🟪 Midway files suit against Hutto officials, seeks $300M in damages (Community Impact)

🟪 Four men accused in Austin's yogurt shop murders have been exonerated (KUT)

🟪 Austin warns short-term rental owners of July 1 registration deadline (KXAN)

🟪 UT System votes to limit 'controversial topics' in class, raising concerns about academic freedom (KUT)

🟪 5 years post-Uri, experts say challenges still remain for Texas power grid (Community Impact)

🟪 Fed minutes show no rush to restart rate cuts (New York Times)

🟪 Billionaires’ low taxes are becoming a problem for the economy (Wall Street Journal)

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✅ Midway files suit against Hutto officials, seeks $300M in damages (Community Impact)

Houston-based development company Midway filed a petition Feb. 18 against the Hutto Economic Development Corporation, Hutto Mayor Mike Snyder, real estate development firm Terra Halona and its co-managing partner Joel Scott, seeking $250 million in exemplary damages and $50 million in compensatory damages.

The lawsuit—filed with Harris County District Clerk Marilyn Burgess—comes more than four months after the Hutto EDC announced it had ended negotiations with Midway to serve as the master developer for the Cottonwood Properties in Hutto.

Midway was first selected as the developer for the 250-acre site in December 2023, with the goal of building a mixed-use site including retail, grocery, restaurant and entertainment options. In March 2024, Midway and HEDC agreed to a memorandum of understanding, which was approved by Hutto City Council in April of that year.

According to the filing, Terra Halona representatives had previously introduced Midway to former HEDC director Bob Farley, and presented Midway with a proposal to partner on the project that was never agreed to. Terra Halona also helped arrange a meeting between Midway and Snyder, after Midway was formally selected as the master developer… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Four men accused in Austin's yogurt shop murders have been exonerated (KUT)

Four men who had been accused, two of them convicted, in one of Austin's most infamous murders have been declared officially innocent.

Maurice Pierce, Robert Springsteen, Mike Scott and Forrest Welborn were the key suspects in the 1991 murder of four teen girls at a yogurt shop.

Now, more than 34 years later, Travis County Judge Dayna Blazey has stated all are innocent, clearing their records and formally exonerating them after they were wrongfully accused in 1999.

Last year, police announced they believed Robert Eugene Brashers was guilty of the killing of Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas, and Jennifer and Sarah Harbison at an I Can't Believe It's Yogurt shop in December 1991. Brashers died in 1999, but police were able to tie him to the murders through forensic and DNA evidence after decades of searching for the real killer.

Travis County District Attorney José Garza filed a motion to revisit the case and formally clear their names late last year… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin warns short-term rental owners of July 1 registration deadline (KXAN)

The city of Austin recently notified property owners operating short-term rentals (STRs) that they have until July 1 to register for a license.

In September 2025, the Austin City Council approved changes to its STR regulations. These set certain requirements on property owners, such as space between units and the ratio of STRs to traditional rentals.

A key provision is that the city will ask STR platforms to remove unlicensed properties from their websites.

The cost to register is $836.30 for a new license and $385.30 for a renewal. Property owners will need to show they live in the Austin-Round Rock Metro Area. Registration no longer requires a certificate of occupancy or proof of insurance, according to the city…🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ UT System votes to limit 'controversial topics' in class, raising concerns about academic freedom (KUT)

The University of Texas System Board of Regents approved an initiative on Thursday that limits “controversial topics” in the classroom.

The new policy states that faculty 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.” Faculty must also exclude “unrelated controversial or contested matters” from syllabi and only follow the contents of the syllabus for each course.

The initiative states that it recognizes faculty’s freedom in the classroom, but says instructors must also adhere to principles of academic integrity. It says faculty members have the responsibility to foster a culture of trust where all students feel free to voice their beliefs; fairly present contrasted opinions with academic evidence; teach students to come to their own conclusions; and abstain from controversial topics that are not relevant to the course… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ 5 years post-Uri, experts say challenges still remain for Texas power grid (Community Impact)

This January, Texans again braced for an arctic blast that brought ice and below-freezing temperatures to large parts of the state. Residents prepared by stocking up on groceries and dripping faucets, while some businesses, schools and government offices closed for days.

Local officials reported less than one dozen storm-related deaths and state leaders warned that some communities could see isolated power outages due to weather conditions; however, the Texas power grid remained stable throughout the storm and the state came away largely unscathed.

“The grid has held once again [and] worked absolutely flawlessly,” Gov. Greg Abbott told Dallas radio host Mark Davis on Jan. 26. “That’s because of everything that we’ve done over the past five years to make sure that the grid is stronger than it’s ever been.”

The Lone Star State has not seen widespread blackouts since February 2021, when Winter Storm Uri brought days of extreme cold to Texas and temperatures fell below zero in some areas. Electric demand soared as large swaths of the state’s energy infrastructure, unprepared for the subfreezing temperatures, froze and dropped offline… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ To avoid state takeovers, Texas districts are spending millions to outsource struggling schools. Here’s how it works. (WFAA)

Texas school districts are opting to outsource their failing campuses to third-party operators in a little-known, but increasingly common attempt to avoid state takeovers, a WFAA investigation found. In exchange for paying millions to a third party with the promise of improved accountability scores, the TEA grants a two-year reprieve from state intervention and sends the district additional public education funds to help cover the cost. In these scenarios, superintendents and school boards keep their jobs and retain at least partial local control over their schools — all of which would be at risk with a state takeover. More and more districts are now turning to these "1882 turnaround partnerships" — named for the 2017 bill creating the option — as pandemic-paused accountability scores reach the five-year trigger for state intervention.

The only provider with more than one turnaround partnership — the Colorado-based nonprofit Third Future Schools — estimates it may nearly triple the number of Texas schools it runs on behalf of districts next year. "I think we’ll land between 10 to 12 additional campuses due to many schools being in year three or four of the F ranking, and districts needing to do something to pause the accountability clock," said Third Future Superintendent Zach Craddock during a January board meeting. Questions remain about what happens to student outcomes once the contracts end and the turnaround partners — and their often highly-paid teachers — leave the schools back in the districts' hands. In one instance, a West Texas school that hired Third Future Schools saw its test scores decrease after their contract ended. In a situation with a district in Southeast Texas, Third Future’s contract ended early after a dispute over payment.

"Status quo is not an option — [districts] have proven they have not been successful," said former Dallas ISD superintendent Michael Hinojosa, who now works as an education consultant. "I think it’s an interesting experiment, but it’s got to stand the test of time." No matter the outcome, the reality for districts choosing to contract with turnaround partners is the same: They lose local control of select schools and send hundreds of thousands of public education dollars to third-party entities… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Rep. Tony Gonzales accuses dead staffer’s husband of trying to blackmail him amid affair scandal (Texas Tribune)

Republican U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of San Antonio on Thursday claimed he was being blackmailed by the husband of a former staffer who died by suicide. Earlier this week, the San Antonio Express-News reported that the staffer had confided in a colleague that she had an affair with the congressman while they were both married. 

“I WILL NOT BE BLACKMAILED. Disgusting to see people profit politically and financially off a tragic death,” Gonzales wrote in a social media post on X. He shared a screenshot of half of an email, which seems to indicate a lawyer for the staffer’s husband is requesting a settlement of up to $300,000 from Gonzales in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement. 

The email, which is not dated or timestamped, is signed by Robert Barrera, an attorney who is representing the staffer’s husband.

In an interview Thursday night, Barrera said the first half of the email not included in Gonzales’ social media post described text messages between the former aide, Regina Santos-Aviles, and the congressman. At a “minimum,” Barrera said the messages would support a sexual harassment claim should the parties end up in court… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Fed minutes show no rush to restart rate cuts (New York Times)

Officials at the Federal Reserve signaled no rush to restart interest rate cuts after pausing reductions last month, according to minutes from January’s meeting. In fact, several policymakers even went so far as to raise the possibility of rate increases if inflation stayed stubbornly high. The record of the latest gathering, released on Wednesday, underscored the sharp divisions that have plagued the central bank as it contends with a mixed economic picture after a series of rate reductions last year. Several policymakers indicated that there was still a path to lower rates this year if inflation declined as expected, while a larger group signaled support to hold rates steady until there was “clear indication that the progress of disinflation was firmly back on track.”

The minutes showed that several policymakers wanted the Fed to convey “the possibility that upward adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate could be appropriate if inflation remains at above-target levels.” January’s meeting marked the first gathering since July at which the Fed held rates steady, voting 10-2 to maintain the previous 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent level. Two governors, Christopher J. Waller and Stephen I. Miran, dissented in favor of a quarter-point cut, arguing that the labor market was vulnerable without additional support from the central bank.

The decision to pause came after three consecutive contentious meetings at which officials splintered over how to contend with a slowing labor market and intensifying inflationary pressures caused by President Trump’s tariffs. The Fed, prompted by growing concerns about rising unemployment, lowered rates between September and December by a cumulative 0.75 percentage point, although those decisions featured dissents in both directions. Some officials wanted the Fed to cut even faster, while others voted for the Fed to stay on hold… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Billionaires’ low taxes are becoming a problem for the economy (Wall Street Journal)

California’s plan to hit its richest residents with a one-off wealth tax is a long shot, and its design has problems. But a look at who picks up the tab when billionaires scrimp on taxes, and how wealth concentration is affecting the wider economy, shows why the issue isn’t going away. The risk is that the U.S. economy becomes increasingly dependent on a narrow group of very rich households, whose spending is tied to the performance of the stock market.

This could mean the entire economy pays a steep price in the next market correction. California has the highest concentration of billionaires in the U.S. with 255 individuals, or slightly more than a fifth of the country’s billionaire population, data from wealth-intelligence firm Altrata shows. Federal cuts to the state’s Medicaid program will leave its health system short of billions of dollars. A California healthcare union wants an emergency, one-time 5% levy on the wealth of any resident worth over $1 billion to plug the hole.

The proposal still needs to get enough signatures to qualify for a ballot in November, and a majority of voters would then need to approve it. Problems are already appearing with its design. The levy will be calculated based on whichever is the higher of a billionaire’s voting interest or economic interest in a company. The Tax Foundation says this could hurt tech founders, whose supervoting shares can be many multiples of their economic interest, resulting in outsize tax bills.

Wealth taxes are hard to administer, and the ultrarich can simply leave if they don’t like where a state’s tax policies are headed. Google co-founder Sergey Brin recently left California. Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel says he might follow. Worries about California’s billionaires leaving and taking jobs with them may be enough to turn voters against the initiative. But debate about how much tax billionaires pay is likely to grow as America’s fiscal situation deteriorates and its wealth gap widens. Data from the Federal Reserve shows that only the richest 1% of households have grown their share of overall U.S. wealth since 1990. Their share hit a record 32% in the third quarter of 2025, equivalent to $54.8 trillion… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Social media companies face legal reckoning over mental health harms to children (Associated Press)

For years, social media companies have disputed allegations that they harm children’s mental health through deliberate design choices that addict kids to their platforms and fail to protect them from sexual predators and dangerous content. Now, these tech giants are getting a chance to make their case in courtrooms around the country, including before a jury for the first time.

Some of the biggest players from Meta to TikTok are facing federal and state trials that seek to hold them responsible for harming children’s mental health. The lawsuits have come from school districts, local, state and the federal government as well as thousands of families.

Two trials are now underway in Los Angeles and in New Mexico, with more to come. The courtroom showdowns are the culmination of years of scrutiny of the platforms over child safety, and whether deliberate design choices make them addictive and serve up content that leads to depression, eating disorders or suicide… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Former South Korean president receives life sentence for imposing martial law in 2024 (Associated Press)

Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was found guilty of leading an insurrection on Thursday and sentenced to life in prison for his brief imposition of martial law in 2024, a ruling that marks a dramatic culmination of the country’s biggest political crisis in decades.

The conservative leader was ousted from office after he declared martial law and sent troops to surround the National Assembly on Dec. 3, 2024, in a baffling attempt to overcome a legislature controlled by his liberal opponents.

Judge Jee Kui-youn of the Seoul Central District Court said he found Yoon, 65, guilty of rebellion for mobilizing military and police forces in an illegal attempt to seize the Assembly, arrest political opponents and establish unchecked power for an indefinite period… 🟪 (READ MORE)