Tuesday
September 29, 2026
Today at a glance
- Weather 97° / 76°The last hot one for a while. Rain takes over Wednesday night.
- Air quality 39 · GoodClear air. A great day to be outside.
- Lake Travis 89.5% fullComfortably full, but every dry week takes a little. Down a touch from last week.
- Allergies HighElm and ragweed and grasses are heavy today. Windows closed, meds early.
- Power grid NormalA busy afternoon: demand near 81,700 megawatts, with 103,400 on hand.
- Sunrise 7:23 a.m.The sun is up for 11 hours and 55 minutes today, and down by 7:18 p.m.
Good morning, Austin. Ninety-seven today and a heat index around 104, which is the last of it: by Thursday the high is 91 and by Friday it is 84, with rain most of both days. Sun up at 7:23, down at 7:18. The air is clean and the lake is still near 90 percent full, but ragweed and the grasses are running high, so dose yourself before the porch coffee. If you have been eyeing the sky all week waiting for it to break, you are not the only one. It breaks Wednesday night.
The Briefing
Zilker is clearing its drains
Thursday is the day. The National Weather Service put it at a 100% chance of rain in Austin, with Friday at 90% and the afternoon high falling from 97 today to 84 by Friday. Parts of Central Texas are under a Level 3 of 4 flash flood risk. Gov. Greg Abbott held a briefing Monday at the State Operations Center and said Texas has staged 1,900 responders and more than 1,500 pieces of equipment, among them high-water vehicles, rescue boats and helicopters. "We are going to face a heavy rain incident like we did this past July," he said.
The Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival opens Friday at Zilker Park. Organizers told KXAN they are clearing drains, pre-positioning equipment and moving the build-out schedule up to protect the park.
Out in western Travis County, the Sandy Creek Alliance goes before Commissioners Court this morning. Its members want the county to install River Sentry sirens instead of the system it is weighing, which they say will not wake a sleeping house. Resident Ashlee Willis said the July 2025 flood stripped the creek of trees and foliage: an inch of rain there now brings a foot of rise.
What's next: Travis County Commissioners Court hears the Sandy Creek Alliance this morning, and the county's siren plan is due to the Texas Water Development Board by Dec. 31. The road closures are in Growth & infrastructure and the full forecast in Weather.
Sources: National Weather Service (the forecast and rain chances), KXAN (Abbott's briefing and the festival's statement), CBS Austin (Sandy Creek and the flood risk level)
City Desk
Money & bills
CapMetro's board voted the fare increase through
Directors approved the first system-wide fare change since 2015 at Monday's meeting. A local bus or Pickup ride goes from $1.25 to $1.50 in January 2027 and $2 in January 2029. Commuter service goes to $4 then $5, and Access, the paratransit service, to $2.25 then $3.25. The agency cited rising costs of fuel, equipment, maintenance and transit operations. KXAN
Also
Discounts for seniors, people with disabilities, Medicare card holders and eligible military personnel stay in place under the approved change, the agency said. KXAN
City Council signed off on $4.13 million in social service contract extensions on Sept. 24, keeping public health, housing, legal aid and food access programs running while staff evaluations continue. Community Impact
Council Member Ryan Alter voted against a $350,000 extension for the Sickle Cell Texas Marc Thomas Foundation, which an internal report faulted for inflated performance reporting and unallowable costs. Community Impact
Mayor Kirk Watson voted against most of the extensions, saying council needed the analysis it had asked for first. A memo with detailed staff evaluations circulated hours after the vote. Community Impact
Gov. Greg Abbott issued an emergency disaster proclamation Monday letting farmers and truckers run dyed diesel on Texas roads and raising weight limits on fuel, crop and timber loads. KXAN
Public safety & courts
A 19-year-old is charged in the crash that killed Miles Longbine
Austin police arrested King Anthony Henry, 19, on a charge of driving while intoxicated as a minor over a Sept. 12 single-vehicle crash at Northwest Park, 7000 Ardath Street. Officers were called about 9:30 p.m. Longbine, also 19, was taken to a hospital and died at 10:32 p.m. Police count it as Austin's 59th fatal crash of the year. KXAN
Investigators now call the Parkside Crossing deaths a double homicide
Michael Robinson, 24, faces a capital murder charge in the deaths of Anecia Kay Thacker and Lamonica Dawn Monique Webb, found shot in a north Travis County apartment on Sept. 23 by a manager coming to evict them. Deputies first called it a murder-suicide. Robinson told investigators he fired after both women drew guns on him. KXAN
Also
Drunk driving arrests in Austin have more than halved over twelve years. The Austin Police Department (APD) disbanded its DWI Enforcement Unit in 2020-21; the unit replacing it has three detectives. KUT
Two adults were seriously hurt in a motorcycle crash at 4911 E. Seventh St. on Monday morning and were taken to Dell Seton Medical Center. CBS Austin
Hot dog vendor Antonio Alvarez broke a collarbone and a foot when a stranger threw him down twice in the 700 block of West Sixth Street on Sept. 20. Police arrested Nathaniel Arguello, 21. KVUE
A state prosecution of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer who shot Wilber Garces Perez would be rare, said Tom Chittum of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association. KXAN
A motion moving such a case to federal court is generally granted, Chittum said, and Supremacy Clause immunity applies there, though he called it less than blanket. KXAN
Misael Ramos, a District 1 council candidate, was released on $1,000 bail after state troopers arrested him Saturday near Stafford Street and Manor Road on a riot charge, a Class B misdemeanor. Austin Current
Daniela Silva said Q2 Stadium staff removed her from Saturday's Austin FC match and issued a one-year trespass warning after she declined to cover a shirt reading "Abolish ICE." KXAN
Austin FC said its matchday policy bars images advocating for or against government action, that it offered Silva a free shirt, and that ICE agents were not at the match. KXAN
Yesenia Santiago said ICE agents took her husband Lucas in South Austin on Sept. 21 as he drove to a carpentry job. A spokesperson told KUT he stays in custody for now. KUT
Growth & infrastructure
Sandy Creek wants a louder siren than the one the county is buying
Members of the Sandy Creek Alliance speak at Travis County Commissioners Court this morning, asking the county to choose River Sentry sirens for its flood warning network. Resident Ashlee Willis said that model runs at 90 decibels, above the Texas Water Development Board minimum. The county plans to install sirens by August 2027 under Texas Senate Bill 3, and owes the board its plan by Dec. 31. CBS Austin
Also
Resident Joseph Shopp said the alliance is not arguing about cost: "We are concerned about the lives and the livelihoods of those people along the river." CBS Austin
A gas line break closed Cameron Road in both directions at Briarcliff on Monday afternoon, with Austin fire on scene and Texas Gas notified. KXAN
East 18th Street closes in both directions at 1802 E. 18th St. from today until Oct. 29 while Austin Energy pulls a pole and overhead wire and sets two new ones. Roadway Work Zones (qyfh-gwei)
Clifford Avenue is closed northbound and southbound for an excavation permit over the same window, today through Oct. 29. Roadway Work Zones (qyfh-gwei)
Zilker Botanical Garden, 2220 Barton Springs Road, closes Thursday for abatement, renovation and maintenance and reopens Oct. 16, though the main building may stay shut longer. City of Austin
Overheard on Reddit
Why do people here get mad at you for correctly using a roundabout?
Maybe I’m losing my mind, but this happens to me super often. I’ll already be in the roundabout, someone comes up to the entrance with a giant YIELD sign, I continue driving through... and they get pissed at me. Honking, throwing their hands up, giving me the look like I just cut them off. Isn't the whole point that you yield to the car already in the circle?
Overheard on Reddit
Austin USPS, why are you such a tease?
Can someone explain to me like I’m 5 why my package was brought to Austin (where I live) from Pasadena Texas only to be sent to Carol Stream, Illinois. Now, I hope it come back.
City Hall & county
The Texas Association of County Election Officials thanked Secretary of State Robert Howden on Monday for money to help counties clear thousands of backlogged voter registration files. KXAN
The same statement blamed "fundamental system architecture failures" by Civix, the state's voter registration database vendor, for problems with the Texas Election Administration Management system counties use. KXAN
The association asked voters to check their status before filing a new application, to hold down duplicates before the Oct. 5 deadline; the Bulletin's Vote 2026 page carries the official links. KXAN
Schools
Burnet and Webb parents have until Oct. 15 to ask the state to close their own schools
Superintendent Matias Segura told about four dozen Burnet families on Monday evening that a parent petition is their last chance to shape what happens to the campus. Both middle schools drew a fifth preliminary failing rating, which obliges Education Commissioner Mike Morath to intervene once the ratings are final. A petition needs signatures from parents of more than half the enrolled students. Neither community has started one. Austin Current
Also
Burnet scored 59 on the preliminary 2025-26 ratings and Webb 58; either school reaching 60 would have paused the state accountability clock. The district is appealing both. Austin Current
Segura said he knew of one district, Snyder Independent School District, that had avoided intervention this way, and called the effort "daunting" but not impossible. Austin Current
Maria Galvan, whose fifth child attends Burnet, said in Spanish that she does not expect to sign, and that as an immigrant she worries about putting her name down. Austin Current
At Webb, where 86% of students are Hispanic, parent Bertha Varela said in Spanish that the two options offered are not enough: "I give one more option: Fight to keep Webb open." Austin Current
Segura told Webb parents a state-appointed board of managers would have to act on the campus too, so the school changes either way. Both schools will finish this academic year. Austin Current
IDEA Public Schools starts serving a free supper to anyone under 18 on Thursday at eight Austin-area campuses, including Bluff Springs, Montopolis, Parmer Park and Rundberg, with no sign-up. CBS Austin
Business & street life
Taqueria Chapala served its last plate on East Cesar Chavez after 29 years
Manuel Lopez and his brother opened at 2101 E. Cesar Chavez St. on July 1, 1997. They closed Sept. 27 after the landlords declined to renew the lease, and plan to reopen Oct. 29 at 2448 S. First St. A sign now offers the old space as a second-generation restaurant. "We've worked here for practically our entire lives," Mauricio Lopez said. Community Impact
Also
Manuel Lopez wrote that the landlords handed him a document on May 1 stating they would not renew, and that he did not read it: "That was my mistake." Community Impact
grayDUCK Gallery held a wake Saturday for owner Jill Schroeder's 16-year run, the last dozen years of it on East Cesar Chavez. More than 100 people came through. KUT
Schroeder and her husband bought the building in late 2013, which kept rent and redevelopment out of the decision. "I wasn't getting the same joy as I was before," she said. KUT
COTALAND, the theme park that opened Sept. 26-27 at the Circuit of the Americas, halted its Circuit Breaker tilt coaster twice that weekend, nine minutes Saturday and two Sunday. Nobody was hurt. KXAN
Spokesperson Megan Fazio said the ride's sensors stop it when a condition is not met and that "occasional operational stops are a normal part of operating sophisticated amusement rides." KXAN
Attorney Edward Festerygra, who has a $1 million lawsuit pending over a rider stuck on the same coaster last December, said there is "nothing normal about it." KXAN
Overheard on Reddit
Rain and ACL Impact
With the weather gods spouting the doom and gloom for flooding and Thurs/Fri being the worse, what are the odds ACL will be canceled, at least the first day? Have they ever canceled before?
Overheard on Reddit
FREE TREES ARE BACK!
Our first tree adoption of 2026 will be this Saturday at Dove Springs Rec Center from 11am–1pm! TreeFolks and NeighborWoods will have the following trees available for adoption this weekend: 🌳 Cedar elm 🌳 Anaqua 🌳 Live oak 🌳 Lacey oak 🌳 Cherry laurel 🌳 Eve's necklace 🌳 Fig (Celeste) 🌳 Peach (Flordaking) The event will begin at 11am and run till 1pm or until trees run out, which may be…
Weather
Today: partly sunny, a high near 97, heat index values as high as 104, and a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Tonight: mostly cloudy, low around 76. No alerts are active for Travis County this morning. National Weather Service
Wednesday holds at 97 with a heat index up to 109 and a 50% chance of rain, rising to 70% Wednesday night. National Weather Service
Thursday is showers and thunderstorms all day and night at a 100% chance, high near 91; Friday stays at 90% with a high of 84 and a northeast wind. National Weather Service
KXAN's forecasters put Thursday and Friday as the main window for widespread heavy rain and flooding, with a Pacific cold front late Thursday spreading the coverage further. KXAN
They also flag a marginal severe storm risk, 1 out of 5, for Thursday, and say the Hill Country is the first area where flash flooding becomes a concern, on Wednesday evening. KXAN
Texas Division of Emergency Management chief Nim Kidd repeated the standing warning, "turn around, don't drown," and said state boat teams are staged in El Paso, Van Horn, Fort Davis and Levelland. KXAN
2013 was the wettest festival on record at Zilker Park; heavy thunderstorms flooded the grounds on the closing Sunday of the second weekend and officials canceled the day. KXAN
Overheard on Reddit
Anyone else check the weather multiple times a day to make sure it’s actually going to rain later this week?
The Back Page
3 days until the Austin City Limits (ACL) Festival's first weekend · Gates open Friday at Zilker Park; the festival runs Oct. 2-4 and Oct. 9-11.
In March, a great horned owl named Athena laid two eggs in her nest at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, where she has nested for years and where a live camera has made her something of a civic pet. The owlets hatched April 8 and 10. Then Athena's mate stopped showing up on camera, and the hunting fell entirely to her. The first owlet died April 17. By April 19 the second lay motionless and Athena had stopped tending the nest, and staff at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology concluded it had died too. The Wildflower Center shut the camera off. But the Cornell people kept watching the feed anyway, and a few hours later the owlet moved. Austin Wildlife Rescue took it out of the nest that day, and by the next morning it was eating. Last Wednesday evening, five months on, a small crowd gathered back at the Wildflower Center while the bird sat in a carrier. Somebody opened the door and it flew off into the trees. Austin American-Statesman