You know when you want to park somewhere but you don’t know how much money to put in the meter? You’re like, “Geez, I should err on the safe side and buy an hour’s worth of time.” But then you’re back in 30 minutes. Frustrating! 

This new device should help with that. It’s a pre-paid in-vehicle parking meter by OTI America called EasyPark. You buy one online and then plug it into your computer and add money to it.

Then, when you want to park, you put it in your window and it charges you in 15 minutes increments until you get back and turn it off. You don’t need to fiddle with those new parking pay stations or put that sticker in your window or anything like that. The device beeps every minute so you don’t forget to turn it off when you get back. Because if you forget, it will keep charging you.

The fallout from The Daily Texan’s publication of a controversial editorial cartoon is carrying on, this time in a different direction.

A UT student has launched an online petition to reinstate Stephanie Eisner, the Texan editorial cartoonist whose cartoon, she said, attacked what she saw as biased coverage of the Trayvon Martin shooting.

A 17-year old African-American, Martin was shot by George Zimmerman in a gated Florida community last month. Zimmerman claimed the shooting was in self-defense; Martin was unarmed. A wave of demonstrations, with protesters clad in hooded sweatshirts like Martin wore, have occurred across the county, including Austin.

The news comes as no surprise to locals: the Austin area is still growing — and fast.

New numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau show the population of the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos area was the second fastest-growing metro area in the country between April 2010 and July 2011.

In just that 15-month period, the population went up by 3.9 percent—that’s a gain of more than 67,000 people and put the total population at close to 1.8 million.

Two of the most important factors during a primary campaign are momentum and math — meaning how many delegates you've got.

What do you do when neither one of those things is running in your favor?

That's a question people are starting to ask about former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum — and have wondered about for a while now about former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

It’s been another busy week for the Austin City Council, with a Tuesday work session delving into geographic representation, and then another installment in its procession of Austin Energy rate discussions. But today council stares down a 93-item long agenda. We’ve culled a few highlights:

Don’t Bogart that Statue: Item nine on the agenda authorizes the acceptance of a seven-foot, bronze statue of Willie Nelson, to be placed nearby the staircase leading to the Austin City Limits studio. It seems a smart fit, as the city already honorarily christened the statue's home, Second Street, as Willie Nelson Boulevard.

Does Green Mean Go?: Item 10 would see the city signing off on plans to develop the site of the former Green Water Treatment Plant, a block east of City Hall. The city would sell the downtown plot to developer Trammell Crow for approximately $42 million; as KUT News previously wrote, Trammell Crow has proposed 826 apartments and 200 hotel rooms, plus retail, hospitality and office space.

Governor Perry to Tour Tornado Damaged Areas

Governor Rick Perry is scheduled to take an aerial tour of the Dallas-Fort Worth area damaged by tornadoes today. Perry plans to tour Lancaster, one of the hardest hit areas by the storms, according to the Texas Tribune.

The National Weather Service estimates up to a dozen tornadoes touched down in North Texas on Tuesday—one of those tornadoes was rated an E-F-3 with winds of up to 165 miles-per-hour.

The city of Kyle is lifting its water restrictions.

In a letter sent out today, the city says recent rains have "sufficiently recharged" supplies "to allow for the removal of water restrictions beginning immediately. However, even with the removal of mandatory twice a week watering and other restrictions, City officials continue to ask residents to do their part to conserve water." Tips include checking your home and property for leaky pipes and not using a lawn irrigation system that is damaged or is spraying water onto a road or parking lot.

East Austin community groups are set to continue a local voter turnout program.

The East Austin Voter Mobilization Initiative, which describes itself as “the first-ever voter coalition in Austin comprised of Latino, African American, immigrant and civil rights organizations,” is kicking off its third year of voter  outreach and education.

The coalition’s goal is to raise voter turnout by 15 to 20 percent in three East Austin precincts – 123, 426, and 427.

"Hispanic," or "Latino?"  Turns out, most Americans of Spanish-speaking origin don't find either term specific enough.

A survey released by the Pew Hispanic Center this morning shows more than half of those surveyed want be known by their family's country of origin: 51 percent surveyed said they preferred to be called "Mexican" or "Argentinian," for example.

According to the Pew Hispanic Center, just 24 percent  say they use the terms "Hispanic" or "Latino" most often to describe their identity. And 21 percent  say they use the term “American” most often.

Austin Water launched “Renewing Austin” today, a five-year program to replace 75 miles of old cast-iron waterlines. 

The announcement was made this morning at a construction site downtown, where old pipes were already being replaced.

“We’re going to try to replace about 15 miles of those projects every year for at least the next five years,” said Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros. “And hopefully much beyond that, and so we’re going to be investing ... millions dollars over the next five years to replace those projects that are high priority for us.”

Incumbent presidents generally try to cast their re-election contest as a choice between the imperfect but well-meaning and effective occupant of the White House and the far worse alternative offered by the rival party.

Challengers, on the other hand, try to frame a presidential race as a referendum on the sitting president whose record nearly always contains missteps, or who can be blamed for trouble in the economy or elsewhere.

In short, whether it's the president or the challenger, the way the game is played requires each to define the opposition as well as himself.

With reports of as many as 12 tornadoes pummeling Dallas yesterday, officials are applauding the fact no fatalities were recorded.

Now residents are looking to rebuild after the storms, and travelers looking to return to the Metroplex.

The Insurance Council of Texas lists several steps affected parties can take, beginning with assessing the damage and recording photos or videos. Damage can take different forms, as aside being battered by high winds, Dallas, Fort Worth and surrounding areas were also pelted with hail.

Baylor Women's Win NCAA Championship

Baylor University's women’s basketball team clinched the NCAA national championship last night, besting Notre Dame 80 to 61.

The win sent the Lady Bears into the history books, topping off their undefeated season and making them the first NCAA basketball team ever to win 40 games in a season.

The Austin City Council held an initial discussion on sweeping reforms to local government this morning – reforms that may result in booting them all from City Hall.

The council discussed several recommendations from the 2012 Charter Revision Group. Many measures, largely campaign finance reforms, could be made simply by council action. Council member Laura Morrison suggested they start that work immediately, and put unresolved issues before the voters. “I would like to move forward as quickly as possible,” she said, “and see what results from there, and we still have the option to consider putting it on the ballot.”

One reason council members may make the changes themselves – instead of putting them before voters – is to streamline a cluttered ballot this November. They don’t want to distract voters from the biggest local change: a switch from Austin’s current form of elections, where all council members run citywide, to a form of geographic representation, where council members would run in and represent individual districts.

The Austin school district has a budget of almost a billion dollars to spend next year, and it wants your input on how to do it.

AISD is hosting two public meetings on its preliminary budget and facilities master plan this month. The first meeting is tonight, at Reagan High School, 7104 Berkman Drive, 6-8:30 p.m.

As KUT News previously reported, the 2012-13 preliminary budget would increase spending slightly while assuming the district will lose $8.7 million in federal money and $53.6 million in state funding.