked 34th nationally in a new study of children's well-being, the 2010 Kids Count Data Book. That's the same ranking as last year but an improvement over the state's lowest rank, 39th in 2006.

Advocates for children noted that these measures include data from before the nationwide recession in 2008 and said they suspect children are worse off now than the figures show.

Teen birth rate

Texas:64 births per 1,000 females ages 15-19

U.S.: 43 births per 1,000

Notes: More than 54,000 babies were born to Texas girls ages 15 to 19 in 2007, the most recent year available. Though Texas improved in this area (the state's rate was 7 percent lower than in 2000), the Lone Star State ranked 48th nationally, ahead of only New Mexico and Mississippi.

 

 

 

 

A petite woman says Southwest Airlines removed her from a full flight to make room for an overweight teenager, The Sacramento Bee reports. The newspaper says the incident involving the 5-foot-4, 110-pound woman "happened last week on an early-evening Southwest flight from Las Vegas to Sacramento."

The Bee reports that the woman paid to upgrade to Southwest's full fare so that she could fly standby on the flight. The newspaper adds she was given the "last available seat, got on board, stowed her bags and sat down – only to be told she would have to deplane immediately."

That, of course, was so the airline could accommodate the heavy passenger that needed two seats. Then, the booted woman -- the Bee writes "she has asked to remain anonymous for fear some may regard her as insensitive" -- claims she was berated by Southwest workers when she questioned their decision.

 

DALLAS - A Dallas woman touched her friend's buttocks, sparking an assault and attempted stabbing, police said. The alleged incident happened at an apartment in the 1700 block of Trade Winds Drive in the southern section of the city. According to a police report, the unnamed suspect rubbed a finger along the victim's butt crack, prompting her to clench her buttocks. The victim claimed the clenching caused the bed she was sitting on to break, angering the suspect.

A fight ensued in which the suspect repeatedly hit the victim before grabbing a butcher knife and threatening to kill her. According to the report, the suspect said, "Are you ready to die?"

 

For most working women, a full-time job is enough to keep us juggling 24/7, our Outlook calendars stacked with professional, family and social obligations. But for some 27 million Americans, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a single job is only the tip of the work/life iceberg.

For Marie Benoit-Wilcox, a second, freelance job is matter-of-fact, and gets started even before her "day job" begins. Benoit-Wilcox, a perinatal system coordinator at St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan and mother of two teenagers, has been supplementing her income for over a decade selling Avon cosmetics. Each morning when she wakes shortly after 4 a.m., she spends an hour at her Irvington, N.J., home working on client lists and going over orders before commuting to the hospital.

"Saturdays are my all-day-Avon day," she says. "And Sunday I hope I've got time with my family, maybe see a concert or have a party ...

Austin ranks as the nation’s fifth-best city for new college graduates in the latest annual listing by Bloomberg Businessweek. The report ranks what it considers the nation’s top 30 cities for recent grads, based on the number of entry-level employers listed in AfterCollege data, as well as average annual pay, cost of living and unemployment rate.

Austin didn't make the list last year. The city was listed as having 33 entry level employers with an average annual pay of about $45,180. The unemployment rate hit 7.4 percent last month, according the the Texas Workforce Commission.

Houston tops the best-for-grads list, followed by (in order) Washington, Dallas, Atlanta, Austin, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Denver, Columbus and Ft. Worth.

 

KXAN (AUSTIN) - Mayor Pro Tem Mike Martinez sits at his desk behind a computer that he says he bought during his campaign for campaign work. “I bought this so I can stay in touch with my constituents. So that I can conduct political activity without unethically using something that tax payers paid for,” Martinez says.

But according to man named Jim Doyle from Conroe, Texas, Martinez violated Texas campaign finance laws by not being specific about what he bought from the Apple store during his campaign. And he is just one of six Houston-area people who have filed complaints against Austin City Council members for what they say in the paperwork are violations in their campaign finance reports.

Council members believe the six people are all conservative activists. And they also believe this is retaliation for the council’s decision to boycott Arizona over its new immigration laws.

 

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