BG Reads has grown largely through word of mouth, one informed reader sharing it with another.

So today, I have one small request.

Think of one friend or colleague who would find this daily brief useful, and forward this edition to them. Better still, encourage them to subscribe.

One recommendation is all it takes.

Thank you for helping us reach the people who should be reading!

🟪 Austin considers stricter rules for data centers amid water, energy concerns (CBS Austin)

🟪 Tesla Cybercab is launching in Austin with new site to maintain growing robotaxi fleet (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 These are the best high schools in the Austin area, according to U.S. News (KVUE)

🟪 Amazon picks East Austin for multi-billion dollar robotics facility (Community Impact)

🟪 Blue Origin appears to have homed in on a site in Hutto with more incentives on table (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 How Corpus Christi’s water emergency exposed flaws in Texas’ water planning (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Rural voters scramble Texas election (Politico)

🟪 Democrats narrow their list of 2028 presidential convention sites to Boston, Denver and Philadelphia (Associated Press)

READ ON!

🎙️ BG Podcast Ep. 271: Preparing Cities for Air Taxis and eVTOLs with Austin Assistant City Manager Mike Rogers

Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, commonly known as eVTOLs or air taxis, are moving from concept toward deployment.

Recorded on March 18, 2026, Episode 271 of The BG Podcast features our conversation with Austin Assistant City Manager Mike Rogers on a question cities increasingly need to answer: How do you prepare for a new transportation system before it arrives?

The conversation followed the March announcement that Texas had been selected for the Federal Aviation Administration’s new eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, creating an early opportunity to examine what deployment could mean for local governments.

Also, at an August 18 hearing, the Texas House Select Committee on General Aviation examined many of the same questions, including airport readiness, charging infrastructure, siting, zoning, land use, and community integration..

Listen on:

🗓️ Events we’re watching:

🏛️ City Staff Memo RE Data Centers (8.19.2026): The purpose of this memorandum is to provide recommendations to the Mayor and City Council in response to the Managing Large-Load Data Centers post on the City Council Message Board on May 15, 2026.

🏛️ Per Mayor Watson’s Office: On August 25, Austin City Council will hold a Work Session focused on data centers. On August 27, Council will have discussion and possible action related to data centers.

✅ Austin considers stricter rules for data centers amid water, energy concerns (CBS Austin)

Austin city leaders are considering new regulations for data centers as officials prepare for the possibility of much larger facilities seeking to develop in the city.

Austin currently has 10 data centers, ranging from 1 to 20 megawatts of electricity demand. None meet the state's definition of a "large-load" customer, which begins at 75 megawatts, but Austin Energy has received inquiries for projects ranging from 20 to 74 megawatts.

City staff said the industry is changing rapidly, with some hyperscale data centers elsewhere requiring more than 100 megawatts of power and some exceeding 300 megawatts.

Staff recommendations include updating Austin's land-use rules, creating new siting and zoning standards for higher-impact data centers, and establishing requirements addressing water efficiency, noise, lighting, and other environmental impacts… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Tesla Cybercab is launching in Austin with new site to maintain growing robotaxi fleet (Austin American-Statesman)

As Tesla Inc. gears up to expand its robotaxi service with the rollout of its new Cybercab, it’s also making efforts to keep its fleet charged and ready for service.

The Austin automaker is planning to upgrade a parking lot near its service center in the St. Elmo neighborhood south of downtown where it will operate a car wash and electric vehicle charging site, according to a filing with the city of Austin. 

The project is expected to assist Tesla in the maintenance of its purpose-built robotaxi known as Cybercab. The company has teased an upcoming launch event in Austin for the gold two-seater, which it plans eventually to deploy as the primary vehicle in its robotaxi fleet. Currently, Tesla ferries customers around Austin and other cities in relatively small fleets of Robotaxi-branded Model Y vehicles.

The South Austin project includes installing charging posts, light posts, security cameras and a Wi-Fi access point. Once completed, the site could support dozens of robotaxis. The company’s filing includes an equipment count listing 48 Supercharger posts and 12 Supercharger cabinets.

The development comes as Tesla is preparing to launch Cybercab. Ahead of the rollout, the company is conducting a sweepstakes in which five winners will get a chance to attend the launch. Entries are made by riders hailing a Tesla Robotaxi, with each rider earning one entry through Aug. 23. Tesla said the randomly selected winners will be notified later this month… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ These are the best high schools in the Austin area, according to U.S. News (KVUE)

Several Austin-area high schools are among the nation's highest-ranked public schools in the new 2026-27 U.S. News & World Report Best High Schools rankings.

Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA) took the top spot in the Austin metro area and ranked No. 43 nationally, according to rankings released Tuesday. Richards School for Young Women Leaders came in second locally and No. 97 nationwide… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Amazon picks East Austin for multi-billion dollar robotics facility (Community Impact)

Amazon is bringing a multi-billion dollar advanced robotics manufacturing facility to East Austin, the company announced Aug. 19. The project will be an anchor development in the newly annexed Dog's Head, and was first detailed by city officials during recent planning and financing reviews for that district.

"Austin's talented workforce, world-class universities and strong community partnerships make it the ideal home for this facility," Holly Sullivan, Amazon vice president of worldwide economic development, said in a statement. "We're proud to deepen our commitment to this city and the state of Texas."

The new manufacturing site will be located off Hergotz and Dalton lanes in the center of the more than 2,600-acre Dog's Head area. The roughly 300-acre development first started moving through city reviews earlier this year as the unidentified "Project Toaster," and was revealed as the first potential tenant in the Dog's Head in July… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Blue Origin appears to have homed in on a site in Hutto with more incentives on table (Austin Business Journal)

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Enterprises LP appears to have squared in on a site for its potentially game-changing project in Hutto.

Public documents tie the company for the first time by name to the project in Hutto, a small-but-booming suburb about 35 miles northeast of Austin. It has been described as a more than $850 million project that could create 2,000 jobs – and span at least 1.3 million square feet of manufacturing, research-and-development, warehouse and logistics space.

It also now appears, based on those same documents, that Blue Origin is eyeing the Hutto Crossing development for at least a portion of the project. The 118-acre development is owned by a joint venture of Dallas-based Velocis, Austin-based Ironwood Realty Partners LLC and California-based MBK Industrial Properties.

That's all according to an Aug. 20 special meeting agenda for the Williamson County Commissioners Court, which is set to consider an incentives agreement with entities tied to Blue Origin and the Hutto Crossing development team. The project was previously referred to in executive session discussions as "Project Speed Racer."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ How Corpus Christi’s water emergency exposed flaws in Texas’ water planning (Texas Tribune)

For more than a quarter of a century, Texas has diligently updated its state water plan every five years, a process designed to forecast water supply and demand 50 years into the future — and give communities enough warning about potential water shortages to do something about it.

That warning matters because water projects can take years — sometimes decades — to plan, finance and build.

For Corpus Christi and the rest of the Coastal Bend, it never came.

That’s because the planning process is built largely around past droughts — in fact, some regional plans still rely on the epic 1950s drought of record, the longest statewide dry spell in history. But some experts now say using historical droughts isn’t working because climate change is making droughts more frequent, longer and severe — raising doubts that yesterday’s worst-case scenario is also tomorrow’s.

That means the models that help secure money and political will for new water projects may be dramatically underestimating both future water needs and how quickly communities could face shortages.

“We need to be planning and developing infrastructure for the climate of 2050, the climate of 2100,” said Benjamin Cook, a climate scientist at Columbia University who studies drought in North America… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Rural voters scramble Texas election (Politico)

Rural voters may not stop the spread of data centers, but they could stop Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The Republican is bleeding support from small towns as he seeks a fourth term because of two late-emerging issues: power-hungry tech campuses and a planned $33 billion electric transmission build-out. Pushback against Abbott points to larger fears about losing rural identities, but also to everyday concerns about construction, pollution and tight supplies of water and electricity.

Shawn Nanny, a Republican county commissioner in West Texas, said data centers and power line plans are the “straws that broke the camel’s back” when it comes to Abbott and other Texas GOP leaders. Some longtime conservatives are now considering the unthinkable — voting in November for a Democrat to be Texas’ next governor. And Abbott’s August directive to pause Texas data center grid approvals hasn’t convinced all of them to vote for him.

“They understand the repercussions of that, but you know what I’m hearing is, ‘Yeah, we’ll have a Democrat in there and grit our teeth and bear it, but hopefully we’ll come out of it the following election,’” said Nanny, who lives in Tom Green County. “They’re so upset; they just want [Abbott] out.” The welcoming approach that Abbott’s Texas has taken toward data centers until now makes the rural pushback — and the governor’s retreat — particularly striking as the industry grapples with resistance nationwide.

“Rural people feel like they are the ones seeing the brunt of this, and they don’t like it,” said Jim Henson, executive director of the Texas Politics Project. “These issues are starting to bond together a lot of the people against data centers.” Texas has not elected a Democrat as governor in more than 35 years, but analysts say Abbott can’t afford to lose much of his rural support in November. Recent polls released by Texas A&M University and Fox News showed Abbott with a 1 percentage point lead over Democratic challenger state Rep. Gina Hinojosa. Polling from the nonpartisan Texas Politics Project showed Abbott’s approval rating among rural voters plunged from 2018 to 2026 — going from 63 percent to 48 percent... 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Democrats narrow their list of 2028 presidential convention sites to Boston, Denver and Philadelphia (Associated Press)

Democrats on Thursday narrowed the list of potential host cities for their 2028 presidential convention to Boston, Denver and Philadelphia as their party looks ahead to a wide-open primary to succeed President Donald Trump.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement the cities put forward “incredibly strong bids,” and he promised the convention would be an “inspiring celebration of our party’s future nominee.”

A final decision is expected to be made later this year by party leaders. Republicans have already chosen Houston for the site of their 2028 convention.

The Democratic convention, scheduled for Aug. 7-10, 2028, traditionally gives the party a chance to formally introduce its nominee to the country, rally the base and kick-start the most intense period of campaigning ahead of the general election… 🟪 (READ MORE)