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Mark Dewey
(Note: Austonia's publisher chooses five of the week's "most read" stories)
1. All adults (16-and-up) are now eligible for COVID vaccines, according to new state guidelines. But priority should still be to vaccinate those 80 and older.
All Texas adults will be eligible for a vaccine next week
2. Austin City Council votes to restart the APD cadet academy, launches search for Chief Manley's replacement and appoints an interim chief after the year starts with a surge in murders.
Austin police: Violent crime uptick could be 'here to stay' after spate of murders
3. Bad news if you're looking for a home, good news if you're selling one, but either way Austin's residential real estate market continues to burn brightly, with not enough supply to match the number of interested buyers.
Austin homes are selling way above asking price—more than any other US metro
4. The week's best headline and a thought-provoking piece. Are you going to ease into your former life, or go right for the mosh pit?
Ready to put on pants and face the world again? Experts say it will take some easing into
5. SXSW has somehow survived the unlucky timing of two non-IRL-festival years, with 2020's cancelation and 2021's shortened virtual festival. Bring on 2022's extravaganza!
Wrapping up SXSW: The Austin artists you need to add to your playlist
Popular
(Note: stories chosen by Austonia's publisher as the week's most impactful)
1. Austin's leaders are refusing to answer the question of how much the city's coal and nuclear plants contributed to the city's deep dreeze power mix.
Power switch: What Texas' deep freeze means for Austin Energy's move toward renewables
2. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, potential gatekeeper to billions in federal funding for Austin's Project Connect, sounds supportive at SXSW appearance.
3. Futbol's strong appeal in Latin America brings well-loved traditions to Austin FC, Austin's hispanic community and the entire city.
LISTOS: Austin's Latino community is hyped to watch a team that feels 'close to home'
4. Emma Freer's three-part "Gone to Texas" series covers centuries of Austin's growth and looks at how Hispanic, Black, Southern, German and Asian populations—some by immigration, some by "redistricting," and some enslaved—were elemental to creating our modern city.
- Gone to Texas: The golden goose behind Austin's post-recession growth—and why it might be threatened
- Gone to Texas: The WWII-era roots of Austin's big tech industry
- Gone to Texas: Where it all started for Austin's boomtown status
5. As South Congress, and the rest of our city, undergoes continuing transformation, hotelier Liz Lambert reflects on change: "You're losing something to create something new."
SWSW: Liz Lambert's Hotel San José documentary tells the story of an Austin long gone
