Headlines / Quote of the Week

State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin (l), and Travis County Democratic Party Chair Katie Naranjo (r), pose with Celia Israel (c), who, until her retirement from the Texas House this year, served on the Texas Women’s Health Caucus, which Howard chairs. Israel received her plaque at TCDP’s Celebration of Service event, which honors retiring local Democratic leaders, at Speakeasy Dec. 10. (Photo by Jana Birchum)

Miracle on Collins Creek Drive: A year-and-a-half after dozens of families had to vacate their affordable units at the Rosemont at Oak Valley apartments due to unlivable conditions, the tenant association got a major win: The board of the Strategic Housing Finance Corporation (which owns the complex) voted to sell to local nonprofit Foundation Communities.

How the Longhorns Won the Championship: In more good news, the Longhorns women's volleyball team won their first national title since 2012, sweeping Louisville in three sets to take the 2022 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Subfreezing temperatures forecast for Thursday and Friday this week brought into focus flaws in the city's plans for cold weather shelters. An audit presented to a city committee last week found city employees haven't gotten proper training to help people seeking shelter during extreme cold, and the city doesn't consistently follow its own rules about when to open the shelters.

It's a Wonderful Genetically Engineered Life: Genetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences – based in Dallas but with teams in Austin – is partnering with the University of Melbourne to use CRISPR technology to bring back the extinct Tasmanian tiger. Colossal is also working on de-extincting the woolly mammoth.

Germ-lins: After operating free COVID vaccine clinics for close to two years, Travis County will be closing its mobile and drive-through clinics by Jan. 1. Since February 2021, Ascension Seton, in partnership with the county, distributed 430,000 doses of COVID vaccines.

It Happened in Austin: Austin nonprofit Black History Bike Ride, started in 2020 during police brutality protests, announced this week that it received the $50,000 Presidential Award Grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This will fund more educational programming on the Black history of Austin.

Trees Die Hard: Post-Christmas, don't recycle your tree. Just cut it in half if it's over 6 feet and set it on the curb by 5:30am on your regularly scheduled compost collection day. Or, if you don't have curbside service, drop your tree off at the Zilker Park Polo Fields between 10am and 2pm on Dec. 31 or Jan. 7-8.

Jingle All the Way to a Settlement: Former South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse employee Simon Ingrand recently accepted a large settlement from the company, KVUE reported. Ingrand was fired after taking part in a sick-out calling for better pay. His Industrial Workers of the World training taught him he could bring a union rep and record the firing. Then he filed a case with the National Labor Relations Board.

Quote of the Week

"It is more than plausible that the City knew of the shooting but deliberately chose not to discipline the officers involved."

– Federal Judge Robert Pitman, referring to the APD officer who killed an unarmed man in 2019 before killing Mike Ramos in 2020