UT students living in the Brackenridge Apartments are confident their interests will be reflected in at least one of the master plans detailing the future of the Brackenridge Tract. But the city of Austin, unsure of the future of the golf course it leases on the tract, will attempt to purchase the Lions Municipal Golf Course on Dec.
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The future of the University’s policies and tuition rates could change after the legislative session beginning Jan. 13. Several bills regarding tuition re-regulation, the top 10 percent law, tax-free textbooks, another tier-one university and domestic partner benefits have been pre-filed or drafted for the upcoming legislative session, in addition to the biennial request for state appropriations that occurs every session.
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The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston will ask the Texas Legislature in its upcoming session for an advance of relief funds totaling $700 million. The appropriations would take the form of two $350 million payments for working and operating capital.
A Texas representative has pre-filed a controversial bill for the next legislative session that would make English the official language of Texas. Texas Rep. Dan Flynn authored the bill, which would require documents in Texas to be printed in English only, with the exception of those required otherwise by federal law.
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"Fight Night" By Andrew Rogers Ivan Valle strikes a blow against Rolando Reyes. "Tree of the Year" By Curt Youngblood Hazen Frank, 1, and her mother Leah play in the branches of the 2008 City of Austin Large Tree of the Year on Lamar Boulevard "BreakthrOUgh" By Chris Kominczak Students celebrate after the Longhorns’ win over the Oklahoma Sooners in the annual Red River Rivalry.
The new drivers’ license regulations implemented Oct. 1 by the Department of Public Safety were contested by state representatives, advocacy group members and citizens during a press conference at the Capitol Tuesday. The new drivers’ license rules created special provisions for non-citizens attempting to obtain a license.
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An increase in field-release citations around the campus area may have led to fewer pedestrian-involved accidents, and more citations citywide could lead to increased safety over the holidays, according to Austin Police Department district representatives.
The findings of Common Ground, a paper detailing four strategies to improve Texas public elementary, junior high and high schools, were presented Tuesday at the Capitol. Common Ground is the result of five prominent figures in public education collaborating over a period of about one year to reach a consensus about ways to make Texas public education more effective.
Schools in South Austin may have worse outside air quality than all other schools in the city, according to a report released Monday by USA Today. Parkside Community School, located on Toomey Road, is ranked as possibly having the worst air pollution nearby for the 282 schools measured in Austin, followed by Baranoff Elementary, which belongs to Austin Independent School District.
The Texas public school system has provoked the anger of education reform advocates for decades, as the state usually places close to last in numerous national education rankings. The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas announced its plan Tuesday to propose changes to Texas’s education policies.
Texas weather a danger Central Texas is headed for a cold but dry winter season, said meteorologist Troy Kimmel. Overall winter temperatures will follow the trend of highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s, with possible dips below those averages. The drought conditions are expected to prevent much chance for precipitation, but Kimmel said there is a slight chance for freezing rain.
As the sun set early Friday evening, a group of about 20 women clustered together inside a small room in the Chabad Jewish Student Center just west of campus. One by one, the women stepped forward and lit tiny, white tea lights. Under ordinary circumstances, the people attending services at this Jewish cultural and educational center would be lighting candles to welcome the beginning of the Sabbath.
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The U.S. economy shed more than half a million jobs in November, the largest one-month drop in 34 years, according to a report released Friday. To combat the barrage of economic downfall, some financial experts are pushing for a stimulus package that may exceed $1 trillion.
Architecture students hope that small houses called flats could substitute for traditional homes by cutting down on energy costs, suburban sprawl and the negative effects of gentrification. This month, students in UT’s School of Architecture launched a Web site for the Alley Flat Initiative, a project to build flats in Central Austin.
A recent report gave 49 states an “F” in terms of college affordability. The report, released last week by National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, showed college and tuition fees have increased 439 percent since 1982, nearly three times higher than the increase in median family incomes.
“Look! It’s Santa!” a girl said as she pointed to a biker dressed in a Santa costume Sunday at the Helping Hand Home for Children. More than 600 bikers rumbled down 38th Street to the home, where 38 previously abused and neglected children between ages 4 and 13 live.
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Amanda Emery, a junior at the University of Michigan-Flint, was born and raised in a General Motors family. Her parents both logged more than 30 years on the job for the automotive giant — her mother, Cathy, as a skilled welder in a Flint truck plant and her father, Gary, as a company electrician and supervisor.
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Dr. James Morrow conducts the University of Texas Chamber Singers in a rendition of “I Saw Three Ships” Thursday morning at St. David’s Episcopal Church. Held in the church’s historic sanctuary, the concert began the “Caroling at Noon” series, to be followed by the UT Harp Ensemble on Dec.
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Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said she is “turning the rumor mill into reality” as she edges her way into the 2010 gubernatorial race. Hutchison, who withdrew from the gubernatorial race in 2002 and 2006, filed papers Thursday with the Texas Ethics Commission to open a campaign office and begin raising money to challenge incumbent Republican Gov.
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Suit says companies lack license required to operate in Texas
The company that operates red-light cameras for the city of Austin is facing a $3 million lawsuit filed by a Dallas attorney after he received a ticket in the mail. Lloyd Ward filed the lawsuit last week against Arizona-based Redflex Traffic Systems Inc.
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“OK, I’ve got some really bad news to tell you,” says Jamie Schanbaum jokingly whenever her friends and family come to visit her in the intensive care unit. “I might have surgery, might lose a few fingers or toes and maybe a foot or two.
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Art in Public Places currently oversees 40 works in production
In 1985, Austin established the Art in Public Places program, becoming the first city in Texas to allow artwork in construction projects. Then, only 1 percent of the city’s capital improvement budget every year was spent on public arts projects.
The Austin State Hospital at 4110 Guadalupe Street was the site of 499 reported assaults by contact within the last year, according to data compiled by the Austin Police Department. The number is far higher than any other hospital in Austin and leads the city in the number of assaults for one location in recent reports.
Alan McKendree, a systems analyst at UT, thinks most people incorrectly view education as intrinsically good. “People assume school is a good thing and are willing to pay taxes as it follows,” McKendree said. McKendree and a group of nearly 20 students and faculty gathered Thursday night on the second floor of Waggener Hall for the last meeting of the semester for the Objectivism Society.
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After separate drinking incidents on Sixth Street, an 18-year-old UT freshman and two other victims noticed their credit cards missing, the Austin Police Department said Thursday. On Oct. 18, both the UT freshman and another male encountered four women, whom officers believe stole the cards.
Student organizers seek interfaith amity in wake of Mumbai terrorist attacks
Two UT students, a Muslim from Pakistan and a former Hindu from India, led a rally Wednesday urging Muslims and Hindus to avoid finger-pointing over the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai that have left at least 170 people dead. Business junior Nakishka Iyengar said inflammatory comments posted on the pages of Hindu and Muslim Facebook groups compelled her to organize a unity rally on the West Mall.
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Some UT faculty say the UT System Board of Regents should consider the University’s need for more classrooms and laboratories when deciding the fate of the Brackenridge Tract. Representatives from master planning firm Cooper, Robertson & Partners LLP and a six-member UT Faculty Council subcommittee met Wednesday to address the University’s academic interests in the tract.
The deadline for the College of Liberal Arts to produce funds matching a grant for an endowed chair in Pakistani studies named after former U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson has been extended by 30 days. Directors of the T.L.L. Temple Foundation, an East Texas charity that agreed to make a $500,000 grant challenge to the University in 2005, extended the deadline, which originally passed during Thanksgiving break, to Dec.
UT students who chomp down at all-you-can-eat buffets in Kinsolving and Jester Second Floor dining halls may need an extra hand when carrying their food next summer. The Division of Housing and Food Service plans to implement a new “trayless dining system” in both cafeterias, aimed at reducing the 112 tons of edible food waste they produce each year.
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In the future, Austin residents could open their mailboxes to find checks from the utility company instead of bills, said solar energy advocates Wednesday at the Clean Energy Venture Summit. The Pecan Street Project, a collaborative effort of Austin Energy, the Environmental Defense Fund, UT and several state and national corporate partners, aims to increase the use of clean, alternative energy sources.
Police corral escaped camels near Mexico-Texas border CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — It may have seemed like a mirage: Two camels nibbling on a pine tree along a street in this desert metropolis on the Texas border. Police tried lassoing the animals, which lunged at the officers with snapping teeth as onlookers chuckled.
The doors of the Austin Convention Center opened at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday to let thousands of individuals into the Get Motivated Seminar, which featured high-profile and motivational speakers. About 14,000 attendees heard distinguished speakers, including former Secretary of State retired Gen.
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The Texas Faculty Association is suing the UT System Board of Regents in response to its decision to implement layoffs at the UT Medical Branch in Galveston. The suit, which was filed Tuesday in a Galveston County Court, alleges that the regents’ Nov.
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Economic recessions see influx of students in Masters programs
UT’s Masters in Business Administration program has seen a 24 percent increase in applicants for the spring 2009 semester, compared to last year, said Rob Meyer, a spokesman for the Red McCombs School of Business. Meyer said he thinks this drastic increase is due to the current economic recession.
Texas has taken legislative steps toward fostering clean renewable energy, but the potential to improve exists, said a statewide environmental group Tuesday. “Texas has the technological prowess and the vast reserves of renewable energy, from the sun [and] the wind, to revitalize the economy, to power the nation, to create tens of thousands of high-paying manufacturing jobs and to renew Texas’ role as the energy capital of the world,” said Environment Texas Director Luke Metzger during a press conference at the Capitol.
A grassroots Web site is seeking to make Texas an “open carry” state, allowing citizens to wear unconcealed handguns. Texas is among only five states in the nation — New York, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Florida and South Carolina — that does not permit the unconcealed carrying of a handgun.
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Student Government held its last meeting of the fall semester despite a record-low attendance, tabled legislation and two resolutions pushed to the first meeting in January. Minator Azemi, SG administrative director, said 25 out of the 44 SG representatives attended Tuesday’s meeting.
Distinguished senior lecturer of Italian Antonella Olson walks by the Texas Union Tuesday evening.
Cain Foundation donates $1.5M to UT College of Communication More than $1.5 million from the Cain Foundation will endow the Wofford Denius Chair in Entertainment Studies and establish a student Creativity Fund for UT’s College of Communication.
Families around the country greet the holiday season by decorating their homes with evergreen trees and strings of lights, and the Texas Capitol is no exception. A horse-drawn carriage transporting the Nash family, owners of Elgin Christmas Tree Farm, rode to the south entrance of the Capitol on Monday, delivering the traditional three evergreen trees for the Office of the Governor, the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Without family or a table of turkey to turn to, homeless people in Austin gathered last Wednesday for Mobile Loaves & Fishes’ annual Thanksgiving feast. The Austin-based social-outreach ministry has expanded across five cities nationwide to provide meals and clothing to the homeless every day through the use of 12 catering trucks and 12,000 volunteers.
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Officials look ahead to how they might turn the economic downfall around for the future
WASHINGTON — Most Americans sorely knew it already, but now it’s official: The country is in a recession, and it’s getting worse. Wall Street convulsed at the news — and a fresh batch of bad economic reports — tanking nearly 680 points.
U.S. lost 500,000 jobs last year while Texas created 250,000 jobs
Though the National Bureau of Economic Research said yesterday that the U.S. has officially been in a recession for one year, Gov. Rick Perry said Texas’ economy is strong compared to the rest of the nation. Perry spoke at the Austin Chamber of Commerce’s annual Economic Forecast at the Hilton Austin hotel Monday.
UT’s Center for American History took the name of former Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe on Monday following his $15 million donation to the center. Briscoe, a 1943 UT graduate, has given more than $26 million to UT System institutions. UT President William Powers announced the name change at a press conference Monday in the Main Building.
Attorney for victim’s parents hopes judge will overturn ruling
A district judge overturned a $16.2 million lawsuit ruling against the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity for the death of UT freshman and group member Tyler Cross, who was 18 years old. Judge John Dietz reversed his previous default ruling last week in favor of deliberations between the fraternity and the Cross family.
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UT researchers develop chip to detect heart attacks from saliva With saliva and a chip containing a biosensor, doctors and paramedics may be able to diagnose heart attacks earlier and more accurately, according to a UT press release. Chemists and engineers at UT developed the chip that would be used to analyze saliva.
Sooners emerge from three-way tie after BCS gives them No. 2 spot over Texas
After a 49-9 win over Texas A&M on Thanksgiving night, all the Longhorn football team could do was sit and wait to see what would happen in the Big 12 South. Texas Tech escaped Baylor 35-28. Oklahoma prevailed in a 61-41 shootout with Oklahoma State.
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Nikishka Iyengar woke up last Wednesday to text messages telling her about the bombing at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel in Mumbai, India. Frantically, she got up and began calling family and friends to make sure they were OK. “I broke down,” she said.
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A new interactive map for a UT partner university in Saudi Arabia will introduce prospective students and faculty to the look of their campus after construction is completed in time for the fall 2009 semester. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, known as KAUST, partnered with UT last spring.
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In 29-page document, state asks for $6.2 billion for transportation projects
President-elect Barack Obama is handing out the gifts this holiday season with the promise of a $700 billion stimulus package, and the Texas Department of Transportation has already made a $6.2 billion wish list for state projects. The proposed package is intended to improve the U.
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Undeclared freshman Cheol Chung carries his luggage beneath posters hung in Jester Center after spending Thanksgiving in Houston.
A small audience counted down Tuesday night as Austin City Councilman Lee Leffingwell pulled a switch, illuminating 50 bald cypress trees dressed in white LED lights. The lighting of the trees, which sit along the new East Esplanade overlooking Lady Bird Lake by Cesar Chavez Street, marks the completion of the Cesar Chavez Two-Way Conversion and Urban Enhancement Project.
Environmental Protection Agency regulations that list greenhouse gas emissions as federally regulated pollutants would hurt Texas’ economy, said Gov. Rick Perry at the Capitol on Tuesday. Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA enforces procedures and regulations that push state governments to reduce air pollution.
The leader of several university newspapers that own printing presses say the viability of their press operations is attributable in part to the profitability of outside printing contracts and, in one case, the fundraising abilities of alumni. The Texas Student Media board decided last week not to sell UT’s printing press, which prints student-run publications as well as local high school newspapers and other projects outside the University.
Elves don’t always wear red and green. This year, some of Santa’s helpers may be found decked out in burnt orange. Employees of UT’s Project Management and Construction Services have transformed the Facilities Complex on Manor Road into a veritable Santa’s workshop, building handmade toys for UT’s Orange Santa program.
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University and Austin police are teaming up with local apartment complexes and dorms to protect students living in the area from crime when they leave over the Thanksgiving break. Crime rates on campus and in the city over the Thanksgiving holiday are usually less in comparison to the winter break, but local agencies say they are still concerned about travelers preparing their residences before they leave.
The Federal Trade Commission won a victory last week in a year-long battle against Austin-based Whole Foods Market Inc.’s acquisition of rival Wild Oats Market of Colorado for an estimated $565 million. The commission filed a complaint opposing the merger in June, citing that such a buyout would violate federal antitrust laws by “eliminating the substantial competition between these two uniquely close competitors.
Pre-game tradition allows football fans to support Longhorn team since 1986
A banner depicting Bevo carving a maroon turkey and reading “Victory. It’s what’s for dinner.” hung over the heads of thousands of students as they rallied Monday on the Main Mall to hex the Aggies in preparation for Thursday’s Lone Star Showdown with Texas A&M University.
Though private donations to the University during past economic downturns have fluctuated, fundraising campaigns launched during recessions seem to succeed, according to data from UT’s Office of Development. As the nation plunged into the Great Depression in the 1930s, the University launched “For Texas, I Will.
Institutions provide smaller loans to aid developing businesses
Matt Flannery, the co-founder and CEO of Kiva, a nonprofit organization, said microfinance has been so successful because credit is a right, not a privilege. “The right to financial services is like the right to free speech,” Flannery said in Monday’s lecture at the Texas Union.
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‘People’s lawyer’ protected consumers and the environment
Friends, family, co-workers and admirers filled the Texas House Chamber on Monday to pay respect to the “junkyard dog of Texas politics,” Jim Mattox. Mattox, a former Texas attorney general, died of a heart attack in his sleep Thursday at the age of 65.
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have developed a drug that has potential to fight various viral diseases. The anti-viral drug, called bavituximab, is getting noticed in the scientific community because the properties of the drug present a unique approach to treating viral diseases by recognizing features found only on infected cells and enveloped viruses, according to the Peregrine Pharmaceutical Inc.
Shopper clubs carjacking suspect with a cold turkey RALEIGH, N.C. — Stopped. Cold turkey. North Carolina authorities say a shopper clubbed an alleged carjacker with a frozen turkey as he tried to steal a woman’s car in a grocery store parking lot Sunday.
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