The Week’s Biggest News in Brief: Sept. 3-9

Republicans Assemble in Dallas: With the midterms less than two months away, Republicans from Texas and around the nation are gathering in Dallas for the party’s first-ever midterm convention. The two-day event began on Wednesday, Sept. 9, as conservatives filed into the American Airlines Center to try to energize voters and accumulate campaign funds. The unprecedented convention comes as Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico gives Republican nominee Ken Paxton a true run for his money. Now, Trump and his allies are pulling out all the stops to make sure the state’s second Senate seat and the gerrymandered Congress seats that they originally thought would be an easy win don’t turn blue. Trump is scheduled to close the event with a speech today. 

SBOE Finalizes Controversial Curriculum: The Republican-led Texas State Board of Education voted on Friday, Sept. 4, to adopt new U.S. and world history, geography, and financial literacy curriculum standards that critics say are anti-Islamic and contain critical historical gaps. Within the new criteria, the Black Power and Chicano movements, as well as aspects of the civil rights movement, are largely removed from previous teaching requirements. On top of the removal of those topics, Islam is solely mentioned within the new U.S. history teaching requirements in connection with the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. Teachers in Texas public high schools will be required to use the curriculum starting the 2030-31 school year. Read more in Sammie Seamon’s report.

ICE Agent Released on Bond: Christian Castro, the ICE agent who faces four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime after shooting and injuring a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis in January, turned himself in to federal law enforcement on Thursday, Sept. 3. The surrender comes after Minnesota officials worked to extradite Castro from Texas custody, even filing a lawsuit against Gov. Greg Abbott after he stalled the process. A Trump-appointed judge rejected Minnesota’s request to extradite Castro, leading to his release on Thursday, Aug. 27. A day after turning himself in to federal officials, Castro was released on bond. His next federal court date is scheduled for Sept. 18 in Minnesota, where he intends to plead not guilty, his lawyers said.

Major Crash Causes Wednesday Traffic: On Wednesday, Sept. 9, shortly after 8am, a serious crash took place, leaving three individuals injured, including two children in critical condition. The Southeast Austin incident resulted in the closure of the northbound I-35 Service Road, the entire intersection at the service road and Ben White Boulevard, and around Woodward Street. 

Credit: Image via ice.gov

Cisco’s Workers Detained by ICE: Two employees of Cisco’s Restaurant Bakery and Bar, an East Austin institution, were detained by ICE agents on Monday, Sept. 7, before clocking in for their shifts. According to the Statesman, the federal immigration agents arrived at the request of Texas Department of Public Safety officials. After DPS officers conducted a traffic stop, the officers found that the two individuals did not have legal immigration status, resulting in the department contacting ICE. In a statement, Cisco’s said that the two employees were parked outside the restaurant waiting to begin work for the day when DPS arrived. The arrests come as local leaders say ICE activity is increasing in the city.

Homeless Camp Sweeps: Earlier this year, Austin Homeless Strategies and Operations rolled out a new initiative to sweep homeless camps throughout the city, citing an increase in 311 calls and the statewide camping ban as the motives behind the plan. The office released a memo back in July detailing the work that the city had accomplished within the first month of the initiative, though the Chronicle found that key information such as the amount of sites cleared was not included in the report. On Sept. 2, Homeless Strategy Officer David Gray gave the City Council additional information on the plan’s early stages, where it was revealed that nearly $720,000 was spent on the initiative in just the first month. HSO also said that it is launching a Keep Clear Map, showing where encampments have been fully cleared. HSO told the Chronicle that the next report on the plan’s progress will be released in October.

Elon Musk Credit: John Anderson

Musk at It Again: Austin’s least favorite resident is up to his usual dirty tricks, The New Republic reports. Citing previous reporting by Judd Legum of the Popular Information Substack, the outlet warned on Tuesday, Sept. 8, that Elon Musk is funding an advertising campaign in swing states this midterm cycle urging voters to check their voting registration status at an unofficial website called votesafe.org. According to the report, those visiting the site will unwittingly hand over their full name, birthday, home address, email address, cellphone number, location, voter registration status, and district. The info will be collected by America PAC, the fundraising tool Musk uses to direct cash to Republicans. The PAC is then free to sell the information to X, Facebook, Google, and a tracking company named Increment Data, among others. The Chronicle encourages those wishing to check their voting status to visit vote.gov, the official website run by the Election Assistance Commission, which does not collect personal information. 

Cybercabs Rollout Around Austin: Your richest neighbor, Elon Musk, has officially begun deploying his autonomous, gold Cybercabs across town. The driverless vehicles launched last Thursday, Sept. 3, ready to compete with rival autonomous cab delivery company Waymo, which is owned by Google and has been in headlines throughout the last year for illegally passing AISD school buses and blocking an ambulance from responding to the mass shooting on Sixth Street in March. We’ll see which of the two stirs up more controversy now that Tesla’s four autonomous wheels have hit Austin’s streets.

Adult Sports Leagues Remain: When the city adopted its $6.6 billion budget last month, it had planned to discontinue all adult indoor sport leagues that are operated by Austin Parks and Recreation Department in order to save about $400,000. However, after public pushback, the city revisited the decision, announcing that the basketball and volleyball leagues will continue under city management this fall and will be outsourced for the following seasons. Despite the city’s commitment to retaining the leagues, members of the sports said they worry that they will be priced out of the league once oversight falls into the hands of a third party.

Acting Comptroller Don Huffines Credit: John Anderson

More Private School Voucher Funding: Acting Comptroller Don Huffines, who was appointed to the position by Gov. Greg Abbott after the last appointed comptroller Kelly Hancock stepped down, is asking state lawmakers to provide $2.3 billion for the recently launched private school voucher program over the next two fiscal years. This is the first year the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program has been implemented in the state, using $1 billion of taxpayer dollars to send kids to private schools throughout Texas. Huffines is currently running against state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt for the comptroller seat this November.

Dog to be Euthanized After 500-Day Isolation: Shane Lilly, an Austin resident, has been in legal battles for the last year and a half over his dog, Major. In March 2025, Lilly was walking with Major when the dog was struck by a pickup truck and fled the scene. As Lilly left the area to retrieve his phone and request assistance, Major stayed behind on a nearby porch. While the dog owner was getting his phone, a woman stopped and tried to help lift Major into her car, however, the dog bit her, which has now spiraled into a legal battle that has gone all the way to the Texas Supreme Court while Major has spent the last 500-plus days in isolation, now awaiting euthanasia. According to Statesman reporting, Major has spent more time in the isolated kennel than any other dog ordered to be euthanized since the city began collecting the data last year. Now, after Lilly’s recent emergency appeal was denied on Thursday, Sept. 3, community members have requested that the euthanasia be called off, as the city says it is working to arrange a final visit between Lilly and Major.

Hemp Continues to Lose: The Texas hemp market continues to lose one battle after another with the state. Most recently, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble denied a request from hemp companies seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would have halted enforcement of new regulations over Delta-8 products while they continue to hash out their lawsuit against the state. The companies argued that the multibillion dollar industry is at risk after the state implemented new rules that prohibit any products that contain trace amounts of cannabinoids other than the legal .3% Delta-9 limit. Guerra Gamble said that she could exceed her legal authority by granting the TRO, leading her to deny the companies’ request.

E-Bike Rules: City Council Member Paige Ellis has had her eyes on regulating e-dirt bikes and e-motorcycles for a few months now after Austinites voiced their concerns about the vehicles around town. As city staff look into potentially crafting designated areas for the vehicles to operate, the Austin Police Department and Austin park rangers and staff have updated its training on e-bikes and e-motorcycles. According to KUT, individuals are at risk of receiving citations if officers determine that the person is operating the vehicle in a dangerous manner. Arrests are also a potential consequence depending on the rider’s behavior. Parents knowingly allowing their child under 18 to ride the vehicles can also be ticketed.

Impacts of Tropical Storm Edouard: Last week, Tropical Storm Edouard hit Southeastern Texas, causing significant flooding and power outages in the affected areas. Hardin, Tyler, Montgomery, San Jacinto, Polk, Liberty, and Trinity counties all underwent flash flood warnings, as some areas saw nearly 2 feet of rain within just two days. Areas of Southwest Louisiana were also hit by the tropical storm. The storm completely dissipated on Thursday, Sept. 3 and first responders have since worked to rescue individuals from the dangerous flooding. No deaths were reported as a result of the storm, though impacted communities continue to reel from the damage.

Lamar Middle A/C Issues: Although summer break has officially ended, high temperatures still remain in Central Texas. That heat was felt at Lamar Middle School on Tuesday, Sept. 8, as the school’s HVAC system experienced issues, according to a letter from the school’s principal. Students were sent home early while the district’s crews worked to beat the heat. On Tuesday night, school officials said that the system has been repaired and classes will resume as normal on Wednesday.

Credit: Image via jamestalarico.com QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Billionaire mega-donors and their puppet politicians will gather at a convention in Dallas to clink champagne glasses and toast their own corruption.”

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico on the GOP convention

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