Politics

With the Republican Party of Texas' biennial convention kicking off in San Antonio later this week, Travis County GOP Chair Matt Mackowiak has announced a last-minute bid candidacy bid to lead the party. "The Republican Party of Texas should be the best funded, most sophisticated, most professional state party in...

Lisa Wheeler struggled to sleep. She tossed and turned and finally woke up at about 8 a.m. on Sept. 15, 2022. Following her normal routine, she went upstairs to wake her 17-year-old son, Spencer.  She opened the door and saw him lying in bed, his mouth and eyes open. She leaped on top...

AUSTIN, Texas — After Governor Greg Abbott pardoned a man convicted of murdering a Black Lives Matter protestor, the Travis County District Attorney accused him of disrupting the legal system for political gain. Governor Abbott accused him of the exact same thing. Abbott pardoned Daniel Perry for the 2020...

The storms which visited the western edge of Caldwell County with strong straight-line winds on the night of Thursday, May 9, wreaked havoc on a man’s roof, an office building, and a couple of business’ roofs and signs, but was otherwise limited to downed trees from Martindale down to Luling.

A Prairie Lea resident repeated his disappointment to Caldwell County Commissioners Tuesday morning regarding stop signs in the community he claims are more of a hinderance than good. The stop signs were placed in Prairie Lea eight years ago, and traffic studies were performed in 2021 and2022. Andrew McClish said...

BASTROP COUNTY, Texas — Certified nursing assistants, or CNAs, in Central Texas are having trouble renewing their licenses – and some are worried it will affect their jobs. Bastrop County resident Sarah Wilson said she’s always known that she’s wanted to help people. “I used to...

Population growth is nothing new in Texas, but when a Gigafactory is involved, growth can go into overdrive. That’s the situation facing the Del Valle Integrated School District, located in a currently unincorporated area of Travis County (home to Austin) and adjacent to Tesla’s new plant there – currently the second-biggest factory building in the world.

The town needed more than 2,300 Kyles to break a world record.

Community leaders recognized the launch of traumatic brain injury research in Bastrop County at the Festival de la Cultura event on April 27. (Courtesy Lost Pines Toyota) Bastrop’s Lost Pines Toyota is one of three dealerships across the country to receive funding for children’s traumatic brain injury, or TBI, research. The $175,000 Toyota Way Forward Fund grant was awarded to Bastrop’s Lost Pines dealership in March.

Mill Scale Metalworks hosted its initial Lockhart Rising event with a packed crowd of an estimated 750 attendees Saturday. Lockhart Mayor Lew White congratulated the business on its music and food event. “It was very well planned,” White said. “The streets were open, with plenty of great food and music....

Several different school districts in Central Texas approved pay raises for their teachers and staff.

Most people will never see a million dollars in their lifetime, much less tens of millions of dollars. Even fewer would pass up an easy opportunity to become $40 million richer, regardless of how wealthy they already are. That's what a family in Central Texas did when private real estate developers from around the world offered upwards of $130 for their sprawling 1507-acre ranch. Instead of taking one of those huge real estate deals, they chose to sell RGK Ranch to Travis County, Texas, for a reduced purchase price of $90 million—$30 million below its appraised value—so the land could be preserved as a public park. Nadya Scott and her brother Gregory Kozmetsky inherited the ranch from their parents, George and Ronya Kozmetsky, who purchased the land in 1970. The elder Kozmetsky was a technology innovator and co-founder of Teledyne Inc. who passed away in 2003. He was also an educator and philanthropist who gave away millions of dollars through the RGK Foundation. Now his descendants are donating tens of millions of dollars worth of their family's land rights for the public good.

KYLE — At the May 7 meeting, Kyle City Council approved a resolution for an interlocal water-sharing agreement with the city of San Marcos, marking the third agreement within the past two years. In October 2022, Kyle entered into negotiations with San Marcos to receive up to 125 acre-feet, or 40.7 million gallons, of water throughout the remainder of the year. The second followed a year later in October 2023, when Kyle City Council unanimously approved to gain access to San Marcos’ water permit to prevent exceeding its own maximum. According to agenda documents, both cities possess Edward’s Aquifer Authority (EAA) permits and “due to the ongoing historical drought that Central Texas is currently facing, Kyle anticipates the need for additional water during calendar years 2024, 2025 and 2026.” The proposed agreement would stretch from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 each year and prevent Kyle from overpumping its permitted capacity, according to Mike Murphy, director of water utilities for the city of Kyle. He continued by stating that San Marcos has supplies beyond its current needs, so it is willing to make water available for Kyle using its existing water within the EAA permits. The agreement lists the following: • Water will be withdrawn solely at Kyle’s existing EAA Well Numbers W100-896, W100-897, W100-898 and W105-960 • The maximum amount that may be pumped is 500 acre-feet per calendar year • Kyle will meet or exceed San Marcos’ drought restrictions • The 500 acre-feet will be subject to EAA drought stage restrictions and Kyle will be responsible for any penalties By approving this agreement, Kyle will pay $22,832 per month to the city of San Marcos, which is equivalent to 223,186 gallons per day charged at a rate of $3.41 per 1,000 gallons. Withdrawal rates exceeding 6,695,580 gallons per month will be charged at a rate of $3.41 per 1,000 gallons. “Edward’s Aquifer Authority’s allocations were based on the need for these communities a number of years ago,” said council member Lauralee Harris. “Those have not changed in recent years, so what has happened is San Marcos has not grown as quickly as they were anticipated to grow and we have grown much more quickly than we were anticipated to grow. So, [the percentages needed] have changed, but EAA has not changed that percentage of allocation, which puts us into a position of needing to work with our partner in Hays County, which is San Marcos, to acquire the right percentages of water. So, it’s not like we’re out of water or that the aquifer is out of water; it’s a matter of just collaborating and adjusting those percentages to what is equitable.” Prior to the vote, council member Miguel Zuniga stated that he is in support of the item, but he still believes that water reuse and recycling should still be a top priority for the city, despite the water they will be receiving. The item passed unanimously. Kyle City Council will meet again on May 22.

BASTROP COUNTY, Texas — Certified nursing assistants, or CNAs, in Central Texas are having trouble renewing their licenses – and some are worried it will affect their jobs. Bastrop County resident Sarah Wilson said she’s always known that she’s wanted to help people. “I used to...

The Bastrop City Council certified the election results for the city’s latest elections, welcoming Kerry Fossler and Cynthia Meyer as its newest members. Meyer ran unopposed for a second term for the Place 2 seat, while Fossler beat former Council Member Jimmy Crouch by 64 votes in the race in Place 4. The...

For the third year in a row, overdoses were the leading cause of accidental deaths in Travis County for 2023 — a trend that has largely been driven by fentanyl's increase in the local drug supply. These findings come from the 2023 Travis County medical examiner's report, which found overdose deaths increased...

A Travis County state district judge has decided not to issue a final judgment in the 2017 lawsuit against Central Health for funding projects that a group of local taxpayers said were outside Central Health's mission of providing health care for poor people in Travis County. The lawsuit is expected to proceed. At...