🟪 Austin leaders assess bond election playbook ahead of possible November election (Community Impact)

🟪 Austin City Council reacts to APD chief's statement on ICE policy (KUT)

🟪 Two city memos regarding Cooperation with Federal Immigration Authorities Under SB 4 (2017)

🟪 WilCo officials remove contract information from agendas in response to AI attacks (Community Impact)

🟪 Greg Abbott enters 2026 Texas governor’s race with staggering $106 million on hand (Texas Tribune)

🟪 In South Texas, local Republicans push for more wins as Latinos appear to sour on Trump (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Trump crackdown on immigrant truckers forces thousands out of work in Texas (San Antonio Express-News)

🟪 Fear and anger spread after another immigration shooting in Minneapolis (ABC News)

🟪 With a tiny majority, House GOP leaders tell members to show up unless it's 'life or death' (NBC News)

READ ON!

🟪 BG Blog - Chito Vela begins term as Austin Mayor Pro Tem

🟪 Book Review - The Austin–San Antonio Megaregion: Opportunity and Experience

🏛️ City of Austin Memos:

🏛️ Meetings next week:

🗓️ 2026 Austin City Council Meeting Schedule

✅ Austin leaders assess bond election playbook ahead of possible November election (Community Impact)

City Council is working toward a decision on an anticipated multipurpose bond election this year, and whether to potentially reduce that package's scope or push a vote to a future year.

The city previously operated on six-year cycles for comprehensive bonds, with the most recent approved in 2018. That $925 million package has funded affordable housing, libraries and cultural centers, parks, water quality and flood mitigation projects, public safety, transportation and infrastructure, and a new public health center. Voters also approved multipurpose packages in 2006 and 2012.

Off-cycle bond elections were called for transportation and housing in the past decade as well. Austinites approved more than $1 billion for mobility projects in 2016 and 2020 followed by $350 million for affordable housing in 2022.

With the city facing tighter budget conditions and exceeding its typical timeline for another comprehensive bond, council members voted in 2024 to begin developing a multipurpose package to put to voters this fall. That process has involved both city staff and a resident-led bond task force, resulting in a lengthy slate of potential projects to narrow down this year… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin City Council reacts to APD chief's statement on ICE policy (KUT)

Members of the Austin City Council responded with concern this week over how the Austin Police Department will update policy on how officers contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Many suggested that the city can find a way to minimize police contacts with federal immigration agents, despite state laws that stop cities from prohibiting local police from cooperating with ICE.

The planned policy change comes after APD turned over a Honduran woman and her 5-year-old child to ICE earlier this month. Police said they called federal agents after discovering during a routine background check that the woman had an ICE "administrative warrant.” According to advocates, the pair has since been deported to Honduras.

City records reveal this was one of several dozen times APD called ICE on similar warrants in the past year… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ WilCo officials remove contract information from agendas in response to AI attacks (Community Impact)

Williamson County commissioners court meeting agendas will no longer include detailed contract information, following a vote to enhance the county’s security measures against artificial intelligence scams at a Jan. 13 meeting.

“The county is victim to a lot of scams ... and a big source of that is the information that’s on the agenda,” said Richard Semple, chief information officer of the county’s Public Safety Technology department, at the meeting.

Although documents between the county and contractors will not be included on the public agenda items, individuals can still access the contracts through a public information request, Semple said.

“As a public entity we, of course, want to be transparent, and we are going to be transparent about our dealings and contracts,” Semple said.

County agendas are posted on Wednesdays by 5 p.m. the week before commissioners court meetings. Agendas will still include who the county is contracting with, and the cost of the service or equipment… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Pflugerville hires firm to oversee planning for Project Nexus development (Community Impact)

The Pflugerville City Council approved a professional services agreement with Jones Lang LaSalle during its Jan. 13 meeting, authorizing the firm to serve as a representative for the city’s planned Project Nexus development.

The agreement allows Jones Lang LaSalle, known as JLL, to provide project management and development advisory services for a total cost not to exceed $397,350, according to city and Pflugerville Community Development Corporation officials.

Project Nexus is a long-term, 53-acre mixed-use development planned by the PCDC that aims to create a regional destination while increasing sales tax revenue and public amenities in Pflugerville.

PCDC Executive Director Jerry Jones said the firm was selected following a competitive process that reviewed six national companies between June and September 2025… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Greg Abbott enters 2026 Texas governor’s race with staggering $106 million on hand (Texas Tribune)

Gov. Greg Abbott is entering 2026 with a staggering $105.7 million on hand to power his reelection bid and his efforts to expand Republican dominance down the ballot in Texas, his campaign announced Thursday.

Abbott raised $22.7 million from July through December with more than 48,000 contributions from every county in Texas, his campaign said, bringing his total war chest to nine figures. Over the course of his four gubernatorial campaigns, his team added, Abbott received more than a million unique individual contributions.

“The outpouring of support from across the state sends a powerful message about the values Texans expect our governor to defend,” Abbott Campaign Manager Kim Snyder said. “As socialists win elections elsewhere, Texans are stepping up to support Governor Abbott because he protects our way of life.”

Abbott has vowed to spend heavily to flip Harris County, a Democratic stronghold, red… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ In South Texas, local Republicans push for more wins as Latinos appear to sour on Trump (Texas Tribune)

Trump won his second term with the help of a multicultural coalition that included Latino voters in the Rio Grande Valley. His promises throughout the campaign to immediately make groceries less expensive, stop the influx of migrants at the border, and deport known undocumented migrants with criminal records helped win over voters.

Trump’s popularity with Latino voters was a modern high-water mark for a Republican presidential candidate. He won 48% of Latinos nationwide in 2024, according to Pew Research. That’s a remarkable jump from 2016, when he won just 28% of Latino voters. Former President and Texas Gov. George W. Bush previously had the highest support among Latino voters at 44%.

“This is an ongoing trend, and it’s not unique to South Texas,” said Mark Lopez, director of race and ethnicity research at Pew Research. “Is it permanent? That remains to be seen. It will depend on the candidates. It will depend on the state of the country.”

The first hint that the Rio Grande Valley was fertile ground for Republicans came in 2016, when Democrat Hillary Clinton, Trump’s first opponent for the White House, failed to energize Latino voters. In 2018, Sen. Ted Cruz spent the last days of his successful reelection campaign in Mission. By 2020, Trump flipped 14 of 28 border counties and made significant inroads in many others, including Hidalgo… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump crackdown on immigrant truckers forces thousands out of work in Texas (San Antonio Express-News)

Texas has quietly canceled more than 6,400 commercial driver’s licenses for asylum recipients, refugees and DACA recipients in the state since November as it seeks to carry out the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrant workers. The cancellations, which have not been previously reported, amount to about two-thirds of the number of commercial drivers with discretionary immigration status in Texas. Those impacted aren’t permanent residents but have permits to work in the U.S. legally.

Many say they had no warning about the change and are now stuck with outstanding truck loans and insurance payments that they can’t afford. “I was shocked,” said Essa Khan Nikmohammad, a 36-year-old former combat interpreter for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan who was granted asylum in 2023. His license was revoked in December. “I came legal. I didn’t cross the border (illegally).”

Federal officials say the move is meant to improve public safety, pointing to a small number of crashes involving truck drivers with temporary status, including a 17-car pileup on Interstate 35 in Austin last spring that left five people dead. The driver in that case had limited English proficiency.

The Department of Transportation launched a nationwide audit after the incident, finding that several states had issued commercial licenses with expiration dates that didn’t match those on drivers’ separate work authorization forms. It threatened to withhold federal highway funds from any state that didn’t work to scrub licenses with discrepancies.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also pushed through an emergency rule barring asylum recipients, refugees and DACA recipients from renewing or obtaining the permits required to drive long-haul trucks. It cited “several recent fatal crashes” as justification and said the restriction would help ensure that only drivers with a “legitimate, employment-based reason” to hold a commercial license, like a work visa, are allowed to operate large trucks.

A federal court temporarily blocked the rule, but Texas officials have continued to enforce it, saying they are obligated to comply with other federal directives. That means immigrants who find themselves without licenses after the audit cannot reapply for credentials. Duffy’s agency has acknowledged that there’s no conclusive evidence linking a driver’s nationality to roadway safety.

More than 5,000 large trucks are involved in fatal crashes each year, according to the DOT’s statistics, dwarfing the number of reports of crashes involving noncitizens. Federal data shows immigrant drivers hold roughly 5% of commercial licenses yet account for just 0.2% of fatal crashes, according to the Associated Press… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ A&M cancels ethics class, raising questions about course review rules (Houston Chronicle)

A Texas A&M University dean canceled an "Ethics in Public Policy" graduate course three days into the spring semester, saying the professor refused to submit information needed to be exempt from a new ban on teaching gender and race ideology. The dean specifically named professor Leonard Bright in a Wednesday email to his colleagues at the Texas A&M Bush School of Government and Public Service and used the course cancellation as a warning about following university processes.

But Bright and other faculty advocates say they lack clarity about the rules for the ongoing course review and that administrators are using that ambiguity to their advantage. "It’s a very creative way of trying to sidestep (responsibility)," said Bright, who denied he failed to cooperate with administrators. "The end goal is to stop the discussions."

Bright is the president of A&M's chapter of the American Association of University Professors, an organizing group that aims to protect faculty's academic freedom. He has been vocal about his concerns with the massive course review and exemption process, which has dragged into the spring semester and left some faculty in limbo as they wait for clear, consistent guidance on the policy — including how the university decides which courses violate its definitions of race and gender ideology. University officials said in a Wednesday statement that A&M has given "detailed written guidance and established a structured framework for syllabus and course review," including timelines, a phased implementation plan and a formal process for requesting course exemptions.

"Ethics in Public Policy" is the second known course to be canceled outright under the new ideology ban. The Houston Chronicle also learned of a course that was moved out of the core curriculum and another that had to remove certain readings from Plato, the celebrated Greek philosopher. Texts with "major" LGBTQ plotlines are also blocked from core English courses, according to a departmental email viewed by the Chronicle. The policy — which the Texas A&M Regents passed in November and revised in December — prohibits the teaching of race or gender ideology, or topics about gender identity and sexual orientation, in the core curriculum. Professors can get exemptions to teach those topics outside the core, including at the graduate level. It is not clear yet how many courses have been affected, with topics removed, moved out of the core, or canceled entirely… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Fear and anger spread after another immigration shooting in Minneapolis (ABC News)

A federal officer shot a man in the leg in Minneapolis after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle, further heightening the sense of fear and anger radiating across the city a week after an immigration agent fatally shot a woman in the head. Smoke filled the street Wednesday night near the site of the latest shooting as federal officers wearing gas masks and helmets fired tear gas into a small crowd while protesters threw rocks and shot fireworks. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said during a news conference that the gathering was an unlawful assembly and “people need to leave.”

Things later began to quiet down at the scene, and by early Thursday fewer demonstrators and law enforcement officers were there. Such protest scenes have become common on the streets of Minneapolis since a federal agent fatally shot Renee Good on Jan. 7 amid a massive immigration crackdown that has seen thousands of officers sent into the Twin Cities.

Agents have yanked people from cars and homes and been confronted by angry bystanders who are demanding that officers pack up and leave. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey described the situation as not “sustainable.” Related Stories Federal officer shoots person in leg after being attacked during Minneapolis arrest, officials say What to know about the fatal shooting of a woman by an ICE officer in Minneapolis New video of fatal Minnesota ICE shooting, from officer's perspective, brings fresh scrutiny “This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in and at the same time we are trying to find a way forward to keep people safe, to protect our neighbors, to maintain order,” he said.

Frey described a federal force that is five times as big as the city’s 600-officer police force and has “invaded” the city, scaring and angering residents, some of whom want the officers to “fight ICE agents.” At the same time, the police force is still responsible for their day-to-day work to keep the public safe. The Department of Homeland Security says it has made more than 2,000 arrests in the state since early December and is vowing to not back down… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ With a tiny majority, House GOP leaders tell members to show up unless it's 'life or death' (NBC News)

As the slim House Republican majority hangs on a razor’s edge, lawmakers are getting a stern warning from party leadership: You should be absent only for matters of life and death. That message has been delivered to members in recent party meetings and private conversations, according to multiple lawmakers, and it has taken on an increasing sense of urgency as the GOP’s margins have shrunk even further in recent weeks with the unexpected death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., and the shock midsession retirement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s office confirmed to NBC News that it is advising members that “outside of life-and-death circumstances, the whip’s office expects members to be here working on behalf of the American people.”

His office has told members their presence in Washington is essential if they are to “pass legislation to lower costs, secure the border, and support the president’s agenda.” Not excusable absences? Campaign events — an important distinction, given 17 House Republicans are running for higher office. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who is running for governor, said Emmer, R-Minn., told Republicans at a meeting last week: “If you’ve got a family emergency, then you can miss a vote. If you run for another office, no, you show up here.” But not everyone has gotten the memo. Rep. Wesley Hunt, who is running for the Senate in Texas, missed a series of votes this month as he campaigns back home.

They include a critical vote Tuesday, when a GOP labor bill was defeated and two others were pulled from the floor because of Republican defections and absences. His vote alone, however, wouldn’t have made a difference on the labor bill, given Republicans were several votes shy of victory. Two other absences met Emmer’s life-or-death standard: Rep. Greg Murphy of North Carolina is recovering this week from surgery, while Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin is at home with his wife, who is also undergoing a surgical procedure… 🟪 (READ MORE)