Although it may just look like a pizza stand parked in a Mobil gas station on Barton Skyway and South Lamar, Giovanni's Pizza Stand may be one of the greatest South Austin pizza joints since Austin's Pizza (Ed Note: and Home Slice Pizza, ahem). Barton Hills residents don't have far to look for value-priced pizza with a ton of toppings to satisfy their hunger after a jump in Barton Springs, a spin around The... more ›

Those of you still wanting to check out the Trail of Lights at Zilker Park had better hurry: tonight's your last chance to see the mile-long spectacle. Also, we'd recommend that you arrive early this evening if you'd like to avoid the massive crush of last-minute holiday traffic: last night Austinist was making our way down to Barton Skyway from MoPac and a half-mile stretch of cars was blocking the far-right exit lanes off Rollingwood in both directions. It was easily a half-hour to hour-long wait. Consider, instead, taking the cheap Cap Metro shuttle from Waterloo Park ($2/1 adults/kids). Either way, be sure to get there before 10pm tonight - after that, it all gets taken apart.
* photo by Chris Staefe
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We were on our way to our neighborhood Taco Deli on Barton Skyway and Spyglass Drive, thinking about our weekly Puerco Borracho plate, when we were greeted by the sight of a dozen police cruisers parked haphazardly at the T-intersection. We thought it was a normal traffic accident until we noticed that the cops were putting on camouflage gear. Evidently there's a crazy man with a shotgun prowling the Greenbelt! With paramedics and firefighters on hand, Austin's finest ventured into the hike and bike trail in search of the armed lunatic. We didn't stay to watch the spectacle unfold - we needed to walk our dog, and we're also somewhat put off by being shot at - but as we pulled out of the parking lot we passed an armored assault minitank, sirens blaring. Ahhh, Austin. UPDATE: The Statesman is now reporting that two gunshots were heard around 2pm, and that shortly thereafter "a man was brought on a stretcher from the greenbelt and loaded onto an ambulance."

Arumabh Das, who works at nearby Tacodeli, said that earlier today a woman was standing outside calling police from her cell phone to report that she was being chased by a man with a shotgun. Das said he heard the woman describing him as a fit white man. Officials said the man who was shot was white. Das said police arrived moments later and that the number of officers has increased for the past several hours. Witnesses also said the department's SWAT team arrived at the scene shortly after noon.
Elizabeth Patlan, who works at American Cleaners at Barton Skyway and Spyglass Drive, said she heard two pops that sounded like gunfire around 2 p.m.

On mornings after a particularly nasty night of drinking, the only thing that coaxes us out of bed is the thought of stumbling over to nearby Tacodeli and ordering up a plate of delectable breakfast tacos (our favorite: eggs, chorizo and avocado on wheat). We happened to stop by this morning on the way to work, and found out about a neat charity fundraiser they're throwing tomorrow night: more ›