{"id":86937,"date":"2025-12-13T18:28:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T18:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/86937\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T18:28:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T18:28:06","slug":"this-is-the-richest-small-town-in-texas-and-more-austin-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/86937\/","title":{"rendered":"This is the richest small town in Texas and more Austin news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson held a press conference Friday to discuss a new deal with Southwest Airlines and its expected impact on the city.<\/p>\n

The deal, approved Thursday <\/a>by the Austin City Council, awards Southwest $2,750 for each new Austin-based hire over the next five years. In exchange, the airline plans to add 2,000 high-paying jobs with an average salary of $180,000 and invest in local workforce initiatives, including the city\u2019s new Austin Infrastructure Academy.<\/p>\n

Officials say the deal will strengthen Southwest\u2019s presence at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, where the carrier already handles more than 40 percent of all passenger traffic.<\/p>\n

The partnership is expected to bring in nearly $20 million in local tax revenue, and the incentive program will last for five years and pay Southwest up to $5.5 million.<\/p>\n

Mayor Watson said the agreement will not only create new jobs in Austin but will improve the overall experience at AUS. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re building lives and careers at the same time we\u2019re building tarmacs and terminals,\u201d Watson said. \u201cSouthwest is choosing Austin because our people, our workforce, and our future make us a smart investment. This deal creates thousands of good-paying jobs, improves the passenger experience, and ensures the benefits flow directly to Austin workers, families, and tourists. This agreement is proof that Austin means business and cares about the success of its people.\u201d<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Read the full story at KVUE.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Austin Mayor Kirk Watson held a press conference Friday to discuss a new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,7746,16813,427,38186,7959,11466,38418,41557],"class_list":["post-86937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-christmas-lights","tag-holiday-events","tag-hot-headlines","tag-income","tag-most-popular-stories","tag-new-york-times","tag-pantone","tag-richest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86937","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=86937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}