🟪 ATP looking to tap joint venture for buildout of Austin light rail (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Austin ISD released from state oversight order after strides in special education (Community Impact)

🟪 Nate Paul bankruptcy blocks foreclosure of downtown Austin IHOP site. Will it last? (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Former Austin police chief among finalists for Taylor chief (KVUE)

🟪 San Marcos leaders reject $1.5B data center following public outcry (KVUE)

🟪 Momentum is building to meet electricity demand in Texas with small nuclear reactors (Texas Tribune)

🟪 GOP attorney general candidates tout conservative bona fides at only debate in primary to succeed Ken Paxton (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Hill Country vs. South Texas: A stark turnout divide before the primary (Dallas Morning News)

READ ON!

🏛️ Meetings:

✅ ATP looking to tap joint venture for buildout of Austin light rail (Austin Business Journal)

One of three key contracts that will help get construction started for the Austin Light Rail is set to be awarded this week. 

The Austin Transit Partnership’s board is set to vote Feb. 18 on approving a $60 million contract with a joint venture of Sundt Construction and Stacy and Witbeck Inc. for the design and construction work needed to build out the proposed 9.8-mile Austin light rail track. The contract is for “Phase 1A work” for the light rail buildout, according to ATP documents.

This contract for the construction of the light rail is one of the three key contracts that are set to be approved this year. The other two are for the buildout of the operations and management facility planned near the intersection of U.S. Highway 183 and State Highway 71, and another contract will be for the train cars.

Greg Canally, the CEO of ATP, previously told the Austin Business Journal the plan was to award the construction contract in the first quarter of the year and the other two contracts should be awarded in the second quarter… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin ISD released from state oversight order after strides in special education (Community Impact)

Austin ISD officials announced Feb. 17 that the district has completed all requirements under an agreement with the Texas Education Agency after three years of work on improving special education services. This means the district has been released from state oversight.

“By elevating the quality of our evaluations and the integrity of our service delivery, we have turned a period of intense work into a profound opportunity to grow and deepen our commitment to the families we serve,” AISD Superintendent Matias Segura said in a news release.

In September 2023, AISD officials accepted a proposal from the TEA for a state-appointed monitor. This followed the TEA notifying AISD in March 2023 that it would seek to implement a conservatorship due to the findings of an investigation of the district’s special education evaluations.

The agency found as of March 20, 2023, the district had more than 1,800 special education evaluations overdue, meaning 1,800 students were awaiting potential access to accommodations at school. Additionally, the TEA reported 40 instances of “systemic noncompliance” in which AISD did not meet special education needs in a timely manner, as previously reported by Community Impact… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Nate Paul bankruptcy blocks foreclosure of downtown Austin IHOP site. Will it last? (Austin American-Statesman)

A downtown IHOP sits on a parcel of land worth nearly $27 million and a battle over the future of the site, surrounded on three sides by skyscrapers and likely to someday hold one of its own, has raged since 2020.

A hearing Wednesday in a bankruptcy case that's been shielding the parcel owned by Nate Paul from foreclosure could move it closer to redevelopment.

Cesar Rainey Street LLC, a creditor, has attempted to foreclose a handful of times since Paul’s embattled ownership group World Class Holdings began failing to make payments on a loan for the site at 707 E. Cesar Chavez St.

Each time, a forced sale has been held off through filings in state and federal courts by Paul, the one-time superstar Austin developer who played a central role in the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton... 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Former Austin police chief among finalists for Taylor chief (KVUE)

On Tuesday, the city of Taylor announced its final four candidates to be the city’s chief of police.

The position has been filled on an interim basis since the retirement of Henry Fluck in September, after 12 years with the department. Before moving to Taylor, Fluck was the chief of police in Cedar Park for 13 years.

The list of finalists includes Taylor Interim Chief of Police Joseph Branson, as well as former Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon, who is currently serving as emergency services director for the city of Pflugerville.

Also on the list is Albert Garcia, former chief of police for Levelland who is now the dean of technical education at South Plains College, and Johnny Siemens, who is currently serving as the chief of police for the Universal City Police Department.

Chacon served as Austin’s police chief from 2020 until 2023, as much of the city and country were involved in social justice protests… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ San Marcos leaders reject $1.5B data center following public outcry (KVUE)

People packed the chambers of San Marcos City Hall on Tuesday evening to voice their support and opposition for a proposed $1.5 billion data center. 

At around 2 a.m. Wednesday, San Marcos council members voted to reject a rezoning plan for the center after hours of public testimony. 

Ahead of the public hearing, a crowd was sprinkled across the outside lawn, listening to music, calling on drivers to honk and holding signs in an effort to spread their message that data centers don't belong in the city. 

"The people here who use the river, who are here to live here, who contribute to the community, are going to be negatively impacted by the data center, and it's really only going to assist people far from here, or people who are already benefiting from AI data centers going into communities," said Dan Wolf, who is against the project.

Members of Laborers Local 1095 (LiUNA!) spoke for the project and said it will bring financial stability and a closer commute for workers.

“It's about the families being able to stay in their homes, parents being able to support their children, children and workers being able to build a stable life without having to leave their hometowns to find work,” said one member.

Prior to the decision, council members considered pushing back the vote but decided to move forward. 

The controversial plan is expected to built a nearly 200-acre data center near Francis Lane, which is southwest of Downtown San Marcos.

The project has been stalled since last year, but last month a path was cleared after the city's Zoning and Planning Committee approved the rezoning of the land… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Momentum is building to meet electricity demand in Texas with small nuclear reactors (Texas Tribune)

Less than three years after Gov. Greg Abbott announced the creation of the Texas Advanced Nuclear Reactor Working Group, Texas has become one of the main testing grounds in the United States for small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), a technology long discussed but with few real-world examples to show for it.

Officials and companies are betting that small nuclear reactors could help provide needed power to the Texas grid while bringing investment and jobs — even as serious questions remain about cost, timelines and whether the technology can deliver on its promises.

The Bureau of Business Research at the University of Texas at Austin estimated that average demand on the grid could nearly triple by 2050, driven by data centers, electric vehicles and the electrification of the Permian Basin oil fields… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ GOP attorney general candidates tout conservative bona fides at only debate in primary to succeed Ken Paxton (Texas Tribune)

At a debate that hit all the major GOP talking points, the four Republicans vying to be Texas’ next attorney general sought to differentiate themselves and their vision for running one of the state’s most powerful offices. 

All four candidates are conservative, with little ideological daylight between each other and current Attorney General Ken Paxton. At the debate, they echoed calls to use the agency to go after the “Islamification” of Texas, wrest immigration enforcement authority from the federal government and stop the flow of abortion pills into the state. 

As the apparent frontrunner, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy took the most arrows, as the other three candidates hope to keep him below 50% of the vote to force a runoff. Roy, a fourth-term congressman from Austin, previously served as chief of staff for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and the top deputy to Paxton when he was first elected attorney general… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ James Talarico interview on 'The Late Show' pulled from broadcast by CBS execs, Colbert says (KUT)

Stephen Colbert lambasted CBS after the network allegedly blocked him from interviewing James Talarico, one of Texas’ Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate, on his talk show Monday evening.

During his broadcast, Colbert stated that attorneys from his network, which is owned by Paramount, told the late-night comedian that he would not be able to interview Talarico on the broadcast, citing guidelines from the Federal Communications Commission.

"I think Donald Trump is worried we're about to flip Texas," Talarico said in a statement. "This is the party that ran against cancel culture. Now they're trying to control what we watch, what we say, and what we read. This is the most dangerous kind of cancel culture, the kind that comes from the top. A threat to one of our First Amendment rights is a threat to all of our First Amendment rights."

Talarico, a state representative from Austin, is competing against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas in the March 3 primary election, with early voting starting Tuesday. The winner will face the winner of the Republican primary, which includes incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston, in the November midterm election… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Hill Country vs. South Texas: A stark turnout divide before the primary (Dallas Morning News)

Far apart on the Texas map, two counties delivered a stark contrast in 2024: Burnet County, a booming Hill Country enclave, led the state in voter turnout, and Maverick County on the Rio Grande, anchored by Eagle Pass, finished last. The gap wasn’t just numerical. It marked a line between an older, more affluent area tied to Austin’s growth and a borderland community where economic strain and access challenges can make voting more difficult.

Now, as early voting kicks off Tuesday in the state’s March 3 primary, campaigns are counting on high-engagement counties to keep up their pace, while pushing for gains in places where participation has lagged. That matters because primaries typically draw a smaller, more motivated slice of voters. Even in the November 2024 presidential race, with a record 18.6 million Texans registered, only about 61% cast a ballot.

This time, Texans will pick Democratic and Republican nominees in contests from the U.S. Senate, House and governor to the Legislature, statewide and county offices, local courts and more. In primaries, turnout is everything, and the math shifts quickly when age, income and work patterns vary as widely as they do between counties like Burnet and Maverick, said University of Houston political scientist Brandon Rottinghaus. “The system is set up so people with more flexibility and free time have an easier time to vote,” he said. In Burnet County, rolling, rocky hills give way to lakefront neighborhoods that have filled in as Austin pushes outward. The majority-white exurban county has grown from about 34,000 residents in 2000 to roughly 55,700 in 2024. Ahead of that presidential election, Tammy Hullum, chair of the county Republican Party, said precinct chairs relied on familiar networks.

“It’s kind of like calling your neighbor and saying, ‘Hey, did you get out to vote yet?’” she said. The effort paid off. Burnet County posted a 72% turnout rate, the highest in the state, giving Republican Donald Trump 77% of its vote over Democrat Kamala Harris. Along the Rio Grande, Maverick County stretches across brush country, with Eagle Pass often thrust into national debates over immigration as a spike in unauthorized border crossings taxed local services. Overwhelmingly Latino and long a Democratic stronghold, the county has shifted sharply right in recent statewide races, backing Trump with 59% of its vote… 🟪 (READ MORE)