Where else will you find a sprinkler dance party, fire spinners, firework discharge zones and some of the finest local musicians? Only at Austin’s 2012 Fire Fest, of course! With everything this festival has to offer, it truly is “a revolutionary event only Austin could harbor.”

The Republican Party dragged the Affordable Care Act to the US Supreme Court, sure that the conservative-leaning would throw it out. And now they are slackjawed as the highest court in the land supported Obamacare in a five-four decision.

First of all, matching your pink accented Skechers Shape Ups with your backpack this early in the morning? Fucking hard core. That's the fashion equivalent of when Matthew Modine (aka "Joker") euthanizes the Viet Cong girl with a .45 slug to the head at the end of Full Metal Jacket.

Americana music is so dominated by men that last night’s Austin City Limits taping featuring Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples was as refreshing as it was celebratory. The range of styles and deep-seated emotions made it memorable, but also demonstrated why both women have been revered for so long.

A week after the Department of State Health Services Council passed controversial new rules that would increase the amount of information that both women seeking abortion and their doctors would be required to report to the state, a group of Democratic senators is asking outgoing health commissioner to put on the brakes.

Just more than a year after the U.S. Department of Justice closed it's book on a complaint about excessive force and other issues at the Austin Police Department, Nelson Linder of the Austin NAACP and Jim Harrington with the Texas Civil Rights Project, have asked the DOJ to reopen the case, alleging that excessive force is still a major problem within the APD.

As we all know, Austin summers are a little on the warm and sunny side. Yes, the sun is glorious and the source of all life, but it can cause beauty disasters. Here are a few summer beauty problems that I have personally experienced, accompanied by solutions, of course. Problem: Protecting skin from the sun, without wearing heavy, greasy sunblock.

Here in Austin, the snakes are out. We had the toughest summer in recent history last year. A rainy spring in 2012 has brought them out in droves. Most are the good kind, unless you're a chicken farmer. They kill rats and keep to themselves. Some are the the scary kind. The ones with rattles, or the special colors we learns as kids: red on yellow, kill a fellow.