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Reporter's Notebook: Who stands alone?

You can’t say that… During a discussion at Thursday’s City Council meeting about a city home repair program for low-income households, Mayor Steve Adler took an opportunity to remind those watching about the $250 million affordable housing bond that will…

Reporters' Notebook • By Austin Monitor • Sep 24, 2018

Austin Monitor Radio: AISD East?

This week Roxanne Evans and Jim Harrington talk to Austin Monitor freelancer Caleb Pritchard and editor Elizabeth Pagano about their bid to save East Austin schools, their new manifesto designed to do just that, and why they are threatening a…

Radio • By Austin Monitor • Sep 24, 2018

Austin City Hall front

Ethics commission considers examining possible 'dark money' violation

Members of Austin’s Ethics Review Commission are eager to examine a potential violation of the city’s “dark money” campaign finance law that has generated press attention and speculation in city political circles in recent weeks. At Wednesday night’s meeting, Commissioner…

City Hall • By Chad Swiatecki • Sep 21, 2018

waterway

A massive change in Austin's flood map says thousands more homes are at high risk

Around 3,000 more Austin properties will find themselves in high-risk flood-plains thanks to a new National Weather Service study called Atlas 14. Those new flood designations could impact everything from what you pay for insurance to how you build your…

Environment • By Mose Buchele, KUT • Sep 21, 2018

Austin City Hall front

City of Austin adds 136 acres south of Onion Creek

On Thursday, City Council voted to have the city of Austin annex the Cascades Municipal Utility District, 136 acres of undeveloped land south of Onion Creek. The landowner, Onion Associates Ltd., entered into an agreement with the city in 2014…

Development • By Jack Craver • Sep 21, 2018

Bird Dockless scooters

Parking, recklessness among scooter concerns for city's disability committee

Amid concerns over the safety of people in wheelchairs and the visually impaired, the Mayor’s Committee for People With Disabilities pressed the Austin Transportation Department to take steps soon to improve the behavior of users of rentable motorized scooters, and…

Transportation • By Chad Swiatecki • Sep 21, 2018

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Figures show Austinites love and hate scooters

Members of Austin City Council have plenty of concerns about the operation of dockless vehicles, particularly electric scooters. But they all appear to agree that the vehicles are here to stay, if for no other reason than they have proved…

Transportation • By Jack Craver • Sep 20, 2018

An update on the Fayette Power Plant reveals no news, inspires working group

Almost five years ago, Council recommended that Austin Energy retire its portion of the Fayette Power Plant, which is run on coal, by 2022. Despite intense pressure from environmentalists to move that date up, the city utility is sticking to…

Energy • By Jessi Devenyns • Sep 20, 2018

Firefighter wins battle with city

Austin firefighters won their battle to get the city to drop its lawsuit against one of their own, Lt. Carrie Stewart, who filed a claim for workers’ compensation after she was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 2015. After…

City Hall • By Jo Clifton • Sep 20, 2018

Council to put off hearing on tax credit property

At the request of Council Member Delia Garza, on Thursday City Council will likely postpone a scheduled hearing and consideration of whether to give the city’s blessing to 4 percent affordable housing tax credits to a proposed apartment complex for…

Development • By Jo Clifton • Sep 20, 2018

City estimate: Preserving Montopolis Negro School would cost $5.7M

The city of Austin is beginning the process of using eminent domain to seize the 1-acre plot at 500 Montopolis Ave., home of an 83-year-old building that was once the Montopolis Negro School. The structure is a rare vestige of…

Preservation • By Jack Craver • Sep 19, 2018

zebra mussels

Zebra mussels found in Austin Water intake pipes

Divers have found large amounts of invasive zebra mussels at intake pipes that feed Austin’s water supply, opening up a costly new challenge for the city’s water utility. Austin Water had seen evidence of the small, rectangular mussels in water…

Environment • By Mose Buchele, KUT • Sep 19, 2018

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