Sunday
September 20, 2026
Today at a glance
- Weather 99° / 77°Hot, but normal for us. The evening walk is the good one.
- Air quality 37 · GoodClear air. A great day to be outside.
- Lake Travis 91.2% fullNear full, and down a touch from last week.
- Allergies HighRagweed and elm and grasses are heavy today. Windows closed, meds early.
- Power grid NormalA busy afternoon: demand near 83,900 megawatts, with 105,800 on hand.
- Sunrise 7:18 a.m.Twelve hours and eleven minutes of daylight, and shrinking.
Good morning, Austin. Another 99 today, with the heat index touching 105 by the middle of the afternoon, so the good hours are the early ones and the late ones. Sun up at 7:18, down at 7:29. Ragweed and elm and the grasses are all running high again, and Lake Travis is holding near full. More than thirty museums around town are free today for Austin Museum Day, which is a fine excuse to spend the hot part of the afternoon somewhere with good air conditioning and something worth looking at.
The Briefing
Regular is $3.94 in Austin. Last September it was $2.74.
The American Automobile Association (AAA) put the average gallon of regular unleaded in the Austin-San Marcos metro at $3.94 on Sunday morning. A week ago the figure was $3.89, and a month ago $3.57.
Crude is the reason. AAA Texas spokesperson Daniel Armbruster said prices usually fall once the summer travel season ends, and that oil hovering around $100 a barrel is pushing them the other way; he said Texas could finish with its most expensive September average on record. Diesel already has one. AAA's Texas diesel average hit the highest figure the group has ever recorded on Saturday, and diesel is what carries groceries to the shelf.
The one lever anyone has proposed is the state's 20-cent-a-gallon tax on gasoline and undyed diesel. Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller asked Gov. Greg Abbott to suspend it. Press Secretary Andrew Maheleris said no law or constitutional provision lets a governor do that, and that Chapter 418 of the Texas Government Code authorizes a governor to suspend regulations, not taxes.
What's next: Early voting in the Nov. 3 election opens Oct. 19, with the economy the top issue in this month's Emerson College Polling and Nexstar Media survey of Texas voters, at 36%.
Sources: AAA (the Texas and Austin-San Marcos averages, and the record diesel price), KXAN (Armbruster on crude, the Miller request, the governor's office reply, the Emerson poll)
City Desk
Money & bills
Diesel in Austin is $5.97 a gallon, and Texas has set an all-time high
AAA's Texas diesel average reached the highest figure the group has on record on Saturday. In the Austin-San Marcos metro a gallon of diesel was $5.97 on Sunday morning, against $5.73 a week earlier and $3.14 last September. Mid-grade gasoline was $4.41 and premium $4.78. Texas last set a record for regular unleaded in June 2022. AAA
Overheard on Reddit
Is road debris on 183 getting worse or is it just me?
Past few weeks I've been seeing an unusual amount of shredded tire chunks on 183 and the Toll 183A stretch, more than normal even for Austin. Hit a piece of truck recap last Tuesday that I didn't see until it was already under my car. No damage luckily, but it got me thinking I put a lot of miles on my car every year, so road debris is just part of life out here, but this felt like a bad stretch.
Also
Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi told Fox Business that the conflict involving Iran has added about $115 billion in gasoline, diesel and jet fuel costs, or roughly $860 a household. KXAN
Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller again asked the governor to lift the state fuel tax, saying it would give drivers, farmers, ranchers and truckers immediate relief: "Cut the tax. Give Texans some breathing room." KXAN
Public safety & courts
A pedestrian is in critical condition after a Saturday night crash on Todd Lane
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services said a person was hit by a vehicle in the 3800 block of Todd Lane in southeast Austin at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday and taken to St. David's South Austin Medical Center with critical, life-threatening injuries. Closures were in place around the scene. CBS Austin
Also
A woman, 28, was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated after a Volkswagen Golf struck a stopped Texas Department of Public Safety motorcycle trooper Friday night on Ben White Boulevard. Austin American-Statesman
The Austin Fire Department brought a fire at Drive 512 Auto Ranch, 6219 S. Congress Ave., under control by 1:15 p.m. Saturday with no injuries; the cause is under investigation. CBS Austin
Thirty-eight cadets took the oath of office Friday at Greater Mt. Zion Church, graduating as the Austin Police Department's 157th cadet class and pinned with the badge by a relative or friend. Austin American-Statesman
The Austin Police Department's robbery unit is looking for three women in an Aug. 6 robbery at Neiman Marcus, 3400 Palm Way in the Domain, in which police said a store employee was assaulted. KXAN
Growth & infrastructure
The city will hear comment Oct. 8 on $33 million for a 130-unit Airport Boulevard rebuild
The Austin Housing Finance Corporation has set a public hearing for 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 8 at 301 W. Second St. on notes of up to $33 million. The money would be lent to Elm Ridge Preservation, a Texas limited partnership, to rehabilitate and equip Elm Ridge Apartments, a roughly 130-unit rental property at 1190 Airport Blvd. serving low-income households. City of Austin
Overheard on Reddit
why does the bus just straight up not come some days
the 201 in particular. i'm from atlanta and i'm used to early/late buses but never this 😭 i check the app and it acts as if everything's normal and running smoothly, no word about cancellations or anything, so weird
Overheard on Reddit
Update on the high-pitch humming sound caused by the highway construction site on 45th and Airport.
Hey guys, this is what we know about the continuous day/night sound coming from the highway construction site on 45th and Airport: The noise is due to massive jet fans and generators The project will last 2+ years. The fans are turned off on the weekend. Austin electric is not letting them plug in so they have to use their own generators which is causing the bulk of the sound. It's too loud for
City Hall & county
The city holds its Fair Chance Hiring job and resource fair Sept. 30 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 6310 Wilhelmina Delco Drive, with on-the-spot interviews and some same-day offers. City of Austin
Schools
The University of Texas at Austin now requires every professor to put an artificial intelligence policy in the syllabus, and some have gone further: associate government professor Patrick McDonald banned devices outright. The Daily Texan
The university's Latinx Pop Lab held its annual welcome-back party to open Hispanic Heritage Month, showing off student-made zines and artwork drawn from Latinx popular culture. The Daily Texan
The University of Coimbra will give pharmaceutical researcher Nicholas Peppas an honorary doctorate in November for 14 years with the UT Austin Portugal research partnership. The Daily Texan
Business & street life
DAWA turned seven on Saturday with the kind of party that started it
Jonathan "Chaka" Mahone started Diversity and Wellness in Action (DAWA) in 2019 as a birthday party he threw to raise money and hand it back to the city's Black, Indigenous and people of color frontline workers. The nonprofit marked its seventh year Saturday at 4DAWA Fest at The Austin Beer Garden Brewing Co., with vendors and musicians. "Dawa in Swahili, it means medicine," Mahone said. KXAN
Also
Recovery in the Park drew dozens of Austin organizations to Fair Market off East Fifth Street on Saturday for its tenth year, days after five people overdosed outside a Sixth Street bar. KXAN
The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center hosted Fiesta de Salud on Saturday, a free health fair with screenings, interpreters and no insurance requirement, plus wildfire safety information from the city. KXAN
Overheard on Reddit
Things to do in Austin (night-life) that don’t include alcohol.
I’m new to Austin, and I’m wondering what there is to do here after dark that doesn’t involve drinking alcohol? I’m okay being around it, but prefer if I didn’t have to. I’m pretty much into anything, also looking to meet new people and make new friends! Thanks!
Projections on architecture, water and energy will light the facade of the Seaholm Intake Facility on Lady Bird Lake on Sept. 25 and 26 in an installation called WaterWork. Austin Chronicle
Grill-eria, opened by Monterrey native Yaneth Herrera and Gustavo Gameros, serves pozole and menudo in North Austin, and carries none of the fajitas or enchiladas of a Tex-Mex menu. Community Impact
Lucky Claw Mania, a claw-machine arcade stocked with plush toys and collectibles, held the grand opening of its second Austin-area store Saturday at 10901 N. Lamar Blvd., Ste. 309. Community Impact
Austin Sports Club opened Sept. 10 at 205 E. Third St., a downtown dining and entertainment room from Lobos Hospitality and Boardroom Hospitality serving lobster rolls, ribeye and branzino. Community Impact
Weather
Today: mostly sunny, with a high near 99 and heat index values as high as 105. South wind 0 to 5 miles per hour. Tonight: partly cloudy, low around 77. No weather alerts are active this morning. National Weather Service
Monday carries a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4 p.m., with a high near 99 and a heat index as high as 106; Tuesday is sunny and near 100 with a north wind. National Weather Service
The Back Page
15 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.
Sunday Paper: Three pieces from this week worth the long read. The Austin American-Statesman counted 126 surveillance technologies in use across Austin's city agencies, and set out what each one is. KUT explained how a label on a package of Delta-8 gummies can be enough for a felony arrest here, before any lab looks at what is inside. And it followed the coalition that got Austin's council to drop its camera contract as it takes the fight statewide.
Nina DeFrancisco was going through thyroid cancer treatment two years ago, and the part of the day she could count on was the matcha. Sift, whisk, wait. "While I was going through the whole healing journey, I got really paranoid and anxious about … what to eat … and … living my life a little bit in fear in that way," she said. "Every day, one of the only things that I felt fully present doing was just making myself a matcha." So she and her fiancé, Vishrath Kumar, who finished a computer science degree at the University of Texas at Austin in 2022, started a matcha truck. They named it Kriya, after a form of yoga. Last month they opened a second location by Gregory Gym, which means that the ritual that got one person through the worst year of her life is now the thing a few hundred students do on the way to class. The Daily Texan