The Week’s Biggest News in Brief: April 30 – May 6

Billionaire Backers of Hate: VOCAL-TX, local advocates for low-income Austinites and people experiencing homelessness, kicked off its Billionaire Backers of Hate campaign on May 1, International Workers Day, by holding a rally in the courtyard of the Frost Bank building. The campaign aims to familiarize Austinites with the billionaires living in the city and how they use their wealth to undermine democracy. Last week’s action focused attention on Joe Liemandt, the founder of Trilogy Software, who donated $125,000 to Gov. Greg Abbott’s gubernatorial campaign and is principal of the Alpha School, which replaces traditional teaching methods with an AI model that he says will be more efficient. VOCAL-TX said it will host monthly rallies focused on other Austin billionaires, including Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir, who is working to criminalize homelessness across the country, and Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb, whose business drives up the cost of housing by bringing short-term rentals to working-class neighborhoods. 

James Broadnax Executed: Texas executed another death row inmate last Thursday, April 30. James Broadnax, who was sentenced to death for the 2008 robbery and fatal shooting of Matthew Butler and Stephen Swan, died at 37 years old after being administered a lethal injection. Despite his final appeal that brought forward a confession from his cousin, Demarius Cummings, who claimed that it was he who actually shot and killed the men, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the state to move forward with the execution. The next individual set to be executed is Edward Busby, who was convicted of capital murder in 2005 for robbing and killing a woman. The execution is scheduled for May 14.

Legality of Abortion Pills: Last Friday, May 1, the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals temporarily froze a 2023 federal law that has allowed for abortion pills – mifepristone – to be virtually prescribed and mailed across the country. But that’s been paused. On Monday, May 4, the Supreme Court temporarily restored access to the drug, blocking the lower court’s ruling. After abortion was banned in the state back in 2022, mailed mifepristone and misoprostol pills have become one of the most effective ways for Texans to find care. Justice Samuel Alito has put the discussion on hold for a week, allowing the country’s highest court to evaluate the appeals court’s decision before making a decision. This ruling would restrict access to mifepristone in the state, while still allowing access to misoprostol, which has about an 80% effectiveness rate when taken alone.

Travis County District Attorney José Garza Credit: Jana Birchum

D.A.’s Office Cleared: The District Attorney’s Office was accused in March of withholding evidence in a 2020 protest case, in which APD Officer Chance Bretches was indicted on charges of aggravated assault with serious bodily injury by a public servant and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon by a public servant. Since then, D.A. José Garza and his office have argued that Bretches’ defense failed to identify any undisclosed evidence or meet the legal threshold required to stop the case, which is scheduled for trial on June 1. Doug O’Connell, the attorney representing Bretches, claimed that Garza and others withheld evidence and partook in secret meetings with city officials to discuss whether the city would be held responsible for injuries to protesters. On Monday, Travis County Judge Karen Sage dismissed the allegations against Garza and his office, stating that “the court is not convinced by the ‘alternative suspect’ theory,” and instead wants additional information before the June hearing.

AISD Budget Cuts: On Tuesday, May 5, Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura sent a letter out to the district’s community, detailing proposed budget cuts to combat a $181 million deficit. In the letter, Segura said that the district has found $73.8 million that can be reduced from central and department budgets, along with $33.9 million proposed reductions to campus budgets. After approving the closure of 10 campuses late last year, the district is currently in the process of attempting to sell some of the properties. Segura said that AISD officials expect to accumulate $45 million in revenue from those sales. The district has also outlined potential staffing ratio changes, which would result in some teachers having to increase class sizes. 

Stocking Carp in Lake Austin: Austin Watershed Protection announced that it released 2,790 additional sterile grass carp into Lake Austin last week to help manage hydrilla, a non-native plant that can lead to risks for the environment or community when overgrown. With the plant growing in approximately 37% of the lake, up from 30% in September, the grass carp are being used to combat the overgrown population. 

Comptroller Kelly Hancock Credit: Jana Birchum

Second Round of School Vouchers: Comptroller Kelly Hancock announced that over 53,000 students have been awarded Texas Education Freedom Accounts for the upcoming school year, as part of the program’s second rollout of the private school vouchers. Following 42,600 students awarded in the first round two weeks ago, second-round awards were distributed between Monday, May 4, and Wednesday, May 6. The recipients fall under the second tier of the program – households with incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. Families who have received TEFA awards have until mid-July to enroll in a participating private school or homeschool.

Travis County Childcare Expansion: Childcare in Travis County is going to become more accessible, officials said, after the Travis County Commissioners Court approved $17.6 million in contracts to expand its reach. The county is partnering with over a dozen nonprofits in the area, including Austin Sunshine Camps, Latinitas, the Greater Austin YMCA, and United Way for Greater Austin. According to the Statesman, most of the organizations will provide care for youth outside of school hours, which would free up 5,200 spaces for children in need of care. The contracts are set to last through September 2027, with an option to renew for a year. The county also approved a $730,000 agreement with Pflugerville ISD to strengthen afterschool programs at eight of the district’s elementary schools with low-income student populations.

City Hall Credit: John Anderson

This Week at City Council: It’s been a busy week at City Council. On Tuesday, Council heard an update on the city’s plan to increase homeless camp sweeps. The plan, expected to go into effect next week, will send six teams to camps across the city, Monday through Friday. People who have experienced previous sweeps described them to Council as cruel and destructive. Today, Council is expected to approve an expansion of the HOME program, which allows three housing units on single-family lots. Opponents say it will damage the character of the city’s historic neighborhoods. Council is also expected to require the city to postpone its One ATS program, a plan to consolidate the city’s tech workers into one central department. AFSCME Local 1624, the union representing the city’s workers, continues to characterize the plan as a danger to public safety and efficiency. 

Camp Mystic Won’t Reopen: At last week’s hearings regarding the July 2025 floods that left 25 youth Texans dead while attending Camp Mystic, along with two counselors and one of the camp’s co-owners, the owners and staff were hopeful to reopen for the upcoming summer. On Thursday, April 30, the summer camp’s leadership had a change of heart, announcing that it has withdrawn its application for a license with the Texas Department of State Health Services to operate in summer 2026, according to the Statesman. Throughout the hearings, lawmakers and parents of the victims argued that the camp should not have their license renewed due to the catastrophic event. 

Wimberley Plane Crash: Last Thursday, April 30, a small plane crashed near Wimberley in Hays County, killing five people, according to the Statesman. Originally set to fly into New Braunfels National Airport out of a small private airfield near Amarillo, the crash took place in a wooded area around the 200 block of Round Rock Road between 11pm and 11:30pm. One nearby resident’s home caught fire due to the incident. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

State Capitol building Credit: Getty Images

Lawsuits Regarding Capitol Ban: After receiving one-year bans from the Texas Capitol due to participating in an August 2025 protest in support of state Rep. Nicole Collier, three women have filed a lawsuit against state leaders and the Texas State Preservation Board. Although their charges were dropped, they still remain banned from the grounds. The women’s lawsuit argues that the bans are unconstitutional for violating the First and 14th Amendments, because it would disable them from partaking in public hearings or meetings with officials at the Capitol.

State of Travis County: On Thursday, April 30, Travis County Judge Andy Brown and Leander Mayor Na’Cole Thompson delivered their 2026 State of the County address. During the discussion, the two highlighted some of the work that the county has done to strengthen healthcare access for youth through the Raising Travis County initiative, prevent overdose deaths within the county, and provide counsel at first appearance for arrested individuals. County officials also pointed to projects in development, such as a Museum District in Downtown Austin, expanding public parkland, and advancing the Supportive Housing Initiative Pipeline, which is already in the process of providing 3,000 affordable housing units through an investment of around $120 million.

Texas MonthlyEarns Pulitzer Prize: Aaron Parsley, senior editor at Texas Monthly, has earned a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for his piece “Where the River Took Us,” a first-person narrative that details his own family’s experiences during the July 2025 floods. At the family’s river home between Ingram and Hunt, off of the Guadalupe River, Parsley takes the reader on an intense, heart-wrenching journey that portrays how the family battled against the flood, attempting to survive the tragic incident. His young nephew, Clay Parisher, died due to the flooding. It is the first time in Texas Monthly history that the magazine has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize.

Austin Energy Gives AISD $2 Million: Last Thursday, April 30, Austin ISD was awarded a $2 million check from Austin Energy for its contributions to energy conservation for the last six years – a combination of energy efficiency rebates and demand response incentives. As part of Austin Energy’s demand response program, the district has worked to reduce its electrical use for two hours on certain days and times, typically during the hottest days of the summer, and later receive payment from the city for the energy reduction. Austin Energy said that the district has consistently remained one of the top participants in the program since enrolling in 2016.

Patterson Rd. Sidewalk Open House: Travis County is holding an open house at Barton Creek Elementary on Monday, May 11, to get feedback from the community on the proposed Patterson Road Sidewalk Project. As part of the Active Transportation Safety Program and the Safe Routes to School initiatives, the $1 million project is intended to improve public safety and connectivity from Bee Caves Road to Emma Avenue in the county’s third precinct. Austinites unable to physically attend can take part in the process by virtually providing feedback between May 11 and May 25.

Harris Elementary Opening: While Austin ISD works to balance a $181 million budget deficit, community members and district officials gathered at the recently built Harris Elementary to celebrate the opening of the new school. Located in Windsor Park in Northeast Austin, the project is one of the first that the district has opened as part of the $2.4 billion 2022 bond package. According to the Austin Current, district leaders have said that renovations associated with the program are about 50% complete, as the estimated cost of all of the projects has risen to over $2.6 billion. District officials have said that they have accounted for the increase in costs and expect spending to decline as the program progresses.

Rent in the Austin Area: Several cities in and around the Austin area hit the top 10 lists for having either the most affordable rent as a percentage of income, or the biggest drop in median rent over the last year, according to a recent study of 644 cities around the country. Seguin was listed as the nation’s most affordable city relative to average rent cost, as of February 2026, with Temple second and San Marcos eighth. And New Braunfels had the nation’s biggest drop in median rent – over 11.5% from April 2025 to April 2026, according to data from ApartmentList, with Round Rock in eighth with 8.7%. “The sharpest rent declines are concentrated in cities that expanded rapidly during the pandemic and are now facing oversupply. In New Braunfels (-11.53%), Denton (-10.18%), and Round Rock (-8.67%), falling rents reflect a wave of new apartment completions across Texas, where aggressive construction pipelines have begun to outpace current demand,” the study reads.

APD Autism Acceptance: APD is inviting the public out to the third annual Autism Acceptance Event on Saturday, May 9, at Hope Lutheran Church. Hosted by the Austin Police Office of Community Liaison, the event will allow community members to interact with first responders, view mock traffic stops, and take part in a raffle. A decompression tent will be available on-site, along with Spanish and ASL interpreters, upon request.

McNeil Football Coach Placed on Leave: McNeil High School’s head football coach, Jonathan Cory Cruz, has been placed on administrative leave. According to the Statesman, the decision by Round Rock ISD officials comes after the coach was arrested on a warrant for injury to a child, elderly, or disabled individual with intent to cause bodily injury. Cruz was just hired as head coach and campus athletic coordinator in late March. The arrest is tied to a 2024 incident and does not involve any students, law enforcement said.

Pflugerville Restaurant Shooting: At 1:30am on Wednesday, May 6, Austin police responded to a shooting at Down South CaJJun Eats that left one person dead and at least four more injured. Officers found a man wounded by gunshots in the strip mall’s parking lot upon arrival and attempted to provide lifesaving measures. The individual was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. According to law enforcement, multiple suspects fled the scene but were later found and taken into custody.

CNN Founder Dies: Ted Turner, founder of CNN, died at 87 years old on Wednesday, May 6. Turner made his first step into media when he took over his family’s billboard advertising business, Turner Outdoor Advertising, when he was just 24 years old. He then began to purchase radio stations before acquiring a news broadcast station in Atlanta where he revitalized the network by airing Atlanta Braves games. As he began to think about the future of broadcast news, he considered how many people, such as himself, miss the opportunity to catch up on daily news due to everyday obligations. That is when he set his sights on crafting a 24-hour news channel, CNN, which was founded in 1980 as the first broadcast network that worked around the clock. The publication has brought both Americans and international viewers up to speed on happenings around the world for over 45 years since. He would go on to sell the broadcast network to Time Warner in 1996 for over $7 billion. In his years after selling the company, Turner worked as a vice chairman of Time Warner before internet provider AOL purchased Time Warner and he later resigned, then turning his life to focus on family and philanthropy.

Credit: murray.senate.gov QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The Fifth Circuit just told millions of women that three judges know better than the FDA, their doctors, and 25 years of evidence. They don’t. This restriction on medication abortion is a nationwide abortion restriction, full stop.”

Washington state Sen. Patty Murray in an X post

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