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

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

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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,…

Public Health • By Seth Smalley • Jan 11, 2022

ZAP members OK 'spot zoning' for ADU

Last Tuesday, the Zoning and Platting Commission heard what may be one of the last requests to build an accessory dwelling unit on a Single Family Residence-Standard (SF-2) lot after City Council resolved to allow ADUs in such spots in December.…

Planning • By Jonathan Lee • Jan 11, 2022

District 4 candidates face off before special election

Candidates vying for Greg Casar’s Council seat appealed to voters last Thursday at a forum hosted by the city’s Ethics Commission and the Austin chapter of League of Women Voters. Isa Boonto, Melinda Schiera, Jade Lovera, Jose “Chito” Vela, and…

Elections • By Kali Bramble • Jan 10, 2022

Internal memo reveals TxDOT’s latest changes to I-35 expansion plans

Lowering Interstate 35 under more cross streets including Holly Street and Woodland Avenue, increasing the number of pedestrian crossings and reconfiguring downtown frontage roads are among the changes to TxDOT’s I-35 widening project that are outlined in a new internal…

Roads • By Nathan Bernier, KUT • Jan 10, 2022

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