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KUT/KUTX asking for voluntary furloughs, early retirement to stave off $1M shortfall next year

Both KUT/90.5FM—Austin's NPR affiliate—and sister station KUTX/98.9FM are asking staff to consider early retirement and voluntary furloughs to make up for a projected $1 million shortfall in its budget next fiscal year, KUT Projects Editor Matt Largey tweeted early Thursday.
@mattlargey @KUT This is devastating. Sorry to hear this, Matt.— Dr. Lisa B. Thompson (@Dr. Lisa B. Thompson) 1594917062.0
No official announcement has been made by leadership at KUT/KUTX, which is housed on the University of Texas at Austin campus and recently completed a membership and donation drive. The request came through email, staffers said, and includes a 25% pay incentive for eligible staffers who take early retirement before Sept. 30.
"The recession has come to @KUT," veteran station reporter Mose Buchele tweeted. "This is hard."
The recession has come to @KUT. Staff is being asked to consider voluntary furloughs and early retirement to make u… https://t.co/1xIpCpbXNH— Mose Buchele (@Mose Buchele) 1594919246.0
The request is an apparent attempt to avoid the more extreme cuts that have plagued media organizations in Austin, most deeply at the Austin American-Statesman, which temporarily furloughed its entire staff on a rotating basis in the early weeks of the pandemic, and more recently laid off seven longtime staffers.
Reactions on social media were swift and supportive, with listeners suggesting that KUT hold an emergency fundraising drive and praising the work the staff has done.
"I feel this community would rally behind an emergency pledge drive in record numbers. Just sayin. We all appreciate the work you guys do day in day out," tweeted one listener.
KUT and KUTX get 87% of their annual operating budget of $13.21 million from local members and businesses, about 5% from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the rest from fees and grants, according to the KUT website.
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Popular
(Tesla)
Giga Texas, the massive Tesla factory in southeast Travis County is getting even bigger.
The company filed with the city of Austin this week to expand its headquarters with a new 500,000-square-foot building. The permit application notes “GA 2 and 3 expansion,” which indicates the company will make two general assembly lines in the building.
More details about the plans for the building are unclear. The gigafactory has been focused on Model Y production since it opened in April, but the company is also aiming for Cybertruck production to kick off in mid-2023.
While there is room for expansion on the 3.3 square miles of land Tesla has, this move comes after CEO Elon Musk’s recent comments about the state of the economy and its impact on Tesla.
In a May interview with Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, Musk said the gigafactories in Berlin and Austin are “gigantic money furnaces” and said Giga Texas had manufactured only a small number of cars.
And in June, Musk sent a company wide email saying Tesla will be reducing salaried headcount by 10%, then later tweeted salaried headcount should be fairly flat.
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(Dullnig Ranch Sales)
You’ll have to leave city limits if you’re looking for a proper ranch property like 417 Acres Shipp Lake Ranch, aptly named for its acreage. The property comes built out with three farmhouses, one of which has bedrooms and two bathrooms and two of which have two bedrooms and one bathroom. The nearly untouched property, which surrounds the 100-plus-acre Shipp Lake, has remained in the same family since the early 1900s and gives you picturesque views for the making of a dream home. In fact, the previous owners ran a water ski camp on the property.
Sitting waterside on Lake Austin, this home gives you the unique opportunity to own a piece of the lush Hill Country with views of Mount Bonnell. The 2,750-square foot, three-bedroom, four-bathroom house allows you to integrate indoor and outdoor life with large windows opening to an outdoor living area. The crown jewel is the .76-acre parcel of land that tapers off to your own lakeside resort, featuring an covered outdoor kitchen, fire pit, stone boat house to store your water sports supplies and veranda sitting at the mouth of the water, perfect for an entertainer.
Got dreams of becoming a real Texas rancher? 7814 Brown Cemetery Rd. is the perfect place to start with 40 rolling acres of land and its very own swimming hole. Just east of Austin in Manor, the modest-on-the-outside home clocks at 4,412 square feet with five bedrooms and five-and-a-half bathrooms, but there are an additional two living structures on the property. The horseshoe-shaped pond sits in the heart of the property and comes equipped with a water slide, diving board and a fishing dock.