News

New York Times Revisits 36 Hours in Austin

The New York Times featured Austin in yesterday's "36 Hours in..." column, revisiting a town it described back in 2003 as being imbued with "curious magic and lazy charm." more ›

Thief Nabs $10K Flagship Trek Bike From Mellow Johnny's

Thief Nabs $10K Flagship Trek Bike From Mellow Johnny's

Lance Armstrong and his crew at Mellow Johnny’s bicycle shop are doubtlessly pissed after someone stole a $10,000 triathlon bike being housed in the store last weekend. more ›

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Pecan Street Project Gets $10.4 Million Stimulus Grant

The Pecan Street Project has been awarded $10.4 million in federal grant money to build a "smart-grid" community at the Mueller development in Northeast Austin. The grant money was part of $184.5 million in federal clean-energy stimulus programs announced today by U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Pecan Street is a partnership between the city and high-tech companies to develop clean-energy solutions, such as advanced electric meters on homes and business and electric-car recharging stations. More details to come at a press conference this afternoon. [Statesman Business Blog] more ›

Austin High Teen Shoots Fleeing Car Near Lady Bird Lake Trail

Jay David Carbullido, a 17-year-old senior at Austin High, was involved in a heated exchanged with a female student on Stephen F. Austin Drive when the other teen decided to leave. As the car carrying the girl pulled away, Carbullido fetched a .22-caliber rifle from his trunk and shot at the car, striking it four times and breaking one of the windows. No one was hurt. more ›

Austin IRS Offices Catch Fire, Temporarily Closed

Community Impact reports that the local IRS office, as well as its affiliated Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC), was affected in a fire in the adjacent office last Friday. The office, at 825 East Rundberg, will be closed at least until early December. [ImpactNews] more ›

Schieffer's Out of Gov Race

Schieffer's Out of Gov Race

The Dallas Morning News reports that Democrat Tom Schieffer is pulling out of the gubernatorial race, and plans to formally announce his withdrawal this afternoon. more ›

Friday, November 20, 2009

Austin Man Charged In Scheme To Defraud Government Program For The Deaf

Austin Man Charged In Scheme To Defraud Government Program For The Deaf

An Austin man has been charged with fraud as part of a scheme to steal millions from the FCC's Video Relay Service, a government program that is intended to help deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans communicate with hearing persons. more ›

Whoops: Did Texas Ban All Marriages?

Whoops: Did Texas Ban All Marriages?

Conservatives can sleep soundly knowing the fight for gay marriage is not returning to Texas shores—at least not entirely. The only Democratic candidate for Texas Attorney General, Barbara Radnofsky, says Texans were so eager to ban gay marriages in 2005 that they banned marriages altogether. Don't understand how? Read on. more ›

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Southwest Parkway Prius Drive-By Was 18-Year-Old Punk

Former Austin High School student Hollan Dyer, 18, was riding shotgun in a blue Toyota Prius in Oak Hill when the car came upon the cyclist, Austinite Brad (last name withheld). According to detectives, Dyer allegedly remarked to his fellow passengers something along the lines of, "I hate cyclists on the road!," then, evidently steamed, rolled down his window and fired at the victim. more ›

Travis House: City Council To Finalize Zoning Status Today

Travis House: City Council To Finalize Zoning Status Today

On October 13th, the Planning Commission (PC) considered the Historic Landmark Commission’s recommendation that Travis House be designated as a historic building. The owner’s lawyer told Planning that the 1945 building was in bad shape and contaminated with lead, mold and asbestos. Susan Villarreal, Senior Planner with the city responded that "It is a distinctive and interesting building" and an "excellent representative of Colonial Revival style." The PC voted 4-2 to deny the historic designation (DMU-H) and recommended DMU zoning. City Council will make the final decision as to whether the building gets historic zoning at its meeting today. UPDATE: City Council denied historic zoning, so the building will likely be demolished. more ›

"Todd and Don Show" Coming Back to KLBJ, Entire Hot 93.3 On-Air Staff Dismissed

Emmis Austin is bringing back the "Todd and Don Show" to KLBJ in December, changing the format of the morning talk program to focus on "community history, expectations and cultural sensitivity." The show was canceled in July after co-host Don Pryor used a derogatory racial slur on air nearly three dozen times over the course of a single hour's program. The resulting backlash by the community, as well as threats of a boycott of all station advertisers, turned nasty. more ›

Friday, November 13, 2009

Former Austin Mayor Roy Butler Has Died

Former Austin Mayor Roy Butler has died after suffering a fall last weekend. During his two-term career, Butler increased the police department budget by 40%, doubling the size of the force. He still retains the record for most votes received in an Austin mayoral race. [City Beat] more ›

Austin Among Most Dangerous Large Metro Areas for Pedestrians

Austin Among Most Dangerous Large Metro Areas for Pedestrians

Transportation for America has ranked Austin-Round Rock as the 19th most dangerous metro area for pedestrians among the 52 largest metro areas in the United States. They calculated that walking in Austin was slightly less dangerous than walking in Texas as a whole, but substantially more dangerous than walking in the rest of the nation as a whole. Texas spends approximately 1% of its federal transportation funds on pedestrian projects, compared to 1.5% nationwide. more ›

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Morley Safer's Papers Donated to Briscoe Center [UT]

Morley Safer's Papers Donated to Briscoe Center [UT]

CBS journalists must appreciate the University of Texas; the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History already holds papers from the careers of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather, and today it was announced that Morley Safer is donating his papers to the same Center. Safer says the Center's journalism archive "has no equal. It is a gateway to learning the eyewitness history of who we are, who we were and how we perceived ourselves as a nation." more ›

Perry Accuses Obama of Wanting to 'Punish Texas'

“This is an administration hell-bent on taking America towards a socialist country,” said Perry in a speech this morning. The video footage, via myWestTexas.com, is reposted after the jump. more ›

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Fort Hood Memorial Service Live Stream [via KVUE]

Above is a live stream of the Fort Hood memorial service currently underway, via the Pentagon. If you have trouble pulling that up, we've also posted an audio-only live feed via the White House, after the jump. KXAN and KVUE also have streams on their sites.
more ›

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Fort Hood Massacre: What's Known So Far

AP is reporting that a dozen people are dead and at least 31 wounded after the shooting rampage at Fort Hood Army base this afternoon. All three suspects believed to have been involved were United States soldiers; one was killed in the attack, while the other two are in custody. The shooting occurred at the Soldier Readiness Center on the base; AP describes this building as "where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening." [AP] more ›

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Teen Stocks Up On Guns And Ammo From Cop Car, Gets Charged With Theft

Authorities have charged 19-year-old Austinite Michelle Lozano with theft after she allegedly looted what sounds like a small weapons depot in an AISD police car. more ›

Councilmembers Poo Poo Upstream Effluent Plan

Councilmembers Poo Poo Upstream Effluent Plan

Councilmember Chris Riley and Mayor Lee Leffingwell are crapping all over a plan by the Cities of Leander and Granite Shoals to discharge treated sewage, or effluent (pronounced "eff-you-uhnt"), into the Highland Lakes, including Lake Travis and Late Austin. Late Austin is currently the sole source of drinking water in Austin and the newly approved water treatment plant will draw from Lake Travis. Other councilmembers will decide on Thursday whether to join them in opposition. The Lower Colorado River Authority and Travis County have already indicated that they are opposed to the new plan. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rules currently prohibit new treated wastewater effluent discharges into any of the Highland Lakes. LCRA predicts considerable degradation of water quality in the Highland Lakes if new discharges are authorized. Most of the fecal matter is removed from treated wastewater (unless there is a malfunction or it rains), but other contaminants remain - notably pharmaceuticals. more ›

<i>Texas Tribune</i> Site Goes Live

Texas Tribune Site Goes Live

As they've been promising, the Texas Tribune officially launched its site this morning. With the debut comes a plethora of content, including the results of the first-ever University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll (we'll report on this later), almost a dozen downloadable databases of stuff from gubernatorial appointees to Texas campaign expenditures, and a nifty page that lists all elected officials and what party they belong to. more ›

Interview: Evan Smith Talks About the <i>Texas Tribune</i>, Social Media, and Being a Unapologetic Mac Fan

Interview: Evan Smith Talks About the Texas Tribune, Social Media, and Being a Unapologetic Mac Fan

Over beers at TRIO last Tuesday, we had a chat with former Texas Monthly president and editor-in-chief Evan Smith about his new nonprofit media project, the Texas Tribune. more ›

Update: Former AMD Chief Ruiz Steps Down As Head of Spinoff Company

Hector Ruiz, former CEO of Advanced Micro Devices, is leaving his job with an AMD spinoff company after reports linking him to an insider trading case. Ruiz is taking a leave from his position as chairman of chip manufacturer GlobalFoundries, then will resign officially on Jan. 4. Last week, the Wall Street Journal identified Ruiz as the AMD executive who shared confidential information about his company with a trader who has since been arrested as part of the Galleon Group scandal. Ruiz has not been charged in the case. [Associated Press] more ›

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