Austin, TX
General Land Office to transform Hobby Building into workforce housing
AUSTIN, Texas — Downtown Austin’s William P. Hobby Jr. State Office Building may be transformed into workforce housing for families. Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson made the announcement Tuesday.
Under the proposal, the state office building, located at 333 Guadalupe Street, would provide downtown residents with child care, parking and retail spaces. The redevelopment would allow people who serve the community to have a multipurpose place of residence.
“Any time the state can come together with the City of Austin and work collaboratively for the benefit of its residents, we all win,” said Commissioner Buckingham. “This project will seek to serve those who provide critical services to the community, including our hardworking teachers, steadfast police officers, valiant firefighters, dedicated government workers and many crucial health care providers.”
Watson said the redevelopment plans fall right in line with Project Connect’s expansion of workforce housing resources around the city. Reconstruction would be along the future light rail, which is a part of Project Connect’s overall transit system. With the revamp, connectivity and mobility will improve among the working-class and state employees, according to Watson.
“By including and focusing on workforce housing as a part of this redevelopment process, Commissioner Buckingham is choosing to make affordability front and center in this project,” said Watson. “She is challenging the respondents to be creative and explore different approaches and partnerships to help address affordability in our city.”
From Tuesday, developer prospects have 90 days to submit responses in relation to the project. The GLO staff will review and recommend the best proposals.
But the final approval will come from the School Land Board.
Austin, TX
AP Poll Top 25 Rankings: Where Are Texas Longhorns?
AUSTIN — The No. 3 Texas Longhorns secured their second straight 10-win season Saturday with a 31-14 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats on Senior Day at DKR.
Texas stayed steady on a day where the rest of the SEC experienced chaos, as three ranked teams lost to unranked opponents on the road. The Longhorns entered as the No. 3 team in the College Football Playoff rankings and the AP Poll, but their win wasn’t enough to move them ahead in the AP’s Week 13 release.
No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Penn State all remained idle in the AP Poll. The Ducks were on a bye while the other three teams picked up wins. The Longhorns are one of eight SEC teams in the AP Top 25, joining No. 6 Georgia, No. 7 Tennessee, No. 13 Alabama, No. 15 Ole Miss, No. 16 South Carolina, No. 20 Texas A&M and No. 24 Missouri.
Texas has now been No. 3 in the AP Poll for three straight weeks. The Longhorns have fallen to as low as No. 6 and have been as high as No. 1.
Now, Texas has arrived to one of the most anticipated weeks in the state’s college football history, as the Longhorns will travel to College Station for Saturday’s meeting with the Texas A&M Aggies. The renewed rivalry will kick off from Kyle Field at 6:30 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ABC.
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Austin, TX
Austin Empty Bowl Project raises funds to support food-insecure Central Texans
AUSTIN, Texas – The 28th annual Austin Empty Bowl Project brought in thousands for a good cause.
“We have over 30 restaurants, over 200 gallons of soup,” said project co-director Deb Dixon.
The event donates all proceeds to Kids Café, a program of the Central Texas Food Bank, and to Meals on Wheels Central Texas.
“The Central Texas Food Bank has school pantries where we have pantries in over five schools. We also have after-school meals and summer meals. And 1 in 4 children go to bed hungry in our service area. So, it’s critical that this event raises as much funds as possible to support those kids,” said CTFB president & CEO Sari Vaske.
Throughout the year, local Austin area potters make more than a thousand soup bowls and donate them to the project.
“We have our communities of potters, our restaurants and our musicians that have all come together and donated time and materials in support of something pretty terrific,” said Dixon.
At the event each year, attendees give a donation, pick out a ceramic bowl, choose from several soups from different restaurants, listen to live music and bid in a silent auction.
After lunch, guests take their bowls home as a reminder that others less fortunate have empty bowls.
MORE AUSTIN NEWS
“There’s over 530,000 people that don’t know where their next meal is going to come from throughout 21 counties. So, this event supports those families,” said Vaske.
For Pflugerville resident Kim Hanson, supporting the Empty Bowl Project has become a special tradition. Every year for the past 20 years, she’s celebrated her birthday by attending the event.
This year, for her 40th, she took it up a notch—bringing 40 friends and family along to give back and make her special day even more meaningful.
“I just think it’s really important for the community to help to support each other. And this goes to support people in our community that need food. And it helps with the children who don’t have enough to eat throughout the year. So, I love to come and support this mission,” said Hanson.
Hanson says she hopes to continue the tradition for years to come.
You can find more information about the Austin Empty Bowl Project here.
The Source: Information in this report came from reporting/interviews by FOX 7 Austin’s Jenna King.
Austin, TX
Texas boasts 10 restaurants on OpenTable’s top 100 list for 2024
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas had a strong showing on OpenTable’s 2024 Top 100 Restaurants with 10 establishments making the list.
The Lone Star State had the second-most restaurants on the list, tied with Illinois, behind California, which had a whopping 19 restaurants featured.
The best foodie city in Texas, at least according to OpenTable, was Austin, with seven restaurants making the list.
- Aba – Austin
- J Carver’s
- Jeffrey’s Restaurant
- Red Ash Italia
- Sammie’s Italian
- Uchi Austin
- Uchiko Austin
The rest of Texas’ major metropolitan areas–Houston, Dallas and San Antonio–each only had one restaurant on the list.
- Steak 48 – Houston
- Signature – San Antonio
- Hudson House – Lovers Lane – Dallas
OpenTable compiles its top 100 list every year by looking at diner reviews from its 14 million verified users.
According to OpenTable’s website, restaurants with enough reviews are automatically considered and are evaluated by their ratings, percentage of five-star reviews, number of alerts set, percentage of reservations made in advance, percentage of capacity and direct searches.
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