Big Beautiful Bummer: Donald Trump’s prize legislation passed the Senate narrowly this week, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie. The deficit-exploding tax bill adds $3 trillion to the national debt, but the tax cuts for wealthy Americans were so great that debt wouldn’t be enough to cover it. So, it also reduces spending on Medicaid and food assistance. The cuts will take food assistance from 3 million Americans, and health insurance from 12 million. Polling showed less than 30% of Americans supported the bill.
Oligarch Check-In: Wednesday, ProPublica published a deep dive into Elon Musk’s influence in Texas, reported by Austin journalist Lauren McGaughy. It’s intense. Musk and his people lobbied for a dozen bills that benefit his companies, and Musk won legislators over every time. “Critics said these new laws will hand Musk’s companies more cash, more power and more protection from scrutiny as his business footprint continues to expand across Texas,” McGaughy writes.
Starbase Lockdown: In a creepy move that doesn’t even seem out of the ordinary at this very creepy point in time, the newly established SpaceX city – called Starbase – is blocking public roads, raising legal questions. San Antonio Express-News reports city commissioners approved four gates cutting off public access to most of the town. And just a few weeks ago, the Texas Legislature approved an act that gives Starbase’s leaders, each of whom are affiliated with SpaceX, the authority to shut down Texas 4 and Boca Chica Beach for Starship operations. (Previously, it was up to the county, which opposed such closures.)
Tesla Turmoil: That’s SpaceX, though. In the car realm, it ain’t going great for Musk. Tesla reported a further slump in global sales Tuesday, part of a trend that started last year and got worse during Musk’s stint in federal government. They’re reporting a 13.5% decline in global sales. In its first-quarter earnings report this year, Tesla reported a 71% year-over-year decline in profits.
World Watches Robotaxis: Tesla’s robotaxis are on the roads in Austin now. Or, as the San Francisco Chronicle put it, Tesla’s “primitive robotaxis.” The first few days were rough. Viral videos of the robotaxis show basic mess-ups, like pulling up nearly a block away from its pickup spot. At least one robotaxi dropped its passenger off in the middle of an intersection. As one self-driving car consultant told the San Francisco Chronicle: “Everybody else’s plan is, make it work first, then make it cheap. Tesla is saying, ‘It’s gotta be cheap on Day One. We gotta make it work with the cheapest hardware.’”
Allred Back At It: Former Dallas Congressman Colin Allred announced Tuesday that’s he’s gonna give the Senate another go in 2026. He’s a fairly moderate Democrat, and lost against Ted Cruz in 2024, actually carrying less support than the more progressive Beto O’Rourke had years before. This time Allred’s opponent could be Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn or Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Jake the Rizzbot Rizzes and Runs: Speaking of robots running amok, a cowboy hat-wearing humanoid robot, unofficially named “Jake the Rizzbot,” spat a bunch of Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang while jogging through Downtown last week. Video naturally went viral. The Unitree G1 robot was unveiled last May. It’s 4 feet tall and 77 pounds and sells for around $16,000 if you want one. But if you have 16 G’s laying around, might we suggest a cute little quirky donation to the Chronicle before you buy a joke robot?
A Porn Problem: Back in February, the Chronicle had a package focused on Texas’ many attempts to restrict sexual activity. Among them was a law passed in the 2023 legislative session, which requires any website where over a third of the content is sexual to require digital age verification of all users. A federal judge found it unconstitutional, burdening adults’ access to constitutionally protected expression. But SCOTUS disagreed, ruling Friday that the law is fine. It marks the first time SCOTUS has imposed requirements on adult consumers to protect minors from that access, NPR reports.
APD and D.A. Mending Fences: The relationship between the Travis County District Attorney’s Office and the Austin Police Department is fraught. After all, D.A. José Garza initially won on a campaign promise to prosecute APD officers who do wrong. But the D.A.’s Office and the city made a deal to drop 17 indictments against officers in 2023. In a recent joint interview with KUT, Chief Lisa Davis and Garza said they’ve been working to repair the relationship.
Fine To Ban Guns on Fairgrounds: Remember how the State Fair of Texas banned guns on the property after a 2023 shooting on the fairgrounds? And remember how Ken Paxton sued to keep guns on the grounds? Well, packing heat on the Ferris wheel is not actually going to be an option, thanks to a Dallas County district judge tossing the suit out. An appeals court and the Supreme Court of Texas also denied Paxton’s appeal to block the gun restrictions, The Texas Tribune reports.
Stars in the Dark: Man, the stars in Big Bend are really something. You can see some of the darkest nighttime skies in the world. But recent research has found the night sky in North America is getting brighter every year – on average we can see 10% fewer stars each year. The Big Bend area was designated a “dark sky reserve” in 2022, so there are policies in place to help keep things dark. It’s an ongoing process, NPR reports, and an important one. As McDonald Observatory’s Stephen Hummel said, “If we lose the night sky completely, it’s like losing a natural history museum’s worth of information.”
Texas State Joins Pac-12: Texas State University’s board of regents voted on Monday to leave the Sun Belt Conference after a dozen years. Now, they’re joining Pac-12. We don’t have much to say about that, but OK. Cool.
DEI Ban Skirted: In more education-focused education news, the Texas State Board of Education on Friday reapproved an elective high school course about the history and cultures of Native Americans, despite Republican members’ concerns that it violates the state’s DEI ban, Senate Bill 12. KUT reports Republican members found the course one-sided. For example, Brandon Hall said the course addresses “land acknowledgement” – a recognition that Indigenous people are the original inhabitants of some places. Hall says considering America “stolen land” doesn’t account for the times when property changed hands voluntarily. Suuuuuure.
New Bishop, Who Dis?: Austin Catholics have been without a Bishop after Pope Francis’ death delayed the process to replace Bishop Joe S. Vasquez, who was named Archbishop of Galveston-Houston earlier this year. Pope Leo XIV appointed Daniel E. Garcia to lead the Diocese of Austin as its sixth bishop. He promised to speak up for the “overlooked and the marginalized,” including undocumented immigrants, at a Wednesday news conference. He’s a native of Central Texas but left in 2019 to become the bishop of Monterey in Central California, the Statesman reports.
10 Commandment Challenge: Four civil liberties orgs filed suit Wednesday to block Texas’ law requiring schools to display an explicitly Protestant translation of the Ten Commandments in every public classroom. They filed on behalf of 16 families of different religious and nonreligious backgrounds.
Quote of the Week
“I don’t think we’re in any kind of crisis, but I think the days of big budget surpluses are probably over.”
– Rice University’s Bill King, a public finance expert, on the future of the state budget
This article appears in July 4 • 2025.