Austin Signal

We’re learning more about Wilber Rafael Garces Perez, who was shot by an ICE officer on Sunday in North Austin. The 28-year-old from Venezuela is in custody at an ICE processing center in South Texas. His lawyer says a federal judge has granted an emergency order to stop his deportation.

Plus: reaction from Austin’s Hispanic community in response to the shooting.

A new lawsuit seeks to void the development and financing agreements for a 2,600-acre development known as Dog’s Head. What neighbors and environmental groups are asking for.

It’s HAAM Day in Austin, with live music happening all over the city all day long. Why they do for Austin’s musicians.

Austin Signal is made possible by listeners like you. You can support our work by making a donation at supportthispodcast.org

The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.

Jerry Quijano [00:00:09] We are learning more about the man who was shot by an ICE officer on Sunday in North Austin. He is a 28-year-old from Venezuela who is in custody at an ICE processing center in South Texas. His lawyer says a federal judge has granted an emergency order to stop his deportation. The latest updates we have, plus we’ve got reaction from Austin’s Hispanic community in response to the shooting that is coming up on today’s show.

KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:32] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.

Jerry Quijano [00:00:37] A new lawsuit seeks to void the development and financing agreements for a 2600-acre development known as Dog’s Head, what neighbors and environmental groups are asking for, and it’s Ham Day here in Austin with live music happening all over the city all day long, why they do what they do for Austin’s musicians, those stories and a whole lot more up next on Austin Signal. This is Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Kikano. It is Tuesday, September 22nd. Thank you for tuning in. The man who was shot by an immigration and customs enforcement agent while driving in North Austin on Sunday has reportedly not received medical care since he was sent to a holding facility in Pearsaw. KUT’s Katie McAfee has the details.

Katy McAfee [00:01:29] 28-Year-old Wilbur Rafael Garces-Perez was delivering door-dash orders when he was side-swiped by an unmarked black vehicle. He was then shot at multiple times and a bullet struck him near the back of his neck. At a Monday news conference, a spokesperson for his attorney called Garces Perez at a detention facility and put the phone near a microphone so reporters could hear story firsthand. Garces-Pérez says he didn’t receive any medical attention at the hospital. He left after four hours with the bullet still lodged near his neck. When he asked if the bullet would be removed, he said a doctor told him, quote, they’re in a hurry to get you out of here. Garces Pérez was then transported to an ICE detention facility in South Texas. I’m Katie McAfee in Austin.

Jerry Quijano [00:02:16] Okay, now we’re joined by KUT’s Moe’s Bouchel. He spoke with Garcés-Bettis’ lawyer, Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch, and he’s joining us now with the latest. Moe, thank you for being here. Thank you, Jerry. Okay, so during that press conference, Garcé-Betteis said that he still had not received care more than 24 hours after he was shot. Do we know if that’s still the case?

Mose Buchele [00:02:34] Apparently, there’s some development to that. As you said, I just spoke with his attorney, and she said that he did go to another hospital here. We’ll just play what she had to say about what happened last night.

Kate Lincoln Goldfinch [00:02:49] A nurse at the facility decided that he did need to go to the hospital, so the guards came in and they put handcuffs, wrist cuffs, and a waist chain on him. They were rough with him and they took him to a hospital in San Antonio last night. He was there for five hours and he’s now been returned to Pierce Hall.

Mose Buchele [00:03:09] And so, you know, as you can hear there, it sounds as though he did visit a hospital last night, but his attorney still says that he has not received anything close to adequate care and that in fact that bullet also still remains lodged in his body.

Jerry Quijano [00:03:23] And we’re about two days removed from the incident modes. Do we have a clearer idea now why Garces Aperis was apprehended by ICE in the first place?

Mose Buchele [00:03:31] What he and his lawyer are saying is that he was delivering DoorDash. He was a DoorDish delivery driver. He had picked up an order when a black vehicle started pursuing him. He did not know who was following him, according to his attorney, and he started getting rammed by this car, sideswiped. I saw the vehicle, and it does look like it had been sideswipped. It had been in some kind of an accident. When he pulled over, they say that this ICE agent opened fire on his car, and that’s how he was shot. The circumstances of that are that ICE is saying that he had a deportation order, but his attorney says that that order went out because they sent a call to court to the wrong address, which happens quite often. So the second someone doesn’t show up to a court date, ICE may put a deportation order out on your name, even though you were never notified that you were supposed to be in that courtroom.

Jerry Quijano [00:04:36] Well Garces Perez is still in custody at that ICE processing center, so we are learning a lot through his lawyer Kate Lincoln Goldfinch. What else did you learn from speaking with her today?

Mose Buchele [00:04:45] Well, I kind of outline the nature of how he was shot, being pursued by this vehicle. It sounds very familiar to some of the cases that we’ve heard in other parts of the country. And she says it really speaks to a lack of training on the part of ICE agents. Here’s Kate Lincoln Goldfinch again.

Kate Lincoln Goldfinch [00:05:05] What we know is that ICE doesn’t know how to conduct safe traffic stops. And when you think about, you know, APD, they’re trained on all of the ways that you pull someone over safely so that it won’t end in violence. ICE is clearly not trained in that same way.

Jerry Quijano [00:05:23] Well, Moe’s, this has been a fast-developing story over the last 48 plus hours. What is the latest news from his lawyer?

Mose Buchele [00:05:29] Well, we’ve just heard that his deportation order has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge. So, you know, the Department of Homeland Security was saying that now that he was in custody, that they were moving forward with his deportations, that does not seem to be imminent anymore. Of course, his legal team is working not just on trying to fight that deportation, but also looking into his medical treatment, the nature of his treatment here at Del Cedan, which they say was wholly inadequate, dangerously inadequate, and then what’s happened since then now that he is in Pearsall at this ice processing center.

Jerry Quijano [00:06:07] Okay, we have been chatting with Moe’s Bouchelle. He has been following this story since Sunday afternoon. And if Moe has more updates, we’ll continue to bring them to you here on Austin Signal and at kut.org. Moe, thank you for your reporting. Thank you, Jerry. People gathered at the Texas Capitol late Monday for a second night of protests over the shooting. QUT’s Gabriel Velasquez-Neda spoke to some of the folks in attendance.

Gabriel Velasquez-Neira [00:06:38] About 150 protesters gathered at the Texas Capitol. It comes after an ICE officer shot Wilbert Rafael Garces Perez on Sunday in North Austin. Army veteran Haciel Aviles was among those at the Capitol.

Haciel Aviles [00:06:52] How am I supposed to live thinking that I serve the country that is willing to kick my own parents out, my own family out? Excuse my language, but that is not something that I stand for, man.

Gabriel Velasquez-Neira [00:07:05] Jack Humphrey, a grandmother, was also at the protest. She says the shooting was near where she lived and hit close to home. After hearing the news, she says she felt compelled to go out and protest.

Jack Humphrey [00:07:17] I believe nobody is above the law in this country and I believe there are ways to do things justly even through an immigration process. You can do it justly, you can do unjustly. And the way this is being done to ram somebody and then shoot them in their car without any identification is obscene.

Gabriel Velasquez-Neira [00:07:35] The protest ended peacefully just after 9 o’clock last night. I’m Gabriel Velázquez Neira in Austin.

Jerry Quijano [00:07:42] We have plenty more about the shooting and the response from the community coming up on today’s episode of Austin signal it is a special extra long episode there is a lot going on and when there is a lot of going on we’re able to come into the studio and bring you the stories as they are developing that’s one of the beauties of what we get to do here on Austin signal. So thank you for tuning in, and if you support this kind of reporting, you can help us keep it going strong by going to kut.org, hitting that donate button. But again, we have a whole lot more. Normally we do 30 minutes for you today. We are doing one hour, so stick with us. We’ve got more coming up after this break. This is Austin Signal, welcome back. Some folks here in Austin’s Hispanic community are feeling uneasy after the Garces Perez shooting. Some are even worried about going outside and just carrying on with their regular routines. KUT’s Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez talked to people who work or live around the North Austin area where Garces Peres was shot.

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:08:52] The morning after Wilbert Rafael Garces Pérez was shot, street ice cream vendors came to a local shop nearby to load their carts for the day.

Carlos [00:08:59] It’s hot outside.

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:09:01] The owner, Carlos, greets them behind the counter. He told KUT he was the first one to talk to Garces Perez after he was shot on Sunday.

Carlos [00:09:09] The boy looked tired because of the bullet he had in his back.

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:09:12] The guy looked tired because of the gunshot on his back, Carlos says. Carlos is a US citizen, but he asked KUT not to use his last name for fear of retaliation against him and his business. He said he went out to the scene because he wanted to see an officer with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement up close.

Carlos [00:09:30] Porque si le dije a él, que esto que está pasando no es el pueblo de América.

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:09:35] Carlos says he told the ICE officer that what was happening is un-American.

Carlos [00:09:40] The Americans respect you and take care of you. And they are putting in a lot of work.

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:09:43] He says the American people are respectful and they take care of you. And he says, what ICE agents are doing is inflicting fear and creating insecurity among people, not only Latinos, everyone. He said the fear is not exclusively tied to what happened Sunday. In the last year, he has seen more people being afraid to go out. People are not coming to his shop anymore, he says. In the last year, social media accounts have registered multiple ICE detentions across Austin. A couple blocks away from Carlos’ business, in La Cigarra, a Central American food restaurant, the news on the TV shows reports of protests from the previous night. Maria, a woman from Honduras, is behind that counter. She said on Sunday night they had to close early because of how chaotic nearby streets got, and people didn’t want to buy anything, but she says slow sales are not uncommon at this point. Things are sad, she says. The sales are low, people don’t want to go out, nobody wants to buy anything. Maria says that’s how things have been since immigration law enforcement ramped up over a year ago. Maria is a legal U.S. Resident, but she asked KUT not to use her last name because some of her friends, who were also legal residents, have been deported and she fears that might happen to her. She loves this city, she says, because she grew up here. She moved to Austin when she was 10 and has always loved how calm the city feels. She can’t imagine living anywhere else, but lately, she said, things have gotten so bad that she’s been thinking about leaving. A lot of her friends have self-deported, she say. Nowadays, she tries not to go out, not even to walk her dogs. Because she’s afraid of encountering ice. They took away our peace in Austin, she says.

Background voices [00:11:47] Thank you guys.

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:11:49] Carlos at the ice cream shop has a similar feeling.

Carlos [00:11:52] It discourages you, it worries you, and you feel that impotence, like, what do I do?

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:11:57] He says he feels defeated and worried because he knows there’s nothing he can do.

Carlos [00:12:01] What they are doing is not good, it is affecting not only here, but I think the world.

Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:12:07] Carlos says that what ICE agents are doing is not right, and their actions have an impact beyond Austin. They have an effect on the entire world. I’m Greta Díaz González Vázquez in Austin.

Jerry Quijano [00:12:30] And as updates continue to come in about the man who was shot Sunday by an ICE officer, so do calls for an independent investigation. At a press conference on Monday for Garces Perez, his attorneys, along with several Austin leaders, called for that independent investigation, for more about that we’re speaking with KUT’s Andrew Weber. Andrew, thanks for being here. Of course, sir. Okay, so there was a lot of information that was shared during yesterday’s press conference. One thing that stood out was that call for the independent investigation who was there and what were they saying?

Andrew Weber [00:13:00] Yeah, Garces Perez’s, excuse me, attorney Kate Lincoln Goldfinch was there. She specifically called for ICE to not be involved in any traffic stops like this situation. And she also called for that independent investigation. Greg Kassar, Congressman Greg Kessar, former Austin City Council member, was also there. And he is trying to push the Department of Homeland Security to allow for a full sharing of evidence with Austin PD. And with the Travis County District Attorney.

Jerry Quijano [00:13:32] And I heard something similar from Councilmember Vanessa Fuentes yesterday. She was doing a TV interview you spoke with other notable Austinites Who did you speak with?

Andrew Weber [00:13:40] Yeah, I spoke with Councilmember Mike Siegel about this. He’s been concerned just because the federal government in this situation holds a lot of power. This was obviously a federal agent who shot this person. That person has to be interviewed. Both those people have to be interview and the APD would ideally in a situation like this interview both the officer and the person who was shot as well as the Travis County District Attorney. So he was basically, you know basically saying he’s gonna push for both those entities to have full access to everything the feds have.

Mike Siegel [00:14:16] But that is something I’m going to continue to push on because I think it’s so important for our community to know that there will be a complete and honest investigation of what happened.

Jerry Quijano [00:14:25] Okay, last night, Austin Police Chief Davis released a video. What did she have to say? She basically.

Andrew Weber [00:14:30] Said that, you know, she understands the concern about the shooting and ICE coming into Austin and, you, know, shooting in Austinite, and that she’s going to continue the investigation with everything that they have.

Chief Davis [00:14:45] APD’s commitment is straightforward. We will do our job within our authority, we will follow the evidence, and we will be as transparent with this community as the investigation allows.

Jerry Quijano [00:14:55] So tell us a little bit more. That was just a short clip there. What is she saying in her response here? She’s basically saying.

Andrew Weber [00:15:01] That APD is going to treat this as they would any officer involved shooting. It’s going to involve the special investigation unit, interviewing folks, collecting, you know, accounts of this incident. But she’s also kind of saying that she has to respect chain of command. The feds have a lot of information. They were there processing the crime scene and that she’s going try as best she can with the information that she had.

Jerry Quijano [00:15:26] We just heard a little algo from KUT’s Moe’s Bouchelle. He updated us and said that Garces Perez will not immediately face deportation. Can you tell us a little bit about what that means?

Andrew Weber [00:15:35] Yeah, a federal judge said that he must appear, I should say, on September 30th in San Antonio, so it for now blocks any deportation proceedings. That it also came within an hour of Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza calling on DHS to stop deportation proceeding. While this is investigated specifically by Austin PD and Travis County district attorney Jose Garza’s office.

Jerry Quijano [00:16:06] All right, we have been speaking with KUT’s Government Accountability Reporter, Andrew Weber. Andrew, thank you for your time. Yes, sir, thank-you, Jerry. And we have had reporters working around the clock since Sunday afternoon, and there are plenty more stories that we are following. And when we have those stories, we’ll continue to bring them here to you on Austin Signal, and you can always keep up with what we’re doing at KUT.org, and by downloading the KUT app. We will have more about this story in the coming days and the coming weeks, and we have more about what is happening in your community right this very moment. That is coming up in a couple of minutes, but first we’re gonna take a quick break. We’ll be right back. This is Austin Signal. This is Austin Signal, welcome back to the show. The city of Austin wants to update its rules, excuse me, I’m reading the wrong lead. State Representative Vicki Goodwin has filed a police complaint against Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Goodwin, an Austin Democrat, is running to replace Patrick as Lieutenant Governor in this fall’s election. The complaint alleges that Patrick’s campaign used artificial intelligence-generated ads and that violated state law. KUT’s Olivia Aldridge has the story.

Olivia Aldridge [00:17:28] Goodwin filed a report with the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, citing two social media posts from Patrick. She says the posts included ads with deep fake images of her making misleading comments about her tax policies.

Vikki Goodwin [00:17:40] I don’t think that we should allow political candidates to put false words into their opponent’s mouths through AI advertising.

Olivia Aldridge [00:17:49] Goodwin believes the posts, which have now been deleted, violated a 2019 law that bars campaigns from distributing artificial intelligence-created deepfake ads within 30 days of an election. She also says she wants to see tougher laws passed on the use of deepfakes in political campaigns. The Patrick campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment. I’m Olivia Aldridge in Austin.

Jerry Quijano [00:18:23] Okay, the City of Austin wants to update its rules around testing and addressing mold at rental properties. KUT’s Luce Moreno Lozano reports this would be the first time Austin has added these regulations to the city’s code.

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:18:35] Until last summer, Larry Phelps thought he had found a comfortable place to live. The apartment was close to his South Austin job, had first floor access, and was affordable. Things had been going fine.

Larry Phelps [00:18:46] It wasn’t until I started noticing water coming up from my bathroom floor.

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:18:53] He thought it was odd, but he cleaned it up and kept going about his day.

Larry Phelps [00:18:57] They come back and there’s water again and I clean this water up, clean the water up again.

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:19:03] He asked his apartment maintenance team to come take a look. Phelps says at first they put in floor drying equipment. Then they installed barriers to prevent splashing from the tub. Meanwhile, he started to experience dizziness and his overall health started to decline. Months passed before the maintenance team cut open the wall behind the toilet. They found a busted pipe. The leak had eroded the wood structure in the wall and created mold.

Larry Phelps [00:19:26] And the frustrating thing about it was, it was like my voice was not being heard. I was not taking serious when I kept reporting, hey, like there’s an issue.

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:19:37] Phelps ended up breaking his lease. He found an apartment in San Marcos where he’s lived for the last year. His experience mirrors that of other Austin renters who have tried to get mold addressed in their homes. Council member Vanessa Fuentes is hoping to change the way Austin responds to mold concerns at rental properties. She says right now that is difficult to do.

Vanessa Fuentes [00:19:56] And it all stems from the fact that we don’t have it clearly defined in our city code.

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:20:01] The city has always relied on state rules. They require landlords to address mold when it exceeds a total surface area of 25 contiguous square feet, about the size of a small walk-in closet. And the state rules make exceptions for properties that have less than 10 units. Fuentes says those rules are not protective enough, and they leave a gap for families living in smaller complexes or renting single-family homes. In August, she authored a resolution that was approved by the city council. It directs the city manager to look into creating new rules for inspecting and remediating molds.

Vanessa Fuentes [00:20:33] It is gonna be a process and it is going to be something that we develop along the way. And I hope that we can set a standard for how we want our homes to be for Austinites here in our city.

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:20:46] Fuentha says there are only two other cities in the United States, New York and Washington DC, that have local rules around mold. So this will be new territory for Austin. But she hopes it means that Austinites will have safer places to live.

Vanessa Fuentes [00:20:59] When we talk about healthy homes, mold often comes up as an issue of concern. And they’re just wasn’t strong enough enforcement mechanisms for the city, for our code officers to really lean in and to be able to have these unsafe situations addressed more quickly.

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:21:17] Local housing advocates have been supportive of the measure. Shoshana Krieger is the project director for Building and Strengthening Tenant Action, or BOSTA. The group helps tenants organize and fight for stronger protections.

Shoshana Krieger [00:21:28] So mold has been a perennial issue in housing in both in Austin and in the larger US, and is a very, very hard issue to tackle in large part because normally when mold appears, there are some pretty significant underlying structural conditions which contribute to the mold.

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:21:50] Trying to understand the root of that problem, like leaks or HVAC system problems, can be expensive. She says the science behind identifying mold can also be very complicated.

Shoshana Krieger [00:22:00] Even where it is required under Texas law, oftentimes folks, both homeowners and landlords, are not availing themselves of those remediation techniques because everything’s so expensive.

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:22:13] She says that’s where this new initiative could be promising, because it could allow the city to help landlords test for mold and keep it from coming back. Over the next several months, the city manager and his staff will work with housing providers, mold experts, and tenants’ rights organizations to figure out how the city can step in legally. The city manager is set to come back to the city council in May with potential changes. I’m Luz Moreno Lozano in Austin.

Jerry Quijano [00:22:45] Alright, it has been a very busy week here in Austin with breaking news, and then there is the normal news that is happening all the time. Our reporters have been working very, very hard to bring you all of that reporting, so if you value this reporting, now is the time to do so. It’s our membership drive. You can help us by going to KUT.org and clicking the donate button. But we just heard a story from KUT’s Luz Moreno Lozano, and now she’s back in the studio to talk with us about a major mixed-use development plan in southeast Austin that may have hit a snag. Two environmental groups filed a lawsuit this week aiming to halt the development of the tract of land along the Colorado River known as Dog’s Head. We’ve talked about that quite a bit here on this show. City leaders revealed in July that Amazon was to be a key tenant of the development and said the project could generate billions of dollars in tax revenue over the next 30 years. Luce is with us to tell us about the details of this new lawsuit and what it could mean for the project. Hello, Luce.

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:23:39] Hey, Jerry.

Jerry Quijano [00:23:40] Okay, so tell us first, what is the lawsuit alleging and what do they want?

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:23:44] Yeah, there’s two things to kind of talk about here. One, they’re alleging that the creation of this TURS, if you remember that term, it’s that tax increment reinvestment zone that allows the city to dedicate a portion of tax dollars to invest into infrastructure. So they’re challenging that and saying that that was unconstitutional use of public tax dollars. They’re also challenging the fact that this is a 45-year deal and the city’s a development agreement, basically. Allows the developer to kind of do what it wants and veto any power and that kind of ties hands with future councils, which they are also saying is unconstitutional in terms of like then future councils don’t have a say in that and that is basically vetoing their legislative authority. Now what they’re what they are wanting here is to kind avoid both of those agreements, both the development and the financing agreements in hopes of like going back to the drawing board and having residents have a say in what this development could look like.

Jerry Quijano [00:24:42] Okay, let’s talk a little bit about the plaintiffs here. There’s a Save Our Springs Alliance, which I think a few of our listeners might be familiar with, as well as both Ed, People Organized, and Defensive Earth, and her resources. Tell us a little about them.

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:24:53] Yeah, both of those are environmental groups. They’re environmentalists who have been around a long time. SOS has been behind a lot of the movements here in Austin. And we talk about them a lot in terms of like what they’re fighting for around Barton Springs, or in this case, it’s the Colorado River and the dog’s head. Well, that is the same way. They’re a grassroots group that has been around for a really long time, and they’re kind of based out in East Austin. And they did a lot of the work around like treatment plants and all those things kind of happening on the East side.

Jerry Quijano [00:25:22] Uh, some of the folks that live near this proposed development have spoken out against it. You’ve talked to some of them. What are their concerns?

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:25:29] Yeah, I think there’s a couple of concerns. One being, they are curious and concerned about what this development would do to their neighborhood. I mean, if you’ve been out there, it’s a very quiet, small-knit community. And I think that they moved there for that reason, right? It’s small, it’ quiet, it is along the Colorado River. It’s really kind of a… Beautiful slice of paradise, if you ask me. So they’re afraid of losing that, of bringing this major development out to their neighborhood. They’re also really concerned about the environmental impacts of it. Could that ruin the river? They’re all so worried about traffic, right? All of these extra people driving onto this development. What does that mean for their neighborhood? So those are just some of the concerns. I think they’re also wondering and curious about like what is actually gonna go in there. I think that is the biggest concern and that’s what they want. They want to have a say in like. Maybe they’ll put an H-E-B out there, that would be pretty cool. Maybe they put some retail, some new restaurants, but they wanna have a say in that, considering that it’s neighboring to their neighborhood at this point.

Jerry Quijano [00:26:30] Amazon and Endeavor are the main people involved, main organizations involved with this. What has their response been so far to the lawsuit?

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:26:38] Yeah, I haven’t heard anything from Amazon. I know Endeavor has basically released a statement that says that they are maintaining their support for this. You know, they’re basically saying that this financial agreement that the city entered into allows them to use future tax dollars, not current tax dollars. It’s kind of the creation of the churrs. And so they’re standing by this agreement and assuring people that what does go in here and what does into the development is being done with public input. And there’s been some meetings that have been happening with that community in terms of like what that looks like, but. It was kind of done after the vote from the city council.

Jerry Quijano [00:27:12] OK well this has been a long played out process and it seems like there’s a lot more to come. What’s going to happen next and let’s let’s just say hypothetically here what could happen to the development if the lawsuit does succeed.

Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:27:24] Yeah, I think that’s to come. I think it hasn’t gone before a judge yet. And so we’ll understand what that looks like in the coming weeks. But I do think that if the judge does rule in SOS in both ads favor that this could put a pause on what that it looks like and potentially what it looks like moving forward. But we’ll just have to see what that looks like in the next couple of weeks.

Jerry Quijano [00:27:45] Okay, well, thank you for following the story as long as you have been, but it sounds like something that is going to continue to play out and we have those updates. We’ll bring them to you right here on Austin Signal. That is Luz Moreno Lozano, KUT City Hall reporter pulling a little double duty here on Austin signal. Luz, thank you. Thank you. All right. We have one more segment for you coming up. And in case you hadn’t heard today is ham day there are live music performances happening. All over the city of Austin all day long it started at 6 a.m. Today goes I don’t know until at least midnight tonight coming up we’re going to tell you a little bit about what Ham actually does can you tease Olivia Aldridge did a little story so we’re gonna bring you that and then we’re to hear from our technical director Rene Chavez he’s going to be hosting a Ham showcase in South Austin later tonight plenty more still to come on today’s episode of Austin signal. We are made possible through listener support from somebody like you. So if you value what we do, help us keep it going strong. Hit that donate button at kut.org. And of course, keep it tuned in. We got more coming up for you right after this break. This is Austin Signal, welcome back. A local taqueria is getting some national attention after it was one of two restaurants in Texas that made the New York Times list of the best restaurants of 2026. But since opening as a food truck back in 2019, Paprika ATX has been getting plenty of love from local food critics. In 2024, Texas Monthly wrote that the taquería was supposed to be on its list of 50 best tacos in Texas, but. It had to be omitted due to Paprika’s temporary closure that year. Now that the taqueria is getting national hype, Austin Signal spoke with owner Margarito Perez about the nod from the New York Times, and we’re going to have that full interview for you coming later this week. But as the community grapples with the fallout of the ice shooting of a man over the weekend, Perez, an immigrant himself, spoke about how the Austin community has supported the restaurant over the years in the wake of the immigration crackdown.

Margarito Perez [00:29:54] I think more than any press or accolades, that’s been the biggest show of support is just how much our community has had our back. Shortly after getting into the brick and mortar and opening up the taqueria last year, my wife and I were arrested downtown for protesting against ICE and kind of everything going on in the country right now. And because we were still such a small team that literally transitioned from the truck into the taqueria. When we opened it up, we were running it with I think three or four of us in the kitchen. And then we had Nadia and Ale helping out in the front by themselves. So it was like one or two people out front. And it was just the crew that we had from the track. We weren’t even able to let folks know, Hey, we can’t. Open up today because we’re in jail and so seeing like our team rally around and help us get out of jail and then write scribble a note and take a picture and let folks know that we’re closed. But really once that moment passed just seeing like the community come out to Taqueria and say hey we like we want to show solidarity or we’ve got your backs you know because We thought we were going to be just really quiet after that.

Jerry Quijano [00:31:20] Yeah, you have been very vocal about the presence of ICE here in Austin and ICE activities happening. And I feel like there are some businesses who might choose to stay far away from that. They want to keep their business away from the personal. Why is it so important for you to use the platform that you have to amplify your feelings?

Margarito Perez [00:31:37] I think it’s just innate for me. You know, I never want to criticize another business for not maybe taking a stance or making it as clear because I understand that there’s a lot on the line. It really does affect your business and oftentimes more than the financials. You know you also put you and your staff in this line of fire that maybe you’re not, you know, ready or equipped to handle. But for me… It’s just in my DNA, like that’s, I, when folks ask me where the tacos are from, you know, I tell them this is, this is an immigrant taco. I was, I was born in Tamaulipas, but I grew up in the Midwest and then Texas has been homes for, you know for years and years now. And so I can’t pretend to say that these are Estilo Matamoros Tacos, or these are Tejano Tacos. You know, exclusively it’s like, no, that’s it’s all of these things. And at the core, I think. Who I am has always been an immigrant and that struggle and that path is what I think has in a lot of ways shaped the Dakaria and how we choose to operate. So for me it’s something that again I just can’t, I can’t stay quiet about knowing that all these things are going on around us.

Jerry Quijano [00:32:54] We’re gonna have the full interview with Margarito Perez of Paprika coming later this week, right here on Austin Signal. Austin prides itself on being the live music capital of the world, but our city is no longer the affordable college town that it was when we picked up that title. Many musicians struggle just trying to live in the city and pay their bills. KUT’s Olivia Aldridge reports on a local advocacy group that helps make at least one aspect of life a little more affordable.

Zach Morgan [00:33:33] Yeah, what’s up everybody? How we doing?

Olivia Aldridge [00:33:38] Zach Morgan is a funk keyboardist in Austin. These days, he’s pretty established. He plays with a bunch of bands around town. He’s 38 and married and thinking about having a kid. But to get started on this path, he needed a big push. That came in 2015 when he lost his job in tech.

Zach Morgan [00:33:56] I was like, okay, well, maybe this is my sign to try the full-time music thing. Step one in that was like get health insurance again.

Olivia Aldridge [00:34:06] Coming from the corporate world, it was intimidating to think about figuring out health benefits on his own. He found help from the nonprofit Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, or HAM.

Zach Morgan [00:34:16] That’s part of being able to make this whole thing work, I think.

Olivia Aldridge [00:34:19] HAM subsidizes the monthly insurance premiums for thousands of musicians who buy plans through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. They partner with Central Health, a public agency that provides healthcare resources for low-income residents of Austin and surrounding Travis County. Together, they plan to spend about $4 million on the program this year. Rachel Blair is chief strategy officer for HAM.

Rachel Blair [00:34:43] When you think about the average ham member making about $30,000 a year, there’s no way that they would be able to spend a third of their income on healthcare.

Olivia Aldridge [00:34:52] Here’s how it’s worked for the past decade. Ham members enroll in one of the plans that Central Health offers on the marketplace. And if they fall within a certain income range, they’ll get a federal subsidy for part of the monthly premium. Central Health covers the rest. Musicians who don’t quite fit in the income criteria, maybe because they make a little more, can still get about half their premium costs covered directly by Ham. Blair says musicians who are insured are healthier. And they don’t have to worry as much about falling ill or getting in an accident while on the road.

Rachel Blair [00:35:26] That chronic stress erodes our health. It impacts creativity. It impacts a willingness to take a risk, to go out and be a creative entrepreneur, to be a musician, to put yourself out there in a very physical way.

Olivia Aldridge [00:35:41] Ham’s work has become a model for other cities that have live music scenes. Some of them, like New Orleans and Nashville, also have programs for getting musicians’ healthcare. In Texas, Ham helped launch a similar program in Denton. That’s where the University of North Texas has its top-rated music and art schools. Roy Orbison, Norah Jones, Meatloaf, and others got their start in Dentin.

Jennifer Kapanos [00:36:05] There’s a very long history of jazz, weird art rock. The visual arts community here is very strong.

Olivia Aldridge [00:36:13] That’s Jennifer Kapanos, president of the Denton Music and Arts Collaborative. They want local musicians and artists to stick around.

Jennifer Kapanos [00:36:21] More and more people were maybe graduating college and leaving and going to find better opportunities other places.

Olivia Aldridge [00:36:27] The Denton Group offers a subsidy of $100 a month to help local musicians and artists by insurance. Back in Austin, the restaurant industry is another important part of the local economy. Central Health just started another partnership like HAMS to help ensure waiters, cooks, and other food workers. Kit Abney-Spelz with Central Health says they like to work with specific industries that already have networks they…

Olivia Aldridge [00:36:51] Can tap.

Olivia Aldridge [00:37:05] Model does have gaps. In most states, the very lowest income people are covered by Medicaid, not the marketplace plans. But Texas is one of 10 states that did not expand Medicaid, so those people can’t get coverage through either option. HAM tries to help musicians in that situation get low-cost doctor’s appointments when they can. And for people do qualify, it’s gotten more expensive. Insurance rates are rising everywhere. And Congress decided to cut back on subsidies for marketplace plans in 2026. Rachel Blair says Ham has had to turn people away. The percentage of Ham members who were insured dropped from 95 to 91% this year.

Rachel Blair [00:37:45] While it is a decrease, we feel really proud of being able to stay as high as we are and we’re working to get back as best we can.

Olivia Aldridge [00:37:55] Its yearly festival and fundraiser. Bands are playing at grocery stores, parking lots, and even on the steps of the Texas Capitol, doing their part to raise enough money to pay for their health care in 2027. I’m Olivia Aldridge in Austin.

Jerry Quijano [00:38:22] And following up on that story, there are plenty of live shows going on right now and all day long throughout the city of Austin. Here to tell us more is our technical director, Rene Chavez. Rene, thanks for coming on this side of the board. Thank you, Jerry. So tell us a little bit about your show tonight. Where’s it going down?

Rene Chavez [00:38:39] It’s going down at Captain Quack’s Soundspace, or Soundspace at Captain Quack.

Jerry Quijano [00:38:43] And who are you featuring as part of this year’s event?

Rene Chavez [00:38:46] Today we’ve got Jeremiah Jackson, he calls himself the glam daddy of blues, he’s a rock and roll guy, sounds like Bowie, sounds a Queen a little bit, and he’s got some stage antics that are great, kind of a Jimi Hendrix vibe.

Zach Morgan [00:39:03] Strange, the way that you feel All the hearts that you steal So hypocritical

Rene Chavez [00:39:15] And then Paper Sister follows that at 8 p.m. He’s at 7 p. M. Paper Sisters at 8 P.M. They’ve got kind of an alt, shoegaze, indie rock, kind of poppy sound, a really great band as well.

Jerry Quijano [00:39:39] And you said there’s also gonna be a DJ there? Who’s that?

Rene Chavez [00:39:41] There’s a DJ named Chilo Machine and he’s going to DJ in between the sets and he is the percussionist for Starflake, formerly of Komalas Movies, and he’ll be our guy on the 1s and 2s tonight.

Jerry Quijano [00:39:51] Very cool. Well, this year you’re not performing, but you have performed at past Ham Days, correct?

Rene Chavez [00:39:55] Correct, yeah, my wife and I have a two-piece band and we played last year, which was the first time I threw one over at Quacks, you know, a benefit show for Ham, and this year we’re making a record, so we’re not quite in performance mode right now, but I still wanted to throw something special for Ham and be a part of it. I’m usually kind of, in some way, a part planning or fundraising for Ham Day annually.

Jerry Quijano [00:40:21] How long have you been doing that?

Rene Chavez [00:40:23] Since my production days. So probably 10 plus years, you know? Yeah, probably that long. So between production and booking or playing, I’ve always got something to do with Ham Day.

Jerry Quijano [00:40:35] And what do you enjoy most about Ham Day?

Rene Chavez [00:40:38] The fact that they do insane numbers. I mean, just between the sheer amount of musicians playing at both conventional and unconventional spaces and the numbers are always impressive. They do, you know, they generate a lot of income, which goes directly into the apparatus and benefits musicians directly. Just the magnitude of it is just a huge deal to me. But also I benefited from their. Their services for years when I was under-insured and completely uninsured. You know, I was a performing musician and was on ham for a long time and my mouth was not in great shape back in the day. And it’s because of their services that I was able to get dental and had some procedures that I would not have been able to afford without their help.

Jerry Quijano [00:41:26] And do you know other musicians who have used Ham’s services? Currently.

Rene Chavez [00:41:30] Yeah, I’ve always known people who’ve who’ve needed it and benefited from it and strangely people who are Like still kind of unaware of what they do and i’m like, oh you you know, you’re like a perfect candidate for this

Jerry Quijano [00:41:41] Well, Ham Day is just really a great day for people to experience live music. What do you love about the music scene here in Austin?

Rene Chavez [00:41:48] It’s relentless. I was just having a conversation with my buddy the other day on, you know, just talking about being young and playing music in town, in this town or anywhere, but we kind of were talking and we’re like, you know young people have every reason not to pursue, you know music performance as a creative outlet. It’s unincentivized in so many ways and they do it anyway. And I love discovering young bands and watching them still grinded out in a scene that looks completely different than when I was coming up. And I’m happy to be replaced by the next gen of incredible artists. And discovering that is what I love about the scene here, that there’s always brand new spaces being filled with excellent creatives of all ages. It’s not just young people, but I’m most interested in what young. Budding artists are up to.

Jerry Quijano [00:42:45] Alright, fantastic. Well, you can see some music that might be new to you. That’s tonight at SoundSpace, out at Captain Quacks. What time does that start again, Rene?

Rene Chavez [00:42:53] It says seven o’clock.

Jerry Quijano [00:42:54] All right, that is Rene Chavez. He is our technical director. Rene, thank you. Thank you, Jerry. And thank you out there for spending the day with us. There’s plenty more live music going on throughout the night. David Ramirez, who we spoke to during South by Southwest, he’s gonna be playing out at Radio South. That’s at 8 o’clock. Also at 8, the Ani Metals, who were the KUTX artists of the month earlier this year, they’re gonna be out at radio east. Also at eight o’ clock, Ruben Ramos, who he spoke with about his new CD. It’s gonna be at the Wolf House. That’s on Cesar Chavez also out on the east side a DJ got Confucius Alex Marrero and DJ Shawnee from KUTX will be out at the East End ballroom That’s from 7 until 10 o’clock tonight to go out. Enjoy yourself and enjoy some live music That is it for us today on Austin signal Caroline file and Renee Chavez are our technical directors Alexandra Hart is our producer with help today from Ben Philpott Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer I’m your host, Jerry Kehannel. We will be back at the same time tomorrow. We’ll talk to you then.

This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.