Wednesday
September 9, 2026
Today at a glance
- Weather 101° / 77°Triple digits again. Water bottle, shade, and an early start.
- Air quality 24 · GoodClear air today. It is the heat that will slow you down.
- Lake Travis 93.6% fullClose to full, good for boats and for the water supply. Down a touch this week.
- Power grid NormalPlenty of supply behind the afternoon peak. Run the dishwasher whenever you like.
- Sunrise 7:12 a.m.Just over twelve and a half hours of daylight, and the evenings keep getting shorter.
Good morning, Austin. Today is the one day this week the sky might do something for you. Forecasters put rain coverage around 20 percent, which is their way of saying somebody gets wet and it probably isn't you. The high is 101 again and the heat index will reach 108, so a shower, if it finds you, will steam back off the driveway before you have finished being grateful for it. The sun came up at 7:12 and goes down at 7:43. The evenings are getting shorter without making an announcement about it, so take the long way home while there is light in it.
The Briefing
Today's tax vote comes without an election
Central Health, the hospital district that taxes property owners across Travis County, sets its 2027 rate today. The board chooses between an increase of 6% to 8% and a "no-new-revenue" rate that would leave the average bill where it is. State law requires an election only above a certain threshold. This proposal sits below it, so nobody votes on it but the board.
The money has a destination. Central Health says the increase would raise $22.1 million toward inpatient behavioral health services the district does not currently offer, and toward a reserve for a mental health crisis center. President and chief executive Dr. Patrick Lee told the board's Sept. 2 meeting the goal is "to close those care gaps and build a system without edges where people can enter through any door." Lago Vista Mayor Shane Saum said most residents he talks to do not know they are in the taxing district at all. Matt Mackowiak of Save Austin Now said he supports helping people in crisis but wants an external audit before any increase.
Austin paychecks moved this year too. The payroll company Automatic Data Processing (ADP) put median gross pay growth in the Austin metro at 5.2% from August 2025 to August 2026, a higher rate than workers saw in Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth or San Antonio.
What's next: Central Health's board votes on the fiscal 2027 tax rate and budget today, Sept. 9.
Sources: FOX 7 Austin (the vote, the rate options, the quotes), KXAN (wage growth)
City Desk
Money & bills
Central Health decides today what its share of your tax bill is
Central Health's board votes today on its fiscal 2027 tax rate, choosing between an increase of 6% to 8% and a no-new-revenue rate. The district says the increase would bring in $22.1 million and add $36 to $44 a year to the average homeowner's Central Health line. It also holds $18.5 million from a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) eminent domain settlement. FOX 7 Austin
Also
The proposed budget would fund 22 inpatient psychiatric beds and a 60-bed mental health crisis center, with a $7.3 million reserve set aside for the center's future operations. FOX 7 Austin
Workers in the Austin metro saw median base pay rise 3.2% and gross pay 5.2% between August 2025 and August 2026, ahead of Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio, payroll company ADP reported. KXAN
Overheard on Reddit
Charger $25 for placing 2nd bag on ground instead on top of bin.
The elevator in my building didn't work for 10 days. The automatic gate for 2 months (gate was just left open). I raised a service request for my fridge and no once ever came. I was charged $25 for putting the second bag next to the trash can instead of on top. This is a non-optional trash valet btw. HOW IS THIS LEGAL??
Public safety & courts
Immigration agents took two Cisco's workers from the lot
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested two workers outside Cisco's Restaurant Bakery and Bar early Monday at the request of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said. DPS officials encountered Ramon Avilez-Frias and Maria Del Pilar Moreno-Loredo at an Austin traffic stop and called ICE. Both were offered voluntary departure the same day and stay in custody until removal. Austin American-Statesman
Also
Cisco's said on Instagram the two were long-standing employees parked for work at 6 a.m. Monday, and that it is devastated: "These are not only employees, but fathers, husbands and wives." Austin American-Statesman
The state's own camera network keeps running
DPS has no apparent plans to stop using its roadside cameras after Gov. Greg Abbott blocked state agencies from spending on Flock Safety equipment. An email a lawmaker posted on social media shows at least 940 DPS cameras had been installed. A Texas Tribune review of one month of searches found about 615,000 queries in June by 3,075 agencies, 2,679 of them from outside Texas. KXAN
Of those June searches, more than 58,000 listed traffic infractions such as running a stop sign or following too closely, and 111 cited immigration reasons including an "ICE deportation warrant." KXAN
DPS said it will begin limiting access to its plate-reader data after the Tribune asked why more than 2,800 agencies had searched the network without signed agreements. KXAN
Travis County Emergency Services District No. 1 has 15 firefighters assigned to wildfires around the state, among them crew members who spent eight days on the Ross Fire. KXAN
Fans are asking for more water stations and medics at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (DKR) after Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services took 13 people to hospitals from Saturday's opener. CBS Austin
Growth & infrastructure
Four Points wants to know what is going up on the old 3M campus
The city approved a permit to remodel the former 3M campus in Four Points as a technology research and development center, but a Securities and Exchange Commission filing from SB Energy lists the project, Cosmos, among its data centers. SB Energy says the chip company Graphcore will base its U.S. engineering headquarters there, and that phase one carries about 50 megawatts of capacity. KVUE
Also
Austin Development Services said site plan revisions carry no public notice requirement, so no formal public input process has happened; residents are organizing a town hall of their own. KVUE
TxDOT has reached substantial completion on Oak Hill Parkway, which rebuilt seven miles of highway into a six-lane divided road with new frontage roads and 14 miles of shared-use paths. Community Impact
Austin Transportation and Public Works is weighing vehicle-mounted plate readers for parking enforcement, saying its team fields about 5,000 service requests a month; a city commission is holding off pending a surveillance-rule review. CBS Austin
Overheard on Reddit
Parmer and Tech Ridge Area Intersection
i’ve been living in this area for about two months now and have to use this intersection more often now and have almost gotten hit twice by people coming from the road i circled in purple when the light circled in orange is green.
Austin Water will test the floodgate warning sirens at Longhorn Dam at 10 a.m. Tuesday, sounding once for five minutes. The sidewalk along Pleasant Valley Road closes during the test. City of Austin
City Hall & county
The Texas chapter of the American Planning Association gave the city's Equity-Based Preservation Plan a gold award. Planning Director Andrea Bates said more than 2,500 Austinites helped write it. City of Austin
The plan's 14 goals and 107 recommendations cover legacy businesses and murals, preservation tools meant to slow displacement of longtime residents, and streamlining regulatory review. City of Austin
Schools
A third campus lost its cooling, and the district is mid-cut
Lamar Middle School sent students home at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday so crews could install a temporary chiller, Principal Travis Brunner wrote to families. It was the third Austin Independent School District (Austin ISD) campus with air conditioning trouble in under two weeks, after McCallum High on Aug. 27 and Anderson High on Sept. 1. The district is working through a $205 million reduction package. KXAN
Also
Austin Current reported the reduction package cut $1 million for Communities in Schools, which then opened a fundraiser with a $325,000 goal to keep its campus programs running. Austin Current
Parents, educators and community members launched Keep Austin Schools Independent, a coalition opposing a state takeover, a day before the Texas Education Agency (TEA) released its 2025-26 accountability ratings. Community Impact
The Texas comptroller's office asked lawmakers for more than $2 billion for education savings accounts, twice the $1 billion the Legislature allocated to launch the program this school year. Community Impact
Business & street life
Red River's board says the city left its promises unfinished
The Red River Cultural District's board sent an open letter Tuesday asking the city to enforce zoning rules meant to protect live music spaces, saying protections including the Red River Cultural District Overlay remain unfinished. It counted the closings of Empire Control Room & Garage, Marlow, Koriente and Feels So Good. "One closure is a headline. Two is a cause for concern," the letter said. KUT
Also
Council Member Zohaib "Zo" Qadri, who represents the district, said he will keep working with the board and directly with business owners to find resource options. KUT
Musician David Castro started a nonprofit Tuesday to raise money for Austin music, after emailing the Gus's Fried Chicken franchise taking Valhalla's building to ask it to join the scene instead. KXAN
Overheard on Reddit
H Mart Burnet update
Looks like the buildout is in progress and they’ve got shelving in.
Mo Bamba Cards & Collectibles opens Friday at 2350 Guadalupe St., across from the University of Texas at Austin, selling sports cards, Pokémon and other trading card games. CBS Austin
The 16th Trash Makeover Challenge returns Sept. 26, with designers building outfits at least 90% from repurposed materials to raise money for Texas Campaign for the Environment. CBS Austin
Overheard on Reddit
Are the grackles ok?
This is a serious question even if it is somewhat silly. Lately it feels like the number of grackles I have seen (and heard!!) are significantly less than in years past. The grackles I do see seem... sick? Many of them are losing feathers, or even have almost bald heads. The males are not nearly as shiny as normal either. Is there a plague? Rampant malnourishment?
Weather
Today: mostly sunny, high near 101, with heat index values as high as 108. South-southeast wind 0 to 5 miles per hour. No active alerts for Travis County. Tonight: partly cloudy, low around 77. Thursday reaches 100, Friday 101 and Saturday 102. National Weather Service
Today holds the best rain chance of the week, KXAN's forecasters said: a weak disturbance in the Gulf, the sea breeze and the afternoon heat should put isolated showers over about 20% of the area, with little accumulation. Coverage falls to 10% or below for the following week, favoring ground east of Interstate 35, and heat index values keep running 6 to 7 degrees above the thermometer. KXAN
The Back Page
26 days until the voter registration deadline · Texans must be registered by Oct. 5 to vote in the Nov. 3 election; early voting runs Oct. 19 through Oct. 30.
Once a month at the Howson Branch of the Austin Public Library in West Austin, people fill every table in the meeting room and then spill out between the bookshelves, and what they are doing there is scratching on old movies. Film Strip Club is free, and it hands you 16-millimeter film to draw on, paint on and gouge until something new sits on top of what was already there. Each session opens with last month's work shown on a projector. Justin Green, the branch's assistant manager, runs it with the Texas Archive of the Moving Image, which digitizes what everyone makes at no charge. "It's just an hour and a half where everybody just creates together and makes something new," said Jennifer Quarles, who has been coming for nearly a year. KUT