Austin
Disability committee eyes new community census to identify service needs
Local disability advocates appear ready to ask the city to conduct a census or general accounting of the number of local residents with disabilities who may require city services beyond those currently offered locally. Earlier this month, the Mayor’s Committee…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Nov 21, 2023
SXSW's $380M economic impact shows return to prepandemic heights
This year’s South by Southwest appears to have had a local economic impact on par with the years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, which nearly wiped out the popular music, tech and film confab in 2020. An analysis from Greyhill…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Nov 16, 2023
Idle lands: Austin joins cities looking to put real estate assets to best use
By next spring, the city is expected to have a detailed plan for how to turn its underutilized real estate assets into money-producers, in an attempt to add General Fund revenue and counteract state limits on property tax increases. Austin…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Nov 14, 2023
Students voice solidarity, outrage as conflict in Palestine escalates
As the sun set in Texas last Thursday, a somber crowd gathered beneath the university’s clock tower to mourn casualties of the escalating conflict between Israel and Palestine. The vigil, led by the University of Texas at Austin’s Palestinian Solidarity…
Austin • By Kali Bramble • Nov 1, 2023
East Austin factory would feature world’s largest rooftop solar array
Tesla’s factory in East Austin would be the largest rooftop solar installation in the world when complete, company officials say. “We finished phase 1, so we can pull roughly 10 megawatts. When it’s all said and done, it will be…
Austin • By Ken Chambers • Oct 31, 2023
Hiring headache: $25B in mobility projects will require 10,000 new workers every year through 2040
With $25 billion in infrastructure and mobility projects on tap over the next two decades, the Austin area will have 10,000 new jobs in those sectors per year for the next 17 years. That total is one of the findings…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Oct 16, 2023
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The sun is so bright, you gotta wear safe solar shades (for this weekend’s annular eclipse)
Now’s the time to get proper glasses to view the annular eclipse Saturday and be prepared for the big one next spring. This time around, the sun will be about 89 percent obscured from our view in Austin, so long…
Austin • By Jerry Quijano, KUT • Oct 12, 2023
Council members want action, updates to improve city animal shelter
Members of City Council want ongoing updates from the Animal Services Office about the conditions at the Austin Animal Center, which a recent audit found to be routinely overcrowded due to a variety of management issues. Council’s Audit and Finance…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Sep 29, 2023
The city says shelter is coming for homeless Austinites. Nonprofits would like a word.
Lee esta historia en español For years, Austin didn’t focus on finding shelter for people living outdoors. Instead, the city prioritized longer-term solutions, like getting people into apartments. That philosophy at City Hall has changed. Under Mayor Kirk Watson, the…
Austin • By Andrew Weber, KUT • Sep 29, 2023
Animal shelter audit calls out overcrowding, management issues for no-kill facility
An audit of operations at the Austin Animal Shelter has found that the no-kill facility is often beyond its capacity and lacks the data, staff and processes to meet the city’s 95 percent live-release goal. A draft copy of the…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Sep 26, 2023
Starting next year, researchers will seek relatives of long-lost Oakwood Cemetery residents
City officials say genetic testing of 35 Austinites buried at Oakwood Cemetery more than a century and a half ago is done, and researchers could be ready to test possible descendants of those people as soon as next year. City…
Austin • By Andrew Weber, KUT • Sep 21, 2023
Life sciences, housing policy seen as keys for Austin's five-year growth strategy
Business leaders see the life sciences sector as the next major piece of the Austin economy and expect it to grow quickly along with semiconductor and automotive manufacturing, financial services and national defense in the years to come. Focusing on…
Austin • By Chad Swiatecki • Sep 8, 2023
