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Austinites and many others across Texas insured through Blue Cross Blue Shield could lose in-network access to Ascension Seton facilities on Jan. 1 unless the two sides can agree on a new contract.
Austin has been a testing ground for autonomous vehicles: Zoox, Texla’s Robotaxi, Waymo. However, Waymo has now issued a software recall after videos showed some vehicles passing stopped Austin ISD buses.
Plus: 2025 is nearing its end, and what a year it’s been for the Austin music scene. We take a listen back to some of this year’s KUTX artists of the month.
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] Austinites and many other across Texas, insured through Blue Cross Blue Shield, could soon lose in-network access to Ascension Seat and facilities. That’s set to take effect on January 1st, unless the two sides can agree on a new contract. We’re gonna talk about how that could affect folks here in our community. Plus, Austin has been a testing ground for autonomous vehicles, Zooks Robo Taxis, Waymo’s, oh my, but Waymo has now issued a software recall after videos showed some vehicles passing stop Austin ISD busses. We’re gonna have more about that coming up on today’s show. Awesome. And we’re gonna take a listen back to some of this year’s KUTX Artists of the Month. That’s up next here on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, thank you for tuning in. This is Austin Signal, and you’re listening here on community powered public radio. This is KUT News 90.5 on the KUT app and online at KUT.org. Thank you for making us part of your day. Got a lot to get into today, so let’s start the show. Folks with a Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance could be losing in network access to some Austin area facilities starting in 2026. That is, unless a new contract can be agreed upon before the new year. KUT’s healthcare reporter Olivia Aldrich has the story over at KUT.org, and she’s joining us now on Austin Signal to tell us more about it. Howdy, Olivia.
Olivia Aldridge [00:01:52] Hi Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:01:52] So let’s start simple enough. Where is the dispute here?
Olivia Aldridge [00:01:56] Well, so obviously insurers and hospital systems like this negotiate all the time to, you know, to strike a contract so that, you know, care at that hospital system or those clinics or by, you know, a certain physician group can be considered in network. And for most people, that’s what will make it affordable if their insurance says this, you know, this this place is in network. Right now they’re negotiating their hospital and facility agreements and kind of what this means is that this involves the reimbursement rates that Ascension gets from Blue Cross for the healthcare services that Ascension doctors and staff are providing at their facilities. So from what we know, Ascension basically feels that what Blue Cross is bringing to the table isn’t enough to account for rising costs of things like equipment, medication costs, and you know, general inflation.
Jerry Quijano [00:02:45] And how many people do we know are insured by Blue Cross Blue Shield here in Texas? It’s a big name, you know, it’s a lot of name recognition. How many people are insured through them?
Olivia Aldridge [00:02:53] Yeah, Blue Cross says it’s something like eight million people in Texas. It’s the state’s largest insurer, by a lot. So they have about a quarter of the market share. And that includes us here at KUT. We get our benefits through Blue Cross. It affects a lot of people.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:06] Maybe that’s why I have the name recognition. So let’s talk about Ascension Seaton. How many facilities do they operate locally?
Olivia Aldridge [00:03:13] They have about twelve hospitals that they operate and then dozens of other, you know, primary care clinics and specialty care clinics.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:19] And so anybody who has a blue cross blue shield would lose in network access to those facilities, correct?
Olivia Aldridge [00:03:26] Yeah, and that doesn’t include emergency care.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:28] Yeah, and that that brings me to my next question. I is there any leeway for folks who are going through something big like a pregnancy or some kind of life threatening illness right now?
Olivia Aldridge [00:03:37] Yes, so if you’re pregnant, if you’re getting again life threatening illness or you’re being treated for an acute condition right now, you may qualify for what they’re calling continuity of care, which essentially just means that you can kind of get a special allowance to remain in network, but you you shouldn’t just assume that that’s going to happen. Blue Cross is urging members to kind of call the number on their insurance card and speak to someone about it if they think they might qualify.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:05] Okay, we talked a little bit about Blue Cross Blue Shield. What have we heard from Ascension on this matter?
Olivia Aldridge [00:04:11] Yeah, I mean they again they say what Blue Cross is offering just doesn’t account for their financial realities and they’re asking at at this point Blue Cross to come to the table with a new proposal that does that. Of course Blue Cross says it’s it’s looking out for its own policy holders by trying to keep costs lower on their end and they both say they’re negotiating in good faith.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:30] It seems like these sorts of contract disputes happen a lot. Not not just with insurers and hospitals. I was thinking recently of like YouTube T V and Disney. There’s always this back and forth, this c you know, finagling of trying to figure out the deal. Am I right? Are these sorts of last minute contract negotiations becoming more normal around here?
Olivia Aldridge [00:04:52] I mean, yes, we’ve we’ve seen this happen a good bit in the last few years, specifically with Blue Cross. There have been a number of kind of eleventh hour contract deals that have been resolved. That includes Ascension in 2023, early 2023, they kind of resolved you know, a dispute like this at the end of an extended deadline. There was a similar situation with Baylor Scott and White last year. And generally, you know, we do see these things get resolved because it is a really big deal and you know, it’s it’s significant for both the hospital and the insurer. But obviously it’s a nerve wracking if you’re, you know, a patient in the situation waiting to see what happens.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:32] Yes, yes, yeah. I compared it to the YouTube TV and Disney thing, but obviously this is of much more importance when you’re dealing with something like a life threatening illness, a pregnancy, or y as you said, just the uncertainty of going into this time of the year or going into whatever you’re going into with that uncertainty is never a good thing. Again, you can read more about this story over at KUT dot org. It is from Olivia Aldridge, she is KUT’s health care reporter. Thank you for being on the signal.
Olivia Aldridge [00:05:59] Thanks for having me.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:10] Austin has been a top testing ground for autonomous vehicles. On the streets, you might see the Tesla Robo Taxi, Amazon’s Zooks. I love saying that word. And perhaps if you’re on the road right now, you’re watching a Waymo roll by those white cars with the spinny thing on top. Or maybe you might have seen videos recently of Waymo’s illegally passing Austin ISD school busses when they’re stopped. Now this has caused the company to issue software recalls for its fleet of vehicles. For more about that, we’re speaking with Texas Standards Shelly Brisbin. Shelley, welcome back to Austin Signal.
Shelly Brisbin [00:06:45] Hey Jerry, thanks for having me.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:46] So tell us w what does this software recall mean? I I I believe this is a voluntary recall, yes?
Shelly Brisbin [00:06:52] Yeah, it’s a voluntarily voluntary recall, which means two things. It means first of all that the software for the Waymo vehicles that are out there in Austin streets right now is going to be updated, but the actual recall process is alerting the federal government that there is a recall happening. Hey, we’re changing the software to account specifically for bad behavior, illegal behavior around busses.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:17] So are there any Waymo’s coming off the road? Is is the number changing right now?
Shelly Brisbin [00:07:22] No. So far Waymo has not taken any cars off the road. As you mentioned it’s voluntary recall. The AISD actually had asked Waymo to stop running their vehicles during school drop off and pickup hours, but Waymo has so far not done that and they’re certainly are running in near the elementary school in my neighborhood.
Jerry Quijano [00:07:39] Okay. Have has this sort of software recall happened in other cities across the country?
Shelly Brisbin [00:07:44] Actually the school bus issue specifically was first noticed in Atlanta where Waymo also operates. And there’s a voluntary recall there. There were also there were incidents and videos showing Waymo Waymo’s either passing school busses or not s not going behind a school bus as the law requires. And so Atlanta and Austin are sort of ground zero. There’s something like five incidents reported in Atlanta. There are actually more incidents in Austin, although I think some of the more serious ones seem to have been caught on video in Atlanta in any case.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:14] And the the incidents in Austin, do we know w when those occurred? Have those all occurred over twenty twenty five or has that just been in the recent school year?
Shelly Brisbin [00:08:22] AISD says there have been at least nineteen incidents this school year, and a lot of what we know about these incidents does come from camera footage on the busses, and AISD has captured that footage itself.
Jerry Quijano [00:08:34] Okay, so AISD has raised an a a complaint in this matter. Can you tell us more w what does that actually mean?
Shelly Brisbin [00:08:42] So they sent a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is a federal agency that supervises traffic laws in the in a big picture level, for for lack of a better way to describe it. And they’ve basically asked the agency to undertake an investigation of Waymo to find out whether it’s the software that’s at fault and why this is happening, specifically since it relates to school busses. And so that complaint with the video evidence went out. There’s a there’s a letter that you can find on the National Highway NTSA website that describes the school district complaints. And the district says that even since the software recall was announced by Waymo in mid November, there have been additional incidents and that’s what occasioned the letter that they wrote to NHTSA on December third.
Jerry Quijano [00:09:31] So we have the Way Moses private company and we have the local school district, the Austin ISD. Is there a reason that this complaint went to the federal government?
Shelly Brisbin [00:09:40] Well the N T T S A, which is very hard to say. That is the federal agency that deals with traffic regulations. Now the state regulations involving Waymo’s specifically and and it all robotaxis, by the way, have to do with whether there is a driver in the car or not. Waymo’s do not require that because they have a higher level of autonomous driving software than, say, the Tesla robotaxis, where they have to have a a safety driver in the front seat of the car. And so those are the kind of regulations that the state imposes. You may remember that some years ago the state legislature passed a law that the that prevents local governments like Austin’s or like AISD from imposing any rules on robotaxis. So most of the regulation is going to come from either the federal or the state government.
Jerry Quijano [00:10:24] Okay, well I know that this complaint was just lodged recently. What happens next? It sounds like, you know, you said AISD asked Waymos to take their cars off the road, but you s have still seen them recently. Where where do we go next?
Shelly Brisbin [00:10:38] Well, there is always the possibility that either Waymo would do another voluntary recall or that NHTSA would require them to take some sort of further action. The school district actually told the American statesman that they were pursuing their legal options. I’m not certain what those were, but I think the district is very concerned and so it’s it’s a story to continue to watch.
Jerry Quijano [00:10:58] Okay, well we will continue watching it here on Austin Signal. We have been speaking with Shelley Brisbane. She has been covering autonomous vehicles for Texas Standard. You can find more of her work at Texas Standard dot org. Shelley, thank you for joining us. Thank you. All right, well, thank you for spending part of your Tuesday here with us on Austin Signal. Just as a reminder, we’re here every weekday from 1 until 1:30. And if you can’t listen to the show live, that’s okay. We are a podcast. You can find us wherever you listen to your shows. And you can find more shows by going to K U T.org slash Signal. Tonight at the Paramount in downtown Austin, they’re hosting a night for Rich Brotherton, the awesome musician, producer, and teacher dealing with ALS. Patty Griffin, Charlie Crockett, and Lyle Lovett are joining in on the celebration tonight. And our old friend K U T X DJ Jody Denberg is going to be serving as the master of ceremonies. There might still be a ticket or two out there to find, but if you can’t make it out tonight, you can still hear more about Rich from some of the people who know him pretty well. Austin Signal spoke with Andrea McGee, Pat Byrne, and Scrappy Judd Newcomb, who will also be performing tonight. You can hear more from them about Rich and about their musical connection. Again, K U T.org slash Signal. Well, we’re coming up on a break, but after that, we are gonna talk about K U T X’s artists of the month for 2025. Your morning drive time host Taylor Wallace is gonna be joining us. That’s up next on Austin Signal. Thank you for tuning in to Austin Signal. We’re nearing the end of 2025. And we’re gonna start taking a look back at the year that was here in Austin. Today we’re talking about some of the K U T X artists of the month featured in twenty twenty five. You can find write ups on all the artists featured this year over at KUTX dot org. But right now to help us go through a few of them, we’re joined by your K U T X morning drive time host, Taylor Wallace. Howdy, Taylor?
Taylor Wallace [00:13:13] Hello, hi.
Jerry Quijano [00:13:14] I’m gonna start off first with the band. I love when an artist takes a word and they you know take a letter out, they add some punctuation, they make things kinda funky. So tell us about Jacuzzi, Taylor.
Taylor Wallace [00:13:23] Jacuzzi was our July artist of the month and it is I call it art punk, but also cork punk. That’s that’s a me word, not a floating in the ether word. So jacuzzi, they are this duo of Gorge Bones and Trey Razzle Dazzle. And they Gorge especially has never been in a band before. And you wouldn’t guess it from like, first of all, they’re they sound fantastic, but then to see them live, they are ostentatious.
Jerry Quijano [00:13:52] I was just looking at the write up at K U Text dot org. They look like rock stars. Yeah. So to hear that is very surprising.
Taylor Wallace [00:13:57] Yeah, they’re fantastic and they’re playing this Saturday. If you haven’t had the chance to see them yet, first of all, you can find their MyKUTX guest DJ set and their studio one A over on our website. But they are playing the holiday hootin’ nanny that we are supporting this Saturday at Radio East. So not only can you see Shannon and the clams, Toon Yards and Rubble Bucket, you can see Jacuzzi as well.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:18] Alright, well let’s hear a little bit from Jacuzzi right now. Next is a band that we featured as part of our hour-long Austin City Limits music festival special for Austin Signal. For those who are not familiar, tell us about Next of Kin and and the kind of year that they’ve had.
Taylor Wallace [00:14:59] Okay, Next of Ken has had a gangbusters year. Really? Their debut EP came out back in May. Not only one sold-out night at Continental Club, two sold-out nights. And it’s a trio of Lily Hickman of Florin Fauna, also Madison Baker, and Kaylin Trelongo. They make up this trio, and it is all about the harmonies. It is queer country. Their cover of The Chain by Fleetwood Mac is transcendent. And they played ACL Fest this year. They also hooked up with Austin FC and they got to model. Austin FC did some sort of like live music merch line, and they got to model for that. It’s like a fashion show kind of thing. Yeah, kind of, yeah. And they also got invited by Texas Monthly to do their like dig through our archives series. Cool. So all of that is exciting on its head, and who knows what’s coming up. I foresee very big things for this trio. And we’re presenting their New Year’s Eve show at Antones. So all the info you can find that at K U T X.org. And they’ll be joined by TC Superstar Nane and Quentin Arispe.
Jerry Quijano [00:16:01] Okay, cool, let’s hear a little something from Next of Kin.
Taylor Wallace [00:16:07] Yeah.
Next of Kin Excerpt [00:16:09] How right? Yeah. Come and find you When you kiss in the curb and bend from every bar See the ugly truth on its leg
Jerry Quijano [00:16:28] one of my favorite things that K U T X does is a lot of people on staff get a chance to speak with the artists. You actually got to do the interview with Next of Ken. What did you learn? What did you enjoy about spending time with them? Because I got to interview them and they are like all on the same wavelength, you know? There are so they are so insane.
Taylor Wallace [00:16:45] Agreed. And I think it’s such a testament to women supporting women and women falling in love with other women, not romantically, but with their music and their spirit. And so all three of them had been fans of each other’s. And then they all kind of got together and just kind of became like this immediate like sisterhood. And it I think that translates very, very well through their music. And it seems like it’s been very organic for them, which is wonderful.
Jerry Quijano [00:17:15] Yeah, you know, I think kinda naively I always assume that everyone in a band must like each other, but after speaking to them, it was like, wow, they are really their best friends. They actually like each other. Yeah, and it’s so really cool. You can hear some of their their interactions, some of their bon from that special ACL episode of our show. That’s at K U T.org slash signal. Okay, next up is September’s Artists of the Month. Now, Taylor, anytime I tell somebody that I work at K U T, they always tell me how much they love K U T X. And the point was a band that multiple people in the community would come up to me and say, They rock. The point rocks, I love them. Who are they and why do they have everyone so hyped?
Taylor Wallace [00:17:51] Okay, well, let me tell you this. We think Next of Kin had a gangbusters year and the point said, Hold my beer, which is takes nothing away from Next of Kin. But these guys went on tour with Mdumakhtar earlier this year. They played Levitation, they played ACL Fest, and they next year are going on tour with St. Paul and the Broken Bones. And they, as the person at K U T X who keeps up with all of the shows for all the artists we’re playing, they keep me the most busy. I would say on average, I kid you not, four local shows a month on average. Like they are hot, hot, hot. And they have a show this Sunday at Antones where Adrian Quesada will be doing a DJ set.
Next of Kin Excerpt [00:18:38] I’m leaving even mama, but I don’t know where to go. I’m even leaving mama. But I don’t know where to go.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:00] Very, very cool. Okay, lastly, Taylor, let me ask a a more personal question. What was your twenty twenty five year of music like here in the Austin scene? How are you feeling about the local scene as we move into twenty twenty six?
Taylor Wallace [00:19:11] I am very excited. I think our whole class of 2025 paints a really good tapestry that everything from RB, hip hop, country, rock, punk, it’s all here and it’s all happening. And I really think we’ve got several of our artists of the month from this year that really are not only great Austin bands, but certainly have breakout potential. Aside from all of these, there’s just been so many other artists. Like it’s been a really fun year to be in our artist of the month Slack channel talk discussing it because it’s just overwhelming with like how many awesome albums and everything are coming out month to month to month. And so I am hotly excited. And if you want to kind of get an early step into what Austin in 2026 could look like, free week is the first week of January, as we all know, and we will be having a free week show, the announcement to come later this week. But some of them might be some of the artists that you’ll have heard about today. And and even with that show, it’s a good it’s a good mosaic, sonic mosaic of who’s who and who you should love.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:18] All right, well when that announcement is made, we’ll let you know right here on Austin Signal. We have been speaking with Taylor Wallace, your weekday morning drive time host for our sister station KUTX, breaking down a few of the artists of the month featured as the twenty twenty five KUTX artists of the month. We’re gonna have a link in our show notes at KUT dot org slash signal. Taylor, thank you for your time. Always a pleasure. This is Austin Signal. Thank you for making us part of your Tuesday. Well, if you weren’t paying attention yesterday, we had lots of movement on the political front. It was the last day to file ahead of next year’s midterms. Colin Alrid dropped out of the race for U.S. Senate, while Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett joined in. Locally, Democratic State Senator Sarah Eckhart announced that she is running for Texas Comptroller. The Austin area politician said in October that she was running for the newly drawn 10th Congressional District after Republican rep Michael McCall announced that he was not going to seek re-election, but things have since changed. Eckhart said that as Comptroller, she will stand up for public school funding and fight fraud, waste, and abuse in government spending. You can read more about that over at K U T.org. You can also find more about Waymo’s voluntary software recalled there. And so much more from our KUT Newsroom. And that is it for today’s show here on Austin Signal. Thank you to KUT’s Olivia Aldridge, Texas Standard Shelly Brisbin, and K U T X’s Taylor Wallace. We hit the trifecta on today’s show. We couldn’t do it without all the help here. And I couldn’t do it without managing producer Kristen Cabrera, technical director Rayna Sevilla, and our theme music is by Rene Chavez. Don’t forget about our show, Dad Jimmy Mass, and I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. Thank you for making Austin Signal part of your day. We really appreciate spending this time with you. We’ll be back tomorrow at one o’clock, and 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.
