Volume 19, Number 21
features
Carol Brorson consults the experts to get to the roof of Austin's rat problem.
BY CAROL BRORSEN
Ken Lieck remembers Rattus.
BY KEN LIECK
Think you're the only one with a rat problem? Bernadette Noll reassures that you are not alone.
BY BERNADETTE NOLL
news
Building SH 130 is still being considered in terms of costs, routes, and whether it will be a toll road.
BY MIKE CLARK-MADISON
Small Houston funeral home operator claims state agency is coming down hard on him while going easy on funeral giant SCI.
BY ROBERT BRYCE
Willie Lewis announces his re-election bid for city council, opposing Thomas Hollywood Henderson and police officer Danny Thomas; Intel is looking for land in Austin, SOS is being honored for smart growth work.
BY AMY SMITH
Council moves out of City Hall annex, addresses the needs of poor, examines csc's record on hiring minority contractors, approves neighborhood proposal for the chamption tract, names a designer of the Mexican American Culture Center.
BY JENNY STAFF JOHNSON
After working out some of its kinks, Austin's all-news cable channel, News 8, earns a high "C" for constant availability, lengthy news segments, and decent-quality programming.
BY LEE NICHOLS
food
"This is food you know; there are no surprises," Chronicle food writer Barbara Chisholm declares about Ray's Steakhouse.
BY BARBARA CHISHOLM
The new year has brought several big changes among Austin's restaurants; Cuisines editor Virginia B. Wood provides the details.
BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD
In this week's installment of the weekly dining guide Second Helpings, Chronicle food writer Wes Marshall covers Austin's best wine stores.
Food Reviews
music
Tracking down Rob Halverson and Robinson Ear's Little Whirled of Sound.
BY CHRISTOPHER HESS
The rise, fall, and rebuilding of Austin stickman Thor.
BY KEN LIECK
Another club bites the dust, the first happy bands of 2000, the Greatest Band in the World comes to SXSW, more people do stuff
BY KEN LIECK
Record Reviews
Bang
Building Nothing out of Something
Choochtown
Errata
Open Land, A Long Time Ago
Swingin' the Blues
Alkibar
Ancoats2zambia
The Hurting Business
The Very Best of Robbie Fulks
Tableside Manners
The Lioness
Cuadernos de La Habana
screens
Swiss documentary maker Richard Dindo considers himself a "portraitist or biographer of those who are no longer with us." This week, he brings two films : about revolutionary Che Guevara and writer Jean Genet : to town as part of the Austin Film Society's Texas Documentary Tour.
BY ANNE S. LEWIS
Upcoming events and workshops of interest to the Austin film community.
BY MARC SAVLOV
David E. Kelley is one of the most gifted and powerful television writers of the late Nineties : so why is he wasting his talents on trips around the belly buttons of the most self-obsessed, spoiled creatures ever created for the small screen?
BY BELINDA ACOSTA
Screens Reviews
Film Reviews
arts & culture
A new generation of Austin choreographers is expanding our concept of dance through the combination of movement styles and traditions from across the globe, and Barbejoy Ponzio talks to them about the part fusion plays in their work.
BY BARBEJOY A. PONZIO
A major change in the staff for the Salvage Vanguard Theater; a new endowed chair for the UT Department of Art and Art History.
BY ROBERT FAIRES
Arts Reviews
columns
Don't be afraid of State Highway 130.
BY LOUIS BLACK
Don't look to the past, don't repeat other's mistakes, and don't read the Chronicle's movie reviews.
Our weekly calendar of activist and volunteer events and fundraisers.
BY KATE X MESSER
High school students comment on the meaning of the new millennium.
BY MICHAEL VENTURA
Huntsville ... it's more than just a prison town!
BY GERALD E. MCLEOD
Go high-stakes shopping with Dodie Kazanjian in her new book.
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
Confounding logic, punchlines, and baking tips.
BY MR. SMARTY PANTS
Any Given Sunday bites, but no worse than the Coach's prognostications last week. Old wisdom: The Colts are the best in the league. New wisdom: Titans may be for real.
BY ANDY "COACH" COTTON
Where to get free, anonymous HIV testing in Austin.
BY SANDY BARTLETT
Letters to the editor, published daily