Bastrop County is soliciting help from the public as they collect video, photos, and personal testimonies related to the fires earlier this month. Mike Fisher from the Bastrop County Office of Emergency Management says, "While everything is still fresh in our minds, we want to document exactly what happened. We hope to create a complete and accurate record of the wildfires that began on September 4, 2011, for future generations. We also aim for this record to serve as a case study for our local emergency responders and for other departments that may face similar disasters in the future." Photos and testimonies may be submitted via the Bastrop County Wildfire Historical Project Facebook Page, and video to the Project's Vimeo group. more ›

Cactus Pryor, known to most Austinites for his work in local TV and radio, died yesterday at Hospice Austin's Christopher House. Pryor announced in 2007 that he had Alzheimer's disease, and had suffered a bad fall in recent weeks. more ›

The Austin Chronicle's annual best-of poll is now open! You can share your pick for the city's best Farmer's Market, Film Critic, Local Blog, Local Entertainment Website (*cough cough*), Swimming Hole, Austin Icon and more. Online voting is open through Monday, July 18th. [Austin Chronicle: Best of Austin 2011 poll] more ›

The Radio Television Digital News Association has awarded two National Edward R. Murrow awards to KUT News. The public radio station's first national Murrow awards are for the "hard news" story Doctors on Healthcare (reported by Nathan Bernier) and the "audio news" series on the end of the space shuttle program. Since the News program at KUT was established in 2002, they've garnered 26 regional Murrow awards. The complete list of the 2011 National Murrow awardwinners is here. more ›

• People will do anything to drive in the HOV lanes.
• Fox News is a respectable group. Just ask Juan Williams.
• So the fact that there are racist people in the Tea Party movement is a surprise?

• Many of the workers on the Deepwater Horizon had expressed safety concerns in the weeks before the explosion.
• On the troubled relationship between Gulf fishermen and oil companies.
• Hundreds of dead penguins wash up on Brazil's beaches.

• Party time this time: the Texas Relays are in town thru Saturday!
• There's still time to say a quick goodbye to the old press that used to make the offices of The Daily Texan thud so nicely during the night.
• Horrible: a Yale student (from Austin) died after jumping off the observation deck of the Empire State Building on Tuesday.

• Kay Bailey Hutchison took a campaign contribution from a toll road builder? Wait, we thought it was Perry who was in favor of the toll roads, and Hutchison who was against them.
• It seems there is some room for improvement in the services that Capital Metro offers customers with disabilities. Like, say, a wheelchair accessible way to get from the bus stop to the bus.
• Hail may be possible in Austin on Thursday night.

• It's snow, people. Relax.
• Evil corporate empire buys another evil corporate empire. No plans to charge for , so that's good.
• The state of Virginia is launching a probe into a shady business run by the partycrashing Salahis.

Over beers at TRIO last Tuesday, we had a chat with former Texas Monthly president and editor-in-chief Evan Smith about his new nonprofit media project, the Texas Tribune. more ›

• Civilian goals still unmet in Afghanistan
• Two Americans share Nobel economics prize; this is the first year a female has been awarded the prize for economics.
• Insurance industry advocacy group claims premiums will rise under healthcare reform

The venerable 117-year-old Waco Tribune-Herald, freshly sold to a local insurance mogul in July, debuted a guest column by the publisher's poodle on Sunday. more ›

• Three Americans share Nobel Prize for medicine
• Iran playing nice?
• Foreign frenemy policy: Obama delays meeting with Dalai Lama

After nearly a year on the market, the Statesman is no longer for sale. Parent company Cox Enterprises announced today that they will retain ownership of the paper. more ›

Like the publishing industry as a whole, Austin's Rare Magazine has been undergoing a metamorphosis of late, which ostensibly began with the departure of former Publisher and Founder Matt Swinney earlier this year. The magazine's co-owner, Taylor Perkins, who runs local real estate firm 512 Realty and serves as Development Director for Charity Bash, a fledgling philanthropy group, then bought out his business partner's share, becoming sole owner of Rare and assuming the Publisher title. more ›

Lan Bui/Flickr
• Sex research is well and good, but when is someone going to study our drunken hook-ups?
• SXSW made money. Duh.
• People came to SXSW to find work.

• Local rancher dies after being crushed by cow.
• Austin rapper "Capone" allegedly hit and robbed a mentally disabled man over $45 bucks in CD sales.
• Do they waive the late checkout fee for everyone else when Austin Police Department SWAT teams are outside the hotel?

Although most local stations (KXAN, KVUE, and even FOX7), are sticking with analog past February, the Washington Post reports today that about 500 stations nationwide are going ahead with the digital transition on the originally scheduled date of February 17. Given this tweet posted yesterday saying "KEYE will stop broadcasting its analog feed on the original planned digital conversion date, Feb. 17," KEYE looks to be one of them. Also: KLRU CEO on the delayed switch. more ›

• Pres gets sorta apocalyptic with it.
• GM cuts 10,000 jobs - of the management variety.
• Good to see the energy efficiency question is still out there, despite cheap gas.

As part of KUT's 50th anniversary celebration, BBC has been in town since Monday doing their live show, . Yesterday they were on the air from UT's Communications Courtyard, discussing capital punishment, when KLRU's Docubloggers found them. They will be in town through Friday - their show is airing throughout the week at noon on KUT. more ›

Michele Norris, host of NPR's All Things Considered, will be in town next week. The Mary Alice Distinguished Lectureship, William Randolph Hearst Endowment for Visiting Professionals and the School of Journalism at UT Austin are sponsoring her lecture titled "Listening to America in an Election Year: Did the Press Get it Right?" Her lecture next Thursday is free and open to the public. more ›

Wells Dunbar from the Austin Chronicle (speaking of which, have you voted yet for Best of Austin? *hint, hint*) stopped by the Annie's List get-together last night for a wrap-up of the Democratic convention and chatted with some politicians in attendance about Obama's possible effect on local/state elections. more ›

A woman was sexually assaulted on Saturday after leaving a Hyde Park Walgreens; police searching for the suspect. Multi-vehicle wreck this morning on Bee Caves at Barton Creek results in one death. Cesar Chavez St. set to turn two-way on Monday, August 11. Fickle Edouard floods areas of Southeast Texas, only sends some light showers our way. Girl, you know it's true: Jammin' 105.9 is now up for sale. more ›

Two men arrested in San Marcos after using credit cards stolen from California, Michigan and Texas residents. Woman killed in a hit-and-run accident off of Steck last night. Ponderous: Feet found at Lake Travis linked to possible suicide case. 59-year-old Round Rock woman gives birth. Gov. Perry's flight to D.C. in June paid for by Bo Pilgrim, as Perry was going to get a waiver on ethanol mandates. Shady! more ›

• Lesbian couple of 55 years to be the first in line today in San Francisco to get married.
• Honda starts commercial production of hydrogen-powered cars.
• Obama spoke about fatherhood at a church yesterday.

• China plans to relocate 12 *million* people.
• President Bush is really, really sorry that some troops used a Koran for target practice. (Or, at least, he's sorry people found out about it.)
• Obama meets big crowds in Oregon (surprise, surprise).

• Bush to meet Benedict at the airport, near the Alitalia baggage claim, holding a white carnation. If they miss each other they'll use their cell phones.
• Sure, and NOBODY was bitter during the Depression. Tell that to Herbert Hoover.
• Bloomberg picks gun control as way to bring himself to national attention - almost as politic a choice as that congestion pricing thing.

Another day, another long list of long list of web-darling music acts and their attendant corporate sponsors. more ›

Unicorn’s site will be an ad-supported entertainment site offering “free, unlimited access” to audio and video content, but there’s more to it: Rather than focusing on sheer volume of music, as MySpace seems to intend, it looks like Unicorn will raise the bar by focusing on two primary goals: (1) Offering consistent, high-definition content to customers, and (2) allowing emerging artists to showcase their work in a more attractive, efficient and profitable way. more ›

This is what SXSW free day parties are all about. Twelve bands, two venues, and short sets so that you can see as much as you can stomach. Forcefield and Terrorbird are having their blow-out at Emo’s and Emo’s Jr. on the first day of SXSW, kicking things off with quite a bang. more ›