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"Two things I like to do in private: chicken and watermelon," Austin civil rights organizer Chas Moore says on a new podcast. "Being in Austin ... it's just a conscious thing I have about not wanting to do that in front of white people."

Driving the news: The poignant admission comes on "Black Austin Matters," a new KUT podcast hosted by Richard Reddick and Lisa Thompson — UT professors who talk with other Black Austinites about their perspectives on the city.

Hoteliers are placing big bets on Austin and a U.S. pandemic recovery.

Driving the news: Two new (and similarly named) hotels opened their doors last Wednesday — Thompson Austin and tommie Austin — the latest sign that the city's hotel industry is making a comeback.

You can get falafel everywhere from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles, but the best might be dished out of a food truck tucked into a South Austin light industrial enclave.

Details: Because this is Austin, the spot is home to both a Tesla service shop and a pair of beach volleyball courts.

Hanging in one corner of a temporary exhibit at the Blanton flashes a neon blue-and-orange sign that looks like something from a roadside bar.

"I will light you up" blinks alternately with "I will light up your life."

• The first phrase is what Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia shouted at Sandra Bland during a 2015 rapidly escalating traffic stop that led to Bland’s death in police custody.
• The latter plays on Debby Boone's 1977 song "You Light Up My Life," later recorded by Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston.

The University of Texas Longhorns are poised to hire a long-time coaching rival to their football staff.

Driving the news: UT late last week posted a job for "special assistant to the head coach."

• Spotted this past weekend in Austin was Gary Patterson, long-time coach of the TCU Horned Frogs.
• UT athletic director Chris Del Conte is close to Patterson, having held the same title previously at TCU.

Despite the pandemic and labor shortages, Austin's venture capital industry in 2021 continued to boom.

The big picture: Startup funding flowed in Austin last year, delivering 387 deals valued at a record-setting $4.9 billion — or 211% growth compared to the previous year — per data from PitchBook.

• The investments range from seed money to later stage rounds, a sign Austin serves to benefit brand-new startups as well as growing companies.

A new bagel joint is flinging open its yeasty doors.

Driving the news: Tom Rosen, owner of beloved bagel peddler Rosen's Bagel Co., officially opens a brick-and-mortar location on North Burnet, just outside the Domain, Thursday.

Central Texas, along with the rest of the country, is facing a blood supply shortage, and the area's blood bank, We Are Blood, is pleading for immediate donations.

Why it matters: COVID, winter storms, staffing challenges and more have disrupted the nation's blood supply. In recent weeks, blood centers across the U.S. have reported less than one day's worth of blood for certain blood types, according to the Red Cross.