Cover Story
Can AISD Jump Through Enough Hoops to Avoid State Takeover?
Five weeks into the school year, on a Monday morning at Lively Middle School, English teachers were called in for an unexpected training session with Austin ISD officials. They were soon informed that, starting that Wednesday, they had to trash the syllabi they were already teaching – Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills-compliant lesson plans that…
News
The Week’s Biggest News in Brief
New GOP Map Blocked: A three-judge panel in El Paso ruled on Tuesday that Texas cannot use the new congressional map that Texas GOP members redrew and pushed through during the legislative session, and will instead have to use the previous 2021 map. Opponents of the map said the new lines disenfranchise Black and brown…
Zilker Boat Rentals Hopes to Stay Afloat With New Legacy Title
An Austin family that has operated a boat rental business on Barton Creek for more than half a century may be in line to receive a new “legacy concession” designation – a special status designed to protect longstanding local businesses in city parks. But even with that possibility on the horizon, the owners of Zilker…
After Prop Q Vote, Council Deliberates Second City Budget in Three Months
If you’re reading this on Thursday, your city government is slogging toward approval of a new budget for the coming fiscal year. If you’re reading this on Friday, the budget has probably already passed. Either way, on Wednesday afternoon, as the Chronicle went to press, it was clear what city leaders and residents want to…
Local Org Helps Immigrant Students Whose In-State Tuition Was Revoked
While hanging out with friends over the summer, a University of Texas undocumented student got an email stating that their tuition bill had just been issued. The student, who asked for anonymity due to safety concerns, said they opened the notification and saw their tuition increase from roughly $11,000 to around $40,000 per year. “I…
Music
Big Bill Is (Still) Having a Ball
“If I were going to a show like this, especially a prom-themed show, I would want a little extra pizzazz,” says Big Bill vocalist Eric Braden. It’s a good thing to hear from the co-founder of the prom-themed show, now in its eighth year. Bill Ball 8 takes over Radio/East this Saturday, Nov. 22, with…
Jim Franklin Celebrated, Future Austin Weirdos Supported
Jim Franklin Day is Nov. 6 thanks to an official proclamation from the city of Austin. The designation honors the visionary artist, whose contributions to local posters, murals, and album covers helped establish the aesthetic of Armadillo World Headquarters, crafting the titular nine-banded armadillo into the de facto symbol of Austin’s Seventies countercultural movement. His…
Music Notes
Smallpools Friday 21, Antone’s FIFA 14 fans adore “Dreaming” off indie-pop band Smallpools’ self-titled debut EP – so much so the track appeared on EA Sports’ Ultimate FIFA Soundtrack for FIFA 23, compiling the series’ top 100 songs. The group comes to Austin some 12 years after its debut single, with 2024 full-length Ghost Town…
Arts + Culture
Texas Dive Bar Encyclopedia Tours Sticky Barstools and Storied Watering Holes
Down the sidelong steps of the cream-brick Victorian known as the Goodman building is Raf Miastkowski’s favorite Austin dive bar. His recommendation carries some weight, as the author of the recently released Texas Dive Bar Encyclopedia, so I waste little time digging into what makes the Cloak Room stand out. “It’s a complete dice roll…
Diamond Dior Davenport Masters All the Elements
Earth. Water. Air. Fire. These are the essential elements of our universe, and also the inspiration behind drag artist Diamond Dior Davenport’s new show, Elements of Diamond, premiering at Stateside at the Paramount this Saturday, Nov. 22. Her concept ties the essential elements with different artists – who’ll remain a surprise until the show’s open…
Roman Intrigue in Your Face
One thing you’ll always be able to say about Walking Shadow Shakespeare: They positively reverberate the joy of the Bard. In their current show, a wildly economical mash-up of Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra that combines both plays into a tidy two-and-a-half-hour runtime, editor and director Steph Crugnola shares her pure love for these…
Screens
Review: The Bad Dads of Jay Kelly and Sentimental Value
Jay Kelly arrives at a weird prolonged moment in Hollywood. It’s a movie about a movie star, released at a time when movie stars’ heyday has passed, and it is more or less loving in its lens on the movie industry, and by extension the theatrical experience, even as distributor Netflix poses an existential threat…
Food
Jim Franklin Celebrated, Future Austin Weirdos Supported
Jim Franklin Day is Nov. 6 thanks to an official proclamation from the city of Austin. The designation honors the visionary artist, whose contributions to local posters, murals, and album covers helped establish the aesthetic of Armadillo World Headquarters, crafting the titular nine-banded armadillo into the de facto symbol of Austin’s Seventies countercultural movement. His…
The Kimberly Is Made for Spendy Date Nights
“Fine dining” in Austin always feels like a strange concept. Our city obviously features a sizable number of chefs with top-tier credentials and plenty of restaurants serving dishes made with premium ingredients and techniques. But even so, the vibes need to stay reasonably casual. Austinites do not take kindly to being told to lose the…
Columns
Free Will Astrology
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Your theme for the coming weeks is the fertile power of small things: the transformations that happen in the margins and subtle gestures. A kind word that shifts someone’s day, for instance. Or a refusal to participate in casual cruelty. Or a choice to see value in what you’re supposed to…
The Luv Doc: Simple Logistics
Dear Luv Doc, I have been nearly completely out of dating for about a year. I am an active dancer around town making friends and enjoying local music. A couple of months ago, I felt like I was receiving signals of interest from my favorite dance partner and began pursuing her. I thought things were…
Day Trips: Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site, Washington
Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site has some new residents. For years a re-created Independence Hall was the only building signifying where the village once stood between Brenham and Navasota. Visitors had to imagine from signage and old foundations what the town might have looked like in 1836 when it was the site of the signing of…
MLS Is Finally Acting Like It Wants to Be Taken Seriously
For its entire 30-year existence, Major League Soccer has faced an identity crisis. How do you resonate in the most crowded sports marketplace on Earth, composed of fans conditioned to consume only the very top level of competition, while offering a clearly second-rate product within your own sport? The league’s answer to that question has…
Feedback: November 21, 2025
Liberal Drivel Dear Editor, [Re: “The Luv Doc: Let Bleeding Martyrs Bleed,” Columns, Nov. 14:] You are perfect for the Liberal Austin Chronicle. You can’t answer a simple question without degrading Jesus Christ and Donald Trump. I wonder what good you have ever done for the world or the country other than provide your insulting drivel.…
Enfant Terrible or Bon Vivant?
When I was in college and pursuing my Women & Gender Studies minor (which I found out a week before graduating I was one credit away from securing), I got the chance to see trans theorist Susan Stryker speak. It was there I first heard the concept of being transgender as not being itself revolutionary.…
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
One in six full-size trucks sold in the U.S. are in Texas. There’s a village in the UK’s Worcestershire district called Hollywood. The White House has two pools and a hot tub. The first pool was built by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Richard Nixon emptied it to build what is now the Press Briefing Room. Gerald…
