UT Students Bring a Quinceañera to Campus

byMadalynn Lambert

AUSTIN, Texas – Three UT organizations hosted a traditional quinceañera on March 29 at the Shirley Bird Perry Ballroom to celebrate Hispanic traditions and heritage. A quinceañera celebrates a girl’s 15th birthday, but for this occasion the organizations wanted to create a space of inclusion and representation for the Latino community at UT. The Mexican-American […]

Family-Run Horror Movie Convention Terrorizes Bastrop

byCorey Smith

Attendees came from at least three states and as far away as Las Vegas make the trek to Bastrop for the seventh annual Cult Classic horror movie convention. They came to see their favorite, if not quite famous, horror movie actors and directors, and to meet new and old friends and like-minded horror aficionados. A number of the attendees came in costume. Elizabeth from the movie “Frankenhooker” was perhaps the most widely represented character; Patty Mullen, the film’s lead actor was at the convention. There were also several Leatherfaces from “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” and various versions of Jason Vorhees from “Friday the 13th.”

Reporting Texas Newsletter – March 30, 2023

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Reporting Texas TV – March 30, 2023

byReporting Texas TV Staff

Journalism students from Moody College at the University of Texas produced their third newscast of the semester on March 30, 2023. Student journalists reported this week on several festivals: BuildFest is a student competition to design augmented reality applications. Forty Acres Fest featured nine student bands and headliner Remi Wolf. Tuesday Twilights kicked off at […]

30th Annual Forty Acres Fest Celebrates Student Bands

byMichelle Tamayo

AUSTIN, Texas – Booths, attractions, food and music filled the University of Texas mall for the latest edition of the annual Forty Acres Fest, as it has nearly every year since the event’s inception 1992. The university’s student programming organization, Campus Event and Entertainment, brought the for student, by student fest to life. This year’s […]

UT Students Build Augmented Reality Applications in Campus Competition

byRazyl Yanez

AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Immersive Institute (TXI) held its second annual BuildFest competition March 24-26. Teams of students designed augmented reality applications to address social issues such as mental health, environmental inequities, race visibility, gender inequalities and access for disabled students. Augmented reality (AR) applications include things like Pokemon GO and face filters on […]

Experts Predict Lush Wildflower Season in Texas Despite Changing Climate

byAvery Hough

AUSTIN, Texas – Spring came early in Texas this year, and many blooms sprouted earlier than normal. Sophie Lemkin, a horticulturist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, predicts a lush wildflower bloom as a result of frequent and sustained rains in the fall. She said increasingly early spring weather is due to climate change. […]

One State Representative is Fighting to Stop Texas from Executing People With Mental Illness

bySamantha Eisenmenger

House Bill 727, by Rep. Toni Rose, D-Dallas, would end the death penalty fo people with “severe mental illness.” Rose filed similar measures during the last three legislative sessions, but none have made it to the governor’s desk. However, each time her bills were voted on they gained more bi-partisan support, including Representative Jeff Leach, R-Plano, who joint-authored the bill in 2021.

Trump Doubles Down on Explosive, Insult-laden Rhetoric During Rally in Waco

byKeaton Peters 

Trump blasted his political rivals during a rally at the Waco Regional Airport in Waco.

Reporting Texas Newsletter – March 24, 2023

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Reporting Texas TV – March 23, 2023

byReporting Texas TV Staff

Journalism students from Moody College at the University of Texas produced their second newscast of the semester on March 23, 2023. Student journalists reported this week on a program to pay parking fines with cans of soup instead of money, a convention of BIPOC multimedia makers, a music festival that raised money for wildlife rescue […]

2nd Annual ‘Fur Will Fly Fest’ Combines Music and Wildlife

byEmma Claire Ellis

AUSTIN, Texas – Animal lovers came together March 23-24 at the Cherrywood Coffeehouse for a festival to raise money for two wild animal rehabilitation organizations. The ‘Fur Will Fly Fest’ supported the Bill Hicks Wildlife Foundation and Austin Bat Refuge, which rely on donations to provide lifesaving care for injured wildlife. Lynn Raridon, the director […]

Food for Fines Gives UT Community an Alternative to Paying Parking Tickets

byAvery Garrett

AUSTIN, Texas – Students and staff have until March 24 to pay for their parking tickets with soup cans instead of money, which could mean big savings for drivers who received one of more than 7,000 parking tickets issued on UT’s campus since August.  Food for Fines is a UT Parking and Transportation Services (PTS) initiative […]

BIPOC Pop Brings Together Minority Comic Book Creators, Animators, and Filmmakers

byKevin Vu

AUSTIN, Texas – Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) artists, creators and scholars gathered March 9-11 at the University of Texas for a convention centering on BIPOC creatives. The three-day BIPOC Pop convention launched in 2022 and is the only convention of its kind dedicated to bringing together BIPOC creators from multimedia arts, uplifting […]

Rodeo Austin Prioritizes Education by Funding Scholarships

byMadalynn Lambert

AUSTIN, Texas– Rodeo Austin kicked off Spring Break on March 13 when students from all over Texas competed to show animals, art and other forms of agriculture. All money raised from Rodeo Austin goes to Texas students through scholarships. Many schools in Texas have an agriculture program that students can join to raise an animal […]

Experts Say Focus on Water Infrastructure Vital for Texas’ Future

byKeaton Peters

For more than 37 days, Julie Walker, 53, and her neighbors in the Channel Oaks II subdivision outside of Marble Falls, Texas, have had to boil their water, which often comes out of the tap a dark, murky brown.  Walker rents a home in Channel Oaks II, high on a hill south of the Colorado […]

Reporting Texas TV – March 9, 2023

byReporting Texas TV Staff

Journalism students from Moody College at the University of Texas produced their first newscast of the semester on March 9, 2023. Student journalists reported this week on the results of the 2023 Student Government elections, the demolition of the nation’s first African American public housing project, and UT’s annual STEM Girl Day.

Why the Nation’s First African American Public Housing Project is Being Torn Down

byTheo Werner

AUSTIN, Texas – Construction crews are tearing down Rosewood Courts in East Austin after the complex provided affordable housing for over 80 years. Sylvia Blanco, the Chief Operating Officer at the Housing Authority for the City of Austin (HACA), said the redevelopment plan will build more public housing while preserving the site’s history. Built in […]

The Race for UT Student Government Elections is Over

byAnabella Cooper

AUSTIN, Texas – Helen Getachew and William Ramirez are the newly elected University of Texas Student Government president and vice president. Student Government started on campus in 1902, and serves as a voice for the student body. It covers a wide range of projects to provide resources for students as well as act as a […]

UT Girl Day Makes Progress in Closing the STEM Gender Gap

byIvy Fowler

AUSTIN, Texas – Over 9,000 Texas children participated in UT’s STEM Girl Day this year, an outreach event hosted by Women in STEM (WiSTEM) to get young girls excited about futures in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). The kids got to code fruits to be musical instruments, catapult water balloons, watch a fire and […]