Dunia Bautista was watching TV in her home in East Austin when her power went out.

“It’s really hot. It’s truly very hot,” Bautista said in Spanish. She sat on the porch with her kids, trying to cool off. “I bathed my baby because she’s vulnerable and young and was heating up, so I cooled her down,” Bautista said.

Wednesday was the city’s hottest day of the year so far and about 15,000 people were without power from about 5-9 p.m. in the East Austin and Riverside neighborhoods, according to Austin Energy. The utility company said high energy demand caused the outage.

The East Side can get pretty hot and suffers more from extreme heat than other parts of Austin. Without power, neighbors stepped outside to cool off, many fanning themselves on porches, while others packed up and left for places with electricity and running air conditioning.

Clint Muhlenburg said his power went out at around 5 p.m. and his house instantly warmed up. “I’d been sitting in the dark for a while and realized … this isn’t getting better,” he said, while loading his belongings and his dog into his car.

He thought the evening would cool things down a little, but when that didn’t happen, he made plans to head to a hotel. Muhlenburg said he had no idea when the power would be back and wanted better communication from Austin Energy.

“I know it’s probably a difficult circumstance for them but just communicating would be helpful,” he said.

Cooling centers in South Austin extended their hours until 11 p.m. in case people needed a place to escape the heat. They usually close at 9 p.m.

Wednesday’s heat overloaded a transformer, which helped prevent any serious damage to the system, but resulted in the power outage. Matt Mitchell, a spokesperson with Austin Energy, said the power was restored to all customers by 9 p.m. and crews checked on other systems across town to prevent similar power outages from happening.

“We are confident it will continue to operate as it should and we will not be in a situation like we were in yesterday,” he said.

When power returned to East Austin, a warm glow returned to neighborhood windows and Austin’s iconic moonlight towers flickered back on. Cheering could be heard from the street and some residents lit a firework in celebration.

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) – South by Southwest kicks off every March in Austin, Texas and the event features sessions, music and comedy showcases, film and television screenings, world-class exhibitions, professional development and networking opportunities, tech competitions, awards ceremonies, and much more.

SXSW Pitch is back for the 17th showcase of its popular startup competition live from Austin, TX. From March 8-9, 2025, SXSW Pitch will provide startups with a unique opportunity to take the SXSW stage in front of a global audience and spotlight their innovative technology.

Pitch allows you to show off your company’s brightest idea to industry experts, early adopters, and representatives from the Venture Capital/Angel Investor community. Finalists will be selected across nine categories including AgTech & Food; Enterprise, Smart Data, FinTech & Future of Work; Entertainment, Media, Sports & Content; Extended Reality, Web3, Voice & Robotics; HealthTech, MedTech, BioTech & Accessibility; Innovative World Tech; Security, GovTech & Space; Smart Cities, Transportation & Sustainability and Student Startups.

Early Entry deadline is September 8, 2024

Read More: EatLafayette Passport; How to Get it and Win a Trip to Austin

Read More: Stunning $2.7 Million ‘Oasis’ in Texas Will Take Your Breath Away 

Pitch By The Numbers

Since 2009, over 93% of the companies that participated in SXSW Pitch received funding, with a combined funding of over $23.2 billion. Of these participants, 17% have been acquired by companies including Google, British Telecom, Huffington Post, Apple, Live Nation, OpenTable, Meta, Michelin, and more. Some of SXSW Pitch’s most prestigious alumni include Klout, ICON, Hipmunk, Siri, Foodspotting, and Tango. Browse the SXSW Pitch alumni archives for more success stories.

Elevate Your Startup

Have what it takes to join the ranks of SXSW Pitch greats? Applications are open through November 3 for SXSW 2025. Explore what SXSW Pitch is all about, learn more about the 2025 Categories and find out if you meet the eligibility criteria before submitting your application.

• Early Bird Entry: June 25–September 8, 2024 ($100 Fee)
• Regular Entry: September 9–November 3, 2024 ($220 Fee)

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Department of Public Safety is rolling out a new policy that will block transgender Texans from changing the sex on their driver’s licenses and state ID cards.

Equality Texas sent CBS Austin an internal email from DPS that instructs employees to deny these requests.

Ash Hall with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas says the Texas Department of Public Safety’s new policy isn’t just ignorant, but downright dangerous.

“It’s not at all transparent, it leaves the people out of the process, and I think it’s intentional,” Hall said. “That opens them up to discrimination, harassment, and even violence.”

A leaked email confirmed by KUT News and sent to CBS Austin by Equality Texas reveals a new policy in which Texans will no longer be able to change the sex on their licenses unless it’s to fix a clerical error. Similar policies have already been put in place in Florida, Kansas, and Montana.

“It’s really obvious that that directive is exclusionary, it is meant to render transgender people invisible,” Hall said.

Hall says even more frightening is the directive to record these requests and send them to a specific email address, which they say is reminiscent of a request Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made in 2022 to gather the same data from DPS.

“I become really anxious, in particular about the list,” Hall said. “For one thing, we have no idea what that list is being used for.”

Brad Pritchett is interim CEO of the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas. He says there are nearly 93,000 trans-Texans, and the importance of them having driver’s licenses can’t be overstated.

ALSO| Queer students look for alternatives after Texas A&M ends transgender health care services

“You need your ID to drive, you need that ID to vote in Texas,” Pritchett said. “You need it for any number of things.”

If gender markers on legal documents don’t match, Hall fears it could lead to confusion or even violence.

“That officer could accuse that trans woman of fraud, which is obviously not the case but that’s how it could look to an officer,” Hall said.

While groups like the Trans Legal Aid Clinic of Texas say it may be best to wait to turn any court order sex change documentation into Texas DPS, Pritchett still recommends going through the process to get it.

“It’s not a simple process to go through,” Pritchett said. “This is being done by people who are playing by the rules, who are following the law to make these changes.”

In a statement, the ACLU of Texas points out that state agencies can’t ignore court orders nor is DPS allowed to collect or share people’s personal information for political aim. While there are no legal challenges yet, Hall believes the policy is destined to fail.

“They are going around the people of Texas in order to intact these harmful, high-stakes policies simply because they have anti-trans animus,” Hall said.

In a statement, the Department of Public Safety says:

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has recently raised concerns regarding the validity of court orders being issued that purport to order state agencies—including DPS—to change the sex of individuals in government records, including driver’s licenses and birth certificates. Neither DPS nor other government agencies are parties to the proceedings that result in the issuance of these court orders, and the lack of legislative authority and evidentiary standards for the Courts to issue these orders has resulted in the need for a comprehensive legal review by DPS and the OAG. Therefore, as of Aug. 20, 2024, DPS has stopped accepting these court orders as a basis to change sex identification in department records – including driver’s licenses.

Equality Texas says to visit their website to get connected with resources or legal advice.