Austin is fortunate to have very low levels of lead in drinking water compared to other parts of the country. Our source waters of Lake Austin and Lake Travis contain no lead, and there is no lead in Austin’s treated drinking water.

Austin Water’s lime softening treatment process, in use since the 1920s, produces non-corrosive, scale-forming water that creates a protective coating on the inside of pipes. This prevents materials such as lead and copper from leaching into the water. More than 30 years before federal bans took effect, Austin also enacted local rules prohibiting lead in plumbing. When lead is occasionally detected at the tap, it is almost always due to contamination from private plumbing or fixtures.

In October 2024, Austin Water completed field investigations of all water service lines in the system. There are no lead service lines in Austin Water’s distribution system.
 

(TNS) — Self-driving truck firm Einride will soon begin using a Central Texas highway as a test bed for its purpose-built, cabless autonomous freight vehicles.

Einride is partnering with SH 130 Concession Co. to position the Texas 130 toll road, which connects Austin and San Antonio, as a corridor for autonomous freight operations.

Founded in 2016, Einride has more than 25 enterprise customers across North America, Europe and the Middle East. Based in Sweden with U.S. headquarters in Austin, it boasts a proprietary AI platform with a zero-traffic incident safety record.

“This partnership with SH 130 Concession Co. marks an important step forward in proving the scalability and economic benefits of electric and autonomous freight,” said Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli. “By establishing this test bed, Einride is further cementing Austin, Texas, as a hub for our American autonomous freight operations, collaborating with infrastructure operators and regulators to scale safe, performance-based deployments.”

In an announcement Tuesday, Einride said it will test autonomous highway operations on Segments 5 and 6 of Texas 130, which start at the Texas 45 SE split south of Austin near Mustang Ridge and extend through Seguin to I-10. The Texas Department of Transportation operates the northern segments of Texas 130.

Its tests arrive in a complex regulatory environment, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Congress considering how to address the rapidly increasing number of autonomous vehicles on city streets and highways.

But Einride and SH 130 Concession Co. say their partnership provides a strategic route for fleets to move freight reliably through the region.

Einride, which had a fleet of about 200 autonomous and electric trucks as of late 2025, says it operates one of the world’s largest electric heavy-duty fleets. Its autonomous trucks are in daily operation with customers in both the U.S and in Europe. Some of its work has included PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay food distribution near Memphis and transport of finished goods between GE Appliances’ manufacturing facility and warehouse in Selmer, Tenn.

Einride’s new partnership with the private company that operates and maintains the southern section of the state-owned highway could be a higher-stakes test of its autonomous tech.

SH 130 Concession recorded more than 12.6 million transactions on the roadway in 2023 and boasts itself as a safe and fast alternative to the congested Interstate 35 route through the region. The segment of the toll road Einride will use to test its vehicles has the nation’s highest speed limit at 85 mph.

To charge its vehicles, Einride and SH 130 Concession say they are drafting a blueprint for a next-generation rest stop. The stop will manage the autonomous trucks with high-capacity EV charging and specialized docking requirements.

The partners are also exploring the feasibility of integrating Einride’s optimization software, known as Saga AI, with SH 130 Concession’s digital ecosystem to handle data sharing and traffic management.

SH 130 Concession Co. CEO Ananth Prasad said the partnership supports the company’s push for new transportation technology in Texas.

“We’re actively working with freight customers, industry partners and TxDOT to implement new technology solutions,” he said in a statement. “And by aligning digital infrastructure, connectivity readiness, and future charging capacity, SH 130 Concession Company is advancing its ambition to establish the roadway as a nationally recognized route for autonomous freight movement.”

©2026 the San Antonio Express-News, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

AUSTIN, Texas — It is often said that the people who come together to make a movie end up feeling like family. At this year’s SXSW there are a number of movies where some of those people actually are family.

Starring husband and wife Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, “Family Movie” also features their two adult children, Sosie Bacon and Travis Bacon. (Sosie’s partner, the actor Scoot McNairy, has a small role as well.) The story is about a family that makes low-budget horror movies together, touching on the growing tensions their lack of success creates among them and the lengths they will go to for their latest project.

“Their Town,” about two high school students connecting after they are thrown together for a school play, is directed by Katie Aselton, written by her husband Mark Duplass and stars their 18-year-old daughter Ora Duplass in her first feature.

There are several other films at SXSW with family ties: Jonás Cuarón’s literary adaptation “Campeón Gabacho” is produced by his father, Alfonso Cuarón, and features music by his cousin Mateo Cuarón. Dempsey Bryk directs his brother Billy Bryk in the comedy “Crash Land.” And Maude Apatow directs her mother Leslie Mann in the dramedy “Poetic License.”

On a video call from a Santa Monica post-production facility where they were finishing their movie shortly before the festival, both Bacon and Sedgwick acknowledge that they co-directed “Family Movie” together but because of DGA rules, only one of them could be credited. They decided on Bacon.

“It was actually a really good one for us to direct together because we’re both acting in it,” says Bacon. “So if we had a scene where Kyra was in hair and makeup and wardrobe, I could be by the monitor. And my technique for directing her is usually just staying out of her way and making sure that the camera’s in the right spot. If we were both in the scene, it would become a little bit more of a collaboration.”

The project’s origins go back to when they made a short together during the pandemic on their farm in Connecticut. (“We’re workaholics and you can say that loud and clear in the L.A. Times so that we get more work,” cracks Sedgwick, maybe only half-kidding.) They had an idea for a feature about a filmmaking family. After they brought on screenwriter Dan Beers, he separately interviewed Sedgwick, Bacon and their children while developing the script into more of a comedy.

“So there’s some meta stuff going on in the movie,” says Sedgwick. “But it was always made for our family to do together.”

“And honestly, we didn’t know that the kids were going to say yes,” notes Bacon.

“We were so excited about the idea and we were like: Hope the kids want to do this,” continues Sedgwick. “I was like, I’m sure they’re not going to want to do it. And they were like, ‘We’d love to.’ I couldn’t believe it. It made me very happy.”

Kevin Bacon, from left, Sosie Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick and Travis Bacon in “Family Movie.”

(SXSW)

The Bacon-Sedgwick clan shot on a ranch near Round Top, Texas, having first scouted the location when Bacon was at SXSW last year with the series “The Bondsman.” Though Sosie is an established performer with roles in movies such as “Smile” and the current series “Scarpetta,” Travis, a musician, had never acted before. (He also did the music for “Family Movie.”)

One possible concern heading into the project was whether the family’s off-screen dynamics translated into something legitimately special on-screen or merely a lot “Ugh, mom” or “Whatever, dad” moments of behind-the-scenes tension.

But that didn’t prove to be an issue. Much.

“I would say that the family dynamics were pretty evident on set,” said Bacon, dryly. “But I will also say that our kids remain just wonders to us in terms of their level of hard work and professionalism and kindness. We’re not really surprised, but to actually see it was very touching and really kind of magical.”

Sedgwick noted that all four of them lived on one property with three small houses during the shoot so they were able to spend even more time than usual together during production, often having coffee together in the mornings.

“As a parent, you don’t really get to watch your kids navigating their way in the world as adults,” she says. “So having a window into that and also to be like, ‘Phew, they’re such good people,’ it was just such a gift. Because it could have been, ‘Geez, they’re a nightmare.’”

Ora Duplass, right, and Chosen Jacobs in the movie “Their Town.”

(SXSW)

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That feeling of a parent’s pleasant astonishment at how their children carried themselves became a part of the making of the Aselton-Duplass family’s “Their Town” as well. Mark Duplass wrote the project specifically with his daughter Ora in mind, his script a reflection of how platonic friendships among Gen Z often seemed as important as romantic relationships. That wasn’t being reflected in the young adult projects he saw. He quickly realized the perfect director was right there in Ora’s mother Aselton.

On a three-way call shortly before the start of SXSW, Mark Duplass is at his production company’s office in Highland Park, Katie Aselton is at their home in Los Angeles and Ora Duplass is in Vancouver finishing shooting on the upcoming Disney+ series “Coven Academy.”

“Just speaking candidly, you have all these ideas when you raise kids about how you want things to go,” says Mark Duplass. “When Katie and I had Ora all we could think of was that we’re going to show her all our favorite movies and she’s going to love all of our favorite movies. And it’s just not that way. She’s not as interested in our stuff and we’re not always as interested in her stuff. And it’s made this unexpected but actually quite beautiful blend, which is we actually come at these things from different angles.

“She is squarely her own person and fought kicking tooth and nail to become that through ages 14, 15 and 16 and has come out the other side,” he continues. “And in a lot of ways, this movie was a part of that process. And I think the movie is better for it. It’s different than I thought it would be. And richer.”

“There were a lot of wild family dynamics to sift through,” says Aselton, whose previous films as director include “The Freebie” and “Magic Hour.” “But then that’s also what a film set is like. Once you’re on a great film set, you’re all family anyways, you’re all interconnected and leaning on each other. And with similar emotional pitfalls.”

Ora Duplass admits she was nervous about how their mother-daughter dynamic would play out on set, but she soon found it to be much more of a bonus than a problem.

“I think we were really great at separating it, but I also feel like we didn’t need to,” she says. “It was just kind of one in that moment: She’s my mother and also my director that’s comforting me, helping me through the scene. It worked really well.”

“It is a gift as a director to know what the true emotional depth of your lead actor is,” adds Aselton. “I know what she’s capable of, which is so cool because when you are working with someone that you met a couple weeks prior, you don’t always know.”

Mark Duplass echoes the sentiments of Bacon and Sedgwick, seeing his daughter as a working adult and being moved.

“Not to get corny, but I’m the dad here and I’ve got to say just this one thing,” he adds, a growing swell of emotion in his voice. “As parents, we were watching Ora, who was in that COVID generation that had it really tough. And so we wanted to set this challenge for her, but we weren’t sure exactly how it was going to go. And when you watch Ora show up and do these 12-hour days out in the cold at night and just sort of rise up, it was one of the most incredible moments I’ve had as a parent, when you’re watching your child find that thing that they love and are good at. And it did happen on this movie.”

As to whether these family units will work together again, Sedgwick and Bacon acknowledge it is not entirely up to them.

“I’m sure they’ve had it with us,” Sedgwick says with a laugh. “For me it was heavenly from the beginning till the end. That doesn’t mean that it was always easy, but it was kind of beyond my wildest dreams.”

Duplass and Aselton say their younger daughter Molly has no interest in show business. And Ora’s career already seems well underway on its own.

“My goal: I’m 49, I’m ready to get to that part of my career where I’ve lost my creative center,” the “Morning Show” star jokes, “I go into the big fade, Ora becomes immensely popular and successful and I ride her coattails all the way into the sunset. I would love that so much.”

Asks Aselton, “Can we be nepo-parents?”