🗞️ What Austin’s talking about

😳 Oops, I Was Busy

Miss it? Relive the experience via this audio clip of our reaction at a viewing party I attended with friends and family in the Hill Country, broadcast on NPR. [WBUR]

• Also worth checking out: Images captured by photographer Wesley Creech in London, about 130 miles northwest of Austin. [Astrobin]

🪩 What the Fyre

When 40,000 people were suddenly told to leave the Texas Eclipse Festival in Burnet County on Monday for severe weather just hours before the big event, my spidey sense went off. As the dust settled, I learned one festival-goer died, and attendees claimed the event was unorganized and otherwise problematic. Festival organizers Disco Presents spoke to KXAN this week. [KXAN]

• Promoter Disco Donnie posted about the festival on Wednesday. [X]

⛔ Stopping the Presses

Employees at the daily Austin American-Statesman held the picket line — and encouraged freelancers not to cross it — during a four-day strike over stalled contract negotiations with Gannett. [Axios]

• For a deep dive into the paper’s parent company, check out this Michael Hardy piece. [Texas Monthly]

🦉 Congratulations, Athena!

Both of Athena the Great Horned Owl’s eggs have hatched! Keep an eye on the whole owl family via this live owl cam. A warning: Athena’s glares pierce the conscience. [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center]

• The owlets should know how to fly in eight to 10 weeks. [National Audubon Society]

🦺 Wishbone to Answer Safety Wishes

Some of us say a little prayer as we hustle over the Colorado River on the still-unpleasant (though much better than before) bike lane on North Pleasant Valley Road. Now, we’re $4 million closer to a safer, more accessible solution, with federal funds set to close the budget shortfall for the $25 million project. The proposed three-pronged, ‘wishbone-shaped’ bridge will connect three chunks of land and fully complete the Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail. [Austin Monitor]