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🟪 Austin to explore alternative to IT consolidation after employee, council pushback (Austin Current)

🟪 Task force proposes nearly $770M bond to fund Austin housing, parks, flood prevention (Community Impact)

🟪 Downtown Austin IHOP site sold at foreclosure auction (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Lt. Gov., House Speaker lean on state agency for relief as Texas camps struggle to meet safety requirements (WFAA)

🟪 Texas Republicans have a data center problem (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Elon Musk considers site near College Station for his Terafab chipmaking facility (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Gas power leapfrogs wind for first time in 10 years in Texas’ grid connection queue (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Border czar promises 'mass deportations are coming' to fulfill Trump's promises (NPR)

The Austin City Council convenes at 10AM today.

Meeting agenda // Livestream link (ATXN 1)

Key Item: # 24 Approve a resolution establishing an economic development framework, directing the creation of a comprehensive economic development policy, directing action on the position of Director for Austin Economic Development, and directing actions to improve economic development projects.

✅ Austin to explore alternative to IT consolidation after employee, council pushback (Austin Current)

The Austin City Manager’s Office is now open to exploring a less sweeping approach to overhauling the city’s technology services after hearing from dozens of employees who vehemently opposed it and a City Council subquorum that expressed concerns about consolidating the city’s technology workers into a single department.

The city’s executive team has maintained the plan, known as “One ATS,” would help save Austin hundreds of millions of dollars, arguing the current model “has led to a proliferation of duplicative applications and operational inefficiencies,” according to a Wednesday evening memo from City Manager T.C. Broadnax. But since Broadnax announced the plan, many Austin technology workers and the city’s labor union, AFSCME Local 1624, have fiercely criticized it, warning it could weaken emergency response, expose critical systems to cyberattacks and lead to delays in city services.

After weeks of city staff members raising alarm bells, a subquorum of council members, led by Council Member Mike Siegel, drafted a resolution seeking to postpone the effort, citing the concerns raised by technology workers opposed to the consolidation and fears it could lead to large-scale attrition… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Task force proposes nearly $770M bond to fund Austin housing, parks, flood prevention (Community Impact)

The resident-led task force tasked with recommending the scope of Austin's next bond produced two options in May: a $766.53 million package and a narrowed $436 million proposal, which will now be used by City Council to shape a final plan this year.

The 2026 Bond Election Advisory Task Force, or BEATF, was created after council members launched a new round of comprehensive city bond planning two years ago. Austin's last comprehensive bond vote was in 2018, followed by transportation- and affordable housing-specific measures in 2020 and 2022.

As part of the 2026 bond process, city departments identified priority projects worth almost $4 billion that could be funded with a new round of debt. That list was scaled down by city staff to a $700 million bond recommendation earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the BEATF held months of meetings and considered public feedback before making its own bond proposals based around some of the same projects. After a draft outline was reviewed in April, the task force advanced the two options May 4… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin developer under contract to buy iconic Lammes Candies site (Austin Business Journal)

Lammes Candies' flagship location on Airport Boulevard is under contract.

Austin-based Topo Development Group, led by Daryl Kunik, announced it has a deal to purchase the real estate at 5330 Airport Blvd. The agreement does not include the Lammes Candies business and its operations. The sales price was not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in September, Kunik said.

The building won't be razed. The company plans to redevelop the approximately 10,000-square-foot building into an adaptive-reuse project. The iconic candy cane is part of the contract — meaning it's there to stay — but Topo is unsure how it will be incorporated in the future.

Topo is evaluating tenants for the property.

Lammes Candies currently owns the land, which is appraised for nearly $2 million by the Travis Central Appraisal District… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Downtown Austin IHOP site sold at foreclosure auction (Austin Business Journal)

Years after it was first set to hit foreclosure auction, downtown Austin’s IHOP property was purchased by Travis County Exchange Corp. for just over $12.7 million.

World Class Holdings, which owned the property through its WC 707 Cesar Chavez LLC entity, successfully delayed foreclosure of the land for years. Cesar Rainey Street LLC has attempted to foreclose on the site multiple times since purchasing a $2.7 million loan for the property in 2020. On May 5, the site was finally sold in an auction at the Travis County Courthouse.

TCEC’s representative — attorney William Brown of law firm Sneed Vine & Perry PC — engaged in a two-hour bidding war with trustee Mark Riley, who was bidding on behalf of the lender. Cesar Rainey Street’s final bid for the property was $12.7 million — just $5,000 short of the winning bid.

Brown declined to comment on TCEC’s plans for the property. Managers at TCEC's office could not immediately be reached for comment… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin outlines expanded approach to homeless encampment closures (Community Impact)

Austin officials are increasing the scope and frequency of public homeless encampment clearings this spring.

Public camping is illegal in Austin under both Proposition B, a local ban reinstated by city voters in 2021, and a Texas law passed the same year.

City enforcement was ramped up after Proposition B's passage and has continued since then, including a three-week initiative by Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations last October alongside unrelated state cleanups. But widespread encampments and high public demand to address them is outstripping available resources, according to AHSO, leading to this year's recalibration.

Austin currently fields more than 700 resident 3-1-1 requests related to encampments every month, while the city's management program is only active three days per week. That structure results in "periodic" responses that don't address all identified areas or allow for follow-ups at cleared sites, often resulting in repeat camping, AHSO Director David Gray said… 🟪 (READ MORE)   

📝⏱️ Q2 2026 Survey: 5 minutes, 9 questions. Click here to share your input.

✅ Lt. Gov., House Speaker lean on state agency for relief as Texas camps struggle to meet safety requirements (WFAA)

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows support allowing camps to operate during the 2026 season even if they have not installed fiber-optic internet. They released a joint statement Tuesday, as hundreds of camps in Texas remain in limbo with pending license applications in front of the Department of State Health Services. DSHS has issued just nine licenses ahead of the 2026 summer camp season. State lawmakers passed strict new regulations for camps during a special legislative session in 2025, after 27 campers and counselors died at Camp Mystic in Kerr County.

The law requires camps to install fiber, which some operators say is not possible in their remote areas. Burrows and Patrick said they recognize means other than fiber can provide reliable, redundant internet access, which would “satisfy the purpose and spirit of the law.”

In the statement, they said they support the Department of State Health Services licensing camps for the 2026 season “if they have submitted a sufficient emergency action plan, meet all other safety requirements, and maintain a reliable communication system capable of operating during an emergency.” It is not the first time for lawmakers to lean on DSHS to consider leniency on the fiber requirement.

Two authors of the legislation, state Sen. Charles Perry and state Rep. Drew Darby, sent a letter to the agency in October asking for implementation of that part of the law to be delayed until 2027. But the agency did not offer leniency. WFAA asked DSHS if the statement from Burrows and Patrick will make an impact, but at publication time, the agency had not yet responded. DSHS previously told WFAA youth camps can continue to operate while their application status is pending… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas Republicans have a data center problem (Texas Tribune)

As the massive, digital information-processing facilities proliferate, Republicans are caught between a zealous president and governor bent on Texas becoming the next global data center hub, and outraged constituents, like Schroeder, in red and rural districts where a majority of them are being proposed.

According to a Texas Tribune analysis, at least 82 data centers, or nearly 60% of those that are either planned or under construction, are in state House districts that voted for President Donald Trump and elected a Republican state representative in 2024. Meanwhile, a March Quinnipiac poll found that 65% of Americans oppose the building of an AI data center in their community.

Republican state lawmakers — caught in the middle — have offered mixed opinions about data center development amid calls from city and county leaders to give them more freedom to regulate the facilities.

Altogether, the thorny politics could hurt Republicans ahead of this year’s midterm elections — especially in a cycle when they hold the White House, a dynamic that typically favors the opposing party… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Elon Musk considers site near College Station for his Terafab chipmaking facility (Austin Business Journal)

Elon Musk appears to have identified a site for his massive Terafab chipmaking facility – and it's right outside of Aggieland.

The Grimes County Commissioners Court posted a public notice that states it will consider Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp. on June 3 for a potential tax abatement. Grimes County is roughly 20 miles east of Bryan-College Station.

While the notice does not mention Terafab by name, it describes the project as a "multi-phase, next-generation, vertically integrated semiconductor manufacturing and advanced computing fabrication facility, which would represent a transformative investment in domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity."

The capital investment was pegged at $55 billion for the initial investment, with an estimated total capital investment of $119 billion if additional phases are constructed.

The location of the project was described as Gibbons Creek Reservoir and surrounding areas… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Gas power leapfrogs wind for first time in 10 years in Texas’ grid connection queue (Texas Tribune)

A decade ago, wind power was surging in popularity and attracting huge investments that made Texas a national leader in renewable energy. But today, gas generation is making a big comeback, driven by a wave of data centers flooding into the state.

For the last six months, the volume of gas generation in the Texas grid’s interconnection queue — the yearslong waiting list for electric generators wanting to connect to the grid — has surpassed wind. It’s the first time since January 2016 that gas has overtaken wind in the queue, a shift that reflects the policy and economic headwinds facing the wind industry and data centers favoring gas power as they seek to cash in on the artificial intelligence boom.

“The data center explosion and their desire for 24/7 power probably excited a lot of gas developers, and that gas queue got bigger,” said University of Texas professor of energy regulation David Spence.

Like every power grid operator in the U.S., the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, uses the interconnection queue to manage and plan for new power generation coming online. But not all projects in the queue ultimately reach completion. According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, or LBNL, only 22% of projects in ERCOT’s queue actually get built, which is still the highest percentage of any grid in the nation… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ World Cup hotel bookings short of expectations in Texas amid anti-U.S. sentiment abroad (Texas Tribune)

The World Cup only comes around every four years and regularly draws millions of spectators from across the globe.

But expectations of a rush of international visitors and an accompanying economic boon — an estimated $3.5 billion in Texas  — are being tempered in Houston and Dallas, where 16 games will be played in June and July.

FIFA, the governing body for international soccer, canceled hotel block reservations in Dallas and Arlington earlier this year and a recent survey of hoteliers in Houston and the Dallas area found anticipated demand is not translating into strong hotel bookings less than 40 days from the start of the tournament… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Border czar promises 'mass deportations are coming' to fulfill Trump's promises (NPR)

Top Trump administration officials this week reinforced their plans to execute mass deportations as a key strategy on immigration.

Speaking at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Ariz., White House border czar Tom Homan praised the work of Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers over the last year and said the high number of arrests and deportations was expected to continue.

Immigration officers arrested more than half a million undocumented immigrants last year, according to officials speaking at the Expo, and are now making about 1,200 arrests a day; President Trump had campaigned on a promise of a million deportations a year.

"If you think last year's historic number is good, wait till next year and we have 10,000 more agents on the border. You ain't seen s*** yet," Homan said in his opening remarks to kick off the Expo. "This year will be a good year. Mass deportations are coming."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Ted Turner’s vision of news as global and continuous changed both the industry and society itself (Associated Press)

When the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986, Beth Knobel, a future TV news correspondent, was in graduate school. Emerging from class, she saw TV sets had been set up in the lobby. They were tuned to CNN, the 24/7 news channel that Ted Turner had launched about five years earlier, which was carrying the launch live.

“Shuttle launches were just kind of routine and the broadcast networks weren’t even covering them anymore,” says Knobel, who worked for CBS News in the 1990s and now teaches journalism at Fordham University. “CNN did. So when things went so tragically wrong, there they were on top of the story like no one else.”

That, says Knobel, who now teaches a class on TV’s biggest innovators, is just one example of why Turner was the biggest of them all — huge steps ahead of anyone else in his understanding of how news needed to be delivered.

Turner’s death Wednesday comes at a fraught time for cable news, which has struggled to retain viewership in an era of countless media choices and abundant streaming video. CNN has not been immune; changes in the media ecosystem, the company’s financial picture and multiple editorial resets over the years have left it a markedly different entity than the one Turner built… 🟪 (READ MORE)