Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism
byShunya Carroll
Maria Maria hit each choreographed step like an athlete. Her routine elevated classic New York voguing to a gymnast’s floor routine. The four to the floor pop medley was almost drowned out by the crowd’s cheering.
This wasn’t a national stadium tour. It was Draggieland.
The biggest drag show in College Station prevailed Thursday over Texas A&M University’s attempt to ban drag performances on campus.
byMeredith McKelvey
In an all-or-nothing gamble, members of the Texas Legislature are looking to invest state money in highly volatile cryptocurrencies, with the hope that one day digital assets like Bitcoin will stabilize and exponentially increase in value.
byLuke Lawhorn
Austin’s soccer popularity can be seen through the sold-out crowds for its Major League Soccer team, Austin FC, and the strength of its high school soccer programs. Austinites also have a thriving network of pickup games running in parks. In a country where medical experts report people are losing fitness and a sense of community, Vanta Athletics is striving to keep the two together.
Vanta is Austin’s first and only rooftop soccer facility, available for memberships for anyone 18 or older. The field, which sits on top of a parking garage at 300 San Antonio St., was built in two days by its founders, Sam Clark and Tanner Friesen, last August.
byMadeline de Figueiredo
Thomas Greenwell wakes up each morning and gets ready twice — he goes through the motions of brushing teeth twice, doing hair twice and getting dressed twice — once for himself and once for his client, Edgar. But Greenwell doesn’t know how much longer he will be able to afford to take care of Edgar as a community-based care provider under Medicaid. “The attendant care wages are not sustainable at all,” he says. The Legislature will revisit attendant wages in this spring’s legislative session as caregivers and advocacy groups push for more competitive and livable wages.
