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Reporter's Notebook: The race is on

Biscoe looks like the answer for Travis County… Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt’s name moves from the “very likely” category of contenders to take over Austin state Sen. Kirk Watson’s seat at the Legislature to the “almost certain” category with…

Austin Monitor Radio: Environment Texas

Environment Texas Executive Director Luke Metzger talks to Austin Monitor reporter Jessi Devenyns in this edition of our KOOP show. If you are curious about the work of Environment Texas and would like to learn about the issues it is…

Austin cancels SXSW amid COVID-19 concerns

South by Southwest is canceled. Mayor Steve Adler, Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt and public health officials said the concerns surrounding COVID-19 were too great. “I’ve gone ahead and declared a local disaster in the city, and associated with that,…

Watershed Protection to begin multiyear study of trash in waterways

With trash and contaminants like dockless scooters rapidly accumulating in city creeks and rivers, Watershed Protection is kicking off a two-year, three-part study to better understand the impact of litter on city waterways. The study begins this month with a…

White-nose syndrome has been found in Texas. Here's what that means.

Texas’ first case of white-nose syndrome in bats has been confirmed. The fungus that causes the disease was first detected in Texas bats in 2017, but the disease itself, which has killed millions of bats on the East Coast, hadn’t…

Public safety departments present preliminary budget requests

Budget season at the city has already begun for the 2021 fiscal year. In preparation for its deep dive into budget requests from the public safety departments, the Public Safety Commission listened to preliminary budget forecasts at its March 2…

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Digital meter reading coming to Austin Water

Austin Water is preparing to roll out digital water meters that will allow the utility, as well as individual customers, to see how much water each customer is using every hour. Ultimately, every single one of the utility’s 240,000 meters…

Austin Police Department sees increase in violent crime

While the Austin Police Department is still finalizing crime numbers for 2019, the end of the last decade and the beginning of this one saw an uptick in violent crime, according to APD Chief of Staff Troy Gay. Gay told…

City adds funding and transparency to program helping endangered creative spaces

The city is making changes to a program created to assist music venues and creative spaces facing displacement, with the primary goal of making the selection process for grant recipients more transparent. The Creative Space Assistance Program, which was fully…

Which Republican will Fleck face in HD 47 runoff?

House District 47 Rep. Vikki Goodwin had no opposition in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, but five Republicans were vying for the opportunity to run against her in November. Attorney Jennifer Fleck led the Republican pack with 5,760 votes, more…

Howard and Bolton earn spots in runoff for Precinct 3

Ann Howard, the former executive director of Ending Homelessness Community Coalition, won the most votes on Tuesday night, but there is one more hurdle to clear. A runoff election will determine which Democratic candidate will go against Republican Rebecca Bray…

Garza, Eiserloh in runoff for Travis County Attorney

Longtime county and city lawyer Laurie Eiserloh will face Council Member Delia Garza in a runoff in May to determine who will become Travis County Attorney when David Escamilla retires from the job next January. In the end, Eiserloh had…