On the brink of having a home for the first time in decades, 72-year-old Kevin Hawk passed away last month. more ›

Speaking last Friday at City Hall, Mayor Leffingwell estimated there are around 4000 homeless people in Austin, with about 600 of those chronically homeless. Bill Hobson, Executive Director of Seattle’s Downtown Emergency Service Center, spoke to those fighting the problem in Austin: city and county agencies, private organizations and interested citizens. A Baylor graduate and self-described “recovering Southern Baptist”, Hobson focused on his experiences with 1811 Eastlake, a 75 bed facility for the chronic homeless opened in 2005. Eastlake residents are about evenly split between alcohol and drug addicts and those with serious mental health problems like schizophrenia. more ›

• Voter ID bill will be slow-going in State Senate.
• Your candidates for Austin City Council and Mayor.
• Treemont Homeowners Association suing a resident for his installation of an energy-saving metal roof.

• Super Bowl Sunday will be another one of APD's no-refusal nights.
• Lance Armstrong held a press conference yesterday to throw his support behind the statewide smoking ban.
• Tally of Austin's homeless was attempted last night.

This week is Homeless Awareness Week.Local non-profit Front Steps asks for donations of sleeping bags and blankets; they will be distributed at ARCH (Austin Resource Center for the Homeless). Travis County owes the City of Austin $4,820.50 in unpaid parking tickets and the City wants its money. WilCo State Rep. Krusee cleared of drunk driving charges. Drunk Austinite makes terroristic threats (whilst wearing a ski mask) on a flight to Dallas. SEC charging Dallas Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban with insider trading. The New Yorker's Calvin Trillin stops by Lexington for the best Texas BBQ in the world. more ›