Sports Journalists in a Pandemic

byJames Grant

While watching a local newscast one night around the start of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S., I noticed one of the sports reporters on Tampa/St. Pete’s Bay News 9 was reporting from his living room because of health and safety measures. This caught my attention because I want to go into local television as […]

Life in a Pandemic

byJames Grant, Travis Hlavinka, Lindsey Logan, Jennifer Martinez, Reagan Morrisey, Mildret Orellana, Tehya Rassman, Meredith Schmidt and Maya Vela

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the lives of millions of Americans, including the Spring 2020 students in J362F, Journalism Portfolio. As their final project, some students in one class selected different groups of people affected by quarantines and closures, to learn about their individual experiences of “Life in a Pandemic.” The following categories complete the phrase […]

Transgender Man Finds Community on Austin Woman’s Football Team

byStephen Wagner and Nicole Stuessy

Battling issues of gender identity, depression and an estranged father, Kaelyn Daxton found his second family in a women’s contact football team.

Cedar Park’s Jeremiah Chambers Overcame Long Odds to Achieve Football Stardom at Abilene Christian

byDenise Emerson and Reagan Morrisey

 

Five Weeks – The Rise and Fall of the XFL

byJulian M. Rowe-Cohen and Marcus K. Krum

The XFL professional football league was five weeks into its inaugural season when play was ceased due to COVID-19 in April. The eight-team league, with teams in Houston and Dallas, filed for bankruptcy on April 13. Executives, staff and players from the Dallas Renegades and Houston Roughnecks reflect on the unfulfilled promise of the league.

Sex Workers Struggle as COVID-19 Pandemic Continues

byShelby Woods and Andrew Roberts

Bars, strip clubs and brothels have been shut down as non-essential businesses across the country closed for the coronavirus pandemic, leaving many sex workers out of a job. “It has completely stopped business,” said Mistress Natalie King, a dominatrix in New York City. “There are no in-person sessions to be had.” And unlike millions of […]

UT’s Music Majors Struggle in Pandemic

byRebekah Philip

As a senior music major at The University of Texas at Austin’s Butler School of Music and future student teacher, Alessio Nachtergaele hoped he would be teaching at Westlake High School and Cedar Creek Elementary. Although he continues to create lesson plans, quarantine continues to hinder him in many ways.  “The only music making we […]

Quality Connections in Quarantine

bySamantha Hall

  Austin, a city known for its traffic, high density and crowd-drawing festivals, is closing in on two months of staying home. Public discourse has been inundated with stories of premature death, economic demise and fear. This is not one of them. Human beings are innately social creatures. We crave connections with others. Even introverts […]

Pandemic Upends Latino Lives

byJennifer Martinez

El que no nada se ahoga. He who does not swim drowns.

Growing up in a traditional immigrant household, this six-word declaration proved fundamental. My parents, both Salvadoran natives, imparted its wisdom on their children in response to misfortune— at times as a warning and at others as encouragement. It’s a lesson they learned from years of working long hours at one blue collared job or another, scraping together enough money to renew heftily priced work visas and keep the lights on, and finding a way to remain afloat as immigrants in the U.S.

What Collapse of Oil Prices Means for Texas’ Future

byTyler Lewis

Slack demand caused by the coronavirus crisis on top of excess production translates into a perfect storm for the global oil industry.

As Above, Not So Below: Redefining Dress Code on Zoom Amid a Pandemic

byTyler Lewis

Reporting Texas reached out to a few people to see what their Zoom meeting attire says about them.

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.

UT 2020 Commencement Ceremony Goes Virtual

byRyan Chandler

The University of Texas at Austin announced late last month this spring’s commencement ceremony will be held online on May 23. The change comes in light of social distancing orders that restrict the traditional event from bringing thousands of graduates and family members to the Main Mall. The University says that while the situation is […]

Texas A&M Entomologist Provides Insight on Global Locust Devastation

byTyler Lewis

Hojun Song, a professor in the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M, has been researching grasshoppers and crickets, with a focus on the evolution of swarming locusts. Reporting Texas spoke with Song on the video conferencing app Zoom about his research.

 

Reporting Texas TV Newscast May 7, 2020

Austin – Journalism students from Moody College at the University of Texas aired their final newscast of the semester on May 7, 2020. This week students looked into the impact COVID 19 has on the traditional ring ceremony, restaurants reopening and a behind the scenes look at the planning for UT’s first virtual graduation.

South Texas Animal Shelter Needing More Fosters as State Reopens

byMarco Ramirez

EDINBURG – Throughout the coronavirus outbreak, The Palm Valley Animal Society has kept providing the best care possible to all the animals that have shown up at their door.  But their primary focus during this pandemic, has been to keep both their employees and the community safe.  “This has been an unusual situation for all […]

Some Restaurants in No Rush to Reopen During Pandemic

byMason Carroll

LUBBOCK – The empty dining room of House Café Gastropub is filled with the chatter of employees preparing takeout orders. Jason and Kate Diehl have owned a restaurant in this spot for more than seven years, and it is the first time their doors have been closed like this. Restaurants’ dining rooms around the country […]

Cinemas Offering Virtual Film Options to Audiences

byNataleah Small

Movie theaters in Austin across Texas could reopen at 25% capacity on May 1 according to an announcement from Gov. Greg Abbott. However, many cinemas have decided to remain closed due to concerns about COVID-19.  Violet Crown Cinema, located in downtown Austin, began its temporary closure on March 17, but managers have yet to determine […]

Zoom Dates, Facetime Meets, and Drive-Ins? Oh my!

byAlaina Hayden

HOUSTON – Social distancing may be prohibiting some forms of human connection, but it hasn’t stopped people from meeting prospective romantic partners. Dating apps such as Bumble, Tinder and Hinge have seen an approximate 30% increase in user messaging according to Time magazine. Avid swipers such as 21-year-old Chandler Gibson are taking advantage of this […]