• Home Sweet … Hotel? Students Uprooted from Faulty Student Housing Complex

    Home Sweet … Hotel? Students Uprooted from Faulty Student Housing Complex

    By Rebecca Butler | Reporting Texas Stella Perez planned to have an at-home date with her boyfriend on Valentine’s Day. Instead, she got a call from her student housing complex, Crest at Pearl, that she would be evacuated and relocated to a hotel room for “routine inspections” in her unit.  She spent the rest of…

  • Student Government Approves Plan to Make Printing Easier, Cheaper

    Student Government Approves Plan to Make Printing Easier, Cheaper

    By Rebecca Butler // Reporting Texas Responding to student frustrations about the cost of on-campus printing, the University of Texas’ Student Government voted Tuesday night to give students a $2 printing allowance each semester. The pilot program, which will be implemented over the next few years, aims to change UT’s longstanding printing system that results…

  • Fields, Farms and Factories: How a Foreign Company Is Changing a Rural County Near Houston

    Fields, Farms and Factories: How a Foreign Company Is Changing a Rural County Near Houston

    By Rebecca Butler // Reporting Texas Driving through Waller, Texas, the peaceful sight of grazing cows and sprawling farmland suddenly gives way to a massive factory, business parks and subdivided housing developments, a stark symbol of the town’s rapid transformation.  What was once a quiet rural community 45 miles northwest of downtown Houston is now…

  • Divided Austin Council Expands Wheatsville’s Alcohol Sales Waiver on South Lamar

    Divided Austin Council Expands Wheatsville’s Alcohol Sales Waiver on South Lamar

    By Rebecca Butler // Reporting Texas A sharply divided Austin City Council on Thursday approved Wheatsville Food Co-op’s request to sell alcohol for on-site consumption despite its proximity to Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. Wheatsville, a community-owned natural foods retailer with two Austin stores, petitioned the council in August to waive the city’s ban…

  • Education in Emergency: First-Year Teachers Struggle Through COVID-19 Chaos

    Education in Emergency: First-Year Teachers Struggle Through COVID-19 Chaos

    By Rebecca Butler First-year teachers in Texas have been struggling to overcome work and pandemic-related stress. The hours once spent in in-person classes and professional development shifted to Zoom calls virtually overnight, creating a rocky start to their first year in the classroom. According to a report by the Texas Department of State Health Services,…

  • No Stage? No Problem. Texas State Theatre Goes Virtual During COVID-19

    No Stage? No Problem. Texas State Theatre Goes Virtual During COVID-19

    By Rebecca Butler San Marcos, Texas – COVID-19 may have canceled live theatre, but it didn’t cancel Texas State’s creativity. If anything, the department has found new ways to steal the show. The coronavirus pandemic reshaped college life across the U.S., yet Texas State University officials say their approach to COVID-19 has been largely successful.…

  • A Grandma’s Quarantine: Coping, Creating and Connecting From Home

    A Grandma’s Quarantine: Coping, Creating and Connecting From Home

    By Rebecca Butler Waller, Texas – Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Billie Wittenbach, 73, spent her Saturdays with her grandchildren and packed up her RV for frequent trips. During the pandemic, her daily routine has shifted to “doing all of the things that I thought I didn’t have the time to do,” she said. “Other than…

  • Mochas & Javas Brews Up the Best Coffee in San Marcos

    Mochas & Javas Brews Up the Best Coffee in San Marcos

    By Rebecca Butler The scent of freshly brewed espresso drifts down LBJ Drive, mingling with the chatter of students clutching laptops and lattes. Inside Mochas and Javas, the hum of milk steamers and the clink of mugs set the rhythm of San Marcos life — and according to locals, it’s officially the best cup of…