Austin

After the Bastrop Complex Fires burned his property and destroyed his home five years ago, artist and furniture maker Walter Winslett took a tour of the damage. That’s when he came across two trees, charred and dead, but still standing.

KUT Weekend brings you our favorite stories from the KUT newsroom. Updated Fridays.

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Bevo, the bovine booster of the University of Texas Longhorns, is a nearly century-old institution.

There have been 14 incarnations of the mascot, with the fifteenth making its game day debut this Sunday at the Longhorns’ opener against Notre Dame. But Bevo wasn’t always a beloved fixture on the sidelines.

In fact, people kind of hated him.

From the Austin Monitor: City Council voted unanimously Monday to adopt a new set of electricity rates for residents and businesses served by Austin Energy, the city-owned utility.

The vote was the culmination of an eight-month process, starting with a rate proposal submitted by the utility in January, followed by months of back and forth between AE and more than two dozen “intervenors” representing businesses, consumer groups and environmental advocates.

In the latest installment of our ATXplained series, KUT's Kate McGee tackled the grocer-backed frenzy surrounding the Hatch chile pepper. It's a time when the flavor of the beloved New Mexican pepper infiltrates seemingly any and all sundries.

For every obvious flavor combo, like chips or salsa or tortilla soup, there are seemingly dozens of other, more questionable fusions – Hatch pancake mix, Hatch beer, Hatch poundcake, Hatch wine, Hatch cookies and the like. 

Kate's story sought to answer the question of how festivals like Central Market's Hatch-A-Palooza sprouted up, and the answer to that question – and the revelation that Hatch chiles are virtually identical to counterparts like the Anaheim – was unsavory to some.

Things got heated.

So, here's a smattering of responses, compliments and hot takes we got online.

Thousands of students at UT-Austin protested campus carry today using a tactic that could be described as unorthodox, if not unprecedented on the Forty Acres: They brandished dildos by the hundreds on the Main Mall.

Not much specific.

Austin Police are not releasing details of Trump's route, but we do know where he's going and when he's scheduled to be there.

The deadline for council candidates to place their names on the November ballot came and went today. Here’s a list of who’s running in the five districts where seats are up for election (incumbents are indicated as such):

It’s official. Austin voters will decide on a $720 million transportation bond come November 8. Council members took a final vote on the ballot language this afternoon, after nearly two hours of discussion. The final count? Seven council members for, three abstaining, one hard no.

Kahraman Barut is one lucky guy.

He just moved to Austin from Turkey on Sunday, so the unusually cool, wet weather we've been experiencing is all he knows of our local summers.

“I’m really shocked actually," he says. "I wasn’t expecting this."

John Richardson’s lived here 20 years. He can't remember August days this cool and rainy, he says.