Austin, TX
Texas Metro Areas Are Coming for Chicago
The nickname “Second City” wasn’t bestowed upon Chicago as a title of distinction. When author A. J. Liebling bestowed that sobriquet in writings that were later published in his 1952 book, Chicago: The Second City, he didn’t mean “second only to New York.” He meant “secondary,” or maybe “second-class.” He lived in Chicago, and he hated it. Chicagoans eventually embraced being the Second City, especially after they fell to third, when Los Angeles surpassed the metro in the early eighties.
Chicago is still the nation’s third-largest metropolitan area, according to U.S. census data released this week that estimate population totals for the year 2025—but, looking at the trends since 2020, it’s likely that Dallas–Fort Worth will supplant Chicagoland before too long. Let’s explore the takeaways from the newly released data.
Dallas–Fort Worth Is Poised To Surpass Chicago
According to the census data, as of 2025, 9,434,123 residents are spread across the Chicago region. The Metroplex, meanwhile, is home to 8,477,157.
While that million-person difference is a lot, Chicago’s population has been stagnant for years; the area has actually lost a couple thousand residents since 2020, with fluctuations year over year. DFW, meanwhile, has a rocket strapped to its proverbial back; in 2020, only 7,667,416 folks lived in the region, which means the Metroplex has added an average of just over 160,000 people each year. If Chicago remains anemic and DFW continues to boom at the same rate, that means Dallas–Fort Worth would be the nation’s third-largest metro area around 2031 (at which point, presumably, Chicagoans will cling even tighter to the “Second City” moniker).
And DFW isn’t the only metro on Chicago’s heels. The Houston–Pasadena–The Woodlands metropolitan area added nearly as many residents as DFW over that same five-year period. There are half a million fewer Houston-area residents than DFW ones, but if current trends hold, by around 2036, Houston should slide into fourth place. (As some consolation to depressed Chicagoans, they should hold on to fifth place for a while after that, as the metro areas currently behind Houston are quite a bit further back, and they aren’t growing at nearly the same rate as the Texas cities.)
We Hit Peak Austin a Few Years Back
Austin has been heralded as a tech-utopian dream city by some folks in the capital, and while it remains a growing area, it’s not the juggernaut it once was. For years, Austin and San Jose, California, ran neck and neck for the spot of the nation’s tenth-largest city, but they’re now at numbers twelve and thirteen, respectively—and it’s Fort Worth that rounds out the top ten, with Jacksonville, Florida, behind it.
That’s because Fort Worth, which grew by nearly 2 percent between 2024 and 2025, is the fastest-growing of Texas’s big cities, and by a considerable margin. Austin, meanwhile, grew by just 0.4 percent—which isn’t nothing, but the era of constant, accelerating growth in the state’s capital appears to have ended, perhaps putting slightly less strain on the city’s infrastructure.
The rapid rise of Fort Worth isn’t a new story—the trend got noticed back in 2022—but the fact that Austin is growing more slowly than Houston and San Antonio might change the narrative of the city as an ever-growing hub of creative- and tech-minded talent that emerged over the past decade.
What the Heck Is Going On in New Braunfels?
In addition to being outgrown by the other big cities in Texas, Austin is also being outpaced by a much smaller city nearby, and not just statistically. New Braunfels has a gaudy year-over-year growth rate of 5.1 percent, but it also added more total residents between 2024 and 2025 than Austin did—and by a lot. The year saw 4,025 newly minted Austinites, while New Braunfels exceeded that number by nearly 50 percent, adding 5,969 newcomers. There are now 122,492 New Braunfellas. That is more than six times what the city’s population was back in 1970.
It makes sense: New Braunfels is between San Antonio and Austin, relatively affordable, and charming as heck.
The Boom Among New Suburbs Is Bonkers
The fastest-growing city in the United States? That’s Celina, Texas, a spot on the map north of U.S. 380 at the tip-top of the Metroplex. (To get to a Cowboys game from Celina, you’re facing a hundred-mile round trip.) Celina grew by 24.6 percent between 2024 and 2025, which means that statistically, one out of every four people you see shopping for groceries at the Brookshire’s moved there last year.
What accounts for Celina’s boom? Mostly, it’s that the city basically didn’t exist fifteen years ago; Celina, currently home to 64,427 Texans, was a town of just 6,028 in 2010. According to The Texas Tribune, the city’s 36-year-old mayor moved there with his wife from Allen in 2017, “seeking a quieter, family-oriented neighborhood with good schools and a slower pace.” Celina: For when a bedroom community like Allen is too much of a bustling metropolis!
Celina’s neighboring towns aren’t far behind it. There are five other DFW suburbs—Princeton, Melissa, Anna, Forney, and Greenville—among the ten fastest-growing cities in the country. (All but Forney are similarly situated on or above U.S. 380.) The Houston suburb of Fulshear (which grew by a similarly enormous 21 percent) and the Austin suburb of Hutto (a more modest 7.9 percent) are among the top ten too.
Texas remains booming, in other words, even if the distribution of that boom has shifted somewhat—that looks like a slower Austin, steady growth in San Antonio and Houston, an even more massive Metroplex, and suburbs that envelop small towns.
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AUSTIN, Texas – Three fugitives who were on the Texas Department of Public Safety’s 10 Most Wanted Sex Offenders list were arrested in three separate operations throughout the state.
The arrests involve local agencies from Hidalgo, Plano and Houston, as well as state and federal law enforcement agencies, according to DPS officials.
3 Texas Most Wanted Sex Offenders Captured
Local perspective:
53-year-old Leroy Lewis Jr. was arrested June 22 at a residence in south Houston.
Leroy Lewis Jr. (Texas DPS)
DPS special agents assigned to the Texas Anti-Gang Center worked with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, Houston Police Department and the Texas attorney general’s Fugitive Apprehension Unit to locate and arrest him.
Lewis had been wanted since March on a Harris County warrant charging him with failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements.
According to DPS, Lewis was convicted in the 1990s of murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping. Authorities said the kidnapping involved a 20-year-old woman whom Lewis intended to sexually abuse. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison, paroled in 2012 and required to register as a sex offender.
Tip leads to capture of Plano fugitive
Dig deeper:
64-year-old Kenneth Wayne Patterson was arrested on June 24 at a Plano apartment complex after investigators followed up on a tip.
Kenneth Wayne Patterson (Texas DPS)
DPS special agents, Plano police officers and members of the U.S. Marshals North Texas Fugitive Task Force made the arrest. Patterson had been wanted since December 2025 on a Dallas County warrant alleging failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements.
Patterson was convicted in Dallas County in 1989 of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl and sentenced to eight years in prison, according to DPS. Authorities said he has a history of failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements.
Hidalgo border arrest
What’s next:
32-year-old Eduardo Quinones Fuentes was arrested on June 22 at the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge, after U.S. authorities took him into custody upon his return from Mexico.
Eduardo Quinones Fuentes (Texas DPS)
DPS identified Fuentes as a documented Tango Valluco gang member who had absconded to Mexico. Fuentes had been wanted since October 2025 on parole violation and obstruction warrants. A Hidalgo County warrant charging him with failure to comply with sex offender registration requirements was issued in November 2025.
Since 2016, Fuentes has been convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, sexual assault, assault, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and human smuggling, according to DPS.
Rewards and 2026 Arrest Stats
What they’re saying:
DPS said 44 fugitives on its 10 Most Wanted lists have been arrested so far this year, including 32 sex offenders and eight documented gang members. The agency said $61,500 in Crime Stoppers rewards has been paid in connection with those arrests.
Texas Crime Stoppers offers rewards for information leading to the arrest of fugitives on the state’s 10 Most Wanted lists.
The Source: Information in this article was provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Austin, TX
Home Automation Austin Brings Personalized, Full-Service Home Automation to Homeowners in Austin
A Smart Home Partner for Every Stage of the Project
AUSTIN, Texas, June 30, 2026 (Newswire.com)
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Home Automation Austin, a premier smart home installation company, is helping homeowners rethink the way they live by delivering customized home automation in Austin that unites lighting, audio, video, climate and security into a single, easy-to-use system.
For more than 18 years, the company has designed and installed integrated technology systems that let clients control their homes from any networked device, whether they are across the room or across the globe. From whole-house audio and video distribution to motorized shades, energy management and home theaters, Home Automation Austin builds each system around a client’s lifestyle rather than a one-size-fits-all template. A typical installation lets homeowners dim individual lights, monitor security cameras, adjust the thermostat and stream music to outdoor speakers, all from a single app.
Demand for home automation in Austin continues to climb as new construction and remodeling projects across Central Texas increasingly include smart technology. The company works directly with homeowners, builders and designers from the earliest planning stages, holding project kickoff meetings to keep systems on time and on budget.
“Home automation in Austin has moved from a luxury to an expectation, and our clients want technology that simply works without a learning curve,” said Adam Besetzny, CEO of Home Automation Austin. “We design every system around the way a family actually lives, so controlling lights, music, climate and security feels effortless from day one.”
Unlike many providers that rely on subcontractors, Home Automation Austin employs its own technicians and designers, a distinction the company says ensures accountability and consistent quality. The firm is a certified dealer and integrator for respected brands including Control4, Crestron, Lutron, Savant, Sonos and Sonance, and it backs its work with what it calls the best warranty in the industry.
The company also emphasizes long-term support, a point of difference in an industry where service often ends once installation is complete. Home Automation Austin offers 24/7 service and support plans, keeping clients connected long after the final device is mounted.
“Most companies disappear the moment the job is finished, but that is when the relationship should really begin,” Besetzny said. “We stay involved, we answer the phone and we make sure the technology keeps performing for years, not just on installation day.”
Home Automation Austin serves Austin and surrounding communities, including Georgetown, Leander, Lakeway, Cedar Park, Round Rock, Dripping Springs and San Marcos. The company is fully licensed and insured and holds a Google five-star rating along with multiple industry credentials.
Homeowners interested in home automation in Austin can schedule a design consultation by calling 512-515-3456 or visiting https://homeautomationaustin.com/.
About Home Automation Austin
Home Automation Austin is a premier smart home installation company in Austin, TX, specializing in design, installation, and support of advanced home automation, audio and video, and lighting control systems. With more than 18 years of experience and partnerships with top-tier brands, the company delivers personalized solutions that combine innovation, performance, and long-term reliability.
Media Contact:
Adam Besetzny, CEO
512-851-6474
adamb@capitoltechnologygroup.com
SOURCE: Home Automation Austin
Source: Home Automation Austin
Posted:
Updated:
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin Police Department is asking the community for help in locating three people involved in a May 31 robbery at a 7-Eleven at 411 W. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
Three suspects allegedly entered the gas station at 2:50 a.m. and ran for the exit while stealing alcohol, according to an APD press release. A store clerk tried to intervene and was tackled, resulting in significant injuries, police said.
If anyone has information, APD is requesting they contact APD’s Robbery Unit at 512-974-5092. You may submit an anonymous tip through the Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program by visiting austincrimestoppers.org or calling 512-472-8477.
A reward up to $1,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest.
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