The Dog Days of Summer Raise the Woof at Dell Diamond

byVirginia Scherer

Spike, the Round Rock mascot, has been a team mainstay since Day One. Just don’t ask the baseball team to reveal whose inside the custom.

Delicious and Dangerous, Avocados Can Be a Slippery Menace

byTaylor Jackson Buchanan

Avocados seem so innocent. But there’s a hidden danger in trying to dislodge their pits.

City’s First Artist in Residence Has an Unusual Assignment

byAlvaro Céspedes

Rehab El Sadek will spend the next nine months finding ways to bring her creative vision to the Watershed Protection Department,

Student, Parent, Teacher: She’s Seen All Sides of Gifted Education

byYi Li

Many parents of gifted children choose private schools that give kids more educational flexibility.

Hospice Austin Works to Break Down Barriers

byKaulie Lewis

At Hospice Austin, a disproportionate majority of clients across the organization are white, leaving minority communities underserved. A new outreach program seeks to fix that.

Church Finds New Path to Growth With a Mission of Diversity

byTaylor Jackson Buchanan

By building an ethnically diverse membership, Mosaic Church has quintupled the size of its congregation. “From the beginning, God has had a multi-ethnic church in mind,” Pastor Morgan Stephens said.

UT’s Teacher of the Aztec Language Looks Back on Two Years in Austin

byJesús Nazario

Nahuatl is still spoken by more than 1.5 million people in Mexico and has drawn attention from colleges in the U.S.

A World Record for Austin Spooners That Was Not to Be

byMegan Hix

UT students had the numbers, but they couldn’t comply with the strict standards of the Guinness Book.

AmeriCorps Cuts Would Hurt Nonprofit for Low-Income Students

byLouise Rodriguez

Breakthrough works with students from middle school through college. It depends on AmeriCorps for employees.

Lowriders Help an East Austin Neighborhood Protect a Park’s Personality

byYelitza Mandujano

City plans to build facilities for large events were shelved after residents said they wanted the park to remain user-friendly.

Austin Expands Efforts to Serve Non-English Speakers

byOmar Rodriguez Ortiz

Efforts will include translating essential documents into several languages and improving the translation feature of city websites.

At an Austin Elementary School, Refugees Represent 22 Nationalities

byKathryn Lundstrom

Wooldridge Elementary has developed expertise working with immigrant and refugee children.

Seeing Black Churches of East Austin Through a New Lens

byYelitza Mandujano

For six years, photographer Liz Moskowitz has documented the impact of gentrification on the area’s religious communities.

These Tiny Horses Go to Work in Hospitals

byCésar E. López Linares

An Austin-based nonprofit brings its miniature horses to visit with patients in hospitals and nursing homes. Medical experts say the interaction can bring joy and motivation to sick people.

They Can’t Vote Yet, but These Teens Are Plunging Into Politics

byKathryn Lundstrom

The November election spurred some Austin-area teenagers to create their own political organization. Now they’re working on how to assure that it continues.

Divine Downward Dog? Yoga Joins Church as Sunday Mode of Reflection

byKaitlin Reid

As young people define spirituality in broader ways, some view yoga in the same way older Americans see places of worship.

Architecture Students Get Out of the Classroom to Help Preserve Coast

byYi Li

DesignLab is unique in putting students to work building projects designed to teach others about threats to the Texas Gulf Coast.

Austin’s Efforts to Curb Short-Term Rentals Fail to Budge Long-Term Controversy

byJesús Nazario

With little chance of being caught, homeowners continue to rent their properties without a city license.

Want to Get a Car From a Vending Machine? Here’s How

byHailey Becker

Most buyers have their Carvana purchases delivered, but some choose to retrieve their automobiles from an automated dispenser.

Deputy Constable’s Mission: Protect, Serve and Entertain

byTaylor Jackson Buchanan

By day, Monroe Stinson works for the Williamson County Constable’s Office. At night, he picks up a bass guitar to play in a band.