🟪 Austin tops best state capitals to live in (Wallet Hub)

🟪 $60 million contract for Austin Light Rail’s 1st phase approved by ATP board (KXAN)

🟪 Austin rethinks affordability playbook under new state law, lower-income housing scarcity (Community Impact)

🟪 Why Spurs week in Austin is critical to the team's global expansion (Sports Illustrated)

🟪 UT Medical Center shifts from downtown to Northwest Austin (Community Impact)

🟪 University of Texas to vote on how race, gender can be discussed in classrooms (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

🟪 Messy House primary in Texas becomes proxy war in broader Democratic identity fight (Politico)

🟪 Uber to invest over $100 million in autonomous vehicle charging amid robotaxi push (Reuters)

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🏛️ Meetings:

✅ Best state capitals to live in (Wallet Hub)

State capitals aren’t just centers of government or facts to memorize. Many are vibrant cities with strong economies and rich cultural scenes, and some rank among the best places to live in the U.S. That said, not all capitals offer the same quality of life. For instance, nearly 31% of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s residents live in poverty, compared with about 10.6% nationwide.

To identify which state capitals offer the best living conditions, WalletHub evaluated all 50 using 48 different measures. These indicators cover affordability, economic stability, quality of life, education, and health care, ranging from cost of living and crime rates to the quality of K–12 school systems.

Best State Capitals in 2026

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✅ $60 million contract for Austin Light Rail’s 1st phase approved by ATP board (KXAN)

A multi-million dollar design-build contract for the first phase of Austin’s first light rail system was approved on Wednesday.

Austin Transit Partnership (ATP), the local government corporation in charge of Austin’s light rail system, selected Austin Rail Constructors as the contractor for Austin Light Rail.

ATP’s Board unanimously approved the $60 million contract for Austin Rail Constructors (ARC), which is a joint venture between Stacy and Witbeck Inc. and Sundt Construction Inc.

ARC will coordinate and execute the design and construction of “nearly every aspect of the system, including the transitway, tracks, systems, stations, bridges, traffic signals, utilities, drainage structures and streetscape improvements,” according to a press release from ATP… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin rethinks affordability playbook under new state law, lower-income housing scarcity (Community Impact)

Austin leaders are looking to adjust the city's approach to creating new affordable housing, both in response to a new state law limiting some local affordability programs and to focus more on lower-income earners.

Austin planners are now working on new roadmaps for affordable housing policy and economic development. A new policy team led by the city manager's office is outlining current challenges with affordable housing production in town, and ways to expand those opportunities.

The city's work with affordable housing is typically centered around living spaces that are reserved based the local median family income, or MFI. That federally calculated statistic, scaled on household size, was about $134,000 for a four-person family and just under $94,000 for an individual as of last year.

Austin has used hundreds of millions of bond dollars to support new development with apartments or homes reserved for those earning a percentage of the MFI. The city also has several incentive programs that allow private developers to build larger residential projects if a share of the new housing units are income-restricted, typically capped at 60% to 80% MFI… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Why Spurs week in Austin is critical to the team's global expansion (Sports Illustrated)

As the Spurs and the alien at the helm work toward world domination, San Antonio's plan to expand their influence globally grows out of their efforts just up I-35.

For the fourth year in a row the San Antonio Spurs are heading to Austin for a week of events built around a pair of games at the Moody Center. Their recent focus on engaging the nearby and fast-growing state capital is already showing measurable returns, to the point where the team is applying the lessons learned here to markets an ocean away from central Texas.

"This is an important, key initiative for our organization, and something we're immensely proud of," Spurs VP of Strategic Growth Brandon James said in a recent interview with the Silver & Black Coffee Hour. "When we got to Austin... one of our main things to do was to really learn and understand what the community of Austin needed from an NBA basketball team and to meet them where they are."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ UT Medical Center shifts from downtown to Northwest Austin (Community Impact)

Officials confirmed Feb. 18 that the University of Texas Medical Center will be located in Northwest Austin rather than at the former Erwin Center site downtown.

“As our two institutions continued to work collaboratively over the last year, it became apparent that the proposed Erwin Center location would not be as conducive to the fully integrated, patient-centered approach that was being envisioned, and there would be limits to future growth on that,” UT Board of Regents chairman Kevin Eltife said at a Feb. 18 board meeting.

The new site, anchored by Dell Medical School, will be located west of the J.J. Pickle Research Campus on university-owned land in Northwest Austin, although a specific site was not confirmed. Of the several university-owned plots of land in the area, one holds The Shops at Arbor Walk, while another has part of the Braker Lane Crossing shopping center.

The medical center still plans to open in 2030, despite the new location, and will still be in partnership with MD Anderson.

There are currently no plans for the Erwin Center site, Eltife said… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Gateway Shopping Center under new ownership (Austin Business Journal)

The 46-acre Gateway Shopping Center has new ownership that plans to revamp the space and bring in new tenants.

In late January, Washington D.C.-based Edens acquired Gateway Shopping Center from Washington Prime Group — this is the fourth retail center in the Austin area that has been recently purchased from WPG. Edens, the owner and developer of more than 100 open-air and mixed-use centers across the country, declined to provide the purchase cost.

The approximately 480,000-square-foot Gateway Shopping Center, located at 9607 Research Blvd., is home to Whole Foods Market, Nordstrom Rack, Ulta Beauty, REI Co-op, The Tile Shop and more. The retail center will get some renovations, and, as two of its former tenants closed shop, Edens is looking to bring in new names to the open-air center… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ San Marcos council denies map change, stops data center development (Community Impact)

The San Marcos City Council voted to deny a Preferred Scenario Map amendment for approximately 200 acres of land west of Francis Harris Lane on Feb. 17.

The requested change would have allowed landowners, Highlander SM One LLC, or John Maberry, and Donald and Germaine Tuff to develop a data center—a project met with significant pushback from community members.

Hundreds of residents gathered outside the San Marcos courthouse to protest the proposed data center, waving handmade signs outlining their opposition. Over 100 community members spoke on the data center during the meeting’s almost five-hour-long citizen comment period.

Inside the council chambers, dozens of members of the San Antonio-based labor union LiUNA! Laborers Local 1095 stood in support of the project. Donning bright orange shirts, members spoke on the union construction jobs the data center project would create… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ University of Texas to vote on how race, gender can be discussed in classrooms (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

The University of Texas System Board of Regents will meet Wednesday during its quarterly meeting to discuss a policy that will decide how universities are allowed to teach “controversial topics” like race, gender and LGBTQ areas of study. The University of Texas System, which includes University of Texas at Arlington and UT Dallas, decided to vote on guidance on teaching such topics after the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents passed a similar ordinance late last year. Professors at A&M are now required to have their course syllabuses reviewed by department heads. Several A&M syllabuses have been rejected for including course content related to race and gender theory, the Star-Telegram previously reported.

One professor’s syllabus was rejected for including readings from Plato. Another had his class canceled just days before the spring semester for failing to submit his syllabus for review. According to the UT Board of Regents meeting agenda, university leaders believe the guidance will “foster classroom cultures of trust in which all students feel free to voice their questions and beliefs, especially when those perspectives might conflict with those of the instructor or other students.” The guidance would also prohibit professors from including course material that is not considered “relevant” to the course. “In the classroom, instructors must be careful stewards of their pedagogical responsibilities and classroom authorities and must endeavor to create a classroom culture of trust,” the ordinance reads. “Instructors must not attempt to coerce, indoctrinate, harass, or belittle students, especially in addressing controversial subjects and areas where people of good faith can hold differing convictions.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Plano offers $20M in incentives for AT&T's new billion-dollar HQ (Dallas Morning News)

Plano is calling AT&T, and the Collin County suburb is prepared to shell out $20 million in incentives — and a lengthy property tax rebate — to the telecom giant for its new multibillion-dollar global headquarters. The package deal represents the largest incentive package the city has offered to a private employer to date. Plano City Council members are scheduled to vote on the incentives at their Feb. 23 meeting. AT&T must spend a minimum of $1.4 billion in construction costs on the project. The firm must build a minimum of 2 million square feet of office, amenity and retail space at the site, eventually employ 10,000 full-time workers at the property and occupy the planned headquarters for 25 years, according to city documents.

The firm will also receive a 65% real property tax rebate on improvements made at the site over 25 years starting in 2030. AT&T did not comment on the proposal Tuesday afternoon. Half the grant is intended to offset the cost of redevelopment at the site. The $20 million will leave a balance of nearly $36.8 million available for future projects in the city’s economic development fund, according to city documents. AT&T must meet certain benchmarks to receive the grants and rebates. AT&T CEO John Stankey announced in early January that the Fortune 500 company would build its new home on 54 acres at 5400 Legacy Drive in Plano. The company is targeting partial occupancy at the new building as early as the second half of 2028. Dallas investment firm NexPoint owns 215 acres where AT&T plans to build its new home.

The site includes the former Electronic Data Systems headquarters, H. Ross Perot Sr.’s information technology company that was founded in the 1960s. Plano Mayor John Muns and other city leaders have lauded AT&T’s move as another chapter in Plano’s success story. The corporate relocation build’s on the suburb’s long history of attracting large businesses, from Toyota Motor North America to JCPenney. “AT&T’s relocation represents a powerful reinvestment in the Legacy business district, building on an extraordinary foundation that has driven growth in Plano and our region for decades,” Muns said in a statement in January… 🟪 (READ MORE)

Uber to invest over $100 million in autonomous vehicle charging amid robotaxi push (Reuters)✅ Tony Gonzales had affair with aide who set herself on fire, ex-staffer says (San Express-News)

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales engaged in a romantic relationship with an aide who died last year by setting herself on fire outside her Uvalde home, according to a text message and people close to the aide and her family. A former staffer in Gonzales' district office who worked closely with the aide, Regina Ann "Regi" Santos-Aviles, said she told him they had an affair in 2024, and that she spiraled into a depression after her husband discovered the relationship and Gonzales abruptly cut her off. He also shared with the San Antonio Express-News a screenshot of a text message from Santos-Aviles in which she acknowledged having an “affair with our boss.”

The staffer, who asked not to be named, citing a fear of retaliation, faulted Gonzales' office for failing to intervene, saying he warned the congressman's district director months before Santos-Aviles' death that he was concerned about her well-being. He described her as his “best friend” and said their families knew each other. Gonzales, a Republican representing Texas' 23rd Congressional District, is currently seeking reelection in a contested primary. He and his staff did not respond to a list of detailed questions submitted by the Express-News. A lawyer for Santos-Aviles' husband said her romantic relationship with the congressman was an open secret, and that he does not believe it played a role in her death.

Authorities have said there was no evidence of foul play in Santos-Aviles’ death. Both she and Gonzales were married to other people at the time of the alleged affair. Santos-Aviles, 35, was Gonzales’ regional district director in Uvalde and the mother of an 8-year-old boy. She died Sept. 14, 2025. The former staffer, 24, contemplated going public about the affair as early as November, but was afraid he would lose his job, he said. He said this week that he stopped coming to work for months after Santos-Aviles’ suicide and felt he could no longer "sell (Gonzales') message and his ideals." He resigned last month, moved to Los Angeles and now works for two local Democratic campaigns. He said he had not been paid or promised any compensation by any of Gonzales’ primary opponents… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Rep. Tony Gonzales attacks primary opponent amid reporting of his affair with aide who died by suicide (Texas Tribune)

U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, blamed his GOP opponent Brandon Herrera for politicizing the death of his former staffer on Wednesday, a day after the San Antonio Express-News reported on a text message from the woman admitting to having an affair with Gonzales.

Gonzales declined to answer questions about the alleged affair, but he has previously dismissed the allegations as untrue.

Regina Santos-Aviles, a Gonzales aide, died after lighting herself on fire in her Uvalde home last year. The Express-News reported Tuesday that an ex-staffer in Gonzales’ office said Santos-Aviles had told him in 2024 she had had an affair with Gonzales, and provided a text message from Santos-Aviles in which she said she “had an affair with our boss.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Messy House primary in Texas becomes proxy war in broader Democratic identity fight (Politico)

Tejano music star Bobby Pulido is a favorite of national Democrats this cycle, as he mounts an uphill battle to flip a deep-red Rio Grande Valley House seat that President Donald Trump won by 18 points in 2024. But before he can take on Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas) in the state’s 15th District, he must navigate the politics of a messy primary with emergency room doctor Ada Cuellar in a race that has turned increasingly personal — and mirrors the fight up the ticket for one of the state’s Senate seats.

The primary has emerged as somewhat of a proxy war in the high-profile Senate primary between Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who has backed Cuellar, and state Rep. James Talarico, who supports Pulido.

Both contests have become emblematic of larger divides facing a party that is still going through growing pains after across-the-board losses to Republicans in 2024. Pulido is running a race geared toward a general election with a Republican-leaning electorate. In an interview, he said he is “not trying to run a primary race,” but rather a “general campaign.” Cuellar, meanwhile, argues Pulido’s vision for the future of the party is out of touch with what’s on the ground.

Cuellar herself is facing a tough path to even reach November. Pulido’s name ID alone may be enough to get him through to the general. Even still, she has mounted repeated attacks on Pulido across the airwaves, arguing he is too conservative of a Democrat. A few of them have landed. Pulido’s campaign has apologized for a past misogynistic comment directed toward Hillary Clinton. His opponents have also focused on past remarks in which he said he doesn’t live in Texas full time and used his friendship with a local judge to get out of a speeding ticket… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump wants the Fed to cut rates. Kevin Warsh has bigger plans. (Politco)

For more than a decade, Kevin Warsh has advocated reining in the Federal Reserve’s pivotal role in the nation’s financial markets. Now, as President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Fed, he may finally get the chance to do that, aided by a Treasury secretary with the same goal. And Wall Street is obsessed with finding out what comes next — ?bracing for the possibility of extensive market disruptions.

Warsh has bemoaned the Fed’s purchase of trillions of dollars in U.S. government debt and bundled mortgages after both the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 pandemic, a process that kept longer-term interest rates down to boost the economy and flooded banks with cash reserves. That policy, he says, has distorted the market and enriched Wall Street rather than ordinary Americans by propping up stocks and bonds, which are overwhelmingly owned by the wealthy.

But any effort to significantly reduce those holdings runs the risk of spiking interest rates and rattling the funding markets that underpin the financial system. So, to pull off any reform, he knows he will have to proceed with a lot of caution. “The transition to what I think is a more prudent system will take time, deliberation and an excess of communication with the public and the institutions in the banking system itself,” Warsh said last year at an event hosted by Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, where he is a visiting fellow.

The dangers for Warsh run in multiple directions. Any turbulence that pushes up longer-term rates would clash with Trump’s goal of decreasing borrowing costs for the government and lowering mortgage rates. And Warsh will have to convince his colleagues on the Fed’s rate-setting committee to back any changes he’s proposing, which is no guarantee. Speculation about the path of future Fed policy is heating up as the president is eager to juice both the housing market and the broader economy in the run-up to the elections, with polls showing that voters are souring on his handling of pocketbook issues… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Uber to invest over $100 million in autonomous vehicle charging amid robotaxi push (Reuters)

Uber Technologies said on Wednesday it would invest more than $100 million to develop autonomous vehicle charging hubs, underscoring the ride-hailing company's latest push to scale up self-driving operations.The move includes building DC fast charging stations at its autonomous depots where Uber runs day-to-day fleet operations, and at pit stops throughout priority cities. Uber has made autonomous vehicles a key strategic priority, partnering with more than 20 firms across the world on self-driving freight, delivery and taxi services, as it races to secure market share and fight competition from companies such as Tesla .

The charging expansion will begin in the U.S. in the Bay Area, Los Angeles and Dallas before moving to more cities over time.The company is also partnering with chargepoint operators in global markets to set up "utilization guarantee agreements", including with EVgo in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston, Electra in Paris and Madrid, and Hubber and Ionity in London.These agreements are expected to support the rollout of hundreds of new chargers across these cities, and in places where charging is needed the most.Earlier this month, Uber backed its capital-intensive, early-stage autonomous vehicle strategy and said it was committing capital to vehicle partners to secure early supply and speed up deployments as its platform has a structural advantage. Uber currently offers robotaxis on its ride-hailing platform in four U.S. cities, as well as in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. It has partnered with robotaxi firms, including Alphabet's Waymo and China's WeRide, for autonomous vehicle fleet operations… 🟪 (READ MORE)