Kathryn Lundstrom

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments Thursday for Deanna Robinson's First Amendment case against the Hunt County Sheriff's Office. At issue is whether the sheriff's office was allowed to block her from its Facebook page.

More than 450 others were sexually abused, according to the Austin newspaper's investigation of the state's oversight of child care facilities. Gov. Greg Abbott's spokesman said lawmakers should address the issue next year.

The day after backing the motions on Clinton and Keller, the State Board of Education voted to keep Moses in high school U.S. history standards.

After a politically charged September meeting, the State Board of Education meets this week to approve "streamlined" social studies curriculum standards. Teachers' responses are mixed.

Republicans still hold the majority of congressional seats in the state, but Democratic gains in Texas are helping the national party as it appears poised to gain control of the U.S. House.

The Houston-area race was among the most competitive U.S. House races in Texas.

While most education board races are decided in the primaries, the combination of a blue wave and a big chunk of fundraising could upset a historically Republican district in North Texas.

Austin's paid sick leave ordinance was supposed to go into effect Oct. 1, but was blocked in August after business groups filed a lawsuit saying the ordinance violated state law.

Using new methodology that includes flood maps and hydraulic modeling, scientists and flood engineers worked with the city to find out which parts of Houston are still struggling post-Harvey, and what it'll take to help residents recover.

The attorney at the center of so much of the day’s news talked about what's happening now — and what he’ll do next.

O’Rourke has been closing the gap over the last several months, but this is the first poll that puts him ahead of Cruz.

Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott rallied his supporters on social media against the removal of defining Alamo defenders as "heroic" from social studies curriculum standards. This week, the State Board of Education tentatively voted to keep the language intact.

The Texas Education Agency says cosmetologists don’t make enough to justify continuing high school cosmetology programs. Teachers and students say reported salaries don’t tell the whole story.

After submitting a recommendation to remove the word "heroic" from seventh-grade history textbooks, a Texas State Board of Education workgroup backed off its proposal after outcry from officials and the public.

Austin "crypto-anarchist" Cody Wilson says buyers can name their price for 3D-printed gun blueprints.

An agency official called it one of its biggest workplace raids in a decade.

"Lynn Conroy taught her first refugee student in the early 1990s, a boy named Ado from Bosnia who didn’t speak a word of English. Conroy already had teaching experience in a Texas border town and had gone back to school for her ESL certification. But when Ado walked in, the challenge and rewards of teaching refugees became her passion."

"While most high school students spend their weekends playing videogames and sports, sleeping or studying for the SAT, a group of Austin-area teens has devoted two Sunday afternoons a month to educating themselves on current political issues."

"Ammar al-Sabahi was a bundle of nerves. “One hour feels like one year,” he said while waiting for his family’s flight to land in Houston.

Once it did, Ammar’s wife and four children were pulled aside by Customs authorities and held for three hours while Ammar started on his second pack of cigarettes.

About 11:30 p.m. on March 12, the family finally made its way through the doors marked “international arrivals.” Ammar dove over the barrier to embrace his family.

It had been… Show more

"Ammar al-Sabahi was a bundle of nerves. “One hour feels like one year,” he said while waiting for his family’s flight to land in Houston.

Once it did, Ammar’s wife and four children were pulled aside by Customs authorities and held for three hours while Ammar started on his second pack of cigarettes.

About 11:30 p.m. on March 12, the family finally made its way through the doors marked “international arrivals.” Ammar dove over the barrier to embrace his family.

It had been 11 months since Ammar last saw his wife and children. A family tragedy in Baghdad drew them back to Iraq only three months after arriving in Austin as refugees, which upended their immigration process. While they were gone, President Donald Trump began to follow through on his anti-immigrant campaign promises, including a travel ban that could have prevented them from re-entering the U.S." Show less

"The Nomad Bar on Austin’s East Side was busier than usual for a Saturday. And it wasn’t even happy hour.

Customers at the dive bar, tucked in the heart of the Mueller-Windsor Park neighborhood, did more than belly up for another round. They also spent the afternoon writing postcards to their elected officials, opposing President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and legislation on issues such as women’s health."

"On Feb. 5, Shambat marked three years in the United States — and three years since he’s seen his family in Iran.

The 34-year-old postdoctoral biophysics researcher came to UT in July after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago. “I loved Chicago,” he says. “I love Austin as well.”

Last summer, Shambat’s aging father in Iran needed surgery. Due to his single-entry U.S. visa and pending application for a national interest waiver — a path to permanent… Show more

"On Feb. 5, Shambat marked three years in the United States — and three years since he’s seen his family in Iran.

The 34-year-old postdoctoral biophysics researcher came to UT in July after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago. “I loved Chicago,” he says. “I love Austin as well.”

Last summer, Shambat’s aging father in Iran needed surgery. Due to his single-entry U.S. visa and pending application for a national interest waiver — a path to permanent residency available to highly educated researchers — Shambat was not able to be at his father’s side for fear of interrupting the immigration process." Show less

"Edward Said’s criticism of exoticized and patronizing Western views of the East that he claims drive historical “Orientalist” study is echoed in the way that Western development approaches the “developing world,” especially Africa. The millennial trend of “voluntourism” encapsulates this neo-imperialist approach.

The term “voluntourism” has emerged as the practice of high school and college-age students spending vacations volunteering in Africa or other parts of the developing world has… Show more

"Edward Said’s criticism of exoticized and patronizing Western views of the East that he claims drive historical “Orientalist” study is echoed in the way that Western development approaches the “developing world,” especially Africa. The millennial trend of “voluntourism” encapsulates this neo-imperialist approach.

The term “voluntourism” has emerged as the practice of high school and college-age students spending vacations volunteering in Africa or other parts of the developing world has become more popular. Low-skilled, enthusiastic, well-intentioned Westerners travel to impoverished areas of the world that have long been the losers in colonialist, imperialist, and first-vs-third world orders." Show less

"CEDAR PARK
It’s Friday morning, an hour before classes start, and a group of students is crowded around a teacher’s desk, chatting about the weekend, the upcoming winter break, the latest teen drama, how awful it was to get out of bed this morning.

But Erin Stott’s demeanor quickly changes from teasing to concerned when a young, distraught junior catches her eye from the edge of the cluster; Stott tells the students she’ll be back and ushers the teary-eyed girl into the hallway… Show more

"CEDAR PARK
It’s Friday morning, an hour before classes start, and a group of students is crowded around a teacher’s desk, chatting about the weekend, the upcoming winter break, the latest teen drama, how awful it was to get out of bed this morning.

But Erin Stott’s demeanor quickly changes from teasing to concerned when a young, distraught junior catches her eye from the edge of the cluster; Stott tells the students she’ll be back and ushers the teary-eyed girl into the hallway, where they can talk.

Stott is a 29-year-old math teacher who teaches special education courses at Vista Ridge High School in Cedar Park. She’s also the faculty adviser for the C-Squared club — a student organization that promotes tolerance and respect. It was created in 2010 at a single campus and is now in every school in the district.

The group meets at least every two weeks and works to create schoolwide initiatives that promote healthy relationships and embracing diversity." Show less

"Early one morning in Aug. 2015, a University of Texas student we will name Jenna had her life change in an instant. She'd spent the night out Downtown and followed a man she'd just met into a parking garage when suddenly he slammed her head into the structure's cement wall and raped her on the floor. Two of his friends kept watch around the garage. Jenna called the police the following day and submitted a sexual assault forensic examination – a SAFE or rape kit often administered as soon as… Show more

"Early one morning in Aug. 2015, a University of Texas student we will name Jenna had her life change in an instant. She'd spent the night out Downtown and followed a man she'd just met into a parking garage when suddenly he slammed her head into the structure's cement wall and raped her on the floor. Two of his friends kept watch around the garage. Jenna called the police the following day and submitted a sexual assault forensic examination – a SAFE or rape kit often administered as soon as possible after someone reports a sexual assault.

Sixteen months later, that kit is part of the growing backlog originally slated for testing at the Austin Police Depart­ment's DNA lab that has remained unexamined since that lab shut down in June." Show less

"AUSTIN, Texas — On election night 2016, in a small Missouri town about an hour outside of St. Louis, Becky Lane unplugged from the news media. Instead of sitting tensely in front of the election coverage, she snuggled in to watch Netflix with her high school-aged son — and she warned her husband and daughter not to talk to her about election news until the next day.

But then her husband, Kerry, an operations manager for a company that lines sewer pipes, broke the news to her.

“I… Show more

"AUSTIN, Texas — On election night 2016, in a small Missouri town about an hour outside of St. Louis, Becky Lane unplugged from the news media. Instead of sitting tensely in front of the election coverage, she snuggled in to watch Netflix with her high school-aged son — and she warned her husband and daughter not to talk to her about election news until the next day.

But then her husband, Kerry, an operations manager for a company that lines sewer pipes, broke the news to her.

“I don’t think he could help it,” Becky said with a laugh.

Five-hundred miles further north that same night, Meghan Jones — Kerry and Becky’s 25-year-old daughter — watched with neighbors in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. Meghan’s husband, Gabe, watched from a hotel room in a small Minnesota town where he was temporarily stationed for work. Gabe and Meghan Jones are a biracial couple." Show less

"I walked into Nonviolent Peaceforce at the end of May hoping for a break from the anger that I kept feeling in policy school. My first year at the LBJ School of Public Affairs had been spent in various states of frustration – some minor when I realized that I didn’t leave all the academic bureaucracy in undergrad, but some other, bigger frustrations with some of the underlying assumptions that my class discussions seemed to be built upon. Contrary to my expectations, it often felt as though… Show more

"I walked into Nonviolent Peaceforce at the end of May hoping for a break from the anger that I kept feeling in policy school. My first year at the LBJ School of Public Affairs had been spent in various states of frustration – some minor when I realized that I didn’t leave all the academic bureaucracy in undergrad, but some other, bigger frustrations with some of the underlying assumptions that my class discussions seemed to be built upon. Contrary to my expectations, it often felt as though most the other students and professors weren’t really there to think through what I saw as the policy issues of life and death – to consider the costs of our country’s actions and investments overseas, to really dig into whether the US has lived up to its goals of democracy and freedom (and to discuss what these words mean), and then to talk about how this could be improved and lives saved. Instead, the classroom discussions often felt like the place where professors expected me to get used to the reality of a “best bad option,” move on, and learn how to navigate strategically through the devastating truths that, well, policymakers’ hands are just tied most of the time and there just aren’t good options. We have to focus on what is best for Americans. Sometimes, bombs have to be dropped. Sometimes, drones are the only option. But, based on my news app alerts, it sure seemed to me like those “sometimes” were far too frequent." Show less

"National Women’s Health Week (NWHW), which begins on Mother’s Day, is an observance led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health according to womenshealth.gov. The week also serves as a time to help women understand what steps they can take to improve their health. Like most designated weeks or days, there is far too much to cover in such a short amount of time and so it’s easy to become overwhelmed by all of the statistics casting an ominous shadow over our… Show more

"National Women’s Health Week (NWHW), which begins on Mother’s Day, is an observance led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health according to womenshealth.gov. The week also serves as a time to help women understand what steps they can take to improve their health. Like most designated weeks or days, there is far too much to cover in such a short amount of time and so it’s easy to become overwhelmed by all of the statistics casting an ominous shadow over our futures as women, but here are a few ways to push back the statistics and get involved." Show less

"South by Southwest (SXSW) took over Austin last week. As one of this city’s many recent transplants, I previously only experienced the festival via the Internet and all of the videos that pop up after the music portion, and so I didn't realize how enormous the technology part of the festival (SXSW Interactive) was until experiencing it. It turns out that this is where all of the smart tech people come to show off their newest gadgets, and it is crazy. But the portion that interested me the… Show more

"South by Southwest (SXSW) took over Austin last week. As one of this city’s many recent transplants, I previously only experienced the festival via the Internet and all of the videos that pop up after the music portion, and so I didn't realize how enormous the technology part of the festival (SXSW Interactive) was until experiencing it. It turns out that this is where all of the smart tech people come to show off their newest gadgets, and it is crazy. But the portion that interested me the most was an offshoot called SXGood and the social innovation events that took place at the Social Good Hub presented by the United Nations Foundation. It was exciting to see successful technology-focused people choosing to turn their talents into social projects and working with nonprofits to improve their effectiveness, and there were definitely a few that stood out." Show less