Stories by Lina Fisher
A plan to end night swimming at Barton Springs is over before it ever began
The city’s parks department has backed away from a plan to close Barton Springs Pool an hour earlier this summer. The change would have eliminated the free daily night swims — full moon or not. “While the Parks and Recreation…
Parks • By Lina Fisher • May 28, 2025
Two Years after the Austin Police Oversight Act passed, Community Police Review Commission finally meets
The first meeting of Austin’s long-awaited Community Police Review Commission (CPRC) was marked by urgency and undergirded by a strong sense of duty to a community that has been expecting this meeting for years. The formation of a civilian body…
Police • By Lina Fisher • May 19, 2025
New Data Center Planned for Lockhart in 2028
Only a few weeks after Austin City Council passed a resolution requiring various regulations on artificial intelligence operations, a new 2GW data center is coming to Lockhart. Tract, a Colorado-based developer, has secured 1,500 acres for a “megasite” in Caldwell…
Energy • By Lina Fisher • May 15, 2025
Austin Public Health urges Council to prioritize frontline jobs amid federal funding cuts
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) continued slashing of federal funding for critical services is coinciding with and compounding an already dire budget crunch for Austin, which will force Council to make tough decisions on where to tighten the…
Public Health • By Lina Fisher • May 9, 2025
Scaled-down Violet Crown development near Bee Cave under consideration again
The embattled Violet Crown Amphitheater – a planned development including condos and offices off Highway 71 in Southwest Austin that was successfully beaten down in 2022 by angry neighbors – looks to be back, now under a new name: White…
Development • By Lina Fisher • Apr 15, 2025
New public defenders get pay bump but county struggles to retain experienced attorneys
At the beginning of the year, Travis County finally began offering a guaranteed lawyer to individuals who are arrested and can’t afford legal representation – a constitutional right known as counsel at first appearance, or CAFA. It took an ACLU…
Travis County • By Lina Fisher • Mar 31, 2025
Subscribe to our newsletter
Central Health opens long-awaited Del Valle Health Center
Last week, Central Health announced at a Travis County Commissioners Court meeting that it has finally opened its Del Valle Health Center, the long-awaited collaboration with CommUnityCare that will expand access to health care for low-income Eastern Travis County residents.…
Public Health • By Lina Fisher • Mar 20, 2025
Travis County sets aggressive goal to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2050
One of the policy areas that the county has most influence over is roadway safety. Past city limits, the Travis County Commissioners Court is responsible – along with the Texas Department of Transportation, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and…
Roads • By Lina Fisher • Mar 18, 2025
Travis County outlines the next year of opioid overdose prevention strategy
Even as the Trump administration attempts to gut every kind of federal grant bolstering local services, from transportation to public health and beyond, Travis County is still managing to continue its long-term investments in opioid recovery services and harm reduction.…
Public Health • By Lina Fisher • Mar 3, 2025
APD won’t enforce SB 14 as Paxton and Trump further attack gender-affirming health care
Last week, two federal judges issued temporary restraining orders on an executive order by the Trump administration that would have blocked federal funding for gender-affirming care for minors. That means that – for now – any health care provider or…
Public Health • By Lina Fisher • Feb 18, 2025
How Trump’s federal funding freeze is beginning to affect Austin
On Jan. 31, a U.S. district judge granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting the Trump administration from implementing a slew of executive orders that would freeze federal funding programs that allow access to health care, housing, education and other basic…
Austin • By Lina Fisher • Feb 14, 2025
Environmental Commission weighs Project Connect’s environmental impact and federal funding
In light of Donald Trump’s recent effort to freeze federal spending authorized by Congress – swiftly blocked by two federal judges – the question on every local policymaker’s mind is: What’s going to happen to all the local projects that…
