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City leaders, Austin police say arrests will be a 'last resort' as enforcement of homelessness ordinances resumes

It’s illegal – once again – for people experiencing homelessness to set up encampments throughout most of the city. Sitting or lying down in some stretches of Austin and panhandling at night are also against the law after voters this month…

Breaking down the Reimagining Public Safety task force’s recommendations

Last month, the city’s newly formed joint city-community Reimagining Public Safety task force released its 2021 mid-year recommendations report. At over 70 pages long, the report’s proposals range from popular police reform policy changes to ideas that would fundamentally reshape the way the…

Austin will start training new police again this June, after a yearlong hiatus

City Council members voted Thursday to restart cadet classes after a pause to allow the police department to make changes to how it trains new officers. The next cadet class is set to start by June 7. It will be…

With tenants still enduring mold damage caused by Uri, Council pushes for more landlord regulation

Though it has been several months since Winter Storm Uri damaged infrastructure and homes across the city, some apartment residents are still dealing with severe mold damage that landlords have failed to fix. Worse, when some tenants asked the city…

Removing barriers to vaccine a top priority as supply exceeds demand through Austin Public Health

Austin Public Health is hosting a walk-up Covid-19 vaccine clinic at the Delco Activity Center this Thursday and Friday from noon-7:30 p.m. or until all its vaccines are administered. Vaccines will be available to all residents age 18 and older.…

City Council exploring ways to shrink APD scope of work

This Thursday, City Council will meet to work through more of the logistics of the city’s biggest policy priority over the last year: reimagining public safety. In a memo sent to Council on April 9, Rey Arellano, assistant city manager…

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Both of Austin's Covid-19 vaccine 'hub' providers are struggling to fill appointments

UT’s Dell Medical School (along with UT Health) and Austin Public Health are reporting issues getting people signed up to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Both organizations were designated by the state as “hub” providers. The state created the hub model…

City's vaccination task gets harder

Interim Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott has been advising City Council members and Travis County commissioners that there was more demand than the city had available vaccine for all the Travis County residents who want to be protected…

Austin health officials won't relax Covid-19 guidance this month

Numbers tracking the coronavirus pandemic in the Austin area have stopped improving and could worsen, new projections show. The projections, released Friday by UT’s Covid-19 Modeling Consortium, show lines flattening in the weeks ahead and possibly rising. The consortium reports…

Local organizations step up to expand vaccine access in East Austin

Michele Rountree had reservations about getting the COVID-19 vaccine at first. But the more research she did, the better she began to feel. And when she heard the African American Youth Harvest Foundation was hosting a walk-in vaccine clinic, something…

Austin's top doctor says possible Covid surge unlikely to overload area hospitals

New Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations in the area are declining, but they are still well within the threshold to keep Austin and Travis County at stage 3 of Austin Public Health’s risk-based guidelines. The city’s interim medical director previously had…

Austin Public Health had 2,800 Covid vaccine appointments left open Thursday

Austin Public Health opened up Covid-19 vaccine appointments Thursday evening, but by the end of the night, it still had 2,800 appointments available, raising questions about how the agency is distributing doses. This is the second week in a row…

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