Lake Travis' newest restaurant (located a stone's throw from the Oasis) serves diners a picturesque view and delicious Mediterranean and Italian dishes. more ›

The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) barely had time to relax following the dismissal of the City of San Antonio's suit against them before another challenge arose. more ›

Lake Travis won its third straight high school football championship, Westlake lost a heartbreaker in overtime, and the Longhorn volleyball team comes up short in the NCAA finals. more ›

Lake Travis is on the rise, thanks to all the recent rains. As of this morning, the lake level is at 641 feet above mean sea level (msl), about a foot above its lowest levels during the summer. Still, as LCRA points out, it's quite a ways below its historic October average of 666.6 ft msl, and mandatory watering restrictions are still in effect. “We expect these storms to give us an additional 124,000 acre-feet into lakes Travis and Buchanan by this weekend,” said Mark Jordan, LCRA River Operations manager. “But we will still need more than 1 million acre-feet to completely fill those two lakes.” [LCRA River Report] more ›

• This holiday weekend will be the first non-refusal weekend since new DWI laws took effect.
• APD targets aggressive drivers.
• Plans still underway for Super Wal-Mart at Northcross.

The fourth annual Green Potato Ventures/Austinist/Party Ends Summer Extrav-O-Ganza boat party on is Thursday, August 27th. We're making this one a ditch-day affair, so take a half day, have a friend cover your shift, or just play hookie and join us aboard The Ark for an afternoon of beer, burgers, and bands in the middle of Lake Travis. more ›

44 people, including rabbis and politicians, were arrested in a NJ corruption sting yesterday. Should Professor Gates have been more polite to the cops who showed up at his door? While her fans still adore her, it looks like less everyday Americans give a hoot about Palin. Budget Lodge near Rundberg on IH35 comes to an agreement with the city; neighbors hope that leads to less crime in the area. Low water levels mean long-ago dumped cars can be recovered from Lake Travis. Shanghai officials to couples: please have two babies. Bruce Campbell a hit at Comic-Con, chats about Burn Notice. more ›

Pilgrim's Pride files for bankruptcy; perhaps Bo Pilgrim should have spent his lobbying monies better? Fed Chair Bernanke was in town and spoke at the Chamber of Commerce lunch this afternoon. UT Center for American History will now be named for former Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe in recognition of/gratitude for his $15 million gift to the school. APD going after street musicians? Prayers at Austin Hindu Temple for victims of Mumbai attacks. Texas Dems suing over recount in House District 105. Parents suing Lake Travis ISD over the system used to check the sexual offender database. more ›

Polls are open from 7am to 7pm. more ›

Two area high schools will trade the Friday night lights for the Saturday spotlight when they play for state football championships this weekend. The Pflugerville Panthers play the Katy Tigers at 7 pm Saturday at the Alamodome in San Antonio for the Class 5A Division II championship, while the Lake Travis Cavaliers take on the Highland Park Scots for the Class 4A Division II title at 1:30 pm Saturday at Baylor's Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco. more ›

The next time you're out with the dudebrahs at Lake Travis, think twice before tossing that Bud Light into the water. Yesterday, Keep Austin Beautiful hosted its 13th annual Lake Travis Underwater Cleanup, a massive scuba diving and shoreline litter removal effort. What they dredged up ranged from the ordinary to the truly bizarre. A partial list, from the Statesman: A kitchen sink A bottle of wine A debit card Cans of beer - 600... more ›

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,... more ›

Forklift Danceworks marks the upcoming anniversary of Elvis’ death with an homage to the King that includes singing, dancing, and guest Elvis cameos from Jim Swift, Sara Hickman, John Kelso, and Mayor Will Wynn Austinist sponsors a big bash at Beauty Bar with the Turbonego cover band Apocalypse Dudes, DJ Jester the Filipino Fist, and Ernest Gonzales 1906 hosts the opening reception for "SeeSaw," their first-ever photography show, featuring landscapes, portraiture, digitally-manipulated images, and... more ›

Austinist co-sponsors an awesome boat party out on Lake Travis, with bands, DJs, swimming, and more. Tickets are still available, but get yours now before they sell out! Gallery Lombardi's latest ocean-themed exhibition, entitled "Radical Nautical," opens with a full evening of music, videos, and more Forklift Danceworks debuts their "revised and expanded" performance of their Elvis-inspired dance production, The King and I Austin Film Festival brings in veteran screenwriter Dan Petrie Jr. ("Beverly... more ›

Thanks to everyone who wrote in about getting tickets to the annual summer party we're co-sponsoring with Green Potato Ventures, PartyEnds, Super!Alright! and Progress Coffee. Summer Extrav-O-Ganza 2 will take place on Sunday, August 5th, on board the Ark at Lake Travis. We'll have music by White Denim, DJ sets by Markus with a K and Hustle Simmons, plus beer, food, refreshments and more. Everything, including the boat rental, is included in the ticket. BYO... more ›

Craving a trip out to Lake Travis, especially now that monsoon season has passed? So have we. As such, we're thrilled to be co-sponsoring the second annual Summer Extrav-O-Ganza, along with Green Potato Ventures, PartyEnds.com, Independence Brewery, Super!Alright! and Progress Coffee. Last year's midsummer soiree at the old Gallery Lombardi warehouse was a huge success. This year, we're taking a cue from a certain action movie franchise and moving this out to Lake Travis.... more ›

Days since rains began: 44 Homes destroyed by flooding: 1,000 Flood-related deaths: 11 Estimated cost of damages in Burnet County alone: $30 million Number of emergency Texas National Guard soldiers activated by Governor Perry throughout the state: 250 Total impacted area, spanning North Texas to the Rio Grande Valley, in square miles: 48,000 Height, in feet above sea level, of Lake Travis when considered "full": 681 Height of Lake Travis on July 4th: 701... more ›

Just like last year, Austin's in for another rainy July 4th. With Lake Travis still hovering around 700 feet above sea level and an estimated 2-4 inches of rain on the way, the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) is keeping all area lakes closed for boating, including Lake Austin and Town Lake. "Debris and high water from floodwaters make the lakes unsafe," reads the news bulletin post to LCRA's site this afternoon. "LCRA will... more ›

Either something's gone wonky with the Doppler Radar, or Mother Nature's feeling awfully gloomy: Austin's extended forecast indicates that we'll be dealing with hot, stormy weather through the July 4th holiday. Last night's thunderstorms, which delivered an estimated 18 inches of rain, flooded parts of Williamson, Lampasas, and Burnet counties, leaving many folks stranded on cars, roofs, and trees. Emergency rescue crews were forced to make their way by land, air, and, in several cases,... more ›

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 ›

FRIDAY [8] music • DJ Krames (Cobra Kai), Prince Klassen at Beauty Bar (Free) books • Dominic Smith presents The Beautiful Miscellaneous at BookPeople (7:00pm) comedy • Punchline, open mic stand up comedy at ColdTowne Theater (10pm) film • "The Secret Mirror" at The Paramount film • Master Pancake Theatre: "The Breakfast Club" at Alamo Downtown film • "Severance" at Dobie Theatre food • Central Market Cooking Class: Manicotti Workshop with Foodie Barbara Sampson at... more ›

(FIRST) THURSDAY [7] party • Official Space Launch Celebration at Salvage Vanguard Theater (9:30pm) music • Go Motion! at Beauty Bar music • The Dollyrots, Alright Tonight, The Sweethearts, Abby Birds at Emo's music • Vietnam and Greg Ashley, The Strange Attractors, The Golden Boys at Emo's music • Scott Miller, The Commonwealth, The Gougers at Stubb's music • An Evening with Old Crow Medicine Show at The Parish Room music • Locals @ La... more ›

This week Newsweek is releasing their list of the top 1,200 public schools in the nation, and a few Austin schools have made the cut. The rankings were figured by using the amount of AP (Advanced Placement) tests taken at each school divided by the number of seniors graduating. They say that they used the amount of AP tests taken instead of the resulting scores because schools tend to inflate the scores [see their... more ›

In the 80th Texas Legislature – going on right now in case you haven’t been near the Capitol lately and seen all the people with megaphones and message-slathered posterboards on the lawn – a bill has just been filed that would regulate commercial party boats on Austin’s local lakes. Senate Bill 997 – filed by freshman State Senator Kirk Watson (D-Austin), former Mayor of Austin and former candidate for Texas Attorney General – would essentially... more ›

We've been all over the city in this column, covering houses from the south side, all the way to the heart of suburbia. In this edition, Austinist returns to our love of life on the cheap. Artists, thrift store hawks and the underemployed by choice - no need to get over a barrel when buying those new digs. This lovable city is still choc-a-block with awesome homes to be had for under 200K, especially... more ›

According to a climatologist at Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, Europe's Alpine region is going through its warmest period in 1,300 years. John Bolton has decided to leave his position as the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. before he is removed. Lake Travis is at a 42-year low for the month of December. It sounds like Illinois Senator Barack Obama likes New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's chances in the 2008 presidential... more ›

Last Friday, we thought we'd celebrate Chuck Norris Day by heading out to Lake Travis for some beer and boating. While we were out there, we noticed something a little risky, a little attractive and a lot stupid. Once our hands dried, we searched around the internet and were surprised to discover a new trend that has hit Central Texas lakes: Kite Tubing. Okay, the lake's not really our thing so maybe we're a... more ›

Fantastic Fest starts tomorrow at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. VIP badges are already sold out, and there are only 80 regular festival badges left. If you love movies, the festival badge is a steal: $110 buys you 8 days of giant monsters, kung fu, chainsaw murders, school girls, angry insects and generally fantastic cinema. (Read our preview) To help prepare you for Fantastic Fest, we conducted a quick interview with Austin's own... more ›

Last week, some guy riding a personal watercraft on Lake Travis stumbled onto the remains of a prehistoric skeleton embedded in the clay soil. Archaeologists excavated the remains, along with arrowheads ("darl points") and other makeshift tools found nearby, estimating the man or woman to have lived anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 years ago. While not nearly as old as the Pleistocene-era Leanderthal Lady found back in 1982, it was a pretty nifty discovery, as... more ›

July is a patriotic month in America, and with it unavoidably comes the usual rhetoric about “freedom” and “liberty.” But when confronted with such blathering, many of us are forced to ask ourselves: Are we actually free? Are we truly enjoying the sumptuous fruits of liberty that our forefathers and foremothers sought when they came to the New World in the first place? Can we just take off our pants whenever, and it’s cool?... more ›