Monday
September 21, 2026
Today at a glance
- Weather 99° / 77°Heat index near 105 this afternoon, with a slight chance of storms.
- Air quality 48 · GoodClear air. A great day to be outside.
- Lake Travis 90.9% fullThe lake is close to full, down a touch from last week. Good for boats.
- Allergies HighRagweed and elm and grasses are heavy today. Windows closed, meds early.
- Power grid NormalA busy afternoon: demand near 85,400 megawatts, with 104,800 on hand.
- Sunrise 7:18 a.m.The sun is up for 12 hours and 10 minutes today, and down by 7:28 p.m.
Good morning, Austin. Hot again, with a heat index near 105 by mid-afternoon, but there is a slight chance of storms after 1 p.m. and the radar has finally started to look like it means it. Camp Mabry has measured just over a tenth of an inch of rain all month, and all of that fell on Sept. 6, so take whatever falls. Sun up at 7:18, down at 7:28. Ragweed and elm and the grasses are running high, and Lake Travis is holding near full. If you have a porch, put a bowl of water out for the birds.
The Briefing
A federal officer shot a man on Anderson Square. The city spent Sunday asking to help investigate.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot a man in the 8000 block of Anderson Square on Sunday afternoon. Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services was notified at 12:56 p.m. and found him with a gunshot wound to the torso. His attorney, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, identified him as Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, 28, a Venezuelan who was working as a food delivery driver. Austin police were not involved.
That last fact is the whole problem. The city has no automatic claim on a shooting its own officers did not fire, so it spent the afternoon asking. Police Chief Lisa Davis sent the unit that handles officer-involved shootings and asked the Texas Rangers to assist. The Travis County District Attorney's office requested to be a "co-equal partner" and access to federal evidence, saying the incident may have included violations of state law. Mayor Kirk Watson said ICE investigating itself "would not be appropriate."
Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security has given an account of the operation, and Davis said she had not been briefed by federal authorities. Council Member Mike Siegel said federal officers and state police kept local police off the scene for hours. A crowd gathered at Research Boulevard and Anderson Square. Officers used pepper balls.
By about 4:30 p.m. Garces Perez was out of the hospital and in ICE custody. Late Sunday night, Lincoln-Goldfinch said the family still did not know where he was being held.
What's next: The Austin Police Department, the Texas Rangers and Homeland Security Investigations are each expected to investigate, with ICE running its own review; city officials have asked for dash and body camera footage to be released. More in Public safety & courts.
Sources: KXAN (the Texas Department of Public Safety account, Watson, the attorney's identification), FOX 7 Austin (EMS times, the district attorney's request, Siegel's statement), CBS Austin (the protest and the pepper balls), KXAN (the transfer into custody, the family Sunday night)
City Desk
Money & bills
Data centers are now a governor's race argument about your power bill
Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Public Utility Commission of Texas in June to make data center companies fully fund their electric needs and keep grid upgrade costs off Texas ratepayers, and in September told the Texas Water Development Board to penalize centers that break water-reporting law. His opponent, Austin state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, wants a moratorium until the Legislature meets. KXAN
Also
Hinojosa's platform would require data centers to prove households will not pay more for electricity or water, end their tax subsidies and void water contracts that threaten a community's supply. KXAN
Overheard on Reddit
Microcenter Looks we are still weeks away
Pics taken 09/20
Austin resident Zach Tufenkjian said two Airbnb stays were canceled on him in recent months; Texas Watch director Ware Wendell said a host moving the conversation off the platform is a warning sign. CBS Austin
Public safety & courts
An ICE officer shot a man on Anderson Square, and Austin police were not part of it
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services was notified at 12:56 p.m. Sunday of a shooting in the 8000 block of Anderson Square, and medics reached a man with a gunshot wound to the torso about three and a half minutes later. He went to a trauma center in serious but stable condition. The Texas Department of Public Safety said it had been asked to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a vehicle pursuit at about 12:50 p.m. FOX 7 Austin
The district attorney wants to be a "co-equal partner" in the federal investigation
Police Chief Lisa Davis deployed the Austin Police Department unit that handles officer-involved shootings and asked the Texas Rangers to assist. The Travis County District Attorney's office asked to join the investigation as a co-equal partner and for access to federal evidence, saying the incident may have included violations of state law. Mayor Kirk Watson said he was angry and wanted an independent review. FOX 7 Austin
Also
Federal authorities gave no account of the operation Sunday: Davis said she had not been briefed, and Homeland Security had not named the man or said what led to the shooting. FOX 7 Austin
District 7 Council Member Mike Siegel said witnesses told him at least five shots were fired, and that federal and state officers kept local police off the scene for hours. FOX 7 Austin
Demonstrators lined the sidewalks and later blocked Research Boulevard and Anderson Square; officers used pepper balls to move them out of the street, and some drivers waited 20 minutes to get through. CBS Austin
Attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told KXAN she could not speak to Wilber Rafael Garces Perez's immigration status; CBS Austin reported she later said he had a valid work permit and entered the country legally. KXAN
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar called for a full independent investigation and the immediate release of body camera footage. Texas House Democrats asked for all available footage too. FOX 7 Austin
Fermin Alejandro Calles Garcia, 24, listed on the state's 10 Most Wanted Criminal Illegal Immigrants page on charges including child sexual assault, was arrested after a Travis County traffic stop. FOX 7 Austin
Austin police said Sunday that the Silver Alert for Lawrance Henson, 75, missing from 500 W. 10th St. downtown since Sept. 14, was discontinued after state troopers reported he had been located. KVUE
Growth & infrastructure
Austin is writing its first mold rules for rental housing
Austin's city code says nothing specific about mold, and the city has leaned on a state rule that only obliges a landlord to act once growth covers 25 contiguous square feet in a property of 10 or more units. Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who wrote the August resolution that started the rewrite, said code officers needed stronger enforcement tools. KUT
Overheard on Reddit
Help me understand this Austin driving habit
Multiple times a day I see people waiting until the very last moment to get in the proper lane. Sunday, light traffic you can see the turn lane crossing the bridge and wait until the last second to get in the left lane. Rush hour bumper to bumper you wait until the last moment then honk with your fist in the air that you can't get in to cross two lanes of traffic to your turn. If I'm in the lane I
Also
Shoshana Krieger of the tenant group Building and Strengthening Tenant Action said visible mold usually means an underlying structural problem, and finding the root of it can be expensive. KUT
Lanes on McNeil Road between the 9200 and 9600 blocks stay partly closed to Oct. 19, 2027 for Burnet Road mobility work, the city's Roadway Work Zones dataset (qyfh-gwei) shows. City of Austin open data
City Hall & county
A federal judge paused the Republican Party of Texas's suit to close its primaries to registered party voters on Sept. 18, writing that the Legislature may change the law itself next session. KXAN
Schools
Six Austin schools just inherited failing grades they did not earn
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) reassigned the accountability histories of six closed Austin Independent School District campuses to the schools taking most of their students. Bailey Middle School earned a B and now carries four consecutive F ratings. Nine district schools, not three, start the year one failing grade away from triggering state intervention. Austin Current
Also
Education Commissioner Mike Morath was not obliged to move the ratings, said University of Houston researcher Toni Templeton: he "chose to do this, and it was not his only option." Austin Current
TEA called the district's late-July closure of Paredes Middle School "abrupt and reactive" and has changed its policy to require all campus closure requests by May 31. Austin Current
The district appealed the failing 2025-26 ratings at Burnet and Webb middle schools last week; a fifth F at either could force the state to close it or replace the board. Austin Current
A University of Texas at Austin lab run by chemical engineering professor Hal Alper has engineered yeast that makes human collagen with no animal byproducts, with the biomanufacturing firm Manus. The Daily Texan
The Texas Cowboys have raised $6 million toward a $10 million pledge for the university's Tower restoration, which the group says needs $125 million in all. The Daily Texan
Student Government called a special session Wednesday to approve fall funding for campus organizations, handing out about $25,000 of the $35,000 set aside on Sept. 1. The Daily Texan
Overheard on Reddit
Stomach bug going around
My son brought it home from school last Monday, and it’s taken all week to make its way through the whole house. It’s truly gross: hours of vomiting, and just when you think it’s over... nope, it starts coming out the other end. It’s awful. My kids, my husband, and I have all been laid low by this virus. Besides, some coworkers and friends have been having a hard time too. So, there’s definitely s
Business & street life
Red River's venues are going one by one, and the district is asking the city to keep its word
Empire Control Room & Garage, Koriente, Feels So Good and Marlow have all closed this year, and 701-713 Red River St., which houses the 13th Floor and Elysium, is listed for sale. The Red River Cultural District's Sept. 8 open letter asks the city to deliver the zoning overlay it adopted in 2024. The Daily Texan
Also
Seth Levy, who co-owned businesses at 710 Red River St. for 17 years, said Valhalla closes Oct. 26 after the property sold; a Gus's Fried Chicken will take the space. The Daily Texan
Overheard on Reddit
Friendly reminder: it’s hot, put out some water for our little friends to grab a drink and cool down!
They come and drink the fresh water all day. It’s cute to watch them lean over into the bowl with their little paws!
District director Nicole Klepadlo said downtown property values, high property taxes and the lack of affordable, safe parking are pushing owners toward redevelopment and keeping patrons away. The Daily Texan
Brently Heilbron's satirical musical "Young Greg Abbott" returns in October in an updated staging, with Max Green taking the title role and Nate Dunaway back as Rick Perry. KUT
Overheard on Reddit
When will it cool down?
I can’t do it anymore 😭
The Austin Chronicle filed reviews through the weekend from Fantastic Fest, among them the premieres of "What Happened to Doris?" and "The Cycle." Austin Chronicle
Weather
Today: sunny, with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 p.m. and a high near 99. Heat index values as high as 105. Southeast wind 0 to 5 miles per hour. Tonight: partly cloudy, low around 77. No weather alerts are active this morning. National Weather Service
Camp Mabry has measured just over a tenth of an inch of rain this month, all of it on Sept. 6. FOX 7's weather team expects better rain chances Monday into Tuesday, while the National Weather Service still gives Austin only a 20% chance today and another 99 on Tuesday. FOX 7 Austin
Hard, dry ground means a downpour runs off rather than soaks in, so forecasters warned of a localized flash flooding risk with the heavier cells. FOX 7 Austin
The Back Page
14 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 Austin Public Library opened in February 1926 in a rented room above an office. It has 20 branches now, and to mark the centennial it asked Austinites to design a library card. After an online poll drew 10,231 votes, three winners came out of it. Lyle Lewis, a design lead at the print studio Raw Paw, filled the adult card with local creatures, "most notably, the Barton Springs salamander." Yaretzi Nicole Cruz Santiago took the teen category with colors borrowed from the plexiglass panels in the Central Library's windows: "Who doesn't like colors? Colors are beautiful! So why not brighten someone's day when they look at their card all colorful?" Ishana Jain, who won the child category, drew a smiling person with rainbow hair and the line "Reading is for y'all." She explained the thinking plainly. "I wanted to make sure that no matter where you're from, no matter how you identify, you would be represented on the library card. After all, y'all means all." The cards are available now at any branch, and you can swap an old one for a new design. Austin Chronicle