News
Texas Was on the Cutting Edge of Lab-Grown Meat, Until the State Banned It
The salmon cuts that grow in vats are not yet indistinguishable from the salmon caught in rivers and fisheries. They arrive in blocks that are a little too perfect. The orange and white stripes of the flesh are a little too opaque. But when Austin chef Yoshi Okai sliced the cell-cultivated salmon last July, garnished…
The Week’s Biggest News in Brief: March 5-11
Barton Springs Pool Maintenance Extended: The city began the Barton Springs Skimmer Bypass Project in February, temporarily closing the pool on Feb. 23 to remove and mitigate a decommissioned skimmer bypass that was installed in the 1940s. That closure was slated to end March 13, but has now been extended to Saturday, March 21. A city…
Newly Released Evidence Details Sixth Street Mass Shooting
Newly released body-camera footage, surveillance video, and 911 calls are helping piece together the chaos that unfolded on West Sixth Street as officers rushed toward the gunman who opened fire outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden a little over a week ago. Law enforcement held a press conference on Thursday, March 5, where APD Chief Lisa…
Texas Voucher Program Excludes Islamic Private Schools
When Sadaf Siddiqui heard that Texas was getting a private school voucher program, her first feeling was excitement. Her eldest of three children had attended Renaissance Academy, an Islamic pre-K-12 school in North Austin, until the private school’s tuition became too much of a financial burden for the family. The month of Ramadan runs through…
City Workers Challenge Austin’s IT Consolidation
Austin city workers fear that the plan to consolidate the city’s information technology staff into one central department – called the “One ATS” initiative, or OATS – could lead to hundreds of layoffs over the next two years. They also believe the consolidation could harm city residents’ health and safety. AFSCME Local 1624, the city…
ICE Allows Carmen Mejia to Stay in the Country After Exoneration
Carmen Mejia, a Honduran immigrant who has spent the last 22 years behind bars for a crime she did not commit, is free. Mejia walked out of the Travis County jail in Del Valle late Tuesday night and into the arms of her attorneys from the Innocence Project, who embraced her in a long group…
Woman Who Spent 23 Years Behind Bars Is Exonerated
Carmen Mejia, a Honduran immigrant who was sentenced to life in prison for the 2003 scalding death of an infant in her care, was formally declared innocent in an Austin courtroom on Monday. “I’m now signing this order dismissing all charges against you, ordering you released from the custody of the state of Texas, and…
Music
The Road to Austin: International and Local Acts on What It Takes to Play South by Southwest
South by Southwest is a feat of scheduling, spontaneity, and stamina for all. For artists navigating a “disrupted music industry,” to quote an upcoming conference panel, the discovery-centered festival pledges to help them achieve global success through exposure and connections. They’ve gotta get to Austin first. And take the festival’s offerings seriously, experienced performers say. …
Music Notes
The Two Lips Thursday 12, Emo’s This Los Angeles-based duo displays a natural chemistry despite not meeting each other until 2022. Their debut EP, girl, c’mon!, couples dreamy, bedroom pop vocals with personal subject matter (“cup of tea”). Jewlz and Andrea will also perform at Sips & Sounds Music Festival on Friday. SXSBreaks Friday 13,…
Lady Gaga’s Monster Acts
Throughout her nearly 20-year career, Lady Gaga has cast herself as something of a chameleon, alternating between pop star, electro queen, and stripped-down songwriter. For her Mayhem Ball tour, which kicked off last year and landed at the Moody Center on Sunday for the first of two nights, Gaga seamlessly wove those characters into a…
SXSW Unofficial and Free Show Highlights
SXSW looks different this year as everyone adjusts to the festival’s condensed schedule, but don’t fret; you still don’t need a badge or wristband to have a great time! Here’s a curated selection of the ample free shows occurring during SX week. Find more free and/or unofficial shows at austinchronicle.com/unofficial or check out all of…
Arts + Culture
Have an Unforgettably Queer Unofficial South By
Are you gay, straight, or a secret third option (bisexual without a South by Southwest Music/Film/Innovation badge)? Austin’s bevy of unofficial queer party options await you during this exciting South By epoch. Whether you’re here for the Fest or a local looking to enjoy good music, food, and prop work – the key to all…
Bad People Doing Bad Things
In the early Nineties, Seinfeld revolutionized television comedy with a single motto: “No hugging, no learning.” In their updated version of Noël Coward’s Private Lives, Bandwagon Arts gives audiences plenty of hugging and kissing and general canoodling, but never fear: There’s absolutely no learning going on with these characters. I mention Seinfeld not only because…
Screens
Undertone Review: The Terror at the Edge of Hearing
review here Undertone YEAR, R, TK min. Directed by TKTKTKTK. Starring TKTKTKTKTKTK. [[insert trailer here]] Find movie times.
Pompei: Below the Clouds Review: A Little Perspective
Gianfranco Rosi’s ruminative documentary about living in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius begins with a useful perspective – that of Pliny the Younger, eyewitness to the devastating eruption in 79 AD that buried the city of Pompeii and others under volcanic ash. An unseen narrator reads aloud from his account (“A cloud rose up. It was…
Columns
Battered and Bruised Austin FC Faces Nightmare Stretch
Brace yourselves, Austin FC fans. Dark clouds are forming on the horizon. A fairly encouraging start to the 2026 regular season took a sour turn in the Queen City over the weekend as the Verde and Black suffered their first loss of the season, 3-1 to Charlotte FC. Refereeing took center stage in that contest,…
Qmmunity: Living the Loudmouth Lifestyle
My email inbox is overloaded with public relations people asking if I want to have a one-on-one with various AI company stooges, but that won’t dilute my spirit as the South by Southwest wave crashes across town. This is because I have the privilege of being able to go outside and actually interact with my…
The Luv Doc: My Girlfriend Is Eating Our Walls
Dear Luv Doc, My girlfriend is eating our walls. We have been living together for a little under two years. Things have been going so well and I know she’s my forever person. She has such a stressful job, working insane hours as a nurse assistant. The past year has been especially hard for her,…
Day Trips: Bonnie & Clyde’s Red River Plunge, Wellington
The Red River Plunge of Bonnie and Clyde is still legendary in Wellington, a town at the base of the Texas Panhandle 30 miles north of Childress. A Texas historical marker about the famous outlaws stands near the original bridge abutments in Pioneer Park 7 miles north of town. Collingsworth County Museum on the courthouse…
Feedback: March 13, 2026
Everybody’s Got One Dear Editor, I understand I am but one person with an opinion (which, like buttholes, everyone has), but hopefully you will receive a volume of similar emails and take action. I saw the note that the crossword puzzle purveyor has been changed. Well here is the problem – the crossword this week sucked!!!! There…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
During times of famine – say around the 15th century – Britons resorted to eating their candles made of pig tallow. During a February 2026 snowstorm, the winner of a Chicago snowplow-naming contest was a humorous pun: “Abolish ICE.” In Danish author Hans Christian Andersen’s original fairy tale, “The Little Mermaid” – spoiler alert – she…
Fun + Games
Free Will Astrology
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Can you compel acts of grace to intervene in your destiny? Can bursts of divine favor be summoned through the power of your will? Some spiritual scholars say, “Absolutely not.” They claim life’s wild benevolence arrives only through the mysterious tides of fate – impossible to solicit and impossible to predict.…
