KUT Staff

Monkeys losing parts of their tails to frostbite. Alligators living for months with no sunlight. Lions and tigers lying in their own waste for weeks.

These are just a few of the allegations of animal mistreatment Austin American-Statesman reporter Elizabeth Findell detailed in a piece last week about the Austin Zoo.

A crowd gathered on the UT Austin campus Monday to honor the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Among the speakers – many of them leaders, elected and otherwise – was fourth-grader Bradon Owens, who won the 14th annual MLK Oratory Competition.

President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, William Barr, will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning.

Federal authorities have closed their investigation into the series of bombings across Austin last year, finding Mark Conditt had no overarching ideological motivation and acted alone. 

State lawmakers were back in Austin on Tuesday as the 86th regular session of the Texas Legislature convened. The day was mostly a big opening party: Family and friends of lawmakers flooded the Capitol for swearing-in ceremonies and celebrations.

From the serial bombings in Austin to historic flooding in the Hill Country to the midterm elections, here are some of the best images from KUT in 2018.

It's safe to say 2018 was an eventful year. In the spring, a series of bombings killed two people and seriously injured four others. A few months later, a school shooting outside Houston prompted Gov. Greg Abbott to convene a series of roundtable discussions and issue a school-safety plan.

A commander with the Austin Police Department was indefinitely suspended Thursday – essentially fired – after an investigation into allegations that he assaulted a woman he met on Tinder.

The woman contacted police in August to report that Jason Dusterhoft had become increasingly violent during sex.

Tech giant Apple announced today it plans to invest $1 billion in a new Austin campus. The 133-acre campus off Parmer Lane is about a mile away from Apple's existing campus and would accommodate 5,000 new employees. The new facility is slated to open in 30 to 36 months.

On the ballot this Election Day is an Austin ISD Board of Trustees race and a runoff for the Austin Community College board. None of the candidates in those races got 50 percent of the vote last month, so the top two finishers are facing off.

Austin voters picked their final three City Council members­ – for District 1, 3 and 8 ­– in runoff elections today.

The body of former President George H.W. Bush arrived at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston last night ahead of a memorial service this morning. The service is expected to start at 10 a.m. 

Former President George H.W. Bush is being honored with funeral services at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C.

The body of former President George H.W. Bush is lying in state this week at the U.S. Capitol. The forty-first president died on Friday. Watch the remembrance ceremony live.

This midterm, the U.S. Senate race in Texas captivated the entire country and was touted as a bellwether for Democrats' future in the deep-red state. On election night, KUT journalists Julia Reihs and Gabriel C. Pérez joined Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Beto O'Rourke, respectively, as they watched the results come in.

Here's what they saw:

Austin voters gave the OK to seven bond propositions that total more than $925 million this election, while two propositions fueled by citizen petitions – Propositions J and K – failed.

Mayor Steve Adler has shored up a second term as mayor of Austin. Incumbent Council Member Kathie Tovo appears to have been re-elected to her District 9 seat. In District 3, Council Member Sabino "Pio" Renteria teeters on the edge of securing his re-election, but will likely head to a runoff against his sister, Susana Almanza. Districts 1 and 8 are headed to runoff elections in December.

President Donald Trump suggested in an interview that he could sign an executive order eliminating automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to noncitizens. If he follows through, the order would undoubtedly set off a legal challenge that would ultimately end at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Austin Water officials say they hope to call off the citywide notice to boil water by Sunday.

"We're hopeful that Sunday we can get there, and that's what we're targeting," Ginny Guerrero, Austin Water's public information officer, told KUT.

Austin Water issued a boil-water notice and asked residents to reduce water consumption Monday after historic flooding overwhelmed its water treatment plants.

A boil water notice remains in effect for Austin Water customers, and the city of Austin is pleading for people to slash their water consumption by 15 to 20 percent. Outdoor water use is being banned as part of what officials describe as an emergency situation. 

Travis County’s emergency management chief said the situation could last up to two weeks.

Lake Travis, now 146 percent full, is being closely watched by officials deciding whether to open more floodgates on Mansfield Dam. If Lake Travis is forecast to rise to 710 feet, the Lower Colorado River Authority would have to consider increasing the flow of water downstream, raising the risk of flooding including along the shores of Lady Bird Lake in Austin. 

Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court cleared a key procedural hurdle in the Senate on Friday, 51-49. A final vote on his confirmation is expected as soon as Saturday.

Still, the fate of Kavanaugh's nomination remains unclear. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted to end debate, but said she will announce her final position on whether to confirm Kavanaugh on Friday afternoon. 

A day after contentious testimony, the Senate Judiciary Committee meets today to vote on the nomination of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.