With 2023 drawing to a close, it’s time to look back on the local headlines that dominated the news before looking forward to the year ahead. Happy News Year! New city management This year saw a strange kind of sea change at City Hall led by newly reelected Mayor Kirk Watson. On the one hand, […]
Austin Monitor
Posted inElections
Watch our District 9 forum
On Friday, all eight candidates running for City Council in District 9 participated in a forum hosted by KUT and the Austin Monitor. You can watch the forum, which was hosted by Austin Monitor reporter Sean Saldaña, below. Joining Saldaña were candidates Zena Mitchell, Zohaib “Zo” Qadri, Greg Smith, Joah Spearman, Kym Olson, Ben Leffler, Linda […]
Posted inElections
Watch our District 8 forum
On Thursday, three of the four candidates running for City Council in District 8 participated in a forum hosted by KUT and the Austin Monitor. You can watch the forum, which was hosted by KUT’s Jerry Quijano, below. Joining Quijano were incumbent Paige Ellis and candidates Richard Smith and Kimberly P. Hawkins. Antonio D. Ross […]
Posted inElections
Watch our District 5 forum
On Wednesday, five of the six candidates running for City Council in District 5 participated in a forum hosted by KUT and the Austin Monitor. You can watch the forum, which was hosted by Austin Monitor reporter Nina Hernandez, below. Joining Hernandez were candidates Ryan Alter, Bill Welch, Ken Craig, Stephanie Bazan and Aaron Velazquez […]
Posted inElections
Watch our District 3 City Council forum
On Tuesday, all six of the candidates running for City Council in District 3 participated in a forum hosted by KUT and the Austin Monitor. You can watch the forum, which was hosted by KUT’s Andrew Weber, below. Joining Weber were candidates José Velásquez, Daniela Silva, Gavino Fernandez Jr., José Noé Elías, Yvonne Weldon and Esala Wueschner. […]
Posted inElections
Watch our District 1 City Council forum
On Monday, three of the four candidates vying for the District 1 City Council seat participated in a forum hosted by KUT and the Austin Monitor. You can watch the forum, which was hosted by KUT’s Haya Panjwani, below. Joining Panjwani were candidates Misael D. Ramos, Clinton Rarey and incumbent Natasha Harper-Madison. Melonie House-Dixon did […]
Posted inTravis County
Introducing the Del Valle Resource Guide
As part of the Austin Monitor‘s ongoing mission to serve our community, we have helped create a new guide to the resources available for Del Valle residents. From setting up utilities to voting jurisdictions, we’re hoping the new guide makes figuring out who to contact (and when) a bit easier. We teamed up with Decibel at Austin […]
Posted inRadio
Austin Monitor Radio: The 2020 U.S. Census
This week, Mariana Salazar, who is the Census 2020 project director at United Way for Greater Austin, sits down with Austin Monitor reporter Jessi Devenyns to talk about why participation in this year’s national census is so important and how her organization is aiming to get everyone in the region counted. Though this week’s edition […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: The race is on
Biscoe looks like the answer for Travis County… Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt’s name moves from the “very likely” category of contenders to take over Austin state Sen. Kirk Watson’s seat at the Legislature to the “almost certain” category with an item on the Commissioners Court agenda for Tuesday. That item would allow commissioners to […]
Posted inRadio
Austin Monitor Radio: Environment Texas
Environment Texas Executive Director Luke Metzger talks to Austin Monitor reporter Jessi Devenyns in this edition of our KOOP show. If you are curious about the work of Environment Texas and would like to learn about the issues it is focusing on at a city, county and state level, this is the show for you! […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Drip, drip, drip
Givens has broken… It turns out that Givens Pool is failing faster than predicted, and a February memo from the Parks and Recreation Department advises its immediate closure. The department identified Givens as one of seven pools in critical condition in the 2014 Aquatics Assessment. Since then, $260,000 has been spent toward its continued operation, […]
Posted inReporters' Notebook
Reporter’s Notebook: Unmusical chairs
Who’s not running for Watson’s seat..? Possible candidates for the Austin/Bastrop-area Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Kirk Watson are dropping like flies. Three state representatives – Donna Howard, Gina Hinojosa and Celia Israel – have all announced that they do not intend to run for the seat, according to media reports. And it appears […]