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A non-profit organization that provides food to elderly and homebound people is asking Travis County for money to help deal with the sequester. Those across-the-board federal spending cuts include about $120,000 that would have gone to a local Meals on Wheels program that pays for food to be delivered to senior centers run by the city or the county. 

The organization is requesting $61,000 from Travis County to pay for the "Congregate Meals Program." 

Last Thursday, 5.4 million fans watched the series finale of NBC’s Emmy-winning comedy “The Office.” Who knew that one of those fans was Mayor Lee Leffingwell – and that he would take the finale’s Austin-centric ending so seriously?

The longrunning series ended with Athlead – a fictional sports promotions company lead by John Krasinski’s character Jim Halpert – was moving business to Austin. This revelation earned a humorous backing from Mayor Leffingwell. He released a statement on his Facebook page giving a thumbs up to Austin’s latest corporate relocation.

Overnight lane closures on MoPac between Lady Bird Lake and Parmer Lane have begun. They'll last from now until the end of July as roadway designers begin a plan to add toll lanes.

The MoPac Improvement Project will expand the highway by adding one express lane in each direction.

In a new statewide ranking of schools, Austin has some of the best grades and some of the worst.

The group – Children at Risk – grades schools on an A through F scale. Out of the four major metro areas in Texas, the Austin area has the highest percentage of campuses with A's.

The Austin School Board tonight will consider contracting with a company to put advertisements on the side of school buses. 

Cynthia Calvert owns the company Steep Creek Media. AISD is recommending the board approve a three year contract with the company.

You may have to dig out another quarter to board a bus in Austin.

Capital Metro Transit Authority met today to hear a proposal that could bump up fares over the next two years.

Though the transit board won’t approve anything until September, the possible move to raise rates by 25% could net as much as $2.2 million annually. 

The Texas House takes up a major ethics bill today. Government watchdog groups had hoped the legislation re-authorizing the Texas Ethics Commission would have strengthened disclosure and conflict of interest laws.

But the bill didn't go as far as those advocates hoped it would.

As summer sets in, the City of Austin is looking for input on issues along Lake Austin.

The Lake Austin Task Force was formed last year to assess issues on the lake, including shoreline erosion and wake-free zones, and the group presents its findings tonight in a public meeting.  

Chuck Lesniak of Austin Watershed Protection says that the report also addresses the problem of construction along Lake Austin in recent years.

Update: Chinmay Murthy, the 5th grader representing Texas in the National Geographic Bee, did not move on past the preliminary round of the Bee.  He missed a chance to qualify in the Top Ten by two questions. Murthy is vowing to try again next year.

Original Story (9:18 a.m.): Monday marks the start of the three-day National Geographic Bee in Washington D.C.

Republican state lawmakers announced this morning at the Capitol that public school teachers will stop using CSCOPE, a digital curriculum product of Education Service Centers used in nearly 80 percent of Texas school districts. 

The move comes amid concerns about the content of the teaching plan. Some conservative groups claimed it promoted anti-American values. Now CSCOPE has agreed to scrap its curriculum, and the board will formally vote to do so this Friday.

Students across Texas helped raise $11,367 to the American Red Cross  West, Texas Relief Fund.

How'd they do it? By solving math problems. 

Austin is growing – and so is the area’s low income population.

Over the last decade or so, the number of people living in poverty in Austin grew by 77 percent. But the number of people living in poverty in the suburbs grew by more than 140 percent. These numbers made Austin the second-largest percentage increase among big cities across the U.S.

Last November, Austin voters were asked to approve almost $80 million for affordable housing.

They chose not to.

As the city considers putting the question to voters again this fall, KUT News asks: just how does affordable housing work in Austin?

Former Longhorn quarterback Vince Young graduated from the University of Texas at Austin Friday with a bachelor’s degree in Youth and Community Studies. He Tweeted a blurry photo of himself receiving his diploma and thanked "everyone who supported me through the good and bad."

Federal agencies are still dealing with the effects of across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration.

The National Weather Service was already under a hiring freeze and now faces furloughs -- mandatory unpaid days off.

Weather Service meteorologists are concerned about the effect that could have on their ability to keep the public informed.