Cover Story
Fusebox à Deux, or a Spark Shared by Two Austin Artists
From its humble beginnings out behind Canopy’s gallery complex 22 years ago, Fusebox Festival – which has its first biennial (aka every other year) run this year, April 15-19 at various stages around Austin – has always been a breeding ground for artistic connection. Co-founder of the arts nonprofit and current co-Artistic Director Ron Berry…
News
What to Know About the New Texas SNAP Restrictions
Data shows that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients are not “spending their SNAP dollars more than the average person on sugary beverages or candy,” according to Jamie Olson, vice president of policy and advocacy at Feeding Texas, “but as of last Wednesday, April 1, SNAP recipients are no longer able to use their food stamps…
D.A.’s Office Responds to Misconduct Claims in 2020 Protest Case
With trial in the prosecution of APD Officer Chance Bretches just a couple of months away, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office is pushing back on claims it withheld key information, arguing in new court filings that the defense has not identified any undisclosed evidence or met the legal threshold required to halt the case.…
AISD to Close Historic School Campus in 2028
Last November, the Austin ISD Board of Trustees approved the closure of 11 schools at the end of the school year, including Oak Springs Elementary in East Austin. Oak Springs students will attend Blackshear Elementary for the 2026-2027 school year, just over a mile away down Rosewood Avenue, consolidating the two student populations. In November,…
The Week’s Biggest News in Brief: April 2-8
AISD Budget Deficit Continues to Soar: Austin ISD has a ballooning budget deficit problem. Last projected to sit around $50 million by the end of this school year, the district is now projecting a potential deficit of $181 million by next school year, the Statesman reported. AISD has been hopeful that the sale or lease…
Austin Energy Standard Offer Program Ramps Up Local Solar Capacity
Since 2004, Austin Energy has been an early leader in solar generation. The sun is a plentiful resource in Texas, and when paired with battery storage, it can decrease Austin’s reliance on fossil fuels and reduce the cost of importing power from West Texas. Under an innovative new program, AE is expecting to turbocharge local…
Despite Proven Progress, Austin’s Guaranteed Income Program Was Gutted
The small Canadian town of Dauphin looks a lot like small towns across Texas. On precisely the same line of longitude as San Angelo but 1,000 miles north, you’ll find a main street full of pickups. Either side of the road is lined by low-slung stores, some with the feel of an Old West boomtown.…
Music
Music Notes
Soto the Activist Thursday 9, Valhalla Soto the Activist is a fixture at Underground Voices’ hip-hop open mics at the 13th Floor. So much so, he shouts out the venue’s area code on his jazzy new single, “Cody Rhodes”: “78701, that shit a sacred code/ City showin’ love to your boy, but I can’t call…
Arts + Culture
Moontower Celebrates Austin Comedy’s Many Brains
When podcasting comedian Stavros Halkias coined the term “Austin trans brain” to refer to shock-seeking performers encapsulated by the Kill Tony ethos, a collective wince rippled through the city’s comics – and plenty non-comics too – who value long-form storytelling and human decency. The relocation of Joe Rogan and the landing of the Comedy Mothership…
Red River Cultural District Affirms $2.3 Billion Five-Year Economic Impact in New Review
Red River Cultural District released its first comprehensive economic report on Thursday, April 2, tallying up the live music-focused area’s financial contributions to the city. In the last five years, the district has generated $2.3 billion in overall economic impact, according to the Angelou Economics-conducted study. Last year that impact encompassed $174 million in labor…
The Fire Raisers Is a Sign of the Times
I’m not sure how many people remember watching Trump’s campaign in 2015. Few took his buffoonery seriously. I’ll admit, I thought it was a publicity stunt for The Apprentice, a distasteful grasp at shock marketing. I mean, there’s no way anyone could be that vulgar that publicly and actually mean it, right? Surely no one…
Complicating The Myth of Red Texas
Texas is a land that revels in its idiosyncratic history and associated iconography. On bar signs, brand logos, T-shirts, and tattoo sleeves, the Western-outfitted cowboy and land-roping barbed wire feature heavily. These tangled symbols aren’t easily sorted politically, but when it comes to talking about the Texan past, more often than not, that past is…
Austin Dance Festival Continues in Wake of Founder’s Passing
Being creative takes guts. It’s terrifying not only to share your art, but to believe it’s worth sharing – to take every idea and notion and keep growing your artistic field. Austin Arts Hall of Famer Kathy Dunn Hamrick defined that creative bravery. She launched not only a boundary-pushing company with KDH Dance but also…
Screens
Exit 8 Review: The Terror of Repeating Yourself
The tendency of big-screen video game adaptations has been to make the movie more visually elaborate than the source material. After all, if you have endless server farms at your disposal, why not add a few more hairs to Mario’s mustache, or generate a hi-res chicken jockey, or give Pyramid Head even more abs? The…
Hamlet Review: Tragedy Minus Time
Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy has been remade so many times, some novelty is required to justify another spin at the wheel. Director Aneil Karia and screenwriter Michael Lesslie make just such a case in the opening minutes of their adaptation, which reinvents the Danish royals as the super-wealthy family of a South Asian real estate…
Columns
Miami Draw Proves Austin FC Can Compete With League’s Best
Walking through a maze of chain-link fences, past the diggers and excavators and gravel piles to the steps of Nu Stadium just hours before the anticipated grand opening of Inter Miami’s billion-dollar permanent home, it was almost comical to think that Austin FC would be able to do anything to diminish the celebration of a…
Qmmunity: Here’s to Another Week
Ah, yes: April showers have brought the rescheduling of many events – several that ran in last week’s column, even! Keep an eye on our online calendar to see updates as new dates roll in. As for right now, I hope you’re dry and not too put out by the shuffle. That’s this city for…
The Luv Doc: Marfa Letdown
Dear Luv Doc, My girlfriend is about to turn “nearly 50” and she wants to have her birthday in Marfa because she says her friends all talk about how peaceful and beautiful it is. She wants to rent a house for the weekend for us and her four friends and their husbands, which will be…
Opinion: Police Associations Are Buying Austin’s Attention – and Dodging Accountability
The attention of Austinites is apparently for sale, and police associations are buying it. Recently, an attorney affiliated with the Austin Police Association filed a motion in the criminal case against an Austin police officer accused of injuring a protester during the 2020 protests. They claim District Attorney José Garza failed to disclose discussions about…
Day Trips: Selena’s Bridge, San Antonio
Selena’s Bridge in San Antonio is a nice tribute to the slain Tejano music singer, even though the historic stone-arch pedestrian bridge on the River Walk has no direct connection to the Corpus Christi-based artist other than appearing in a movie about the once-rising star. Selena Quintanilla Perez was born in Lake Jackson on April…
Feedback: April 10, 2026
Last Words? Dear Editor, Hello again. They say beware the elder swordsman, so perhaps it’s best Captain Billy claims disinterest in our crossing paths [“Crossing Swords,” Feedback, April 3]. It suits me fine to keep sheathed my own Blue Steel. Instead of resolution by deadly combat, I propose the Chronicle utilize its Solomon-like wisdom and consider publishing…
Fun + Games
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Unexpected deliverance? Lucky rides? Beginner’s grace? Dreamy, gleaming replacements? To the untrained eye, it may look like you are bending cosmic law in your favor. In truth, you’re simply redeeming the backlog of blessings you earned in the past – acts of quiet generosity and unselfish hardship that never got their…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Idli, a south Indian dish made from steamed rice, originated in Indonesia, according to food historian KT Achaya. World Idli Day is March 30. The average American uses 141 rolls of toilet paper a year. If you inhale a small amount of helium to make your voice sound like Donald Duck, the change in your…
