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Axios Austin
Restoration in the works for Travis County Courthouse
An art deco building that played a key role in the Civil Rights Movement locally could soon get a makeover.Why it matters: The Travis County Courthouse on Guadalupe Street downtown is where Heman Marion Sweatt, a Black postal worker from Houston, brought a 1946 lawsuit against the University of Texas to force it to integrate after he was denied admission to the law school on the basis of his race.Driving the news: Citing the historic case, county commissioners this week will ask the Texas Historical Commission for $10 million toward the restoration and rehabilitation of the courthouse, built in 1931.It's...
ACL Music Festival releases 2024 lineup
Austin City Limits Music Festival released its 2024 lineup Tuesday, chock-full of starpower spread over two weekends and nine stages in Zilker Park.Driving the news: This year's headliners are Dua Lipa; Tyler, The Creator; Chris Stapleton; Blink-182; Sturgill Simpson; Pretty Lights; Khruangbin and Leon Bridges.The lineup also includes Carin León, Norah Jones, Reneé Rapp, Foster the People, Kehlani (weekend one), Teddy Swims, Remi Wolf, Dominic Fike and Chappell Roan.Zoom in: The lineup reveal comes on the heels of pop star Lipa's newly released "Radical Optimism" album.She'll make her ACL debut, along with pop-punk band Blink-182.The lineup also includes more than...
Austin's downtown is still in COVID recovery mode
Data: University of Toronto; Note: Downtown defined as the central location with the highest concentration of employment in each metro area; Chart: Alice Feng/AxiosAustin's downtown saw a bump in activity between March 2023 and February 2024, per new University of Toronto data examining U.S. and Canadian cities.Why it matters: The updated figures are one way to understand which cities are recovering and which are still struggling after the worst of the pandemic.How it works: Researchers at the University of Toronto's School of Cities are using anonymized mobile device location data to estimate visitor activity in the downtown areas of dozens...
Bipartisan state lawmakers seek campaign security protections
Aiming to safeguard elections against deepfakes and other forms of artificial intelligence manipulation, a bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers is pledging to boost campaign protections.Why it matters: Against the backdrop of a loud national conversation about election fraud and the baseless claim of a "stolen" 2020 election, the quiet effort by the Innovation and Technology Caucus of the Texas Legislature is focused on nuts-and-bolts work to address the way AI could warp get-out-the-vote efforts by either party.Flashback: Robocalls in New Hampshire in January used President Joe Biden's manipulated voice to tell listeners their votes were better spent in November and...
New Austin trail art encourages conversation
A new art installation made from 32 large alluvial stones on the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail encourages strangers to connect with one another.Driving the news: "Conversation Stones" from native Austinite Diego Miró-Rivera is part of TEMPO, a program by The Trail Conservancy and the Economic Development Department's Art in Public Places Program.Miró-Rivera and seven other local artists were selected to create short-term or time-based artworks at various locations along the hike-and-bike trail.Each artist is receiving $25,000 to design, fabricate and install their artwork.Zoom in: Miró-Rivera, a sculptor and land artist, created "Conversation Stones" to invite trail goers to...
Home values are down across Austin
Data: Zillow; Note: Typical home value refers to the average of the middle third of Zillow home value estimates for every home in a given region with a county record, including single-family, condominium and co-operative homes; Table: Axios VisualsNearly every ZIP code in the Austin area saw typical home values decline compared to a year ago, per Zillow data shared with Axios.The big picture: Austin's housing market, once the country's hottest, is now "running in reverse," the Wall Street Journal reports.Zoom out: Austin (-4.1%) and San Antonio (-1.9%) are two of three major U.S. metro areas where typical home values...
What moths can tell us about Austin parks
With just a camera and a UV light, Curtis Eckerman has recorded more than 550 species of moths on the garage door of his South Austin home.Why it matters: There are nearly 1,400 species of moths in Travis County alone, according to Eckerman, and the bugs can tell us a lot about the biodiversity of our environment.Driving the news: Eckerman, the Biology Department chair at Austin Community College, will meet students Friday at Pease Park for a mothing expedition.Each semester, Eckerman's biology students take moth surveys — an effort to teach them about monitoring the biodiversity in city parks and...
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Axios Austin, anchored by Nicole Cobler and Asher Price, is here to help readers get smarter, faster on the most consequential news and developments unfolding in their own backyard.
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