Personal Watercraft Banned on Lake Austin This Weekend

The APD Parks and Lake Patrol Unit has announced a personal watercraft ban during Labor Day Weekend on Lake Austin.

The ban includes use and operation of personal watercraft, wet bikes, motorized surfboards and similar devices and lasts from sunset tonight, September 3rd, through sunrise on Tuesday, September 7.


APD bans personal watercraft every year during the Labor Day holiday to ensure the safety of the crowds of people on the lake and in the parks. They'll be patrolling the lake as well.

If you have an emergency on the water or need to report reckless boating, call 911. If you have any questions about the ban, call APD's Lake Patrol Unit at 329-8841.

Let The Sun Shine: Austin Energy To Increase Solar Capacity

The hot Texas sun will generate more electricity for Austin Energy after the city council approved the utility's first solar supply agreement this week. Since prices have dropped on solar modules over the past two years, Austin Energy will purchase up to 2 megawatts (MW) of solar modules - as many as 8,500 modules - over three years.

When they have been purchased, the modules will produce enough electricity to power 270 average-sized homes in Austin for an entire year. Austin Energy says that's the equivalent of taking 400 cars off the road for a year, or planting 60,000 trees.

The solar panels will be installed at high profile locations such as city buildings, libraries and schools to increase public awareness about the advantages of solar power. Right now, 35 facilities that belong to the City of Austin have solar installations.

After the planned purchase of modules is complete, Austin Energy will have 2.4 MW of solar capacity, moving the city toward a goal of 200 MW of solar capacity by 2020.

This Week on 'As Seen on Radio'

Listen to internet radio with Austin Citysphere on Blog Talk Radio

Get away before the summer is over!  Texas Monthly tells about five great getaways, and we discuss some of our own favorite places.

Also, it's one of the most highly debated city council vote.  Mayor Leffingwell and the council voted not to settle with the family of a shooting victim last year.  Hear with Austin's NAACP leader thinks, and we break down what some of the council members think.

Williamson County busts stores for selling tobacco to minors.  Was it successful?  Deputy Mike Pendley talks about the successful sting, even though stores knew the cops were coming!

It's all on this LIVE edition of As Seen on Radio, where we talk all about your city and the issues that matter.

Too Hot or Too Cold, Americans Are Never Happy With the Weather

The middle of the summer's got plenty of people feeling a little hot under the collar.  Bob Rose, a meteorologist with the Lower Colorado River Authority, says although the heat in central Texas began moving into the 90s in May, the absence of rain concerned him.  Since then, however, rain covered the region and helped us climb out of the despair of a drought like last year.

But the rest of the country has experienced a scorcher of a summer.  Despite the heat in Texas, places like the northeast went through a heat wave.

It never bodes well for anyone when the country is too hot or too cold, as Steve Hartman found out in a story he had to go back in time to tell.  Watch his story from CBS News.