Austin Animal Center is temporarily restricting intake starting Tuesday because the shelter is over capacity. The city-owned animal shelter is urging people to help by fostering or adopting pets from the shelter. The shelter currently has more than 700 animals, including 67 dogs that are staying in pop-up wire crates because all other kennels are […]
Marisa Charpentier, KUT
Posted inDevelopment
A bookshop and a boutique grocery store are headed to Hyde Park’s former post office space
Since the beloved post office in Austin’s Hyde Park neighborhood shuttered in June 2021, neighbors have wondered what will become of the spot at the corner of 43rd Street and Speedway. The one-story brick building has remained vacant since its closure, serving as little more than a canvas for graffiti. But new details are coming […]
Posted inPublic Health
Austin Public Health to use new Covid-19 risk charts to align with CDC
Austin Public Health is updating its Covid-19 risk guidelines to coincide with new metrics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previously, APH had been using a five-level scale to showcase Covid-19 risk, with Stage 5 being the highest risk level and Stage 1 being the lowest. Each level carried with it a different […]
Posted inPublic Health
Construction will soon begin on Central Health’s new clinics in eastern Travis County
Construction will soon start on two new health centers in eastern Travis County aimed at expanding access to underserved communities. Central Health, Travis County’s health care district, is constructing the health centers in Del Valle and Hornsby Bend. The centers, which are expected to open next year, are part of the agency’s plan to address […]
Posted inAISD
Austin ISD adds two Fridays off this semester to provide ‘stress relief’ to staff amid omicron wave
Lee esta historia en español. The Austin Independent School District is adding two three-day weekends to the spring semester to give teachers a break as the omicron Covid-19 wave has stretched campuses thin. Students will now have two extra Fridays off: Feb. 11 and March 4. Teachers and campus-based staff will still be paid. The […]
Posted inPublic Health
Austin area moves to Stage 5 risk as Covid-19 hospitalizations continue to soar
Lea esta nota en español Austin and Travis County have moved into Stage 5, the highest level of risk in the local health department’s Covid-19 guidelines. Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County Health Authority, said during a news conference Thursday that this is the fastest Covid-19 surge in the pandemic so far. Patients in intensive care units […]
Posted inPreservation
‘This is sacred ground’: Austinites and researchers seek to restore Mexican American cemeteries in Montopolis
Sandwiched between private properties in southeastern Travis County sits a little-known cemetery off Hoeke Lane, just west of U.S. Highway 183. From the outside, there’s nothing that indicates the site is the final resting place for a number of Mexican and Mexican American residents who died decades ago. It’s a wilderness. The headstones, many of […]
Posted inAustin
A beloved post office in Hyde Park is closing. The Austin neighborhood wants to know why.
Barbara first heard the rumor from the mailman. Deaton learned the news from her neighborhood listserv. Michele saw the gossip on Facebook. And it was true: The post office that’s sat at the corner of 43rd and Speedway in Hyde Park for decades was closing. “I was immediately horrified,” said Deaton Bednar, who’s lived in […]
Posted inPublic Health
Local organizations step up to expand vaccine access in East Austin
Michele Rountree had reservations about getting the COVID-19 vaccine at first. But the more research she did, the better she began to feel. And when she heard the African American Youth Harvest Foundation was hosting a walk-in vaccine clinic, something clicked. She had known about the organization since she moved to Austin more than a […]
Posted inPublic Health
Austin Public Health had 2,800 Covid vaccine appointments left open Thursday
Austin Public Health opened up Covid-19 vaccine appointments Thursday evening, but by the end of the night, it still had 2,800 appointments available, raising questions about how the agency is distributing doses. This is the second week in a row it has had unclaimed appointments after a Thursday night release. Though the state opened up […]
Posted inPublic Health
Health officials urge Austinites to get tested for Covid if they traveled over spring break
About a quarter of adults in Travis County have gotten at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and the Austin area is seeing record-low numbers of coronavirus cases. But health officials were clear at a news conference Friday morning: “We’re not out of the woods yet.” There are at least two Covid-19 variants now […]
Posted inPublic Health
Austin Public Health to release 4K vaccine appointments Thursday, including for group 1C
Austin Public Health reopened Covid-19 vaccine appointment signups Thursday night, after technical problems Monday left many people frustrated and still waiting for a shot. APH will be releasing about 4,000 appointments to eligible individuals, including those in the 1C group, according to a spokesperson for the department. The 1C group, people 50 and older, became […]