🟪 State senator plans to challenge San Marcos’ data center ban, says city lacks legal authority (KXAN)

🟪 City of Austin Announces Public Works LLC as the Recommended Awardee to Conduct Sweeping Efficiency Audit (City of Austin)

🟪 Austin bolstering its semiconductor ecosystem with bulk of state TSIF grants (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 A year after deadly floods, Texas lawmakers haven’t addressed training for emergency coordinators (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Texas Stock Exchange to launch trading on Monday, in test of upstart’s challenge to Wall Street (Texas Tribune)

🟪 The U.S. faces Belgium in the World Cup on the heels of Trump-Infantino red card call (NPR)

READ ON!

As Austin (MSA) continues to grow, more and more development is happening beyond the famed Austin City Limits. This Monthly LinkedGlenn event series highlights a single fast growing Austin suburb and July's stop is all about Hutto.... Hippos, Co-Op, Data Centers, Industrial, Retail, Downtown Redevelopment, Rooftops, Transportation and so much more...All things growth.

Full event details and ticket information here.

✅ State senator plans to challenge San Marcos’ data center ban, says city lacks legal authority (KXAN)

Less than a month after San Marcos became the first city in Texas to ban data centers citywide, one state lawmaker says he plans to challenge the ordinance, arguing the city does not have the legal authority to enact it.

In a statement to KXAN, State Sen. Paul Bettencourt said the city’s zoning amendment conflicts with state law.

“They should not use zoning to ban anything everywhere in the city of San Marcos because that’s not lawful under the state of Texas guidelines. A ban doesn’t work here, and this will get challenged.”

The San Marcos City Council approved the ordinance in June after months of discussion over the potential impact of data centers on the community. City leaders cited concerns over the facilities’ high water demand, land use and long-term effects on the city’s natural resources… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ City of Austin Announces Public Works LLC as the Recommended Awardee to Conduct Sweeping Efficiency Audit (City of Austin)

The City of Austin announced today that Public Works LLC is the recommended awardee in the solicitation to conduct an independent comprehensive efficiency assessment of all City departments, with the final award subject to City Council approval. 

Public Works is considered a national leader in government efficiency reviews and has conducted numerous organizational evaluations of entire state governments, state agencies, and other entities including several of the largest city and county governments in the country. Their work includes efficiency assessments for the City of Chicago, Baltimore County, Broward County, Travis County, as well as six entire state governments and two U.S. territories.  

“Public Works is focused on finding meaningful and sustainable ways to make government work better,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said. “The professionals at Public Works understand that this assessment is more than an audit and performance review — it will be transformative and comprehensive, importantly, it will also be an ongoing independent examination on how Austin’s government can operate better.”  

In February 2026, Austin City Council approved an ordinance to initiate a program of recurring independent comprehensive efficiency assessments to the City of Austin’s operations, service delivery and resource utilization. The assessment — which will occur on a repeating schedule with at least three years between cycles — is designed to provide meaningful efficiency improvements that align with Austin’s values and is focused on delivering quality City services to all residents for the best value… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin bolstering its semiconductor ecosystem with bulk of state TSIF grants (Austin Business Journal)

The Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund – along with the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Consortium and TSIC executive committee – was established back during the 2023 legislative session. It provides funding to companies engaged in semiconductor research, design and manufacturing. It is already proving to be a lifeline for many companies in the Austin area – and further strengthening the metro's reputation as a semiconductor hub.

The fund has awarded $458.9 million in grants to 28 different entities statewide, including direct semiconductor manufacturers, parts and materials suppliers and educational institutions, as of June 25, according to data compiled by the Austin Business Journal.

The vast majority of that amount – roughly $358 million, or 78%, spread across 18 grants – has gone to Austin-area companies so far, according to an ABJ data analysis. That number nears 80% when you add in two grants awarded to companies in Killeen, increasingly part of the Austin area.

Houston-area entities have only received about 11% of total grant award money. Lubbock-area companies have gotten around 4.3% and Dallas-area companies 4.1%, according to an analysis of that data… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ A year after deadly floods, Texas lawmakers haven’t addressed training for emergency coordinators (Texas Tribune)

In legislative hearings after last year’s July 4 floods, the state’s emergency management chief made some recommendations to state lawmakers. They included empowering the agency to vet volunteers who show up after disasters and establishing clearer guidelines for local officials to decide whether to do autopsies during mass casualty events.

There was another glaring problem that Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd told legislators about: Unlike paid firefighters and police officers, the state has no required training for all local emergency management coordinators, the people tasked with planning for and helping to lead the response to disasters.

“I do think it’s time that we as a state decide there needs to be a baseline for people that get appointed into that position,” Kidd told lawmakers at a July 23 hearing focused on the floods.

Nine months later, in April, he told another state committee investigating the disaster: “To be an emergency management coordinator in the state of Texas, you need the signature of a mayor or judge. Period. That needs to change.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas Stock Exchange to launch trading on Monday, in test of upstart’s challenge to Wall Street (Texas Tribune)

The Texas Stock Exchange will commence trading on Monday, kickstarting the first real test of one of the most well-funded new exchanges to launch in decades.

The Texas Stock Exchange, a Dallas-based startup, will initiate a phased rollout to take place over the course of July. On Monday, the public can start trading as thousands of stocks come online over the course of the month. By the third quarter, exchange officials hope to have Exchange-Traded Products, or ETPs, listed on the exchange and corporate listings available during the fourth quarter of this year, according to a statement from the exchange.

Both Texas state government and stock exchange officials hope the Texas Stock Exchange, or TXSE, launch will solidify Dallas’ attempt to become a national financial hub and boost the Texas economy by growing the financial services industry in the state and making money for any Texas companies and investors that are doing business through the exchange… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ The U.S. faces Belgium in the World Cup on the heels of Trump-Infantino red card call (NPR)

When the U.S. men's national soccer team steps on the field Monday to face Belgium in the FIFA World Cup Round of 16, it will do so with its star striker back in the lineup and a cloud of controversy hanging overhead.

Before the weekend, there were already plenty of questions about U.S. forward Folarin Balogun and the red card he received in last week's Round of 32 match against Bosnia-Herzegovina that should have sidelined him this game with an automatic suspension:

Was his contact with the Bosnian defender's leg intentional? Had the video referee followed regulations when he scrutinized the play in slow motion? Should it have been escalated all the way to a red card when the referee on the field initially thought there was no foul at all? Why had Balogun been punished so severely when other seemingly similar plays in this World Cup had avoided punishment altogether?… 🟪 (READ MORE)