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🟪 Austin first responders highlight concerns with self-driving vehicles during emergencies (KUT)

🟪 2026 hasn't been a banner year for infrastructure jobs, workforce leaders say (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Georgetown shares details of unified development code update (Community Impact)

🟪 Only 3 Texas summer camps approved to open as licensing deadline nears (Dallas Morning News)

🟪 U.S. Supreme Court weakens key pillar of Voting Rights Act, opening the door for Texas to redraw political maps (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Lawmakers question Camp Mystic's owners about July flood (Texas Public Radio)

🟪 The U.S. wants to ban China’s high-tech cars, but they’re already here in El Paso (Wall Street Journal)

✅ Austin first responders highlight concerns with self-driving vehicles during emergencies (KUT)

A deadly shooting at an Austin bar last month is raising questions about how self-driving vehicles affect emergency response.

At a City Council committee meeting on Wednesday, Council Member Zo Qadri shared video taken by a bystander that showed a Waymo vehicle blocking an ambulance that was responding to the incident.

Officials with the Austin Police Department said an officer was able to manually drive the Waymo vehicle out of the way, but it took a few minutes.

Officials said the incident did not significantly hinder emergency response, but it shines a light on how autonomous vehicles can cause traffic delays and pose safety issues.

Qadri's district includes Buford's, the bar where the shooting took place. He said public safety comes first.

“We want to make sure innovation does not come at the expense of safety,” Qadri said. “And we want the community to understand what is happening on our roads.”

Austin streets have been a testing ground for self-driving vehicles, operated by companies like Waymo, Tesla and Avride.

During Wednesday's meeting, first responders highlighted issues with self-driving cars driving through flooded roads and train barricades. They said autonomous vehicles typically obey traffic signals, but there have been several instances when an officer was directing traffic, and autonomous cars disregarded their directions… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Waymo touts safety gains, but Austin leaders still have questions (Austin Current)

It’s been just over a year since Waymo rolled out its partnership with Uber, and its presence has rapidly expanded across Austin. There are now about 300 of the sleek white vehicles with black spinning tops driving around city streets, a level of ubiquity the company asserts is improving safety for pedestrians and drivers.

Not everyone is sold. Some city leaders say the vehicles can, at times, hinder public safety. In the wake of several high-profile incidents over the past 12 months — including the recent death of a beloved duck, an incident in which a Waymo vehicle blocked an ambulance responding to the shooting at Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden and reports of autonomous vehicles unsafely passing school buses — skepticism is growing about whether the technology is ready for widespread use. City leaders also say the companies can be opaque about how their systems operate. The latest example: Waymo declined the city’s request to attend a Wednesday special meeting to discuss public safety.

“Thanks for printing out the ‘Reserved for Waymo’ signs,” Council Member Zo Qadri said, referencing empty chairs in front of the dais. “Waymo sadly did not show up.”

Despite growing skepticism at City Hall, local lawmakers have limited authority after Texas banned cities from regulating autonomous vehicles in 2017, leaving oversight largely in the hands of the state. However, additional oversight will come at the end of May, when a new state law goes into effect requiring companies to obtain Texas Department of Motor Vehicles authorization before operating commercially… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ 2026 hasn't been a banner year for infrastructure jobs, workforce leaders say (Austin Business Journal)

Workforce development leaders are seeing some headwinds in the local economy as economic uncertainty continues to cloud the Austin market.  

Yael Lawson, the CEO of Workforce Solutions Capital Area, said she’s noticed it's been more challenging in recent months to find jobs in infrastructure and construction-related fields.

“Employers are just putting a pause on things because they're worried costs are going up, and so, we're trying to get people ready for their jobs, and they're kind of putting a pause or not holding close what they're putting forward which puts at kind of a disadvantage,” Lawson said.  

Workforce Solutions recently launched the Austin Infrastructure Academy in partnership with the city of Austin, Austin Community College and several other local entities to help boost the workforce for construction and infrastructure-related jobs. 

The Austin Infrastructure Academy was started in large part because the region has over $25 billion worth of infrastructure projects ongoing. Those include the expansion of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, the redevelopment of the Austin Convention Center, the expansion of Interstate 35 and the build out of the Austin Light Rail. It was also projected in 2023 that the Austin region’s demand for infrastructure-related jobs would increase from 223,000 to 404,000 by 2040… 🟪 (READ MORE)  

✅ Georgetown shares details of unified development code update (Community Impact)

Georgetown will update its unified development code this summer for the first time since 2003, aiming to modernize regulations in response to the city's massive growth, Mayor Josh Schroeder said.

By modernizing the code and updating applicable uses of zoning categories, the city hopes to improve transparency and create a document that average residents can read, officials said.

The most significant citywide change will be allowing accessory dwelling units, which include structures like casitas or backyard cottages, ubiquitously, Schroeder said.

Restrictions are written into the code, limiting properties to one ADU per residence and enforcing rules regarding how far the ADU can be from a property, parking and utility connections.

“People don't need to freak out about it and think every neighbor around them is going to be adding ADUs tomorrow because there are a lot of restrictions and limitations,” Schroeder said… 🟪 (READ MORE)  

📝⏱️ Q2 2026 Survey: 5 minutes, 9 questions. Click here to share your input.

✅ U.S. Supreme Court weakens key pillar of Voting Rights Act, opening the door for Texas to redraw political maps (Texas Tribune)

The U.S. Supreme Court weakened but did not eliminate a key provision of the Voting Rights Act on Wednesday, making it harder to bring voter discrimination claims against electoral maps while stopping short of a widely anticipated full strikedown. 

The ruling will likely help Texas in its yearslong litigation over the electoral maps lawmakers drew in 2021, and opens the door to the state creating even more aggressively partisan maps going forward. 

The 6-3 decision narrows how courts may interpret Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, the seminal civil rights legislation signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. This provision, seen as the cornerstone of the law, outlaws practices denying or abridging the right of any citizen to vote based on their race, including political maps that dilute the electoral power of voters of color. 

The upshot of Wednesday’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais is that plaintiffs will have to provide stronger proof to show that a state or county intentionally discriminated against voters of color. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, said the four-prong test used to assess whether a state has diluted the vote for people of color needed to be updated for modern times… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Only 3 Texas summer camps approved to open as licensing deadline nears (Dallas Morning News)

Only three Texas summer camps have received licenses to operate this summer, as camps race to navigate a slate of strict new laws enacted following last year's catastrophic Hill Country floods. The deadline is nearing, with camps across the state scheduled to open in one month.

Camp leaders said they are growing anxious about the tight timeline but remain optimistic the licensing process will be completed in time. “Everyone wants camps to open, and everyone wants safe camps,” said Eddie Walker, executive director of Mt. Lebanon Camp in Cedar Hill, one of the largest faith-based camps in the state. “But the process is challenging this year.”

State lawmakers last year passed a flurry of laws following the July flood that killed 27 children and counselors at Camp Mystic, an all-girls’ camp in Hill Country. Parents of the girls, who became known as “Heaven’s 27,” pushed for reforms that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. Under the new laws, camps are required to install emergency warning and public address systems, provide mandatory safety training to campers and distribute emergency plans to families. Some must build new cabins and move existing cabins out of dangerous floodplains, as designated by Federal Emergency Management Agency maps.

Camps must outline safety and compliance details in thorough emergency plans. Unlike previous years, camps are now required to submit those plans to the Department of State Health Services, which is responsible for issuing licenses to both day and overnight camps. Texas state Rep.

Wes Virdell, who represents Kerr County, which assumed the brunt of flood devastation, said he has heard from numerous camps struggling to meet the state's new requirements. Like other critics, Virdell worried the laws would financially cripple decades-old camps and create an unrealistic timeline for them to comply. "Ultimately, legislators passed a sloppy bill that is now causing massive trouble for camps across Texas," said Virdell, a Republican. "This was an egregious overreach by lawmakers."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Growth of autonomous vehicles in Texas has some calling for more rules (Texas Standard)

As autonomous vehicles, sometimes called robotaxis, proliferate in major Texas cities, local officials and safety experts are expressing concern about traffic safety.

Autonomous vehicles in Austin have passed unloading school buses, blocked emergency vehicles, and even killed a duck near a local park.

But robotaxi operators continue to expand in the capital city — as well as Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, making Texas a major test bed, even with paying customers aboard.

Nicole Cobler is a reporter for Axios Austin and she’s been covering the growth of robotaxis in Texas. She joined Texas Standard for a discussion. Listen to the interview in the player above or read the transcript below… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ The U.S. wants to ban China’s high-tech cars, but they’re already here in El Paso (Wall Street Journal)

Just 5 miles from the U.S. border, a bustling commercial strip here offers the buzzy Chinese car brands currently blocked from the American market. A Geely dealership features the all-electric EX2, a sleek compact that starts at only around $20,000. A bulky hybrid pickup truck sits next to a charger outside a BYD dealership. Great Wall Motors boasts some beefy gas-powered sport-utility vehicles, one advertised with the slogan “Be More Tank.”

Luis Hernandez, a Geely salesman, said he has poached many longtime Ford and Chevrolet owners attracted to the affordable sticker prices and whiz-bang Chinese technology. He recently sold two Geely Emgrand sedans, which start at around $17,000, to a Mexican family for their two daughters to commute to college in El Paso, where the sleekest Chinese cars are now attracting attention.

“If they were allowed to be sold in the United States,” Hernandez boasted of the Chinese models, “they would destroy the American car market.” U.S. automotive executives don’t entirely disagree. Without a clear plan to deal with Chinese competitors, some of them said in interviews, the arrival of affordable, high-tech Chinese cars could upend a U.S. industry that contributes $1.3 trillion to the economy each year. “I’m telling you, it is very difficult—not to say impossible—to compete,” said Hyundai Motor Chief Executive José Muñoz.

“We cannot compete at the same price as the Chinese in the market where we operate. Otherwise, we will be losing money.” So far, the many Chinese car companies that want to expand into the U.S. have been kept at bay. The U.S. has applied sky-high tariffs to vehicles imported from China, and regulations make it nearly impossible for such vehicles purchased in Mexico to be registered in the U.S. A trio of senators has urged the Trump administration this month to ban Chinese vehicles sold and registered in Mexico and Canada from entering the country; several dozen House lawmakers sent a similar letter this week… 🟪 (READ MORE)