The National Weather Service is forecasting warmer and drier-than-normal conditions for the Austin area this winter — but high-impact storms are still possible. What city officials and Austin Energy are doing to keep potential winter storm outages to minimum. Austin music legend Joe Ely has died at 78. Jeff McCord, KUT and KUTX’s former music director, reflects on […]

The post How Austin is preparing to keep outages minimal this winter appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.

Austin Public Health has experienced some federal and city budget cuts this year, and the failure of Proposition Q means some of those holes won’t be filled. We look at the public health landscape in Austin. The old Faulk Central Library in downtown Austin became the Austin History Center, and has been redone after a […]

The post A look at the public health landscape in Austin appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.

A new “bathroom bill” approved by Texas legislators has been in effect across the state for just over a week, requiring people to use public restrooms aligned with the sex they were assigned at birth. But there are still questions about how the law will be enforced, and here in Austin, a lot of it […]

The post ‘Bathroom bill’ in effect, but enforcement is unclear appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.

The light-rail transit line long promised to Austinites could soon clear a major hurdle – and that could give new momentum to a project that’s been dragged down through legal and political resistance. The latest on where the project is headed. Months after a Texas A&M professor was fired for discussing gender identity in a literature […]

The post Austin’s light-rail poised to clear major hurdle appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.

A former Austin Energy employee has been accused of defrauding the city utility of nearly $1 million over the course of six years by falsifying credit card payments to contractors and paying fake vendors that had addresses tied to him or his relatives. The YMCA in downtown Austin wants to expand and renovate, adding housing, restaurants and […]

The post Austin Energy employee paid nearly $1 million to fake vendors before resigning, audit says appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.

Austinites and many others across Texas insured through Blue Cross Blue Shield could lose in-network access to Ascension Seton facilities on Jan. 1 unless the two sides can agree on a new contract. Austin has been a testing ground for autonomous vehicles: Zoox, Texla’s Robotaxi, Waymo. However, Waymo has now issued a software recall after videos […]

The post Blue Cross policyholders could lose in-network care at Ascension appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.

Austin nonprofit LifeWorks has helped nearly three dozen young Austinites stay housed through a cash-assistance pilot program. We hear the story of one person who said the money helped her at a critical time. In Williamson County, folks are looking into where its cities get their water and how they could better work together. Plus: […]

The post LifeWorks program helps youth avoid homelessness appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.

Across the city of Austin, medics are working and responding to emergency calls despite the budget challenges facing the city and Travis County. Voters in Austin resoundingly rejected a property tax increase that officials hoped could be used to supplement area first responders.Now, these departments are adjusting to a future with fewer resources. Plus, the […]

The post Travis County medics work to respond to emergencies amid budget challenges appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.