Austin, TX
Culinary instructor talks local benefits of Texas Michelin Guide
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas is close to having its first Michelin-star restaurant, with several cities, including Austin, becoming featured destinations. The announcement could benefit not only restaurant-goers but also local culinary students.
Jamie Vaughn, a culinary arts educator with Austin ISD, spoke with KXAN about Austin’s recent recognition in the Michelin Guide, which could create more job opportunities for students and allow them to train at Michelin-star restaurants in Texas.
Read an edited transcription of the conversation below or use the video player above to watch.
KXAN: Talk to us about the program with Austin ISD. What is it? And how long has it been around?
VAUGHN: We’re heading into our 24th year with Hospitality and Culinary Arts at Travis Early College High School, and it is a dynamic program because it’s a community program. Travis is a true community school in the heart of Austin. It’s been around since 1953. You can’t go anywhere that you don’t find somebody who hasn’t graduated from Travis or worked at Travis.
But more than that, we have so many great business partners for our hospitality and culinary students. We work with the Visit Austin Foundation, the Austin Restaurant Association, and the Hotel and Lodging Association. It’s a unique program, and our students not only train in our classes, they go out into the industry in Austin. So, they’re interning at local hotels, like the Hilton and the Fairmont and Visit Austin and in local restaurants.
We also have a unique program called a P-TECH (Pathways in Technology), which is different than most high school programs. The opportunity we wanted for our students was for them to get a college degree while they were getting their high school degree. So we’ve partnered with ACC, and students can enroll in AISD, Travis, and get their degree in hotel and restaurant specialization while they’re at Travis for free. So they’re taking classes simultaneously.
KXAN: We want to focus on your students. Tell us about what some of their dreams are, and maybe why they participate in the program.
VAUGHN: I just get emotional because our students are so funny and they’re talented and they’re hard-working. Their dreams are not much different than your dreams in high school or mine, which was—they’re trying to figure out what their passions are. What do they want to do? And how can they get there?
We’ve got just incredible faculty and staff at Travis. They get to know every single student and so do their mentors out in the hotel and restaurant industry. And they say, ‘What do you like, how can we help you get there?’ And the students just really thrive. I mean, they really just meet every goal they have for themselves and that we have for them. They’re just excited about the industry, and we’re happy to help them on that path.
KXAN: The Michelin Guide naming Austin as one of its feature destinations—What kind of opportunities could this huge announcement provide for the students that you work with?
VAUGHN: This is so big for our students and their families and our community. First, we know what’s going to bring tourism to Austin, right? I know some people are like no more tourists, no more cars. But tourism is so important to this community. It’s really what makes our community thrive, so for our students and their families, it means jobs.
Restaurants in Austin are the number one private employer, and so it’s going to create more jobs for them. But more importantly, aspiring chefs can stay home if they want to train at a Michelin-star restaurant or with those chefs. We’ve always had great chefs in Central Texas.
If you had a student who was like, ‘I want to work at a Michelin-star restaurant,’ you had to send them out of state, and so for them now, we want them to stay here. We don’t want to lose their talents, so we want them to be able to train at Michelin star restaurants in Texas, and in Central Texas. We want them to then turn to give back to the community that raised them., so this is just incredibly exciting news for our school and our students and their families.
KXAN: Is there anything else that you want people to know anything else that people should know about the future of the program, how this might expand and even attract more students?
VAUGHN: The future of hospitality and culinary is just thriving, especially in Austin. When you look at the great community, they are not just operating in a silo, their stepping out to us insane. Send us the next generation. We want to train your students and we want to grow them here. Michelin is going to be a great opportunity for that. I want students to know that no matter where they are in Central Texas, they can come to AISD and come to Travis and be part of these dynamic programs and go on to work in a Michelin-star restaurant.
Austin, TX
This quirky lakeside Austin home got featured on ‘Zillow Gone Wild’
If “Keep Austin weird” is the city’s mantra, does that apply to homes too?
Zillow Gone Wild — the popular social media brand that showcases outrageous real estate listings — recently featured an Austin home so bold it dubbed the city the “Zillow Gone Wild Maximalist Capital of the World.”
The four-bedroom, four-bathroom home at 2900 Palmella Court, just off Lake Travis, is currently listed for $899,000, according to the real estate listing — down from $975,000 last week. The nearly 4,000-square-foot property leans hard into maximalist design, with vibrant colors, bold patterns and statement décor throughout.
If salmon-pink walls or floral-print wallpaper is your thing, maybe this is the home for you.
Commenters had mixed opinions on the home:
“I don’t know what I’m more upset about. The salmon walls or no shower door 😩,” said one commenter.
“The ability to get literally every single choice wrong is admirable,” said another.
But the house had some fans, too. One person wrote, “They picked a theme, and as far as I can tell, they stuck with it. It’s got a lot of personality, and I like it.” Another wrote, “Barbie in her Miami Vice era. I absolutely love it!”
Zillow Gone Wild was launched during the pandemic by Samir Mezrahi, who began sharing eye-catching real estate listings on Facebook. The account quickly gained a following across social platforms and later expanded into an HGTV series featuring tours of unusual properties. According to Deadline, “Zillow Gone Wild” has been picked up for a third season with Jack McBrayer set to return as host for the new 16-episode season.
Austin, TX
Police identify victim in North Austin fatal shooting as search for suspect continues
AUSTIN, Texas — Police have identified a 23-year-old man who was fatally shot Sunday night in North Austin. Authorities continue to search for a suspect who fled the scene.
Cam Ron Perkins was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:15 p.m. after officers responded to reports of multiple gunshots at 9616 North Lamar Boulevard, the Austin Police Department said.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | One person dead, no suspects in custody after N Austin homicide
Officers arrived around 8 p.m. and found Perkins with fatal injuries, according to police.
Homicide detectives and crime scene specialists processed the scene and interviewed witnesses. The preliminary investigation indicates the suspect left in either a black Dodge Charger or black Dodge Challenger, police said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Austin Police Department at 512-974-TIPS or submit tips anonymously through Capital Area Crime Stoppers at austincrimestoppers.org or 512-472-8477. A reward of up to $1,000 may be available for information leading to an arrest.
Austin, TX
National Teamers Hunter Armstrong, Grant House Withdraw from Pro Swim Series – Austin
2026 PRO SWIM SERIES – AUSTIN
A revised version of the heat sheets for this weekend’s Pro Swim Series opener in Austin, Texas is absent a number of big names, with a handful of other significant scratches revealed by the Wednesday morning heat sheets.
Out of the Meet
The biggest names to have fully withdrawn from the meet include US National Team members Hunter Armstrong and Grant House.
The two-time Olympian and three-time Olympic relay medalist Armstrong has raced sparingly since the Paris Olympics, citing financial hardship behind the hiatus. That included skipping the World Championship Trials in 2025.
He did race at the U.S. Open in December, but only briefly: he finished 14th in the 50 free final (22.35) and 14th in the 50 back prelims (25.65) before scratching the B-Final.
In Austin this week, he was scheduled to race the 50 free (#8 seed), 100 back (#2 seed), 50 fly (#8 seed), 50 back (#2 seed), and 100 free (#6 seed).
Fellow U.S. National Team member Grant House has also pulled out of the meet. He had 5 entries in the meet including 5th in the 200 IM and 6th in the 100 fly.
House recently posted a video of a “speed practice” at Arizona State, so the reason behind his withdrawal is not obvious.
Other full-meet withdrawals include:
- 17-year-old Addison Bitel from Laker Swim in Florida, who was the #5 seed in the thin women’s 50 and 100 meter breaststroke fields, plus 6th in the 200 breast. Her teammate Brynn Lavigueur, the #6 seed in the 50 back and #7 seed in the 100 back, also scratched the meet.
- 16-year-old Natalie Bradac from the University of Denver Hilltoppers club team, the #9 seed in the 100 breast
Last-Minute Additions
In addition to the scratches, there were some last minute additions to the meet entries. That includes breaststrokers Luke Barr and Mitch Mason, who are both training with Coley Stickels‘ pro group at Texas Ford Aquatics.
They are the #7 and #8 seeds in the 100 breaststroke, with the versatile Barr also holding high seeds in the 50 fly (#9), 100 fly (#7), and 50 back (#6).
Wednesday Scratches
The most significant scratch from the final psych sheet to Wednesday’s heat sheet is French international Pauline Mahieu. Part of a large contingent of French swimmers at the meet, Mahieu was the #2 seed in the 100 back.
That is her only entry of the meet, so in essence she has scratched the meet.
While one recent Instagram post from last week said that she planned to leave for Los Angeles for a camp with the French team on January 5, her Instagram story on Tuesday shows her dragging a sled with groceries across the snow with the caption “change of scenery.”
The women’s 1500 free also saw scratches from the #2, #3, and #4 entries behind the event’s most dominant swimmer ever Katie Ledecky.
The #2 seed Claire Weinstein, the #3 seed Ashley Twichell, and the #4 seed Caroline Pennington are all absent from the heat sheets in a field that has been reduced to only its 8 swimmer ‘fastest heat.’
Weinstein, a freshman at Cal, is still entered in the 50 free as the #11 seed, while Twichell and Pennington won’t race on Wednesday at all.
The other big scratch from Wednesday’s heat sheets is Kato Trinquesse, another Denver Hilltopper drop from the women’s 100 breaststroke field. She was promoted to the #7 seed after her teammate withdrew from the meet.
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