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Austin, TX

Megadonors are controlling the Speaker vote in Austin

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Megadonors are controlling the Speaker vote in Austin


The signs of a dysfunctional Texas House were on full display over the last several weeks as the Republican Caucus sparred over who should be the Speaker of the House for the 89th Legislative Session. Gone are the days of the “Vote your district” mantra in the Texas Capitol. This new wave of extreme freshmen legislators have ushered in a new age of “Vote Wilks and Dunn.” The losers are the citizens of Texas.

If there even was any chance of the Texas House holding onto its integrity, it is now mostly gone, as former Speaker Dade Phelan dropped out of the Speaker’s race on Friday.

Look at the facts and ignore the lies: Phelan led the two most conservative sessions in Texas history. It was an honor to help pass Constitutional Carry, pro-life bills, property tax relief, critical border security and anti-woke legislation in the 87th and 88th legislative sessions under the leadership of Speaker Phelan.

The far-right rage machine, financed by megadonors Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, spent the last few years smearing Phelan as a “liberal” simply because he refused to kiss their rings. Political consultants, searching to cash in on tough, and expensive, political campaigns, made the 2024 primary season one of the nastiest elections Texas has ever seen. Grifters lied about Republican representatives’ records, used AI to generate deceitful images for political ads and spent millions of dollars to manipulate the voting public and defeat the legislators who served their districts and not the interests of theo-oligarch kingmakers. Again, the losers are the citizens of Texas.

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The Wilks and Dunn camp continues to stifle open debate and conscious-based voting, the very cornerstones of democracy. They wear down anyone with integrity by launching non-stop barrages of hate and misinformation towards them. It looks as if Phelan did not want to keep putting his family and himself through that chaos and meanness. Who can blame him?

The shrillest voices in the House Republican Caucus were very clear in their intentions to remove Phelan as Speaker of the House and install their own hand-picked candidate. Follow the money and find the common denominator among them. Dunn and Wilks donated millions to political campaigns and to dark money supporting organizations. Their looming threat of a well-funded primary opponent sways the minds of many Texas legislators.

But while it may look like two billionaires control the Texas Legislature this session, Texans should not be completely dismayed. There are those who will get down to Austin and realize that the people of their districts are more important than two mega-donors.

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For the sake of all Texans, let’s hope they will decide to remember the words of Sam Houston: “Do right, and risk the consequences.”

Rep. Glenn Rogers, R-Graford, represents District 60 in the Texas House of Representatives. His service in the Texas House will end in January.

We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com



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Austin, TX

Austin, TX venue Emo’s on the move again, AEG to take over the building

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Austin, TX venue Emo’s on the move again, AEG to take over the building


Emo’s in Austin is on the move again. 

After more than a decade at 2015 E. Riverside Drive (following the original Red River-era venue closing in 2011), Emo’s current Riverside space will be taken over by AEG Presents when the lease ends later this year. The Los Angeles, CA-based company will assume operations in January 2027 and plans to reopen the building under a new name in early 2027 following upgrades, renovations and a full rebrand.

AEG are also opening a new 4,000-cap venue nearby next spring as part of the River Park mixed-use development in southeast Austin.

C3 Presents, who reopened Emo’s at the Riverside location, say this isn’t the end of Emo’s — they’re working on a new home and plan to move the venue back to downtown Austin, with more updates to come.

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AEG Presents Vice President Robin Phillips shared the following:

There’s like no weirdness or any bad blood or anything. It just, you know, new lease and they’ll [Emo’s] go do something great. They have been important to the Austin music scene, so I have a lot of respect for them.

But I don’t think the Austin music scene or legacy is limited to one name. I know people will remember the original Emo’s and this Emo’s as, you know, both great venues… And I don’t think Austin’s music scene is just a name, it’s the artists, in my opinion.

 

A C3 spokesperson added:

Emo’s has a long history in Austin and we’ve been working behind the scenes for some time on a new home for this venue. After we wrap up at this venue in December, we will focus our efforts on our new location.

 

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Emo’s gave the following statement to Austin local news KXAN:

We’re grateful for all of the fans and artists who’ve shaped Emo’s to what it is today: a community of like-minded people who love live music. We have a vision for our future and will be moving into a new building downtown that celebrates our punk rock roots with the new amenities that fans are looking for from a venue. We’ll continue to share updates on the next chapter for Emo’s on social media.





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Austin, TX

Highly pathogenic virus found in herd of Texas dairy cows

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Highly pathogenic virus found in herd of Texas dairy cows


State and federal agriculture officials said highly pathogenic avian flu has been found in a herd of dairy cows in Texas.

What we know:

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Officials said the H5N1 virus was confirmed with laboratory tests in late May after cows at an unspecified farm became sick and milk production dropped. The dairy has since been quarantined and an investigation is underway.

This is the first case of avian flu in a Texas dairy herd this year, officials said.

What they’re saying:

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“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is confident that pasteurization is effective at inactivating H5N1, and that the commercial, pasteurized milk supply is safe,” officials at the Texas Animal Health Commission said in a statement.

A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026.

A dairy cow is seen at a farm on June 1, 2026. (Tim Evans/Bloomberg / Getty Images)

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Dig deeper:

H5N1 has a high rate of severe disease and death in animals that become infected.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk to the general public from avian flu is low. Some sporadic human infections have been reported around the world since 1997. There have been no known cases of person-to-person spreading of avian flu.

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The Source: Information in this story came from the Texas Animal Health Commission, the USDA, the FDA and the CDC.

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Austin, TX

New Texas law tightens rules for autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo

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New Texas law tightens rules for autonomous vehicle companies, including Waymo


Self-driving cars have become a common sight on Austin streets, but a new Texas law is adding tougher requirements for the companies behind the wheelless vehicles.

Senate Bill 2807 imposes stricter rules on autonomous vehicle companies operating in the state, including state authorization, emergency response plans for law enforcement, and a public portal where residents can verify operators and file safety complaints.

The changes come as Austin continues to track incidents involving autonomous vehicles. The city’s autonomous vehicle dashboard shows 75 incidents in 2026, including a collision, eight near misses, and seven incidents of ignoring police direction.

Attorney Drew Gibbs, a partner at Slingshot Law, said one crash involved a Waymo vehicle.

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“There was a T-bone collision. A pretty serious T-bone collision where a Waymo just crashed into the side of my client’s vehicle,” Gibbs said.

ALSO| Waymo files voluntary software recall over flooded-lane risks on high-speed roads

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One of the incidents of ignoring police direction happened during the mass shooting on West Sixth Street back in March, when three people died, and 15 others were injured.

Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock said autonomous vehicles can struggle in unusual situations.

“It didn’t impede on anything in the moment, but it’s not necessarily uncommon where these vehicles don’t quite know how to deal with these one-off scenarios,” Bullock said.

The new law requires autonomous vehicle companies to be authorized by the state, to provide an emergency response plan for law enforcement, and to participate in a public-facing portal that allows the public to verify operators and submit safety complaints.

Kara Kockelman, a professor of transportation and engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, welcomed the added oversight.

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“I’m glad that the state is taking this a bit more seriously now,” she said. “It’s important not to just let others slip in without kind of meeting those basic minimums.”

Bullock said the emergency planning requirement may not make a major difference in fast-moving situations. Asked how impactful it is to have a fully laid out emergency response plan, Bullock said, “These plans are great, but it takes time to work through all of those versus the immediacy of having someone behind the wheel.”

The four autonomous vehicle companies operating in Austin — Waymo, Zoox, AV-Ride, and Tesla — are all state-authorized.

The Texas DMV said an autonomous vehicle company can lose its authorization to operate in Texas if the agency deems the vehicles are operating in a way that endangers public safety.

Waymo was contacted for comment, but had not responded.

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