For Austin Air Traffic Controllers, the Shutdown Is Over But the Fatigue, Shortages Persist

byErika González

During the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport continued operations —  but the control tower felt the impact.  With fewer air traffic controllers available, every decision became more critical and the pace of work intensified, controllers say. Even after the shutdown ended, risks of ground delays and controller fatigue remain.

Bouldin Creek’s Peacocks: Old Austin’s Feathered Locals

byMikhelia Williams

Long before tech bros and $8 matchas, the South Austin neighborhood of Bouldin Creek had wandering peacocks in its front yards. Nearly six decades later, the colorful birds are still strutting through driveways, shrieking at sunrise and sunning themselves on porch railings. 
And in true old-Austin, keep-it-weird fashion, most residents like it that way.
Neighbors slow to a stop on Oltorf and Fifth streets to let the peahens saunter across the street. Some even leave birdseed on their steps just in case one decides to drop by. But not everyone who moved to 78704 understood the culture when they arrived.

Union’s Last-Minute Staffing Petition Derails Austin AFD Contract Vote

byMikhelia Williams

Austin’s firefighters union derailed its own tentative contract this week after launching a petition for a citywide vote to require four-person staffing on all fire engines, a new demand city officials say should have been raised at the bargaining table, not after months of negotiations. The four-year, $63 million agreement had been scheduled for a […]

Home Sweet … Hotel? Students Uprooted from Faulty Student Housing Complex

byRebecca Butler

Stella Perez planned to have an at-home date with her boyfriend on Valentine’s Day. Instead, she got a call from her student housing complex, Crest at Pearl, that she would be evacuated and relocated to a hotel room for “routine inspections” in her unit.  She spent the rest of Valentine’s weekend in a hotel and the next month haggling with the apartments.
She’s since learned that Crest at Pearl, 706 W. Martin Luther King Blvd. just southwest of the University of Texas campus, has had four code complaints filed against it over two years for structural problems.
Crest at Pearl, built in 2014, is one of 14 student living complexes in Austin’s West Campus neighborhood owned and managed by the Austin-based property management company American Campus Communities. 

Plans for New Dougherty Arts Center Move On Despite Increased Costs, Funding Uncertainty

The Austin Parks and Recreation Department is moving forward with replacing  the Dougherty Arts Center in South Austin despite uncertainty over funding for the two-phase development plan, the parks department said in a recent memo. The proposed arts center’s campus would include a Smithsonian-caliber gallery space, a 2,600-square-foot black box theater and studio spaces and […]

Divided Austin Council Expands Wheatsville’s Alcohol Sales Waiver on South Lamar

byRebecca Butler

A sharply divided Austin City Council on Thursday approved Wheatsville Food Co-op’s request to sell alcohol for on-site consumption despite its proximity to Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders.
Wheatsville, a community-owned natural foods retailer with two Austin stores, petitioned the council in August to waive the city’s ban on selling alcohol within 300 feet of a school, church or hospital for its store on South Lamar Boulevard. Over the objection of the Austin school board, the City Council approved Wheatsville’s waiver 6-5.

Watson Tops Austin Mayor’s Race, Vows to ‘Chart a New Course’ in Third Term

bySarah Gonzales and Shunya Carroll

Kirk Watson says he’s ready to finish what he started after unofficially winning a third term as Austin’s mayor Tuesday night.

Waterloo Records Celebrates Record Store Day as Future Remains Open Question

byAnissa Sanchez

As other record stores closed amid the transition to digital streaming, Waterloo Records has survived and sometimes thrived. Waterloo was originally housed on South Lamar Boulevard where a veterinary hospital now stands. It moved to its present location on North Lamar 35 years ago. With rents skyrocketing in Austin, Waterloo’s future remains an open question.

As Fewer Americans Attend Church, 2 Austin Congregations Highlight Religion’s Uncertain Future

byKatrina L. Spencer

Two Austin churches — one largely white, the other largely Black — demonstrate the uneven realities of the city’s Protestant Christian congregations during a time when most Americans have stopped going to church. COVID-19 lockdowns exacerbated the decline in churchgoing and, when institutions reopened, many people simply didn’t return. It’s created an unpredictable landscape that churches are navigating.

Arts Education Groups Are Struggling. Austin Is Looking for Ways to Help.

byIsabella McGovern

In late 2023, 19 Austin arts education organizations received a total of $475,000 thanks to the Arts Education Relief Grant, Austin’s first arts education grant program. But gaps in funding for the arts remain, and groups focused on education are looking for new sources for money.

Giant Troll Highlights Recycled Art in Austin

byIsabella McGovern 

The piles of Douglas Fir and cedar sat in Pease Park, waiting to be repurposed into Austin’s newest public artwork. The Douglas Fir had once been a research test tank at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus of the University of Texas. Now it was destined to be an 18-foot troll — and a testament to recycling.
While the trend of making art from recycled materials is not new, Dambo’s troll artwork proved to be a good match for environmentally conscious Austin benefactors. 

As Younger Drinkers Forgo Alcohol, Bartenders Are Mixing Up More Booze-free Cocktails

byKatrina L. Spencer

“A cocktail is interesting whether it has alcohol or not,” said Armando Garza, a bartender at the Roosevelt Room.
The Roosevelt Room and other Austin bars are tapping into the trend of consumers forgoing alcohol when they go out for happy hours, gatherings and celebrations. A 2023 Gallup report found that only 62% of 18- to 34-year-olds said they had occasion to drink in 2021-23, down from 72% two decades ago.

‘Black Girls Don’t Wear Red Lipstick’ Exhibit Challenges Beauty Standards

byMichelle Lavergne

The “Back Girls Don’t Wear Red Lipstick” photography exhibit at the Austin Central Library showcases 42 photos of Black women in varying poses, many wearing red lipstick, which historically has been taboo for African-American women.

Lifesaving Mix at ACL: Thousands of Overdose Reversal Drug Doses, Education and Music Come Together for First Time

byAnissa Sanchez

From a booth on the east side of Zilker Park, a husband and wife from Ohio exceeded their dreams of helping to save lives by distributing 6,000 doses of overdose-reversing drugs.
“We thought we were gonna do a couple of festivals in the Midwest; that’s all we hoped for,” William Perry said of his lifesaving operation called This Must Be the Place. “This year, we went coast to coast and now we’re here in Austin.”
Their booth at Austin City Limits Music Festival the past two weekends served as a beacon of information on preventing fatal overdoses of fentanyl and other opioids with the nasal spray naloxone.
Perry said they found a receptive crowd in Austin. 
“We were prepared to talk people into taking it and talk people into why they should have it, and obviously that was not the case,” Perry said. “All you have to do is sit and listen to us explain the signs and symptoms and how to administer the medication. It takes people two and a half minutes or so and now they’re equipped to go save a life.”

At Barton Springs, a Celebration of Life and a Final Goodbye to a Tree Named Flo

byIsabella McGovern

As the sun went down over Barton Springs Pool, dozens of people said goodbye to “Flo,” a 120-year-old pecan tree set to be cut down the next day.
“I think of Flo as a symbol of our love for trees and our love for nature and Mother Earth,” Austin arborist Don Gardner told the crowd. “We used to always be a lot more connected to trees than we are now, and I’m so happy to see those who still have some sense of that.”
Flo has leaned over Austin’s spring-fed pool since 1925, but the city’s parks department and tree experts determined it must go because of Kretzschmaria deusta, a root and trunk fungus known as brittle cinder that weakens trees and has no treatment. 

Austin Aims to Increase E-Bike Ridership

byJinpeng Li

Few Austin residents use e-bikes for most of their transportation needs, but the city wants to change that. In January the city doubled down on an already existing Austin Energy rebate program, which provides refunds of up to $600 to customers who purchase new light electric vehicles, such as e-bikes and electric scooters, from authorized local dealers. 

Soaring: Kite Fest Takes Flight Over Austin

Hundreds of kites of all shapes, sizes and colors filled the skies over Zilker Park during the 95th ABC Kite Fest in Austin on April 1, 2023. Austinites of all ages sprinted across Zilker’s lawn trying to get their kites airborne as part of the event that has been around since 1929. Started by the […]

Broken Spoke Is Counting on a City Hall Two-Step to Protect Its Future

byCorey Smith

The Broken Spoke faces a critical turning point this spring, as the Austin City Council considers designating the lot surrounding the Texas dance hall as a historic zone, a declaration that would protect the 58-year-old venue from real estate development along South Lamar Boulevard.
In November, the council initiated a proclamation naming the Broken Spoke a historical landmark. But that largely ceremonial proclamation, brought by Council Member Ann Kitchen, in itself does not ensure long-term preservation of the dance hall and restaurant. So, Kitchen initiated the city’s historic zoning process that would make it more difficult for the landowner to develop the Broken Spoke site.
“She didn’t want it to go the way of so many other historic landmarks unofficially named in town,” said the author of a 2017 book on the dance hall. “She wanted it to be here for future generations. So she started the process.”

Alex Jones in Her Courtroom Is the Least Interesting Thing About Judge Maya Guerra Gamble

bySamantha Eisenmenger

The world came to know Maya Guerra Gamble last summer as the no-nonsense judge presiding over the Texas defamation trial of Austin-based conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars media company.
“It seems absurd to instruct you, again, that you must tell the truth while you testify,” the Travis County district court judge lectured Jones at one point. “But here I am. You must tell the truth while you testify. This is not your show. You need to slow down and not take what you see as opportunities to further the message you’re wanting to further.”
Speaking directly is a trademark of Gamble’s personality. “I’ve always been a pretty direct person. … And in both directions. I have never enjoyed false praise. I would rather hear the truth. Whatever it is,” Gamble said.

Construction Funding, New School Board Bring Changes, Optimism to Austin Public Schools

byKeaton Peters

Travis High School was built in 1953, making it the oldest high school in South Austin, and a broken heating system is hardly the first issue to arise in the aging facilities. The school will soon get a major renovation to fix much more than the heating. The Austin Independent School District is set to receive $252 million to construct a modern facility completely replacing the old Travis High. 
The renovation of Travis High is part of $2.44 billion in bonds that Austin voters approved in November, when they also elected five former teachers to the district’s board of trustees. With the district facing stagnant state funding, a teacher shortage and decreased enrollment, AISD leaders see the election results as setting a new course for Austin public schools. 
“The community said they are willing to pay to improve our schools, but simultaneously they said they want new leadership on the board to guide this money,” said Ken Zarifis, president of Education Austin, the labor union for Austin school employees.