Jennifer Stayton

Central Texas top stories for February 9, 2024. State-appointed monitors say AISD is making significant progress in improving its special ed services. Ongoing APD staffing shortages mean the City of Austin is paying millions more in overtime than before. Marking the start of the Lunar New Year.

Central Texas top stories for February 8, 2024. The Austin-Round Rock area unemployment rate stays super low. The Austin City Council gets a final report on improving Austin Water’s performance. Central Texas likely won’t meet new, stricter EPA standards for potentially deadly fine particulate matter.

Calls to investigate a recent stabbing near the UT-Austin campus as a hate crime. Austin ISD warns of a scam involving fake AISD police officers. Austin’s policy over decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana has changed how officers prioritize patrols.

Central Texas top stories for February 6, 2024. Austin Police promise to better serve people with disabilities. Free tax help for eligible people in Travis and Williamson counties. The City of San Marcos wants more input on its long-term development plan.

Central Texas top stories for February 5, 2024. Today is the deadline to register to vote in the upcoming Texas primaries. Travis County backs out of a deal for a review of local homeless service programs. Texas state officials and the world’s largest investment firm meet this week to talk about the state’s electric grid.

Central Texas top stories for February 2, 2024. New rules for euthanizing dogs at the Austin Animal Center with a bite history. Austin-area high school students get ready to vote for the first time. A new hospital option in North Austin.

Central Texas top stories for January 26, 2024. The Austin Independent School District names a permanent superintendent. The City of Austin announces work on another affordable housing complex. What an upcoming Supreme Court case about policing people experiencing homelessness could mean for Austin and Texas.

Central Texas top stories for January 15, 2024. Freezing rain for Central Texas Monday morning. Frigid temperatures will stay put a few days. How Austin ISD decides when to cancel or delay school. Dealing with PTSD from the February 2021 destructive and deadly winter storm.

Austin has a new Youth Poet Laureate. 17-year-old Brandee Benson is a senior at Westwood High School in the Round Rock Independent School District. The Austin Public Library Foundation and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program led by Urban Word run the program to support young writers and leaders involved in their community, the arts, social justice and diversity, and education. KUT’s Jennifer Stayton talked over Zoom late last year with Benson about what first sparked her interest in poetry.

The upcoming holidays (Thanksgiving is next week) may have some people stressing over family gatherings and interactions. But according to some in the mental health community, there is a way to start addressing some of the problems that can surface around that. It is work called “reparenting.” The practice has origins in psychotherapeutic work. But as Central Texas neuropsychotherapist Bella J. Rockman LPC, MA told KUT’s Jennifer Stayton over Zoom, it can work in or out of a clinical setting.

Central Texas top stories for November 3, 2023. Early voting for the November 7 election ends today. School voucher legislation is likely dead in the current special legislative session. Hays CISD temporarily closes an elementary school due to mold.

Central Texas top stories for September 21, 2023. CapMetro Light Rail Plan. Austin Environmental Protection Grant. Mermaids read in San Marcos. Austin FC draw.  

Central Texas top stories for September 7, 2023. The Texas power grid Wednesday night flirted with possible rolling blackouts. Another scorching hot day in store for Central Texas.  City of Austin staff recommend elected officials allow higher heights near single-family homes.

Central Texas top stories for Tuesday, September 5, 2023. Impeachment trial of suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton begins. Critical fire weather conditions (again). And a looming child care crisis in Texas.

Central Texas top stories for Labor Day Monday, September 4, 2023. What’s closed (and what’s not) on this Labor Day. A new deal for the City of Austin and Austin Pets Alive! for the Town Lake Animal Center. Texas Senate impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton starts tomorrow. The state has outlawed motorcycle “lane splitting.” And a reminder about the resources available from 2-1-1.

Research has shown for awhile now that burning fossil fuels can contribute to climate change. But, we kept – and keep – burning fossil fuels.

So why do humans – not all, but many – engage in behavior that goes against our well-being – sometimes in the face of repeated warnings to do otherwise?

KUT checked in over Zoom with Central Texas neuropsychotherapist Bella J. Rockman LPC, MA during this extremely hot summer to get her take on this disconnect.

Classes are underway for the 2023 fall semester at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas.  But with the new school year comes an old problem – a shortage of on-campus housing. KUT talked with Huston-Tillotson University President Melva K. Wallace about a creative solution to the shortage for this year – and about longer-term plans for encouraging H-T graduates to stay in Austin.