Saturday
September 12, 2026
Today at a glance
- Weather 105° / 79°Heat Advisory today. Take the shade and the water bottle with you.
- Air quality 37 · GoodClear air. A great day to be outside.
- Lake Travis 93% fullThe lake is close to full — good for boats and for the summer water supply. Down a touch from last week.
- Power grid NormalA busy afternoon: demand near 88,100 megawatts, with 112,100 on hand.
- Sunrise 7:13 a.m.The sun is up for 12 hours and 26 minutes today, and down by 7:39 p.m.
Good morning, Austin. A Heat Advisory runs until seven tonight, the high is 105, and the heat index will find 110, so this is a day for doing your errands before ten or after eight. The sun came up at 7:13 and goes down at 7:39. A sold-out stadium's worth of people is heading for campus this afternoon, which means the streets around it belong to them until late; if you live nearby you already know the drill, and if you don't, the long way round is the short way today. Somebody on Reddit is hunting a potato sack before a party tonight. The lake is 93 percent full. Drink more water than you think you need.
The Briefing
One program's name keeps turning up in the county's budget
The Central Health board approved a $650 million budget on Wednesday. Travis County commissioners advanced a $2.3 billion one on Thursday. The same households pay both. And both put their new money behind the same idea.
Central Health set aside $127.5 million for mental health services, $54 million of it new, and said those investments align with No Wrong Door — the county program that treats mental health, addiction, homelessness and arrest as one connected problem rather than five separate ones. Its rate sits 6% above the no-new-revenue rate. The district said that could cost most county homesteads an extra $22 a year.
Commissioners worked the other end of the same pipeline. They doubled the reserve for outside defense lawyers to $3 million, added $1.5 million to public defender pay, and put $2 million into supportive housing. Law enforcement asked for another $3.26 million for Axon Enterprise technology. Commissioners took no action on that request, and folded the county's Axon contracts into one department instead.
The Downtown Austin Alliance named five priorities the same week, and No Wrong Door is one of them, with 17 organizations signed on. Its own downtown survey found 69% of respondents worried about public safety tied to homelessness and behavioral health.
What's next: Travis County commissioners vote on the final budget Sept. 29.
Sources: KXAN (the Central Health budget and the challenge to it), Community Impact (the county markup, line by line), KVUE (the Axon request and Thursday's vote), KVUE (the Downtown Austin Alliance priorities)
City Desk
Money & bills
Central Health raises the county tax rate to build out mental health care
The hospital district's board approved a $650 million budget on Wednesday that sets aside $127.5 million for mental health services, $54 million of it new. Board chair Geronimo Rodriguez called the spending a down payment on a connected system of care. The rate sits 6% above the no-new-revenue rate, which Central Health said could cost most county homesteads an extra $22 a year. KXAN
Commissioners move money toward defense lawyers and consolidate the Axon contracts
Travis County advanced an estimated $2.3 billion Fiscal Year 2027-28 budget at a Sept. 10 markup. The reserve for outside indigent-defense counsel doubled to $3 million, attorney pay rose by $1.5 million, and supportive housing gained $2 million in ongoing money. The county's newly centralized Axon Enterprise budget totals $6,832,000, including $376,592 in existing Taser costs. Community Impact
Also
Law enforcement agencies asked for another $3.26 million for Axon technology. Commissioners took no action Thursday, voting instead to consolidate the county's Axon contracts under a single department. KVUE
Groups opposing the expansion urged commissioners to fund mental health, diversion and public defense instead. Commissioner Brigid Shea said body and vehicle camera footage is an essential part of accountability. KVUE
Overheard on Reddit
Where can I find a potato sack in the next 24 hours.
Help a girl out, I ordered one for a costume off Etsy but it won't be here in time for the party. I already called Wheatsville and Central Market, they said their potato bags are plastic or cardboard
Attorney Fred I. Lewis, part of a legal challenge to Central Health's spending, wrote that the district has raised Travis County property tax rates 34.63% over five years. KXAN
H-E-B said mold turned up in a limited number of brown eggs from a small supplier, called it an isolated incident, and asked customers who bought them to return them for a refund. KVUE
Public safety & courts
A driver is charged after a pedestrian hit on North Farm-to-Market 620 dies
The Austin Police Department (APD) said John Michael Filley, 45, died Sept. 10 of injuries from a Sept. 5 crash in the 13300 block of North Farm-to-Market 620. Police identified the driver as Rusty Riels, 47, and charged him with driving while intoxicated and unlawful carrying of a weapon. No attorney was listed for Riels on Friday. KXAN
Also
A second arrest has been made in the 2024 death of Cristian Rangel, 24. Court records show Xzaria White-Wooldridge faces a felony witness-tampering charge; no attorney information was available. KXAN
The Austin Fire Department found fire venting through the roof of a home at 3007 Parker Lane on Friday night. Everyone inside got out on their own. CBS Austin
The Texas Department of Public Safety said a tip led to the arrest in Travis County of Fermin Alejandro Calles Garcia, who had been on one of its 10 Most Wanted lists. CBS Austin
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration brought its sober-driving pledge wall and a sobriety simulator to Friday's tailgate events, asking fans to settle on a ride home first. CBS Austin
Growth & infrastructure
Runway work put a ground delay on flights into Austin's airport
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a ground delay for flights headed to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Friday because of runway construction, and said it would add about 32 minutes to arriving flights. The delay was scheduled to lift at 7 p.m. Friday. KVUE
Also
City Council pushed its vote on rezoning the former Rosedale School at 2117 W. 49th St. to Sept. 24, the third delay since May; a developer wants 435 units on the 4.62-acre site. Community Impact
Austin Water said about 574,000 gallons of reclaimed water leaked from a main break near 5951 E. Stassney Lane, with repairs finished at 3 a.m. Friday and drinking water unaffected. Austin Water
The Public Utility Commission of Texas approved a 370-mile transmission line across 14 counties on Friday, directing the two companies building it to keep working with landowners on the route. KXAN
Overheard on Bluesky
We are asking for feedback on CapMetro's January Service Change. You can leave your comments at the link below or join us at our upcoming Public Hearing.
🗓️ Sept. 16
🕘 12 pm
📍CapMetro Headquarters, 2910 E. 5th St.
🚌 Served by Routes 2, 4, 300, 800 & Pickup East ATX
🔗 capmetro.org/january2027
City Hall & county
The Downtown Austin Alliance set five priorities for the year on homelessness, mental health and downtown safety, after a survey found 69% of respondents worried about all three. KVUE
The Mayor's Health and Well-Being Council named its certified partners and handed out its Moving the Needle and Healthiest Workplace awards at a ceremony this week. City of Austin
Schools
The University of Texas at Austin will lead a $30 million National Science Foundation center studying how people and robots adapt to each other in dorms and hospitals, with researchers from six universities. KXAN
The Daily Texan asked Spanish-speaking students at the university what has shaped them ahead of the midterms; they named the cost of living, education and immigration. The Daily Texan
Business & street life
Garbo's Lobster will close its North Lamar Boulevard restaurant this month. Its location near the North MoPac Expressway (Loop 1) stays open, along with the company's food trucks. KVUE
Big Slick, a boutique steakhouse, has opened on East Sixth Street. Community Impact
The Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM) holds its 20th HAAM Day on Sept. 22, with more than 600 musicians playing about 250 shows at 140 locations around Austin. KXAN
Overheard on Reddit
You took our picture at Die Spitz tonight. Thank you.
Tonight before Die Spitz came on, you offered to take a picture of me and my daughter - thank you. She's my concert buddy but as the years progress and schedules get tighter, we don't go as often as we used to. You were just being a nice person and offering to help, you didn't know how happy you made me to have a real non-selfie pic. I hope you found your friends in the pit!
The cheapest upper-deck seats for Saturday's game at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (DKR) were going for $480. Matt Patton of AngelouEconomics said hotels and restaurants gain from the crowd. KXAN
Austin Pets Alive! has been pairing dogs left frightened by July's flooding with outgoing ones, and says the calmer dogs bring the scared ones back out. CBS Austin
Overheard on Reddit
I hope you’re outside, enjoying the breeze
I hope you’re well too
The Austin Film Society is adding a screen at its cinema. Holly Herrick, its head of film and creative media, said the work will not interrupt regular programming this fall. Community Impact
Weather
Today: mostly sunny, with a high near 105 and heat index values as high as 110. South wind 5 to 10 miles per hour. A Heat Advisory is in effect until 7 p.m. Tonight: mostly clear, low around 79, with the heat index still near 108. Sunday reaches 102 and Monday 101. National Weather Service
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services (ATCEMS) is expanding its presence around the stadium this afternoon. At last week's 102-degree opener it carried 13 people to hospitals, at least three of them with heat illness. Captain Christa Stedman said the thing to do is move into shade or air conditioning and start rehydrating early. CBS Austin
Camp Mabry, Austin's official reporting site, has kept temperature records since 1898, and the city has reached 100 degrees more than 2,000 times in that span. KXAN
The Back Page
23 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.
Nearly 700 Austinites spent Friday morning at the Palmer Events Center assembling food, and by the time they finished they had packed 186,900 meals. The event was part of 9/11 Day's Honor Through Action campaign, which has marked the anniversary with service projects since 2016 — this was the first one held in Austin. Julie Dye, the organization's Austin team lead, said serving the community is a way to channel the unity many people felt 25 years ago. "The stories that came out of that, of hope and resilience, were just amazing," Dye said. The meals go to the Central Texas Food Bank. CBS Austin