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 about his Whataburger appearance.
Whataburger is not the only emblematic Texas food brand Talarico has featured on his Instagram profile in the final stretch of the 2026 midterm election campaign. Last week, he also stopped by a H-E-B grocery store, a Mr. Taco restaurant and a Buc-ee’s. In contrast, Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton, meanwhile, has centered his social media presence on rallies featuring an abundance of American and Texas flags.
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.”
byAlly Bonsall
More than 2,000 dachshunds filled the grounds of Sherwood Forest Faire on Halloween for the fourth annual Texas WienerFest.
Halloween morning stirred with the pitter-patter of thousands of paws. Adorned in costumes, the tiny dogs traipsed through the morning dew at Sherwood Forest Faire, their low-rider stomachs mere inches from the grass, with their excited owners in tow.
“It’s kind of like this weird little wiener community,” dachshund owner Nicole Brooks said.
