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Austin Film Festival celebrates its 30th year

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:14:57 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin Film Festival announced its entire slate of programming for its 30th anniversary. The film festival began Thursday and will run through Nov. 2.“For 30 years, AFF has been a platform for open discussion, a place where the screenwriting community comes together to pass on experience, craft, and the writers’ journey from script to screen,” organizers said.According to a statement, highlights from the program included a screening of Jeff Nichols’ acclaimed new film “The Bikeriders,” and the Closing Night film will be Jack Huston’s “Day of the Fight.”The film program also includes the world premieres of the drama “Re: Uniting,” “ImPossible,” and “The Problem with People.”Austin Film Festival said it would celebrate the launch of its new Writer’s Writer Award, which honors established storytellers as well as emerging storytellers. This year, the award was presented to Cord Jefferson, an Emmy-winning writer who worked on shows including Watchmen, Succession, The ...

Cruise suspends operations. What’s next for AVs in Austin?

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:14:57 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – The largest operator of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in Austin announced via social media that it would be suspending all operations to “rebuild public trust.” Cruise’s fleet makes up roughly 80% of the AVs roaming across Austin’s streets. Austinites will likely observe fewer of these vehicles with the Cruise pause, but there are still three other AV operators in the city, according to a city backup presentation.  MORE: Cruise to pause all driverless operations as a way to ‘rebuild public trust The presence of these vehicles is still very new – Cruise only started operating the vehicles in Austin in 2022. In order to reckon with this new frontier, the city formed a working group in July to prepare for incidents, collect better data and facilitate better communication with AV companies to create remedies to issues, according to the city. The city points out in the backup presentation that it is the federal government that regulates vehicles and the state...

New bike lanes on Barton Springs Road gets warm welcome from drivers, cyclists

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:14:57 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — In late August, the Austin Transportation and Public Works Department reduced Barton Springs Rd from two lanes to one between South Lamar Blvd and Azie Morton Rd. That created a dedicated and protected bike lane for cyclists on the right lane of Barton Springs Rd both eastbound and westbound."It's a much safer experience and much more calm experience for such a dense pedestrian-heavy zone within our city," Lewis Leff, with the Austin Transportation and Public Works Department, said.Leff has been watching the flow of traffic on Barton Springs Road since the change went into place."What we were aiming for was a reduction in high-end speeding, and we've seen over an 80% reduction of high-end speeds, which is 10 miles an hour or above the speed limit. So what we've seen is a real significant reduction in high-end speeds and with really minimal impacts to travel time through the corridor," Leff said.Austin Resident, and transportation expert, Meg Merritt does her best to ...

'Spellbinding experience' at downtown Austin power plant for Halloween season

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:14:57 GMT

Editor’s note: The above video shows KXAN Live’s top morning headlines for Friday, Oct. 27, 2023.AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Art Deco building left standing from the old Seaholm Power Plant in downtown Austin will be turned into a “spellbinding experience" this weekend.The park around what was the pump house for the old power plant, the Seaholm intake facility, will host a spooky family-friendly experience with its first-ever "Trail or Treat" Halloween party.“We just like bringing more and more opportunities for the community to come out and really come together, that kind of magic potion for community bonding,” Trail Conservancy Chief Operating Officer Hanna Cofer said.On Saturday, from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., more than a dozen local vendors will take over the space with candy and games for trick-or-treaters.There is a costume contest for kids and pets along with tarot card readings, just for the pets.Cofer hopes the event serves as a reminder of how the Trail Conservancy is hoping to bri...

Our annual guide: 4 cult burgers

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:14:57 GMT

These are the burgers for which people are willing to wait — sometimes as long as an hour or two. And these four places are worth the hype.New or updated entries are marked with an asterisk.If you have other suggestions, please email them to us at [email protected] categories from our 2023 guide:Burgers for beer (and cocktail) hounds‘Cheffy’ burgersCult burgersDestination burgersDive bar burgersNeighborhood burgers1. * Private Sector ProvisionsThe guys behind this buzzy pop-up make a truly unbelievable burger. A big bad ball of beef, topped with raw onions, is smashed directly into the flat top and hit with seasoning, letting everything commingle as it cooks. (“I’m trying to be vulnerable with the beef,” co-owner Brett Splinter joked as he manned the grill. “You have to give it love!”) Two of those, each with its own slice of American cheese, go onto a soft toasted bun with delightfully dilly house pickles and sauce. For $10! An extra dollar for a bag of chips. ...

Gophers football: After sweet taste of bourbon, P.J. Fleck and Co. need to avoid another sobering letdown

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:14:57 GMT

The bottle’s label says it’s a 20-year-old Pappy Van Winkle, but it really had Iowa’s name on it.For seven years, that bourbon sat untouched in a cabinet at P.J. Fleck’s home. Visitors would ask: “Let’s open that!” And Fleck would slightly kill the party by saying, “no.”As the losses to Iowa stacked up since 2017, Fleck would see the bottle in the cabinet from time to time and his mouth would water. He knew how to savor it because the collector had cracked into a similar 15-year Pappy after Minnesota ended its long losing streak to Wisconsin in 2018.But after Fleck and the Gophers beat the Hawkeyes for the first time in seven attempts and captured Floyd of Rosedale last Saturday, he and wife Heather poured themselves each a finger of expensive Kentucky bourbon.“It tasted just as good as I thought,” Fleck shared Monday. “It was worth the wait.”But soon after that late-night sip, Fleck was off to bed. He and his team needed to hydrate with a trap game coming Saturday. Minnesota’s newf...

Our annual guide to the best neighborhood burgers in the Twin Cities

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:14:57 GMT

These eight spots close to home serve a crave-worthy burger.New or updated entries are marked with an asterisk.If you have other suggestions, please email them to us at [email protected] categories from our 2023 guide:Burgers for beer (and cocktail) hounds‘Cheffy’ burgersCult burgersDestination burgersDive bar burgersNeighborhood burgers1. * MyBurgerAlthough this local chain is dangerously close to fast food, the burgers themselves are a big step up from what you can get in a drive-through. Properly seasoned, smashed on a griddle but still juicy enough, with quality toppings and reasonable prices, it’s a family-friendly option for busy nights. The fact that the St. Paul location is on a busy corner without much parking kept us from trying these burgers for too long.My Burger: Multiple locations, including 1580 Grand Ave., St. Paul; 651-330-7816; myburgerusa.comThe burger at MyBurger on St. Paul’s Grand Avenue. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)2. * Tiffany Spo...

Our annual burger guide: Best burgers for beer (and cocktail) hounds

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:14:57 GMT

Like a craft beer or tasty cocktail with your burger? These 10 places are for you.New or updated entries are marked with an asterisk.If you have other suggestions, please email them to us at [email protected] categories from our 2023 guide:Burgers for beer (and cocktail) hounds‘Cheffy’ burgersCult burgersDestination burgersDive bar burgersNeighborhood burgers1. * Dark Horse Bar and EateryOne of our favorite bars, period, Dark Horse offers a great tap selection, and of course, a delicious burger, which got an update this year. The Drive Thru burger features patties that are coated in mustard before hitting the grill (a la the In-N-Out Animal Burger), which gives them a little tang and crisp. American cheese blends in, without overwhelming, and there is caramelized onion for sweetness, shredded lettuce and pickle for freshness and lots of special sauce on a good, squishy, buttery brioche bun. Four napkins, five stars. And the chip-like fries that accompany it are ...

Our annual guide to the best burgers in the Twin Cities: Dive bars

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:14:57 GMT

They may not all have a website, but these six dive bars have regulars, pull tabs, and griddles that have been around long enough to give their burgers a little extra seasoning.New or updated entries are marked with an asterisk.If you have other suggestions, please email them to us at [email protected] categories from our 2023 guide:Burgers for beer (and cocktail) hounds‘Cheffy’ burgersCult burgersDestination burgersDive bar burgersNeighborhood burgers1. * Station No. 6 at Rosetown American LegionThis popular burger-centric food truck followed the 328 Grill model, opening a food operation within the Rosetown American Legion. This is definitely a trend we can get behind — an important community space gets delicious food, and an operator gets a steady stream of new customers while also bringing its fans to the joint venture. Rosetown is very lucky to have Station No. 6, which produces one of the best, crisp-edged smashies in town. Since each patty is 5 ounce...

Glens Falls Farmers Market set to move indoors

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 11:14:57 GMT

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (NEWS10) - When the pumpkins come out, it will soon be time for the produce to go away - but only from South Street. This Saturday is the final outdoor date of the year for the Glens Falls Farmers Market. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! On Saturday, Oct. 28, the market's usual array of farming families and specialty vendors will accumulate at the Farmers Market pavilion on South Street from 8 a.m. to noon. Celebrating the end of the season, Goats Galore will arrive starting at 9 a.m. with baby goats.After this weekend, the Glens Falls Farmers Market doesn't vanish - it just goes somewhere else. The market heads to the Aviation Mall food court starting Saturday, Nov. 4, running from 9 a.m. to noon, and will stay there throughout the winter. Things to do in the North Country this weekend: Oct. 27-29 The exact lineup of vendors may change from week to week. Some of the tastes you're likely to see in a given wee...