Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism
byAdele Doat
A frenzied crowd of supporters met Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico as he emerged from the Whataburger on Guadalupe Street after an October campaign rally at the University of Texas at Austin. Posts of his visits soon inundated his social media page. “Whatalegend,” “Whataguy,” “a true Texan,” some commented under one of the six posts […]
byAdele Doat
Halloween cobwebs cover empty shelves at the Wheatsville Co-op on Guadalupe Street, sending a message of quiet surrender to financial struggle for a store that has long held a special place in the community. “It seeps magic,” General Manager Tanya Carney said.
Sunday was the grocery store’s final day on Guadalupe. Founded in 1976 by a group of UT students, the co-op moved to Guadalupe Street in 1981, Carney said. From now on, Wheatsville will focus its efforts on its South Lamar Boulevard location, she said.
Declining revenue and feared disruption of the Project Connect Orange Rail Line prompted the store’s closure.
byBayliss Flynn
A 20-year-old Austin man known for his mountain climbing videos died this week after a rockfall on the Matterhorn, his family and authorities said Thursday.
Kieran Liner, who moved to Austin in 2020, was climbing Tuesday with his roommate Eli Hawkins at an altitude of about 11,500 feet when the rockfall occurred, his sister, Precenia Newman, told Reporting Texas.
Valais Cantonal Police said one of the climbers on the Hörnli Ridge route up the Matterhorn, a peak in the Alps between Switzerland and Italy, lost sight of his companion due to rockfalls and immediately called authorities about 6 a.m. Tuesday. Formal identification of the deceased was underway, police said.
Newman said Liner’s family was notified of his death by the U.S. consulate in Switzerland.
“You don’t cage a beautiful bird.” Newman said. “We weren’t going to stop him no matter what. If he had something in mind, he was going to do it.”
byJackson Bauer
The crack of a wood bat is drowned out by chatter, laughter and live music at a small field 12 miles east of Austin where baseball is secondary to community.
“For me, it’s about creating an inclusive environment and something that feels really homegrown or authentic,” said Matt Orr, 39, who manages events at the Long Time, a baseball-themed event space.
Over the weekend, as the Brewers and Rays began the major-league World Series, the Long Time hosted its own Fall Classic. Seventeen teams from as far as San Francisco and Minneapolis played in the “Sandlot World Series,” a three-day event of baseball, good vibes and fun.
