By SARAH DOOLITTLE, Four Points News

September rains added two feet to Lake Travis, bringing it to 35 percent of capacity, though still 40 feet below average.

Current combined water storage in Lakes Buchanan and Travis is 702,117 acre feet of water. An acre foot is equivalent to the amount of water standing one foot deep on a acre of land.

So far this year, the Lower Colorado River Authority, which manages water in the Lower Colorado lakes chain, has avoided having to issue a Drought Worse Than the Drought of Record Declaration. This would happen were combined storage levels to drop below 600,000 acre feet, the historic low experienced in the 1950s.

Furthermore, meteorologists are still predicting a “wetter pattern” to develop sometime in November.

Bob Rose, LCRA chief meteorologist, states this should be accompanied by, “above normal rainfall continuing into early spring… This pattern should bring our region frequent cloudy, rainy days during late fall and winter.”

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By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News

3M ​—​ the 112-year-old innovation company that never stops inventing from Post It notes and Scotch Guard to cell phone parts, fiber optics and touch screen hardware ​—​ came to Four Points when little else was here.

Now three decades and nearly 900 employees later, Four Points is home to 3M’s global headquarters of the 3M Electronics and Energy Business Group. The group that last week posted $1.5 billion in sales in the third quarter.

The local operations are the only one of 3M’s five business groups headquartered outside of St. Paul. Last year, the local group generated more than $5.4 billion in global sales.

The third quarter report released on Oct. 23 stated that electronics-related sales increased 8 percent year-on-year, with strong growth in display materials and systems and in electronics materials solutions.

A few months ago, local inventors at the 6801 River Place Blvd. campus, helped the Fortune 500 company reach a milestone when it surpassed 100,000 patents.

Jane Kovacs and Matt Fagan of 3M interact with a Platform 46 Table, featuring a 3M multi-touch display in the local 3M Innovation Center. The tabletop touch screen supports up to 60 simultaneous touch points, meaning six people use both hands to work on the screen together.

Products

“In developed countries, any person at any given time is within 100 feet of a 3M product,” said Matthew Fagan, manager at 3M Electronics and Energy Business communications services.

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By RICH KEITH, Four Points News

The Texas state-champion Vandegrift marching band dedicated its show this year to the late Viper band student Cale Howard and his mother Peggy Howard of Steiner Ranch, who were tragically killed by a drunk driver on Dec. 27. The show is called Joy of Life.

Photo shows Cale being congratulated last year by former VHS director of bands Jeremy Spicer and current director Mike Howard.

Well before the crash occurred, the VHS band directors and Vision Dance Company began designing this year’s show. Originally the show was to be a dramatic, almost dark and edgy production with music and costumes to match.

But after the accident which took the life of one of the band’s most loved members, the directors began to wonder how the show could be modified. Ultimately they scrapped the entire score and visuals completely and went in a direction of light and color, featuring sunrises, sunsets, flowers and even butterflies. “The four parts of our show represent beauty, excitement, love and peace,” said Mike Howard, director of bands.

The band welcomes the community to come to their final home performance on Wednesday to celebrate the 2014 marching show at 7 p.m. at Ed Monroe Stadium at VHS 9500 McNeil Drive Austin, TX 78750.

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By CASSIE MCKEE, Four Points News

In the state’s new accountability ranking system, Vandegrift High School received special academic distinction in four categories: Top 25 percent Closing Performance Gap, Postsecondary Readiness, Academic Achievement in Math, and Academic Achievement in Science.

To receive a distinction, a school must score in the top 25 percent of its comparison group – each comparison group is made up of 40 schools from across the state with similar demographics. The top 25 percent schools are known as quartile 1, or Q1. VHS principal Charlie Little said VHS’s comparison group makes up some of the top public schools in the state.

“I am extremely proud of our staff and students for their exceptional performance this year,” said Little.  “We are excited and welcome the chance to be ranked and compared to the 40 of the best high schools in Texas. The use of the comparison group for accountability requires us to be savvy with our data review. Sometimes, it is only a fraction of a percentage point that separates a Quartile 4 from a Quartile 1 ranking.”

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