House Speaker Pelosi was in town this morning to talk about energy issues. Have you voted early already? Did you even know election time was upon us? A construction worker was trapped underground for an hour yesterday as he worked on a tunnel for a downtown condo project. Travis County-area man died when the bus he was unloading from his tow truck crushed him. Local car thieves are seemingly in accord over their preferred......

An early morning altercation led to a man stabbing three of his friends and running over two of them in a North Austin parking lot. Department of Labor awards $509,937 in a grant to Austin-based non-profit, American YouthWorks. The city won't be billing the 3 UT students for their rescue from the cave this weekend. 1983 KFC mass-murder case finally comes to trial in Bowie County. Panhandlers in Boerne may soon have to purchase......

The following is a column by staff writer Carly Kocurek, compiled with the help of Elizabeth S., Sam Armstrong, and Shannon Roberts -- Ed Note So, you've waited until the last minute to address the whole "Valentine's Day" situation. Trust me, I've been there. In fact, I'm there right now -- my grandmother will be getting a card from us sometime next week. (I'll put extra stickers on the envelope to make up for......

We missed that whole “Black Friday” thing (post-traumatic stress symptoms related to a former life working retail), and the holidays are creeping up faster than a cheer-stealing Grinch in a dogsled. We’re sure that some of you, dear readers, find yourselves in a similar boat. But, before you start snapping up pre-packaged bath sets at Target, check out Austinist’s very special recommendations. We’ve sorted through some of the sparkliest surprises available locally and on the......

Activist and author Elie Weisel is in town to speak tonight to a sold-out audience. He is kicking off the 23rd Austin Jewish Book Fair which starts today and goes through Sunday, November 12. Tonight Wiesel will most likely speak on the topics of racism, anti-Semitism, genocide in Darfur, religious fanaticism and more. When we heard him speak he was still working on his lecture for this evening. "Indifference is the enemy of humanity."......

*This post comes from Austinist contributor Elizabeth S.* As long as you've lived in Austin, surely you have made a trip down to the outlet malls in San Marcos. . . or at least know someone who has. Well, tomorrow the Austin area will have its own outlet mall (in Round Rock), just in time for the tax-free weekend (known to us as the weekend when we can afford to buy shoes from Instep)!......