Photo by gina pina on flickr
• Sgt. Michael Olsen's appeal hearing started today.
• AISD Superintendent Forgione will retire in June of next year.
• Bastrop teacher accused of sending obscene text messages to a student.

After taking statements and checking evidence, APD thinks that Tevin Park-Flowers' death at NYOS was accidental. 3-year-old rescued from meth lab home in South Austin. Fire in neighboring building that damaged the Austin NAACP's office last night ruled to be arson. Flame-themed bar coming to E. Sixth Street, brought to you by the 36-year-old owner of Qua and Vicci. Catholic church leaders angry at St. Mary's University in San Antonio for housing a Clinton rally last night. more ›

Yes we can ... win 3 primaries for delegates in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. Texas State still wants a "body farm" in San Marcos. Wait, what's San Marcos currently? Prison escapee Abel Morin caught in South Texas yesterday. Researchers are revealing hidden complexities behind the simple act of kissing, which relays powerful messages to your brain, body and partner. more ›

Abel Morin, Jr. was convicted of raping a woman and her daughter (his neighbors) in 2006. A week ago today, he was in the midst of being transferred from Duval County to Jim Hogg County Jail when he came upon the unlocked door. He went on to hot-wire a U-Haul truck and used it to flee to San Diego (Texas) where his family lives; investigators found the truck near a creek in the town this weekend. more ›

Body found in Lady Bird Lake this morning by the hike-and-bike trail. Fire started in Southeast Travis County, about 6 miles from the airport, by a man with a cutting torch. AISD teacher fingerprinting kicked off today. Whoop? more ›

Photo courtesy Richard Foreman/Miramax There is dark humor, and then there is the kind of humor in which a bone sticking out of a man’s arm qualifies as one of the lighter moments. No Country For Old Men, a film of dark beauty and sharp formal precision, is not a comedy by any stretch of the imagination; but, like the best films, it proves that an element of absurdity is necessary to chart the best... more ›

City of Austin has posted their recent agreement with LCRA. New watering restrictions for Austin businesses go into effect in October. Businesses will now only be allowed to water twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. It's that time again! Big Tex is set up today in Dallas. Guy uploads photo of peace-sign flashing Texan teen to Flickr under Creative Commons license, Virgin Mobile uses same photo in Australian ad campaign, teen's parents sue... more ›

Austinist is sad to report that the body of 25-year-old Jessica Birge, the young woman who went missing last month in South Texas, has been found in the Guadalupe River. Birge was last seen on the night of August 11 in New Braunfels, where she'd been tubing the Comal with friends. A massive search was launched once it became apparent that Birge had gone missing; countless bulletins were posted and re-posted on Myspace, in the... more ›

Warning to UT season ticketholders with seats on the north end zone: Porta-potties will be used at the stadium because of unfinished construction. 27-year-old man dies when his canoe tips over in a Hutto pond. The Chronicle live-blogged the city council budget talks today. Mommymixers help Austin mothers meet up with college students willing to babysit to pay for books. Texas lawmakers may lengthen the tax-free time to two weekends. Received a jury summons... more ›

Austinist is asking you to keep an eye out for a young lady who went missing over a week ago in South Texas. Jessica Birge, age 25, was last seen on August 11, 2007 in New Braunfels at the Gruene Outpost River Lodge at around 10:00pm after tubing the Comal with friends. She was last seen wearing a pink bikini and can be identified by a unique scroll tattoo on the back of her neck.... more ›

The first tropical storm of the summer is heading straight towards us, and expected to make landfall in South Texas tomorrow morning. "Erin" was upgraded from "Depression Five" to "Tropical Storm" status at 10am today, meaning its maximum sustained winds are somewhere between 39-73 mph. Meteorologists at The Weather Channel believe that she'll affect much of the Texas coast, with cities from Brownsville and Corpus Christi up to Louisiana seeing anywhere from 2 to 5... more ›

BBC actors posing as escaped inmates in Travis County freak out local residents, prompting jail lockdown Study finds downtown Round Rock is less than walkable Might this be the end of the ugly butt-crack contest? Andre Jones claims he's a victim of mistaken identity APD chief Art Acevedo launches internal audit after the Statesman reveals the department's 2006 budget was padded with funds seized during criminal investigations Officials in South Texas discover a tractor... more ›

Oh, Morrissey. Back in the summer of 1991, we drove up from San Antonio to (the former) City Coliseum to see your Kill Uncle tour, only to be met in the parking lot by some guy with a bullhorn saying the show was canceled due to "inadequate security." Unable to drink away our sorrows due to age, we settled for a truly inadequate substitute of seeing City Slickers and buying some licorice. After a... more ›

Earlier this week, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers stumbled upon a mammoth marijuana shipment bound for Houston. Officers stopped the tanker truck that was carrying the stash during a routine traffic check in Jim Hogg County, perhaps because of the vehicle's "fictitious markings." They were probably shocked to discover that the truck contained nearly 9,000 pounds of weed. The driver, Reynaldo Hovey Jr of South Texas, now faces federal drug possession charges.... more ›

A week after a woman fell down a manhole in a South Texas Wal-Mart, a fellow decided to steal a television from one of the bargain retail giant's Northeast Austin shops last night. more ›

The BBC mistakenly interviewed a cab driver instead of the computer expert they intended. Check out the video. South Texas is hot, but when you perspire tar, its time to get checked out. Morgellons Disease has many doctors and scientists stumped. In England, a court ruled that patients can get reimbursed for the cost of their surgery if they have to travel to a foreign country to get it done in a timely manner.... more ›

Guns don't kill people; vice presidents (almost) do. Guess who's having the Worst Week Ever. We would have to say that local attorney Harry Whittington is definitely in the running. After losing some property in the fire of a week ago that ravaged the KOOP building, Whittington was shot over the weekend. In the face. With a shotgun. By Richard Cheney. Yes, that Richard Cheney. The VP was on a quail hunting trip with... more ›

The South Texas Project, known as "the Nuke" in Austin, has been providing cheap electricity for several years. Austin owns a 16 percent share of it. more ›