Columbus
Austin Monitor
Austin airport passenger wrongful arrest lawsuit on hold
Attorneys representing an Austin-Bergstrom International Airport passenger, who contends that failure on the part of airline staff and Austin police officers to accommodate her hearing impairment resulted in a wrongful arrest and injury at the Travis County Jail, are in talks with Travis County attorneys. The talks may result in the county avoiding a widely publicized potential lawsuit.
City Council to consider reducing parking spots for bars
At today’s meeting, City Council will consider directing staff to amend the city’s land use regulations to reduce the parking requirements for bars and cocktail lounges. According to the resolution, Texas has seen an increase in arrests for driving while intoxicated, with a total of 2,554 in Austin last year. And in Travis County there was a 71 percent increase in DWI-related deaths from 2011 to 2021.
City Council hears preliminary findings on what went wrong with city response to Winter Storm Mara
As extreme weather in Central Texas becomes more frequent, what is Austin doing to bolster its emergency preparedness? At its work session on Tuesday, City Council heard a preliminary update on the audits examining what broke down in the city’s response to Winter Storm Mara in February. The audit...
TipSheet: Austin City Council, 4.13.23
Today City Council will convene for its regular Thursday meeting. As usual, anyone can read through the agenda, which is posted online, but we’ve done our level best to pick out the most interesting bits to make things a little easier for our readers. After two deaths and a...
Memo eyes possible polystyrene ban to curb trash in creeks, streams
The Watershed Protection Department wants city leaders to consider instituting a ban on polystyrene fast-food containers as one of a series of possible steps to reduce the amount of trash in local waterways. An April 10 memo gives City Council members an update on progress related to a 2020 resolution...
Sobering center may seek expanded role
The Austin-Travis County Sobering Center, currently in its fifth year of operations, has served more than 8,000 people, according to Jana Ortega, chair of the center’s board of directors. Ortega and Executive Director Laura Elmore addressed City Council at Tuesday’s work session, laying out its current work and possible expansion of its services.
Mobility Committee weighs feedback on new Project Connect options
Following the release of scaled-back plans for Austin’s future in light rail, representatives from the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Austin Transit Partnership (ATP) and the city provided an updated briefing on Project Connect light rail at the City Council Mobility Committee’s regular meeting last Thursday. Some Council members...
Far fewer monarch butterflies are migrating through Texas this spring
It’s the time of year when monarch butterflies pass through Texas on their annual migration. But you might not see as many as last spring. One reason? The number of monarchs that spent the winter in Mexico dropped significantly. Migrating Eastern monarchs spend the winter months in forest colonies...
Environmental Commission recommends Zilker vision plan along with list of conditions
The city’s Environmental Commission voted last week to approve a resolution recommending the Zilker Metropolitan Park Vision Plan – albeit with a lengthy list of recommendations that include further public engagement and environmental monitoring. The resolution notes that the vision plan includes environmental site analysis of the general...
Arts, music commissions to renew push for short-term rental tax collections
It appears arts and music advocates will likely ask City Council to reach an agreement with short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb and begin receiving millions of dollars in uncollected hotel taxes that could in part benefit the local creative community. Both the Music Commission and Arts Commission have in...
Dell Seton Medical Center will get a $280 million expansion
Dell Seton Medical Center at the University of Texas is set to get a major expansion to the tune of $280 million, the facility’s parent hospital system Ascension Seton announced Monday. The expansion will add 150 beds and more than 160,000 square feet to Dell Seton. Four new floors...
ZAP supports another rezoning in fast-changing Matthews Lane Neighborhood
The Zoning and Platting Commission on Tuesday recommended rezoning a property in South Austin to allow more single-family homes despite opposition from neighbors who say they have been inundated with new development without the infrastructure to support it. The site in question at 7500 Wynne Lane is currently zoned Mobile...
City stepping up safety measures to address Rainey Street concerns
City leaders are moving ahead with lighting and other safety measures in the Rainey Street district in response to a pair of recent late-night drownings and growing speculation that nightlife patrons are unsafe in the entertainment district. The Austin Police Department focused patrols in the district over the weekend, joining...
West Downtown on track to receive national historic status
Austin could soon welcome a brand-new historic district into the mix, with an application for the West Downtown National Register District lined up to get the rubber stamp next month. Located west of the Capitol between Seventh and 15th streets, the proposed district is a trove of historic architecture, charting...
ZAP opposes commercial rezoning on Anderson Mill
The Zoning and Platting Commission Tuesday recommended denying a rezoning for a North Austin property, with commissioners agreeing with city staffers that the requested commercial zoning would not be appropriate. The 1-acre site at 9815 and 9817 Anderson Mill Road is currently zoned Neighborhood Commercial (LR-CO). The property owner, Ramin...
There’s no easy fix to Austin ISD’s special education evaluation backlog. Students are left waiting.
Kathryn Whitley Chu’s daughter was 2 and a half years old when the COVID-19 pandemic began. While stuck at home, her family had gotten used to the way the young girl spoke. But when she returned to preschool 17 months later, teachers and students struggled to understand her speech.
Former airport CEO had conflict of interest, report shows
Jacqueline Yaft, who recently resigned her job as CEO of the Austin Aviation Department, had a conflict of interest beginning in June 2019 when she went to work for the city, according to an investigative report from the Office of the City Auditor. Although she was required to inform the city of the conflict by filing a form within weeks of joining city staff, Yaft did not do so until she was under investigation in September 2022.
County greenlights long-awaited performance audit of Central Health
On Tuesday, the Travis County Commissioners Court greenlit a long-awaited independent performance audit with auditing firm Mazars for $854,200. The audit will examine how Central Health has used taxpayer money, with a close eye on the controversial, taxpayer-funded allocation of $35 million per year to Dell Medical School, which began dispensing in 2014 and has continued into the present.
Public Safety Commission chair joins family’s calls for more information on Austin Police shooting death
The chair of the Public Safety Commission on Monday joined the family of a man fatally shot by Austin police in calling for more information from Chief Joseph Chacon. The comments from Chair Rebecca Bernhardt came during Monday’s meeting, after a public communication from the mother and brother of Rajan Moonesinghe. Moonesinghe, a 33-year-old tech entrepreneur, was shot by Austin police outside his home in November.
New APD-DPS partnership sparks pushback, arrests
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson cited long-standing police staffing shortages, which have led to a “decentralized” approach to traffic enforcement among other things, when he announced last week that the Texas Department of Public Safety would soon begin playing a supportive role to the Austin Police Department. But the partnership has caused consternation among criminal justice reform advocates, some City Council members and others, who worry it will exacerbate already shaky police-community relations.
Austin Monitor
4K+
Posts
2M+
Views
Five days a week, we bring you the news from Austin City Hall, Travis County Commissioners Court, and multiple other civic entities that make key decisions for central Texas. We stick to the facts. We aim to be fair. When we err, we correct it fast.
The leading platform for local news and information.
By using cutting-edge technology that learns users’ preferences to curate tailored content for them, NewsBreak gathers community-focused news and information from over 10,000 sources in a timely, accessible, and easy-to-use way at no cost to users.
NewsBreak does not allow any content that expresses hate or promotes false information. Instead, we strive to give businesses, communities, and users accurate and reliable local news and information. Join us in shaping the news narrative together.
For more information, please see our Terms of Use and Community Standards.