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Most Popular Stories
- City leaders evaluate surprising ideas for water conservation
- Audit: Economic official granted arts, music funding against city code
- Parks Board recommends vendor for Zilker Café, while voicing concerns about lack of local presence
- Dozens of city music grants stalled over missing final reports
- Council reaffirms its commitment to making Austin a more age-friendly city
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Public Safety
As wildfire anxiety grows, Austin plans to designate half the city as at risk of fire damage
Austin plans to greatly expand the amount of land, and therefore homes, considered at risk of wildfire damage. City Council members are scheduled to discuss updating rules surrounding Austin’s WUI, or Wildland-Urban Interface, later this month. This is the area…
Fire • By Audrey McGlinchy, KUT • Mar 14, 2025
Council adds funding to bolster Integral Care’s mental health efforts
Responding to the need for more mental health workers to staff Integral Care’s Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team, City Council on Thursday voted to allocate additional funding to the program. The action will inject more than $1.4 million into the…
Public Health • By Amy Smith • Mar 7, 2025
Early data suggest opening Sixth Street to traffic has improved public safety
Early data from the Austin Police Department suggests that a new public safety initiative aimed at reducing crime and violence on East Sixth Street is yielding positive results. The changes, which took effect in December, reintroduced vehicular traffic on weekend…
Public Safety • By Chad Swiatecki • Mar 6, 2025
Public Safety Commission 'concerned and excited' about progress from Office of Police Oversight
On Monday, the Public Safety Commission heard an update on the Office of Police Oversight’s implementation of the Police Oversight Act, as well as its vacancies and hiring processes. The OPO operates separately from the Austin Police Department, and its…
Police • By Mina Shekarchi • Mar 5, 2025
Travis County outlines the next year of opioid overdose prevention strategy
Even as the Trump administration attempts to gut every kind of federal grant bolstering local services, from transportation to public health and beyond, Travis County is still managing to continue its long-term investments in opioid recovery services and harm reduction.…
Public Health • By Lina Fisher • Mar 3, 2025
Amid ongoing measles concerns, Austin ISD’s vaccination rate is below target for its youngest students
As a measles outbreak in West Texas continues to raise concerns throughout the state, Austin ISD’s vaccination rate for incoming kindergarteners remains well below pre-pandemic levels. Public health experts say around 95 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated…
Public Health • By Olivia Aldridge, KUT • Mar 3, 2025
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Austin opened up police misconduct files. Now, state lawmakers want to lock them back up.
A bill that’s making its way through the Texas Legislature could target Austin’s management of its police department. Now, Senate Bill 781, authored by Republican state Sen. Phil King, could undo years of litigation, a citywide referendum and countless hours of public…
Police • By Andrew Weber, KUT • Feb 27, 2025
Austin ranks fifth in nation for cities most at risk for wildfires
According to a CoreLogic Wildfire Risk Report conducted in 2024, Austin ranks fifth in the nation for cities most at risk for wildfires. The top four cities are all located in California. David Bock, senior wildfire mitigation specialist at the…
Fire • By Hunter Simmons • Feb 25, 2025
SXSW, public safety leaders detail road closures and prep for festival season
The city plans to completely close or restrict more than 30 streets during the South by Southwest festival next month as part of safety planning for the event, a major economic driver for the area. The heads of all of…
Public Safety • By Chad Swiatecki • Feb 21, 2025
Federal cuts slash more than $2M from Foundation Communities' health navigator program
The Foundation Communities nonprofit is facing a substantial financial setback after the Trump administration announced a 90 percent reduction in funding for health insurance navigator grants. The cuts, revealed last Friday, eliminate nearly all funding for 56 programs nationwide that…
Public Health • By Chad Swiatecki • Feb 19, 2025
APD won’t enforce SB 14 as Paxton and Trump further attack gender-affirming health care
Last week, two federal judges issued temporary restraining orders on an executive order by the Trump administration that would have blocked federal funding for gender-affirming care for minors. That means that – for now – any health care provider or…
Public Health • By Lina Fisher • Feb 18, 2025
After shutting off mental health care for Austin musicians, SIMS Foundation restarts services
The SIMS Foundation, which has provided low-cost and free mental health care to Austin musicians for decades, is connecting clients to services again after a three-month pause. SIMS Foundation CEO Derrick Lesnau said the organization reached its fundraising goal of a…
