Austin's Balmorhea released River's Arms last week, and kicked off their tour here in town. Their tour to support the record will follow the east coast, and land them back here in time for some SXSW gigs. Sample some of the instrumental band's lulling, hypnotic tunes c/o Western Vinyl, and check back here for a full-length review very soon....

Brownout! kick off their tour this week but not before supplying the Beauty Bar with diverse concoctions comprised of Latin funk, Afro-beats, soul and R&B. Following their Tuesday night gig in Austin, the eight-piece plays one more show in the Lone Star State, at Zeppelin’s Pub in El Paso before leaving for California....

The Asarco smelter in El Paso has sat dormant for the last seven years, but lately, there has been a cacophony of voices debating the pros and cons of its return. ...

Austinites are at the forefront of the blogging community, according to a new report published by a leading market research firm. Scarborough Research's new survey found that Austin tops other tech-heavy cities—Portland, San Francisco and Seattle rounded out the top four—when it comes to folks who either read or contribute to a blog. Fully fifteen percent of adults in Austin interact with blogs in some fashion; the research firm attributes this to both the tech......

Mayor Wynn says, "We're taking action today that will lower the cost of utility bills, make housing more affordable, help improve air quality and take critical steps in the fight against global warming," as City Council adopts codes to make new homes zero energy capable. El Paso high school student collapses and dies after finishing the PSAT. Blanco High School pranksters put bloody deer carcass in Comfort High School bus. Bird conservationists are opposed......

Hurricane Humberto leads to one death and Orange, Jefferson, and Galveston counties being declared disaster areas. More trouble for the Longhorns: Senior player arrested for marijuana possession. More trouble in the Texas Youth Commission: the overuse of pepper spray. Austin city council has allocated $40,000 to find a new City Manager, but they're not all very happy about it. Dallas County DA stops inmate's execution scheduled for tonight. Domo arigato, Roboto boy: Richardson inventor......

El Paso man fails to take down commercial airliner by flashing laser beam at it, gets nabbed by FBI—plans for world domination totally ruined 9-year-old boy sets a Northeast Austin apartment complex on fire while playing with lighter Septuagenarian arrested for multiple child molestation charges, faces up to 99 years in prison The Mega Millions jackpot is now at almost $150 million Whole Foods is pissed that someone leaked their trade secrets With today......

A 71-year-old El Paso woman soars off a 150-foot cliff in her pickup truck and lives Kyle family's trailer houses some 15,000 bees and over 60 pounds of honey After being arrested for giving her 3-year-old cocaine and marijuana, a woman in Taylor shows up in court high on drugs Town Lake was officially renamed to Lady Bird Lake today TxTags are selling like hotcakes—authorities claim toll roads getting 168% more traffic than predicted......

Austin police are on the lookout for a UT football player-turned-fugitive considered to be "armed and dangerous." An arrest warrant was issued yesterday for 17-year-old Andre Jones, a freshman defensive tackle from El Paso known by some as "Big Dre." Jones faces first-degree felony charges of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. Allegedly, Jones and his teammate, Robert Joseph, held up two victims at an East Austin student apartment residence last Friday. Joseph reportedly pointed......

“There’s a sign on the east Texas border that says Beaumont 23, El Paso 857. To me it was a braggadocio, quintessential Texas symbol," says Coyote Funeral co-director Jason May about the original inspiration for the film about two estranged brothers who rekindle their boyhood friendship on a walk across Texas. (The kind of thing we wish we'd done while we still had the opportunity. The walking part, not the boyhood friendship rekindling part.) Directed......

After holding a few public forums, having Austin staffers visit the home cities of the finalists and mulling over the results, City Manager Toby Futrell has decided on our new chief of police: Art Acevedo from Los Angeles. The official announcement will be made at noon today. We read yesterday that among the finalists for the position, Acevedo was a strong favorite (along with Richard Wiles from El Paso) of the Austinites who attended......

In the wake of a serious dog attack that left 69 year-old Genevia Bushnell recovering from 23 distinct bites, the Texas Legislature is considering a change in dog aggression laws. Current laws don't classify dogs as dangerous unless they've previously been reported for an act of aggression, allowing the dogs' owner, Janet Mott of Fredericksburg, to escape punishment even despite her indifference and inaction during the attack. (Allegedly, Janet stood idly by and even commented......

Mikail Davenport cycles towards Kingsville, Texas during the 2005 Capitol Ride. Photo by John Cates. This Sunday, Mikail Davenport, a 58-year old native Texan, will set out for the ride of his life, cycling over 900 miles across our state. In a month. Without using his legs. Davenport contracted polio at age two, and in his early teens underwent a long series of reconstructive surgeries. The same debilitating muscular disease that afflicted Franklin D.......

FRIDAY [16] music •Of Montreal, Elekibass, DJ Jester the Filipino Fist at Emo's (outside) music •Those Peabodys, Ume, Oh, Beast!, El Paso Hot Button at Emo's music •Spank Dance Company, Hello Lovers at Emo's Lounge music •Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Reckless Kelly at La Zona Rosa music •Long John Thomas & The Duff, Bellfuries, Eddie Clendening & The Blue Ribbon Boys, The Aquasonics at Continental Club music •Bruce Robison at Cactus Café (9pm,......

The following is a weekly column by guest contributor Laurie Gallardo. Hear her Friday evenings on KUT 90.5FM -- The Editors Greetings, chilly willies. I will now quote something I heard this morning from the esteemed producer of In Black America on KUT, John L. Hanson, Jr.  Mr. Hanson is someone I hold in very high regard. Everyone should. To put it as succinctly as possible, he is a bad ass. This morning in......

Austin remains the nation's fifth safest large city, according to the latest annual rankings published by Morgan Quitno Press. The Lawrence, Kansas-based research firm placed Dallas and Houston on the other side of the spectrum -- both are among the country's most dangerous, at sixth and tenth, respectively. Meanwhile, our northern neighbors in Round Rock should be happy to know that they're still living in of the overall safest cities, despite dropping to thirteenth......

What do you do if you have a shit ton of money and all of your taste is in your mouth? Well, if you're Governor Rick Perry, the answer is rip-off one of the most asinine advertising campaigns in recent memory to produce a xenophobic and homophobic slander of your opponent Chris Bell. Using voiceover and music approximating the horribly obnoxious Bud Lite Real Men of Genius ads, Perry and his band of communications fools......

Walk in any sex shop in Austin, and you’ll be confronted by a bevy of “educational aids,” “adult novelties,” and “personal massage devices.” Call an in-home sales rep and you’ll be offered a plethora of “marital aids.” Sex toys still circulate; they just go by different names. ...

The U.S. Census Bureau has released some new 2005 numbers analyzing the national population. This batch includes more localized information for cities and states. According to this most recent census, Texas ranks 6th among states with the most people living in poverty, and 36th among states with the highest median household income. Median household income: • U.S. – $46,242 • Texas – $42,139 • Travis County – $48,026 Percentage with incomes below the poverty......

SustainLane's annual rankings of America's Most Sustainable Cities came out yesterday. Austin, which was ranked #6 in 2005 in SustainLane's similar "US City Rankings," plummeted to #14 this year. Other Texas cities among the fifty fared worse, including Dallas (24), El Paso (31), Houston (39), and Fort Worth (46). As far as SustainLane.com -- an "online community site for healthy and sustainable living" -- is concerned, most of our -ist brethren cities (SF, Seattle, Philly,......

Students from Lanier, LBJ, Garza and Reagan High schools walked out of class this morning and set on their way to the Capitol in protest of the Immigration Bill (or rather, the anti-Immigration Bill) up before Congress. A large group of students from the Del Valle area are headed to downtown Austin in protest and the Statesman reports that at the rate the students are walking, they may make it to the Capitol sometime......

We love listening to Austin’s very own Gourds. Surely you’ve already picked up your copy of the Gourds’ newest record, “Heavy Ornamentals” by now. If not, what are you waiting for? It has been out for a whole week already. (Watch for our review sometime later this week.) What? You don't know about the Gourds? Well then it's high time you climb out from the cave in which you apparently live to check out......

The annual Men's Fitness survey of America's Fittest and Fattest Cities just came out again, and lo and behold, Austin remains among the top 25 of the former. Austinist is hardly surprised by these findings: on our once-yearly morning traipse around Town Lake this morning we exchanged pleasantries with dozens of fellow runners, all no doubt preparing for February's orgiastic Freescale Marathon. And just last week our spiffy and intimidating-as-hell gym, 5th and Lamar's......

Another one of those asinine polls are out that we can all assail as being unscientific, pointless and a waste of our time in a product’s lame attempt to draw interest to its brand by releasing Top-25 polls. But, we’re a blog, you’re bored, people like to bitch, so here it is. Axe body spray (the one that if you wear it your girlfriend’s mom will rape you) has released a poll listing the......

If you are like us, you want to barf up a few ginger bread pancakes the next time someone mentions Kerbey Lane. Magnolia, again! There must be more breakfast options than these. There is, lovelies, there is. Elsi's--now located at 6601 Burnet Road, next to the El Paso Import Co. (where we'll be buying all our furniture once we win the Texas Lotto). We know you love Mexican. Do you also love Mexican for......

We know Austin is cool, but apparently we’re pretty damn hot as well. In a public relations/advertising gimmick as blatant as any we have seen in weeks minutes, Old Spice antiperspirant today announced that Austin is the 18th sweatiest city in America. The ‘experts’ compiled their Top 100 List by using the average U.S. male/female height/weight along with average high temperature and relative humidity. In a move that surely skews the numbers disproportionately for......

Van Horn, Texas: population 3000, 460 miles west of Austin. The town exists as a waypoint for travelers making the trek from El Paso to the eastern half of Texas, which is evidently sufficient to sustain the 17 motels and 16 gas stations along the main street - a somewhat ambitiously misnomered "Broadway".It was here that we previously discovered the color-soaked eclectic treasure trove that is Texas' Only Van Gogh Gallery. The store's description stems......