Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism
byRamón Rodriguez
Thirty years ago, Oak Hill daycare owners Dan and Fran Keller were convicted and sentenced to 48 years in jail — a likely death sentence for Dan, 50 at the time, and Fran, then 42. Their supposed crime: sexually abusing children during satanic rituals. The Kellers were accused of forcing children to drink blood-laced Kool-Aid and to watch Dan and Fran dismember people with a chainsaw. Today, the claims are believed to have been false memories planted in children’s minds by the suggestive questioning of parents, law enforcement and therapists. But the damage was done.
The Kellers’ case is not new. Theories about satanic conspiracies have erupted periodically through American history starting with the Salem Witch Trials in the 1690s. A new satanic witch hunt — the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon — has gained steam in the last few years. Once again, fear and anxiety over a rapidly changing world have expressed themselves in what looks like a delusion.
byRamón Rodriguez
Over the past 20 years, the male-dominated sport has found increasing popularity outside of Japan among wrestlers of different genders, weight classes and racial backgrounds. In 2022, the sumo World Games will be held in the U.S., in Birmingham, Ala — an opportunity to put American sumo on the map.
byMizelle Mayo
About 200 unsheltered people are on a waiting list for the kind of intensive case management services at the Downtown Austin Community Court, which is temporarily located in the Terrazas Library at 1106 E. Cesar Chavez St. The court attempts to divert people charged with petty crime from the criminal justice system and to provide them with help getting their lives in order.
The community court was established in 1999 and was the eighth community court in the U.S. and the first in Texas. Many of its clients are experiencing homelessness and tend to cycle through the criminal justice system. Initially, the court focused its efforts downtown, but it has since added East Austin and the West Campus area to its jurisdiction.
byRamón Rodriguez
In financial domination, a financial submissive, “finsub,” pays a financial dominant, “findom,” often without expecting anything in return, and often without meeting in person. In some findom arrangements, dominants hurl insults online at submissives. Submissives get aroused from the loss of control and surrendering of power, sex experts say.