Maya Fawaz
Hays County ReporterWhat I do at KUT
Where most reporters have a certain beat they focus on, my reporting includes a little bit of everything: education, politics, the environment, business and housing. My coverage area is also vast, I travel frequently across San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, Wimberley and Dripping Springs.
I love what I do and the ever-changing nature of my beat, but it frustrates me to know I can’t cover everything. I try my best to bring attention to what’s most important to the communities in Hays County and will always lend an ear to someone willing to chat. I work hard to keep people at the heart of every story I tell, whether it be on the air or on our website.
My experience
I was labeled an “excessive talker” in every classroom growing up, often having to be moved away from friends and exiled to the other side of classrooms — where I inevitably would strike up a new conversation with a stranger. I got accepted into the University of Texas at Austin and didn’t know what would come next. All I knew was I loved telling stories and was obsessed with learning languages. I took a journalism class, which led to another, and yet another.
I graduated with a bachelor’s in Journalism, a minor in French and with a first-level Arabic class under my belt. I produced an investigative podcast under our student-run audio production house called Crooked Power, a five-episode series reported entirely in Spanish. It followed a family of journalists in Ecuador as they fought for a free press amid a national controversy in 2011.
I freelanced for a while, editing and producing podcasts, until I landed an internship at KUT. I was given a chance to stick around as a part-time general assignment reporter and, to my delight and surprise, was hired as the Hays County reporter in January 2023.
Journalistic ethics
I care more about covering the news fairly and with context than to be the first reporter to break the news. I believe in producing accurate stories while treating sources with compassion and care. At the end of the day, reporters are people, with our own opinions and beliefs. I take great care to not let my own experiences and opinions impact my reporting.
-
Hays CISD currently has 102 buses without seat belts. The district is receiving several new orders of buses this year and will consider a bond measure that would go to voters in May 2025 for additional funds.
-
Tourists will open their wallets as they flood the Hill Country to view the eclipse. But how cities will handle the crowds depends a lot on the size and planning that has taken place until now.
-
Su maestra dijo que le encantaba dibujar dinosaurios. La familia ha iniciado un GoFundMe para recaudar dinero para su funeral.
-
His teacher said he loved drawing dinosaurs. The family has started a GoFundMe to raise money for his funeral.
-
One adult and one child died after a Hays CISD school bus carrying pre-K students crashed in Bastrop County Friday afternoon.
-
Fourty-four Tom Green Elementary School pre-K students and 11 adults were on the bus.
-
San Marcos approved economic incentives for the company to build a gas station along I-35 between San Marcos and Kyle near Yarrington Road. The city expects to collect $5.9 million in property taxes and $3.2 million in net sales taxes from the deal.
-
Villalobos had 69% of the vote against Daniel Law in the Democratic primary. He will face Republican Anthony Hipolito in the Nov. 5 general election.
-
A medida que la ciudad de San Marcos sigue creciendo, también lo hace el número de personas que visitan los parques y el río San Marcos. La "prohibición de latas" de la ciudad pretende atajar la contaminación impidiendo la utilización de los envases de bebidas de un solo uso en el río y en determinados parques.
-
You may have heard the term in recent years. A recent rainfall may have recharged one, another may not have enough water to keep up with demand. But what exactly are they?