Welcome to The Austin Independent
The Austin Independent primarily covers local Austin government and politics with occasional forays into state and national issues. The name is meant to signal independence of thought, independence from undue influence, and independence from any rigid ideology. We seek to make our content informative, accurate and, when possible, provocative and entertaining.
Articles in the Austin Independent can be opinionated, although that is not always the case. We do not claim to be objective in the now, old-time daily newspaper sense, but when we do have an opinion or particular viewpoint we will not try to hide it. We’re also committed to understanding and accurately characterizing the opinions of others — including those with whom we might disagree. We will never intentionally leave out information that might work against the author’s point of view.
Our publishing schedule follows the timeliness of the crucial issues that affect our lives and sometimes the personal schedules of our two person staff. In other words we don’t come out every week and not always on the same day of the week. Consequently we encourage readers to sign up for our email alerts so we can let you know when we post stories. You can do that here.
Since launching in March 2020 the financial philosophy of the Austin Independent has been to always be available for free online to anyone who wants to read it. At the same time we ask that people who can afford to do so subscribe to the publication. Funds are primarily used for operations, including the cost of acquiring information (like Public Information Requests) and to try and increase our readership. We are not a nonprofit, but are clearly not set up to make a profit. So please consider subscribing and/or donating to our efforts here.
The Staff
The Austin Independent is run by the husband and wife team of Daryl Slusher and Adela Mancías. Both Daryl and Adela are in the 10% of Austin’s population this is over 65. Daryl serves as editor, publisher and primary writer. Adela serves as both Content Editor and Copy Editor and also provides advice on overall direction and approach.
Both chose Austin as their home during the 1970s after growing up in families that lived in several different places for economic reasons.
Adela is a native Texan and moved to Austin in 1974. She attended the University of Texas where she began to better understand the racial discrimination she had experienced throughout her life. This led her to become politically active. At UT, she wrote and researched for Para La Gente, the newspaper of the Raza Unida Party at the university. She later got involved in East Austin issues. There she fought for neighborhood protection and economic justice, and against police brutality — throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s.
Adela earned an education degree at UT and in the early ‘80s began teaching elementary school. For several years during the mid-1980s Adela hosted a news and talk show on Austin Community Television called Mis Amigos.
She took a break from teaching from 1988 to 1992 and worked as an Associate Producer for Texas documentary filmmaker Hector Galan. Her credits include several Frontlines and other PBS productions: the Dallas Drug War; New Harvest, Old Shame; The Forgotten People: Latinas with AIDS; and Who Cares About Children. She returned to education in 1993 as a reading specialist and literacy coach. She also earned a Masters degree in education from UT in 2005. Adela retired from the Austin Independent School District in 2016, with 27 years of service.
Daryl moved to Austin in 1976. He is a native of Roanoke, Virginia, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Daryl spent his high school years in Birmingham, Alabama before his family moved to Orange, Texas in 1971. After stints in Orange and Houston, Daryl chose Austin as his home. He finished college here, graduating from UT in 1979 with a degree in Radio, TV and Film, writing sequence.
In 1981 Daryl became active in Austin politics, volunteering in both the anti-nuclear movement and the East Austin neighborhood movement — and working to form alliances between the two. In 1985 he and journalist Daryl Janes founded the Daryl Herald which covered local governance and politics for three years with a heavy sarcastic bent. In 1989 Daryl was hired as politics editor for the Austin Chronicle, writing there from 1989 to 1995. During that period Paul Burka of Texas Monthly wrote that Daryl was “the best and most entertaining writer on local politics.”
In late 1995 Daryl left the Chronicle and ran for a seat on the City Council. He won and served three 3-year terms, from 1996-2005. He chose not to run again in 2005.
In 2007 Daryl was offered a newly created job at Austin Water as Assistant Director of Environmental Affairs and Conservation. His tenure there included helping the utility through a drought whose severity officially surpassed the legendary drought of the 1950s, leading the utility’s response to climate change, and overseeing management of preserve lands intended to protect water quality and endangered species. When Daryl retired at the end of 2019 Austin had its lowest per capita water use rate since it began keeping records and, despite rapid population growth, Austin was using less total water annually than before Daryl started in 2007.
While Daryl and Adela constitute the entire Austin Independent staff we recently welcomed Kaitlin Reed who serves as an intern, including publishing stories in the Austin Independent and also helping with other publishing tasks.
Thank you and we hope you enjoy the Austin Independent. Once again you can sign up for email alerts here. And you can subscribe or donate here.
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The Austin Independent, a publication of The Austin Independent, LLC
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