Monday
September 14, 2026
Today at a glance
- Weather 101° / 79°Heat Advisory today. Take the shade and the water bottle with you.
- Air quality 25 · GoodCleanest air in days. It is the heat that will limit you today, not the air.
- Lake Travis 92.6% fullClose to full, and down a touch from last week. Ramps and docks are fine.
- Allergies ModerateGrass, ragweed and elm all moving. Take the pill before it takes you.
- Power grid NormalDemand peaks near 88,500 megawatts; ERCOT has 120,000 ready and room to spare.
- Sunrise 7:15 a.m.Sunset at 7:37, so there is just enough evening left for a lap of the lake.
Good morning, Austin. Another Heat Advisory, another 101, and a heat index that should touch 109 by mid-afternoon. Sun up at 7:15, down at 7:37. Somebody in South Austin posted their bat colony coming out last night. Somebody else spent Sunday in Seiders Oaks turning over little shells and asking the internet whether they were fossils, which is a good way to spend a Sunday in any weather. The lake is 92.6 percent full and the air is clean. If you are running today, go before the sun does.
The Briefing
The smallest line on the bill votes first
Travis County commissioners vote Tuesday on the tax rate for Central Health, the hospital district that covers low-income residents. The district has approved a $650 million budget and a rate 6% above the no-new-revenue rate. Austin Current puts the increase at $36 a year for an owner of the median-priced home in the county. Central Health told KXAN last week that most county homesteads would pay about $22 more. The two are not the same house.
Either way it is the smallest slice. About 6% of a Travis County tax bill goes to the hospital district.
The biggest slice is the one nobody votes on Tuesday. The Austin Independent School District takes 44.1%, and on Sunday its parents walked the North Loop blocks around the shuttered Ridgetop Elementary, knocking on doors about a possible Texas Education Agency (TEA) takeover. Burnet and Webb middle schools have each drawn a fifth straight F. The agency has to act. It has not said how, and a decision could wait until December.
Tonight there is a third room. Council members and candidates take questions on housing costs at Assembly Hall downtown. West Austin Properties data put the average Austin-area home sale at about $458,000 in July 2021. This July it was nearly $593,000.
What's next: Travis County commissioners vote on the Central Health tax rate Tuesday.
Sources: Austin Current (Tuesday's vote and the shares of the tax bill), KXAN (the district's own estimate for a homestead), KXAN (the block walk in North Loop), CBS Austin (tonight's forum and the sale prices)
City Desk
Money & bills
Commissioners decide Tuesday whether the hospital district gets its rate
Travis County commissioners vote Tuesday on Central Health's tax rate, 6% above the no-new-revenue rate, alongside the district's $650 million budget. The budget carries $54 million in new mental health spending: $33.1 million for 22 inpatient psychiatric beds and 10 psychiatric emergency bays, $16 million toward a crisis center, and $1 million for an additional crisis care team. Austin Current
Also
A Texas appeals court ruled in August that Central Health may keep its $35 million-a-year payment to the University of Texas at Austin's Dell Medical School; attorney Fred Lewis said he will appeal. Austin Current
Texas now requires solar panel retailers and salespeople to register with the state; KXAN's investigators have been tracking a growing number of solar complaints filed with the Texas Attorney General's Office. KXAN
Growth & infrastructure
The I-35 rebuild adds carpool lanes. Whether they work is the open question
The Texas Department of Transportation's (TxDOT) three Interstate 35 Capital Express projects carry listed construction costs of about $5.65 billion and add high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes along 28 miles. Kara Kockelman, a transportation engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told CBS Austin the lanes are almost impossible to enforce. A 2026 San Antonio assessment found violation rates on Interstate 10 between about 42% and 78%. CBS Austin
Also
TxDOT said its Project Nexus air-taxi program starts this fall with helicopters and fixed-wing planes carrying no passengers, and will later test moving medical supplies into Austin. KXAN
Overheard on Reddit
Switched most of my short trips to an e-scooter in Austin, the heat and parking were the biggest adjustments
Been trying to drive less for short trips for a while. Mostly got tired of driving somewhere for 10 minutes and then spending forever looking for parking. A few months ago I started using a an escooter (hiboy u2 pro) for some of the shorter trips around South Austin, around Zilker/Barton Hills. It's been great on rougher streets around here. The heat, though. That was the part I underestimated lol
Austin's Roadway Work Zones dataset (qyfh-gwei) has East 12th Street closed in all lanes for the Airport Boulevard mobility bond project, on a permit running to Jan. 27, 2027. City of Austin open data
The same dataset has Waterford Centre Boulevard with some lanes closed for the 2016 mobility bond's Burnet Road project, on a permit listed through Oct. 19, 2027. City of Austin open data
Overheard on Reddit
Home inspection find of the week: AC in the attic and I love it.
This is going to be a sealed spray foam insulated roof which means that the attic is part of the condition space. Very few builders have picked up on the fact that AC helps to control humidity and up is where all the humidity goes. Austin is in a high humid zone and thank you, KB homes, for conditioning the attic.
City Hall & county
Council members and candidates take questions on housing costs at 5 p.m. Monday at Assembly Hall downtown; the forum is open to the public. CBS Austin
Bo French, the Republican nominee for railroad commissioner, called students pictured at Saturday's University of Texas game "foreigners"; Sen. John Cornyn called the post racism and Speaker Dustin Burrows said it crossed the line. KXAN
Schools
Austin school parents knock on doors ahead of a state decision
Parents and public education advocates met Sunday outside the closed Ridgetop Elementary and walked the North Loop neighborhood, telling neighbors about a possible TEA takeover of the Austin Independent School District. Burnet and Webb middle schools have each drawn a fifth consecutive F rating, which obliges the agency to act. Keep Austin Schools Independent organized the walk. KXAN
Also
The University of Texas at Austin's Institute for Fusion Studies awarded seed grants to four fusion projects, its director Diego del-Castillo-Negrete said, money that lets researchers pay students on their teams. The Daily Texan
Business & street life
A YouTube cook opens his first restaurant on East César Chávez
Joshua Weissman, who built an online following making home versions of fast-food dishes, opened Ben & Lynn's on Saturday at East César Chávez and San Saba streets. The menu is his mother's Sunday fried chicken: a sandwich, nuggets, fries and soft serve, all thigh meat. The restaurant is named for his parents. The Daily Texan
Also
The Zilker Relays drew 430 teams to Zilker Park on Friday, the most in the race's history, and The Loop Elite set a course record of 47 minutes 45 seconds. CBS Austin
Ellie Studdard, a pharmacist at Tarrytown Pharmacy, told KXAN the estradiol patch shortage has gone on a while; the Food and Drug Administration said it is working with all six manufacturers. KXAN
Overheard on Reddit
What are your favorite NEW businesses in Austin?
Like, businesses that opened in the last ten years or so and that you hope stick around for a long time.
Mendocino Farms, a sandwich and salad chain, opens Sept. 22 at 1100 S. Lamar Blvd. Community Impact
Little Nishi is closing its South Congress Avenue trailer and opening its first brick-and-mortar restaurant, Nishi, on Oct. 15 at 2000 Southern Oaks Drive. Community Impact
The Vegan Yacht closed its South Austin restaurant on Aug. 2 and plans to reopen this month as a food trailer in East Austin. Community Impact
Leif Johnson Ford moved this month from Koenig Lane, where it had been for 65 years, to 9300 W. State Highway 71 in West Austin. Community Impact
Stouthaus Coffee opens a second brick-and-mortar shop in October at 3008 Davis Lane in South Austin. Community Impact
Overheard on Reddit
Shoal Creek ammonites and fossils?
A google search says ammonites can be found in Shoal Creak in Pease Park in the Cretaceous Buda Limestone formation. But how far up does that formation go? To 38th? to 45th? I was in Seiders Oaks park and found a bunch of these little guys. A quick google search says they are not ammonites as they are not ridged. But are they even fossils? Or are they just regular mollusc shells that were in the
COTALAND, the theme park on Circuit of the Americas Boulevard with what its operators call the first tilt roller coaster in Texas, opens Sept. 26. Community Impact
Southwest Airlines plans its first airport lounges, one of them at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, opening in late 2027. Community Impact
Hello Sweetie, a gift and candy shop selling Asian snacks and mystery boxes, opened in August at Barton Creek Square. Community Impact
Assisting Hands West Austin, an in-home caregiving service run by Emmie Knox and Louis LeSassier on Menchaca Road, has been open ten years. Community Impact
Sage Blossom Massage, further down Menchaca Road, opened its location there ten years ago. Community Impact
Longhorn Artists Connect held its first concert of the semester on Friday in a member's backyard, with four student acts including The Ramparts and Emma Grace. The Daily Texan
Weather
Today: mostly sunny, with a high near 101 and heat index values as high as 109. South wind 0 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 104. Tuesday reaches 102. National Weather Service
Cloud cover increases through Monday with a chance of an isolated shower or storm, mostly east of Interstate 35, KXAN's meteorologists said. KXAN
Triple digits hold into Wednesday. Late in the week an upper-level low moving south across the western United States is expected to push the heat dome east and drop highs into the upper 90s. KXAN
The National Weather Service gives Thursday afternoon a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms, with a high near 98. National Weather Service
The Back Page
21 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.
The alarms go off at 4:45 in the morning, which on a Saturday takes some explaining. Then a banana, a protein bar, as much water as will go down, and out to the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail. On the July Saturday KUT's Luz Moreno-Lozano describes, it was 76 degrees at 7 a.m., the low for the day, with the humidity at 97 percent. These are the people training for a fall marathon in an Austin summer, and they do it in a pack. "It's like we're a herd of gazelles," said Mike Nicholson, who is coming back from an injury. "It's very communal. Like you are part of this herd." Volunteers set out cold water and Gatorade along the route each week, so about three miles in there is a table and a minute to breathe. The advice from the regulars is mostly about patience. Abi Huntoon, who has trained all summer, said the hard part is letting the long runs be slow: "I have to practice being patient with myself." Keir Semmens takes a sunnier view of the whole arrangement. "Running in the heat is free speed," he said. "It's like training at altitude and then coming down to sea level." KUT