Thursday
August 27, 2026
Today at a glance
- Weather 104° / 79°Another Heat Advisory — but there is a real shot at rain this afternoon.
- Air quality 46 · GoodClear air. A great day to be outside.
- Lake Travis 96.6% fullThe lake is close to full — good for boats and for the summer water supply. Down a touch from last week.
- Allergies LowA little grasses and ragweed around — most noses won't notice.
- Power grid88,900 megawattsThe grid leans on the afternoon again; ERCOT expects enough to go around.
- Sunrise 7:05 a.m.The sun is up for 12 hours and 54 minutes today, and down by 7:59 p.m.
Good morning, Austin. Rain — actual rain — is on the table this afternoon, and after 32 days without a measurable drop at Camp Mabry it is the closest thing to news the sky has offered all month. Take the umbrella anyway; the Heat Advisory runs to seven tonight and we are still headed for 104. If the clouds clear off after dark, look up: a deep partial lunar eclipse peaks a little after ten, and 96 percent of the moon slides into Earth's shadow. And somewhere north of here, four hundred goats are eating Pflugerville's greenbelts on your behalf.
The Big Story
Three Texas immigration detention cases ended this week, two of them in federal court
A 5-year-old boy and his father, detained by immigration officers during a traffic stop in Austin on Aug. 16, were deported to Mexico on Tuesday night, the family's attorney said. Two other Texas immigration cases turned this week on how long someone may be held in custody, and in both a federal judge ruled against keeping the person in.
Victor Martinez Nieto and his son Liam were stopped in Austin on Aug. 16 and taken to the Dilley detention facility south of San Antonio, which is set up to hold families. Immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told KXAN the two were on their way to a soccer game when the truck they were in was pulled over and officers asked about their status. She said Martinez Nieto asked from the start that Liam be released to the boy's mother, Maria, and that the Department of Homeland Security would not allow it — leaving a choice between being removed alone while his son stayed in detention, or taking Liam with him.
"It's a sad outcome in this case," Lincoln-Goldfinch wrote Wednesday. She told CBS Austin the two received no U.S. government help getting home after they landed, and that the Mexican consulate and the Mexican government paid for the travel that reunited them with relatives.
DHS said ICE arrested Martinez Nieto during a vehicle stop and that he had been removed once before, on Feb. 12, 2026, after accepting voluntary departure following a 2025 arrest in Hutto, then reentered at an unknown time and place. "Parents have a choice if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates," a department spokesperson said, adding that Dilley "is retrofitted for families" and that children there have access to teachers and classrooms. U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, who raised the case publicly, had called for Liam's release and for the Dilley facility to close: "kids should be playing soccer, going to school, living their lives, not being arrested on the streets."
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia in San Antonio ordered the government to release a 19-year-old Austin woman within two days, ruling it had violated the constitution by detaining her without a hearing; she had spent about two months apart from her 8-month-old son, and ICE released her Tuesday. Such cases "must not be allowed to founder in a procedural morass," Garcia wrote.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. in Brownsville declined Minnesota's request to hold ICE officer Christian Castro in the Cameron County jail past the 90-day Texas limit on pre-extradition detention. Minnesota has charged Castro with four counts of assault over a January shooting in Minneapolis and sued to force Gov. Greg Abbott to sign extradition paperwork. Rodriguez found the suit not yet ripe because Abbott has not denied the request, and wrote that while Castro's "flight to Mexico would impose a hardship on Minnesota's prosecutorial efforts," that possibility "does not alter the analysis."
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he strongly disagrees and that "Christian Castro will not escape justice in Minnesota." Abbott's press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, said the order "rebuffs Minnesota's efforts to conscript federal courts into commandeering the authority of Governor Abbott's office." Abbott has told the court he has "serious doubts" that Castro qualifies as a fugitive and ordered Secretary of State Robert Howden to look into it; that inquiry is still open.
What's next: The 90-day limit on holding Castro before extradition expires Thursday, and Abbott's review of whether he is a fugitive remains pending.
Sources: KXAN (deportation), CBS Austin (deportation), KUT (release order), The Texas Tribune (extradition ruling), FOX 7 Austin (extradition ruling)
The River
38 items · grouped by beat
Roads & transit
The Texas Transportation Commission approved $95 billion Wednesday as part of the 2027 Unified Transportation Program, the core of a 10-year, $138 billion plan announced by TxDOT and Gov. Greg Abbott; the remaining $43 billion goes to development and routine maintenance. "It is focused on practical outcomes — improving safety, preserving the system we have, and supporting reliable movement for people and goods," TxDOT Executive Director Marc Williams said. KXAN
TxDOT's release named a series of Central Texas projects for funding, among them two I-35 Capital Express Central segments at an estimated $343.8 million and $343.5 million, an extra lane each way on SH 130 between Georgetown and SH 45 North at $274.5 million, and bridges at Loop 360 and Lakewood Drive and at Loop 360 and Spicewood Springs Road. KXAN
Safety advocates and injury attorneys reacted Wednesday to the death of an e-scooter rider struck on northbound MoPac. State law limits scooters to roads posted at 35 mph or below and Austin's city code bars them from highways, attorney Lenore Shefman said. The city's Vision Zero dashboard shows at least 40 e-scooter riders seriously injured or killed in Austin since 2022. CBS Austin
Kyle's City Council approved a $478,638.51 task order on Aug. 18 to restudy 12 intersections where roundabouts have been recommended, on a 4-3 vote. Phase 1 will rank options beyond signals and roundabouts; staff expects no more than four intersections to need a second phase. Community Impact
Public safety & courts
Austin police identified the motorcyclist killed in a north Austin crash as Isela Moreno, 21. Officers responded Sunday at 10:03 p.m. in the 10300 block of Anderson Mill Road; Moreno was taken to a hospital and died Monday. The other driver stayed at the scene and is cooperating. It is Austin's 53rd fatal crash of 2026, with 53 deaths. KXAN
James Charles Johnson, 36, was arrested Aug. 21 and charged with first-degree felony murder in a 2024 fentanyl death, according to Travis County court documents. A man was found unconscious at a Parmer Lane gas station on Feb. 13, 2024, and pronounced dead; the medical examiner's office found mixed drug toxicity including fentanyl. KXAN said it has contacted Johnson's attorney. KXAN
Mobile Loaves and Fishes, the nonprofit that runs Community First Village, filed 77 evictions last year — its highest ever, against six in 2021 — and 51 so far this year, KUT found; the site's filing rate is more than three times Travis County's. Of last year's filings, 44 residents were removed. Founder Alan Graham said the nonprofit changed a fine structure after advocates raised concerns. KUT
Liberty Hill's police chief and a Flock Safety public affairs manager briefed the City Council and about thirty residents Wednesday on the city's seven license plate readers. Chief Jeff Ringstaff said the first camera went in during April 2025 at an initial cost of $21,000 and cited four cases the readers helped since December 2025. KXAN
City Hall & county
Austin City Council members brought forward a resolution Wednesday, led by Council Member Krista Laine, to declare the Austin Public Library a "Book Safe Harbor." It comes a week after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called on school districts to remove books he described as "so disgusting, so filthy, so dirty, so vulgar, so pornographic" that he would not open them in public, and said 80 percent of Texas schools were not complying with Senate Bill 13. "Our responsibility is not to build a collection that reflects only one perspective," library director Hannah Terrell said. KXAN / FOX 7 Austin
Travis County has joined a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's proposed mail-in ballot rule, which would require election officials to submit lists of eligible voters before the Postal Service delivers ballots. "This rule creates unnecessary confusion and puts the burden on voters and local election officials," County Clerk Dyana Limon-Mercado said. FOX 7 Austin
The Travis County Clerk's office is hiring poll workers and seasonal election staff at $20 an hour, with a job fair Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 5501 Airport Blvd. Limon-Mercado said the office is aiming for more than 40 early voting sites and about 200 on Election Day. KXAN
Parks and Recreation Director Jesús Aguirre told the department's board Monday that cutting the city's two adult indoor leagues, volleyball and basketball, was one of several budget reduction options in the fiscal 2026-27 plan. A department spokesperson said it removes two programming positions and about $400,000. Players said they had signed up for fall leagues and were refunded last week. KXAN
QWELL Community Foundation is looking for land for privately funded LGBTQ+ community centers, each with ground-floor retail, affordable apartments and a community floor, as the city studies a downtown LGBTQ+ cultural center. "We have to build spaces where people want to spend their time. We're not building crisis centers," executive director Clayton Gibson said. KXAN
Austin Watershed Protection won a Gold award in the Texas chapter of the American Planning Association's 2026 awards, in the environmental planning category, for Rain to River, its strategic plan for the city's creeks and watersheds. "When we plan for healthier creeks and watersheds, we are also planning for safer, more resilient, and more livable communities," director Jorge Morales said. City of Austin
Schools
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has begun work on three-year bachelor's degree options after a letter from Abbott, and will form a work group on standards, accreditation and workforce demand. "Every semester adds tuition, fees, housing, food, transportation, and other living expenses and delays students' ability to begin their careers," Abbott said. Recommendations are due by Dec. 31. KXAN
More than 170 public and charter campuses in Texas have closed or been considered for closure since the 2023-24 school year, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Our Schools Our Democracy that KXAN examined this week. More than 20 had an A rating when their closures were approved. Widen Elementary is among 10 Austin campuses closing amid falling enrollment and budget pressure. KXAN
Eanes ISD trustees adopted a tax rate of $0.8254 per $100 of valuation on Aug. 18 — $0.7054 for operations and $0.12 for debt — and postponed a vote on employee compensation until September. Trustees also indefinitely postponed a land sale to the Westbank Community Library District that had been counted on for about $1.5 million. Community Impact
Hays CISD will charge athletics fees of $10 to $315 a year for the first time, scaled by grade, number of sports and financial need; families approved for reduced lunch pay half and those on free lunch get a 90 percent discount. The district announced $12.25 million in cuts in March after voters rejected a higher tax rate in November. Community Impact
UT-Austin launched the National Center for STEM Education on Aug. 11, replacing the UTeach Institute and keeping director Kimberly Hughes. The center will work on STEM teacher shortages and partnerships with business and government. STEM teaching certificates awarded nationally fell 40 percent between 2011 and 2022, according to data on the center's site. The Daily Texan
A toilet valve failure flooded a second-floor suite in Falls Hall at Texas State University on Aug. 19, during the first week of classes. The university said staff shut off the water, the valve was repaired and students returned that evening with no relocations. Freshman Peyton Faour, who posted video of the water, said some belongings were damaged. KXAN
Health
The Texas Third Court of Appeals dismissed Birch v. Travis County Hospital District, the 2017 taxpayer suit challenging Central Health's $35 million-a-year payments to UT's Dell Medical School, finding the plaintiffs lacked standing and the payments fall "squarely within" the district's authority. Travis County voters authorized the payment in 2012. KUT
We Are Blood, Williamson County EMS and county organizations are running Wilco Saves 2026, a blood drive that starts Thursday and runs through Sept. 8 at chamber offices, city halls and police departments across the county. We Are Blood said donations typically fall around Labor Day. KXAN
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recalled nearly 30,000 pounds of raw beef imported from Argentina and sold in Texas and Florida over missed import re-inspections. The Food Safety and Inspection Service classified it Class I, its highest risk category, without naming a contaminant. It was not immediately clear which retailers sold the beef. CBS Austin
Business & tech
Meta agreed to pay nearly $17 billion to settle claims by 47 states over teen social media addiction, and Texas will receive about $1 billion, the state attorney general's office said. The agreement also requires daily usage limits for teens, limits on school-hours push alerts and stronger parental controls. Texas says the money will fund youth mental health services, digital literacy and school grants. FOX 7 Austin
A federal judge gave initial approval to a $359,925,000 settlement fund in the RealPage rent-pricing antitrust case, covering anyone in the U.S. who paid rent to an owner or manager using RealPage revenue management software between Oct. 18, 2018, and Nov. 21, 2025. The defendants denied wrongdoing and the court did not rule on the allegations. FOX 7 Austin
A Texas 2036 report released Wednesday found 56.7 percent of Texas parents say childcare costs have affected their family planning, 30 percent passed up a promotion and 11 percent left a job in the past year. The report estimates employers lose about $7.9 billion a year. Austin's Kerbey Lane Cafe told a House committee its turnover fell from about 300 percent in 2020 to 78 percent after schedule changes. KXAN
Industrial Electric Manufacturing will build a $200 million, 1-million-square-foot plant at Brooks City Base in San Antonio, expected to bring 3,000 jobs by 2030. Abbott's office said the California company was offered a $3.36 million Texas Enterprise Fund grant tied to 448 of the jobs. FOX 7 Austin
Scheels cut the ribbon on its 300,000-square-foot Cedar Park store Aug. 25 ahead of an Aug. 29 public opening. The employee-owned store, the chain's second in Texas, has a 65-foot indoor Ferris wheel and a 16,000-gallon saltwater aquarium; the first 50 people in line get swag and pizza, with doors at 9:30 a.m. Community Impact
Peoples Pharmacy, opened by Bill Swail in 1980 and now four Austin locations, has been sold to Kimberli Wiley, owner of CPRx Pharmacy. Wiley is starting a collaboration with Victory Medical that adds GLP-1s, peptides and in-store nurse practitioners at all four stores. Leadership stays largely unchanged. Community Impact
Vertical construction has begun on The Ferguson, a four-story, 82-unit condominium project at 1300 W. Second St. in downtown Taylor, the city's first. Austin-based Metropolitan Development Company expects to finish in summer 2027. "The Ferguson is not just a housing development," Mayor Jim Buzan said, calling it a response to demand as new jobs arrive. KXAN
Around town
At Violet Crown City Church in North Austin, Pastor Jay Cooper painted the oversized chair outside — repainted nearly 130 times in seven years — as a "Coat of Many Colors" tribute reading "This Coat's for Dolly." Parton played Austin City Limits once, in 2000. "Dolly's sense of humanity was every bit as strong as her music," executive producer Terry Lickona said. CBS Austin
Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel, who co-wrote six songs with Parton and made the film "Wild Texas Wind" with her, remembered a friendship of decades. "She slapped my wrist a few times in terms of songwriting. And you have to respect somebody of her stature to do that," Benson said. "She had the ability to take a simple chord form of country music and turn it into a message." KUT
The Salvation Army Austin holds its sixth annual Day of Giving on Thursday, its largest fundraiser of the year, with a $1 million goal. The organization runs the Austin Shelter for Women and Children and the Rathgeber Center for Families; its phone line is open until 6 p.m. KXAN
Texas
The Ross Fire in Palo Pinto County grew to nearly 82,000 acres overnight and was 12 percent contained Wednesday, officials with the Texas A&M Forest Service and the county's emergency services district said. Crews stopped the fire outside Bryson with retardant drops and dirt lines. About 350 residents had been evacuated and those orders have been lifted; some structures are lost, with damage still being assessed. KXAN / CBS Austin
Sen. Ted Cruz said on Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's podcast Wednesday that "it's no secret that I want to be president," and answered "time will tell" when asked directly whether he would run in 2028. Cruz finished second in the 2016 Republican primaries. He goes to Iowa this weekend to campaign for U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson. The Texas Tribune
Gov. Greg Abbott and state Rep. Gina Hinojosa have laid out competing education agendas before November. Abbott wants a 10-year minimum sentence without parole for teachers convicted of abusing children, fewer laptops and tablets in classrooms, and a law cutting district administrative spending. Hinojosa says she would fire Education Commissioner Mike Morath on her first day, end the STAAR test and "tests like it," stop state takeovers of districts, and repeal the accounts that let families spend state money on private school. The Texas Tribune
A federal judge in Boston lifted a nationwide block on the Postal Service's mail-in ballot rule Wednesday, after a Supreme Court ruling that a separate challenge was premature. Judge Indira Talwani wrote that the plaintiff groups are "not likely to prevail as to ripeness" without amending their complaint now that a final rule has issued. Democratic-led states filed a new challenge the same morning. KXAN
Sports
Austin FC traded Owen Wolff, the club's first homegrown signing and its youngest player ever, to Sporting Kansas City for $4.5 million and up to $3.1 million more in incentives, keeping a sell-on percentage. "Owen will always have a special place in Austin FC history," interim head coach Davy Arnaud said. Wolff is 21. KXAN
River sources: KXAN (TxDOT plan) · CBS Austin (e-scooter safety) · Community Impact (Kyle roundabouts) · KXAN (motorcycle crash) · KXAN (fentanyl murder charge) · KUT (Community First evictions) · KXAN (Liberty Hill Flock) · KXAN (Book Safe Harbor) · FOX 7 (Book Safe Harbor) · FOX 7 (mail-in ballot suit) · KXAN (election workers) · KXAN (adult sports cut) · KXAN (LGBTQ+ centers) · City of Austin (Rain to River award) · KXAN (three-year degrees) · KXAN (school closures) · Community Impact (Eanes ISD) · Community Impact (Hays CISD fees) · The Daily Texan (STEM center) · KXAN (Falls Hall flooding) · KUT (Central Health ruling) · KXAN (Wilco Saves) · CBS Austin (beef recall) · FOX 7 (Meta settlement) · FOX 7 (RealPage settlement) · KXAN (childcare report) · FOX 7 (IEM plant) · Community Impact (Scheels) · Community Impact (Peoples Pharmacy) · KXAN (The Ferguson) · CBS Austin (Dolly tribute) · KUT (Ray Benson) · KXAN (Day of Giving) · KXAN (Ross Fire) · CBS Austin (Ross Fire) · The Texas Tribune (Cruz) · The Texas Tribune (education agendas) · KXAN (mail-in ballot rule) · KXAN (Owen Wolff trade)
Weather
Today: mostly sunny with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m., a high near 104 and heat index values as high as 109, on a west-northwest wind of 0 to 5 mph. Alerts: a Heat Advisory for Travis County runs until 7 p.m. Thursday. Tonight: a slight chance of storms before 10 p.m., then partly cloudy with a low around 79. Next few days: mostly sunny and 101 Friday, then sunny and 100 Saturday and Sunday. National Weather Service
KXAN calls this afternoon the last real chance of meaningful rain before August closes, with scattered showers and storms into the evening. Totals should stay under a quarter inch for most, with localized amounts of half an inch to an inch possible. Friday looks much drier and the weekend dry and near 100. KXAN
Camp Mabry had recorded no rain at all this month as of Aug. 25, a 32-day dry stretch that ranks as the 47th driest on record; Austin records go back to the 1890s. The longest was 88 days in 1895. KXAN
Overheard on Reddit
What’s your “cold" tap water temp?
alright Austin, what temps are you getting out of your faucet? at first it’s nice and cool from the conditioned pipes under the sink, but quickly climbs after running the water for a minute. last year i clocked 94º. saves on the gas (water heater) bill at least! (pier & beam with copper plumbing)
A deep partial lunar eclipse peaks at 10:13 p.m. Thursday with about 96 percent of the moon in Earth's shadow, running from 9:20 p.m. to 1:06 a.m. KXAN says a few fair-weather clouds may get in the way here, but conditions are worse on both coasts. KXAN
Weather sources: National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio · KXAN (forecast) · KXAN (dry stretch) · KXAN (lunar eclipse)
9 days until Texas football · Texas State at DKR, Sept. 5, 2:30 p.m.
More than four hundred goats are back in Pflugerville, working their way through Bohls Park, Pfluger Park, Gilleland Creek and the Carmel Greenbelt — creek beds and steep slopes that mowers cannot reach. They clear an acre or two a day, cut the need for chemicals and machinery, and take turns resting. "They really have the best job," the city's assistant parks director said. "They get to travel the state and eat and rest."