Emily Zendt

Today marks the beginning of another "Click it or Ticket" campaign, a two-week undertaking by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to enforce seat belt usage. 

In Texas and across the country, law enforcement will be on the lookout for drivers and passengers shirking seatbelt laws, or whose children are improperly restrained. (Children under eight years must be in a child safety seat, unless they are taller than 4'9".) Citations run up to $250.

The NHTSA writes on its website that in the annual “Click It or Ticket” initiative, over three million tickets have been written over the last five years – a ticket every other second.

On Saturday, members of the media were invited to check progress on the Waller Creek tunnel, currently being burrowed some 70 feet underground.

When finished, the tunnel will stretch just over a mile from Waterloo Park to an outlet at Lady Bird Lake. The tunnel will create a steady flow for Waller Creek, and inlets along the creek will prevent water from overflowing, pulling 1 million square feet of developable land out of the 100-year floodplain downtown.

A design competition plotting the future of the Waller Creek area is unfolding alongside the tunnel excavation.

Yesterday, KUT News took a look at what made the cut in the city’s latest proposal for a bond spending package. Today, we look at what took the biggest hits, and the few areas that saw a boost in funding.

Here’s a financial crash diet: going from $1.5 billion to $575 million. And then, down to $400 million.

Those are some of the moves Austin’s Bond Election Advisory Task Force has recently made. A citizen group appointed by the Austin City Council, the group was tasked with paring down an initial $1.5 billion “needs assessment” from the city’s various departments into something it could put to voters this November.

At a meeting Monday, the task force recommended what it feels is a balanced bond package. But because a separate vote on Urban Rail funding might also make it to the ballot – the Transportation department is set to make a recommendation for rail investment this Tuesday, May 29 – the task force is also compiling a smaller, roughly $400 million package to recommend, should rail make it to the voters.