The Austin Daily Drop

Travis County returns to Medium COVID risk status - at this point Blanco, Caldwell, Hays and Williamson Counties are also at Medium. Longhorn Nation is abuzz with the news that Louisiana heritage QB Arch Manning has chosen to attend UT .  Austin ISD's 2022-23 budget has been approved: the $1.8 billion budget cuts almost 600 jobs, gives pay raises for some remaining staffers, and raises taxes...

Uvalde updates: The Robb Elementary School building, where last month's mass shooting occurred, is set to be demolished . School district police chief Pete Arredondo has been placed on leave from those duties by Uvalde CISD administrators. Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez has filed suit against the Texas Department of Public Safety, demanding that they hand over all records and information rel...

The director of the Texas Department of Public Safety characterized the police response to the Uvalde school shooting as an "abject failure" yesterday during a hearing held by a Texas Senate committee . The Texas power grid has held up well so far this blazing hot summer - but all that extra capacity is costing Texas (and eventually, Texans) hundreds of millions of dollars in extra charges . Elon...

Uvalde developments continue: The Texas Tribune has published a minute-by-minute account of the mass shooting event , based upon all currently-available information - including new information that shows police on the site with sufficient firepower and shielding to have engaged the shooter much earlier than they did. Parents of the Uvalde school district are calling for the firing of district scho...

New polling shows that, in the wake of the Uvalde school shooting, the Texas gubernatorial race has tightened between Gov. Greg Abbott and Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. Kaitlin Armstrong , on the run now for over a month in connection with the shooting death of pro cyclist Anna Moria Wilson, may be going by her sister Christine Armstrong's name in New York - she also may have fled to Canada...

Local developments on guns: Travis County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution asking Governor Greg Abbott to call a special legislative session aimed at preventing future mass shootings yesterday, while Texas Democratic House members hosted town halls on gun violence prevention in both Round Rock and San Marcos . And, the Austin City Council is set to vote on Thursday on raising the mi...

The new conservative think tank at the University of Texas, up until now referred to as the "Liberty Institute", has been formally named The Civitas Institute . Its first director will be UT alum Justin Dyer, who describes himself as a "conservative, straight out of central casting, pro-life evangelical". Adding to the misery of our early heat wave this year is Saharan Dust - along with diminished...

High temperature records were broken both Saturday and Sunday, and ERCOT reports that electricity demand in Texas hit an all-time new record high on Sunday afternoon at 74,889 megawatts, topping the prior record set in August of 2019. A bipartisan and potentially filibuster-proof group of U.S. Senators including Texas' John Cornyn have announced an agreement on gun violence, including funding for...

For the first time since new three-level, CDC-managed measurement metrics were adopted for Travis County, our COVID risk assessment has been raised from Low to Medium level . Austin U.S. Representative Chip Roy presented what the Statesman calls a "dystopian" critique of attempts to apply restrictions to gun access during another hearing Thursday that featured survivors of the Uvalde shooting - on...

A federal investigation into the police response to the Uvalde mass shooting has been launched, but it does not carry the threat of criminal charges. Federal officials also warn of more gun violence in coming months , connected to the impending Supreme Court ruling on abortion and the November mid-term elections. As the Texas power grid continues (so far) to hold up under historic heat, an interes...

Mega-hot early June Austin weather has yet another unfortunate byproduct: increased new COVID cases . Travis County officials have extended the current burn ban through at least July 13. Matthew McConaughey followed up his Monday Austin American-Statesman op-ed with an emotional national address from the White House Briefing Room yesterday, calling for what he believes are reasonable, bipartisan c...

Monday's high of 103 tied the all time record set during the most recent major Austin heat wave of 2011 - we're likely to break the record of 100 for Tuesday, most recently hit that same year - and we're just warming up . Highs Friday through next Monday are expected to hit at least 105, and this pattern could persist for another couple of weeks. ERCOT expects statewide power demand to pass the al...

On the cusp of a potentially record-breaking early-June heat wave , local health officials are warning residents to prepare and manage their exposure to high temperatures. The Austin American-Statesman has published a long and harrowing analysis of the potential climate disaster waiting ahead. As new Omicron subvariants are detected in Travis County and COVID positivity rates continue to climb, Au...

Latest Uvalde developments: New details show that police on the scene did not know that 911 calls were being made by kids inside the classroom with the shooter. A mother who ran into the school to rescue her children has told her story to CBS News, after being warned to quiet down by Uvalde police - who have been enlisting biker gangs to help patrol the funerals of the shooting victims. Texas Sena...

Latest Uvalde developments: Governor Greg Abbott has ordered the Texas House and Senate to convene special legislative committees to address school and gun safety in the wake of last week’s school shooting in Uvalde, but stopping short of calling for a full special session of the Legislature. Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez , whose jurisdiction includes Uvalde, has accused Governor Abbott of...

Uvalde developments: the narrative from law enforcement continues to pivot wildly, with various news outlets reporting inconsistent reads on whether Uvalde's school district and school police are cooperating with the investigating Texas Rangers. More consistent is the report that school police chief Pete Arredondo has failed to respond to requests for a follow-up interview - while also being sworn...

Uvalde: funerals begin for the 21 victims of last week's mass shooting. Visiting mourning families over the weekend, President Joe Biden was urged by members of a Uvalde crowd to "do something" - the U.S. Justice Department will conduct an investigation into law enforcement's response. Pete Arredondo, the school police chief being charged with stopping police officers from intervening quickly, wil...

Continued developments in the Uvalde school massacre: the entire nation wonders why it took law enforcement officers a full hour to neutralize the Robb Elementary shooter , during which parents urged officers onsite to act. The husband of one of the teachers killed in the shooting has died of a heart attack . Austin Police Chief Joe Chacon says we're experiencing an "epidemic" of gun violence and...

Developments in the Uvalde school massacre: Conflicting and still-unclear reporting seems to show that school security and responding law enforcement barricaded the shooter inside a fourth grade classroom for as long as 40 minutes, during which most of the killings took place. The shooter is believed to have bought his two AR platform guns just after his 18th birthday and just days prior to the sh...

The school shooting at Uvalde has left behind unbelievable grief and shock across Texas. Some families of victims were made to wait hours before being told of their child's condition. President Biden is calling for new gun control action, while Texas Republicans are calling for more Texans to be armed and trained, as several prominent GOP leaders plan to appear at the NRA's annual convention in Ho...

Today is Election Day , as runoffs for both parties' primaries are decided - and numbers from the early voting period indicate that statistically, almost none of us have voted yet . Kaitlin Marie Armstrong , wanted under suspicion of the murder of pro cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson , remains at large - U.S. Marshals say they believe Armstrong is still in the Austin area. Travis County Commissioners ar...

Kaitlin Marie Armstrong , the suspected killer of pro cyclist Anna Moriah Wilson, remains at large this morning. Wilson's family has reiterated that Wilson was not involved in a romantic relationship with Armstrong's live-in boyfriend, though she and the man in question had gone swimming together at Deep Eddy Pool just prior to the shooting. A GoFundMe effort has been launched to support Wilson's...

Austin area U.S. Representative Chip Roy was one of only nine House members to vote against a bill designed to help low-income mothers access baby formula yesterday. Two more financial settlements have been reached for lawsuits related to the George Floyd protests , totaling $950,000 and bringing the overall total paid out to just shy of $15 million. A coalition of local groups dedicated to enviro...

Confusing metrics between national and local sources regarding COVID spread in the Austin area seem to indicate a lot of new cases recently, but not many new hospitalizations. A historic moment for Austin FC - they've topped the MLS Western Conference after beating standing #1 LAFC in Los Angeles last night, 2-1. Austin FC will play Orlando City at home this Sunday. In spite of polling showing hug...

COVID concerns have begun rising along with case numbers in several parts of the U.S., but local community levels remain in Low range at present. Half of the Austin City Council will not face an unexpected re-election campaign this year after all, as a judge has ruled that redistricting did not disenfranchise voters. Monthly real estate numbers show a new record median home price for Austin: $640,...