Local news and fun, every day 6am.
Featured
austonia newsletter
Most viewed

As Austin moves toward six full days on a citywide boil-water notice, Austin Water announced Sunday afternoon that it would begin sampling certain areas of its water supply to make sure water is safe to drink.
Contaminants have not been discovered in the water, but the notice is still in effect and could be for the next coming days as the city sends samples to a lab for testing. The boil-water notice went into effect as a result of power loss and reduction of water pressure at the Ullrich Water Plant.
On the same day, Austin Water announced that two of its zones had regained low-pressure running water.
Both the South and Northwest A zones have climbed from Red (Water Outage) to Orange (Low Pressure), bringing the tally up to four areas with some semblance of running water. Five of the nine water utility regions are still out of water.
distribution system. Today we added North and Southwest A (SWA) zones moved from Red (Water Outage) to Orange (Low Pressure). Individual water pressure and service may vary from house to house within a zone. pic.twitter.com/bFlFyRmWGR
— Austin Water (@AustinWater) February 22, 2021
The department also announced that storage in reservoirs had jumped to 72 million gallons, with a minimum of 100 million gallons needed to resume normal operations.
- Austin Water: Most customers should have service by Monday ... ›
- Water conservation is now Austin's 'immediate priority' - austonia ›
- Food, bottled water en route to Austin amid weather crisis - austonia ›
- 10 places offering free water in Austin - austonia ›
Popular
A $6,000 cockatoo named Lemon Grab was stolen from a pet store Sunday afternoon, owner Kelsey Fernandez said. (Kelsey Fernandez)
A big-money bird has been stolen from a northwest Austin pet store.
Kelsey Fernandez, the owner of a $6,000 sulphur and citron-crested cockatoo named Lemon Grab, said the emotional support animal was taken from the Gallery of Pets store, around closing time on Sunday.
"I've struggled with mental illness my entire life, and ever since I got him I've been doing so much better," Fernandez told Austonia.
The $6k cockatoo is young and will starve unless he is fed by hand, Fernandez said.
In a surveillance video, a man appears to have something under his shirt as he and two others exit the business around the same time the store believes that Lemon Grab was stolen.
Fernandez said a report has been filed with the Austin Police Department with an $1,000 reward for his return.
- Bike shops report burglaries, putting them thousands in debt - austonia ›
- Does Dirty 6th live up to its name? Here's how crime stacks up in ... ›
- Austin police will no longer respond to non-emergency calls, looking ... ›
- Two carjackings reported in Westlake area, one arrested - austonia ›
- Furever companion: Austonia's complete guide to adopting in Austin ... ›
- Cats get to keep their claws with new Austin city ordinance - austonia ›
- Pet Paradise is coming to Austin - austonia ›
- Austinites are some of the most sociable pet owners - austonia ›
- Seeing double: Pet parents clone their furry friends with Austin-area ... ›
(Pexels)
Introverts and personal space lovers may not want to make the move to Austin anytime soon: The Texas capital saw a bigger increase in one-bedroom rent prices than almost any other U.S. city in April, according to a Rent.com report.
Austin's one-bedroom rent has more than doubled—a 112% increase—from April 2021 to 2022, the report said. Only Oklahoma City saw a higher year-over-year increase with a 133% jump.
Austin also had the fourth-highest increase in two-bedroom rent, with a 50% increase in the past year. The city joined a nationwide trend where rents were up 8.3% year-over-year across the U.S, a trend exacerbated by a 6.2% increase in inflation in the same time period.
But "not everyone is experiencing inflation the same way," Redfin Deputy Chief Economist Taylor Marr said in the report, and a brunt of the load has gone to cities with more move-ins. While over 90% of state rental markets increased in the last year, that jump was seen most in Sun Belt states, including Texas, Arizona and Florida.
Even with breakneck increases in rent, however, Austin's rent prices still haven't cracked the top 10: the city's one-bedroom apartments are the 12th most expensive in the nation with an average price of $2,918. Meanwhile, its two-bedrooms fall behind Texas cities Frisco, Dallas and Plano and come out 34th on the list with a $2,302 average monthly rent.
- Austin housing market prices continue to climb in 2021 real estate ... ›
- Austin sees record-breaking real estate year in 2021 - austonia ›
- Austin ranks among top luxury real estate markets - austonia ›
- Austin's housing market is more overpriced than any U.S. city but ... ›