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City to consider selling its district cooling system

City Manager T.C. Broadnax has notified City Council that staff will be seeking approval during the July 18 meeting to hire J.P. Morgan Securities LLC to provide “strategic advice about the potential sale of Austin Energy’s district cooling system.” The…

'Demand has just gone up and up': Food banks struggle to keep up post-pandemic

Drivers line up down the street to grab groceries from a small, white house in the Dunbar neighborhood of San Marcos. For some time, the renovated house worked fine for the Hays County Food Bank, but as more and more…

Austin Water tees up to propose rate increases to Council

Austinites can prepare to add their water bill to the list of services getting increasingly more expensive, as a proposal for hikes in utility rates makes its way through City Council’s pipeline. The proposal, which Austin Water unveiled early last…

Developer expects to reach agreement for Crestview project this fall

The firm selected to lead in the redevelopment of a former utility yard in Crestview doesn’t expect the city’s recent changes to land use for transit-oriented developments to impact its plans for the site that has long been earmarked for…

Mayor Kirk Watson slows timing for climate bond election

City Council members have been taking sides on the City Council Message Board over competing timelines for a climate bond election, and on Wednesday the proposal for a longer lead-up was left standing. The back-and-forth on the message board –…

Music Commission considers space, funding options for Texas Music Museum

The Music Commission plans to ask the city to provide emergency storage space and funding for the Texas Music Museum, which is facing overcrowding at its East Austin location and the possible loss of gratis storage space in an Austin…

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More animals must leave the shelter before Austin Animal Center will accept them again

The Austin Animal Center has stopped accepting any more animals until further notice. Jason Garza, deputy chief animal services officer, said the shelter has so many dogs and cats that it’s overcapacity. As of Tuesday, there were 683 animals on…

Central Health talks new facilities, services in advance of 2025 budget

Travis County’s public hospital district that funds medical care for low-income residents plans to accelerate its introduction of new clinical services in its next budget year. Care for psychiatry, endocrinology and rheumatology are among the new offerings on tap in…

Electric vehicles for APD will arrive by the end of the year

City fleet officials updated the Public Safety Commission on Monday about their plan to add a fleet of electric vehicles for the Austin Police Department as part of an effort to meet the city’s net-zero emission target by 2040. The…

Austin Community College board approves 4.5% raise, increasing hourly minimum wage to $23

The Austin Community College District Board of Trustees on Monday approved a 4.5 percent across-the-board raise for employees. The new compensation package also increases the hourly minimum wage from $22 to $23, which also works out to a 4.5 percent…

Will Austin really be the next single-staircase city?

City staff is pushing back on a proposal to allow single stairways for multifamily buildings. City Council unanimously approved a resolution to amend the code and allow multifamily projects up to six stories to have a single staircase in May.…

After lake drownings, safety upgrades come to Rainey Street trailhead

Lee esta historia en español More than a year after community members called for better lighting and safety measures along a portion of Lady Bird Lake near Rainey Street, permanent upgrades are finally nearing completion. The pleas and demands came…