City Cast Austin
☑️ Get out and vote!
May 3, 2024
Happy Friday, folks! Is it just me, or did the humidity make your week feel like it was three months long? Cutting to the chase, you’ve been through enough…
What's CITY Talking About?
🚔 Another Protest, More Arrests at UT
In a second round of arrests, police detained 79 pro-Palestinian protesters who clashed with law enforcement over an encampment on the University of Texas at Austin campus on Monday. Lost on the legalese of campus protests? Reporter Bayliss Wagner spoke to five experts and has this translation. [X @baylisswagner]
- Criminal charges were dropped against the 57 people who were arrested at a protest on April 24, including a Fox 7 photographer, Carlos Sanchez. But Sanchez now faces new misdemeanor charges. [Austin American-Statesman]
🌊 Splish Splash Time
Nothing beats the Austin heat like water — and the city is hoping to put up a solid fight this year. Most splash pads are already splashing, and municipal seasonal pools aren’t far behind. But first: lifeguards! Hundreds are still needed to fill those chairs. [Austin Monitor]
🛍️ Blue Genie Art Bazaar in May? Bizarre!
It’s not exactly Christmas in May, but the holiday season favorite Blue Genie Art Bazaar is having a late spring fling, just in time for Mother’s Day/graduation/Father’s Day. Find the perfect locally handcrafted gift (and get yourself a little treat for being so thoughtful!) at the May Market, open weekends. [CultureMap Austin]
⚠️ Bad Batch of Narcotics Cause Overdoses
Fentanyl-laced drugs are believed to be behind a local outbreak of opioid overdoses that started on Monday. Austin-Travis County EMS responded to at least 70 overdose cases, and at least eight people have died, officials said. Emergency responders have revived several people using Narcan, a medication that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose. [KXAN]
🤖 Zen Out Immersed in Art
A co-founder of Meow Wolf — a company that creates interactive, multimedia artistic experiences in old bowling alleys and fake supermarkets — is leaving the company and entering Austin’s wellness scene. Subversive, a trippy-sounding immersive “art bathhouse,” is set to partially open here in 2026, and cost $88 a visit. [Austin Business Journal 🔒]
Saturday is Election Day in Austin. On the ballot: Three seats are up for grabs on the Travis County Appraisal District’s board of directors, and for voters in six neighborhoods, the choice of whether or not to disannex from the city. It’s free! To participate, find your polling place on the Travis County Clerk’s website.
Eva Ruth Moravec
Executive Producer
City Cast Austin
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