GOVERNMENT
Austin City Council is poised to make a final vote on the land development code rewrite by early April. (CHRISTOPHER NEELY/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER)
Austin’s eight-year effort to rewrite land code advances to final vote with City Council's second-round approval
A photo of Dripping Springs City Council.
Dripping Springs City Council considers further support for community skate park
Austin Mayor Steve Adler (center), flanked by Assistant City Manager Christopher Shorter and City Attorney Ann Morgan, listen to public testimony on the land development code rewrite Dec. 7. (Christopher Neely/Community Impact Newspaper)
Tense land development code debate leaves Austin City Council members concerned over tenor of proceedings
Work group members—including Geoffrey Burkhart, Texas Indigent Defense Commission executive director; District Attorney Margaret Moore; County Attorney David Escamilla; County Court-at-Law Judge Elisabeth Earle; and Amanda Woog, Texas Fair Defense Project executive director—recommended a series of bond reforms at a Feb. 11 Travis County Commissioners Court meeting. (Courtesy Travis County)
Travis County group urges bond reforms after settlement in Harris County
Travis County commissioners approved a request Feb. 11 to decommission 192 jail beds. (Courtesy Travis County Sheriff's Office)
Travis County OKs request to decommission 192 jail beds
Julie Wheeler is Travis County's intergovernmental relations officer. She replaces Deece Eckstein, who retired in November. Courtesy Travis COunty
Travis County announces new intergovernmental relations officer
Following historic bond reforms instituted in Harris County, Travis County criminal court judges issued a standing order Feb. 6 to expand the use of pretrial release for misdemeanor defendants.
Travis County judges issue order to expand pretrial release for misdemeanor defendants
Austin City Council approved the prospective hire of Matthew Doherty on Feb. 6. (Christopher Neely/Community Impact Newspaper)
Amid pushback, council agrees to temporarily bring in former head of federal homelessness agency
Adeola Ogunkeyede will begin as Travis County's chief public defender April 20. (Courtesy University of Virginia School of Law)
Travis County hires inaugural chief public defender
Central Health’s Equity Policy Council, a collaboration of local community groups and leaders, is preparing to hone in on policy direction. (Iain Oldman/Community Impact Newspaper)
Central Health Equity Policy Council looking at increasing quality for local LGBTQ+ care, banning flavored tobacco products with new policy directions
Travis County commissioners interviewed two candidates for a new chief public defender position at their Jan. 28 meeting. The county's forthcoming public defender's office will represent defendants who cannot afford to hire attorneys themselves. (Emma Freer/Community Impact Newspaper)
Travis County commissioners interview 2 candidates for chief public defender position
Austinites likely to cast monumental vote in 2020, with transit proposition, local seats likely on fall ballot
City staff will release a new draft of the land development code and citywide zoning maps Jan. 31. (Christopher Neely/Community impact Newspaper)
City staff: Only 2% of new home construction in Austin over last 10 years was ‘missing-middle’ housing
(Christopher Neely/Community Impact Newspaper)
Council members divided over hire of outside attorney in property protest rights lawsuit
Construction on Sunset Valley city facilities including its new police building were completed in the early summer of 2019, but problems persist with its water features. (Nicholas Cicale/Community Impact Newspaper)
Sunset Valley to withhold payment until city facility pond issues are resolved