Unmellow Lance Armstrong's new bike shop, Mellow Johnny's on Fourth and Nueces, opened last weekend, just in time for Bike to Work Day this Friday, May 16. The Austin Cycling Association is coordinating free breakfast that morning at the locations shown after the jump....

Our pal Austin Contrarian is reporting that at last night's City Council hearing, the councilmembers acceded to demands from the Hyde Park Neighborhood Association to deny pedestrian and bicycle access between Hyde Park and a new development on 51st Street. This means that not only will the street grid that is the basis of Hyde Park not be extended for cars, it will also not be extended for bikes and pedestrians. The street grid is the groundwork on which an urban environment is built. Urban streets form a network that allows movement in every direction via multiple modes of transportation. Suburban streets form a maze of dead ends and require every trip to use an arterial road, almost always by car....

A teenage gunman wishing to "go down in style" killed 8 people, then himself, at an Omaha Shopping Mall. Hearings began yesterday in landmark case about whether Guantanamo detainees have a constitutional right to challenge their imprisonment. A portion of the US-Mexico border fence may be put on a wildlife refuge. If you drive by any Austin area high school right after school lets out, you will not be surprised by this. What's worse......

Image from EAST East Austin Studio TourSaturday, November 17 - Sunday, November 18Various Venues (Austin)Free, 10am-5pm Daily[info]The 2007 East Austin Studio Tour (E.A.S.T.) is happening this weekend, and over the next two days we'll be previewing a handful of the artists whose works you'll be able to check out. Here's our guide to E.A.S.T. 2007: The tour runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. With 113 studios and over 200 artists......

Most Americans think waterboarding is torture...but some still think we should go ahead and do it. Whaaaa? No more booze on the beach in San Diego for one year. Buzzkill. Big mudslide hits Chiapas. Portland solidifies position as Bike City, USA. Please, take us with you! Newest trendy food ingredients: chemicals. Vermont is now the nation's healthiest (yuppiest) state. Hollywood writers go on strike - will other Tinseltown workers support them? Barack Obama will.......

Image from Brackenridge Field Laboratory Development StudyMembers of the Integrative Biology section of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Texas have come forward with their own plan (large pdf) for the portion of the Brackenridge Tract currently containing the Brackenridge Field Laboratory. UT's Brackenridge Tract Tack Force recently recommended that the University hire an outside master planner to propose redevelopment for the entire tract, including the field laboratory. The biologists' plan contemplates......

Even the airplanes on approach to Bergstrom looked fake, forced by the low ceiling to approach at a tight angle, like models from a Japanese monster movie, their blinking forms visible in great detail as they fell inches above wet rooftops, the heavy air muffling all but the lowest drone of the engines....

An Austin Business Journal article last Friday assuaged some of our fears about the hike-and-bike trail gap. The article isn't 100% clear on the point, but it sounds like CWS Capital Partners is not going to rebuild the existing structures even if the variance they are seeking is not granted. According to the ABJ, Greg Miller, a VP at CWS, said if the variance is not granted CWS will build one big tower instead......

LAist began the month with a new food series exploring the popular and unknown late night eats around town. If a Top Chef winner opened up a late night spot in Los Angeles, denizens would flock it, yet the LA Times and other media might be wary. Turning to sports, the Dodger season was quite memorable in the way that it imploded and the LA County Sheriff's Department made some games of their own such......

CWS Capital Partners seems to be attempting to generate the appearance of grassroots support for their plan to donate land along the southern shore of Lady Bird Lake in exchange for a variance. Extend Our Trail popped up recently as a counter to Save Town Lake. Katherine Gregor at the Chronicle called shenanigans, saying that Extend Our Trail was just a front for CWS. M1EK asked for proof. Katherine added that "Confirmation that CWS......

We always bitch about the small things. Probably because real and heavy oppression either leaves you dead or makes you flee, or imprisons you, or makes you reach for the martini shaker right after breakfast as you shrug and sheepishly tell your children, “Hey, it’s five o’clock somewhere.”...

ACL Previews Interview: Ghostland Observatory Previews: The Broken West, Big Sam’s Funky Nation & Rose Hill Drive Previews: Billy Joe Shaver and Fionn Regan Previews: Brandon Rhyder and Ocote Soul Sounds Interview: The Broken West Previews: Sylvia St. James, Jeffrey Steele, and Amy Cook Interview: Bloc Party ACL Fest Updates: Google Mashup, Contests, Eco-Chic Previews: Augustana, Amos Lee Interview: Peter, Bjorn, and John ACL Band Clash, Round 3: Wilco Vs My Morning Jacket Travis......

As you may recall, CWS Capital Partners is trying to build a new residential development in the place of some aging condos on the shore of Lady Bird Lake between the Statesman's offices and East Bouldin Creek (where the hike and bike trail currently dead-ends). The Parks Board has voted to recommend that the Planning Commission deny CWS Capital Partners’ request for a variance that would allow it to build 150 feet from the......

And you thought you couldn't look any stupider on a tandem bike? It now costs two cents to make one cent. Does that make sense? A man upset with his property tax hike pays his $12,000 bill in change. Fox News is accused of altering Wikipedia articles. Raising a baby until the age of 17 will cost you $290,000 if you make around $75,000 a year. $198,000 if you make $45,000 a year. A......

Our market is bringing world markets down with us. . . all because of the subprime mortgage market. Universal Music joins the move away from the use of DRM (except through iTunes). Preview of the nation without net neutrality: AT&T censors Pearl Jam's Lollapalooza performance online. Parisians provided with 10,000 self-service bikes: Citizens bike downhill to work and take mass transit home. The Perseid Meteor shower may be visible late this weekend. Hannah Montana's......

A San Antonio-area nonprofit is suing to have their chimpanzees returned from Louisiana Is someone trying to take down the Dollar General? The City of Austin has opted to extend the waterway ban on Lake Austin until Friday The Texas Department of Transportation begins inspections on possibly suspect bridges A 6-year-old girl in North Texas crashed her bike into a parked trailer and gets her head punctured by 4 inches of rebar Bars and......

So far this year, eighteen people have been murdered in Austin. Six of those murders remain unsolved. One of these unsolved murders occurred in a drainage ditch under 30th Street in a bustling campus area busy with all day (and night) bike, car and foot traffic. The victim was a 50-year old blind man named Randall Hays. Robbery is believed to be the motive in this murder and he wasn't stabbed or shot, but......

Town Lake will be officially renamed to "Lady Bird Lake" after the Austin City Council meets this morning. Sponsored by Mayor Will Wynn, the proposed ordinance comes in response to massive public requests that the City honor Lady Bird Johnson's legacy of environmental advocacy. "Numerous citizens have contacted my office suggesting ways that the City should honor her memory, including the most obvious of renaming Town Lake," wrote the Mayor in a statement issued after......

For you Dell people that went to work before the sun came up or for you coffee shop crawlers who haven't looked out your tinted window in a while: THE SUN IS OUT! Hurry, catch what rays you can before that old friend comes in from L.A. for the summer with a blistered skin and a light orange hue. All lakes in the tri-county area are still closed. Barton Springs Pool is closed today,......

Did you ever hear the joke about Nuns on a Bicycle? How about the traveller at the Ayr hostel? When you get an F because you forgot to study for your final exam, go ahead and sue your school. It's the American way. Taco Bell High should teach students about the real magic ingredients in the beans...or the sour cream...or the guacamole... Sounds like someone dug a really deep hole under Oklahoma. They found......

In times like these, it's good to know that at least some folks are looking out for others. From Craigslist: first, to preface this... ive had close to $6k worth of bikes stolen from me in austin in the past ten years so i kind of unloaded $6k worth of stolen bike frustration on this kid tonight i work downtown and this kid comes up trying to sell a *nice* newish k2 full suspension with......

Austin, Texas: It's not exactly New England here. We don't have the Liberty Bell or historical plaques on every block explaining how the Pilgrims invented the Internet in some old tavern. But we do have history! You just have to look a little harder to find it. For instance, did you know that in Austin's oldest standing structure, the French Legation, some dude's pigs broke into the bedroom in 1841 and ate the papers and......

There are quite a few mentionables this week, including Dappled Cities' Granddance, produced by Jim Fairchild (of Grandaddy) and Peter Walker, and mixed by Jaquire King (Modest Mouse). Dappled Cities are an Australian indie rock band that we've grown rather fond of as of late, mostly because of "Fire, Fire Fire". Also of note this week is the latest from Ladybug Transistor and the latest Eccentric Soul compilation, The Prix Label. As usual, do......

The fourth annual Texas 4000 for Cancer bike ride will kick off this weekend. Actually, it's less of a "ride" and more of a "trek." The 44-member cycling team, mostly made up of UT students, will cycle from Austin all the way to Anchorage, Alaska (that's 4,500 miles!) to raise money for the American Cancer Society. It's the longest annual charity bicycle ride in the world, and it kicks off this afternoon from the UT......

Austin's own Pink (a bicycle "love courier" service we profiled back in December) was recently nominated for "Best Independent Project of the Year" by the Austin Critics Table. To celebrate, they're taking their special brand of two-wheeled viral love-spreading to Portland, just in time for that bike-smitten city's Pedalpalooza fest. But first, they invite you to join them for a bike-in double feature tonight at Café Mundi, where you can take in both Pee Wee's......

One can certainly gauge the amount of fun happening in Austin by the number of Missed Connections on Craigslist. If the sheer number of posts this past week is any indication then everyone was certainly living it up last week. For us that means more work, for you it means much better reading. We've combed the depths of last week's Missed Connections to find the best just for you... Did anyone see me yesterday?......

Remember how much fun it was to play in the dirt when you were a kid? Well guess what? It’s still fun! Come out this Sunday to the Xterra Dirty Tri and see for yourself. This ain’t no pansy triathlon: this is an off-road extravaganza guaranteed to leave you exhilarated, fit, and totally filthy. Go for the Olympic distance (1500 meter swim, 14 mile mountain bike, and 10K trail run) or the sprint (750......

Austin has a love/hate relationship with bikes. Love Lance. Hate the Lance-wannabes cruising FM-1826, slowing down the burnt-orange pickups on their way to the Salt Lick. Love biking the Hike-and-Bike trail. Hate slaloming between kids and dogs on a busy Saturday. Love the idea of bike lanes and bike commuting. Hate actual bikers slowing down traffic and swerving into the street because of cars parked in the bike lanes. Love reducing traffic and pollution......

Tuesday night, the Planning Commission recommended approval of a zoning change near South Lamar and Manchaca - property which includes Habibi’s Hutch, a particularly awesome South Austin day care run by Andrew Urbanus (shown right), to allow construction of a project including 45 townhomes, 360 apartments, 20 live-and-work units, and 18,000 square feet of retail. The change would allow Cypress Realty to take advantage of VMU development incentives, which include relaxed requirements on setbacks, building......

FRIDAY [4] party/bikes • Yellow Bike Project's Second Annual Bike Art Show with music by DJ Orion, DJ Katherine at Gallery 1906 (Free, 7pm-Midnight) art • Opening Reception: memoria/memoir: Carol Flax at Volitant Gallery, 320 Congress Ave., Ste 100 (6-9pm) art • B Scene at the Blanton Museum of Art 1st Anniversary Celebration at Blanton Museum of Art, MLK at Congress ($5 members, $10 non-members, 6-11pm) art • Opening Reception: Tunnel Vision: Parading Down the......