![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Map-\u2013-Congressional-Redistricting-Map-\u2013-Credit_-https_redistricting.capitol.texas_.gov_.jpg\")
Credit: Map via redistricting.capitol.texas.gov<\/p>\nCredit: Map via redistricting.capitol.texas.gov<\/p>\n
Mapping Chaos<\/p>\n
Six months into his second term as president, Donald Trump was nervous about the chances for keeping a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives after the 2026 elections. So in July, Trump demanded<\/a> that Texas Republicans discard decades of precedent and redistrict the state\u2019s congressional districts in the middle of the decade. Texas Republicans were more than happy to deliver.<\/p>\n The maps redrew the districts of some of the most effective Black leaders in the country and crammed Austin\u2019s 35th and 37th congressional districts into one, to remove either Rep. Greg Casar or Rep. Lloyd Doggett from office. To stop the redistricting, 56 Democratic House members, including Austin Reps. John Bucy, Gina Hinojosa, James Talarico, Donna Howard, and Lulu Flores, left Texas<\/a> to deny Republicans the quorum necessary to finalize the gerrymander.<\/p>\n The Dems stayed away two weeks, long enough to educate voters nationwide about what was happening. Then they returned and were steamrolled by Republicans, who approved the redistricting plan on a party line vote. (The GOP majority twisted the knife by enacting punitive new measures to discourage future resistance from their colleagues.) A federal court blocked the gerrymandered map last month, ruling that it illegally discriminates against people of color. But the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily paused the lower court\u2019s ruling while the legal battle rages on, allowing the map to stand for the midterm election. For now at least, Trump got exactly what he asked for. \u2013 Brant Bingamon<\/p>\n Unthinkable Loss<\/p>\n Within hours, a torrent of rain quickly overwhelmed the banks of the Guadalupe River over the Independence Day weekend. Fast-rising floodwaters and swollen rivers destroyed multiple towns and took over 135 lives, mostly in Kerr County, to become one of the most devastating natural disasters in Texas history. At Camp Mystic, an all-girls sleepaway summer camp along the Guadalupe in Hunt, 25 children and three staff members were lost in the deluge.<\/p>\n In those first days, the casualty count rose horrifically, and then slowed as the missing were accounted for. In the days and weeks that followed, Central Texans pitched in to aid their neighbors, first by clearing debris and searching for survivors, then by gathering resources and raising funds for those impacted. Then, Texans began to point to their lawmakers, asking what the state should have done to prevent the tragedy. In the second special legislative session, the Texas Legislature addressed some of those failings, investing in flood sirens and evacuation plans. The parents who lost their children at Camp Mystic are still in an active lawsuit against the summer camp, suing for failing to evacuate the campers, gross negligence, and wrongful death, even as the camp seeks to reopen next summer.\u00a0 \u2013 Sammie Seamon<\/p>\n The Lege Marches Texas Farther Right \u2026<\/p>\n With the GOP now even more empowered to pass legislation, no matter how overtly some bills appeared unconstitutional and aligned with far-right, Christian nationalist values, the 89th legislative session (and the two special sessions that followed) greenlit a host of bills targeting public education, the immigrant and queer communities, abortion access, and more.<\/p>\n A requirement to hang the Ten Commandments<\/a> and dedicate prayer and Bible reading time in public school classrooms. A law that blocks Texans from using the bathroom<\/a> aligned with their gender identity in public schools, universities, and any government-run building. Police must partner with ICE<\/a> in 2026. A bill that takes away librarians\u2019 authority to approve school library books<\/a>, when ever-more titles containing diverse perspectives have been banned by the state. The creation of a bounty hunter system that allows a next-door neighbor to tattle on people trying to access abortion pills<\/a>. While most laws went into effect Sept. 1, more became effective as recently as Dec. 4, and advocates say their effects have already begun to be felt by Texans. \u2013\u00a0Sammie Seamon<\/p>\n \u2026 and Abbott Finally Gets His School Vouchers\u00a0<\/p>\n For Texas students, parents, and school districts, another catastrophe in this year\u2019s legislative session was the state\u2019s creation of private school vouchers<\/a>. The voucher bill, signed into law in May, will allow parents to take approximately $10,000 of taxpayer money per child from the state\u2019s coffers to spend on their children\u2019s private schooling. Applications will open in the spring.<\/p>\n The voucher vote was an epochal loss for public school supporters who had fought since the 1950s<\/a> to stop previous versions of the measure. For the Republican leaders who championed it, particularly Gov. Greg Abbott, the vote concluded a years-long campaign to impose their will not just on the electorate, who were never hugely supportive of vouchers, but also on their fellow Republicans, particularly those from rural areas, who had crossed the aisle to vote with Democrats to keep vouchers from becoming law.\u00a0<\/p>\n Advocates say the program will slowly drain funds from schools that are already underfunded, hurting poor students and undermining public education in general. The state allocated $1 billion for the program in 2026, but that figure is expected to balloon to $5 billion by the beginning of the next decade. \u2013 Brant Bingamon<\/p>\n One Big Barfing Sound<\/p>\n If there are two traits you can count on from the Trump administration, they are stupidity and cruelty. First, the name of budget reconciliation measure HR 1 was nonsensical: The president\u2019s lackeys have called it One Big Beautiful Bill, making it the nonsensical One Big Beautiful Bill Act when it passed because they are idiots who don\u2019t understand how words or the legislative process work. But beyond the stupidity was the cruelty of vast spending cuts, including an estimated $155.3 million gouging of promised finances for the City of Austin alone. The list included FEMA grant to improve flood protection for power and water treatment plants, money to cap and cover stretches of the I-35 project, and an all-out attack on plans to decrease the city\u2019s reliance on fossil fuels, plus there\u2019s the massive local impact of cutting funds for federal agencies and programs like Medicaid and SNAP. Of course, it\u2019s Texas\u2019 fault: HR 1 was authored by Lubbock Republican Jodey C. Arrington. \u2013 Richard Whittaker<\/p>\n Stuck in Neutral<\/p>\n Maybe we\u2019re just getting older and grumpier, but we seem to encounter construction on every trip we take around town. Let\u2019s not talk too much about the I-35 expansion, which will be a Top 10 story for the next decade or so (sigh). To make matters worse, the prospect of those caps over the highway are looking less impressive after the fed took back $100 million<\/a> slated for the project (another casualty of the OBBBA). Remember the flurry of excitement when the Travis County Commissioners Court voted in October to fund a study on the feasibility of a rail line between ATX and SATX? Last we heard, that plan could be completed before the I-35 project but was counting on a big investment from the federal government. Sounds pretty unfeasible to us. Those with an even better memory will remember Project Connect\u2019s rail plan that locals voted to fund in 2020. This year the city solicited proposals for the multibillion-dollar final design and construction contract. Fingers crossed. \u2013\u00a0James Renovitch<\/p>\n Prop Flop<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t seem particularly controversial when the Council approved a budget<\/a> last August which necessitated a tax rate election. The election, dubbed Proposition Q, asked voters to raise their property taxes by an average of around $200 per year.<\/p>\n But Prop Q got controversial<\/a> in a hurry. In October, the Statesman published a series of articles questioning spending by city leaders on lunches and travel and focusing on the city\u2019s $1 million logo. Opponents of Prop Q threatened lawsuits against the political action campaign supporting the measure, argued that the higher taxes would worsen the city\u2019s affordability crisis, and complained that the money generated by Prop Q would support the city\u2019s \u201chomeless industrial complex.\u201d Gov. Greg Abbott kept the focus on the homeless, sending state troopers to clear out homeless camps in the weeks before the vote. Attorney General Ken Paxton threatened to sue the city\u2019s largest provider of housing for homeless people, Foundation Communities, falsely suggesting that the group\u2019s donations to the Prop Q PAC \u201cmight be illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n In the end, Prop Q was defeated<\/a> 63-37%. A revised city budget passed on Nov. 20, which reduced funding for homelessness, public safety, parks, and social services. Now, city leaders wait to see what they\u2019re going to have to cut next year. \u2013\u00a0Brant Bingamon<\/p>\n AISD Makes Unpopular School Closure Decisions<\/p>\n In early September, the Texas Education Agency told Austin ISD administration that 33 of its campuses<\/a> had fallen into dangerous waters, receiving failing accountability scores from the state agency for low STAAR performance. The TEA also gave 24 schools turnaround plans<\/a>, giving them the option to close down or totally rehire faculty and revamp curriculum. The district has also found itself in dire financial straits: With declining enrollment, a lack of state funding, and half of their budget paid out in recapture payments, they\u2019re predicting to run out of money by next school year. If the district fails to raise student performance, the TEA could take over<\/a> management of AISD, as they did Fort Worth ISD in October.<\/p>\n In early October, the district decided to propose school closures to save money and respond to the TEA\u2019s requirement for turnaround plans. In the weeks that followed, students and their families protested the dismantling of their neighborhood school communities, hoisting signs and chanting outside of TEA and AISD\u2019s headquarters. Then, three schools were taken back off<\/a> the closure list, leading to accusations that the district was favoring the loudest parents (which the district denied). On Nov. 21, after hours of rigorous debate, the AISD Board of Trustees ultimately voted to close<\/a> eight elementary schools, two middle schools, and International High School next school year. \u2013 Sammie Seamon<\/p>\n ICE\u2019s Dastardly Drive to Deport\u00a0<\/p>\n This year has been unlike any other for a multitude of reasons, many of which can be attributed to the Trump administration\u2019s aggressive decision-making \u2013 one of the most intense being the rollout of ICE agents across the nation, which Trump promised during his 2024 campaign. He stayed true to his word, deploying ICE agents on the very first day following his inauguration. According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse<\/a>, Texas currently has the most ICE detainees \u2013 17,696 as of Nov. 28 \u2013 in the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n On April 1, ICE and other federal and state agents raided an Austin suburb Airbnb<\/a>, where nearly 50 people were arrested, some of whom were children. The raid came as an attempt to deport members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, the agencies involved claim, though advocates have said there has been no evidence provided that suggests any of the half a hundred individuals had any gang affiliation, but rather were targeted merely based on physical appearance.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s 50 potential gang members or just one immigrant, such as the Boston student who was planning to fly home to Austin to see her family for Thanksgiving, only to be arrested and deported<\/a> after she arrived for her flight, ICE has been relentless in its forceful attempts at deportation throughout the year. \u2013\u00a0Joe Ellett<\/p>\n Water Woes (and a Win)<\/p>\n It\u2019s now a well-known and troubling truth: Texas, with our projected growth and draining aquifers, is running out of water<\/a>. Moreover, the move of big tech to Austin and greater Central Texas is placing even more strain<\/a> on our energy grid and water resources: By 2030, data centers are projected to multiply roughly tenfold across the state, with the average center using 300,000 gallons of water a day. Texas, which is currently experiencing higher temperatures than during the Dust Bowl, will face only further water loss from evaporation and hotter soil as drought conditions worsen with climate change.<\/p>\n On Nov. 4, Texans voted on Prop 4<\/a>, a 20-year investment in the future of our state\u2019s water availability, one that will funnel $1 billion annually out of state sales tax revenue toward water conservation and production projects. These projects include fixing leaky pipes, wastewater reuse, seawater desalination, and produced water reuse from fracking, plus others listed in the State Water Plan. \u2013 Sammie Seamon<\/p>\n Burnt Orange Bleeds Red\u00a0<\/p>\n When far-right thought leader Chris Rufo urged conservatives to \u201clay siege\u201d<\/a> to UT at a campus talk in 2023, it was hard to imagine anyone taking him seriously. Two years later, it\u2019s remarkable how much Rufo\u2019s allies have accomplished.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year<\/a>, UT eliminated diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and restricted students\u2019 rights of free speech and assembly. Professors and administrators left in unprecedented numbers, including the president and provost, who were replaced with allies of Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.\u00a0<\/p>\n This year<\/a>, Republicans approved SB 37, which ended the longstanding practice of including professors in choosing the university\u2019s leaders and setting policy for the school, handing that power over to the board of regents. SB 37 also created the \u201cOffice of the Ombudsman,\u201d an overseer appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to investigate professors accused of violating state law.\u00a0<\/p>\n SB 37 also gave the board of regents the power to decide which courses are taught at UT. The board is currently reviewing the content of hundreds of courses concerned in one way or another with gender and sexuality. Professors are bracing for changes in the curriculum and for the consolidation of programs like Women\u2019s and Gender Studies, African Diaspora Studies, and other ethnic studies in the College of Liberal Arts. They\u2019re also awaiting a decision from university leaders on the Trump compact, an offer promising federal research money in exchange for supporting Trump\u2019s political agenda. Of the nine universities offered the deal, only UT expressed enthusiasm, demonstrating how far right the school\u2019s leaders now lean. \u2013 Brant Bingamon<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tThese are the plates I kept coming back to\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tLooking back at a year of bold, empathetic, boundary-pushing creations\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tThe year\u2019s best feature films, plus critics lists\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tKey insights from local creatives\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tA look back at the good and the bad of the Verde & Black\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tNonprofits, clothing drives, and more that could use your support this holiday season\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tFlooding and new parks in 2025 top the Day Tripping list\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\tAs decided by the Chronicle culture desk\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Floods-\u2013-Aftermath-of-July-4-Floods-\u2013-Credit_-Sarah-Wolf.webp\")
Aftermath of the July 4 floods in Kerr County Credit: Sarah Wolf<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Lege-GettyImages-913394446_WEB.jpg\")
Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/School-Vouchers-SecondArt.jpg\")
Credit: Zeke Barbaro \/ Getty Images (Abbott photo by John Anderson)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/One-Big-Beautiful-Bill-\u2013-Credit_-Getty-Images.jpg\")
Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Infrastructure_I-35ExpanPresser090121_241_JB_WEB.jpg\")
I-35 as seen from the 12th St. bridge Credit: Jana Birchum<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/n.short1-prop-q-ja.jpg\")
Council member Vanessa Fuentes (center) and other attendees react to election results during the Prop Q Election Night Party at The Brewtorium Brewery & Kitchen on November 4, 2025 Credit: John Anderson<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/DSC_0216.jpg\")
Demonstrators outside of AISD\u2019s headquarters Credit: Sammie Seamon<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ICE_Immigration-\u2013-Credit_-Getty-Images.jpg\")
Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Drought-LeadArt.jpg\")
Credit: Zeke Barbaro \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Burnt-Orange-GettyImages-618634150_WEB.jpg\")
Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Top10s2025_Logo.png\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Top10s2025_Food_lead.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Falsettos-2-via-Ground-Floor-Theatre_WEB.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/rev-1-OBAA-DUS-R3v47E_021925-1_High_Res_JPEG-scaled.jpeg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Top](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Top10s2025_Culture_lead.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/verde-12.12-1.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Top](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/jkjk_pink_photo-by-Minerva-Villa.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"Day](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Top-Ten1.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AlbumArt_Collage.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n