UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS Noncredit, informal classes back University of Texas officials announced Wednesday that Informal Classes - the noncredit class program sponsored by the Texas Union - will be replaced by noncredit, personal enrichment courses offered by the Division of Continuing and Innovative Education.

The doctor and his "students" peered at 13-year-old Jon-Michael Kirksey of Lago Vista, observed his bandaged, broken wrist and, like sleuths, evaluated the evidence before them.

As four nuns dressed in white sat quietly and prayed the rosary, supporters and opponents of using taxpayer money to fund abortions for needy women politely made their points to the Central Health board Wednesday, including an Austin woman who once had an abortion and wept during her comments.

The Rainey Street neighborhood, once a sleepy residential enclave on downtown's southeastern edge, could take another step in its transformation to entertainment destination with the addition of live music outdoors, a milestone that has some residents singing the blues and others saying live and let live.

On Tuesday, Williamson County Attorney Jana Duty appeared outside a Commissioners Court meeting and told the assembled reporters that she was irate about a computer program that was tracking county employees' Internet browsing.

A man who drowned along with his 5-year-old son in Lake Georgetown in June had a blood-alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit when he drove down a boat ramp into the lake, police said Wednesday .

MetroRail fares would fall in January, and seniors and people with disabilities would lose their free Capital Metro bus rides under the proposed $228.1 million budget for the transit's agency 2010-11 fiscal year.

The Seton Family of Hospitals is planning to acquire the 36-bed Smithville Regional Hospital in the Central Texas health care system's first foray into Bastrop County.

New oversight of water conservation needed? Austin City Council Member Chris Riley, who has made water conservation one of his top priorities, is now wondering whether the city should have someone new overseeing the effort.

KVET, KASE, ‘Bucky & Bob' nominated Yee-haw! Two of Clear Channel Communications' Austin stations - KVET 98.1 FM and KASE 100.7 FM - have been nominated for Large Market Station of the Year at the 44th annual Country Music Association Awards.

A story on Wednesday's Page B6 about cuts to a state program to equip new school buses with seat belts incorrectly reported that Melanie Psencik is the mother of deceased Beaumont-area high school student Alicia Bonura.

Williamson County commissioners voted Tuesday to not raise the property tax rate, which means more than half of the county's homeowners will pay lower taxes because their property values have fallen, County Judge Dan A.

Students living atop the 27-story Dobie Center at the University of Texas might have some of the best views in Austin.

Nearly two months after an independent report said firefighters were overworked and that fire officials refused needed help during a 2008 blaze in which four firefighters were injured, Round Rock Fire Chief Larry Hodge said Tuesday that he will retire from his post by early next year.

AUSTIN Two bank robbers sought Police are searching for two men who each robbed a bank Monday afternoon.

An Austin wildlife management consulting firm will begin counting the deer population in the Northwest Hills area, a first step in what could possibly lead to the thinning of herds meaning deer would be trapped and taken to a processing plant, and the meat would be donated to a food pantry.

Bastrop officials said Tuesday that Police Chief David Board resigned Monday night after being placed on leave because of a drunken driving arrest in Austin.

After a fight prompted bouncers to empty Spiros nightclub last year , Jennifer Reynon was standing with some friends outside when a man she knew as "Big Hutch" walked toward them, raised a gun to eye level and started shooting, she told a Travis County jury Tuesday.

The Texas Department of Transportation, lacking the sort of big cash it takes to eliminate stoplights on Texas 71 by building overpasses, will turn the thoroughfare into a "superstreet" just east of the Austin airport.

The Texas attorney general has launched an investigation into the Kennedy Ridge Water Supply Corp.