Nina Hernandez

This evening the Austin Justice Coalition will bring together Austinites for the third annual State of Black Austin Forum. Community members will discuss the most pressing issues affecting the community, including criminal justice reform, economic empowerment and gentrification. At least two members of City Council will also be in attendance: Council Member Ora Houston, one […]

Summer being a busy time at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is nothing new. Predictably, in the coming months, terminals will be swarmed with tourists, vacationing families and Europe-bound college students lugging around travel packs. According to the airport, this year is likely to be even more crowded than usual. Traffic is already up 6.5 percent […]

The Austin Independent School District is bringing free meals to children at more than 50 campuses this year as part of the Summer Food Service Program. Though the program will be offered at schools where at least 50 percent of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, all kids 18 and under – […]

Rather than sending unsold, packaged food to the landfill, the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport now funnels those items into a Food Rescue Program that distributes them to people in need. The program started in March, and has so far diverted 3,500 products including sandwiches, salads and snack boxes. It’s the result of a collaboration between the […]

The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority will run on a modified, Sunday-level schedule to observe Memorial Day on Monday, May 29. That means MetroRail, UT Shuttle and E-Bus service will all be suspended for the day. Capital Metro offices, as well as the Transit Store, will also be closed. Those in need of assistance can still […]

Two sculptures by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei will be unveiled next month at a public opening and family day. The free event, to be held on Saturday, June 3, at the Waller Delta, 74 Trinity St., is hosted by the Contemporary Austin museum and Waller Creek Conservancy as part of the Museum Without Walls program […]

The Kealing School Park improvement project will get a $20,000 boost from the “Meet Me at the Park” campaign, the city announced last week. Kealing is just one of 16 projects across the country chosen to receive the grants, which are sponsored by the National Recreation and Park Association and the Walt Disney Company. In […]

Yesterday, Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore released a statement announcing that her office would begin to send out letters to victims and witnesses in criminal cases who are in danger of being deported due to their immigration status. The office hopes it will help victims and witnesses continue to appear and cooperate. In the […]

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department is working with the developers of the Grove at Shoal Creek, the West Austin planned unit development passed in December, to create the Public Parks Master Plan for the site. Certain community benefits are required in exchange for the planned unit development zoning, and the developer has pledged to set […]

As we noted yesterday, the Chestnut Splash Pad was briefly closed due to a mechanical problem on Wednesday, just days after it reopened for the summer. Thankfully, today there is better news to report. As of Thursday, the splash pad was fully operational and running on its regular, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. schedule. Learn […]

Yesterday, The New York Times published an opinion piece by City Council Member Greg Casar on Texas’ freshly signed Senate Bill 4 — the “sanctuary cities” law. In the piece, Casar details his recent arrest protesting the bill and the effect the new law will have on immigrant communities across Texas, whose local jurisdictions are […]

In Tuesday’s work session, Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo raised the possibility of City Council holding a series of CodeNEXT-focused work sessions. Following up on that thought in a City Council Message Board post on Wednesday, Tovo said that during that first meeting Council is likely to tackle the “procedure and process changes” in the […]