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- Council approves grant award to replace Barton Springs Road Bridge
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Discover News By District
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Austin/Travis County require businesses to post whether they require masks, Covid-19 tests or vaccinations
Starting Monday, businesses in Travis County and the city of Austin will have to post a sign indicating whether employees and customers need to wear a mask, show a negative Covid-19 test or be vaccinated against the virus. City of…
Public Health • By Audrey McGlinchy, KUT • Jan 14, 2022
Planning Commission rejects historic zoning for San Jacinto warehouse
The Planning Commission Tuesday voted against historic zoning for a former warehouse in downtown Austin, siding with the property owner who wants to demolish the building over preservationists seeking to save it. The case began last year when the Historic…
Preservation • By Jonathan Lee • Jan 14, 2022
Shorthanded shelter temporarily shuts down on Sundays
The Austin Animal Center, which provides shelter for more than 16,000 animals each year, announced this week that it will close its doors to the public on Sundays, beginning Jan. 23. Historically, the shelter has been open from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily,…
City Hall • By Willow Higgins • Jan 14, 2022
Project Connect team unveils report on anti-displacement strategy
Project Connect is one step closer to realizing its $7.1 billion public transportation investment, after a report outlining plans for the $300 million set aside for anti-displacement programs was completed last Thursday. The report, developed by a team of impacted…
Planning • By Kali Bramble • Jan 13, 2022
Eckhardt cleared of judicial conduct sanction
Austin state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, a lifelong Democrat, has won her battle with the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct. In December 2020, the commission issued an admonition against Eckhardt for comments she made as Travis County Judge in 2017…
Courts • By Jo Clifton • Jan 13, 2022
Austin police should budget for 100 more patrol officers, study says. Chief unsure if he’ll ask for funds.
The Austin Police Department should budget for 108 more patrol officers to respond to emergency calls more quickly, researchers hired by the nonprofit Greater Austin Crime Commission say. In an analysis of about 2 million 911 calls going back to 2016, researchers…
Police • By Audrey McGlinchy, KUT • Jan 13, 2022
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County processes final rental assistance applications, but will need more money to prevent evictions
On Tuesday, the Travis County Commissioners Court received news that only 443 applications for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program – a recently discontinued county program – have yet to be processed, a number significantly down from last week’s 995. The…
Housing • By Seth Smalley • Jan 13, 2022
Celia Israel announces run for Austin mayor
State Rep. Celia Israel has made it official: On a chilly Tuesday morning at Parque Zaragoza in East Austin, Israel announced that she would be running for mayor of Austin. She was joined by supporters Rubén Cantú, Ashley Cheng, Nelson…
Local Politics • By Elizabeth Pagano • Jan 12, 2022
Alligators in Del Valle aren't as rare as you might think
While some people think states like Louisiana and Florida have cornered the market on alligator territory, Texas has what Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Jonathan Warner called a “healthy” population of about half a million gators. While most live in…
Austin • By Willow Higgins • Jan 12, 2022
Rodriguez pleads guilty to misuse of federal funds, falsifying records
Frank Rodriguez, who served as a senior policy adviser to Mayor Steve Adler beginning in 2015, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to misapply federal funds and falsifying records “with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence an investigation into a…
City Hall • By Jo Clifton • Jan 12, 2022
Cap Metro should have stopped bus service sooner during winter storm, unreleased after-action report says
During last February’s deadly winter storm, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers sheltered shivering Austinites and drove dialysis patients along treacherous roads to lifesaving treatments. But the agency had unrealistic expectations of how long it could operate in the worsening conditions,…
Transit • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Jan 11, 2022
County seeks to expand mental health care for those facing incarceration
Nearly 20 percent of inmates booked into Travis County jails in September 2021 needed mental health treatment, but a month after their incarceration, only a third of them were receiving the needed treatment. That was the conclusion reached by Dr. Steve Strakowski,…
