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It’s just a short distance between Austin and Albert Lea, only 22 miles. The communities have shared many things over the years, whether it be business, eventual biking trails, even school funding. More >

Austin Energy tried again Thursday to unveil a new rate hike proposal. General Manager Larry Weis says the modified rate proposal is a fair compromise after the concerns raised at previous public hearings. However, some residents and church representatives say the new proposal is lot like the old one.

Weis presented a modified rate proposal before City Council Thursday. However, there was nothing modified about the amount the company is targeting.

The Austin Packers football team has a new head coach ready for a challenge. Austin High School activities director Lisa Quednow-Bickler announced Wednesday that AHS has hired Brett Vesel, who coached at La Crescent for the past six years and spent five years as the head coach at Superior High School in Wisconsin. More >

The top candidates for the Republican nomination to replace outgoing U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will debate in Austin at the Texas Association of Business annual conference. More >

Members of Occupy Austin are challenging the City of Austin over power washing. In October, the city began pressure washing the plaza of City Hall, citing unsanitary conditions. According to a press release, the power washing occurs three times a week between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.

An online petition asks the city to change the power washing to once per week and switch the time to occur during the day. The petition claims the current washing schedule violates the city’s own Stage 2 water restrictions and that the action is designed to disrupt the Occupy Austin protests.

Wednesday’s slow-moving storm in Austin damaged buildings in an area 50 yards wide and a little more than one mile long, and as suspected, the National Weather Service determined it was a tornado, not just high winds. More >

A tornado hit Austin, Texas, and thunderstorms pounded San Antonio, Dallas and Houston on Wednesday, bringing the parched Lone Star State drenching rains and destructive winds that knocked out power, flooded streets and kept emergency workers busy rescuing drivers stranded in high water.

The tornado touched down early Wednesday in northeast Austin, tearing across U.S. 290 and into a subdivision, damaging homes along a road called Happy Trail, according to the National Weather Service.