Austin Braces for 2021 Legislative Outcomes

byAngelo Gaunichaux

As the 87th Texas Legislature approaches mid-session, Governor Greg Abbott’s battle with Austin City Council over police funding is reaching a boiling point as a number of bills take aim at local governments’ control over police funding.  Last August, Austin City Council members unanimously passed the city’s 2021 budget, cutting one-third of the Austin Police […]

A League Together

byConnor Zimmerlee and Haley Riley

For the past year, soccer for many has been a perpetual COVID-19 red card, a harsh penalty suspending play for players for only trying to do the right thing during a pandemic. On March 15 of last year, the city of Austin implemented a lockdown that prohibited gatherings of more than 250 people. For the […]

Austin Professional Cuddler Aims to Heal Through Touch

byMadelyn Gee

Professional cuddling is becoming increasingly popular around the country. During the last decade, cuddling businesses have opened in  Georgia, New York and Texas. In 2015, there was even a national cuddling convention in Portland, Oregon.

Austin Clinic Helps Addiction Patients After Using Psychedelic Drug Ibogaine

byRamón Rodríguez

Root Recovery provides a residential aftercare program to patients as they recover after taking ibogaine to treat opioid addiction. Most clients travel to Mexico to take ibogaine — where it is legal — and then come to Root Recovery. The business has helped about 100 people recoup after ibogaine treatment. In Texas, at least 1,402 people died from opioid overdoses in 2018, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Austin’s Unauthorized Workers Fall Victim to Slowdown in Hospitality Industry

byBenton Graham

As the pandemic has ravaged the hospitality industry, many unauthorized workers have lost employment. According to the Austin Chamber of Commerce, the city’s employment in the hospitality and leisure industry stood at 76% of its pre-pandemic level as of late September.

Local Businesses Serve Up Lesson in Achieving Voter Turnout

bySarah Kate Scribner

In last November’s election, the voters of Travis County stepped right up for a passion plate of political participation this election. And local businesses would like to think they helped to serve it with a side of incentive. “The idea of getting involved in this year’s election was first proposed by a staff member back […]

Economic Displacement Feared As Austin Gets Moving

bySara Schleede

When Austin voters decided a third time was the charm and  signed a big check to get the city moving with a massive transportation project, they included a plan to mitigate community gentrification. Research suggests big infrastructure projects, especially for transportation, can contribute to economic displacement as property values rise along transportation corridors — already […]

Capareda’s Long, Winding Road to Ballet Austin

byKendall Tietz

For Alexa Capareda, dance has long been a force in her life, a whirlwind around the globe. It has also been transformative. A journey that took her from youthful dancer to esteemed ballet master. As a child in the Philippines, she was well on her way to success. Then, her father was named a professor […]

UT Greek Life Struggles to Adhere to Pandemic Protocols

byLydia Wagner and Daniella Cortez

On the 2020 season’s first game-day Saturday, things seemed pretty normal for a University of Texas football weekend — pre-pandemic normal. At the Texas Rho fraternity house, dozens of UT students partied together in person. A leaked SnapChat video from inside the event showed attendees singing “The Eyes of Texas,” and standing shoulder to shoulder underneath a balcony packed […]

For ‘Esther’s Follies,’ Show Goes On (Virtually)

bySarah Kate Scribner

On Friday and Saturday nights at Sixth and Red River in downtown Austin, nine actors and a magician would stand beneath the warm glow of stage lights and look out at the sea of 270 bodies crammed in the sold-out theater, eager to deliver the next gut-busting joke or burst into comedic song. That was […]

Project Connect and Austin’s Past Light Rail Fails

byHarrison Young

The fate of the Oval Office is not the only key issue on Austinites’ ballot this November. Project Connect, Austin’s proposal for a light rail system and widely expanded bus service, is on the ticket as Proposition A. Voters rejected light rail plans in 2000 and 2014.

Renewing Battle Against the Fish Eating Lake Austin

byAimée Knight

Sterile grass carp did too good a job controlling hydrilla and ended up ruining Lake Austin as bass habitat.

Amid Downsizing, Foundation Finds Ways to Serve Homeless

byCat DeLaura

The Other Ones Foundation has cut back its Workforce First program, but it also is offering a new service, a mobile hygiene clinic for people experiencing homelessness.

Austin Tattoo Artists Grapple with the Impacts of COVID-19

byHope Lenamon

Usually full of the people, life and art that have come to define Austin, tattoo shops in the city shut their doors over a month ago as part of efforts to combat COVID-19. Tattoo artists and shops are trying to adapt to their new normal and find alternate ways to survive.

Austin ISD’s Rising STAAR: Widén Elementary Aims to Maintain Test Score Improvement

byAimée Knight

In 2018, the Texas Education Agency gave Austin’s Widén Elementary School an “F” in the state’s annual accountability ratings. In 2019, the school earned a “B” – the largest improvement of any elementary school in the Austin Independent School District.

Austin Educators look beyond Texas’ African American studies course

byJennifer Martinez

WATCH: UT students talk about African American History African American heritage runs deep in Texas. From the horror of slavery to the civil rights movement and beyond, Texas’ African American population has played a critical role in the state’s economic and cultural development. Yet Texas’ publication education system has downplayed African American history in its […]

Austin Teachers Say They Face High Levels of Work-related Stress

byHope Lenamon

Some Austin teachers say increasing levels of work-related stress make it difficult to effectively do their jobs.

South Austin Ecovillage Prepares for a Radically Different Future

byCat DeLaura

Roots is an intentional community devoted to exploring more sustainable ways of life.

Street Youth Ministry Uses Art to Reframe Conversation on Homelessness

byNataleah Small

West Campus non-profit has served young people experiencing homelessness since 2009.

Austin Aims to Reduce Waste Through Fix-It Clinics

byCat DeLaura

Modeled after repair cafes in cities around the world, Austin’s Fix-It Clinics are a way for residents to learn how to fix broken household items and encourage them to reuse objects that would otherwise be discarded.