Officer-involved shooting in Southeast Austin spurs investigation and protests

The Travis County District Attorney’s Office and Austin’s Office of Police Oversight are investigating an officer-involved shooting that took place Friday night in Southeast Austin. Local organizations have deemed the shooting, which resulted in the death of a 42-year-old man,…

Travis County releases unemployment and financial transparency tracker

In addition to its toll on public health, Covid-19 poses an economic threat both to individual finances and to businesses. In Travis County, the Economic Development & Strategic Investments Department has rolled out a public dashboard to track the pandemic’s…

Compromise reached at Lantana PCA, Environmental Commission recommends project

After postponing its recommendation on the project consent agreement at the Lantana project in Southwest Austin, the Environmental Commission has reached an agreement with the developer and the Save Our Springs Alliance on how to move forward. On Tuesday, the…

City, county to work with business on reopening Central Texas

County Judge Sarah Eckhardt, Mayor Steve Adler and Austin Chamber President and CEO Laura Huffman announced the formation of the Opening Central Texas for Business Task Force in a Zoom press conference on Thursday morning. The county, city and chamber…

Council approves $2.5 million in aid to musicians, artists impacted by Covid-19

A pair of actions taken Thursday by City Council will direct $2.5 million toward financial assistance for local musicians and other creatives facing substantial losses of income due to the Covid-19 pandemic. An ordinance change passed on the consent agenda…

'Pork chop' included in updated list of quarter-cent fund projects

District 4’s “pork chop,” a controversial traffic island at the intersection of Morrow Street and North Lamar Boulevard, is finally slated for removal after City Council adopted an updated list of projects approved for Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s quarter-cent fund…

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Annexation planned for McKinney Falls tract

Sometime in the next few months, the city will likely be annexing a 55-acre tract in Southeast Austin and granting zoning to allow development of the property as a light industrial (LI) site. The matter was on Thursday’s agenda, but…

City rolls out bridge loan program to assist businesses impacted by Covid-19

Small businesses now have another option for financial assistance in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, in the form of a new loan program from the city that will provide up to $35,000 per recipient. On Wednesday the city announced…

Commissioners Court discusses 'oscillation strategy' to exit quarantine

As the county’s May 8 end date for its stay-at-home order draws near, the Commissioners Court began to discuss the next steps in the battle to flatten the curve. “There is no return to ‘normal,’” County Judge Sarah Eckhardt said…

City utilities offering more help with bills

Austin Energy and Austin Water, two enterprise departments that help fund the city’s operations, are giving back to the community in the form of reduced electric and water and wastewater bills during the Covid-19 pandemic. Each utility is also contributing…

Hays County revokes permits for Kinder Morgan pipeline

The Hays County Commissioners Court has revoked permits it issued allowing Kinder Morgan’s Permian Highway pipeline project to bore under county roads. The move is the most recent flare-up in a long-standing battle between Hill Country landowners, local governments and…

Austin gets millions to deal with coronavirus

As the number of Covid-19 cases continues to climb, Austin and Travis County learned this week they would receive $170.8 million and $54 million, respectively, from the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund to help local governments deal with the crisis. During…