Publication
State’s turnout data lags many urban counties’
Counties across Texas have reported record-breaking turnout during the first week of early voting in the midterm election, including tens of thousands of mail-in ballots. But as of Friday, the totals on the state’s election website didn’t match many of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
UT launches college for core curriculum
Nearly two years into his tenure as University of Texas president, Jim Davis walked onto the Hogg Memorial Auditorium stage with three topics in mind: UT’s new academic medical center, research and a core curriculum overhaul. In Wednesday’s 20-minute...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Sweeping plan to mitigate wildfire risk heads to vote
A sweeping plan to guard the Austin region from escalating wildfire risk over the next decade is up for a vote this week at Austin City Hall. The Community Wildfire Protection Plan lays out 71 recommendations for reducing the danger, including...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
First-day midterm turnout surges
Travis County recorded its largest firstday turnout for a midterm election in 20 years Monday, with 40,777 voters casting ballots in-person as early voting opened, according to an American-Statesman analysis of county election data. The vote total was...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Kerrville aims to toughen parks against floods
Three months after a second major flood hit Kerr County, Kerrville’s riverfront parks remain closed as the cash-strapped city assesses repairs and tries to figure out how to pay for them. After the back-to-back disasters, the city wants to make those...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Macron condemns rioters after protests
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday voiced the public’s “anger” and “shame” over rioting and looting during nationwide protests against rising living costs and poor conditions in schools. At least 2,400 people were arrested. Macron...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Minor offenses, big consequences
Over the past decade, school districts across Texas have sought to make classrooms safer by swelling the number of police officers on campuses and taking a tougher stance on misbehavior. But the crackdown has had an unexpected consequence: sweeping...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Teacher fought shooter before he was killed
BEND, Ore. — A teacher threw her phone at the teenage gunman who killed four people at an Oregon elementary school, then tackled and fought with him — likely saving lives before he was shot by a father who followed him into the building, police said...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Talarico takes moderate stance
WASHINGTON — James Talarico had a national stage to himself one night this week.. With Republican Ken Paxton declining invitations to debate, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate appeared at a live CNN town hall on Wednesday in Fort Worth, fielding...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Enthusiasm drives Democratic edge
A new poll from the University of Texas at Austin found Democrats with narrow leads in nearly every statewide race after trailing their Republican challengers in the same poll just two months ago — a sign of an increasingly competitive midterm election...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Military says border quieter after troop surge
ROMA — Standing on a high bank of the Rio Grande, Army Lt. Col. Ray Richards points to a stretch of river that was, until recently, one of the busiest spots for illegal border crossings from Mexico. But on a recent afternoon, the area is quiet....
Read Full Story (Page 1)
NATO is ‘ready to fight tonight’
WARSAW, Poland — NATO’s top military commander said the alliance is “ready to fight tonight” if it is attacked, as European officials warn that Russia could test NATO’s defenses with increased covert attacks or a limited military incursion. European...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump tariffs spark a worker backlash
NEW YORK — Nelson Vandermeer voted Republican for decades but balked at supporting President Donald Trump, fearing that the Republican’s plan for tariffs on imports would hurt workers more than help. Last year, Vandermeer’s premonition came true in a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
ACL ROYALTY
Kings of Leon perform on Friday at the ACL Fest in Zilker Park. For a rundown of the best and worst of this year’s festival,
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Cat 3 Hurricane Isaias closes in on Gulf Coast
GULF BREEZE, Fla. — Homeowners gassed up generators, filled bathtubs with water and bought last-minute supplies along the U.S. Gulf Coast on Friday while Hurricane Isaias gained strength as it charged toward the beaches of Alabama and the Florida...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump touts Paxton, ‘golden age’ in S.A.
President Donald Trump addressed voters in San Antonio on Wednesday, batting away concerns about the economy, the war in Iran and a wave of protesters who tried to interrupt his speech at Freeman Coliseum. “Many of these protesters, they’re paid, you...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Homeless program reports progress
A program coordinating city and nonprofit services for Austinites who cycle most often through emergency response systems is showing early signs of progress, staff told Austin City Council on Tuesday. But legal advocates raised concerns about how...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Hinojosa floats end to property tax
WASHINGTON — Political advertising warns about Democratic plots to defund the police. Campaign events feature law enforcement unions and tough talk about law and order. Stump speeches boast about record low levels of violent crime. From coast to...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Exxon to high court: Suits threatening bottom line
An attorney representing ExxonMobil told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that his client and other Texasbased oil companies could be forced to pay billions of dollars for damages related to climate change if the justices don’t intervene “sooner rather...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Anti-Muslim laws devised at Faith Fest
CEDAR PARK — At Texas Faith Fest on Sept. 26, conservative state lawmakers and pastors brainstormed how to stop Muslims from living and practicing their faith in the state. “The more uncomfortable they are, the better,” state Rep. Keresa Richardson,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
A MUDDY ACL FEST
ABOVE: Attendees navigate across growing stretches of mud Friday during the first day of the Austin City Limits Music Festival. RIGHT:
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump on Texas visit touts economy, Paxton
DENTON — President Donald Trump returned Thursday to Texas, looking to promote an economic record he called “phenomenal” and give Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton a political boost. “All over the country, they’re building factories, plants,” Trump...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
UT med school to help effort on clinical trials
The University of Texas at Austin will help test new ways to speed up clinical trials under a federal program announced Wednesday by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The program, run by the Advanced Research Projects Agency...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
READY TO ROCK
ABOVE: Preparations are underway Tuesday for the Austin City Limits Music Festival at Zilker Park. The 25th anniversary of the festival begins Friday, running this weekend and next. LEFT: Workers begin setting up decorations for the festival.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump: Tech firms agree to ‘self-police’ AI
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he and a large group of leaders of artificial intelligence companies had signed a voluntary accord that will include internal and external reviews of the technology during a meeting at the White...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
MASSIVE LAUNCH
SpaceX launched its mega rocket Starship into orbit from Starbase on Monday, delivering Starlink satellites. The massive spacecraft splashed down north of Hawaii three hours after takeoff from Texas. Starship almost didn’t make it into orbit when one...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
5 arrested near base in U.K. used by U.S.
LONDON — U.K. police said five men arrested in the early hours of Sunday near an air base used by the United States during its war against Iran are being held on suspicion of preparing a terrorist act that appeared to involve three trucks. London’s...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Texas leading nation in arrests by ICE
Last weekend’s shooting of a man by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Austin is again highlighting that Texas is the epicenter of the Trump administration’s deportation push. It is the nation’s largest center for recorded ICE...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Petition to close middle school in Austin frustrates parents
After years of changes meant to improve academics at Webb Middle School, families told Austin Independent School District leaders that they’re weary and frustrated over a proposed petition to close the campus. But the petition may be the only option...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Casar says man shot by ICE agent needs surgery
SAN ANTONIO – The man who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent on Sunday in North Austin is in “nonstop intense pain” and needs surgery to remove the bullet lodged near his spine, U.S. Rep. Greg Casar said this week after visiting...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
CASAR VISITS ICE CENTER
ABOVE: U.S. Rep. Greg Casar exits the South Texas ICE Processing Center on Wednesday in Pearsall after visiting with Wilber Rafael Garcés Pérez, a Venezuelan man who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Sunday in Austin. LEFT:...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Video contradicts parts of Garcés Pérez’s account
Minutes before a federal immigration agent shot and wounded a man Sunday in North Austin, the agent and his supervisor had pulled the man over in his blue Toyota sedan and were talking to him at the driver’s side window along a neighborhood street,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
ICE no longer is revealing locations of thousands set for removal
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has stopped publicly revealing where it is holding thousands of detainees who are subject to final deportation orders, an unannounced move that has made it far more difficult for lawyers and relatives to find...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Shooting by ICE agent injures man in N. Austin
A U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and wounded a man Sunday afternoon in North Austin, city officials said, prompting calls for an independent investigation into the incident as demonstrators gathered at the scene demanding...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
TRACING AUSTIN’S TEX-MEX ROOTS
Tex-Mex is as Austin as it gets. While the rage for interior Mexican cuisine and Indigenous techniques recovered by a new generation of chefs has swept over the city during the past few decades, Tex-Mex — by definition a fusion food — is arguably as...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Abuse victim seeks suit’s revival
AUSTIN — Standing in front of the Texas Supreme Court, Cindy Clemishire, the woman whose accusations against former Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris led to his guilty plea on child sex abuse charges, said a recent court ruling involving the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Ethnic, gender studies excluded as UT majors
For weeks, the University of Texas’ provost, College of Liberal Arts dean and faculty have considered proposals to decide what majors should remain in the newly formed social and cultural analysis department. But as students apply for admission to UT...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Author, activist was trailblazer in women’s movement
NEW YORK — Gloria Steinem, the celebrated author and activist who became the most visible symbol of the U.S. women’s movement and remained a fierce and eloquent advocate for equality for six decades, has died. She was 92. With her trademark streaked...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘We want water; we want clean water’
“No more data centers! Go home!” That was the message from protesters as data center industry leaders converged in downtown Austin, with demonstrators opposing the rapidly expanding sector that’s now becoming a hot topic in Texas politics. The...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Cruz to firms: Contribute to Trump Accounts
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz doubled down Monday on his call for U.S. companies to begin contributing to so-called Trump Accounts. Speaking at an event in Austin on Monday, Cruz, who led the legislation last year creating the program, described the accounts as...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Texan dies in canyon disaster
GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. — The bodies of a Texas chiropractor and at least one other person have been found after a major weekend flash flood swept through the Grand Canyon, and forecasters warned that more flooding was possible as heavy rain...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Shedding light on space mysteries
NASA launched a space telescope Sunday morning that could investigate some of scientists’ biggest questions: How does the universe work, and are humans alone? The $4.3 billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched at 6:26 a.m. Central time atop a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Do state takeovers of schools work?
A day before the Texas Education Agency released its 2026 school district and campus scores, Austin families gathered in front of Eastside Early College High School to protest a potential state takeover that those scores could trigger. “We’re not here...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump signs order for Space Academy
NASA is getting an undergraduate university similar to U.S. military academies, President Donald Trump announced Friday. Trump signed an executive order to create the U.S. Space Academy during his trip to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Search underway for 1,400 missing after flood
DEVIGHAT, Nepal — Rescue teams and military helicopters searched Thursday for hundreds of missing people along the mountainous Nepal-China border, where a deadly torrent of water and mud several stories high swept through communities a day earlier...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Texas to get over $1B in Meta settlement
Meta Platforms Inc. has agreed to pay as much as $18 billion to settle claims that the social media giant endangered children. Under deals announced Wednesday, the parent of Facebook and Instagram will pay Texas more than $1 billion and other states...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
GOODBYE, DOLLY
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dolly Parton, the country music icon whose soaring vibrato vocals, poignant songwriting and sparkling costumes defined her rise from a log cabin in the Tennessee mountains to the height of stardom and acclaim, has died. She was 80...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
U.S. launches more sanctions on Iran
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday announced a new round of sanctions aimed at Iran and warned every country that does business with the Islamic Republic to sever those financial ties or face retaliation from the United...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Hopefuls offer plans on rising costs
With affordability concerns dominating this year’s election cycle, both candidates in the U.S. Senate race in Texas are pitching plans to address the rising cost of living. Attorney General Ken Paxton’s plan focuses on tax deductions that tax experts...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Stories behind UT’s closed departments
As Longhorns return to campus Monday, decades-old ethnic and gender studies departments will no longer exist. Six months ago, University of Texas President Jim Davis announced that the university would consolidate ethnic and gender studies programs in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Marker dedicated to queer life on block
Just days after the city of Austin agreed to abandon the rainbow crosswalk at Colorado and West Fourth streets, Mayor Kirk Watson, along with officials and community leaders, dedicated a historical marker to queer life on the block. The mood was...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Power-line pause raises alarm from industry
Calls to pause plans for the state’s largestever transmission lines got a reality check as industry leaders warned lawmakers that halting the project could be “catastrophic.” The alarm was sounded by the state’s utility regulator, manufacturers and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Protesters call for ‘no wall’
As a former state senator and commissioner of the General Land Office, Jerry Patterson is no stranger to emotional issues that divide Texans into partisan camps. But sitting outside the Texas Parks and Wildlife headquarters in Austin Wednesday, the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
FIRST DAY CHEERS, TEARS
Samantha Yanes waved goodbye to her son, Johnny, as he walked into Casey Elementary School on Tuesday to start his first day of fifth grade. “Ready to learn some cool stuff ?” said Yanes, who also attended Casey. She was excited for her son’s last...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Mayor works with AISD
Mayor Kirk Watson is talking with Austin Independent School District officials about how the district should respond to the rising threat of a state takeover, he told the American-Statesman on Monday. Austin ISD is facing a state takeover after two...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Mechanics, customers steer away from shops
When Cameron Chen was told it could cost about $2,200 to fix a problem with his car, he called his dad. The price didn’t sound right. Chen, who later bought the parts himself, said they cost less than $200. And he had spent enough time driving along...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Ground zero for Tesla’s grand goals
Gigafactory Texas is perhaps best known for its massive main building, the one with solar panels on the roof spelling out “TESLA.” To be sure, most of the work done in that building — assembling electric vehicles — is what people think of when they...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Casar, officials slam rise in ICE activity
U.S. Rep. Greg Casar and other Austin-area elected officials on Friday denounced what they described as an escalation of federal immigration enforcement in Austin, speaking outside the Austin Spanish First Seventhday Adventist Church, where an...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Austin ISD at risk of state takeover
Two long-struggling North Austin middle schools have scored a fifth F on the state’s accountability system, triggering a law that allows the Texas Education Agency to take over the Austin Independent School District. Austin ISD officials announced the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
OPENING TUNE
TOP: Ronald Bellamy, left, sings for Steve Schares during the Wednesday grand opening of the new Buc-ee’s in San Marcos. Bellamy, of Waller County, has been visiting Buc-ee’s since 2018 and makes his own outfits. LEFT: Merchandise sporting the iconic...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Search for thousands presses on in Colombia
PEREIRA, Colombia — Rescue crews and civilians in Colombia painstakingly searched through rubble Tuesday in the hopes of finding survivors trapped under debris after a powerful earthquake left thousands missing in dozens of cities and towns. The 7.4...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Quake in Colombia leaves at least 111 dead
CALI, Colombia — A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 111 people, damaging hundreds of buildings and leaving many trapped under debris while their loved ones and rescue workers searched through...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
After latest flood, Kerr waiting for aid
After the deadly July 4, 2025, flood on the Guadalupe River, it took just two days for President Donald Trump to approve a major disaster declaration for the region, opening up significant federal assistance for Kerr County. Last month, after...
Read Full Story (Page 1)