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Local nurses led a peaceful vigil last night in Austin for Alex Pretti, the Minnesota ICU nurse shot and killed over the weekend by U.S. immigration officers. We’ll hear about the latest instance of local folks protesting ongoing customs and border patrol activities in Minneapolis.
Three Austin ISD middle schools could get a fifth failing accountability rating, which means the state might step in to run them. We’ll learn about an alternative to that, and whether or not it worked at another AISD middle school.
Plus, we’ll introduce you to folks who took in some canine companions during the recent winter storm.
And, an Austin comedy show where the comedians get heckled on purpose.
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.
Jennifer Stayton [00:00:09] Local nurses led a peaceful vigil last night in Austin for Alex Preti, the Minnesota ICU nurse shot and killed over the weekend by U.S. Immigration officers. Hear about the latest instance of local people protesting ongoing Customs and Border Patrol activities in Minneapolis. Three Austin ISD middle schools could get a fifth failing accountability rating. That means the state of Texas might step in to run them. Hear about an alternative to that and whether or not it worked at another ISD Middle School.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:40] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jennifer Stayton.
Jennifer Stayton [00:00:46] And hear about people who took in some canine companions during the recent winter storm and an Austin comedy show where the comedians get heckled on purpose. All of that is coming up on Austin Signal. Stay with us. Hi Austin, it’s Thursday, January 29th, 2026. This is Austin Signal. I’m Jennifer Stayton. Nurses at Ascension-Seaton Medical Center in Austin led a candlelight vigil in front of the hospital last night for Alex Preti, the Minnesota ICU nurse who was shot and killed by U.S. Immigration officers over the weekend. Hundreds of people holding flowers, candles, and handmade signs gathered in front the hospital. In the latest local protest opposing ongoing customs and border patrol operations. Steve Janda is a 72-year-old retired nurse from the Austin area.
Steve Janda [00:01:46] I’m here to support the nursing staff currently, and I wanted, actually what I wanted to do was to show people that we have these young nurses’ backs. We were working in the ERs and various hospitals all these years. We’re retired now, we’ve passed the torch to them, and it’s just sickening to see what happened in Minneapolis to this VA nurse, and like I said, that’s why I showed up. I just wanted to. I wanted to show solidarity.
Jennifer Stayton [00:02:18] Preti’s death has escalated public outcries against ICE operations following the killing of another Minnesota resident and U.S. Citizen Renee Good. Customs and Border Protection officers initially said Preti resisted arrest, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described him as brandishing the gun he legally carried. But bystander videos show Preti holding only a phone when he was tackled by officers. One vigil attendant last night identified herself as a migrant and only gave her first name, Elizabeth. Before speaking to the crowd. She encouraged folks to vote in local elections and let their county commissioners and city council members know they don’t want APD to support ICE activities.
Elizabeth [00:02:59] When I came to this country, I was in love with it, because I was raised in a bi-legal, bi-cultural school in Mexico, and I love American values, and this is a country that I believe in. This is the country that a lot of the immigrants came to ask for refuge. You are the people that we came seeking for help. I knew that you were out there, and I’m so honored to know you.
Jennifer Stayton [00:03:33] We’ve got more on this from health reporter Olivia Aldridge, who was at the vigil at kut.org and we’ll have a link to her reporting in the show notes. Adobe, Burnett, and Webb Middle Schools in the Austin Independent School District are at risk of receiving a fifth failing accountability rating this year. That would set off events for the state of Texas to step in, resulting in the loss of local control. One way to avoid this, moving those three middle schools under charter school operations. The Austin ISD Board of Trustees is scheduled to take this up tonight, and if that vote goes through, that wouldn’t be the first time AISD has moved a middle school under charter control. To hear more about this, we’re speaking with Acacia Coronado, education reporter for Austin Current. Acacia, thanks for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. Alright, so first of all, just remind us why might three Austin ISD middle schools be taken over by charter schools?
Acacia Coronado [00:04:35] So under state law, if a school receives a fifth failing accountability rating under the state’s accountability system, the education commissioner has the power to either close the school or appoint a board of managers over the entire school district. So, remind us all.
Jennifer Stayton [00:04:53] So what are these charter partnerships supposed to accomplish like what’s what’s the idea behind bringing in a charter operation?
Acacia Coronado [00:05:03] When a charter school is brought in to work with a school that needs improvement, they have two years to turn around the school. And so what that means is that the accountability ratings on those schools are paused for two years to give the charter school time to turn around those schools. And what that mean is up to the contract between the district and the charter administrator or external administrator that they bring in to help run in those schools.
Jennifer Stayton [00:05:33] The turning around mean better test scores, better attendance? What are the kind of metrics that they look at?
Acacia Coronado [00:05:40] Yeah, so generally for schools that are facing this possibility of a fifth failing accountability rating, one of the main things that the operator that comes in will work towards is improving the school’s rating and making sure that it gets to a passing rating to get them out of that loop. So this
Jennifer Stayton [00:06:00] This arrangement with a charter school has happened before in AISD with Mendez Middle School. Can you tell us about those years when Mendez middle school was operated by a charter school? How did-
Acacia Coronado [00:06:11] that go? Yeah, so the school district actually announced earlier this month that they would be wrapping up their partnership with Mendez Middle School and Third Future because Third Future had accomplished the goal that they had set out to accomplish, which was to get it to a B rating by this 24, 25 school year. And so that partnership worked out in the way that Third Future accomplished the goals that they set out accomplish and now the district is bringing the school back home. And did the district learn?
Jennifer Stayton [00:06:42] Do you learn any lessons, do you think, from that experience with Mendes Middle School about having it run by a charter organization?
Acacia Coronado [00:06:52] I think it’s important to note that all charter or external organization partnerships are different in running a school. It’s all very dependent on the contract and the expectations that are set out by the district with the partner organization. And in this partnership, what we can see is that the goals were accomplished and the school district is now able to look towards how they can maintain that rating at the school. After they bring it back into the district.
Jennifer Stayton [00:07:23] All, just remind us what’s at stake for the three middle schools that the board may be voting on tonight, Doby, Burnett, and West.
Acacia Coronado [00:07:32] So what’s at stake is the future of these three middle schools and whether they are going to be operated by a charter or external partner organization and whether that can actually pause the accountability ratings for two years and give them a chance to get back to a passing rating to avoid a potential closure or a district takeover.
Jennifer Stayton [00:07:55] Well, I know you’re gonna be at that meeting tonight and we’ll be keeping up with your coverage. We’ve been speaking with Acasio Coronado education reporter for Austin Current, KUT’s collaborator on the Austin Signal and a partner with KUT newsroom in covering Austin. We’ll have a link to her reporting at kut.org slash signal and in our podcast show notes Acasia. Thank you so much for talking with us today on Austin Signal. It’s finally starting to warm up after the wintriest weather of the season so far in Texas, and it seems like people in Austin and central Texas were pretty prepared. You probably saw a video of grocery store shelves that were pretty much bare, but as KUT’s Katy McAfee reports, H-E-B wasn’t the only place in the city that was emptied out.
Katy McAfee [00:08:48] It’s not usually this quiet at Austin Pets Alive’s shelter on Cesar Chavez. Normally, the shelter has around 150 dogs on site. Right now, they have 18. So it’s a…
Allison Swearingen [00:09:00] Huge drop from what we normally have, and we’ve literally never had this few dogs on site before.
Katy McAfee [00:09:06] Allison Swearingen is in charge of finding the best possible homes for dogs at APA. She says a week ago, APA set a goal to find foster homes for 75 pets. That would make enough space for every animal still left at the shelter to stay indoors while temperatures dipped below freezing. One staff member at AP A said, at first, that goal felt crazy. But within one day, 65 cats and dogs were already in foster homes. People were lined up to take these animals home. SwearEngine says the wait time was over 2 hours.
Allison Swearingen [00:09:37] It kind of just was really a whole lot of like, here’s this dog, do you want this dog? Because we had so few left at a certain point.
Katy McAfee [00:09:44] Jamie Gomez is a student at Texas State University. She drove up from San Marcos last week after seeing a post on TikTok. I just feel so bad for this.
Elizabeth [00:09:55] So I just wanted to do something to help, and I know it’s not much, but it’s something, so.
Katy McAfee [00:10:04] And I love him so bad. He was a good dog. After a five-hour wait, there were only a handful of dogs left. Gomez was matched with a large pound puppy surprise. That’s APA’s friendly euphemism for a mutt. His name is Nico. And then they brought him out, and he was so chill, and his eyes, just his face, like he was just really, really good dog, yeah. By the end of the day Friday, 203 pets at APA were matched with foster homes. More than double their original goal. That freed up space for APA to accept dozens of animals from shelters in San Marcos and Bastrop that were at risk of being euthanized. And Swearingen says the dogs that didn’t get fostered got quality one-on-one time with staff that they rarely get. Like the entire city basically showed up to help dogs that are not even their dogs. Of the dogs that were fostered over the weekend, 40 have now been adopted. But APA will quickly fill up again. And they’ll likely have to welcome back many of the dogs and cats that were fostered over the freeze. That includes Nico. Being a busy college student with four roommates, Gomez said she couldn’t commit to adopting or fostering him long-term. He really got attached to me, for sure. I’ll probably cry more if I keep talking about it. But Gomez says if another storm hits and APA urgently needs fosters, she’ll come back for him. I’m Katy McAfee in Austin.
Jennifer Stayton [00:11:34] And still ahead on Austin Signal, comedians who want to get heckled on purpose. Yeah, that’s a thing in Austin, hear about it. Still ahead on the Austin Signal. I’m Jennifer Stayton and today for Jerry Kehano, stay with us. Welcome back, this is Austin Signal. There’s a comedy show every Sunday in Austin where bombing is only the beginning. As KUT Sean Saldana reports, heckling is a rite of passage for those who take the stage.
Creek and the Cave [00:12:18] I want you all to know that this is a safe space. We’ve all come.
Sean Saldana [00:12:21] Im at The Creek in the Cave on 7th Street, preparing to watch Banana Film, a comedy show that doubles as a form of masochism.
Creek and the Cave [00:12:31] That’s something that we get all.
Sean Saldana [00:12:35] There are around a dozen comics on the lineup tonight. They’ll each do one minute of material. One of the first up is Amybeth Castleberry. Let’s get started. Well, they call it scoliosis and I call it my backstory. Castleberry does her set and it goes okay enough, but the real challenge comes afterward. When the show’s hosts and the crowd of more than 100 get the chance to roast her on stage. I know your house smells like books and cat pee. There is no time limit to this portion of the set. It goes for as long as the mob has jokes to make.
Creek and the Cave [00:13:12] Piss girl! Piss Girl!
Sean Saldana [00:13:15] Jokes about race, gender, ethnicity, height, weight, age, and quality of the material are all on the table. It is very Lord of the Flies-esque, I guess you can say. Candice Medina is an Austin comedian and the show’s creator. She designed Bananaphone to be the worst case scenario for a comic.
Candice Medina [00:13:33] And if you can live through that, you can survive through anything that could potentially happen to you on stage that could be horrible.
Sean Saldana [00:13:39] About a third of the audience each week is other comedians, many of whom have been on stage before. That means most of the time, the people heckling are peers
Candice Medina [00:13:47] There’s something very human about connecting with people in a way that is love, but it’s not kindness. And when comedians get offstage, they often bond and network with the people who just harassed them. Being a comic is extremely isolating, and I think in certain ways, comedians seek this out because it is this level of community where you find the misfits. And the weirdos, and none of us are judging. Bananaphone is one of the most popular.
Sean Saldana [00:14:20] Weekly comedy shows in Austin. It has a streaming deal and draws people in from all around the country. Like Jamil Linton, who is visiting from Los Angeles. It’s an Austin specific thing in the comedy world. It’ll be her second time on the show. So whenever you went up there the first time, what were they riffing about? Mostly me.
Jamil Linton [00:14:39] Being Asian.
Sean Saldana [00:14:40] Good comedy requires self-awareness. As it turns out, getting in front of a bunch of drunk strangers who want to hurt your feelings is a great way of learning what people notice about you.
Jamil Linton [00:14:49] I wore these boho overalls and Candice told me that I looked like I was doing stand-up comedy for a Lamaze class.
Sean Saldana [00:15:00] Nick Cox is one of Bananaphone’s co-hosts. He says the only way to survive is to accept the things you can’t change.
Creek and the Cave [00:15:07] You have to be able to go up there and just surrender to whatever is going to happen and that’s a lot for a lot of people. It’s like ego death, it does teach you something about yourself at the end of it.
Sean Saldana [00:15:15] Most of the heckles you’ll hear at Bananaphone are incredibly vulgar and completely unerrable on public radio. That means occasionally the crowd goes too far and the hosts have to step in.
Creek and the Cave [00:15:26] Like if I ever see someone go up and that person’s face is clearly shifted to like, this is actually making them sad and they’re not enjoying themselves, then I try to get them off. Because like, if somebody gets upset for real, it kind of changes the temperature of the room. No one wants people to be sad.
Sean Saldana [00:15:40] In spite of this, there is no shortage of comics who want to be booked on the show. Each week, around 50 people sign up. The show’s hosts prioritize people who are new to the scene, like Chris Winfrey. He goes by an interesting stage name.
Chris Winfrey [00:15:55] Right now give it up for
Sean Saldana [00:15:56] We’re free!
Chris Winfrey [00:15:56] It’s not coming!
Sean Saldana [00:16:00] Breathe the Comedian recently moved to Austin and has been doing stand-up for a year. He is a heavier set gentleman, which is only relevant for one reason.
Chris Winfrey [00:16:09] Wherever I go, it takes all the 30 seconds for somebody to talk about ozempic. And I asked my doc, I said, how do I get diabetes so I can get it cheaper? He said, just give it a minute. I got that kind of time, man. I’m one brisk jog away from heart failure.
Sean Saldana [00:16:24] After his set, Freeze receives a standing ovation. Then the heckling starts.
Creek and the Cave [00:16:33] And Lord Jesus, I ask that you give us an ocean big enough to baptize this man.
Creek and the Cave [00:16:41] Lord, I pray that you help this man when he buys extra Oreos to add to his already-
Sean Saldana [00:16:46] After Freeze gets off stage, I ask him about the experience.
Chris Winfrey [00:16:50] I mean, I was shaking a little bit when I first went up, but I mean that’s just your nerves. That’s gonna be natural. I have anxiety disorder, but I don’t let that affect me whatsoever.
Sean Saldana [00:16:56] Almost all of the jokes the crowd made focused on his weight. He spent nearly 10 minutes on stage, far longer than the average comic that night.
Chris Winfrey [00:17:05] I feel actually really good, man. The crowd was great. I’m so glad that they chose to roast me more than some of the other comics, that lets me know they care more. But I feel good, yeah, I feel great.
Sean Saldana [00:17:16] Comedy is cruel. The rejection is constant, the pay is non-existent, and most comedians never break out. The only way to survive is to find your people. Bananaphone helps.
Chris Winfrey [00:17:28] I just got to Austin so I just want to put my mark on and let people know I’m here to stay and I’m not here to play around.
Sean Saldana [00:17:34] Comedians brave enough to go on stage come away with thicker skin and access to a community. All it costs is their dignity. I’m Sean Saldana in Austin.
Jennifer Stayton [00:17:49] Okay, is this true for you? I know it’s true for me. I feel like I know people that I hear on the radio even though I might not have ever met them. It’s just I feel the reporters and hosts are talking to me. So it’s hard when one of them says goodbye. And for the next few minutes we’re going to have one of those goodbye conversations. Lauren Magocchi has been an investigative reporter for the Texas newsroom and KUT for about two years. You’ve heard her work here on Austin Signal and at other times on KUT and on NPR. Lauren is leaving for a new opportunity. But before that, she is stopping by Austin Signal to chat, hi Lauren. All right, so Lauren, you were a print and digital reporter for a long time. That’s right. What drew you to want to work in radio?
Lauren McGaughy [00:18:34] Well, I always got all of my news, most of my news, the bulk of it from radio. You know, when you’re a newspaper reporter and you have to look at a screen all day long and read and read, and read. You don’t necessarily want to consume news that way. And so it’s still I have the same practice every day. I get up and I immediately turn on KUT news when I brush my teeth and I get to hear Jennifer Stayton. Um, and, uh, I listen for the entirety of the morning through when I’m driving into work. And so I always, it was always my preferred way to get news. And so being able to not just work around all of these people, I felt like I knew already, but learn how to record and make stories was really great.
Jennifer Stayton [00:19:18] So you started working in radio and what did you think about radio when you started working in it? Like was it as magical as you thought it was going to be?
Lauren McGaughy [00:19:25] I mean, kind of, yeah. If you’re someone out there and you’re considering the switch to radio, seriously consider it. I think that it was really cool from a technical perspective to be able to pick up a new skill in the middle of my career. I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years and having a real new skill I learned from scratch was amazing because you don’t always get that opportunity to learn something so. Like so obviously knew like you’re like I have this thing I can do now that I wasn’t able to do two years ago. So there was that and then you know something great about being in radio and being connected with NPR and Texas Standard and all these different kinds of formats is that you can do different kinds. Sometimes I felt like you know in print you get locked into you know I’m a politics reporter all I do is write about this every day and all I put words on the page but In the last years, I’ve got to write fun stories. I’ve gotten to write silly things. I’ve gone to be on stage for ET Explained Live, which was just one of the most memorable things I’ve ever done.
Jennifer Stayton [00:20:31] So, Lauren, you’ve said, as you’re getting ready to depart, that working in radio, you think, has made you a better reporter and a better storyteller. That’s right. Talk a little bit about that. Why do you think that’s happened? Well…
Lauren McGaughy [00:20:42] Well, you know, it still happens sometimes, but sometimes when we’re writing about really complex things, you can have the tendency, and I have the tendancy, to kind of fall back on really wonky language, like, I don’t want to get this wrong, so I’m going to use this very technical term in this written story. But you can’t go on the radio and blurt out some term or some acronym that people don’t know what it means. You have to be able to explain things in ways that people understand. And so I think it made me a lot more of a clear writer. And it helped me a little bit with my voice, you know, just being able to think about how I might tell a story differently for digital versus how it would sing more in audio. And sometimes I told the same story in two completely different ways.
Jennifer Stayton [00:21:27] Use the phrase, write like you talk sometimes, writing like you talk. So Lauren, you packed a lot into the past two years or so. Can you just talk a little bit about some of the investigations and stories you’ve done that maybe have especially stuck with you during your time here?
Lauren McGaughy [00:21:43] Sure. God, I feel like we’ve been able to do so much. I’ve covered Ken Paxson for a long time, did lots of stories on that. I continue to cover the conditions in Texas prisons, which was continuation from my print days. I think something new that really stuck with me, though, was writing more about Elon Musk and being able to go down to Brownsville where the SpaceX rocket launch site is and interview people and put their voices on the was very powerful. Just to be able to understand the effect on real people living down there of this massive facility. And so that’s probably one of the most memorable things for my two years. And so Lauren, tell us what you are off to do next. Where are you headed? Oh, sure. I’m going to be joining the New York Times. I’m not leaving Texas. I’m gonna be their first official Texas politics correspondent. So I will be still in Austin writing about politics and policy, and so I’ll be around and I’ll hopefully still be on the shows if you’ll have me.
Jennifer Stayton [00:22:48] Yeah, I think we can make that happen. The Texas newsroom’s Lauren Magahee. We will miss you, but look forward to following your coverage in the New York Times. Thanks, Lauren. Thank you. That is it for today’s show. Don’t forget, you can find more from today’s show in the show notes, wherever you get your podcasts and at kut.org slash signal. Rayna Sevilla is our technical director. Kristin Cabrera is our managing producer. Special thanks today to Olivia Aldridge, Acacia Coronado, Katy McAfee, Sean Saldana, and Lauren McGaughy. I’m Jennifer Stayton in today for Jerry Quijano. Austin signal will be back at the same time tomorrow. 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.
