Former Austin mayor Gus Garcia struck and killed a pedestrian with his car in an accident Sunday evening on North Lamar Boulevard. more ›

Southwest Key sounds like something out of Florida, but it is a locally-based non-profit corporation that currently runs detention centers in a few states (including Texas). Their shelters serve as holding centers for immigrant minors who came to the US without parent or guardian. Southwest Key asserts that their programs are nothing like the immigrant family detention center in Taylor (the Taylor center is run by a for-profit corporation). The Austin organization, for which former... more ›

Various images from the AISD Documentary, Teaching Austin: 125 Years of Public School Education, produced by Barbara Morgan of the Austin Film Festival and directed by local filmmakers Kevin Smith and Mike Nicholson. Local luminaries interviewed include political writer and UT/Austin High grad Liz Carpenter, former Austin school board president and city council member Gus Garcia and current AISD Superintendent Pat Forgione. RSVP information is available in our previous post. Photos courtesy AFF, Picture... more ›

The AISD School Board voted unanimously Monday to name five new schools after Austin heroes. The schools will bear the names of Lance Cpl. Nicholas Valdez Perez, the first U.S. soldier form Austin to be killed in Iraq; frmr Austin Mayor Gus Garcia, the first Hispanic to serve on the school board; activist Volma Overton, who helped to desegregate Austin schools in 1971; longtime volunteer John Blazier and former school board member Nan Clayton. more ›