UT Student Raises Money for a School in El Salvador

byStephanie Molina

AUSTIN, Texas – Students at the University of Texas are joining together to raise money to repair a school in El Salvador Antony Efrain Rodriguez, a senior nutrition major, visited the Complejo Educativo De San Fernando in Morazan last summer. The United States built the school in the 1970s. He saw a need for new […]

From Lake to Tap: How Austin’s Water Becomes Safe to Drink

byVeronica Apodaca

The water that is used by the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant, one of three water-purification plants for Austin, begins its journey in Lake Austin, along with the multitude of debris that makes it undrinkable. 

Will Texas A&M’s The Battalion Survive if it Loses its Independence?

byCristela Jones

Advocates for independent student journalism worry that greater university oversight opens the door to censorship by administrators unhappy with student newspapers’ in-depth reporting.

Diversify or Die: Texas Olive Oil Industry on its Knees after 2021 Freeze

byPaula Levihn-Coon

Since the first olive orchards were planted in Texas in the 1990s, they have been damaged by hurricanes, drought and cold weather. Confused by mad temperature swings, trees have not set fruit. These events have compelled some olive growers to leave the business.

Most growers, however, are reevaluating their business models with an eye toward reducing the negative impact of Texas weather. They are embracing diversification — selling oil imported from other states or countries or finding new ways to use and market their orchards.

With New Funding, Future Looks Bright for Austin’s Art in Public Places

byPamela Hall Vance  

The public art installation Tau Ceti is the tallest of the more than 325 art pieces in the archive of the City of Austin. Eight more public art projects soon will be added to the collection after the city announced $700,000 in additional funding.

Protesters Decry San Antonio’s Horse-Drawn Carriages as Animal Abuse

byMarina Garcia

Protesters Saturday in downtown San Antonio criticized the use of horse-drawn carriages as animal mistreatment. 

Reporting Texas TV – April 14, 2022

byReporting Texas TV Staff

Journalism students from Moody College at the University of Texas made their third newscast of the semester on April 14, 2022. This week student journalists report on Austin residents opening their homes to Ukrainian refugees, the Transgender Day of Visibility rally at the Texas State Capitol, and the new home for the Waterloo Greenway Conservancy’s annual […]

A New Home for Waterloo Greenway Conservancy’s Annual Pop-Up Picnic

byTerry Gutierrez

AUSTIN, Texas — Waterloo Greenway Conservancy’s 10th Annual Pop-Up Picnic made a comeback on April 9 after a two year hiatus due to the pandemic. For the first time, the Pop-Up Picnic was held at Waterloo Park, which closed for flood-control construction in 2011. The newly designed park reopened last August, introducing Moody Amphitheater, a […]

Hundreds Rally to Celebrate the Texas Transgender Community

bySamuel Stark

AUSTIN, Texas — Hundreds of transgender folks and allies went to the Texas State Capitol on April 2 to celebrate and rally for the annual Transgender Day of Visibility. Many in the crowd felt this celebration was exceedingly important due to Gov. Greg Abbott’s recent order to prosecute health care facilitators providing gender-affirming care for […]

Austinites Open Their Homes to Help Ukrainian Refugees

byMadeline Salinas

AUSTIN, Texas — When Kseniia Mykhailova returned home from a February vacation, she was greeted with blue and yellow flags, posters, and flowers on her doorstep. It was a reminder to the native Ukrainian that she and her family weren’t alone. “It definitely means a lot,” Mykhailova said. “I feel a lot of support from our […]

Gender Gap Among STEM Faculty at UT Proves Difficult to Eradicate

byEniola Longe

At UT-Austin, women make up 45% of the total faculty, but a much smaller percentage in STEM majors. The departments of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics, electrical and computer engineering, geosciences, mechanical engineering and physics all have less than 20% female faculty.

Opponents to Solitary Confinement Call It an Impediment to Rehabilitation

bySamuel Stark 

Solitary confinement can have disastrous psychological consequences for inmates. Advocates in Texas on opposite ends of the political spectrum have called recently for reforming solitary confinement rules, both in Texas and federally.

At Mexic-Arte, Activists and Artists Pay Tribute To Chicano Movement, Culture

byPamela Hall Vance

East Austin community activist Paul Hernandez left such an imprint on Austin that his image adorns the walls outside Mexic-Arte Museum. The mural’s completion coincided with the opening Friday of an art exhibit dedicated to the Chicano political and civil rights movement of a half-century ago that sought to end discrimination against Mexican Americans.

 The photographs at the entry of the exhibit, “Chicano/a Art, Movimiento y Más en Austen, Tejas 1960s to 1980s,” capture Hernandez and other activists in the Austin community working to bring about change. 

Reporting Texas TV – April 7, 2022

Journalism students from Moody College at the University of Texas made their second newscast of the semester on April 7, 2022. This week student journalists report on services supported by Forty Hours for the Forty Acres, San Antonio’s Fiesta Especial events, and UT Engineering’s first Black Youth Day.

Forty for Forty Supports Students’ Professional Development

byEniola Longe

AUSTIN, Texas — For her very first summer internship, Emma Scalfano only sent out one application. Scalfano, a human dimensions of organization senior, found a position she was interested in on the Handshake job board: work-life balance intern in the University Union’s human resources department. “One of the biggest takeaways from the internship was probably […]

Fiesta Returns and Continues Helping Those in Need

byKevin Malcolm Jr.

SAN ANTONIO — People from all over South Texas came together to support local charities through events like Fiesta Especial. South Texans missed out on enjoying all of the Fiesta events in the spring over the last two years due to the pandemic. DisABILITYsa,  a nonprofit organization that puts on events aimed at creating an inclusive […]

Black Youth Day Inspires Young Engineers

byStephanie Molina

AUSTIN, Texas – The University of Texas hosted its first Black Youth Day on April 2, an event targeted at engineering students in grades 8-11 from underrepresented communities. The UT chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office organized the event to promote diversity within […]

Sex Education Often Lacking in Texas Schools

byJennifer Errico

In February of 2016, Elyse’s period was three weeks late. She didn’t think anything of it. In fact, she was grateful she got to skip a month. Three weeks, however, turned into five, which then turned into seven. Growing wary, the 15-year-old confided in her boyfriend at the time. The second he heard the word “late,” it clicked. She was pregnant.”I was a child expecting a child,” Elyse, now a speech-language pathology junior at the University of Texas at Austin, said. “I didn’t know what to do. I mean, there literally was no right answer.”

Reporting Texas TV – March 31, 2022

byReporting Texas TV Staff

Journalism students from Moody College at the University of Texas made their first live newscast of the semester on March 31, 202s. This week student journalists report on cleanup efforts after a tornado touched down in Round Rock, a climate change march from the UT Tower to the Texas Capitol, and a new Austin policy […]

Pandemic’s Impact On Education Reveals Cracks in Public School System

byTaryn Courville

Holly Barajas had enough. It was the end of a pandemic-ridden school year for this first-grade teacher. It, too, marked a final chapter in a two-decade-long career, where the emotional highs of seeing her work’s impact on children were fraught with the frustrations that came with the job. Long hours and low pay. Society’s strong […]