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. ...

Photo by @n@bou on flickrThe Longhorn volleyball team carries a 20-match win streak into the opening round of NCAA tournament play tonight against Texas State at 6:30 pm at Gregory Gym. Texas (24-3) is ranked third in the country and is the top seed in their region of the tournament. The Longhorns are led by five first-team all-conference players -- Juliann Faucette, Ashley Engle, Destinee Hooker, Michelle Moriarty and Lauren Paolini -- as well as......

Local author Sarah Bird (The Yokota Officers Club, Virgin of the Rodeo, The Mommy Club, The Boyfriend School, and Alamo House) doesn't know how to just sit down and write a book. For her, research for a novel—say, one about flamenco music and dance—means picking up and moving to New Mexico for a summer to take flamenco dance lessons at The University of New Mexico. This may sound a little extreme when she could've hacked......

Beirut The Flying Club Cup (4AD) Beirut is Zach Condon, and Zach Condon is right on time. His international folk through every instrument imaginable (except guitar) is rich with cultural consciousness and adventure and is just the reinvigoration the folk, indie, rock and whatever-music scenes need to get over their musical malaise. The resplendent and occasionally haunting sounds of the cello, accordion, violin, mandolin, piano, sax, clarinet, glockenspiel, flugelhorn, trumpet and more ukelele than you......

D’Ette Cole incorporates found objects items in every aspect of her work. You could say this is her signature, but D’Ette’s style is not easily summed up. “It’s Texas flavor without being hokey,” she says. “No cowboy boots hanging on the wall.” What does pop up in her art and décor are elements of surprise. One of D’Ette’s newest projects transforms empty plastic water bottles into hanging light displays, which almost looks like a......

DPS will let the neighbors know that an Austin couple (mentioned in yesterday's Extra Extra) are not sex offenders. Because of "grade issues" and injuries, Johnston High's football season may already be kaput. So teens can't vote? A former Texas Secretary of State thinks they should be able to work at the polls anyway. City of Austin releases schedule for free flu shots; check eligibility requirements. Some North Texas sex offenders arrested for posting......

The start of the fall season on network television used to be a bigger deal before cable's summer original fare became so juicy and good. We admit we still get a little excited when we read about original ideas heading our way on the big networks. The crop of new shows starting this fall seems like more of the same (sadly), but there are some that don't follow type and deserve recommendation. Pushing Daisies, ABC,......

In the latest issue of Newsweek, "admission officials, educational consultants, students, parents and college and university leaders" were questioned to find the best American colleges in specific fields. The Top 25 Listing included topics such as Hottest Sports Fans (Florida), Hottest in the War on Terror (New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology) and Hottest for Loving the Outdoors (St. Mary's College of Maryland). Individual achievements by various UT professors and the efforts of Teach......

Why does a production company in general, or a director in particular, choose a difficult script? Is it the challenge? The thrill of potentially succeeding where others have failed? Certainly an easy script can be dull to work with, especially if it's something that's been done to death, such as many of the straightforward, heartwarming, popular theatre pieces that make up so much of community theatre fare. We mulled over this question while we recently......

If you're already fed up with the sweltering heat and don’t want to think about the fact that it's truly just beginning, distract yourself with a visit to the cool interiors of Shoal Creek Gallery and their new exhibition, Constructed Canvases, featuring works by Joyce Melander-Dayton. Fresh from a showing in New York, many of Melander-Dayton’s animated canvases recall the whimsy of Wassily Kandinsky’s musical compositions of the early twentieth century, complete with cascading geometric......

If you recently purchased ground beef from Wal-Mart, you may have walked away with more than a killer deal: that slab of mashed-up Texas cattle bits could include a healthy serving of E. coli. A massive "voluntary" recall was issued by Tyson Fresh Meats last week, after the bacteria was found in a meat sample from the company's Sherman, Texas plant. Some 40,000 pounds of ground beef might be contaminated; affected Wal-Mart stores include those......

Hot on the heels of the Austin City Council rolling out the incentive red carpet to keep Friday Night Lights turned on, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1634 this weekend, also known as the Texas Film Incentive Program. The bill, authored by Rep. Dawnna Dukes (Austin, represent!) and spearheaded by Sen. Bob Deuell (R-Greenville) along side our very own Governor Rick Perry, will set aside $20 million worth of incentives to entice future productions......

Okay, we thought New Mexico guv Bill Richardson had already announced his campaign for Presidency, but guess not. In GOP news, Giuliani isn't polling well in Iowa; Mitt Romney is beating him and McCain in the polls up there. Al Qaeda militants are taking on the military at a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. 71 people have been killed so far. European developers are not amused with soon-to-be-former World Bank Prez Wolfowitz. Former US......

The weather's been turning your face into Crisco. Gas prices are exorbitant. Truly, there is no better time than the present to sit inside a cool, darkened theater and watch James Taylor (famous '70s male chanteuse!) and Dennis Wilson (the less-famous Beach Boy!) chase Warren Oates (not the dude from Hall & Oates!) across dusty stretches of highway at 140 mph in life-sized Hot Wheels. In Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), Taylor and Wilson portray......

Austinist gets arty with an interactive guide to SXSW, loved some local art galleries and a new art exhibit and lamented the possible loss of "Friday Night Lights" production to New Mexico. Bostonist was happy they finally found an Anna Nicole Smith connection to their fair city and that an Apple Store was opening up. They were less happy that new rules have been established limiting underage shows and that their Governor is spending......

It looks like NBC might move the locally-filmed drama Friday Night Lights out of Austin to save money. It might be possible to use rural east New Mexico (we're thinking the Las Cruces area), but Louisiana for West Texas? Nah. Such a move is being forced on the show to save $100,000 an episode, and the network is considering these states. The city and Texas state lawmakers (even Gov. Perry) are trying to provide enough......

THURSDAY [25] music • Meryll, The Lovely Sparrows at The Parish Room music • Many Birthdays, Skiesfalling, The Ron Titter Band at Emo's music • The Laughing, Bello Ragazzo, Shapes Have Fangs, DJ Brian Tweedy at Stubb's ® music • Cartright, Pataphysics, Cavedweller, Smoke Detector at Beerland music • Ottmar Leibert at The Paramount Theatre music • The Missing Tapes, Student Film, Pompeii, The Onlys at Continental Club music • Lindsey Buckingham at Hogg......

Brothers Albert and Peter Kottke were on the last leg of a backpacking trip in Gila National Forest when they happened upon a woman stuck in the wilderness, visibly weakened and alone. It turns out that this woman, 52-year-old Carolyn Dorn, had been wandering around the 3.3-million acre forest for the past five weeks, after being trapped on the wrong side of Gila River during what was supposed to be a two-week-long camping expedition. A......

15. Mogwai - Mr. Beast (Matador) As ever, Mogwai manage to blend unadulterated post-rock weight to their shoegazer tendencies with tracks like "Glasgow Mega Snake" and "Folk Death 95," showcasing their ability to create anthems with no words. This is where Mr. Beast really shines, in between blistering chord progressions and gradual swings into corybantic climaxes. In some ways a throwback to earlier (and heavier) Mogwai material, Mr. Beast isn't merely a rock album.......

You wouldn't guess it from the near-record highs this week, but there's a slim likelihood that Central Texas will be treated to a bit of snow on Christmas Eve. The Statesman quotes meteorologist Clay Anderson of the National Weather Service as saying, "There's a 20 percent chance, but it's nothing to get too excited about at this point." Thus far, neither weather.com nor the National Weather Service's own forecast indicates any freak flurries, though Anderson......

The Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (aGLIFF) runs from Friday, September 29th through October 8th. Check out the films that will be screening tomorrow night, below the jump. [aGLIFF Official Site] aGLIFF 19: "Say What?" Friday, September 29 – Sunday, October 8, 2006 Regal’s Arbor Cinema (9828 Great Hills Trail) [map] Tickets Available Now Photo from Eating Out 2......

On the heels of Central Market’s Hatch Chile Festival, Chuy’s restaurants in Austin (yay!), Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Round Rock and Shenandoah (where?) are two days into their 18th Annual Green Chile Festival which runs Monday, August 28 through Sunday, September 17. The information on Chuy’s website is inversely proportional to the size of their big-ass chimichanga, announcing, “Fun Giveaways, Commemorative T-shirts for sale & great new menu items featuring New Mexico's famous green......

Before the Austin Film Society announces their Texas Film Production Fund grants tomorrow, they’ve got a gift for the rest of us: A screening of Gas Food Lodging with director Allison Anders in attendance at The Alamo. Anders brings a strong woman’s voice and vision to independents that have been praised for their unapologetic and gritty truth. Named a Nicholl Fellow in its inaugural year, she has written and directed standout indie features, Mi Vida......

There are dubious Hatches, like Survivor Winner Richard Hatch (BOO!). And there are good Hatches, like the delicious namesake chile peppers grown in Hatch, New Mexico (YAY!). The Hatch Chile Pepper Festival at Central Market (this weekend and next) is to food nerds what American Idol is to, well, nerds. Every year we go and stuff carts full of specialty products made from peppers from Hatch, New Mexico (Hatch hot dog buns, Hatch pesto,......

I’m a bit worried about the mythical “Middle America”. That whole pot of people who comprise what is typically referred to as “The Heartland”. Salt of the Earth folk. Hard working, rural-living nationalists who still have Sunday dinner together with their family and honestly, genuinely believe in a biblical god. As of recent, I feel compelled to worry for their sake. Not that my cousins actually care....

Starting this Friday, Austinist has yet another perfect excuse for getting out of the city for a day and enjoying the nearby hill country: Clifford's Original Wine Bar is opening its doors. [Visit Clifford's Website] Built in a clearing on the rolling hills of Wimberley, just minutes from Wimberley Square (roughly 40 minutes from Travis Heights), Clifford's Original stocks a fabulous selection of wines both domestic and international, with a well-represented assortment of reds and......

We caught up with Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman recently to discuss the upcoming election and why he wants primary voters to save themselves for him. As you would imagine, Kinky did most of the talking. We found him to be thoughtful, engaging and funny. What follows are highlights of that interview for which we used Kinky’s song titles as subject headers.* *The first reader to email us with the names of the three......

It almost sounds like the premise for an episode of Alias: enroute from New Mexico to Kilgore, two vials of radioactive material went missing, and they've no idea where they went! It seems the bottles were shipped by Albuquerque, NM firm Pro Technics, who packed them in a "green, World War II-era metal ammunition box." The Texas Department of State Health Services suspects they may be in Austin. Pro Technics is offering a $1000......

Most Austinites will know Owen Egerton from The Sinus Show. But Owen Egerton is also the guy behind those popular sing-a-longs at the Alamo Drafthouse, as well as a writer, musician ("My Sister's Thyroid" is one of his song titles), recent MFA graduate, and now a daddy. He's also active in the National Comedy Theatre of Austin and is even ordained to perform weddings. We think Owen is definitely a modern renaissance man. After......

Only days after beloved wife, daughter, and political pawn Terry Schiavo passed away, George W. Bush and Tom Delay's Culture of Life vision for America was dealt another blow when the Texas Senate rejected a bill that would allowed juries to sentence criminals to life without parole. Under current laws juries can either sentence those found guilty in capital murder cases to death by lethal injection or life with the possibility of parole. Supporters of......