Austin

Austin’s new Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission is expected to be fully in place tonight. That’s the group of Austin residents who will draw the city’s first geographic council districts.

Last November when voters approved the charter that changed the city’s form of government from at-large to geographic, they also approved the establishment of the commission in two steps.

The 2013 Republic of Texas (ROT) Bike Rally is starting today. And safety is a concern.

According to the Austin Police Department, 2012's ROT Rally weekend saw in 175 crashes, 95 injuries, 104 DWI arrests and five deaths – three of which included motorcycles. 

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows the Asian population is booming across the country – and in the Austin area.

In Travis County, the number of people identifying themselves as Asian increased by close to 10 percent between 2010 and 2012.

The nickname Carmen Reigoux had for her 30-year-old brother Job still makes her laugh.  

"We would call him Dumbo, my little brother called him Master Splinter because you have a pointy nose like a rat, and the big ears," she recalled.

But, she says, he was also very handsome. 

An East Austin church is evolving to match the way Austin worships.

Vox Veniae, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Covenant Church, began as part of the Austin Chinese Church for Asian Americans and Asian immigrants to worship. But it has since grown into a very diverse environment. It now has worshipers come to its Sunday service that are white, Latino and African American.

Editor’s note: Reshma Kirpalani is a multimedia journalist who worked as a KUT News intern for several months, including the period of the Central Texas wildfires. She is currently in the Turkish city of Istanbul. Kirpalani visited Taksim Square earlier today – the center of widespread protest against the Turkish government – and filed this report. This post has since been updated.

Istanbul awoke to somber, gray skies on Wednesday morning after a night of increasing violence in Taksim Square. Deep into Tuesday night, protesters renewed their efforts against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Edroğan's regime, one many have come to view as increasingly authoritarian over the past decade.