Cover Story
The New Voucher Era
In the months before the Austin ISD board of trustees’ Nov. 20 vote to close 11 total schools next fall, several parents took the public comment mic to say that, for the first time, they were considering leaving the public school district for a private or charter option. “I have a kindergartner and I have…
News
Abbott’s Freeze on H-1B Visas Raises Concerns for Public Universities
Gov. Greg Abbott has put higher education and specialized health care, including cancer treatment, at critical risk, according to advocates. On Jan. 27, Abbott launched an investigation into the H-1B visa program – a temporary work visa for nonimmigrants – and ordered public institutions and state agencies to freeze new H-1B petitions, citing alleged abuse…
The Week’s Biggest News in Brief
AISD’s Attempt to Save Funds: After the approval to close 11 schools, Austin ISD was left on the hook to pay nearly $100 million in bond funds that would go to those schools, despite the closures. Now, the district is hoping to terminate the contracts – the goal being to save over $70 million, according…
March 2026 Primary Election Endorsements for the Austin Area
The Chronicle Editorial Board provides the following endorsements to Democrats in advance of early voting (Feb. 17 through Feb. 27) and election day, Tuesday, March 3. We urge readers to be thorough with their ballots and cast a vote in every contest. (Click here for a shorter, poll-friendly version of these endorsements, or pick up…
Despite Pressure From Abbott, AISD Students Keep Up Anti-ICE Protests
On Friday, Feb. 6, at about 2pm, hundreds of students at Clint Small Middle School walked out of class with backpacks on and posters in their hands to protest the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents across the country, “including the fatal shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents,” according…
At Heated Public Forum, APD Chief Speaks on Relationship With ICE
On the evening of Feb. 5, at the front of the cafeteria at Govalle Elementary in East Austin, Lisa Davis, chief of the Austin Police Department, faced hundreds of community members. Many were angry, asking the chief to account for the January deportation of Karen Gutiérrez Castellanos, and her U.S. citizen 5-year-old daughter, after she…
A New Bond Election Is Now an “If,” Not a “When”
Austin is so strapped for cash that city leaders are, metaphorically speaking, going through the couch cushions for change. They’re finding millions of dollars approved by taxpayers in past bond elections that are still waiting to be spent. Last week, city staff shared with City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee the sums remaining from money…
City Considers Future of Riverside
With Project Connect and city rezoning to accommodate it on the horizon, the city of Austin has $300 million in the project’s voter-approved “anti-displacement” funds to spend on land acquisition and affordable housing around the project area, which includes Southeast Austin’s Riverside neighborhood, over a 13-year period. On Jan. 31, the city held an open…
Music
Lovers Rock: Band Advice From Austin’s Kissin’ Collaborators
While you’re swaying with your sweetie at a local show, the folks onstage just might be doing the same. Many have tried, a handful have very publicly failed, but the love at the heart of these musical acts prevails. This Valentine’s Day, Jess Scott and Ceecee Email of post-punk trio Subpar Snatch, progressive R&B artist…
Music Notes
BodyRock ATX 16th Anniversary Friday 13, 29th Street Ballroom DJ Chorizo Funk, Chaka, and Qi Dada have kept their lively dance party grooving for 16 years. Unlike most things nowadays, the cost hasn’t risen – admission is still $10. Guest DJs include Rapid Ric and Schi the God. JØXX Friday 13, Rivière Austin In the…
Switched On Switches Off – For Now?
Over 300 pieces of electronic music equipment were left in limbo last May when Switched On owner John French was asked to vacate his 5013 Duval storefront. Since then, a makeshift team, including former employee John Paul Bohon and original co-founder Chad Allen, have been scrambling – without much help from French, they say –…
Arts + Culture
Masc4Match Offers an Invitation to Queer Masculine Love
This year’s finest Valentine’s Day value is a Vortex Theatre ticket to the queerest dating game show around: Masc4Match. Hosted by Bobby Pudrido, a cast of celebrity-impersonating bachelors played by fellow drag kings Flex Brojas, Khattie Q., and Travis Randy Travis compete for the heart of one Kairos Looney. The three-night show (Feb. 13-15) comes…
A Trek Through Time and “Towards Détournement”
Questioning the reality laid forth by mass media outlets and capitalist ventures is top of the mind in our AI-careening, algorithmic advertising-fed contemporary visual landscape, but, as this exhibit reminds us, it’s hardly anything new. Co-curators Josiah Brown, Amalya Graham, and Eric Petty turn to a Sixties French political theorist, Guy Debord, for artistic centering…
An Untraditional Austin Opera Opening
You’ve got to appreciate a work that explains the central metaphor right off the bat. Fiddler on the Roof starts with protagonist Tevye (Steven Skybell) describing how we are all such fiddlers, “trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking [our] neck.” Tevye attributes any success to the endurance of tradition. Of course,…
Screens
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die Review: Apocalypse Now, Then, and the Near Future
I admitted to my editor that I’m not a Gore-head – that is to say, I’m not a die-hard fan of the 10-years-dormant directorial style of Gore Verbinski. But I’m not a hater, I swear: While his take on J-horror classic Ringu I find miscast and overly sentimental, as a child of the Aughts I’m…
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie Review: The Joke’s Still Funny
Does a joke get funnier the more you tell it, or is it only if you tell it sporadically over a long period of time? Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol have been telling their one joke about their fictional band, Nirvanna, for almost 20 years. It’s pretty simple: Aspiring musicians Matt (Johhnson) and Jay (McCarrol)…
Cold Storage Review: Horror Comedy Moves Too Quick to Get Moldy
If you’ve never been to a government surplus sale, I can fully recommend the experience. You never know what you’ll find: old electronics, used furniture, pre-worn clothing, and maybe even a former secret military base in which NASA left a mutant fungus that could eradicate the world. Well, having once found a watch in a…
Pillion Review: Holding on Tight
It’s possible that the only reason that writer/director Harry Lighton didn’t work Depeche Mode’s “Behind the Wheel” as a needle drop into queer biker drama Pillion is that the song is explicitly about driving, not riding a motorcycle. That, and he’d be accused of being too on-the-nose about the themes of submission and adoration inherent…
“Wuthering Heights” Review: Won’t Somebody Think of the Children?
The worth and weight of Wuthering Heights as a great novel is in its complexity, its intergenerational tragedy and narrative murkiness among two interlinked families on the Yorkshire Moors. For the 16th cinematic adaptation, writer/director Emerald Fennell script repeats the cardinal offense that has been enacted against the book time and time again by ignoring…
Columns
Shrewd Moves Have Austin FC Looking More Formidable in 2026
When Austin FC sporting director Rodolfo Borrell named Nico Estévez as the club’s second-ever head coach before the 2025 season, he also laid in front of the Verde and Black a singular goal for the season: return to the MLS Cup Playoffs – a place ATXFC had only been once in four seasons under Estévez’s…
Qmmunity: Valentine’s Weekend Update
Hallo and happy Valentine’s weekend, Reader. I hope you’ve got a fabo time planned, whether that’s romantic or platonic. Let me tell you: There’s enough in this week’s queer event listings to keep ya busy! And most of these little gatherings don’t require a reservation or nothin’. Just what the modern and scatterbrained gay-about-town ordered.…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
American style country music is catching on in Nairobi, Kenya. The Siberian peregrine falcon can fly as fast as 186 mph (300 kph), which is more than twice the land speed of a cheetah. The late Harold Ramis, who directed and co-wrote the film Groundhog Day, estimated Bill Murray’s character Phil Connors was stuck reliving the same…
Op-Ed: What Is Texas Without DREAMers?
Last year, I received an email from my company’s CEO announcing that I had been selected as one of just 14 employees globally to travel to Iceland. This would have been an important sustainability trip with senior leadership and the CEO himself. It was a milestone moment that I had earned. When I got the…
The Luv Doc: Cutting the Tension
Dear Luv Doc, Saturday night our friends group had our once-a-month dinner club. The group usually consists of around 10 people depending on who is available and it’s usually a low-key, fun time for everyone. For the last few months my wife’s friend (let’s call her Sally), who divorced a few years ago, has been…
Day Trips: The Institute of Texan Cultures, San Antonio
The Institute of Texan Cultures opened in 1968 as the Texas Pavilion for the HemisFair World’s Fair in San Antonio showcasing the state’s diverse ethnic, cultural, and historic heritage. The museum managed by the University of Texas at San Antonio closed the doors to the original site in May 2024 to make way for a…
Feedback: February 13, 2026
Feedback From Faraway Friends Dear Editor, A year ago, we wrote a “Letter From a Friend” that you posted online and in your print edition (letter received Feb 10, 2025). We were alarmed by the first few weeks of the 47th administration and saddened every day during our long stay as things went from bad…
Fun + Games
Free Will Astrology
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Poet Mary Oliver asked her readers, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” This Valentine season, I propose a collaborative version of this prod: Ask those you care for to help you answer Oliver’s question, and offer to help them answer it…
