Hello, We at The Austin Cut are redefining our aim and are going to focus on in-depth journalism from a broad spectrum of topics concerning Austin. We believe there is a huge gap in local media and that there is a real need for honest investigative work that fights for the interests of regular citizens. [...]

Nothing’s really changed in Austin’s government since the early 70s except for voter turnout has been swirling down the toilet. In 1971, more than half the city voted in the local election. These days we’re lucky if we get more than 10% of the city. Even crazier, in raw numbers, more people voted in ’71 [...]

“Public pools are the number one spreader of disease,” my boss said. He was teaching me how to test and balance pool chemistry. I was 16 and about to be in charge of the pool at the condo complex I worked for. My boss continued, “I’ll never go in a public pool again after this [...]

When I pulled into a parking spot in front of the leasing office at Park Lane Villas, 1710 Woodward Street, I saw a big group of people, mostly Mexican women and kids, and a cop car. I stared at the cop as I got out of my car and he glared back. I sat down [...]

I was sitting on the bus one morning, heading in the total opposite direction that I needed to go. I was trying to get to my girlfriend’s soccer game on William Cannon, just east of the 35. In a car, it would’ve been a five minute trip—east on Ben White, south on 35, east on [...]

If a middle-aged man came up to you and started listing every drug he’d ever taken, including pot & alcohol, and telling you all of the mundane things that happened to him while he was high, would you stand there and listen to him? What if he threw in stuff like, “nicotine, beer, wine and [...]

Four of us were living in a one bedroom apartment. Shoreline Apartments, which used to be located off East Riverside just past I-35, was mostly full of poor Mexican families who probably had less money and were packed in even tighter than us. The complex was a pile of crap. Every night, crackheads and other [...]

Getting busted with drugs is easy—just jump in a car with ‘em. But that doesn’t stop any of my friends from carrying their drugs everywhere they go. I have one friend who keeps this little Pokémon ball ashtray in his car full of weed. It sits right next to the regular ashtray. If I were [...]

Undercover Narcotics is a ridiculous and thankless job. They’re out there trying to stop the massive waves of drugs and deals, and they’re trying to do it one dealer at a time. They bust a guy for selling a crack rock to a cop and someone else steps into his place the same day. On [...]

Instead of splatting the cockroach against the crack of the wall and mopping him up later, I stared, frozen. Another cockroach straight from hell. Ridiculously giant, too. With its antennae feeling around all on their own, it watched me for the next move. I could feel my pulse hard. If you were next to me, [...]