Keep Austin Weird

Tales from the crypt: We bet this is the strangest donation that Goodwill ever received

One Austinite is keeping things weird with a bizarre Goodwill donation. On Wednesday, the Austin Police Department issued a statement asking for the public's assistance in locating a person who donated a human skull to Goodwill. The macabre item was donated to the store located at 5555 N. Lamar Blvd.

Detective Derek Israel of the Homicide Unit stated during a press conference that the skull was discovered by Goodwill employees on July 16. Goodwill then contacted APD, who turned the skull over to the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office.

"The Medical Examiner here in Travis County has a responsibility to try to identify the identity of any human remains and the circumstances under which the person died," said Israel. "So they requested the assistance of the Police Department in trying to find out who the person is that made this donation."

The Medical Examiner's Office hasn't released a report on the skull, but Israel said it belonged to an adult. At this time, it is not believed to be involved in any crime or foul play; it's more likely that the skull was part of a private collection or an anatomical model.

"I'm sure that person's going to remember having donated that," said Israel.

The skull and the container it was discovered in could have been donated at any time this year. And since items can simply be dropped of at Goodwill, there is not paperwork or a receipt to help identify who donated the skull. The skull was handled by several employees, so it would be difficult to identify anyone through fingerprints.

If anyone has further information about the skull or who donated it, they can call the APD Homicide Unit at 512-974-5210.

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H-Town rising

Houston leaps back into top 50 'World's Best Cities' list for 2025

Photo by Adrian Newell on Unsplash

Houston made a big leap back into the top 50, ranking No. 40, after previously plummeting into No. 72 last year.

Lively Houston has regained its rightful place among the top 50 best cities in the world, according to a prestigious new report by Resonance Consultancy.

The Canada-based real estate and tourism marketing advisors ranked Houston the 40th best city worldwide for 2025 in its annual "World's Best Cities" list.

The report quantifies the relative qualities of livability, "lovability," and prosperity for the world's top 100 cities with metropolitan populations of 1 million or more. New to the 10th anniversary edition, Resonance partnered with global market researchers Ipsos to include perception-based data into the rankings, surveying over 22,000 people in 30 countries worldwide to determine "the most desirable places to visit, live or work."

Houston made a major rebound after plummeting to No. 73 in last year's report. In 2022, Houston ranked No. 42.

Resonance refers to its previous "World's Best Cities" reports and its 2024 "America's Best Cities" list – which ranked Houston in the top 10 – when explaining the Bayou City's successes. The report praised Houston's vast cultural diversity and placed a great focus on its economic prosperity, even going so far as to suggest Houston residents make more money "and can sock more away."

"...[W]here America’s fourth-largest city truly takes off is in its economic heft and wealth, ranking No. 9 globally for GDP per Capita and No. 14 for Fortune 500 companies in town," the report said. "All that rolls up into an overall Prosperity index ranking of No. 36, which is even more impressive given the No. 14-ranked Price-to Income Ratio [of the city]."

Elsewhere in Texas, Austin and Dallas also earned spots on the World's Best Cities list for 2025, but only one made a similar rebound from the previous year's rankings. Dallas moved up from No. 66 in last year's report to its current rank as No. 55. Meanwhile, Austin took its first tumble out of the 43rd spot (which it had occupied for two years straight) and now ranks No. 53.

London held onto its crown as the No. 1 best city in the world for 2025, followed by New York (No. 2), Paris (No. 3), Tokyo (No. 4), and Singapore (No. 5).