BG Reads // June 17, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
June 17, 2025

Presented By

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Despite lawsuits, funding questions, Austin Light Rail project moving forward (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Austin ISD proposes $37M in cuts to central office positions, forced reductions (Community Impact)

🟪 CapMetro transit police officers launch first patrols in high-traffic areas of Austin (CBS Austin)

🟪 Austin Energy shares data on full impact of May microburst (KVUE)

🟪 Trump directs ICE to expand deportations in Democratic-run cities, undeterred by protests (Associated Press)

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Austin ISD proposes $37M in cuts to central office positions, forced reductions (Community Impact)

Further cuts to central office positions and forced reductions are being considered by Austin ISD to reduce a mounting budget shortfall.

The district has proposed making $37.5 million in budget cuts in fiscal year 2025-26, according to information presented by interim Chief Financial Officer Katrina Montgomery at a June 12 meeting. The board of trustees is set to vote on adopting AISD’s budget at its June 26 meeting.

AISD is projecting a $93 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2024-25 and a $127 million budget shortfall for FY 2025-26.

Amid the growing budget shortfalls, AISD is projected to deplete its fund balance by 2027, according to an AISD presentation. A district's fund balance is the amount of revenue it keeps in its reserves.

“Even though we've made a lot of strategies and a lot of work, there’s still a lot of work that we need to do to move forward to make sure that our district is [as] stable as possible,” Montgomery said… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Despite lawsuits, funding questions, Austin Light Rail project moving forward (Austin American-Statesman)

After overcoming legislative challenges that sought to derail it, a plan to build a light rail line in Austin is moving forward — despite more potential roadblocks that could delay or halt construction of the system. Leaders of the Austin Transit Partnership — the governmental organization responsible for implementing the light rail project — are choosing to focus on forward progress, starting the process of selecting contractors to design and build the project.

The Austin Light Rail system is the largest part of the Project Connect transit plan voters approved in 2020. The more than $7 billion plan includes an ongoing 20% increase to local property taxes to fund the train and other smaller transportation projects in the city. Initial plans included 27 miles of track, but the project has since been scaled back to fewer than 10 miles without a corresponding reduction in cost.

The light rail project aims to connect Austin’s northern and eastern neighborhoods with the city center, with rail lines extending from 38th Street in the north and Oltorf to the south. An eastern branch would stretch from near Lady Bird Lake to just inside State Highway 71 near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Potential future extensions would bring rail out to ABIA’s terminal to the east and up to Crestview in the north. Trains will run every five to 10 minutes, according to the current plans.

ATP officials say the railway will ease traffic congestion, improve air quality and give transit users an easier and more dependable way to get from point A to point B, creating thousands of jobs, affordable housing and significant economic returns in the process. “Large infrastructure projects are complex, but the upside is huge,” ATP CEO Greg Canally said in an interview.

“It has a payback for the community, whether using the train or not using the train, because it creates a choice and options.” If all goes smoothly, ATP expects to break ground on the rail line in 2027 and wrap up construction in 2033. Before construction starts, contractors will work on finalizing designs and technical specs, securing permits and acquiring the land needed for the project... 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ CapMetro transit police officers launch first patrols in high-traffic areas of Austin (CBS Austin)

The CapMetro Transit Police Department started its first patrols on Monday. The launch came as riders and bus operators continued to demand better security.

In May, passenger Akshay Guptawas was stabbed in the neck and died while riding a bus. When Austin police arrested 31-year-old Deepak Kandel, the suspect reportedly told officers he did it because the man resembled his uncle.

That level of violence on CapMetro buses is unusual, but on Monday, passengers told CBS Austin that thefts and harassment are not… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin Energy shares data on full impact of May microburst (KVUE)

Austin Energy has released new data on the impact of the microburst storm last month, which left tens of thousands of customers without power due to widespread wind and hail damage.

Austin Energy said between May 28 and June 1, over 124,000 customers were impacted following the microburst, which it's calling the third-worst storm in Austin Energy history. The utility provider said considering only the damage to utility infrastructure, the storm was the second-worst, causing more damage than Winter Storm Mara in 2023 but less than Winter Storm Uri in 2021.

"Crews worked as quickly and safely as possible, overcoming complex issues, including using a helicopter to repair a transmission line, restoring power around a federally protected hawk’s nest, and repairing a downtown substation due to falling pieces of a downtown skyscraper," Austin Energy said.

At the peak of the outages, 72,500 Austin Energy customers were impacted. A total of 91 power poles and 52 transformers were replaced, and 32,000 feet of overhead cable was restored. Across the four days, the utility provider fielded a total of 25,000 outage-related inquiries… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Green Corridors gets presidential permit for U.S.-Mexico elevated freight railway (Austin Business Journal)

A new path for freight from Monterrey, Mexico, into the U.S. received presidential approval last week.

President Donald Trump announced June 9 that he has issued a permit to Austin-based Green Corridors LLC to build an elevated railway for freight moving between the U.S. and Mexico. The permit covers an "elevated guideway and bridge over the Rio Grande which connects inland terminals near Monterrey, Mexico, in the state of Nuevo León" and terminals in Laredo.

Under the Green Corridors plan, autonomous shuttles powered by diesel engines and electric motors would be loaded and unloaded at terminals in Monterrey, Saltillo and Laredo, then sent on elevated guideways adjacent to public roadways 24 hours a day. Speaking to San Antonio Business Journal recently, Green Corridors CEO Mitch Carlson said the goal is to reduce highway and port congestion, increase freight efficiency and keep truckers from wasting time… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas Chili Parlor owner — and savior — dies (Austin Business Journal)

Scott Zublin, owner and savior of the iconic Texas Chili Parlor — the hole-in-the-wall restaurant near the state Capitol that for decades has attracted politicians, lobbyists, tourists, journalists and celebrities — died June 7. He was 67.

Yellow roses and a flower arrangement were displayed at the front door of the 49-year-old restaurant June 16 in commemoration of Zublin. The restaurant's old-school sign read, "What time is it! Love you Scott Zublin!"

Zublin, an Austinite known as "Zoob," purchased the Texas Chili Parlor in 2002 after the state comptroller seized it because of unpaid taxes and debt. Zublin paid off the debt and returned the restaurant to its original vibe that made him fall in love with it back in the late 1970s… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ San Antonio swears in new mayor and councilmembers on Wednesday (Texas Public Radio)

The City of San Antonio is getting ready to swear in a new mayor and several council members on Wednesday. But before that ceremony can take place, the voting results must be canvassed.

The City Clerk’s office sent a request to the Bexar County Elections Department for the municipal election runoff vote tally. That is the unofficial number of votes cast in four city council races — including District One, D6, D8, D9 — and the mayor’s race.

City officials said they expected to receive the vote count by late Monday. A challenge of the vote is still possible even after the canvassing takes place.

Candidate Kelly Ann Gonzalez, who was narrowly defeated by Ric Galvan in District 6, has yet to concede the race after losing by only 25 votes.

By law, a recount can happen up to three days after the vote is canvassed.

After Wednesday's oath in council chambers, there will be a traditional blessing for the new city leaders at San Fernando Cathedral… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ With the grid under pressure, Texas moves to regulate big energy users (San Antonio Express-News)

The answer to the data center question hanging over state lawmakers’ heads came in the form of Senate Bill 6. Now on Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk, the bill is the Legislature’s solution to keeping Texas “open for business” to power-hungry data centers without stressing the grid or saddling regular ratepayers with an unfair share of infrastructure costs. The priority bill, authored by Republican Sen. Phil King from Weatherford, is wide-reaching and grid-focused.

The bill creates new governing requirements over how big loads — mainly data centers, bitcoin miners and big manufacturers — plan, operate and connect to the Texas grid. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas estimates that demand for power will grow 75% by the end of the decade, reaching nearly 150 gigawatts. Currently, the grid’s demand peaks at 85.5 gigawatts. A lot of that demand surge is from data centers opting for Texas to house new sprawling data centers fueled by the ongoing AI arms race.

“We’ve got the space; we’ve got the investment dollars available here; and we have the regulatory environment, the legislative environment, that’s really supportive of building here,” ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas said during a recent energy panel. “After this legislative session … I think the doors are more open for economic growth with data centers.”

The spirit of SB6 largely remained intact as it worked its way through amendments in both the House and Senate before passing both floors. Mainly, the bill adds a level of the certainty big power users crave as they work with financiers and investors to pitch and plan costly projects.

The bill, which was first pitched a minimum transmission fee, now tasks the state’s Public Utility Commission with figuring out how best to ensure large loads are paying their share of infrastructure costs. Big-time energy users not only need the power supply to operate, but also the miles of power lines to deliver that juice. That anticipated growth already has influenced state regulators at the PUC, who recently approved stepping up the voltage of newly constructed lines so that can move more power than the standard lines the state has been using.

Currently, ERCOT calculates transmission costs by setting four peak-use days from a period that starts in June and ends in September. It allocates costs based on how much power big users — 75 megawatts or more — use ercotduring 15-minute increments on those designated days… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ An Army sergeant in Houston thought his family was safe, then ICE deported his wife (Texas Tribune)

Army Sgt. Ayssac Correa had just started his day at the 103rd Quartermaster Company outside of Houston on the morning of March 13 when he got a phone call from his sister-in-law.

She worked at the same company as Correa’s wife and had just pulled into the parking lot to see three ICE agents handcuffing her.

“They’re taking Shirly away!” she told him.

This month, as protesters clash with law enforcement amid immigration raids in Los Angeles, President Donald Trump has ordered 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 active-duty Marines to respond. The move injected the military into the highly contentious debate over immigration. For the tens of thousands of service members whose spouses or parents are undocumented, the issue was already personal, pitting service against citizenship.

In his first week in office, President Trump signed multiple executive orders aimed at reshaping the country’s immigration policy, calling border crossings in recent years an “invasion” and arguing that many undocumented migrants have committed “vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans.”

But Correa and his wife weren’t too worried. After they got married in 2022, the couple had filed paperwork to start Shirly Guardado on the path to citizenship, and Correa assumed that, as an active-duty soldier, his family wouldn’t be impacted.

“Me being in the military — I felt bad that it was happening, because I’m also married to somebody who’s going through the [immigration] process. But I was like, ‘Oh, there’s no way this is going to happen to us,’” he said… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump directs ICE to expand deportations in Democratic-run cities, undeterred by protests (Associated Press)

President Donald Trump on Sunday directed federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities, a move that comes after large protests erupted in Los Angeles and other major cities against the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Trump in a social media posting called on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials “to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”

He added that to reach the goal officials ”must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.”

Trump’s declaration comes after weeks of increased enforcement, and after Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and main architect of Trump’s immigration policies, said ICE officers would target at least 3,000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first five months of Trump’s second term… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ After early reprieve from immigration enforcement, farming industry reckons with raids (NPR)

President Trump vowed to help protect agricultural workers just days after federal immigration officials targeted farms and meat packing plants in a widespread effort to detain people without legal status.

For months, the Trump administration has been sending mixed signals to the agriculture community about how immune their workforce is to the effort to conduct mass deportations. The agriculture industry is among those that employ large numbers of workers without legal standing to work in the United States. And in several communities, meat packing plants employ people with temporary protected status or parole, which includes work authorization, though the administration revoked many of those protections in recent months.

The administration's focus on worksite enforcement has mostly left the agriculture sector alone. That changed when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested more than 70 people at a meatpacking plant in Omaha, Neb., and other federal agents targeted farms north of Los Angeles on the same day, June 11… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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