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October 23, 2025

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Early voting has started for the Nov. 4 election. Here's what to know for the Austin area. (KUT)

🟪 UT's new president Jim Davis introduces himself, commits to balance at flagship (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Former Rosedale School in Austin ISD slated to serve as multifamily housing development (Community Impact)

🟪 City document reveals new details on $25 million boardwalk on Lady Bird Lake (KUT)

🟪 Texas Republicans are redefining higher ed. It’s creating confusion about free speech on campuses. (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Dallas' $25 million ICE question (D Magazine)

🟪 ‘He lost us’: Generals, senior officers say trust in Hegseth has evaporated (Washington Post)

READ ON!

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ City Manager Executives and Advisors Staff Visual Chart

🏛️ City of Austin Org Chart (as of July 2025)

💰 2026 City of Austin Bond - Public Input

ℹ️ 2025 Essential Resources for Navigating the City of Austin

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Early voting has started for the Nov. 4 election. Here's what to know for the Austin area. (KUT)

Voters across the Austin area will decide on funding for city services, some mayoral and city council races, and — along with the rest of the state — changes to the Texas Constitution.

Here's what you need to know about when, where and how to vote.

Austinites will get to vote on Proposition Q, a proposed tax rate increase funding a variety of city programs that has faced controversy and a lawsuit in the months leading up to the election.

Voters will also get to weigh in on 17 constitutional amendments that cover property taxes, bail, water infrastructure, dementia research funding and more. Here's our guide to the proposed amendments and how they would affect the state.

KUT has put together voter guides for Travis and Williamson counties with more detailed information and links to sample ballots:

• Travis County voter guide

• Williamson County voter guide

🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ UT's new president Jim Davis introduces himself, commits to balance at flagship (Austin American-Statesman)

In a long-awaited state of the university address, new University of Texas President Jim Davis said the state’s flagship institution is poised to “recommit” to its mission, regain the public’s trust and broaden its diversity of viewpoints in core curriculum.

At the Investiture Ceremony and State of the University address officially welcoming Davis as the 31st president of the institution, the new leader — who denied sit-down interviews with the American-Statesman and other media during his tenure thus far — introduced himself as UT’s figurehead. He previously held senior, albeit behind the scenes, leadership roles.

Davis did not issue any decisive promises of how the university would respond to increasing pressure from external forces, including an offer from the administration of President Donald Trump to adhere to conservative priorities in exchange for funding benefits. But he did confront questions his predecessors frequently sidestepped, saying unequivocally that now is the moment for UT to become a “model of public trust.”

“Has inquiry become indoctrination? Has science surrendered to subjectivity? Have we given in to a culture of asserting my truth, with an intolerance for any other?” he said. “That is not the Texas way.”

Emphasizing balance, Davis said the university will create a required core curriculum focused on value, completeness and balanced views, citing the School of Civic Leadership and a new Center for Texas History as examples of new educational options... 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ 'Inflection point': leadership shakeups over ideological differences continue at UT (Austin American-Statesman)

Art Markman started at the University of Texas 27 years ago as a psychology professor. After taking on several leadership roles, he rose in the ranks to oversee academic affairs at the acclaimed institution, which offers nearly 400 undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Even as top leadership turned over in recent years and conservative lawmakers extended their influence into state colleges and universities, Markman remained in the post for four-and-a-half years. But in mid-September, the university fired him from his position as senior vice provost for academic affairs “due to ideological differences,” he told colleagues in an online post Tuesday.

The quiet removal of the university leader marks yet another departure from UT due to differences in vision as new leadership aims to reshape the university. Six of 18 dean positions are held by interim or soon-to-be departing leaders, a reflection of the tremendous turnover the university has grappled with over the past two years. Since the start of 2025, the UT System named a new chancellor, and the flagship Austin campus installed a new president and provost.

All three leaders were announced as finalists without faculty input or a national search. “We’re at an inflection point,” said Cal Jillson, a Southern Methodist University political science professor who studies political interference in higher education.

“The conservative political leadership of the state, I think, has become impatient.” Markman’s departure from the administrative role comes as the UT System audits gender identity courses for compliance with the law and leadership’s “priorities,” and “enthusiastically” reviews a compact offered by the administration of President Donald Trump that would give UT special funding benefits in exchange for agreeing to certain demands.

Students say these developments spark fear that allegiance to conservative priorities could impede their education, such as a professor’s ability to teach about or recognize the existence of transgender people. William Inboden, UT’s new provost and second-in-command, oversaw Markman… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Former Rosedale School in Austin ISD slated to serve as multifamily housing development (Community Impact)

Austin ISD’s former Rosedale School campus in North Austin could be developed into a six-story apartment complex.

Representatives of OHT Partners presented their plans for the development at a meeting with Rosedale neighborhood residents Oct. 20. Community members living near the property shared many concerns about the apartment building disrupting their neighborhood and causing safety and traffic hazards.

OHT Partners has proposed building a 435-unit, market-rate apartment complex spanning six stories with a parking garage at 2117 W. 49th St., said David Hartman, an attorney representing OHT Partners. In August, AISD officials executed a contract to sell the former Rosedale School property to OHT Partners after receiving approval from the board of trustees in March.

In 2022, the district used 2017 bond funds to open a new campus for the school, which serves students who are 3 to 22 years old and have severe special needs. The original campus has since been used as a training facility for law enforcement officers… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ City document reveals new details on $25 million boardwalk on Lady Bird Lake (KUT)

Austin's most famous trail is on track to get a $25 million upgrade. A new boardwalk is planned for the south shore of Lady Bird Lake, replacing a cramped section of the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail between South First Street and Congress Avenue.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is paying for the boardwalk as compensation for taking several slices of parkland around Lady Bird Lake to make space for the expansion of I-35 through Central Austin.

The payments are required under a federal law that compels transportation agencies to replace or improve public parkland when it's used for highway projects.

Some of the parkland use is temporary, and TxDOT said it is paying the city based on the appraised value of the land. Other acquisitions are permanent, including about 1.3 acres of Waller Beach Park… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Travis County says a passenger rail to San Antonio could come before I-35 construction wraps (KUT)

Travis County is funding a study to determine the feasibility of a passenger rail between Austin and San Antonio.

The commissioners court voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a nearly $125,000 contract with HNTB to conduct the study. The engineering firm will look into all possible routes along SH 130 and I-10.

Travis County Judge Andy Brown said the county’s goal is to find a route on publicly-owned land, a move he said could make building a rail line between the two cities possible before construction on I-35 is complete.

“I think that makes the possibility of getting rail between … the Williamson-Travis area down to Bexar County much more realistic and potentially much quicker,” he said.

The Texas Department of Transportation estimates construction on I-35 through downtown Austin, which kicked off last year, will take up to eight years… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Developer files suit against Liberty Hill over access to water it says it paid to reserve (Austin Business Journal)

As worries about Williamson County’s limited water supply mount, one team of developers has taken its concerns a step further and filed a lawsuit against Liberty Hill for access to water it says it paid to reserve years ago.

Developers of a nearly 250-acre residential project in Liberty Hill called The Mansions Project — three entities that go by 4400, 5500 and 6600 CR 277 Investments LLC — filed suit against Liberty Hill on Sept. 11, alleging the development team paid a $9.3 million reservation fee to secure 882 “living units equivalents” of water per a 2023 development agreement but the water now is being allocated to other projects in Liberty Hill.

The suit contends Liberty Hill’s actions have imperiled years of effort and tens of millions of dollars worth of investment in The Mansions Project and public improvements, based on the promise to reserve water capacity. It was filed in 425th District Court in Williamson County… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Tiny home community built to help the homeless celebrates 10 years in Austin, looks to expand (KUT)

Austin's community of tiny homes for people transitioning out of homelessness celebrated a decade of operation Wednesday — and looked ahead to an expansion that will triple its initial footprint in Travis County.

Mobile Loaves and Fishes, the nonprofit that runs the Community First Village in eastern Travis County, said its plans to build as many as 500 additional tiny homes over the next five years are on track.

Founder Alan Graham told a crowd of donors, elected officials and advocates Wednesday that he believes the planned development has inspired Austin and other cities to prioritize housing-focused solutions in addressing homelessness.

"Here we are, 10 years later, moving men and women who are experiencing chronic homelessness ... into permanent homes in a supportive community," he said. "And I will tell you that when we began this journey, people couldn't believe that it could coalesce and come together."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Texas Republicans are redefining higher ed. It’s creating confusion about free speech on campuses. (Texas Tribune)

At colleges across Texas last month, a series of viral campus videos, abrupt professor firings, confusing teaching restrictions and sudden course audits came in such rapid-fire succession that before the fallout was over at one public university, another scandal was upending norms at a school hundreds of miles away. 

Many students and professors say the ground has shifted on speech and scholarship, creating confusion about what they can say, study and teach in the very places they once saw as centers of open inquiry. 

But that changed atmosphere didn’t happen overnight. Texas Republicans have been building toward it for years.

Long before the Trump administration began targeting institutions of higher learning, Texas officials passed laws, threatened universities with funding cuts and waged social media warfare aimed at combating what they described as a pervasive bias against conservative opinions… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Dallas' $25 million ICE question (D Magazine)

Anyone who has watched City Hall for even a second saw it coming. Friday evening, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson issued a memo telling two City Council committees to consider partnering with federal immigration efforts in a way that the city has resisted for several years.

The memo wasn’t a surprise because earlier in the week, Dallas police Chief Daniel Comeaux had told the Community Police Oversight Board that he had turned down $25 million from ICE to participate in the federal 287(g) program, telling the board, “We said, ‘absolutely not, no.’”

According to his memo, Johnson feels that Comeaux “unilaterally rejected” the offer. He wrote, “As the elected body charged with setting City policy and overseeing its budget, the City Council should be briefed on all the relevant information that went into Chief Comeaux’s decision in a public meeting and with an opportunity for input from residents.”

Not quite half of the Council pushed back against the idea. Johnson’s memo nearly immediately elicited responses from some on the Council. Two memos from a total of six council members went out over the weekend, with both memos pointing out that DPD has been working for years to build “trust and connection” with communities and that partnering with ICE would “undermine” that work.

“The 287(g) program would turn local law enforcement into an arm of federal immigration enforcement and could result in a betrayal of trust between the Dallas Police Department and the very communities they are sworn to protect,” said the memo signed by council members Paula Blackmon, Jaime Resendez, Adam Bazaldua, and Chad West. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says upwards of 1,000 local law enforcement agencies have signed on to partner with ICE on immigration enforcement across the country. (Johnson’s memo says more than 100 Texas agencies have done so.)… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Elon Musk goes on a tirade after NASA says it will seek moon landers from SpaceX rivals (NBC News)

NASA’s acting administrator, Sean Duffy, seems to have provoked the ire of Elon Musk. Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, took aim at Duffy on Tuesday in a flurry of social media posts, attacking his intelligence and recent efforts at the helm of the space agency. “Sean Dummy is trying to kill NASA!” Musk wrote on X, which he also owns, using an insulting nickname to refer to the acting administrator. In a separate post, he said: “The person responsible for America’s space program can’t have a 2 digit IQ.” Duffy announced Monday that in NASA’s quest to return astronauts to the moon — and to do so before China puts its own bootprints there — the agency is open to using moon landers from competitors to SpaceX.

NASA’s plan had been to use SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket system, which is in development, to land on the lunar surface. In his posts Tuesday, Musk even created a poll for his X followers to weigh in, asking: “Should someone whose biggest claim to fame is climbing trees be running America’s space program?” One response option read, “Yezz, chimps skillz rul!” while the other was, “Noo, he need moar brainz!” As of Tuesday afternoon, the poll had nearly 110,000 votes. SpaceX won a $2.9 billion contract in 2021 to use its Starship rocket system to land two astronauts on the lunar surface for NASA’s Artemis III mission, which is slated to launch in 2027.

But Musk’s rocket company has fallen behind schedule with its testing and development of Starship, and the vehicle suffered a string of explosive failures earlier this year. At the same time, political pressure has mounted as the space race with China heats up. The country, which aims to land its astronauts on the moon by 2030, has already sent two robotic rovers to the lunar surface and conducted key tests of a new rocket that would be used for crewed moon missions… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump said to demand Justice Dept. pay him $230 million for past cases (New York Times)

President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for the federal investigations into him, according to people familiar with the matter, who added that any settlement might ultimately be approved by senior department officials who defended him or those in his orbit. The situation has no parallel in American history, as Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and eventually won the election, taking over the very government that must now review his claims.

It is also the starkest example yet of potential ethical conflicts created by installing the president’s former lawyers atop the Justice Department. Mr. Trump submitted complaints through an administrative claim process that often is the precursor to lawsuits.

The first claim, lodged in late 2023, seeks damages for a number of purported violations of his rights, including the F.B.I. and special counsel investigation into Russian election tampering and possible connections to the 2016 Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because the claim has not been made public. The second complaint, filed in the summer of 2024, accuses the F.B.I. of violating Mr. Trump’s privacy by searching Mar-a-Lago, his club and residence in Florida, in 2022 for classified documents. It also accuses the Justice Department of malicious prosecution in charging him with mishandling sensitive records after he left office.

Asked about the issue at the White House after this article published, the president said, “I was damaged very greatly and any money I would get, I would give to charity.” He added, “I’m the one that makes the decision and that decision would have to go across my desk and it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ ‘He lost us’: Generals, senior officers say trust in Hegseth has evaporated (Washington Post)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has lost the trust and respect of some top military commanders, with his public “grandstanding” widely seen as unprofessional and the personnel moves made by the former cable TV host leading to an unprecedented and dangerous exodus of talent from the Pentagon, said current senior military officers and current and former Defense Department officials.

Numerous high-ranking officers painted Mr. Hegseth’s Sept. 30 speech to hundreds of generals and admirals gathered at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia as a turning point in how his leadership style, attitude and overall competency are viewed in the upper echelons of the U.S. armed forces.

“It was a massive waste of time. … If he ever had us, he lost us,” one current Army general told The Washington Times.

The Quantico speech — described by other sources as “embarrassing” and theatrical to a degree that “is below our institution” — seemed to crystallize beliefs about Mr. Hegseth that had taken root among some senior officers, including the view that the secretary operates with a junior officer’s mentality that has led him to micromanage policies about issues such as military facial hair standards and press access to the Pentagon, sometimes at the expense of the much broader portfolio of a typical defense secretary.

“Mainly what I see from him are not serious things,” a current senior officer said. “It’s, ’Why did this service member tweet this?’ Or internal politics and drama. That’s mostly what I see.”

Mr. Hegseth clearly does not care about such criticism. At Quantico, he told any officer who disagreed with his priorities and his laserlike focus on a return to what he calls the military’s “warrior ethos” to resign.

Some analysts are quick to point out that military recruiting has surged since Mr. Hegseth took his post earlier this year. Supporters cite that as clear evidence that Mr. Hegseth’s approach is resonating with at least a subsection of young Americans and in the process is strengthening the armed forces.

Separately, some defense industry sources stress that the Pentagon under Mr. Hegseth’s leadership is driving the development and fielding of small tactical drones in huge numbers, among other successes… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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