Creatures in Cedar Park have some thinking chupacabra

“I don’t know what it is,” said Rick Cumptson, who has seen the animals in a field outside of his store, Bunk Beds Etc. “I’d never even heard of chupacabra until about two weeks ago. I started looking, trying to figure out what the hell these were.”

Photo note: This is not an image of the alleged creature seen by residents of Cedar Park, but it was in the results when we searched ‘chupacabra’ in our photo archive.

Photo: Courtesy of Robert Floyd

Central Texas lakes are the place for summer’s unofficial beginning

Lakes are still low, but this weekend’s predicted perfect weather won’t stop people from hitting the lakes.

Things to remember:

• Austin Police Department is having a ‘no refusal’ initiative through 5 a.m. Tuesday.
• Because of the low water levels, only one boat ramp at Mansfield Dam Park will be available to the public.
• Personal watercraft, wet bikes, motorized surfboards and similar devices are banned from sunset today to sunrise Tuesday because of the crowds expected on the lake.

ERCOT: State faces potential power shortages for the next decade

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which is the state’s primary electricity grid operator, released a 10-year forecast Tuesday. Officials say the state could see power shortages, which has prompted pressure to raise energy prices and encourage conservation.

The forecast takes into account demand for electricity, weather conditions, the economy and plans for new energy generation.

Check out this photo our photographer Ricardo Brazziell shot of the solar eclipse over Austin. Did you get a chance to see it Sunday evening?

In Texas, 7 in 10 children under age 1 are minorities

New census data find that for the first time more than half of the children under age 1 in the U.S. were minorities.

In Texas, nearly 7 in 10 people under age 1 were minorities as of July 2011, a slight increase from 2010.

Check out our map, which breaks down the population by county.

Rick Perry, feds at odds over artificial reef program

The Texas governor and federal officials are in a disagreement over an initiative in place to remove offshore oil rigs that are no longer being used.

In 2010, the U.S. Department of the Interior began requiring offshore oil-producing companies to remove nonproducing platforms within five years. However, the state-run created the Rigs to Reefs program, which sinks capped and nonperforming oil platforms to create artificial permanent reefs.

Blame us, not I-35, for checkered racial past

This is an interesting ‘Getting There’ column by our reporter Ben Wear, who looks at Austin’s racial segregation as the downtown section of I-35 nears its 50th anniversary this month.

The photos above are an interesting reflection of how the city has changed as well.

For students at two-year schools, transferring can be a challenge

As more students in Texas decide to begin their college education at two-year schools, transferring to a four-year university can create several obstacles.

Sometimes credits won’t transfer or applying for financial aid can be tricky. Leaders at community colleges want uniform standards for transferring to a public university, but officials at four-year universities say such policies would hurt autonomy.

Fort Hood on the Front Lines: Mid-tour leave

Austin American-Statesman reporter Jeremy Schwartz and videographer Kelly West are in Afghanistan to cover the historic departure of Fort Hood’s 1st Cavalry Division from Bagram Air Base and its return to Central Texas.

In addition to blogs, video and photos, they are using Instagram to give us a glimpse of the soldiers and the country.

This video tells us about what soldiers did on their 15-day mid-tour leave.

“The key for me is you always have to integrate yourself into what the family is doing,” said Maj. Osvaldo Ortiz of El Paso on his way back to Afghanistan. “Some soldiers struggle to understand that their families have survived after their deployment.”