🟪 With 5 data centers on the horizon, Hays County water advocates see the fight as just beginning (KUT)

🟪 Once America’s most affordable rental city, Austin is about to get more expensive (Wall Street Journal)

🟪 Amid ongoing budget crunch, Austin orders rubric for $17M social service cuts (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Hood County rejects second data center moratorium, seeks attorney general's opinion on authority (KERA)

🟪 With his personal life under scrutiny, Ken Paxton’s family defends his character in Senate race (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Elon Musk’s secret web of companies in Texas (New York Times)

🟪 US military used laser to take down Border Protection drone, lawmakers say (NPR)

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Meetings:

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✅ With 5 data centers on the horizon, Hays County water advocates see the fight as just beginning (KUT)

Water advocates in Hays County have identified five potential data center developments in the region that they plan to protest. The organizers said they are hopeful after the San Marcos City Council blocked another proposed data center last Wednesday.

With the 5-2 vote, the proposed site located at 904 Francis Harris Lane in San Marcos will not move forward at this time. Hundreds of speakers showed up at the council meeting with concerns ranging from accessing water for their generations-old ranches to being able to safely swim in rivers around San Marcos. These issues — opponents say — still exist for the other potential sites in the region.

"These data centers affect not only residents of San Marcos, but anyone who loves to go to the river, anyone who lives in Central Texas," said Chia Guillory, a librarian in San Marcos… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Once America’s most affordable rental city, Austin is about to get more expensive (Wall Street Journal)

Renting in Austin, Texas, is about to get more expensive again.

Analysts project that the city’s rents will stay flat or even increase this year following at least 10 quarters of decreases. Investors are flocking back to the market, buying apartment buildings and betting that they will be able to raise rents by early next year, if not sooner. 

The activity marks a significant turning point for Austin. The Texas capital became a symbol of the pandemic housing boom when it attracted waves of new companies and white-collar workers eager to capitalize on lower taxes and less business regulation in the city.

That population growth fueled a surge in new development. Starting in 2020, the city added tens of thousands of apartments each year, eventually creating a massive glut. Rents and home prices in Austin have fallen more than in most any major U.S. city since then.

Now, Austin’s trove of empty apartments is starting to run dry. The city is expected to deliver just under 9,000 apartment units this year, roughly half the 2025 number and 72% lower than the 2024 peak, according to CoStar… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Amid ongoing budget crunch, Austin orders rubric for $17M social service cuts (Austin American-Statesman)

Austin leaders have taken the first formal step in deciding how — and whether — to scale back millions of dollars in city-funded social services, approving a resolution that will shape what survives in the next budget.

The City Council voted to direct City Manager T.C. Broadnax to develop a standardized rubric to evaluate social service contracts as the city works to absorb $17 million in identified cuts needed to balance the upcoming budget. The framework is intended to bring consistency — and political clarity — to decisions that could affect everything from homelessness outreach to violence prevention and food access programs.

Under the resolution, Broadnax must also identify more sustainable funding streams for social services and establish regular opportunities for community feedback as the rubric is developed and applied.

The move comes as Austin confronts mounting financial pressure. In recent budget cycles, city officials have warned about structural imbalances, rising public safety costs and the limits of relying on property taxes — the city’s largest revenue source — to fund expanding programs. Earlier this month, staff told council members that Austin relies far more heavily than peer cities on its general fund to pay for social service contracts, leaving those programs especially vulnerable when revenue tightens… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Workforce Solutions Capital Area lands on permanent CEO (Austin Business Journal)

One of Austin’s leading workforce development organizations has found its permanent CEO. 

Workforce Solutions Capital Area, a nonprofit that supports workforce development efforts like the Austin Infrastructure Academy, announced on Feb. 25 that it had chosen Yael Lawson as its full-time CEO. Lawson had been serving as the interim CEO since last September after the previous CEO, Tamara Atkinson, left the nonprofit to join Goodwill Central Texas. 

Lawson is very familiar with Workforce Solutions’ operations because she was previously its chief operations officer and has worked in various roles at the nonprofit since 2000. 

“(Lawson) has led with clarity, consistency and a commitment to our mission during her time as interim CEO,” said David Parks, the board chair for Workforce Solutions, in a statement. “Her institutional knowledge, trusted relationships and clear vision for inclusive economic growth make her the right leader to guide our organization forward.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin ISD Trustees move forward with targeted and local improvement plans (CBS Austin)

After hearing from the community, Austin ISD trustees approved improvement plans in a 7-1 vote Thursday night for dozens of campuses struggling with state ratings.

The vote affects 28 schools, including 12 that received a first-time overall “D” or “F” rating, which require Targeted Improvement Plans, and 16 others that need Local Improvement Plans.

The district says the plans are aimed at improving performance and avoiding deeper state intervention.

“The strategies we are using in our targeted improvement plans are similar,” said Jennifer Pace, assistant superintendent of elementary schools. “It’s not rocket science, but it’s really utilizing our high-quality instructional materials.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Hood County rejects second data center moratorium, seeks attorney general's opinion on authority (KERA)

Commissioners in Hood County voted down a proposed moratorium on large-scale data center development Tuesday for the second time this month — instead choosing to seek an opinion from the Texas Attorney General on whether the county even has the authority to enact one.

The proposed pause, which failed in a 3-2 vote, would have temporarily halted new large-scale development while county leaders studied potential impacts on water, infrastructure and public health. Commissioners Kevin Andrews and Jack Wilson along with County Judge Ron Massingill opposed the moratorium, with Commissioners Nannette Samuelson and Dave Eagle voting in favor. It follows a similar vote earlier in February.

Commissioners have faced mounting pressure from residents concerned about water usage, noise and long-term environmental effects tied to artificial intelligence-related data centers and power generation projects proposed in the area. During Monday's meeting, dozens of residents spoke during public comment, many urging commissioners to approve a moratorium under Chapter 231, Subchapter K of the Texas Local Government Code, a provision unique to Hood County that allows certain regulations on development.

Enacted in 1999, Subchapter K specifically gave the county more regulatory authority in order to better preserve and protect nearby bodies of water including Lake Granbury and the Brazos River. But commissioners said their legal counsel, including County Attorney Matthew Mills, advised them that a moratorium may not be permitted under state law. “We hired the most qualified attorney for development regulations that we've hired to guide us through the development process and what we can do and can't do with Subchapter K," Andrews said. "The short answer: no. The commissioners court of Hood County is not authorized to institute a moratorium on development in the county, as the Texas Legislature has not granted such authority."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ With his personal life under scrutiny, Ken Paxton’s family defends his character in Senate race (Texas Tribune)

Attorney General Ken Paxton is bringing his family to his defense in the final days of a Republican primary for U.S. Senate where his personal life has become increasingly scrutinized.

One of his four children, Mattie Hayworth, published an op-ed Thursday defending her father’s record and character. A short time later, Paxton’s campaign released an ad featuring Hayworth and her husband, Daniel.

“My dad is a really good guy, loves God, he loves his family and he loves this country,” Hayworth says in the 30-second spot, which shows her children running around their living room and her father calling them on FaceTime. “A lot of people may call him General Paxton, Ken Paxton, but our kids call him pop-pop.”

Paxton faced allegations of infidelity during his 2023 impeachment trial, a subject that especially captured public attention because of Paxton’s longstanding political ties to prominent conservative Christians and use of his office to elevate their causes. His wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce last year, citing “biblical grounds” and accusing him of adultery. He denied it… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas' southernmost county calls potential $3.2B Saronic Port Alpha project 'game changer' (Austin Business Journal)

Texas' southernmost county next month will consider a tax abatement as it aims to lure Austin-based Saronic Technologies Inc.'s $3.2 billion Port Alpha project – a potential economic development win that its county judge said would be a "game-changer."

Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr.'s comments, made this month to the Rio Grande Guardian Journal, underscore the potential impact the project – which could create 10,000 jobs as part of a decade-long phased-out buildout on 4,400 acres in Port Brownsville – could have not only on the region but the state.

Cameron County is about 340 miles south of Austin and has about 420,000 people. It is most-known as being the home of Starbase, the launch site for Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp. that is situated in Boca Chica. Starbase incorporated into its own city last year. It's also home to the Rio Grande LNG liquefied natural gas export facility.

"It's a project that we think – if we can finalize everything – will mean an absolute new and next chapter in the book that we've been writing ever since SpaceX and the LNGs have gotten here. Obviously (SpaceX and the LNGs) have brought additionally related industries. That's where we're seeing additional growth (right now),” Treviño said, without naming Saronic, according to the RGG Journal... 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Elon Musk’s secret web of companies in Texas (New York Times)

In 2020, Elon Musk announced he was moving to Texas from California and embarking on a personal austerity campaign to strip his life of belongings.

“I am selling almost all physical possessions,” he posted on social media. “Will own no house.”

But in the years since, Mr. Musk, 54, has quietly built an empire of more than 90 companies and other legal entities in Texas, which have amassed a vast collection of assets, according to an examination by The New York Times.

The secretive network offers a glimpse into just how central one of the world’s richest men, who has a net worth of more than $650 billion, has made Texas to his operations and ambitions. More than 50 of his at least 90 companies there are subsidiaries or other entities affiliated with his business empire, such as the rocket company SpaceX and the electric vehicle maker Tesla, as well as his nonprofit Musk Foundation.

But The Times identified at least 37 companies that appeared to be largely for Mr. Musk’s personal use. Among them was one that owns two multimillion-dollar condominiums totaling more than 7,000 square feet in the Austin Proper Hotel, with sweeping views of downtown. Other companies managed planes that Mr. Musk uses for private travel and a portfolio of more than 1,000 acres of land, which when combined is bigger than Central Park in New York. The lines between Mr. Musk’s business and personal interests are often blurry, and some of the companies most likely served both purposes.

The Times’s examination also offers a window into how Mr. Musk used private companies to support Donald J. Trump during the 2024 election. Tapping these companies to cover the expenses of a super PAC is highly unusual, campaign finance experts said, and ended up obscuring how money was being spent because they are not subject to the disclosure requirements of super PACs.

The vehicle that Mr. Musk frequently turned to is one that many of the ultrarich use: limited liability companies, which are designed to shield owners from legal and financial risks, as well as public scrutiny. Whatever Mr. Musk’s intent, the effect of using these companies has been to disguise how he is spending his money… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ US military used laser to take down Border Protection drone, lawmakers say (NPR)

The U.S. military used a laser to shoot down a Customs and Border Protection drone, members of Congress said Thursday, and the Federal Aviation Administration responded by closing more airspace near El Paso, Texas.

It's not clear why the laser was deployed but it's the second time in two weeks that one has been fired in the area. The military is required to formally notify the FAA anytime it takes any counter-drone action inside U.S. airspace.

The earlier laser firing did not hit a target. It was done by the CBP near Fort Bliss, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest, and prompted the FAA to shut down air traffic at El Paso airport and the surrounding area. This time, the closure was smaller and commercial flights not affected.

U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen and two other top Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure and Homeland Security committees said they were stunned when they were officially notified.

"Our heads are exploding over the news," the lawmakers said in a joint statement. They criticized the Trump administration for "sidestepping" a bipartisan bill to train drone operators and improve communication among the Pentagon, FAA and Department of Homeland Security… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Hegseth warns Anthropic to let the military use the company’s AI tech as it sees fit, AP sources say (Associated Press)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic’s CEO a Friday deadline to open the company’s artificial intelligence technology for unrestricted military use or risk losing its government contract, according to a person familiar with their meeting Tuesday. Anthropic makes the chatbot Claude and is the last of its peers to not supply its technology to a new U.S. military internal network. CEO Dario Amodei repeatedly has made clear his ethical concerns about unchecked government use of AI, including the dangers of fully autonomous armed drones and of AI-assisted mass surveillance that could track dissent.

Defense officials warned they could designate Anthropic a supply chain risk or use the Defense Production Act to essentially give the military more authority to use its products even if it doesn’t approve of how they are used, according to the person familiar with the meeting and a senior Pentagon official, who both were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The development, which was reported earlier by Axios, underscores the debate over AI’s role in national security and concerns about how the technology could be used in high-stakes situations involving lethal force, sensitive information or government surveillance. It also comes as Hegseth has vowed to root out what he calls a “woke culture” in the armed forces.

“A powerful AI looking across billions of conversations from millions of people could gauge public sentiment, detect pockets of disloyalty forming, and stamp them out before they grow,” Amodei wrote in an essay last month. The person familiar called the tone of the meeting cordial but said Amodei didn’t budge on two areas he has established as lines Anthropic won’t cross — fully autonomous military targeting operations and domestic surveillance of U.S. citizens.

The Pentagon objects to Anthropic’s ethical restrictions because military operations need tools that don’t come with built-in limitations, the senior Pentagon official said. The official argued that the Pentagon has only issued lawful orders and stressed that using Anthropic’s tools legally would be the military’s responsibility… 🟪 (READ MORE)