Capareda’s Long, Winding Road to Ballet Austin

byKendall Tietz

For Alexa Capareda, dance has long been a force in her life, a whirlwind around the globe. It has also been transformative. A journey that took her from youthful dancer to esteemed ballet master. As a child in the Philippines, she was well on her way to success. Then, her father was named a professor […]

Central Texas School Social Workers and Counselors Face Pandemic-related Challenges

byBenton Graham and Jillian Price  

Since the pandemic forced schools to limit in-person classes, social workers and counselors have struggled to maintain relationships with students. In addition to the difficulty of staying in touch with students virtually, social workers have had to navigate what experts call a mental health crisis.

Reporting Texas TV Newscast October 22, 2020

AUSTIN, Texas — Journalism students from Moody College at the University of Texas made their second newscast of the semester on October 22, 2020. This week students looked into the COVID-19 testing requirements for students to attend home football games, a volunteer program fighting food insecurity, and some stories involving a pair of billionaires with […]

Reporting Texas TV Newscast October 15, 2020

AUSTIN, Texas — Journalism students from Moody College at the University of Texas made their first newscast of the semester on October 15, 2020. This week’s show covers concerns about ballot drop-off locations,  an on-campus flu shot clinic, and ways the university is helping support students and staff struggling with mental health issues during the […]

Negative COVID-19 Tests Required for Student Seats at DKR Stadium

byStephanie Witt

AUSTIN, Texas — In order to attend University of Texas home football games, students with Big Tickets must get a proactive COVID-19 test. The Big Ticket is a season pass to Longhorn home games in football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, soccer, and track. Fewer than 4,000 students paid for the package this year. Senior journalism […]

Hope Austin Expands Reach Despite Pandemic

byAlyssa Crosby

AUSTIN, Texas — Monica von Waaden volunteered with Round Rock ISD’s Clothes Closet for years. When her children graduated, von Waaden started Hope Austin to focus on the issue of food insecurity. “I thought, if there’s a need for clothing…there has to be a need for food,” von Waaden said. “Lo and behold, there [was] […]

Trump March Fizzles in Downtown Austin

byBenton Graham

The march, the fourth annual iteration of the event, attracted a much smaller crowd than previous marches, which have seen upward of 300 attendees. The marchers were unfazed by the lackluster turnout and insisted that it wasn’t a sign of flailing support for an embattled president.

Parents Navigate Virtual Learning for Kids

byJessica Treviño

As a full-time restaurant manager and mother of three young boys, Carolina Benitez has a lot on her plate already. She works 55 hours each week and spends her two days off, Mondays and Tuesdays, supervising her oldest son, Jeremiah, while he attends school online. “I honestly am concerned that he will fall behind. I’m […]

UT Greek Life Struggles to Adhere to Pandemic Protocols

byLydia Wagner and Daniella Cortez

On the 2020 season’s first game-day Saturday, things seemed pretty normal for a University of Texas football weekend — pre-pandemic normal. At the Texas Rho fraternity house, dozens of UT students partied together in person. A leaked SnapChat video from inside the event showed attendees singing “The Eyes of Texas,” and standing shoulder to shoulder underneath a balcony packed […]

For ‘Esther’s Follies,’ Show Goes On (Virtually)

bySarah Kate Scribner

On Friday and Saturday nights at Sixth and Red River in downtown Austin, nine actors and a magician would stand beneath the warm glow of stage lights and look out at the sea of 270 bodies crammed in the sold-out theater, eager to deliver the next gut-busting joke or burst into comedic song. That was […]

Mexican Writer Témoris Grecko on Journalists Risking Their Lives 

bySumaiya Malik

Mexican journalist Témoris Grecko, who was kidnapped for several months in Syria in 2013, shares his experience reporting from war zones and tells stories of journalists who have been killed in their search for truth.

Grecko”s book, “Killing the Story: Journalists Risking Their Lives to Uncover the Truth in Mexico,” was published in the United States in June. He will speak at the Texas Book Festival at 12:45 p.m. on Nov. 8 on Zoom. The book festival, which is virtual this year, runs from Nov. 6 to 15.

Thousands Get Flu Shots at UT Student Union

byStephanie Witt

AUSTIN, Texas — University Health Services is hosting its annual flu shot clinic in the Texas Union Ballroom through October 23. “The flu shot campaign this year is a little different than years past,” said Sherry Bell, a member of the UT Health Services Public Information Team. UHS is taking COVID-19 precautions to ensure the […]

UT Students and Staff Address Mental Health Due to COVID-19

byAlyssa Crosby

AUSTIN, Texas – University of Texas senior Aidan Stone has had mental health struggles for years—and then the pandemic hit. Like many other students, Stone opted to take all of his classes online. More than 75% of classes are being held virtually. The lack of socialization has taken a toll on Stone. “There are days […]

Governor’s Order to Remove Drop-Off Ballot Boxes Brings Questions

byBismarck D. Andino

AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott’s proclamation limiting counties to a single mail-in ballot drop-off location made people question whether he has the legal authority to do so. In a lawsuit brought by the League of United Latin American Citizens and the League of Women Voters, a federal court ruled that he doesn’t. Attorney General […]

Updates: On Election Day, Austin Voters Encounter Short Lines at the Polls; No Reports of Intimidation Efforts or Voting Issues

byMadi Donham, Benton Graham, Sumaiya Malik, Harrison Young, Jillian Price, Ram Rodríguez, Mizelle Mayo and Madelyn Gee

During early voting, Reporting Texas correspondents will regularly file reports from Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties, as well as early voting locations in Travis County. On Election Day, correspondents will post dispatches from polling places around Travis County. Check back for updates.

Project Connect and Austin’s Past Light Rail Fails

byHarrison Young

The fate of the Oval Office is not the only key issue on Austinites’ ballot this November. Project Connect, Austin’s proposal for a light rail system and widely expanded bus service, is on the ticket as Proposition A. Voters rejected light rail plans in 2000 and 2014.

Professor Provides Insight on Governor’s Proposed Protest Laws

byMizelle Mayo

In September, Gov. Greg Abbott suggested legislation that takes aim at protesters. The Governor’s proposals are part of a renewed law and order focus promoted by President Donald Trump. Reporting Texas spoke with Arizona State Criminal Justice Professor Edward Mcguire about the measures.

Relationships – Instagram’s Enneagram Singles – Celia Obrien, 27, Jared Withrow, 32, Megan McHenry, 27, & Sonia Alexandra, 24

byMaya Vela

The creators of Enneagram Singles on Instagram share what it’s like to host a page dedicated to dating during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Celia Obrien of Concord, New Hampshire, Jared Withrow of Bend, Oregon, Megan McHenry of Richland, Washington, and Sonia Alexandra of San Francisco are self-proclaimed Enneagram personality test enthusiasts who hope to see their […]

Relationships – Janie Nichols, 22

byMaya Vela

Janie Nichols, a fourth-year history major at Baylor University, talks about her family relationships during the Covid-19 pandemic. She says that the transition of coming together with her family has been an adjustment since she is used to her life in Waco with her own apartment. However, she is learning to live together again with […]

Relationships – Logan Rassman, 22

byMaya Vela

Fourth-Year Biology Major at the University of Texas at Austin, Logan Rassman of Mission, Texas, talks about how her romantic relationship with her boyfriend is being impacted by the Covid-19 Pandemic. She has been in quarantine since before the stay-at-home order was in place in Texas as her sister was in proximity to a person […]