Unknown number of immigrants languish in private detention center in Taylor; a small but growing group is working to make their situation public knowledge

BY DIANA WELCH

Pitonyak Trial: From Court TV to You

Jury finds former UT student Colton Pitonyak guilty of "knowingly and intentionally" murdering Jennifer Cave, gives him 55 years

BY JORDAN SMITH

Hope on Minimum-Wage Horizon

Serious state and federal efforts under way to pass legislation that would raise minimum wage, stuck more than nine years at a pathetic $5.15 an hour

BY CHERYL SMITH

On the Lege

Rose, Dukes rewarded for standing with Craddick

BY AMY SMITH

Point Austin: Flying Air Kim

The council member, the memos, and the disappearing aide

BY MICHAEL KING

Beside the Point

Council votes to double time limit on sewer repairs

BY WELLS DUNBAR

The Hightower Report

Poor John Roberts; and A Mountaintop Revelation

BY JIM HIGHTOWER

food

Iron Chef Alamo Round Two

What happened in the Black Orpheus battle?

BY CLAUDIA ALARCÓN

Food-o-File

So far in 2007: fires, microbrews, and football

BY VIRGINIA B. WOOD

Food Reviews

Sarah's Mediterranean Grill & Market

Everything about Sarah's radiates a strong and calm sense of self-respect, from the cheerful cleanliness to the excellent cooking

Cibo

Given his pedigree, when I heard that chef Will Packwood and new partners were opening an Italian restaurant Downtown, my expectations were high

music

Pirate Utopia

The 0-2's "Temporary Autonomous Zone" for ATX rap

BY ROBERT GABRIEL

TCB

SXSW's Brent Grulke explains the reasoning behind the blog-bemoaned band-list delay.

BY CHRISTOPHER GRAY

Texas Platters

Yellow Fever, Dirty Noises, Basin Alders, Always Already, Hellow Lovers

Yellow Fever, Green Cherry, Bad People, Always Already, Vanity Fair

I Found My Fill on BlackBerry Hill

At Sundance, a renewed "Focus on Film" amid celebrity worship and the frantic search for the next big thing

BY MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN

Film News

How to spend $5 million, get signed at Sundance, and get Caught in the Act

BY JOE O'CONNELL

Screens Reviews

Yojimbo & Sanjuro: Two Samurai Films by Akira Kurosawa

A double re-release from one of cinema's greatest director-actor duos

Film Reviews

Because I Said So

With a lazy, cliché, and rabid plot and paper-thin character development, this comedy's idea of fun involves the intergenerational discussion of orgasms.

Blood and Chocolate

Lycanthropy and young love: not as yummy as it sounds but nowhere near as godawful as Van Helsing, a small mercy but very much appreciated.

Constellation

A 40-year-old biracial love affair affects an extended family as it reunites at a funeral.

Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds

In this gay sex-comedy sequel, a gay guy pretends to be straight in order to woo the new nude model in town who can't decide if he's gay or straight.

Epic Movie

The filmmakers are completely tone-deaf when it comes to the art of film parody, and their special form of sadism-as-punch-line leaves the audience in a perpetual cringe.

God Grew Tired of Us: The Story of Lost Boys of Sudan

This multiaward-winner from Sundance 2006 follows three “lost boys” of the Sudan, chronicling three years of their journey in the United States, while revealing as much about American life as African life.

Hoboken Hollow

This Texas-made slasher film draws on the early Eighties Ellebracht slave-ranch case in Kerr County for its story, but like the real thing, it's a bloody mess.

arts & culture

Long on Creativity

In its 14th season, FronteraFest is as inventive, surprising, and out there as ever

Zachary Scott Theatre Center: Ciccolella's curtain call

After a successful eight-year run as managing director, Ann Ciccolella is making her exit from the Zachary Scott Theatre Center

BY ROBERT FAIRES

Fire Island Hot Glass Studio: Fire goes out with a blowout

After 25 years, Matthew LaBarbera is closing Fire Island Hot Glass Studio, the oldest glassblowing studio in Texas

BY ROBERT FAIRES

Arthouse: Unveiling a new curator

Elizabeth Dunbar joins Arthouse as its first full-time curator in the organization's 95-year history

BY ROBERT FAIRES

Arts Reviews

The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?

In The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, Edward Albee has created an intellectual car wreck, and Different Stages has executed it so skillfully, you can't tear your eyes away

An Ideal Husband

The overall feel of the Austin Playhouse production of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband is polite and relaxed, but the actors do provide gut-busting performances

columns