It’s Friday, March 8th. I'm Kyle Sauerhoefer, and here's your local news from the Austin American-Statesman. Our top story is: The Nature Conservancy is buying nearly 6,270 acres of land on South Padre Island, where critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles crawl ashore each spring to lay eggs. The nearly $16-million purchase is described as the largest conservation effort on the island since the Nature Conservancy bought 25,000 acres there in 2000.