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Thumbs up to 10 years. Congratulations Austin Aspires for a decade of educational service. Austin Aspires’ work has been an invaluable addition to the Austin community’s education efforts by opening doors and making connections. We look forward to seeing more of these kinds of efforts as time moves forward.

Thumbs up to an open house. For another year, the Austin Fire Department opened up its doors to area citizens, providing an opportunity for people to come in and meet our firefighters and learn more about what they do. This is an important connection to follow and we were happy to see all the smiling faces enjoying a pleasant night with our fire department.

Thumbs up for scholarship. The Austin Community Scholarship Committee announced that it had awarded $54,000 in scholarship money for 2024-25. That’s a hard number related to those students who are going to be continuing their education and thus adding to a solid foundation for the future.

Thumbs up for continued support. The Austin City Council made a pair of decisions Monday night that is going to directly support a pair of areas in Austin. One of those is the refinement of an incentive that is designed to attract police officer candidates to Austin and would lead to hopefully the filling of needed positions on the force. The other was the continued support of a position with Discover Austin, Minnesota that actively looks and works to bring in groups and organizations to Austin, meaning more dollars for the community.

Thumbs down for detour. We realize this is kind of a nebulous take on an unavoidable circumstance. In the coming days, the Fourth Street NW bridge over Interstate 90. We’re giving a thumbs down not because of the project, because it’s necessary, but because it does mean traffic will be diverted to 14th Street NW and will become much heavier over the course of the next year. We ask people to be patient and to be careful of the new driving circumstance, especially if you choose to cut through the community through other streets and avenues. Increased traffic means increased safety concerns. Be vigilant and be safe.