Sunday
August 30, 2026
Today at a glance
- Weather 100° / 77°Triple digits again. Water bottle, shade, and an early start.
- Air quality 39 · GoodClear air. A great day to be outside.
- Lake Travis 96.1% 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 grid NormalA busy afternoon: demand near 88,500 megawatts, with 113,700 on hand.
- Sunrise 7:06 a.m.The sun is up for 12 hours and 50 minutes today, and down by 7:56 p.m.
Good morning, Austin. Last day of August, and the forecast finally blinks — more 90s than triple digits this week, which around here counts as news. Late last night, going by the neighborhood feeds, the moon came up red over the east side and people stood in driveways to watch it. Camp Mabry should touch 100 again this afternoon, so the shade rules still apply: errands before lunch, everything else after seven. Barton Springs opens early. So does most of what is worth doing.
The Briefing
Austin has started counting what the heat does
Austin Public Health has put a heat dashboard online, and the summer now has figures attached to it. Area emergency rooms have treated 880 heat-related cases since May, among them 43 heat strokes and 261 cases of dehydration. Medics have answered 173 heat calls.
The deaths are the figure that moves. In 2023, a summer with 80 triple-digit days, emergency rooms here saw 1,355 heat cases and 34 people died. Last year 21 died. Austin has had 30 days at or above 100 this year, and the department has posted no deaths at all.
The dashboard also says when the danger arrives. Six in the evening is the worst hour of the day, weekdays are worse than weekends, and Sunday is the mildest day on the chart.
Heat lands hardest on people without a door to close. A cooling center in the basement of St. David's Episcopal Church, run by Trinity Center, has taken thousands of visits since June and opens four afternoons a week. Dr. Ann Buchanan, an emergency room physician at St. David's HealthCare, said what she mostly sees is heat exhaustion: "True heat stroke is actually pretty rare."
What's next: Austin Public Health updates the dashboard through October, and the National Weather Service has Austin near 100 again Monday and Tuesday before the week cools.
Sources: Austin American-Statesman (heat dashboard), Austin American-Statesman (cooling center), Austin American-Statesman (Sunday forecast), KXAN (week ahead)
City Desk
Money & bills
Central Health asks for a rate above no-new-revenue, and votes Wednesday
The Travis County Healthcare District, which does business as Central Health, has proposed a 2026 tax rate of $0.135195 per $100 of value. Its no-new-revenue rate is $0.118633, so the proposal raises property taxes. The public hearing and the vote are set for Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at 1111 E. Cesar Chavez St. Travis County
Also
Travis County has published its own 2026 rates: a no-new-revenue rate of $0.378179 per $100 and a voter-approval rate of $0.386210, with $515.5 million unencumbered in the general fund. Travis County
El Buen Samaritano has hired the navigators for the city's expanded displacement prevention program, working Dove Springs, Montopolis, Colony Park and households near Project Connect corridors through March 2027. City of Austin
Trinity Center's cooling center in a downtown church basement runs 1 to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, on top of the year-round services it keeps from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays. Austin American-Statesman
Austin's parks carry about $700 million in overdue repairs, and neighborhood projects increasingly lean on outside money; a parks bond goes to voters Nov. 3. CBS Austin
Public safety & courts
Man killed on Timber Heights Drive; suspect in custody
A man was shot and killed Saturday evening at 11725 Timber Heights Drive in northeast Austin, and a suspect was found at a nearby home about an hour later and taken in for questioning. Officer Aaron Townsend said the two knew each other and there is no threat to the public. Medics were called at 5:35 p.m. It is Austin's 37th homicide of 2026. KXAN / CBS Austin
A Statesman review backs part of the U.S. attorney's crime claim, not all of it
Justin R. Simmons, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, said this week that his office had filed about 40 federal gun cases in Austin in recent months and that since 2015 homicides are up 187 percent, aggravated assault 38 percent and rape 65 percent. The Austin American-Statesman reviewed the data and reported that the rape figure is not supported, and that the answer depends on raw totals or rates. Austin American-Statesman
Growth & infrastructure
The city will cut 37 trees to save the 1917 wall at Barton Springs
Austin Parks and Recreation starts work Sept. 8 on the stone retaining wall along the eastern edge of Barton Springs Pool, built in 1917 and part of what makes Zilker Park a historic district. Five sections are failing. Crews will remove 37 trees whose roots are inside the wall, mostly hackberry, then clear vines for an engineer's assessment. The pool keeps normal hours. City of Austin
Sixty supportive apartments open in District 1
Seabrook Square II has opened at 2210 Pershing Drive in East Austin: 60 fully furnished permanent supportive housing apartments, paired with rental vouchers and voluntary services for people coming out of homelessness. Capital A Housing built it, Integral Care will own and run it, and the city's housing finance corporation is a partner. City of Austin
Also
Austin Parks Foundation cut the ribbon Friday on Rosedale's Ramsey Neighborhood Park, adding a permanent shade structure over the swings, new play equipment and rubber safety surfacing. Community Impact
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) director Marc Williams told a House committee the agency has more than 11,000 projects underway; lawmakers pressed him to communicate closures better. Community Impact
One new main lane opened in each direction of Loop 360 on Sunday morning, letting drivers past the signals at Westlake Drive and Cedar Street; the full project finishes late in 2026. KXAN
Overheard on Reddit
Austin water currently funky?
Has anyone noticed that at least two weeks ago that the water has been tasting "earthy"? Did I miss something about it on the news?
City Hall & county
The American Planning Association's Texas chapter gave its grassroots gold award to a guide, written with Central Texas Interfaith, for using neighborhood parks the city has not yet built out. City of Austin
Travis County commissioners will proclaim September as National Recovery Month on Tuesday morning at 700 Lavaca St., and have asked people who attend to wear purple. Travis County
Greater Manchester became Austin's 14th sister city in June, a link built on music and technology; a sign on the City Hall plaza points toward each of them. KUT
Schools
Community Impact published questionnaires from the candidates for the Austin Independent School District's District 6 seat ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Community Impact
Business & street life
Valhalla's last day on Red River Street is Oct. 26 after the building sold and the new owners invoked the lease's termination clause; the punk bar has been there almost 17 years. Austin American-Statesman
Overheard on Reddit
Valhalla on Red River is closing
Property got sold. They have two months left. Easily one of the best rock bars this city has had. No frills dive with good regulars. A place that still felt like old Austin than what the rest of downtown turned into. Such a shame.
Củi, a Vietnamese barbecue restaurant from Quyen Nguyen and Hien Le, neither of them formally trained, has opened at 7318 McNeil Drive in north Austin. The Austin Chronicle
Stouthaus Coffee will open a second shop in October at 3008 Davis Lane, adding to its South Lamar Boulevard store and the trailer it runs at Thicket Food Park. Community Impact
A $350,000 filing points to an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant in the former Back Home Furniture space at 4477 S. Lamar Blvd.; no opening date has been set. Community Impact
Overheard on Reddit
Advice for spending 2 months in Austin with a baby
Hi everyone! I’m from Denmark and will soon be spending two months in Austin for a research stay at the university. I’ll be coming with my wife and our 8-month-old child. While I’ll be working during the week, my wife will be looking after our baby and we’d really like her to have a good experience in Austin as well — opportunities to meet people, get out of the house, visit parks/cafés, attend ba
Weather
Today: sunny, with a high near 100 and heat index values as high as 103, on a south wind of 0 to 5 mph. There are no active alerts for Travis County. Tonight: mostly clear with a low around 77. Monday and Tuesday are both sunny and near 100. National Weather Service
High pressure slides east this week and loosens its hold, which the National Weather Service and KXAN both expect to mean more days in the 90s than in the triple digits — with humidity climbing to muggy by midweek and a 10 percent rain chance Thursday. KXAN
If Austin reaches 100 today as forecast, the current run of triple-digit days moves nearer the city's ten longest streaks on record. August has produced 25 of this year's 100-degree days; July produced five. Austin American-Statesman
Overheard on Reddit
Go look at the moon!
the moon is beautiful and red over Austin this evening.
The Back Page
6 days until Texas football · Texas State at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (DKR), Sept. 5, 2:30 p.m.
Sunday Paper: Three pieces from this week worth the long read. The Austin American-Statesman went inside the cooling center at Trinity Center and checked the U.S. attorney's claims against ten years of Austin crime data. Austin Current followed the gap between falling rents and record eviction filings.
Matt's El Rancho is coming up on 75 years, and the wait is still the point. There are no reservations to hide behind. On a busy night the dining room seats more than 500 people and the list can run to a thousand, so you stand in the bar with a knockout martini and watch the room fill with people you half know. "You have a half hour, you visit with your family or your friends, and you run into people," said Paul Counter, the general manager, who has been there twelve years. "It's a chance to socialize, a chance to meet new people that you don't experience at other restaurants." Eventually somebody calls your name and you sit down. Austin American-Statesman