SOPA Furor Puts China’s Internet Practices in Perspective

While some compared SOPA to Chinese censorship, there are important differences between the two.

TV Shows Draw More Hunters to Storage Unit Auctions

The popularity of “Storage Wars” can be felt in Austin, where would-be treasure hunters are driving up bids on abandoned storage units.

More Buyers for Surviving Bastrop Homes

Since the Labor Day fires, Bastrop has a glut of prospective homebuyers and a limited number of homes.

Austin Turns to Green Building as Energy Costs Rise

With heat and drought taking its toll on Austinites’ energy bills, some builders are considering more energy-efficient features.

Brewery Sues State Over Sales Restrictions

One Austin brewer is suing over state regulations that restrict breweries from distributing their beer and selling it themselves.

In Austin and Elsewhere, Vinyl Is Hip

What’s old is new again: Vinyl record sales are growing in Austin as young music aficionados develop a taste for the old-fashioned format.

Heat, Drought, Fire: Not a Good Year for Christmas Trees

Even though Beth and Mike Walterscheidt are among the lucky Christmas tree farmers in the state, they too have suffered during the drought.

Those Bats Also Bring Money to Austin

Bat-watching is estimated to add about $10 million a year to Austin’s economy.

Construction Safety Improving Slowly

It’s been just over two years since three construction workers died in a scaffold collapse at the 21 Rio Apartments. The accident caused some construction companies to listen more closely to workers and advocates about improving job site safety.

Texan’s BBQ Takes On Beijing

On a hot June evening, waitresses carried margaritas and plates of specially prepared Texas-infused Chinese dishes to a crowded table outside Tim’s Texas Bar-B-Q in Beijing’s central business district.

The healing spirit of El Niño Fidencio

One Sunday a month, in a small house in Fort Worth, Texas, “fidencistas” gather to hear mass at the home of Criselda Valencia, a “materia” who then claims to channel the spirit of famed folk healer El Niño Fidencio.

More American Women Choosing Midwives

Lagerslature: Craft Brewers Push for Change

The Forgotten: Austin’s Homeless Veterans

Millions of U.S. veterans wore the uniform, served overseas, lost friends. And while they’re home from this nation’s various wars, some 350 Austin veterans are still in battle – against demons that are harder to see. They live on the streets of Austin, unable or unwilling to be helped. This is their story.

Door Always Open with Austin’s Nubian Queen

By whatever name people call her, Lola Stephens-Bell, often referred to by her patrons as the “Nubian Queen,” runs Nubian Queen Lola’s Cajun Kitchen – a restaurant on the corner of Rosewood and Chicon in East Austin where the city’s homeless are always welcome.

No Comment, No Coverage

James Jeffery argues that an inquisitive and demanding press is a bulwark against demagoguery and a rise of despotism. Perhaps now both politicians and journalists need reminding of this in equal measure.

Cultivating Austin’s Urban Roots

Austin-area middle- and high-school students to connect with the environment. Today the project grows more than 25,000 pounds of vegetables and herbs each year, donating a sizable portion to Austin-area charities and food banks.

A Tale of Two Burmese Families in Austin

Sisters Pad Too Raw and Pad Doh Too, members of the ethnic Karen culture indigenous to parts of Burma and Thailand, escaped Burma, leaving behind political and religious persecution by the Burmese government.

Austin’s First Annual Street Magic Festival

Eager children lined the darkening streets, clowns crafted balloon animals, ventriloquists carried their wooden sidekicks on their shoulders, and acrobats fearlessly dove backwards off a stage. Hundreds packed into the Red River District between 5th and 6th Streets in September for Austin’s first Austin Street Magic Festival.

Texas Expanding Use of K-12 Electronic Texts

Texas educators are moving toward widespread adoption of to electronic texts and the online tools could start replacing traditional textbooks as early as fall 2010. But in Texas, which is home to 4.7 million students, the digital migration raises questions about whether the change is about embracing technology-or selling more books.