Central Texas top stories for April 2, 2024. ACC is going to offer free tuition to 2024 high school graduates starting this fall. The city of Austin aims to improve permitting to speed up development. New restrictions for eclipse day.
development
After a pandemic boost, what’s the next chapter for independent booksellers?
Fort Worth ISD temporarily closed its school libraries as the district worked to comply with a new state law over adult content.
Texas is one of only 10 states that hasn’t expanded Medicaid. Why?
The pandemic boost for books, and its aftermath: the Standard’s Sean Saldaña on the next chapter for independent booksellers.
The most dangerous jails in Texas may not be the lockups that get the most attention. Eric Dexheimer of the Houston Chronicle shares more.
And the Texan trying to redefine travel TV, and what travel looks like in the real world, too.
Texas Standard: September 9, 2019
How do you get the attention of state leaders? A federal judge proposes locking up Texas prison officials in their own overheated prisons. We’ll have more on the latest twist in a 5-year battle over Texas prisons where a judge says the heat constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Also, the Texas Attorney General is leading a multi-state charge against Google to investigate, are they violating antitrust laws? Plus, they say everything’s bigger in Texas. Now, so are the supercomputers. And a prescription for cutting the cost of a hospital visit in the Lone Star State. All that and then some on today’s Texas Standard.
12th & Chicon: Live Broadcast Wrap-up
In October, KUT embarked on a project to tell the story of a neighborhood in transition: the area around 12th and Chicon streets in East Austin. Decades ago, it was a center of black life in the city, but over the past few years, the forces of gentrification have taken hold. We opened a bureau there to maintain a presence in the neighborhood and allow residents to see KUT reporters on a daily basis and help us determine the stories that needed to be told.
12th & Chicon: Surviving the Development
KUT’s Jennifer Stayton spoke with Nefertiti Jackmon, executive director of Six Square, and Natasha Madison of the 12th Street Merchants’ Association at a live broadcast during Morning Edition from the Urban Co-Lab on 12th and Chicon streets. This is an excerpt from the entire broadcast which can be heard on another episode of this podcast.
12th & Chicon: What’s The Future Of East 12th Street?
One-fourth of what was once a thriving business corridor for Austin’s African-American community is now owned by Eureka Holdings, a company based in Grapevine, outside Dallas. Eureka is currently renting some of these properties and the buildings on them, other properties are undeveloped and being held for undetermined future plans.
12th & Chicon: Hot Street, Cold Street
East 11th seems to be the picture of urban renewal in Austin. Since the city launched its revitalization effort in 1999, the street has made significant progress toward becoming a visitor destination. Residential, retail and office development is booming. Just a few blocks away on East 12th, things are a lot quieter.
12th & Chicon: Allowing Denser Housing
Neighborhoods in East Austin are not immune to the difficult deliberations over housing density, affordability, and when a “tear-down” truly needs to be labeled historic. City council and the Historic Landmark Commission are challenged with weighing the rights of a homeowner and the desire to preserve Austin’s history.
12th & Chicon: Preserving History
Ebony Acres, a historically black neighborhood in East Austin, is at the crossroads of preservation and development. With some homes slated for demolition, some neighbors are trying to slow the tides of change.
12th & Chicon: Saving Emancipation Park
A parcel of land in the Chestnut neighborhood of East Austin was once home to the city’s annual Juneteenth celebration. Now, it’s the proposed site of a new development that neighbors say would undermine its historical significance.
12th & Chicon: Rising Land Values
Changes in the population of Austin, and the people now living here, are creating opportunities, but they’re also causing tension between the newcomers and the old-timers. The impact in East Austin can be seen through new construction as well as felt by residents.