{"id":6713,"date":"2025-10-16T14:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/6713\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T14:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T14:00:11","slug":"the-weeks-biggest-news-in-brief-the-austin-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/6713\/","title":{"rendered":"The Week\u2019s Biggest News in Brief \u2022 The Austin Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Free Speech Win (for Now): A district court issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday<\/a>, preventing the UT System from enforcing the Campus Protection Act, which limits free expression at public universities. Under the law, the university is no longer a \u201ctraditional public forum,\u201d meaning only UT students, faculty, and staff can participate in expressive activity on campus \u2013 but not between the hours of 10pm and 8am. Days after the law took effect, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression filed a lawsuit against the UT system, arguing the law \u201cinfringes a staggering amount of protected speech.\u201d UT cannot enforce the law while the case makes its way through the courts.<\/p>\n

\"\"State Rep. Gina Hinojosa Credit: fb.com\/GinaforTexas<\/p>\n

Hinojosa Announces Run for Governor: Former Austin ISD school board president and current state House Rep. Gina Hinojosa announced on Wednesday<\/a> that she\u2019s challenging Gov. Greg Abbott for his seat as governor, running on the priorities to make Texas more affordable, health care accessible, and our public school system better supported. Over 30 of her fellow state representatives and seven federal representatives have already endorsed her campaign, including Rep. Lloyd Doggett. \u201cI\u2019m running to put Texas families first, fight for our kids, and hold the powerful accountable. Texans deserve a governor who will work for them, not the billionaire class,\u201d Hinojosa said in a Oct. 15 press release. She joins already-announced Dem gubernatorial candidates Andrew White, son of former governor Mark White, and farmer and retired firefighter Bobby Cole. Bay City Councilman Ben Flores left the race, endorsed Hinojosa, and announced his candidacy for Texas land commissioner instead.<\/p>\n

The Right Side of the Bed: Over the past five years, the number of beds and units available to homeless people in Austin has increased by 108%, according to the 2025 ECHO report<\/a>, a review of the community\u2019s Homelessness Response System. In 2024 alone, 491 new beds became available across short- and long-term housing programs. Made possible by investments from the city, Travis County, and other funding partners, the expanded capacity has increased the number of people served and decreased their move-in times by nearly four months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How Did AG Paxton Get So Rich? An investigation from The Wall Street Journal<\/a> reports that Attorney General Ken Paxton became a millionaire by 2018 from investments and from a blind trust with his soon-to-be ex-wife Sen. Angela Paxton. The Journal reviewed documents subpoenaed for the 2023 impeachment trial including tax returns, personal financial statements, bank records of the blind trust, and text messages from the trustee, which updated Paxton on a stock buy worth $618,000 \u2013 a potential violation of the trust. The Texas Ethics Commission requires public officials to report their investments, but not their total income or net worth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ACredit: City of Austin<\/p>\n

Not Zero, But Not Nothing: Vision Zero, the city\u2019s ambitious plan to achieve zero traffic deaths, marked 10 years since its inception with a report <\/a>that celebrated some wins but also acknowledged \u201csubstantial challenges\u201d to achieving its defining goal. Serious road injuries have declined recently, with 2024 recording the fewest since Vision Zero\u2019s adoption, but fatalities on city-owned roads have remained flat, while increasing on state and other agencies\u2019 roadways. Among Texas\u2019 six largest cities, Austin boasts the lowest rate of serious injuries and fatalities.<\/p>\n

APD Officer Under Investigation After Viral Video: An Austin police officer caught on video punching a 19-year-old in the face on Sixth Street last Friday has been removed from patrol and placed on restricted duty, reported the Austin American-Statesman<\/a>. Chief Lisa Davis said two investigations are currently underway: one to determine if the officer committed a crime and another to determine if his actions violated department policy. Mayor Kirk Watson quickly released a statement condemning the officer\u2019s use of force, saying, \u201cThere is no room in APD for such violent behavior or for someone who claims to be a public servant and acts that way.\u201d Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock told the Statesman the video may not \u201ctell the whole story\u201d and may be \u201cintentionally used to paint officers in a negative light.\u201d On Tuesday, news broke<\/a> that the 19-year-old who was punched \u2013 who was arrested at the time and later released on bond \u2013 has been charged with assault of a peace officer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"The Convention Center construction site in September Credit: Richard Whittaker<\/p>\n

Convention Center to a Vote: On Monday, the Austin United PAC delivered a petition<\/a> to the city clerk\u2019s office with 21,000 signatures \u2013 about 1,000 more than the required minimum \u2013 in an attempt to force a public vote in May on whether to continue the work on the Austin Convention Center or to pause construction for up to seven years. The signatures will now be verified by the city clerk, which will take at least a month, before the special election can be called. Nonetheless, the old convention center has already been demolished, and construction of the new one is well underway. Austin United PAC argues the money should be spent on Austin\u2019s parks and cultural tourism, while a pause could leave the city with a half-constructed lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Central Texas Says No to Flock Cameras: Austin\u2019s neighbors to the south are turning against mass surveillance. Last Thursday, the Lockhart City Council voted 6-1 to reject a contract with Flock Safety, the private surveillance company, to place seven automated license plate reader cameras in the city. On Tuesday, Hays County, home to San Marcos, ended their existing contract with Flock in what is believed to be the first case of such a cancellation. Sam Benavides with the Caldwell\/Hays Education Fund and Amy Kamp with Ground Game Texas were instrumental in getting residents to reject the surveillance. \u201cIt\u2019s no secret, we are living in a new political reality where even liberals, who have always been scared of the word fascism, are seeing this decline into fascism and authoritarianism,\u201d Benavides said. \u201cNow is not the moment to invest in this tool of mass surveillance that we know has been used by ICE to target immigrants and by cops in Texas to track people seeking abortions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StudentsCredit: Texas State University<\/p>\n

Texas State Upholds Alter Termination: Tom Alter has been fired after all. Texas State University in San Marcos announced on Oct. 13 that Alter, a tenured professor in the school\u2019s history department, had been terminated for remarks he made at an online socialism conference. Alter was first fired after the remarks, suggesting how to build coalitions to win power from the U.S. government, came to light on Sept. 10, but he was briefly reinstated by court order. \u201cMy termination is part of a broader political attack being carried out by the authoritarian far-right to crush democracy and democratic institutions in the United States in general and Texas in particular,\u201d Alter said in a statement shared with TSU\u2019s student-run newspaper, The Star. \u201cBut the charges leveled against me by the Texas State University administration do not stand up to the facts; I have truth on my side and I look forward to my day in court.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guitarland Park to Be Established in South Austin: Local rock legend Van Wilks spoke at the city council chambers last week to lend his approval to the idea of transforming the South Austin property on which he lived and worked for 23 years into a park called Guitarland. Wilks said the proposed park will symbolize \u201ceverything Austin stands for: creativity, community, and the love of music.\u201d Council Member Vanessa Fuentes endorsed the idea after it was suggested to her by former County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir. \u201cTransforming this space into Guitarland serves both as a tribute and a promise,\u201d Fuentes said. \u201cIt\u2019s a tribute to the musicians who define Austin, and a promise to continue investing in the public spaces that connect us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abbott Orders Crosswalks Cleared: On Oct. 8, Gov. Greg Abbott called for the removal<\/a> of \u201cpolitical agendas on Texas roadways\u201d and threatened to yank funding from cities and counties refusing to comply; TxDOT is now giving transportation officials 30 days to remove \u201cpolitical messages, artwork, or any non-standard markings\u201d on crosswalks or roadways. Locally, that puts a big target on the Pride crosswalk at Fourth and Colorado streets and the \u201cBlack Artists Matter\u201d roadway on 11th Street. (It\u2019s unclear if the same order will be applied to the \u201cTEXAS\u201d spelled out near the UT campus.) The city has already announced<\/a> they intend to comply; while acknowledging that defiance of the order would \u201cjeopardize hundreds of millions of dollars,\u201d Mayor Kirk Watson called for<\/a> alternative ways to \u201cdemonstrate how Austin\u2019s pride, love, and diversity won\u2019t be suppressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

QUOTE OF THE WEEK<\/p>\n

\u201cThe First Amendment does not have a bedtime of 10:00 p.m.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior United States District Judge David Alan Ezra on why he was temporarily blocking UT from enforcing the Campus Protection Act, which curbs free speech<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This article appears in October 17 \u2022 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Free Speech Win (for Now): A district court issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday, preventing the UT System from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,4094,6738,3496,392,1967,6739],"class_list":["post-6713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-campus-protection-act","tag-echo","tag-gina-hinojosa","tag-greg-abbott","tag-ken-paxton","tag-vision-zero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}