Thursday
September 17, 2026
Today at a glance
- Weather 100° / 77°Triple digits again. Water bottle, shade, and an early start.
- Air quality 57 · ModerateFine for most of us. If your lungs are touchy, take it a little easy.
- Lake Travis 91.9% fullStill close to full, and down just a touch from last week.
- Allergies HighRagweed, elm and grasses all running heavy. Windows closed, meds early.
- Power grid NormalA busy afternoon: demand near 85,000 megawatts, with 105,000 on hand.
- Sunrise 7:16 a.m.Just over twelve hours of daylight, and the evenings keep getting shorter.
Good morning, Austin. A hundred again, with the heat index climbing toward 110, though there is a small chance the afternoon throws a few spotty showers at us. Sun up at 7:16, down at 7:33. Ragweed is high. Somebody photographed a rainbow over the city Wednesday night and called it rare, which around here it is. Somebody else set out pumpkins and the squirrels got to them first. A middle school band on the south side is eighty instruments short and asking around.
The Briefing
A monthly bus pass is $41.25. The plan takes it to $66.
CapMetro has not raised a fare since 2015. Eleven years is a long time to hold a price, and the agency spent them launching Rapid service in east Austin, running key routes more often, expanding its on-demand Pickup vans, standing up a transit police department and rebuilding how riders pay. Now it wants some of that back.
The proposal in front of its board raises fares twice, in January 2027 and again in January 2029. A single local ride goes from $1.25 to $1.50, then to $2.00. The monthly pass climbs faster. Chief Financial Officer Kevin Conlan told board members the first step brings in roughly $3.25 million a year in fare revenue and the second another $1.1 million.
Not every rider pays more. CapMetro is folding Equifare, its discount for households under 200% of the federal poverty level, into the deeper Reduced Fare program, so those riders move from 20% off to 50% off. Veterans, and households at or below 150% of the poverty level, would become newly eligible.
Riders and transit workers raised concerns anyway at Wednesday's hearing. Peyton Rowlands, who drives a CapMetro bus, said most of the bad moments with riders come from collecting the fare. Conlan said the terms are not expected to change before the board votes.
What's next: The CapMetro board votes on the fare proposal Sept. 28, and the voter registration deadline is Oct. 5 (Vote 2026).
Sources: CapMetro (the proposed fare table, the phase dates and the reduced-fare changes), CBS Austin (Conlan's revenue figures, the hearing and the driver's comment)
City Desk
Money & bills
CapMetro asks its board for the first fare increase since 2015
The board votes Sept. 28 on a proposal that raises fares in January 2027 and again in January 2029. Chief Financial Officer Kevin Conlan told members the first step brings in about $3.25 million a year and the second another $1.1 million. Riders and transit workers raised concerns at a public hearing Wednesday at the Rosa Parks Boardroom on East Fifth Street. CBS Austin
Overheard on Reddit
Should I go to small claims court?
My car got towed from this lot, which is accessible from the main road, and has no posted towing signs. It was 500 bloody dollars so yk I want that back. There is a separate lot on the same property with a posted sign, but everywhere I look a sign is required in every separate lot. Quotes gotten from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation website: "When entering the parking lot or garage
Also
City Council voted Sept. 10 to put another $2,550,000 into the Austin Infrastructure Academy, which Mayor Kirk Watson said has connected 1,856 Austinites to career opportunities and awarded 210 training scholarships. Austin Chronicle
The Texas Department of Insurance asked lawmakers to consider delaying when new home and auto rates take effect, saying the current file-and-use system leaves policyholders limited redress. Community Impact
Texas Education Agency (TEA) Commissioner Mike Morath told a House committee that basing state aid on projected rather than actual tax collections leaves districts short; more than half ran a deficit this year. CBS Austin
Public safety & courts
The overdose call downtown was the first of its kind since 2024
Austin Police Department (APD) Cpl. Matthew Nonweiler said Wednesday's five-patient call near East Sixth Street was the first multi-patient overdose officers have worked downtown since spring 2024, and that investigators suspect a contaminated batch. Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services credited bystanders who gave naloxone, sold as Narcan, before medics arrived. One man at the bar helped an officer with chest compressions. KXAN
Also
Central Health plans four more naloxone vending machines by the end of October, bringing the total to 29 around Travis County, its director of operations for healthcare services Alanna Boulton said. KXAN
A city-ordered report tells Austin to leave 911 inside the police department
Mission Critical Partners found call-takers answer about 97% of 911 calls within 15 seconds, against a national benchmark of 90%, and advised against a standalone civilian department. Council approved $1.4 million last month to begin building one. Police Chief Lisa Davis said before that vote she saw no benefit in moving it. Council Member Mike Siegel said the aim is better outcomes on mental health calls. Austin Current
Austin police released surveillance images of three women suspected in an Aug. 6 robbery at Neiman Marcus at The Domain, 3400 Palm Way, in which an employee was assaulted. CBS Austin
Nine Austin intersections have had more than 100 crashes since 2010, and East Riverside Drive at South Pleasant Valley Road leads the city with 244. KXAN
A package labeled Delta-8 can give an officer probable cause for a felony arrest before any lab test, Lt. Patrick Eastlick, who runs Austin police narcotics enforcement, told KUT. KUT
Overheard on Reddit
Much needed PSA for Austin drivers about to post a PSA about driving - the Texas Handbook for Drivers is available for download
Save yourself an embarrassing post by making sure you understand the rules of the road! Go to https://www.dps.texas.gov/internetforms/home/index and search for form DL-7 direct link if you trust them: https://www.dps.texas.gov/internetforms/Forms/DL-7.pdf This way you can avoid making posts about what other drivers need to do, when the rules say they don't actually need to do that!
Austin police are stepping up enforcement against high-powered electric motorcycles, which state law treats as motorcycles needing a license and insurance, after complaints at a Sept. 3 mobility committee meeting. The Daily Texan
Growth & infrastructure
A 10-acre lot in Southeast Austin opens as a park
Austin Parks Foundation cut the ribbon Tuesday on the first phase of Grand Meadow Neighborhood Park at 8022 Thaxton Drive: natural-surface trails, accessible walkways, a play area, an open field and a lit pavilion. The city's Urban Forest Fund, its Parkland Dedication Fund and the foundation paid for it. Neighbors won a design grant for the site in 2022. CBS Austin
Council tightens where developers can buy out of affordable units
Under the Citywide Density Bonus Program, builders may pay into the Housing Trust Fund instead of setting aside 10% of units on site. Council voted Sept. 10 to steer that money toward housing for people at 30% of median family income, and to bar the payment option for rental projects near the future Project Connect light rail line. Austin Chronicle
Also
Crews work six days a week, often 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., on the Texas Department of Transportation's $68 million rebuild of Loop 360 between Courtyard Drive and RM 2222. KXAN
Waymo collected 123 parking citations from the city between August 2024 and July 2026, 69 of them for parking in a tow-away zone; Zoox received one. KXAN
Austin Water is holding an open house on a proposed policy framework for large water users, drafted at City Council's direction, before recommendations go back to council. City of Austin
City Hall & county
The city pulled a $5 million package of 17 consultant contracts from the Sept. 10 agenda after Council Members Ryan Alter and Mike Siegel asked for written descriptions of each one. Austin Chronicle
Council approved a one-time $200,000 payment to keep the SAFE Alliance domestic violence shelter open, and Travis County commissioners gave preliminary approval to $350,000 for its supervised visitation program. Austin Chronicle
Five candidates are running in City Council District 9, which covers downtown and parts of East and South Austin: incumbent Zo Qadri, Rich Heyman, Katie Kam, Dave Thadani and Kai Huang. Community Impact
Voto Latino Foundation registered voters on the University of Texas at Austin's West Mall on Sept. 15, a campaign director saying the group has signed up nearly 500,000 Texans since it began. The Daily Texan
Schools
Whether a parent petition can stop a takeover is still unclear
State rules say the education commissioner "shall" order the action a valid petition requests, once parents of a majority of students at a campus sign it. TEA declined to tell Austin Current whether that limits Commissioner Mike Morath's separate authority to impose other sanctions. Burnet and Webb middle schools have each drawn a fifth consecutive failing rating. Austin Current
The University of Texas stops enrolling students in three majors
Mexican American and Latina/o studies, African and African diaspora studies and women's and gender studies are closed to new students, a university spokesperson confirmed, and those already enrolled may finish. Interim chair Danielle Pilar Clealand told faculty the provost's office had rejected the department's proposal to keep them. Urban studies and American studies stay. KUT
Also
Austin Independent School District parents and advocates rallied Sunday against a possible state takeover; TEA is expected to announce its decision in December. KXAN
Overheard on Reddit
Donate instruments to Covington middle school
As of last week the Covington Band, through zero fault of its own, was 80 instruments short of having every student get their own instrument to use during class. It’s reached the point where our own efforts are desperately needed to help fill the shortage. Flutes, clarinets, alto saxophones, and trumpets are in need the most, but any donation is welcome. If you have an old instrument you are willi
Business & street life
Garbo's Fresh Maine Lobster closes its North Lamar Boulevard location Sept. 26 rather than renew the lease; the sisters who own it are keeping the North MoPac (Loop 1) shop. Community Impact
Counter Culture, the plant-based restaurant that began as a 2009 food trailer, reopened Sept. 8 in a permanent Windsor Park building at 5812 Berkman Drive. Community Impact
Overheard on Reddit
Austin Craigslist & Marketplace Scam!
To state the obvious, be careful when buying/selling on Craigslist. I listed my couch for free in North Austin and received a quick response - when the very nice couple showed up to pick it up, they thought I was selling it for $125. Turns out the "buyer" who initially emailed me ran the photos through AI to change the look of the post slightly and put it up on Marketplace for $125 posing as a "br
The Pecan Street Festival ran at the Hill Country Galleria last weekend rather than Sixth Street, where permanent vehicle barriers made the old booth layout unworkable, an association officer said. The Daily Texan
Weather
Today: partly sunny, with a high near 100 and heat index values as high as 110. East-northeast wind 0 to 10 miles per hour. Tonight: partly cloudy, low around 77. No weather alerts are active this morning. National Weather Service
A weak disturbance coming onshore near the middle Texas coast gives the area about a 20% chance of spotty showers this afternoon and evening, with less than a quarter of an inch where it does rain, KXAN's meteorologists said. KXAN
Friday is sunny and near 100, Saturday sunny and 99, and Sunday mostly sunny and near 100. National Weather Service
A cold front that had looked like it might reach Central Texas early next week is now expected to stay north, keeping the better rain chances with it. KXAN
The Back Page
18 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.
For thirty-five years now, a nonprofit called Art From the Streets has kept a studio open in Austin where people without housing can walk in and make something. Real supplies, a table that is theirs for the afternoon, other people working alongside them. Once a year the work comes out of the studio and goes up for sale, and the 35th show lands Oct. 17 and 18 at the Blue Genie Art Bazaar on Airport Boulevard: more than a thousand paintings, sculptures, photographs and mixed-media pieces, with the artists on hand to talk about them. Ninety-five percent of what a piece sells for goes straight to the person who made it. Executive Director Laura Stubbins said the show is what happens when people are given the opportunity and the encouragement to say something. It is a good deal for a Saturday. You get a painting, somebody gets paid for their work, and the studio stays open another year. CBS Austin