Journalist in Austin, TX. Currently covering public safety for @statesman. Call/text/Signal: 512-666-0903
Austin, TX, USA
Joined February 2009
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This is such a tough situation. I don't know what I would do if my kids' school was put in the same position. statesman.com/news/education…
Some pretty interesting editorial board endorsements for city council candidates in Austin's daily and weekly newspapers this cycle.
If the ICE agent who shot Wilber Rafael Garces Perez is found criminally liable, can local prosecutors hold him liable? It'll be an uphill battle. statesman.com/news/local/art…
Beyond an indictment, trying the case could be very difficult. I've covered four police use of force trials. In all of them, this kind of evidence played a key role in the case presented by the state/plaintiffs.
Austin Sanders retweeted
Kid Cudi performing “Pursuit of Happiness” on The Late Show With David Letterman, 17 years ago today (2009)
Austin Sanders retweeted
Very obvious this person took our Project Connect story, which includes original findings, asked AI to rewrite it and published the result on their Substack.
They link to the story, but this is still plagiarism.
texastribune.org/2026/05/21/…
Project Connect has left the station: and it's going to cost Austin taxpayers a 20% permanent increase to their property taxes... forever. It's nearly impossible to stop at this point. And that money goes to a third party "Local Government Corp" -- ATP -- so we don't even have visibility or authority over it.
Near/around $1B cumulatively collected already by this shadow entity (which pays its CEO $400k+ a year, btw) and no rail yet laid. The project total is swelling to $8.2B-$10.3B -- with no end in sight.
Can the train be stopped? One woman, Cathy Cocco, isn’t afraid to jump on the tracks to try: austinreform.substack.com/p/…
Houston has paid consultants $1 million to look for governmental efficiencies and it looks like what they've come up with so far is employ fewer people? Am I missing something? houstonchronicle.com/politic…
A former Austin police commander is accused of a "coercive sexual relationship" with a city employee he worked alongside. statesman.com/news/courts/ar…
Worth noting for those who weren’t there at the time/have forgotten: city staff estimated this ballot proposition would have cost between $54-$119 million annually. austinchronicle.com/news/sav…
Austin police are taking longer to respond to 911 calls, even though they are responding to fewer of them.
Read the full story here and see what Police Chief Lisa Davis thinks about allegations that response times have slowed because officers are quiet quitting. statesman.com/news/local/art…
I went on Austin Signal yesterday to talk about the report. You can listen to that discussion here: kutkutx.studio/austin-signal…
Great story. I haven't followed this one super closely, but learned today that the consultant the city hired to look for IT efficiencies compared Austin's IT staffing to other cities...but they won't say which other cities!
Austin council could halt a proposed IT consolidation just weeks before it was supposed to start. Officials say the reorganization could save up to $142 million per year. Read my latest for @statesman here:
statesman.com/news/local/art…
whatever happened to those guys who used to post about austin politics on here with the teddy Roosevelt profile picture and the other guy with the al capone profile picture? you don't hear much about them anymore. They got replaced by a new crop of guys, it seems.
The city is preparing to launch a large and sustained effort to sweep homeless encampments throughout the city in what is the most significant expansion of that work since Austin voters banned public camping in 2021.
This map shows what parts of the city will be targeted.
The map does not contain exact locations of encampments, but you can search addresses to find nearby sites that may be cleared when the crackdown begins in mid-May. statesman.com/news/local/art…
