🟪 What you need to know about tonight's State of the Union address (NPR)

🟪 Austin ISD turns to land sales in response to budget gaps, fueling community pushback (KUT)

🟪 Austin ‘significantly oversupplied’ with build-ready home lots (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Proposal to support legislation to designate Bastrop County road ‘Charlie Kirk Corridor’ withdrawn, but residents weigh in (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Hutto city officials subject of lawsuit over Cottonwood development (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Trump expected to visit Corpus Christi on Friday, days before Texas primary (Texas Tribune)

🟪 ‘We need it now:’ Protesters urge special legislative session on Texas data centers (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

🟪 U.S. issues travel warning in Mexico after killing of cartel leader, 'El Mencho' (Texas Public Radio)

🟪 Topo Chico Mineral Water temporarily unavailable in US, company says (Austin American-Statesman)

READ ON!

Meetings:

Memos:

✅ Austin ISD turns to land sales in response to budget gaps, fueling community pushback (KUT)

Facing a budget deficit of nearly $20 million, Austin ISD leaders are turning to the sale of former school campuses for fast cash, a strategy that has triggered community backlash and reopened long-standing tensions over who benefits when public land is sold.

After the embattled sale of the former Rosedale Elementary site, Austin ISD board members voted in January to negotiate the sale of Brooke Elementary, which closed in 2019. Board members and Austin ISD leaders said selling both properties is key to preventing the nearly $20 million deficit from growing. Still, multiple trustees cited community concerns about the Brooke site’s future, the intentions of the developers and the fate of current tenants of Brooke, which has become a community hub since students left.

The East Austin campus houses the Native American Cultural Center and Vela, an organization dedicated to supporting families of children with disabilities… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin ‘significantly oversupplied’ with build-ready home lots (Austin American-Statesman)

In another sign that Austin’s once red-hot real estate market has cooled, new data show there are significantly more lots available for new homes than the current pace of construction can absorb.

Market research from housing data firm Zonda found the Austin metro is one of just two across the U.S. that is “significantly oversupplied” with new-home lots. Still, Austin continued to rank among the nation’s busiest homebuilding markets in 2025, suggesting builders are still active but moving more cautiously.

“Policy uncertainty, the current cost of living, student loans, labor market concerns, interest rates, home prices, changes to immigration, geopolitics, and more have all slowed consumer demand,” said Ali Wolf, chief economist for Zonda and NewHomeSource. “When consumers aren’t happy, builders aren’t happy, and that’s exactly what we are seeing in the data.”

New-home starts were down 14.5% year over year through October, according to Unlock MLS. San Antonio outpaced Austin by roughly 3,000 new home starts in the second quarter, perhaps contributing to what Zonda data show is a market now appropriately supplied with build-ready lots… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Proposal to support legislation to designate Bastrop County road ‘Charlie Kirk Corridor’ withdrawn, but residents weigh in (Austin American-Statesman)

More than 100 people packed a Bastrop County commissioners meeting on Monday to voice their objections or support for a proposed resolution to support legislation to designate FM 969 as an honorary memorial to Charlie Kirk.

No action was taken because Commissioner David Glass, who had proposed the resolution, asked to table it. He later said in an email to the Statesman that he tabled the resolution because of the number of emails he received.

"Two-thirds of them were from very considerate constituents asking me to postpone the vote and/or to reconsider the resolution," Glass said. "I felt that I would honor their request. I replied to every email myself. The other 1/3 were very hateful with threats, etc. The confusion also was it was to never rename the road but rather Memorial Designation."

A memorial designation does not change the legal name of a road or postal addresses. The county cannot change the designation of a state road, Glass said. That is up to the House and Senate… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Hutto city officials subject of lawsuit over Cottonwood development (Austin Business Journal)

Over two years after development talks began, the city of Hutto and a Houston-based development firm are now at odds in a legal dispute.

Hutto Mayor Mike Snyder and the Hutto Economic Development Corp. were among the defendants in a lawsuit filed by attorneys for Midway Development Group LLC on Feb. 19. The filing calls for over $301 million worth of damages – $50 million of which would make up for Midway's estimated loss of profits and $250 million of which are being sought for the benefit of the city's residents.

The petition comes nearly five months after the city's board voted to cease negotiations on the buildout of the 250-acre Cottonwood Tract – a move Midway executives called "disappointing." Midway is alleging breach of contract, tortious interference with a contract, bribery and civil conspiracy in its suit, which was filed in the Harris County District Court… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Tim Hendricks, Cousins Properties Austin leader, retiring (Austin Business Journal)

Tim Hendricks, a staple of Austin’s commercial real estate scene and the longtime local leader of Atlanta-based Cousins Properties' local operations, is retiring.

Hendricks, a senior vice president and managing director at Cousins, has long been the firm's top executive here and has left an indelible mark on the city through the development of downtown’s Frost Bank Tower and other projects. Under his watch, Cousins (NYSE: CUZ) has become one of the biggest office building owners in Austin, per ABJ research.

\But on March 1, Hendricks will call it a career.

Hendricks said that for the past three years, he’s started the year by asking himself if he wanted to work for another year, and last March he finally made the decision to step away… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump expected to visit Corpus Christi on Friday, days before Texas primary (Texas Tribune)

President Donald Trump is expected to visit Texas with days left before the state’s action-packed primary.

Trump is making plans to travel to Corpus Christi on Friday, according to a White House official and three other sources familiar with the trip, each of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because it has not been made public yet.

Texas Republicans on Monday were already changing their campaign plans in anticipation of Trump’s visit, with Smithville state Rep. Stan Gerdes saying on X that he was rescheduling an event with Gov. Greg Abbott because Trump “is coming to Texas this Friday.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Dallas’ affordable housing supply is evaporating, report finds (Texas Tribune)

It’s getting tougher for lower-income families to afford to live in the state’s third-largest city.

The supply of homes affordable for less affluent families in Dallas has evaporated in recent years as the Dallas-Fort Worth region has boomed, a report released this month by the nonprofit Child Poverty Action Lab shows. Single parents, older adults and renters of color in particular have felt the pinch from higher rents — even as those rents have cooled.

“It’s hard to be a renter in Dallas,” said Ashley Flores, the Dallas-based organization’s housing chief who co-authored the report. “We have a serious shortage of affordable rental units for very low-income households.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ ‘We need it now:’ Protesters urge special legislative session on Texas data centers (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

Attendees of a Monday protest want Texas to Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session to address the effects of data centers on the state. About 40 people — including visitors from the Paluxy Valley and a slate of speakers — rallied outside the Capitol on Monday, asking for the special session as data centers pop up across Texas.

In North Texas and across the state, people have sounded the alarm over existing and planned sites, raising concerns over noise, water use and possible environmental impacts. Attendees stood outside in front of the Austin building, holding signs in opposition of data centers. One read “you can’t drink data.” Another advocated for the protection of farmland. “Say no to data centers,” declared a sign, accompanied by a drawing of a microphone.

Only Texas Gov. Greg Abbott can call the Legislature into special session. The next regularly scheduled legislative session starts on Jan. 12. “Our star filled skies will be gone,” said Brian Crawford, a retired Lockheed Martin employee who shares a fence line with a planned the Comanche Circle data center project. “Our quiet nights of only hearing wildlife will be gone.

Our two lane farm-to-market roads will be incredibly dangerous.” Crawford, whose property is in Somerville County, was representing Protect the Paluxy Valley Inc. as a speaker at the event. He said Abbott should take a “sober look” at the impact data centers and power plants on the state. The governor should convene a special session where lawmakers could issue an immediate “statewide moratorium or rural industrialization” so that the effects of such projects can be analyzed, Crawford said.

Legislators should also consider letting counties regulate industrial development to protect citizens, he said. “My message is that we need a special session, and we need it now,” said Joanne Carcamo, a co-founder of the Paluxy Valley group who attended the protest. “We cannot wait. This is an invasion of rural Texas. This is an invasion in Hood County.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ U.S. issues travel warning in Mexico after killing of cartel leader, 'El Mencho' (Texas Public Radio)

The Transportation Security Administration said Sunday that its PreCheck program would remain operational despite an earlier announcement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that the airport security service was being suspended during the partial government shutdown.

"As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case by case basis and adjust operations accordingly," the agency said.

It was not immediately clear whether Global Entry, another airport service, would be affected. PreCheck and Global Entry are designed to help speed registered travelers through security lines, and suspensions would likely cause headaches and delays. 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ EU postpones vote on U.S. trade deal after Trump’s latest tariff threat (CNBC)

Europe warned Monday that its hard-fought trade deal with Washington could now be in jeopardy after President Donald Trump unveiled a sweeping 15% tariff on all imports over the weekend, prompting the European Parliament to postpone a planned vote on the agreement, according to Reuters.

Trump’s move came after the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday struck down his global tariffs policy, implemented last spring, that had upset the long-standing global trading order.

The president reacted to the Supreme Court’s judgment by initially announcing a new universal 10% levy, using a different legal framework for the latest tariffs, but then increased the global tariff rate to 15% — the legal maximum which can be in place for 150 days before congressional approval is required.

The new import duties are “effective immediately,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Saturday.

Officials in Europe and London expressed alarm and consternation at the latest upheaval in global trade relations, saying Trump’s new tariff policy could upend trade deals signed with the U.S. last year… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Topo Chico Mineral Water temporarily unavailable in US, company says (Austin American-Statesman)

Topo Chico Mineral Water is unavailable in the United States until later this year, Coca-Cola, the brand’s owner, said in a statement. The company’s statement said the product will be temporarily unavailable while the company makes facility upgrades at the water source and production facilities in Mexico. “As always, safety and quality are the company’s top priorities,” the statement said. The company said they aim to have the mineral water product back later this year… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ What you need to know about tonight's State of the Union address (NPR)

President Trump will address a joint session of Congress tonight for his first State of the Union address since returning to the White House just over one year ago.

It's an opportunity for the president to tout his agenda and shape his party's messaging ahead of this year's midterm elections.

But the primetime address comes at a moment when the president has seen his agenda complicated on multiple fronts. That includes trade, where his tariff policies were dealt a rebuke last week by the Supreme Court, and immigration, where Trump and congressional Democrats are deadlocked over funding the Department of Homeland Security… 🟪 (READ MORE)