President Carter Passes: President Jimmy Carter died this week at the age of 100. He was the only Democratic president to win Texas in nearly 50 years, KUT pointed out in a story that tracked political shifts in Texas since his election in 1976. In his 1980 reelection bid, Ronald Reagan beat Carter by 14 points in Texas, and won by a landslide across the U.S. But Carter continued making an impact in Texas, as he partnered with Habitat for Humanity for 35 years to build homes, particularly after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Project Connect Suit Thrown Out: The class-action lawsuit to prevent Austin from collecting more property taxes to pay for the transit overhaul Project Connect was dismissed. Plaintiffs argued that Project Connect was a bait-and-switch because the scale of the project has changed since voters approved spending taxpayer dollars on it. Bill Aleshire, representing plaintiffs, said the suit was based on a “relatively new and untested provision” in Texas Tax Code 16.05 and the dismissal decision will “very likely” be appealed, KVUE reports.
Council Members Reflect: Ahead of the new year, and newly elected City Council members being inaugurated in January, the Austin Monitor has published a series of stories based on interviews with Council members. That includes interviews with exiting Council members Leslie Pool and Mackenzie Kelly, who reflect on their proudest achievements of the last year. “The police contract definitely is at the top of that list,” Kelly said. “It was something that I wanted to get accomplished probably for two years since we didn’t have the opportunity to pass it the first time.” Pool also pointed to that contract, as well as the adoption of the Water Forward plan and other infrastructure efforts.
Woohoo One Less Step: Starting in 2025, cars registered in Texas won’t need to pass a safety inspection anymore. Texas was one of only 15 states with the requirement before, but the Texas Legislature did away with it last session. Supporters of the bill said safety inspections were time-consuming and just plain inconvenient.
Hecht Retires: Chief Justice Nathan Hecht is the most tenured Supreme Court justice in Texas history. After hearing more than 2,700 oral arguments and writing more than 7,000 pages of opinions, he’s retiring because state law requires him to, The Texas Tribune reports. In the late 1980s, as the first Republican elected to the court, his conservative stances on abortion, school finance and property rights made him stand out. Not so now. Hecht leaves a vacancy Gov. Greg Abbott will get to fill.
Smuggling in Texas: Early last year, The Austin Chronicle reported on Texas’ new human smuggling law which made driving undocumented immigrants anywhere in Texas a crime. This month, The Texas Tribune looked at how cartels are responding, by using social media to lure Americans into smuggling. Cartels will post vague statements on TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat seeking drivers for thousands of dollars, the Tribune reports.
Sssso Long Rocksssanne: A beloved snake that has entertained schoolchildren for 25 years – and somehow not strangled a single one of them over that time – is retiring from the Round Rock Public Library. Rocksssanne, a modest four-foot python, will make her last appearance at the library on Feb. 28. For most of her life, Rocksssanne has enjoyed (on some level?) being petted by her visitors but now the contact stresses her out, Andrea Warkentin, a youth services librarian, told reporters for the Statesman. Warkentin added that Rocksssanne will continue living at the library in a tank out of public view after she retires.
Standing Ground in a Fun Way Not a Gun Way: A legend was born at UT’s Nov. 30 game against Texas A&M when video caught Longhorns fan Ruslan Burns standing with folded arms, motionless and frowning, as a sea of Aggies swayed joyously around him at Kyle Field. Burns said he bought the ticket on the Aggies’ side of the stadium by accident but told KUT News he doesn’t expect a repeat of the situation when Texas takes on the No. 4 seed Arizona State in the Peach Bowl on Wednesday.
Expensive Mold: A Cedar Park family has been awarded a million-dollar settlement after a jury found that Whitestone Crossing Austin LLC engaged in deceptive practices and failed to adequately address water leaks and mold at an apartment complex it owns. Attorney Kristina Baehr told KUT that the experience of Kelsi and Corey Wright and their three children is all too common. “This is a case about an apartment complex that, like so many others, was purchased by an investment firm and they didn’t take care of it and they made people sick.”
Rising Union Right: Donald Trump is in no way a union hero, The Atlantic pointed out this week. He’s attempted to gut federal worker protections, has supported firing workers on strike, and named union busters to lead the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board. But exit polls show roughly half of union households voted Republican in 2024, an increase from 2016. The Atlantic argues that Democrats have failed to lay out attractive, specific, understandable economic policies, such as “a bill that caps the price of all prescription drugs at $25 a month.” Meanwhile, when this cycle the party pointed to good economic stats, “voters felt like the Democrats were ignoring or gaslighting them.”
Musk’s Power Growing: Last month, Elon Musk derailed a funding deal and made a government shutdown more likely. In response, The New Yorker analyzed the billionaire Austinite’s new role in American and global politics, pointing to, among other things, his “vociferous” support for the far-right party in Germany which has been in hot water for using Nazi slogans. Musk calls the party’s policies “identical” to those of 2008 U.S. Democrats. The New Yorker asks, “Was that literal? Serious or deliberately trolling? Sincere but underinformed? … It may be that Musk soon tires of politics, or politics tires of him. But this week his power seemed to be growing, and Musk appeared to be leaning in.”
Quote of the Week
“The traditional parties have failed in Germany. Their policies have led to economic stagnation, social unrest, and the erosion of national identity.”
– Not Hitler. Our own Elon Musk in his Saturday endorsement of Germany’s far-right, Nazi-slogan-wielding party
This article appears in January 3 • 2025.