KUT Austin

Title: Lessons from Lockdown: The New Mother
Runtime: 2:10
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: Elizabeth Kirkland became a new mother two days before the coronavirus lockdown started in Austin, Texas. "I learned that I’m a lot stronger than I thought I was and a lot weaker than I thought I was," she said. "I have lived in a paradox of extreme joy and extreme loneliness." She found ways to cope with the unexpected isolation, like taking walks every day with her son and her husband. Reflecting back a year after the lockdown began, Kirkland credits her son, Liam, for being her "why" and giving her and her husband a reason to push through the challenges of the past year of the pandemic.

Video by Julia Reihs

Day By Day: Learning With Disabilities During A Pandemic

Title: Day By Day: Learning With Disabilities During A Pandemic
Runtime: 5:29
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: When the Austin Independent School District went remote at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Sarah McKenna, a single mother and essential worker, thought her son, Ian, would thrive in the remote learning environment. In actuality, Ian, who has ADHD, autism and dysgraphia, struggled to focus and keep up with his classes. In contrast, his sister, Addison, did thrive. Addison has ADHD and a sensory-processing disorder, and found the minimized distractions and sounds at home to benefit her during online learning.

Now, back at in-person school, Ian can improve his grades, get more one-on-one time with teachers, and finish his final semester of high school before attending college. Despite the risks of COVID-19, the family sees the benefit of in-person learning for him.

Produced by Julia Reihs with reporting by Claire McInerny

Celebration and Protest after Biden's Victory

Title: Celebration and Protest after Biden's Victory
Runtime: 1:19
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: Hundreds took to the streets of downtown Austin in celebration and protest after Democratic nominee Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election Saturday.

Video by Julia Reihs
Audio by Claire McInerny and Nadia Hamdan

What's At Stake: Central Texas Voters in 2020

Title: What's At Stake: Central Texas Voters in 2020
Runtime: 4:36
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description

Title: Las Catrinas
Runtime: 2:09
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: Amidst a global pandemic, the group Mexicanas en Austin is finding ways to celebrate Día de los Muertos despite this year’s challenges.

The holiday, a celebration honoring the dead, usually consists of ofrendas – or offerings in the home – as well as music, food and festivities with friends and family. But this year, the coronavirus pandemic has hit Latino communities in Texas especially hard. Gatherings are smaller, and many families are mourning loved ones recently lost to COVID-19.

“In my personal case, I have two family members [who] passed in Mexico,” says founder of Mexicanas en Austin, Marcela de Stefano. She is originally from Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico. “It was really hard because we could not be there to stay with them, to say goodbye,” she says.

With the pandemic, this year’s celebration will have more restrictions and smaller gatherings, but members of the group plan to celebrate in the ways they can. “It’s still...

Title: What's At Stake 2020: Civil Rights
Runtime: 3:07
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: For more election stories about issues affecting Central Texans in 2020, visit KUT.org.

Video: Michael Minasi/KUT News

Title: What's At Stake 2020: Education
Runtime: 3:55
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: Stone Wang knew his first year as a teacher would be difficult – but he never could have predicted the added challenge of teaching during a pandemic.

Wang is a first-year Assistant Band Director at Walsh Middle School in Round Rock ISD. About 30 percent of students at the school attend in-person class, which means he and his fellow band directors must balance in-person and virtual learning in the same class. Wang switches back and forth, addressing questions from students on a video chat while his in-person class waits patiently. Returning his attention to his in-person students, virtual students mute themselves and practice their lessons at home. Wang describes the experience as challenging – especially as a first-year instructor. In this election cycle, he hopes for leadership that will prioritize the dignity and safety of essential workers such as teachers.

“We are in the trenches trying to make great experiences for kids,” Wang says. “And I hop...

Title: What's At Stake 2020: Transportation
Runtime: 3:21
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: In the face of Austin’s continuing population growth, student Ryan Natividad sees transportation as a key voting issue for Austin’s long-term future.

“As Austin is facing tremendous growth, we're expecting reasonably close to four million people by the year 2040. […] I don't want to see our public transportation system and our streets and our pedestrian and cycling facilities in the condition they are now with that many more people forced to be on our roads all the time.”

For Natividad, transportation is an issue that affects a city’s mobility on its roadways but also pedestrian safety, the choices residents make in housing and overall quality of life.

With two major transportation items on the city’s ballot this year, Proposition A and Proposition B, Natividad urges voters to think about the long-term effect of measures like these that affect mobility and urban growth for decades to come.

For more election stories about...

Title: What's At Stake 2020: Healthcare
Runtime: 3:29
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: As a health care educator, practitioner and co-founder of the Central Texas Allied Health Institute, Jereka Thomas-Hockaday has had a vested interest in the public health of East Austin’s underserved communities of color during the coronavirus pandemic.

In partnership with the Austin Area Urban League, the Central Texas Allied Health Institute opened a clinic in East Austin in October to provide free COVID-19 testing as well as social services to families of those testing positive.

With the November 2020 elections approaching, the opening of the clinic comes at a pivotal time, Thomas-Hockaday said.

“We are at a crossroads in our country as to how we are going to have a health care system,” she said. “The citizens need to make their voices heard about what type of health care system they want. And the only way you can do that … is to get out and vote.”

For more election stories about issues affe...

Title: What's At Stake 2020: Women's Rights
Runtime: 4:00
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: Throughout her lifetime, Laura Alcorta, a retired educator, has witnessed a shift toward gender equality in the United States. She’s seen women make strides in the workplace and abortion rights gain more protections. Now, in the 2020 election season, she’s worried some of this progress will be erased.

With the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, one of her main concerns is the potential reversal of Roe v. Wade. “That's at the forefront of women's rights,” she says. She hopes for her six-year-old granddaughter that leadership will preserve the progress towards women’s equality.

“By voting, women need to understand that that's paying a tribute to the women before us and the sacrifices they made,” says Alcorta. “It’s our opportunity to step up.”

For more election stories about issues affecting Central Texans in 2020, visit KUT.org.

Video: Julia Reihs/KUT News

What's At Stake 2020: Small Business Economy

Title: What's At Stake 2020: Small Business Economy
Runtime: 3:03
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: For Chelle Neff, owner of Urban Betty hair salon in Austin, navigating the coronavirus pandemic as a small business owner was scary. At the start of the pandemic, she burned through about six years’ worth of savings in two months. But keeping her business open is about more than finances – she also feels an obligation to her 60 employees who rely on their paychecks to stay afloat. In the 2020 election season, Neff sees the power of voting in shaping the way her employees will survive the coming years.

For more election stories about issues affecting Central Texans in 2020, visit KUT.org.

Video: Michael Minasi/KUT News

Austin City Council Candidate Forum — District 10

Title: Austin City Council Candidate Forum — District 10
Runtime: 1:02:55
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: KUT and the Austin Monitor host a forum with the candidates running for a seat on the Austin City Council in District 10, which covers much of west Austin.

Austin City Council Candidate Forum — District 7

Title: Austin City Council Candidate Forum — District 7
Runtime: 51:25
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: KUT and the Austin Monitor host a forum with the candidates running for a seat on the Austin City Council in District 7, which covers north central Austin.

Austin City Council Candidate Forum — District 6

Title: Austin City Council Candidate Forum — District 6
Runtime: 1:00:21
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: KUT and the Austin Monitor host a forum with the candidates running for a seat on the Austin City Council in District 6, which covers northwest Austin.

Austin City Council Candidate Forum — District 4

Title: Austin City Council Candidate Forum — District 4
Runtime: 1:01:35
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: KUT and the Austin Monitor host a forum with the candidates running for an open seat on the Austin City Council in District 4, which covers North Central Austin.

Austin City Council Candidate Forum — District 2

Title: Austin City Council Candidate Forum — District 2
Runtime: 1:01:48
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: KUT and the Austin Monitor host a forum with the candidates running for an open seat on the Austin City Council in District 2, which covers southeast Austin.

Title: SAVES Rally for Austin Music Industry
Runtime: 1:59
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: Austin music and arts industry workers rallied at City Hall the day before a City Council vote on the SAVES (Save Austin's Vital Economic Sectors) resolution. The resolution would direct the city manager to look into providing financial relief for Austin's music and arts industry.

Title: Now What?: All About Contact Tracing
Runtime: 34:41
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: KUT's Jennifer Stayton talk with Dr. Parker Hudson from Dell Medical School about contact tracing: what it is, how it's done and how it can help contain the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Title: Now What?: What the Data Tells Us
Runtime: 37:27
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: KUT's Nadia Hamdan talks with Lauren Ancel Meyers, a mathematical epidemiologist at UT Austin and the leader of the COVID-19 Modeling Consortium about the trends in pandemic data.

Title: Mike Ramos & George Floyd Protest
Runtime: 2:41
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: Over the weekend, protesters took to the streets demanding justice for Mike Ramos and George Floyd, both killed by police officers.

Video by: Julia Reihs
Interviews by: Mose Buchele

Title: Now What? Creating A Vaccine
Runtime: 35:31
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: KUT's Jennifer Stayton talks with Jason McLellan, an associate professor of molecular biosciences at UT Austin, about the process of creating a vaccine to prevent COVID-19.

Title: Love Letter To An Empty Austin
Runtime: 4:20
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: In March, the coronavirus began to change our city: the sounds, the music, and the people within it. Over the past month, KUT and KUTX asked Austinites to write love letters to their empty city. These letters document memories, calls to action, and quarantine experiences of all sorts from across our city. Watch KUT and KUTX social media channels for more.

Video by Julia Reihs
Additional footage by Gabriel Pérez and Michael Minasi

Title: Lost Senior Year
Runtime: 2:16
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: Four graduating seniors from high schools across Austin, TX share thoughts on what it's like to graduate as the class of 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

Video: Michael Minasi
Interviews: Claire McInerny
Music: bensound.com

Title: Seeing Austin during Coronavirus
Runtime: 6:43
Date posted: 6 years ago
Description: Seven Austinites from across the city share what they've seen and discovered in their communities during the coronavirus pandemic.

Video: Gabriel C. Pérez
Music: Jack Anderson - 'Against the Peacemaker'
Still Photographs: Michael Minasi

Title: Front Yard Concert
Runtime: 4:54
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: A small neighborhood crowd listens during a social distance-friendly Front Yard Concert by singer Mela Sarajane Dailey with Bridgette Peterson in the Highland Park West neighborhood of Austin, TX during the coronavirus pandemic. The event was held in support of Austin Artist's Project and Project LiveNotes.

Video: Gabriel C. Pérez
Additional audio provided by Farid Zarrinabadi

Title: Social Distance Dance Party
Runtime: 1:58
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: Amidst the coronavirus pandemic and before Mayor Steve Adler ordered the city's shelter-in-place order, neighbors on the Antone Street block of the Mueller neighborhood in Austin, TX hold their nightly "front porch dance party" - maintaining social distance while having dance-offs and live music. Video produced by Gabriel C. Pérez.

Title: Homeless in Austin During Coronavirus
Runtime: 1:15
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: KUT spoke with people under the I-35 bridge about how the coronavirus has affected them.

Title: KUT Morning Edition Live: Coronavirus
Runtime: 45:58
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: KUT's Jennifer Stayton hosts a special hour of Morning Edition to answer your questions about the coronavirus with panelists Serena Bumpus, director of practice for the Texas Nurses Association; Dr. F. Parker Hudson, assistant professor of internal medicine and infectious diseases at Dell Medical School; Lauren Ancel Meyers, professor of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin; and Jeff Taylor, senior Epidemiologist with Austin Public Health.

Title: John Aielli and Concert Conduct
Runtime: 2:57
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: KUT's Andrew Weber poses "unanswerable" ATXPlained questions for KUTX's John Aielli to answer.

ATXPlained Live Show 2020: John Aielli Answers the Unanswerable ATXPlained Questions (Part 3)

Title: ATXPlained Live Show 2020: John Aielli Answers the Unanswerable ATXPlained Questions (Part 3)
Runtime: 2:56
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: KUT's Andrew Weber poses "unanswerable" ATXPlained questions for KUTX's John Aielli to answer.

ATXPlained Live Show 2020: John Aielli Answers the Unanswerable ATXPlained Questions (Part 2)

Title: ATXPlained Live Show 2020: John Aielli Answers the Unanswerable ATXPlained Questions (Part 2)
Runtime: 2:33
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: KUT's Andrew Weber poses "unanswerable" ATXPlained questions for KUTX's John Aielli to answer.

ATXPlained Live Show 2020: John Aielli Answers the Unanswerable ATXPlained Questions (Part 1)

Title: ATXPlained Live Show 2020: John Aielli Answers the Unanswerable ATXPlained Questions (Part 1)
Runtime: 3:07
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description

Title: Love Notes Chorus
Runtime: 1:29
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: The Love Notes Chorus, started by two Austinites earlier this year, is specifically for people in the early stages of memory loss, their caregivers and volunteers.

Title: South Austin Museum of Popular Culture
Runtime: 1:59
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: The South Austin Museum of Popular Culture is moving locations. Executive Director Leea Mechling wants to preserve the museum to continue teaching young people and newcomers to Austin about the history of Austin's unique music and arts scenes.

Title: 2020 Voting Process in Travis County
Runtime: 4:08
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir explains the new voting system for 2020 elections in Travis County.

Music: Podington Bear - Conveyor Belt (Free Music Archive)

Title: From The Arctic To Austin
Runtime: 3:19
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: LASA High School science teacher David Walker journeyed to the Arctic with a team of researchers this past summer to learn about permafrost melt and its contributions to climate change. Back in Austin, he strategizes ways to bring the Arctic to life for his students and make climate change relatable and digestible for them as they become adults.

Title: Casa Marianella: Thérèse
Runtime: 2:37
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: Thérèse arrived in the U.S. after traveling through 10 countries from her home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She says she wanted to live in a country with respect for human rights. She was granted asylum and made her way to Casa Marianella in Austin. Now, she is focused on creating a better life here for her children.

Title: Casa Marianella: Rosalidia
Runtime: 2:43
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: Rosalidia fled her home country of El Salvador, leaving behind a daughter who had been raped by MS-13 gang members. She's is staying at Casa Marianella while she seeks a visa for survivors of human trafficking. She hopes for a future where she can stay legally in the U.S. and reunite with her daughter.

Title: Austin Youth Climate Strike
Runtime: 2:25
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: Austin students walked out of school Sept. 20, 2019, to rally at the state Capitol to raise awareness of the climate crisis as part of an international youth climate strike. Hundreds of people were on the Capitol grounds to rally in support of climate change activism.

Dividing Lines: Good Schools vs. Bad Schools

Title: Dividing Lines: Good Schools vs. Bad Schools
Runtime: 1:17
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description

Dividing Lines: We Have Produced Systematically Our Current Circumstances

Title: Dividing Lines: We Have Produced Systematically Our Current Circumstances
Runtime: 1:19
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description

Title: A Fight For Rape Survivors' Rights
Runtime: 2:59
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: Marina Garrett was sexually assaulted while she was a UT student in 2015. She is one of hundreds of survivors who report assaults to Austin police every year. But she didn’t find justice – and neither do so many others. Since the attack, Garrett has been trying to persuade local leaders to do more to provide healing for victims of sexual assault. “I knew I needed to fight for other survivors and for our rights,” she says.

Dividing Lines: "Our schools are segregated"

Title: Dividing Lines: "Our schools are segregated"
Runtime: 1:11
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: "We absolutely have folks making assumptions based upon the racial composition of a campus and to some extent the socioeconomic composition of a campus," said Kevin Foster, an educational anthropologist and associate professor at UT Austin. Read and listen to Claire McInerny's story on how the history of Austin failing at desegregation is influencing today's Austin ISD school closure decisions: https://kutne.ws/33AVYE8

Dividing Lines: The fight to reshape Austin's schools

Title: Dividing Lines: The fight to reshape Austin's schools
Runtime: 1:12
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: “Folks generally want the same things: They want the best possible outcomes for their kids, they want their kids to do well academically, they want their kids to be happy and they want their kids to be sort of prepared for the future,” says educational anthropologist and UT Austin associate professor Kevin Foster. KUT’s education reporter Claire McInerny is looking at the fears surrounding potential boundary changes in Austin ISD and the conversations it has brought up about integration and the history of school closures in Austin. Read her full story here: https://kutne.ws/33y14kH

Hope Outdoor Gallery Graffiti Wall (360-degree Video)

Title: Hope Outdoor Gallery Graffiti Wall (360-degree Video)
Runtime: 2:04
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: The Hope Outdoor Gallery has been an Austin landmark since 2010.

Video: Martin do Nascimento, Eddie Chávez, Preston Simmons, Nick Griffith

ATXplained: Why Do Austin Lifeguards Have So Many Different Types Of Whistles?

Title: ATXplained: Why Do Austin Lifeguards Have So Many Different Types Of Whistles?
Runtime: 1:51
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: KUT listener Madeline Fening asked the question: Why do City of Austin lifeguards blow their whistles so specifically - with such crescendo?

Video: Michael Minasi for KUT News

Hi, Who Are You? - The Senior Fitness Coaches

Title: Hi, Who Are You? - The Senior Fitness Coaches
Runtime: 2:40
Date posted: 7 years ago
Description: Gladys Long, 93, attends exercise classes at Aging is Cool four times each week. She says it keeps her motivated to stay active and fills a void left by her husband's death. Amy and Damien Temperley run the Aging is Cool program and prompted a KUT listener to ask who this senior fitness coaching couple was.