The Austin Community College Board of Trustees meets August 1 to vote on the 2022-2023 budget. It includes a compensation package that seeks to give employees significant raises but some say the proposal does not go far enough. KUT’s Becky Fogel has the story.
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KUT Afternoon Newscast for July 28, 2022
Central Texas top stories for July 28, 2022. Wildfires in Central Texas. Jacob’s Well flow stops. Point in time counts resuming. San Marcos marijuana decriminalization. MoveOutATX begins. PanAm Park renaming postponed. Gas prices. 183 flyover closure.
Service providers raise concerns about the likely new manager of Austin’s homeless shelter
The city is set to approve a contract with a California-based nonprofit that faces a handful of lawsuits back home. Service providers say the city moved too quickly. KUT’s Andrew Weber reports.
Texas Standard: July 25, 2022
An immigration decision from the supreme court with a big impact on Texas…though it might not be the last word on the matter. We’ll have more on the decision. Also, how extreme heat is affecting migrants trying to get around border checkpoints on foot and what’s being done for their safety. And why gas prices in Texas are going down. These stories and more today on the Texas Standard:
Where should I-35 be covered? Neighbors fight for relief from planned highway expansion
Communities seeking to mitigate the effects of the I-35 widening find most of the city’s resources are targeted at downtown Austin. KUT’s Nathan Bernier has the story.
Jack White loves baseball so much, he stops to play east of Austin every time he comes through
What does one of the biggest rock stars in the world look forward to every tour? Playing baseball at this Eastern Travis County field with employees of his baseball bat company.
News Brief 7-15-2022 8AM
Daily morning news update from the KUT newsroom. Monkeypox cases in Austin. City of Austin budget planning. Summer meal program sites will operate again with federal funding.
News Brief 7-14-2022 9AM
Daily morning news update from the KUT newsroom. Hot weather and Austin’s mitigation planning. James Lee Dickey museum fire.
Home building in Austin is taking longer and longer
Austin builders are starting a lot of new homes. Finishing them is not so simple. For much of the pandemic, the homebuilding industry has endured delays because of supply chain issues: One month builders can’t get door handles. The next, it’s door hinges, windows and refrigerators. And now this shortage has converged with another: a lack of skilled workers and employees.
While builders in the Austin area are starting new homes at historic numbers, the number of new homes finished and sold lags behind. According to the real estate research firm Zonda, builders started roughly 26,500 new homes during the first few months of this year, while homebuyers closed on just under 20,000 new homes. Compare that to the last months of 2019, when the number of new homes started and new homes sold diverged by just 300 homes.
How much should it cost to ride Austin’s light rail?
Austin’s light-rail system is still years away from becoming a reality. The first trains won’t start running until 2029 at the earliest.
But already some people are worried about how much it could cost to ride light rail. They don’t want Capital Metro to up-charge customers like the agency does for those who ride the MetroRail commuter train.
Texas Standard: July 12, 2022
Demands for transparency in the investigation of the mass shooting in Uvalde. The focus: hallway surveillance footage. We’ll have the latest. Also why a big fight may be brewing between Austin and Washington over new air pollution regulations in West Texas. And military annual fitness checks getting swapped out for Fitbits? Plus an immigration lawyer on the front lines to keep families together at the border, reflects on his own migrant past and others directly affected by immigration policy. And new images of events millions of years in the past, the excitement over the space telescope and what the pictures tell us. Those stories and much more today on the Texas Standard:
Riders Against the Storm
In this episode, Lisa and Rich talk with Chaka and Qi Dada, the husband and wife duo who make up the hip-hop group Riders Against the Storm.
Texas Standard: July 4, 2022
The Texas Supreme Court says Texas can enforce its 1925 abortion ban. We’ll have a closer look at the implications of the decision. Also, with many Texans traveling by car for the holiday, lots of folks feeling the pinch of gas prices firsthand. An update from our go to energy expert Matt Smith. And we revisit our conversation with singer songwriter and Spoon frontman Britt Daniel who shares how a Texas vibe got baked in to one of the most highly anticipated rock albums of the year. Plus reflections on this land and who it really belongs to. Those stories and much more today on the Texas Standard:
Texas Standard: June 27, 2022
Did the Dobbs decision revive longstanding but dormant Pre-Roe anti-abortion laws on the books in Texas? Also, the impact of the SCOTUS opinion on the state’s sex education, the disproportionate impact of anti-abortion laws on disabled persons, and the specter of other rights being toppled raised by the Thomas concurrence. Those stories and more today on the Texas Standard:
Juneteenth: Are We Really Free?
Juneteenth is celebrated annually in commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, marking the day enslaved people in Texas were finally freed — more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The national holiday is known by many names, Freedom Day, Liberation Day, Emancipation Day, and Jubilee Day.
In this hour-long audio documentary, KUT’s Miles Bloxson an Austin native, speaks to Black Austinites about the history of Juneteenth, how they celebrate the holiday, what Juneteenth means to them and explores the question, “Are We Really Free?”
Grackle
Some embrace them as the unofficial mascots of Texas cities — looking at you, Austin. But others are put off by their scavenger natures. The grackle inspired this Typewriter Rodeo poem.
Is there really a buried treasure in Walnut Creek Park?
Who doesn’t love a good treasure hunt? But is any of it real?
KUT’s Skye Seipp tries to find the X.
Saying goodbye to Austin’s Godfather of Clubbing
We first met Yorkie Louie in 2020. Now, he’s leaving the dance floor — at least in Austin.
Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette
In this episode of Black Austin Matters, hosts Lisa B. Thompson and Richard J. Reddick talk with Dr. Colette Pierce Burnette, the outgoing president of Huston-Tillotson University.
Texas Standard: May 31, 2022
As funerals begin for the nineteen students and two teachers killed at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, President Biden promises action on gun safety. How likely is that to happen and what sort of change could be coming? Also, criticism growing over the response of law enforcement as the situation unfolded last week in Uvalde. Why did training efforts aimed at stopping school shooters fail and where do we go from here? These stories and more today on the Texas Standard: