Austin

Williamson County voters will decide next month whether to invest $447 million into one of Texas’ fastest growing counties.

Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said police are going to retool how they enforce laws that prohibit obstruction of sidewalks and public spaces and that he has asked the city to revert back to old rules on homelessness while it considers revising ordinances passed in June.

Travis County has more registered voters than ever before. The Travis County Tax Office said this week that 93.5% of all eligible voters — more than 800,000 people — have registered ahead of the November election.

With unseasonably hot temperatures in Austin this fall, it’s a great time to take a swim in the city’s premier swimming hole.

Barton Springs Pool is a constant 70 degrees, more than cool enough to help you chill out no matter how hot it is outside. But that’s also chilly enough to make it kind of uncomfortable to get into at first. That led Susan Somers-Willett to ask our ATXplained project this question:

What’s the best way to enter the icy waters of Barton Springs?

Gov. Greg Abbott says he's prepared to "unleash the full authority of every state agency" if Austin doesn't address issues surrounding homelessness by Nov. 1. 

There's an election this November. You'll have a slew of state constitutional propositions to decide on, but at the city level you'll have just two.

Here's what they'll do.

The Census Bureau released the latest batch of data from its American Communities Survey last week. The survey offers a glimpse into economic indicators, demographic shifts and population numbers.

It's a lot.

Here are a few items that stood out. 

Manchaca Road is no more.

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to block the City of Austin from changing the name of the South Austin road to honor a Texas revolutionary.

Mayor Steve Adler says the Austin City Council doesn't necessarily need to revise rules passed in June that effectively legalized camping, siting and lying down in public.

Blooms of blue-green algae on Lady Bird Lake persist, city officials said Wednesday.

After a brief decline in the neurotoxin-laden algae at Red Bud Isle, the Austin Watershed Department says, another swath of algae is covering as much as a quarter of the surface.

The City of Austin will pay a Washington, D.C.-based research firm up to $800,000 to evaluate how Austin police officers investigate sexual assault cases. Last year, a string of reports revealed that the Austin Police Department had misclassified rape cases, raising questions about the integrity of these investigations.

Austin City Council members heard testimony on revisions to its homelessness rules ahead of an expected vote Friday that could reinstate restrictions on camping and resting in public.

City leaders have a new proposal to regulate behavior related to homelessness ahead of a possible City Council vote that could happen as soon as Wednesday.

A new report from a California-based market research firm finds that Austin ranks fifth in a list of cities facing the highest reconstruction costs due to potential wildfire damage.

Researchers with CoreLogic found that 53,984 Austin residents live within an area designated as having a high-to-extreme wildfire risk, representing the potential for roughly $16 billion in reconstruction costs.

A gap in internet access for Austin residents has shrunk, but a sense of mistrust over the internet’s privacy and security persists among those without access, according to a recent study by the City of Austin and the University of Texas’ Moody College of Communications.

The Austin City Council approved a record $4.2 billion budget Tuesday, directing more money toward services for people who are homeless and to hire more police officers.

Austin City Council members have presented plans to roll back city laws passed in June that effectively allowed camping, sitting or lying down in public. Council members will consider the changes, which limit that behavior at specific locations, at their Sept. 19 meeting.

Update at 12:28 p.m. Sunday: The Austin Fire Department tweeted that the brush fire was 90% contained. Crews were continuing to monitor the scene.

Austin's third forum on homelessness this summer began with a benediction, of sorts, from moderator Jack Musselman: that all people are created in God's image, and that the forum, hosted by St. Edward's University, would be civil and comport to the university's Catholic mission.

The guy from InfoWars apparently wasn't there for that benediction.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Bill Flores announced Wednesday morning that he would not run for re-election in 2020 — making him the fifth Texas Republican to announce his retirement from Congress.

No matter how jet-lagged, or sweaty, Austin tourists may find themselves when they reach the Texas Capitol Visitors Center, they'll find a breath of fresh air waiting for them just inside its doors: Mary Jackson.

City officials released additional guidelines Friday on how to limit homeless encampments in Austin – including spatial limitations on sidewalks and along waterways. The memo from the city manager and the Homeless Strategy Office is meant to guide the Austin City Council as it rolls out a plan to limit resting and camping in public.

Travis County is in the home stretch in its yearslong effort to establish a public defender office for low-income adult defendants. The Texas Indigent Defense Commission on Thursday OK'd a four-year grant to establish the office in the county – the largest jurisdiction in the country without such an office.