Watson was elected in 2022 to serve a two-year term instead of a full four years. Austinites voted in 2021 to move mayoral elections to the same year as presidential elections in an effort to increase voter turnout.

If reelected, Watson will serve a full four-year term.

Watson previously served as mayor from 1997 to 2001, when he stepped down to run for state office. He served as a state senator for more than 13 years before returning to the job of mayor.

Watson is the fourth candidate to announce his candidacy. He will face former City Council Member Kathie Tovo,East Austin community organizer Carmen Llanes Pulido and Doug Greco, the former director of Central Texas Interfaith.

Candidates have until Aug. 19 to file for election… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Contracting opportunities are coming into focus for Austin’s new light rail system (Austin Business Journal)

The Austin Transit Partnership is taking steps to ensure that local companies and large national firms work in cooperation to bring the city’s planned light rail system to fruition when construction begins in 2027.

Led by the ATP, construction of the 15-stop network covering a 10-mile route through the core of the city is going to require an army of specialized contractors. It's also among a number of transformational projects planned for Austin that thousands of trained professionals will spend years building and maintaining.

ATP is set to host an industry networking and information day April 30 at its 203 Colorado St. office. The meeting is part of an ongoing effort by the agency to prepare the business community for the light rail project and raise awareness of contracting opportunities.

The agency is moving forward despite opposition and legal resistance to the plan by some local land use advocates and community leaders… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

PARD updates plans for new Dougherty and for cultural center expansions (Austin Monitor)

The city is moving forward with plans to replace the Dougherty Arts Center with a new multiphased facility located in the Butler Shores Park area. The Parks and Recreation Department plans to begin the permitting process for the new arts center soon, while also conducting community engagement sessions and getting support from relevant boards and commissions, according to a recent memo from PARD Director Kim McNeeley.

The memo also spells out the latest status of the construction plans for three other cultural centers: the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, the George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center and the Asian American Resource Center. Construction and expansion projects planned or underway for all four centers will be funded by money from recent city bond proposals.

City Council had in recent years directed staff to move forward with a new Dougherty to replace the deteriorating building on Barton Springs Road. The new center would total 45,000 square feet, featuring underground parking and sharing as much infrastructure as possible with nearby facilities such as the ZACH Theatre. Inflationary pressures and specifically the parking structure caused the projected cost of the project to grow to $61 million, far more than the roughly $28 million available in bond funding… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

As Senate race heats up, Ted Cruz pitches himself as the better bipartisan (Texas Tribune)

Heading into the heat of his reelection race against Dallas Congressman Colin Allred, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is testing the waters with a rebrand.

Cruz, who has made a name for himself as an uncompromising conservative stalwart, is casting himself as a bipartisan lawmaker with a penchant for reaching across the aisle.

“I actually have very good relationships with many of my colleagues across the aisle,” Cruz told The Texas Tribune, citing his work with Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar. “I've worked with all three of them and all three are friends.”

The interview was part of Cruz’s recent media blitz highlighting his work with Democrats, off the heels of his “Democrats for Cruz” announcement which aims to attract left-leaning voters this November.

He debuted that messaging during a Laredo meeting with the U.S. Hispanic Business Council, where he stressed the value of bipartisanship legislating and enumerated several bills he’s written with Democratic senators. Meanwhile, Cruz is blasting Allred as not as bipartisan as he claims, citing the Democrat’s voting record with his party’s leadership... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Council Member Manny Pelaez plans to run for San Antonio mayor in 2025 (Community Impact)

Manny Pelaez, who is in his fourth and final term representing San Antonio City Council District 8, announced April 9 his intent to run for mayor in the May 2025 city elections.

An attorney by trade, Pelaez announced his plan to bid for a chance to succeed Mayor Ron Nirenberg, who is term-limited.Pelaez said San Antonio has much potential, history and culture, and that he wants to offer a forward-looking campaign of optimism."We need a mayor who can unify us around a vision of an optimistic San Antonio that isn’t afraid of taking our shot and achieving big things,” Pelaez said in a statement…(LINK TO FULL STORY)

[NATION/WORLD NEWS]

A Congressman wanted to understand AI. So he went back to a college classroom to learn (Associated Press)

Don Beyer’s car dealerships were among the first in the U.S. to set up a website. As a representative, the Virginia Democrat leads a bipartisan group focused on promoting fusion energy. He reads books about geometry for fun.

So when questions about regulating artificial intelligence emerged, the 73-year-old Beyer took what for him seemed like an obvious step, enrolling at George Mason University to get a master’s degree in machine learning. In an era when lawmakers and Supreme Court justices sometimes concede they don’t understand emerging technology, Beyer’s journey is an outlier, but it highlights a broader effort by members of Congress to educate themselves about artificial intelligence as they consider laws that would shape its development.

Frightening to some, thrilling to others, baffling to many: Artificial intelligence has been called a transformative technology, a threat to democracy or even an existential risk for humanity. It will fall to members of Congress to figure out how to regulate the industry in a way that encourages its potential benefits while mitigating the worst risks... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

The hidden costs of homeownership are skyrocketing (Wall Street Journal)

Homeownership affordability fell to its lowest level since the 1980s last year as mortgage rates reached a 23-year high and home prices set new records.

Borrowing costs have eased somewhat this year, with the average rate for a 30-year home loan down about a percentage point since October. But other prices related to homeownership keep rising and show little sign of abating.

Property taxes and home-maintenance costs are climbing in much of the country. Non-mortgage costs including property taxes, maintenance, utilities and insurance make up more than half of homeowners’ overall costs, according to a 2022 analysis by Fannie Mae economists.

Worst of all, home insurance premiums are soaring. Rates rose by more than 10% on average in 19 states in 2023 after a series of big payouts related to floods, storms, wildfires and other natural disasters across the U.S., according to an Insurance Information Institute analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. More Americans also moved to disaster-prone areas in recent years, increasing the exposure to these events.

Escalating costs on multiple fronts mean that many first-time buyers will continue to find homeownership a financial stretch… (LINK TO FULL STORY)