Texas Health Action is recognizing World AIDS Day with 24 hours of free HIV testing at its Kind Clinic along with two days of fun stuff for the entire community. The Rock the Ribbon event includes a movie screening, yoga, meditation, dance instruction, trivia, a market curated by the Little Gay Shop, drag queen performances, and a class on harm reduction. Dec. 1-2, Kind Clinic Austin-Koenig, 101 W. Koenig Lane, Suite 100.

The Junior League of Austin is revving up its annual coat drive for kids who don’t have enough warm clothes to see them through the winter. The goal this year – the 36th annual event – is to provide 30,000 warm coats for children in need in Central Texas. You can donate $20 to buy a new coat or visit the registry to purchase a coat for the drive. Those who would like to donate new or gently used coats may drop off the items at any Jack Brown Cleaners location or at the Junior League at 5330 Bluffstone Lane through Dec. 7. The coats will be distributed through Dec. 10. Find out more about the coat drive here.

Wildfire isn’t always a disaster; in fact, fire is a normal, healthy part of the natural environment. According to Austin Water’s Wildland Conservation Division, “In savannah ecosystems such as those found in Austin’s water quality protection lands, wildflowers and native grass communities flourish after prescribed burns” and “grassland birds like quail and northern harrier hawks immediately benefit post-fire from newly open habitat for nesting and feeding.” That’s why the division is gearing up to conduct prescribed burns on the land it manages in Travis County. As spokesperson Matt Lore explains, “Prescribed fire is a key tool used to manage this land and improve the quality and quantity of groundwater entering the Edwards Aquifer. Beyond our core mission of improving groundwater quality in Central Texas, the use of prescribed fire also improves landscape resilience, promoting a vibrant and biodiverse ecosystem above the aquifer.” The prescribed burn season usually runs from November through late February. The burns are conducted by a team of trained professionals composed of Austin Water staff from the Wildland Conservation Division, city and county fire departments, and federal, state and local land management agencies.

Photo: Austin Transportation Dept.

In what used to be considered a transit desert, residents of North Austin’s Georgian Acres neighborhood now have their pick of options to get around town. Thanks to a partnership between the city, UT and the nonprofit Jail to Jobs, a new mobility hub on East Wonsley Drive offers residents a fleet of e-scooters and circulator buses operated by staff at Jail to Jobs. Benches at the hub are supplied with solar-powered charging pads so people can charge their devices while they wait.

Community members are invited to attend the big reveal to see the design plans for the Asian American Resource Center’s future performing arts center. The schematic design drawings, which have been created with lots of input from community engagement events held earlier this year, will be available to view and the project team will give a presentation. There will be activities for kids and interpreters for Mandarin, Vietnamese, Burmese, and Korean will be on hand. This event is held concurrently in person and on Zoom (register here). Doors open at 6:30, presentation begins at 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 17, Asian American Resource Center. 8401 Cameron Road.

Former Council Member Jackie Goodman is inviting friends to stop by a park near their home this Saturday from 2:30 to 5 p.m. to share memories of her late husband Jack Goodman, who died in August at the age of 76. Jackie wrote: “Jack and I decided long ago we wanted no funeral-burial-testimonials, no folks in church duds having to sit in rows of pews or chairs, almost requiring sadness. It is sad for me and for others that Jack has passed on though, and now that his ashes are safely with me, on the afternoon of his birthday, we will mark that his life happily touched ours, planning a ‘gently guided’ autumn afternoon, as free from what he didn’t want as possible.” Friends are invited to share memories of Jack, an environmental advocate who served on the board of directors of the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District for 22 years, leaving office in 2012. The job was a labor of love, paid nothing and offered no retirement benefits. Jackie Goodman served on City Council from 1993 to 2005, including a stint as mayor pro tem. Find additional information on the GoFundMe page set up by Alfred Stanley.

The Julia C. Butridge Gallery at Dougherty Arts Center is gearing up to accept exhibit proposals for its 2024 gallery season. The JCB Gallery, as the announcement describes, “celebrates a wide array of artists with diverse practices and strives to promote the livelihood of Austin’s vital art culture by offering as many opportunities as possible to both emerging and established artists.” As part of the submission process, artists are asked to include an artist statement, a proposal for the exhibit and images of their work. Proposals will be accepted from Nov. 19 to Jan. 15. Visit Dougherty Arts Center’s submission page for more info starting on Nov. 19.

Travis County Judge Andy Brown handily beat his Republican challenger, Rupal Chaudhari, in his bid for reelection on Tuesday night. Brown claimed victory after early voting showed a decisive lead, with 74 percent to Chaudhari’s 26 percent. “I’m honored to have your confidence to continue serving as Travis County Judge,” Brown said on Twitter. “Voters have delivered us with a clear mandate to keep our community safe from gun violence, tackle the substance abuse crisis, and expand health care, including mental and reproductive care. As our mission continues, I will continue to work for and with all who call our county home so we can make Travis County the best place to live, build a career and grow a family.” Brown previously defeated Michael Lovins in a special general election held in November 2020.

Editor’s Note: Andy Brown is on the board of the Capital of Texas Media Foundation, the parent nonprofit of the Austin Monitor.

Community members who want to have a say in the future of Zilker Park – and who doesn’t? – are invited to attend the next phase of the Zilker Park Vision Planning process. The draft vision plan will be released Tuesday, Nov. 15, followed by two community meetings to update the public and solicit feedback. The Parks and Recreation Department will host a virtual meeting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 7, and an in-person open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10, at McBeth Recreation Center at 2401 Columbus Drive. The project team will also be connecting with Austinites via a series of pop-up meetings held in all 10 City Council districts as well as Zilker Park. The team will present the draft vision plan in detail at each of the meetings, “highlighting each section of the park and noting how previous community input contributed to the plan. Both meetings will have opportunities for questions and comments.” Visit the project web page for more detail on the pop-ups.

Hoping to avert last year’s lifeguard shortage, the Parks & Recreation Department is working hard to recruit and train at least 700 lifeguards to staff all of the city’s public pools this summer. City Council is doing its part, raising the minimum wage lifeguards earn to $20/hour. Trained guards also receive a free uniform, a Capital Metro bus pass, and for those who complete a certain number of work hours during the swim season, a $400 training stipend. This isn’t just a summer job either; the parks department says “lifeguarding can be a stepping stone to a career in public service or a job as a first responder. Tomorrow’s emergency medical technicians, firefighters, and police officers can start learning lifesaving skills and building emergency response experience working as lifeguards today.” Visit LifeguardAustin to learn more about how to apply.

Photo by Tiia Monto made available through Creative Commons 3.0.

Wondering what to do with the ornamental holiday pumpkins decorating your porch railings? If you haven’t surrendered them to the squirrels or tossed them into the compost yet, the hungry pigs at Central Texas Pig Rescue would love to take them off your hands before they get too squishy (the pumpkins, not the pigs). The group is collecting whole pumpkins –not carved, please – to feed its rescue pigs. (If your pumpkins are already moldy or soupy, they won’t be good for the pigs, so toss those gourds in the compost.) Didn’t know pigs ate pumpkins? Well they do – a lot of them. Donating your pumpkins to the rescue group will make the pigs very happy and it will also help lower the nonprofit’s not inconsiderable feed bill. There are several convenient drop-off locations across Austin – find one closest to you.

In Travis County, 329,848 voters cast their ballots early; that’s 37.19 percent of the county’s registered voters, according to the Travis County clerk’s office, 10 percent lower than turnout in the record-breaking 2018 midterms. Austin pollster Mark Littlefield says that, within the Travis County portion of the city of Austin, turnout was 35 percent compared to 37 percent in 2020. Breaking that down according to City Council districts, he found that District 10 had the highest turnout with 45.5 percent of voters registered in that northwest district voting early. That in spite of the fact that there is no Council seat on their ballot, perhaps indicating strong interest in the mayor’s race and offices higher on the ballot, such as governor.

Turnout was also robust in District 8 in Southwest Austin, where Council Member Paige Ellis is running for reelection, with an early turnout of 43 percent. And in the Travis County portion of District 6, the farthest northwest district, turnout was close to 41 percent, according to Littlefield. District 7, where there is no race for a Council seat, saw a turnout of 38.3 percent. District 5, where there is a battle brewing over who will sit in the South Austin chair since Council Member Ann Kitchen is retiring, had turnout of 37.5 percent. District 9, which is similarly competitive in the wake of Council Member Kathie Tovo’s departure, saw a turnout of 34 percent. In District 1, where Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison is running for reelection for her northeast area seat, turnout was 31.7 percent, but in District 3, where there is a battle to take the east side seat currently held by Council Member Pio Renteria, early turnout was only 27.4 percent.