A request to join with the City of Austin in a housing market study turned into a lengthy and sometimes philosophical discussion of affordable housing at Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday. The item was an interlocal agreement with the city’s Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department to contribute up to $50,000 towards a […]
Mark Richardson
Mark Richardson is a multimedia journalist, editor and writer who has worked in digital, print and broadcast media for three decades. He is a nationally recognized editor and reporter who has covered government, politics and the environment. A journalism graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, he was recently awarded a Foundation for Investigative Journalism grant and has three Associated Press Managing Editors awards for excellence in reporting.
Posted inElections
Local officials working to help voters get proper ID before Election Day
Local election officials plan to be very busy over the next week in an effort to identify as many of Travis County’s estimated 37,000 registered voters who do not have a photo ID. People with the county and the City of Austin are planning a series of events through Oct. 7 to help as many as […]
Posted inUncategorized
Commissioners approve scaled-down version of COTA road plan
On her second try, Travis County Pct. 4 Commissioner Margaret Gómez got her fellow commissioners to approve a fast-tracked roadway plan for her precinct, though it was only a scaled-down version of her original plan. The county will pay for the plan by issuing a Certificate of Obligation Gómez, along with Pct. 3 Commissioner […]
Posted inUncategorized
County faces loss of $1 million in federal funds to help home buyers
Travis County stands to lose almost $1 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds because a subcontractor failed to spend all of the money during the current fiscal year. County staff told Commissioners that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which issued the grant, reported that $909,925 was not spent in […]
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COTA area roads put on hold for negotiation among commissioners
Travis County Pct. 4 Commissioner Margaret Gómez pushed a proposal to fast-track road improvements in her precinct near the Circuit of the Americas racetrack before County Commissioners Tuesday, but in the end, opted to wait a week when she didn’t have the votes to pass her plan. Gómez was adamant to the very end […]
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Industry continues battle against endangered species listings
Energy industry lobbyists and conservative political organizations are moving quickly after a lawsuit settlement in August allowed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to move on more than 750 threatened species waiting to be named to the Endangered Species list. Two species in the Austin area – the Jollyville Plateau salamander and the Austin […]
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Central Health’s budget raises eyebrows at commissioners court
Officials with Central Health laid out their FY 2014 budget plan before the Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday, explaining to some skepticism how the agency’s tax rate is growing by more than 60 percent and its budget will increase by $59 million. Central Health, the eight-year-old health care district that serves Austin and […]
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Boycott by Austin, others impacts Arizona tourism
PHOENIX, Ariz. – A two-year-old boycott of Arizona led by the City of Austin and other governmental entities nationwide may have contributed to a more than 30 percent decline in out-of-state bookings for conventions and other meetings since 2010, Arizona officials said. That fall in bookings is linked to convention and meeting planners and […]
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Austinites pleased with just about everything — except traffic
The results are in: Most Austinites are really happy with where they live. In the 2011 edition of the City’s Annual Community Survey, citizens from all areas of the city gave Austin high ratings for its quality of life, said they think it’s a really swell place to work and raise their kids, and […]
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Spelman to run for third term, plans to focus on economy, affordability
Bill Spelman, who returned to the Austin City Council in 2009 after serving an earlier term (1997-2000), announced Thursday that he will run for re-election to Place 5 in May, 2012. Spelman is a professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, where he teaches courses on urban policy and […]
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Leffingwell vows to move toward ending city’s stake in coal power plant
Mayor Lee Leffingwell, on announcing that he will run for a second term as Austin’s Mayor, vowed Wednesday to begin the process of extricating the city from its involvement with coal for electric generation. Austin Energy owns half of the Fayette Power Project near LaGrange, along with the Lower Colorado River Authority. Leffingwell told a […]
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Parks officials vow to restore historic Bastrop State Park
Bastrop State Park, the legendary 6,000-acre stand of loblolly pine trees and stunning views somehow misplaced by providence, remains a charred landscape six weeks after Labor Day wildfires devastated the area. But armed with a private foundation grant – seed money, if you will – Texas Parks and Wildlife officials say the park will someday […]