South Austin voters’ voices were loud and clear on Election Night. Even though the South Austin Republican Club doesn’t align with the results, we want to thank all the candidates that ran, their campaign staff, volunteers, and warriors that worked tirelessly to get out the vote for who we supported.
These next months and years will be critical to saving Austin from the progressive left and making progress for our principles in Travis County. This is going to require everyone to provide effort and resources to dominate the field and turn out everyone we can for the candidates and causes we support.
The hardest challenges will yield the most satisfying victories in times of great adversity. George Washington faced seemingly insurmountable odds when crossing the Delaware River in the dead of winter in 1776. But, with perseverance, focus, and unwavering determination to protect and maintain the principles he found important, we prevailed in one of the most significant ways in American history.
We too have this same chance in Travis County in 2024. The odds may seem stacked against just. The data may not add up. But if we fold now we do a disservice to everything we believe.
Therefore, we can’t back down. We must cross our Delaware River. We must protect what we hold to be true and important.
The fight is not over. We can and will do more in 2024. And, most importantly – We Can Win Austin!
“This morning, Austin Energy had around 3 dozen homes without power, but around by 5:25 a.m. that number jumped to 7,772.” FOX7 “People were seen fighting over food in the dumpster at an H-E-B store in South Austin on William Cannon and I-35 yesterday.” FOX7 “A residential development containing 375 units and rising up to seven floors at the…
Image: FOX7 As Texas deaths caused by opioid use have risen, Austin has installed its first Narcan vending machine. This machine was deployed by the N.I.C.E. Project (More Narcan In Case of Emergency) in conjunction with Sunrise Homeless Navigation. What is Narcan? It is a nasal spray drug that prevents death from overdosing on opioids…
As Texas deaths caused by opioid use have risen, Austin has installed its first Narcan vending machine. This machine was deployed by the N.I.C.E. Project (More Narcan In Case of Emergency) in conjunction with Sunrise Homeless Navigation.
What is Narcan? It is a nasal spray drug that prevents death from overdosing on opioids like Fentanyl. It is so effective and can be successfully administered to people who are in such dire conditions that it has been referred to as a “Lazarus drug.”
The vending machine is located in South Austin and is free to use, allowing those who may be at risk of overdosing to have a life-saving drug on hand. Of course, those at risk are very likely to be addicted to illegal drugs, causing some to worry that Austin is subsidizing addiction.
However, as a life-saving measure, the vending machine isn’t a terrible idea. It strains credulity to think that someone would decide to begin taking opioids only because the city now had a free Narcan dispenser, and it is unlikely that drug users who are considering quitting their dangerous abuse would suddenly double down on their addiction because of a vending machine. It does, however, seem likely that an opioid addict, worried for their life, might use Narcan. Perhaps a near-death experience will convince them to seek help. Without Narcan, an opioid OD is essentially a death sentence.
Drug addicts deserve our sympathy and help; their deaths are tragedies even if they know their behavior is risky.
That being said, Austin’s decision to deploy a Narcan vending machine looks like only a first step in a general campaign of so-called “Harm Reduction.” And if that’s the case, it is opening a door, I would rather remain shut.
Regarding drugs, “Harm Reduction” has noble goals; rather than criminalizing drug addiction and making the lives of those afflicted by addiction harder, it focuses government agencies instead on rehabilitation and care. Again, these are noble goals. Anyone who has seen a loved one laid low by addiction has seen the need for radical love and mercy in attending to them.
But anyone who has seen addiction knows the fine line between care and subsidy, between showing mercy and enabling. We’ve all heard of parents with a child who cannot seem to escape the terrors of addiction. The parents provide housing, food, water, medicine, and sometimes even cash to purchase more of the substance that’s killing them—out of love for their child whom they see slipping away.
It has been said a million times: that an addict must hit “rock bottom” before changing his or her way. Of course, some people’s rock bottom is lower than others. Some find theirs, in a circle of loved ones, being told just how important their life is and what it means to know them. Others only find theirs under six feet of earth—leaving families devastated.
When a government follows a policy exclusively of “Harm Reduction,” the government risks rapidly shifting its relationship with addiction from one of reform and rehabilitation to one of enablement. And it almost always ends in enablement.
Case in point: San Francisco. San Francisco began a campaign of “Harm Reduction,” in the early 2000s, along with California as a whole. Drugs were increasingly decriminalized. Resources increasingly focused on addiction care. But deaths by overdose stubborn refused to decline. Quite the opposite. San Francisco, like Austin, massively outstripped the national average increase in opioid deaths. As deaths increased, so too did open-air drug markets, where poison is peddled in broad daylight, and primarily homeless and the working poor buy their pleasant suicides.
To try to combat this growth in open usage, the city has now deployed secretive “safe use” sites in the city. The drug-addicted may now go to a government-administered site under the care and protection of government-funded staff. The City of San Francisco has become the administrator of the soul- and life-destroying sickness of addiction.
To say that this is morally questionable is an understatement.
To give someone a life-preserver when they go for a swim in dangerous waters is one thing; to drive them in a boat into the middle of the storm and watch as they struggle to stay afloat is altogether another.
The groundwork for going further with “Harm Reduction” is already being laid as the vending machine is being used much more frequently than anticipated, with the supply that was intended to last months now almost exhausted. The City Council itself is getting in on “Harm Reduction,” has declared the opioid epidemic a public health crisis in a resolution that specifically calls for employing “harm reduction strategies.”
Should we follow the San Francisco model, we can expect worsening addiction, greater expenditure supporting that addiction, and more and more deaths.
Austin’s first step in “Harm Reduction” is one that many Republicans may support. However, we must all now be on the lookout for further steps that will take us down a dangerous, morally bankrupt path.
South Austin’s Narcan Dispenser: A Good Idea – A Frightening Precedent | SARC
“Roughly a dozen families living at a mobile home park in South Austin who received 60-day notices to leave will be able to stay for the time being after a Travis County judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday.” KUT 5 Fun Things in South Austin – DO512 “A 25-year-old man has been arrested for…
Austin City Council voted to increase their pay by 40% last week by an overwhelming margin. Out of the eleven members, only three opposed this egregious hike in pay; Paige Ellis (D8), Vanessa Fuentes (D2), and the redoubtable Mackenzie Kelly (D6).
“Roughly a dozen families living at a mobile home park in South Austin who received 60-day notices to leave will be able to stay for the time being after a Travis County judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday.”KUT
“A 25-year-old man has been arrested for shooting a panhandler in South Austin. Police say Elijah Perez left the scene, then later returned to tell police what he did.”FOX7
“A new bar taking its cues from Mexico City and South Austin will open this fall. Lulu’s will be found on 10402 Menchaca Road, Suite 3 starting sometime in mid-September or early October in the far south Austin area.”EATER AUSTIN
“Police said a man was taken to the hospital after being shot in both legs Friday night. It happened in the 6400 block of South Congress Ave. around 8:15 p.m. That’s near William Cannon Drive. When officers arrived, they found a man who had been shot in both legs.”KXAN
In 2020, the city council removed $150 million from the Austin Police budget. While this author has given special attention in the past to the obscenity of losing our sex crimes unit, there is another element that was eliminated causing all too tragic consequences.
Today, we will specifically look at mass shootings, trying to understand what exactly they are. By striving to understand the horrors that rock our headlines all too often, we may gain insight into how to prevent them.
Image: The incident happened inside Zilker Park. (CBS Austin)
In 2020, the city council removed $150 million from the Austin Police budget. While this author has given special attention in the past to the obscenity of losing our sex crimes unit, there is another element that was eliminated causing all too tragic consequences.
APD was forced to cut patrols specifically designated for our once-pristine parks.
We have had two reported murders in Austin’s parks in two days. This can hardly come as a surprise. Where the police go, criminals flee; where they don’t, criminals gather. Adding police officers to a city has a measurable impact on the murder rate.
No doubt the leaders of our city will splutter and attempt to explain away these actions as part of a national trend—ignoring the fact that Austin followed the national trend of tearing police budgets to ribbons.
But those of us who understand how criminals operate, whether through research or purely common sense, know that the city is witnessing what could be normal in murder rates because the Council chose to ignore all warnings. There was history to be made. There were ideologies that needed backing. There were activists to be appeased.
And now there are bodies to be buried. There are losses to mourn.
Sources say that APD is sending patrols back into the parks, but with fewer and fewer officers, this means crime will simply move to another underserved area of the city.
In the wake of mass shootings, Americans are regularly told that these atrocities do not happen in other developed countries. This, we are to believe, is the damnable result of the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
Austin has decided to launch an experiment with Universal Basic Income (UBI) in partnership with the nonprofit UpTogether. The program, when implemented, will send $1000 per month to 85 low-income individuals in the city.
The family of a man shot and killed by police is suing APD.
Alex Gonzales Jr. was shot by APD officers after pointing a gun at an off-duty officer and then driving away when the officer fired on him. After a brief chase, Gonzales stopped his car, at which point his girlfriend, who had been shot by the off-duty officer, exited the passenger side and began yelling for her baby—who officers later found in the back seat. Gonzales also exited the vehicle and, ignoring police commands to put his hands up and get down, went to the back door of his car, and reached in. At that point, several APD officers fired, killing Gonzales. The child in the back seat was unharmed.
The family’s lawsuit states that Gonzales’ wounds “compromised his physical and mental functions and his comprehension.” It says that APD, in particular the officer who first fired on Gonzales, Gabriel Gutierrez, should have known that Gonzales was no longer a threat.
However, a gun was found in the car after Gonzales was shot.
While I cannot imagine the pain of the loss Gonzales’ family is experiencing, Austin must stand firm against this lawsuit.
I fully support the rights of Texans to carry firearms and use them to defend themselves, however, what we know of the initial incident would mean that Gonzales had unlawfully brandished his weapon. Gutierrez, the off-duty officer, says that he was turning into an intersection when Gonzales sped around his vehicle and cut him off while pointing a gun at him.
In no way would this be a legal, justifiable brandishing of a firearm.
Even if Guitierrez had not seen Gonzales’ car, and had cut into Gonzales’ lane, Gonzales would not have the right to aim his firearm at another motorist.
Again, Gonzales acted in an unjustified manner.
Furthermore, when Gonzales had stopped his car, there was no way that the police could reasonably confirm Gonzales’ intent. They knew he had driven recklessly and pulled a gun. And that’s not even counting his evading pursuit—which could be theoretically dismissed since Gutierrez was off-duty in his personal vehicle, Gonzales may not have known he was being pursued by police until Gutierrez’s backup arrived. What the officers knew at the moment they fired on Gonzales was that he was unpredictable and armed. He had committed a felony by pointing his weapon at another driver.
Police are not hired to be mind readers. They are not expected to understand every nuance of a perpetrator’s behavior. They cannot assume the best intent on the part of every person they encounter. They are heavily trained and the longer they are officers the more experiential knowledge they can apply to the actions they need to take in the moment. While in hindsight, it may sound as though Gonzales had been, in a state of shock, unaware of the police’s commands and was seeking to comfort the child, police knew he had a gun—which again was recovered in the car—and reasonably believed that he was seeking his weapon to fire at police.
It is always a tragedy when a young person dies. This man was the same age as I a.. He, like all of us, was a wellspring of potential. But he committed a crime. He persisted in his crime. He had threatened lives.
In doing so, he put his own life at risk.
Should the City of Austin settle with this family, it will be yet again sending the message, that APD is not to be trusted; that it should receive no benefit of the doubt; that every police shooting should be treated as a murder in which the defendant—the officer who pulled the trigger—is presumed guilty and must prove his or her innocence.
That is an unsustainable process. We will lose more officers. Our remaining officers will hesitate in protecting themselves and others; this will cost lives. Police will continue to pull back, leaving Austin a more dangerous city.
The City of Austin must stand its ground and fight this suit.
Severe winter weather can be deadly and we want you to be as prepared as possible for the next major storm that will hit the Austin metro area. Below, you will find ways to be prepared. Please take every suggestion seriously. The intention of this article: To ensure you have the soft/hard skills and options…
6:07PM – Austin, TX USA South Austin Republican Club Dallas Emerson, Communications Director & Data Analyst dallas@southaustinrc.org Keep Voting Former President Donald Trump released the following statement yesterday, October 13th, 2021: This message has been received as a threat to the Republican Party; somehow to address the alleged fraud of the 2020 election. There are…
An anti-gun violence rally on the steps of New York City Hall in 2019. (William Alatriste/NYC Council)
In the wake of mass shootings, Americans are regularly told that these atrocities do not happen in other developed countries. This, we are to believe, is the damnable result of the Second Amendment to the Constitution. Americans are told again and again that the key to solving this problem is to drastically reduce the number of firearms in circulation; specifically, the number of semi-automatic rifles.
Of course, America isn’t entirely unique. As we’ll examine later, many other developed countries experience mass violence, including France, Norway, and New Zealand.
Despite the hyperbole, though, there is an element of truth in the idea that America’s violence is unique in the developed world. As a country, we are much more violent, both in mass settings that capture our imaginations and headlines and in individual cases that tend to be accepted as somehow normal.
For example, when we compare US cities to those of comparable nations—Western Europe, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia—we find that American murder rates are startlingly high in comparison. Murder rates may not be a perfect indicator of overall violence but work very well as a way of identifying serious violent tendencies.
Glasgow, Scotland ranks as perhaps the most dangerous major city in America’s peer nations with a murder rate of around 5.1/per 100,000 residents in 2020.
That murder rate would make Glasgow, Europe’s deadliest city, the 62nd most deadly city in America in 2020, landing between San Francisco and Anaheim.
So, does that prove it? Is it true that because Americans have access to so many guns, we are much more likely to murder each other?
Not exactly.
As it turns out, Americans do not rely on a single tool to commit murders.
Indeed, according to the FBI in 2019, the most common murder weapon was the handgun, used in 45.7% of murders. Firearms of unknown type were used in 23.9%. Knives were the second most common identifiable weapon at 10.6%.
It is worth mentioning that murders with hands and feet (600) outstrip murders with rifles and shotguns combined (564).
Now, there’s no doubt looking at those numbers, that the number of firearms almost certainly increases the number of murders—it’s just a lot easier to kill someone with a gun than with your hands.
But when we have gun control debates, lawmakers focus almost exclusively on one type of firearm: the semi-automatic rifle. A weapon so rarely used in murders the FBI does not distinguish its use from that of other rifles. I’ll say that again; rifles are so seldom used that the FBI does not count semi-automatic rifles separately from other, slower-firing rifles.
To further put this in perspective, in 2019, there were estimated to be 16,425 murders. 10,255 of these were committed with firearms. 364 were committed with rifles—that we can prove. We have to assume some of the unidentified firearms are rifles.
Even so, this is a tiny fraction of the overall number of murders; about 2.2%.
To put this further in perspective, there were 36,096 vehicular homicides in 2019.
There are 271,000,000 cars in the US.
There are believed to be more than 400,000,000 guns.
Despite this, a regular point of argument is that if we had the same kind of regulations around cars as we did guns, there would be fewer deaths. The belief is that by requiring training, licensing, registration, and other qualifications, deaths caused by firearms would be reduced. But as we have seen, the numbers don’t really bear this out, as cars—which have numerous, onerous regulations to own and operate, are involved in far more yearly deaths than guns, despite there being far more firearms.
But even if we were to impose greater regulations on gun ownership, we wouldn’t expect it to have much impact on their use in crimes. Simply put, weapons that are acquired through legal means are very rarely used in crimes.
In 2019, just about 10% of guns used in crimes were obtained in retail environments according to the Department of Justice. Retail environments include gun stores, sporting goods shops, gun shows, pawn shops, and flea markets. While it is often difficult to prove the provenance of firearms otherwise acquired, very few purchased in this verifiably legal way are ever used in crime.
About 20% of guns used in crimes fall into a legal gray zone, in which the criminal claims to have acquired the firearm from someone else, either through purchase or as a gift.
In total, 70% of firearms are acquired in an explicitly illegal fashion.
What this points to is that criminals generally seek out non-verifiable means to obtain firearms, meaning that adding further regulation to the acquisition of guns would have, if not negligible, very minor effects.
But again, given Americans’ highly violent nature, even if we were to ban all guns, and remove all firearms immediately, Americans would still attack one another by other means more commonly than our peer societies.
America, however, is not merely more violent than our peer nations.
We are much more criminal overall, with 715 per 100,000 people being held as prisoners. Some might say this is because of over-incarceration, with nearly 45% of those in federal prison being held for drug offenses. However, the statistic is still meaningful, as it demonstrates that Americans incur the risk of incarnation at a higher rate than our peer societies.
This tendency also appears when we look at traffic fatalities. We have nearly three times as many traffic deaths per capita as the European Union—11.7 vs 4.2, suggesting more reckless driving in the US.
Indeed, social science regularly demonstrates that Americans perceive less risk than those of other developed nations.
Lack of risk aversion is highly correlated with crime, and those who commit even low-level offenses are much more likely to also commit violent crimes.
All of this suggests that guns are not the root cause of violence in America.
American people are.
A murder committed with a firearm is just as evil and tragic as it would be with a knife.
Let us turn our attention now to mass shootings, the crimes that most often grab headlines and shake our nation.
Even looking exclusively at these horrifying crimes, the handgun is the weapon of choice for offenders, not the semiautomatic rifle. Handguns were used in 98 mass shootings since 1982 compared to 52 in which rifles were used.
Now rifles are disproportionately favored in mass shootings as compared to the more common individual murder—making up about 30% of the weapons chosen in mass murder, but only 2% in individual cases. They are, however, not universally, nor even particularly often used, making up—of the three categories (rifles, shotguns, and handguns)—about one-third of the weapons.
To sum all of this data up, targeting semi-automatic rifles would have a negligible impact on the overall American murder rate, and would not even prevent the majority of mass shootings. It is worth noting, that once a person has come to the point of deciding to murder a classroom of eleven-year-olds, the choice of which type of firearm is probably not extremely important to the outcome. In the cases of Uvalde, Parkland, and Sandy Hook, it would be foolish to suggest that had the shooters chosen handguns, rather than AR-15 style rifles, there would have been less carnage. The AR-15, firing once every time the trigger is pulled would not kill any more efficiently than a handgun operating in the same manner.
This makes the proposed ban on semi-automatic rifles—often erroneously called an “assault rifle ban”—window dressing, intended to allow lawmakers to claim to have “done something,” with little regard for the actual results of this policy.
This might lead one to ask, “why not ban all guns?” This is a topic we will turn to shortly in another post.
There is basically no support in the US for a handgun ban, despite this being the most commonly used murder weapon. American support for such an idea is actually shrinking, reaching an all-time low in 2019 according to the latest available data from Gallup. This is likely because Americans understand that the handgun is also an essential self-defense weapon.
In conclusion, we are a more violent people and a less risk-averse people than our peers. We kill each other at much higher rates than our peers, but rarely with rifles—semi-automatic or otherwise. Simply calling out our differences in gun laws and gun violence is not a strong enough reason to ban an entire class of firearms.
As we continue, we will examine what such a ban might look like, and what laws would need to be altered to implement it. However, our next piece will examine mass shootings specifically. How are they defined, who commits them, and where do they occur?
“People who live in South Austin and use Stassney Lane will soon have safer and more convenient ways to cross the street or get to a public transit stop.” @KVUE
On November 2nd, 2021 Texans will have the chance to vote on 8 statewide propositions. Austinites will have the chance to vote on 2 city propositions. You can learn about them here and we encourage you to vote!
by Dallas Emerson, Communications Director & Data Analyst
dallas@southaustinrc.org
Austin has decided to launch an experiment with Universal Basic Income (UBI) in partnership with the nonprofit UpTogether. The program, when implemented, will send $1000 per month to 85 low-income individuals in the city.
This is part of a series of experiments with Universal Basic Income occurring throughout the country.
And they’re all pointless.
Let’s set aside the principle and even the theory underlying UBI. Those are arguments to be taken up when the discussion is whether to implement such a program.
No, I want to talk about this “experiment,” and its guaranteed unhelpfulness.
The idea behind running the pilot program is, at first glance, understandable. Rather than unrolling a multi-billion dollar program, we will study a small group of people, and how their lives and behavior is changed by receiving additional income.
But the results will be easily misunderstood or misinterpreted; indeed, I would go so far as to say that the results will be meaningless.
Let’s look at the pilot program again: 85 low-income people receiving $1000/month. That’s not chump change. I would certainly not turn my nose up to that kind of money. And certainly, we can expect that their spending habits would change. Their work habits will likely change.
And that means nothing when only 85 people are receiving this money.
However, if every single Austinite, all 950,000 of them, were to receive $1000/month—or about $12 billion dollars a year—we can only guess at the rapid, unprecedented rise in inflation as we poured an additional one billion dollars every month into our economy. Keep in mind, that nothing else will have changed—there will not be more goods being produced or more workers contributing. There will not be higher quality goods.
We can guess what kind of wild effect this will have on the prices of low-income housing, food, fuel, and childcare in the city.
They will go up.
As we have seen on a national scale, subsidizing demand, by sending cash out to consumers, leads to price increases. This is not an argued point. The only question is how much of the inflation can be attributed to government disbursement of funds.
If the Council agrees to this experiment, they will be putting Austin on a path to receiving information that we know will be misleading. We know that the relatively small disbursement will help these few, chosen families. We also know that these families will be the most likely to suffer from inflation—low-income families are always hit hardest by price increases.
The Council must exercise prudence and take any result of this futile experiment with skeptical eyes.
“Legend says in the ’20s, it was a hangout spot for train robbers the Newton Gang, Carvalho said. Roughly 50 years later, the likes of Willie Nelson and Janis Joplin performed at the venue.” COMMUNITY IMPACT
Dallas Emerson, Communications Director & Data Analyst
dallas@southaustinrc.org
Keep Voting
Former President Donald Trump released the following statement yesterday, October 13th, 2021:
This message has been received as a threat to the Republican Party; somehow to address the alleged fraud of the 2020 election.
There are those who argue this message is not a threat but, an analysis: Republican voters will stay home because they feel their votes will not count.
While South Austin Republicans Club takes voter fraud very seriously, we cannot encourage people to not vote. The idea that Republican voters should stay home is destructive, and the same attitude that handed two Georgia Senate seats to Democrats in January. When Republicans stay home, Democrats win.
As our club has noted before, there is no evidence of election-altering fraud in Austin. If the powers that be could suppress the vote, we would have never passed Proposition B (citywide homeless camping ban) or gotten a conservative councilwoman elected (Councilwoman Mackenzie Kelly).
As we look to vote for Prop A this year, and electing new councilmembers next year, we cannot allow the questions we have about the 2020 election prevent us from making our voices heard.
Despite how badly we wanted to see Donald Trump reelected, we must honestly and factually take up the many challenges that Republicans face. So that we ensure conservative leaders are elected and conservative policies implemented.
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“There are those who argue this message is not a threat but, an analysis: Republican voters will stay home because they feel their votes will not count.”
In 2023 we have a chance to change the composition of the Austin City Council. What the really means is that we have a chance in 2022 since candidates can start officially running one year prior to the election in November of 2023. In South Austin we will have two seats up for the taking…
By Dallas Emerson, SARC Senior Communications Director & Data Analyst The rule of law is essential in a free society. Law and liberty are not opposed; they go hand in hand. In a lawless world, the powerful do what they wish, regardless of consequences. In a free society, even the rich and powerful can be held accountable. …
“People who live in South Austin and use Stassney Lane will soon have safer and more convenient ways to cross the street or get to a public transit stop. Crews from the Austin Transportation Department will start phase two of a project aimed at improving pedestrian crossings, bike infrastructure and bus stops.”KVUE
“The Austin Police Department has made an arrest and is looking for another person in connection with a homicide that took place back in April in South Austin. It happened on April 26th in the 6200 block of Boxcar Run at 11:53 p.m.”CBS AUSTIN
“About 70 COVID-19 vaccines were given to festival goers during weekend one of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, according to authorities.Constable George Morales, who oversees Travis County’s vaccine strike teams, told the Travis County Commissioners Court on Tuesday of the latest vaccine distribution.Officials said the 70 vaccines were a part of the 763 doses that were given in Travis County last week.”PATCH
“An elderly woman was struck and killed by a car in south Austin last week, authorities said Monday. The crash took place around 8:55 p.m. Friday near the 7000 block of E. Riverside Drive and Frontier Valley Drive.”PATCH
“Tesla officially moved its headquarters from Palo Alto, California to Austin, Texas CEO Elon Musk announced at the company’s 2021 annual shareholder meeting.”CNBC
“Make the most out of an autumn trip to pumpkin patches near South Austin by planning to play a few games beforehand. The best experiences at the nearby fields this fall can become treasured childhood memories when you organize a friendly competition among young pumpkin patch visitors.”PATCH
“People who live in South Austin and use Stassney Lane will soon have safer and more convenient ways to cross the street or get to a public transit stop.” @KVUE
“The Austin Police Department on Friday identified the man who was found dead lying in the road with multiple gunshot wounds early Wednesday morning in South Austin.” CBS AUSTIN “Commercial developer and operator Unico Properties has sold Bouldin Creek, a 170,000-square-foot office building in South Austin to San Francisco-based DivcoWest for an undisclosed price. Unico…
“If you’ve been wanting to add a four-legged ball of love and affection to your family, start with these South Austin area animal shelters for a pet to take home.” @KXAN_News
Here in Austin, there’s an Afghan interpreter named Hash who served alongside our military. He has become a citizen, but his family is currently trapped in Kabul, at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
“Austin Public Health (APH) said it has identified four positive mosquito pools for West Nile Virus while doing routine monitoring for mosquito-borne diseases. The pools were found in the 78744 ZIP code area during the past two weeks.”KXAN
“A colorful, 140-foot mural was installed by the Southern Oaks neighborhood of Austin to greet travelers on Buffalo Pass in south Austin.”KXAN
“All northbound lanes of Interstate 35 are open again after two 18-wheelers crashed and closed the freeway Tuesday morning.”KXAN
“This year, as the pandemic turned the education world on its head, many families began looking at private schools or homeschooling for the first time, according to local school districts’ data. This noncomprehensive guide provides insights into private schools around Southwest Austin and Dripping Springs, from specialized instruction to different religious affiliations.”COMMUNITY IMPACT
“When Albert Demi and his wife, Melanie, adopted Cooper in college, the retriever would not eat. Then, one day he stole a bite of their sandwich, and it seemed like his entire demeanor changed.”COMMUNITY IMPACT
By Sarah Jessica Fields This was my view of the Capitol from a hotel room. We were in Austin for several days. I am home now and I am physically and emotionally exhausted. I think that some Americans have a skewed idea of what all patriots look like. When you think of a patriot, you…