Austin police outlined how a new, rapidly unfolding DNA and ballistics evidence trail led them to declare a dead man as the likely perpetrator in the killing of four teenage girls at an Austin yogurt shop in 1991.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and incoming Houston Mayor John Whitmire, two veteran Democratic legislators, are trying to repair their cities’ fraught relationships with the state’s GOP leadership.

Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to deliver remarks at a solidarity gathering for Israel in Austin on Monday afternoon.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson had said that troopers pulling a gun on a 10-year-old prompted the end of the agreement. A video of that encounter shows troopers with guns pointed at the ground, not the child.

Austin officials view the partnership as a stopgap measure as they try to fill the city’s more than 200 police vacancies.

Spencer Cronk, who headed the city since 2018, fell out of favor with council members after communication failures that mirrored problems from the 2021 winter storm.

As newly elected Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and a City Council with an array of fresh faces review their first major crisis, the city’s top officials once again find themselves trying to figure out why the city botched its response to a significant weather event.

The mayor of Austin, Texas, has apologized and says the city failed to communicate with its residents after a winter storm left thousands without power for days.

As tens of thousands of households and businesses face a third day in the dark, Austin leaders say they will improve emergency communications. But residents and critics have little patience for bungled warnings.

Watson, a former state senator who was Austin’s mayor from 1997 to 2001, pitched himself as a back-to-basics candidate who could ease the city’s growing affordability crisis.

The capital city’s mayoral race is something of a test case in how the state’s rising housing costs might influence local races in major cities.

In three key local elections, the Austin mayoral race will be decided in a runoff, Republican Tim O’Hare won the Tarrant County judge race and Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins won reelection.

Watson was mayor of the city from 1997 to 2001 and is focused on tackling the rising cost of living, homelessness, public safety and transportation.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas manages the state’s main power grid, which represents 90% of Texas’ electric load and serves more than 26 million customers, according to the agency. “We're not cold and shivering like many millions of others are.”The storm also endangered Texans in the ERCOT service area indirectly as they struggled to stay warm. Black Texans were “modestly more likely” to have lost power than white Texans, according to the study. ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission, which oversees the grid operator, garnered low approvals of 6% and 10%, respectively. The company wants lawmakers to create a revenue stream to Berkshire through an additional charge on Texans’ power bills.

Former Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt at The Texas Tribune Festival in 2018 Thomas Meredith for The Texas TribuneFormer Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt is set to succeed former state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, in the Texas Senate after state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez said Monday he is dropping out of the race. Eckhardt and Rodriguez, both Democrats, were poised to face off in a special election runoff for the seat. "For that reason," he wrote, "I have decided to forego the runoff for Senate and focus my efforts on winning a Democratic majority and promoting an aggressive, progressive agenda in the Texas House." Eckhardt and Rodriguez finished first and second, respectively, in the six-way race on July 14. Greg Abbott had not yet set a date for the runoff.

Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt speaks at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 29, 2018. Thomas Meredith for The Texas TribuneFormer Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt was leading the way Tuesday night in the special election to replace former state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, though it remained unclear whether she would be able to avoid a runoff. Eckhardt, who needs 50% of the vote to win the election outright, was hovering around that figure Tuesday night. Rodriguez touted his 18 years in the Texas House, arguing that his relationships there will serve him well in the Senate. His district includes all of Bastrop County, most of Austin and northern Travis County.