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🟪 Gov. Abbott's office extends ICE policy deadline for Austin (KVUE)

🟪 Austin mayor proposes economic development policies (Austin Businses Journal)

🟪 City council approves ordinance amending Austin’s code to include surveillance regulation (KXAN)

🟪 Austin ISD is under state investigation for celebrating Pride Week (KUT)

🟪 Colorado developer plans $2.1B of data centers in Temple despite neighbor pushback (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Corpus Christi plans to declare a 'water emergency.' What does that mean? (NPR)

🟪 Dallas police change ICE policy after Abbott threatens to pull public safety, FIFA funding (KERA)READ ON!

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✅ Gov. Abbott's office extends ICE policy deadline for Austin (KVUE)

The City of Austin said Governor Greg Abbott's office has extended its Thursday deadline to comply with state demands over its police immigration policies and hopes to reach a resolution in "the coming days."

Gov. Abbott warned that failing to meet the deadline could cost the city $2.5 million in public safety grants.

"Austin is not yet in compliance, and we look forward to reviewing any proposals it submits before today's deadline," Abbott's office said Thursday afternoon prior to the deadline extension.

The city did not immediately share more details on the new deadline.

The dispute centers on policies Austin City Council revised in March governing how Austin police interact with ICE when presented with administrative warrants. Abbott has argued the policies violate a contract the city signed with the state.

"The state didn't force Austin or other cities into a contract. The cities signed a contract to get money from the state. After they got the money, the cities refused to comply with the contract terms. Those terms include a requirement that the cities repay the state all the money they got if they don't comply with the contract," Abbott wrote on X over the weekend… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin mayor proposes economic development policies (Austin Business Journal)

The city of Austin needs to take a more active role in economic development, Mayor Kirk Watson said. 

“The city government has been too passive in recent years, and it's time to play the prominent role that people expect us to play, and that other folks looking to be involved with Austin expect us to play,” Watson told the Austin Business Journal in an interview. 

To spur more economic development, Watson — along with Austin City Council Members Jose “Chito” Vela, Ryan Alter, Paige Ellis and Zohaib “Zo” Qadri — proposed a “progressive economic development policy” for the city. The details of the economic development policy were shared on the Austin City Council’s public message board on April 22. 

The new policy proposal includes a draft resolution and a six-page document outlining Austin’s strategy for economic development. It also names 10 target sectors for growth. While the policy proposal was unveiled April 22, it will still need full approval from City Council. Message board posts indicate it could be considered at a May 7 meeting… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ City council approves ordinance amending Austin’s code to include surveillance regulation (KXAN)

City council’s TRUST Act — the Transparent and Responsible Use of Surveillance Technology Act — cleared its final hurdle Thursday.

After passing a resolution in February that directed the city manager to create an ordinance amending city code to “regulate the adoption, acquisition, deployment, use, and review of surveillance technology by any City department,” that ordinance was passed on Thursday, with a couple of amendments from council members.

The ordinance adds a new chapter, Chapter 2-19 (Surveillance Technology), to City Code Title 2 (Administration).

Full details of the ordinance can be read here.

Mayor Pro Tem José “Chito” Vela, who authored the TRUST Act, said after Thursday’s ordinance passed that it was a “really good, collaborative process to get here.”

“I think this is a big step forward,” Vela added. “And if we’re going to have good debates on the dais, we need to have good information. We can’t be guessing at things, we can’t be dealing with misinformation. Having that privacy impact assessment in hand to refer to when we’re debating the adoption of surveillance technology, I think will really help center and ground our debates in a more factual and realistic and weighing the cost against the benefits.”… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Austin City Council approves major solar expansion for city facilities (KXAN)

The Austin City Council voted Wednesday to dramatically expand the use of solar power across city-owned facilities, approving two contracts that officials say will make Austin one of the largest municipal solar operators in the nation.

The vote came one day after Earth Day and authorizes two contracts to install solar energy systems on dozens of city buildings, including libraries, recreation centers, offices and warehouses. When fully built, the installations are expected to generate at least 30 megawatts of clean energy.

“This is a massive win for our community and for climate action,” said Zach Baumer, director of Austin Climate Action and Resilience. “By investing in solar across City facilities, we are not only reducing emissions — we are demonstrating what it looks like for a city to lead by example and invest in a cleaner, more resilient future.”

Both contracts are expected to generate at least $20 million in net profit for the city over the next 25 years… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin ISD is under state investigation for celebrating Pride Week (KUT)

The Texas Education Agency launched an investigation into the Austin Independent School District for celebrating its annual Pride Week. A TEA spokesperson confirmed with KUT News the state has opened an investigation, but declined to comment since “the matter remains ongoing.”

The investigation comes after conservative State Board of Education member Brandon Hall, from the Fort Worth area, raised concerns in March about AISD breaking the law and working to "indoctrinate" students by celebrating Pride Week. “It's time to defund AISD and criminally investigate Superintendent Matias Segura,” Hall said in a social media post.

During an interview with the conservative nonprofit Texas Values, Hall said taxpayers in his district were concerned about state funding going into a district where “instead of focusing on education they are focusing on gender identity and celebrating pride and things like that.” “[If] we don’t stop it in Austin ISD, we are going to see more of this across the state,” Hall said. “We need to make a statement and set an example. We will not put up with you breaking the law.” Hall stated that AISD was not complying with Senate Bill 12.

The law passed in 2025 and prohibits “diversity, equity and inclusion duties,” including activities that reference gender or sexual orientation, at K-12 public schools. The law also bans the creation of clubs based on gender identity or sexual orientation. AISD held Pride Week from March 23 to 27 with the theme “beYOUtiful.” Students’ participation was voluntary, and activities took place outside instructional time, including before or after school or during lunch… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Cedar Park approves short-term rental regulation (Community Impact)

Cedar Park will now require owners of short-term rentals to register their rental properties with the city.

Cedar Park officials approved an ordinance April 23 that requires short-term rentals to be registered with the city and also requires owners to pay an annual registration fee of $100 per property.

The city defines a short-term rental as “the rental of all or part of a residential property for a period of 30 consecutive days or fewer to an individual who is not a permanent resident.” Short-term rentals include rentals through websites like Airbnb and Vrbo… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Colorado developer plans $2.1B of data centers in Temple despite neighbor pushback (Austin Business Journal)

A Colorado-based data center developer is nearing entitlements for a third data center project in Temple. All in all, the group's plans could represent a conservative estimate of $2.1 billion of investment in the burgeoning community far north of Austin.

That's ultimately caused a stir in Temple, one of the communities in Central Texas at the forefront of the state's data center boom. The plans have also prompted a group of citizens to start gathering signatures as part of a recall effort against the city's mayor and some council members, according to local media reports.

Entities tied to Rowan Digital Infrastructure Pty. Ltd. on April 16 received initial approval from the Temple City Council for entitlements related to the 303-acre "Project Ranger" along Farm to Market Road 3117. Council is slated to consider a second reading on May 7.

Rowan director of public relations Nathaniel Brown told the Austin Business Journal on April 22 the exact elements of the project are still in design, and a timeline is still to be determined. But he said it will represent a minimum of $700 million in capital investment, along with the creation of 40 full-time jobs and 500 construction jobs – identical to Rowan's two other Temple projects… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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✅ Corpus Christi plans to declare a 'water emergency.' What does that mean? (NPR)

No modern American city has ever run out of water. But chances are rising that Corpus Christi could be the first. Absent a biblical rainfall event, its reservoirs are on track to completely dry up by next year.

That raises baffling questions for the future of Texas’ eighth-largest city and one of the nation’s major petrochemical hubs.

“We have no precedent to follow. There’s no manual, there’s no video,” Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni told the City Council in March, when local leaders first acknowledged that disaster could be imminent.

This week, Zanoni announced that Corpus Christi will require 25% cuts to water usage across the board in September. But at a City Council meeting on Tuesday, officials appeared deeply uncomfortable with exploring the details of how life in Corpus Christi might look under these conditions — and whether such ambitious conservation targets were even possible.

“It's not going to be pretty,” said City Council Member Carolyn Vaughn, a co-owner of an oilfield services company, at the meeting Tuesday. “Everybody's going to have to make sacrifices.”

The city of Corpus Christi doesn’t just provide water to 500,000 residents of the city and nearby towns. The rest of its water consumption — more than half of it, in fact — comes from the multi-billion dollar chemical plants, refineries and other industrial facilities operated by some of the biggest companies in the world. And those companies — including ExxonMobil, Valero and Occidental — have not publicly explained how, or if, they will implement such steep water cuts this fall… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Dallas police change ICE policy after Abbott threatens to pull public safety, FIFA funding (KERA)

The Dallas Police Department changed its immigration policy Thursday in response to pressure from Gov. Greg Abbott. The new rules affirm police officers are allowed to provide enforcement assistance to immigration officers, ask a detained or arrested person’s immigration status and share that status with ICE. The change includes removing a provision that prevented officers from detaining someone longer to investigate the person's immigration status or contact ICE. Under the original policy, an officer was required to release someone after they had been processed for the initial reason they were stopped.

The change came after Gov. Greg Abbott threatened in a letter to pull nearly $90 million in state funding if the police department did not change General Order 315.04, which outlines how officers can handle immigration.

That funding includes more than $55 million in security funding for the FIFA World Cup — which is less than two months away — and more than $32 million in public safety grants. City Manager Kimberly Tolbert responded in a letter Thursday the changes align DPD policy with state law while maintaining trust with the community. “Although your letter does not specifically identify the portions of General Order 315.04 you find problematic, DPD has completed a review of General Order 315.04 and has revised certain provisions in the general order to further clarify DPD's continued compliance with state law regarding immigration enforcement,” Tolbert wrote.

Abbott wrote in his letter General Order 315.04 violates a certification Tolbert agreed to last year as a condition to receive a $32 million public safety grant. Abbott took issue with parts of the order that made it voluntary for police to ask someone about their immigration status or inform ICE about that status. He also targeted the part of the order that prevented Dallas officers from detaining someone longer to investigate the person's immigration status or contact ICE. Under the order, an officer was required to release someone after they've been processed for the initial reason they were stopped… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Talarico hopes to bolster Black support after defeating Crockett (Dallas Morning News)

Sheniqua Jones hoped her March 3 vote would help make history, sending U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett to the Senate as the first Black woman nominee from Texas. When state Rep. James Talarico won instead, it left many of Crockett’s Black supporters wrestling with disappointment, even as they look toward November. “As a Black woman, it feels like voters think we can’t run the country,” Jones said. “We are needed in today’s world and one day we’ll win these races, if we are allowed.”

Now Jones, 40, a mother and small business owner, said she’s willing to give Talarico a chance, but only if he connects with what matters most to voters like her. “He has to speak to the issues that we care about,” she said. “That’s how to get more people on his side.”

That’s the case Talarico now has to make. To win in November, he must maximize Democratic turnout in a state where Republicans still hold the advantage, starting with Black voters, the party’s most reliable base. That may not come easily. Talarico’s victory over Crockett left hard feelings among many of her backers in North Texas and beyond. In the primary, some of Talarico’s supporters said Crockett’s combative style wouldn’t work statewide, clashing with Democrats who saw her as the kind of fighter needed to take on President Donald Trump.

At the Dallas County Democratic Party Convention last month, Talarico struck a conciliatory tone. “To the congresswoman’s supporters, I know I wasn’t your first choice, but I hope to earn your trust and earn your support,” he said. Party leaders say words alone won’t be enough… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas leads the nation in utility shut-offs, federal report finds (Houston Chronicle)

Texas leads the nation in utilities shutting off electricity and natural gas services to customers who can’t afford their energy bills, according to a first-of-its-kind report released recently by the federal government. The report, prepared by the Energy Department’s data wing, reflects how difficult it has become for many Texas residents to make ends meet as utility bills and other costs have risen over the last several years.

Without intervention, Texas’ utility shut-off problem could worsen, especially since the state’s residential electricity rates are expected to keep climbing in the coming years, said Margo Weisz, director of the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute. “We're seeing a problem that is out of control,” Weisz said. “When you look at what's happening to our rates, and you pair it to (the fact) we’re already No. 1 in shut-offs, it's kind of terrifying, actually.”

The Energy Department report was based on data collected in 2024, before electricity costs spiked last year and became a hot-button political issue. Even so, it found that utilities across the country shut off power to households more than 13.4 million times that year. More than 3 million of those shut-offs — by far the highest number of any state — were recorded in Texas. In fact, only one other state reported a six-figure disconnection statistic: Florida, where utilities shut off power nearly 2.2 million times in 2024. As for natural gas, utilities shut off this service nearly 1.7 million times nationwide, according to the Energy Department report. Texas accounted for 200,000 of those disconnections, once again the highest of any state.

The high number of utility shut-offs can’t just be attributed to the fact that Texas is the second-most populous state. The Lone Star State has one of the highest rates of electricity disconnection — second only to Oklahoma, according to the Energy Department data. Texas is also in the top third of natural gas shut-off rates nationwide… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump’s dreams for a battleship led to his Navy Secretary’s ouster (New York Times)

President Trump wanted one thing, more than anything else, from his secretary of the Navy, John Phelan: a new class of battleships. “They’ll be the fastest, the biggest and by far — 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built,” Mr. Trump boasted at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate and resort in Florida a few days before Christmas. Mr. Phelan, a billionaire investor who has a home near the club, stood next to the president as he made the announcement.

Mr. Phelan’s job was to deliver the first of Mr. Trump’s battleships by 2028. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump fired Mr. Phelan, who had struggled to come up with a plan to deliver the ships on the nearly impossible timeline that Mr. Trump has demanded, senior defense and administration officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters.

Mr. Phelan is the first service secretary to be forced from the Defense Department during this administration, though he is far from the only senior Pentagon official to be dismissed. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired or sidelined more than two dozen generals and admirals over the past year, including the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, earlier this month. Mr. Hegseth has also butted heads with the secretary of the Army, Daniel P. Driscoll, over promotions and a host of other issues. The churn of senior Pentagon officials at a time when the U.S. military is engaged in war with Iran has alarmed top Republican and Democratic members of Congress.

The Pentagon did not respond to questions regarding the circumstances surrounding Mr. Phelan’s dismissal. Mr. Phelan could not immediately be reached for comment. The breaking point for Mr. Phelan, who often said that he and Mr. Trump texted and talked on the phone regularly, came in the last two weeks as the president’s frustration over Mr. Phelan’s management of his prized battleship program grew and Mr. Phelan’s enemies in the Pentagon, including Mr. Hegseth and Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen A. Feinberg, mounted a campaign to force him out… 🟪 (READ MORE)