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An arctic cold front brought freezing precipitation to the Austin area over the weekend. Classes were cancelled today at UT Austin and most school districts in Central Texas. Still, the area made out much better this time than in ice storms of years past. We’ll have more about the situation locally and this week’s forecast.
The most high-profile candidates for the Texas Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate race in November – U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and State Rep. James Talarico – debated each other in Georgetown over the weekend. We’ll recap the cases they made and the status of the race ahead of the March primary.
Plus, Annabelle Chairlegs is the KUTX Artist of the Month for January. Their new record “Waking Up” is out this Friday. We’ll chat with group lead Lindsey Mackin and hear from the band’s Studio 1A performance.
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 [00:00:08] An Arctic cold front brought freezing precipitation to the Austin area over the weekend. Classes were canceled today at UT Austin and most school districts in Central Texas. Still, the area made out much better this time than in ice storms of years past. More about the situation locally and this week’s forecast. And the most high profile candidates for the Texas Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate race in November debated each other in Georgetown over the week. The cases they made and the status of the race ahead of the March primary, that’s coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:40] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:45] Plus, Annabelle Chairlegs is the KUTX Artist of the Month for January. Their new record, Waking Up, is out this Friday. We’re gonna chat with the group leader. Coming up today on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, thank you for tuning in. This is Austin Signal, I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. We are glad to be part of your day. It’s the final Monday of January, 2026, and it’s a chilly one across Austin and Central Texas. 33 degrees this hour out at Camp Mayberry. That means after about 50 hours, the area is no longer dealing with freezing temperatures at least some of the area. There’s still a good bit of ice out on the roads this morning too. That was the case on my drive in maybe for you as well. The weekend weather conditions were enough to preemptively shut down classes here at the University of Texas as well as Austin ISD and many other school districts in the area that’s in addition to canceling hundreds of flights out at Austin Bergstrom International Airport. Here is Eric Platt from the local office of the National Weather Service.
Eric Platt [00:02:00] The good news is that we’re not expecting any precipitation today. We’re going to see plenty of sunshine. North winds be a little bit gusty, but hopefully the sunshine and the dry north winds will kind of help start the drying process.
Jerry Quijano [00:02:13] Now while that good news is applicable to most of the area, Plaid says that there are some areas that will need to continue to thaw at least into tomorrow. Temperatures are forecasted to drop back into the teens tonight here in Austin, possibly even colder in some areas of central Texas.
Eric Platt [00:02:29] Like I say, the sunshine certainly will help, especially those main roads today. But you know, I suspect if you don’t really have to get out, it’s probably best to give it another day.
Jerry Quijano [00:02:38] Now we might have escaped the precipitation for now, but freezing temperatures will be sticking around the Austin area this week. The National Weather Service is forecasting nightly lows in the teens and twenties every night this week, except for Thursday, which right now is expected to reach right around 33 degrees. An extreme cold warning that was set to expire earlier today has now been extended through nine o’clock tomorrow morning. We will continue to keep you updated on the latest weather impacts here on KUT News over on the KUT app. And online at KUT.org. Right now we’re gonna transition over and talk with KUT city hall reporter, Luz Moreno Lozano. She is joining us to talk about the city’s response to the weather. Luz, thanks for coming on the show.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:03:21] Hey Jerry, thanks for having me.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:22] So I do know that at least one person died during this weekend’s weather or what details do we have about that death so far?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:03:30] Yeah, it was a man who was found in an abandoned parking lot. There used to be a Shell gas station there. It was somewhere along I-35, kind of near 38 and a half street. We don’t know more about you know anything else that’s happened since, but Mayor Watson says that this man probably died of exposure to the extreme cold and he kind of touted the fact that hopefully these kinds of things are being avoided with the opening of shelters and warming centers over the next several place.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:59] Yeah, let me ask you a little bit about those warming shelters as you said they have been operating and the city made a point on Friday to talk about how prepared they were ahead of the weekend’s weather or what was activity like at the warming shelters this weekend.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:04:13] Yeah, there was, I’m hearing record number of people who took advantage of the shelters. I saw this warning that they were totaling around 879 people who were welcomed across the seven different facilities that they’re offering. That number could grow as things, as we just heard, the extreme cold warning was extended to tomorrow morning. So these shelters are expected to operate at least through tomorrow, and they’ll another call tomorrow to decide if they need to keep them open a little longer.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:44] Okay, well, whenever we get cold weather, people are always concerned about the possibility of power outages, especially when we’re hearing about freezing ice or freezing rain. At this hour, we’re only seeing a couple of handfuls of power-outages across Austin. How did that play out over the weekend?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:04:59] Yeah, you know, I’m looking at the page right now as we speak. Yeah, it looks like we have 99.98% of customers with power, which is a huge change from those previous winter storms. And we saw several outages. I was hearing that a lot of it was, you know, they had prepared with weatherization of systems and equipment and things. But the sleet that happened over the weekend Saturday apparently has been very helpful. In. That didn’t accumulate on those heavy tree limbs that we saw, I think in 2023, when all the trees were kind of falling on power lines. And yeah, and not giving us power during that time.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:39] As you mentioned, we heard from the National Weather Service Meteorologist at the top of the show. Yes, it is going to get warmer today, but it’s probably still best not to drive on the roads if you don’t have to. With that in mind, I know there was some disruption to CapMetro transit service over the weekend. What sort of transit service is available right now?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:05:58] Yes, we are operating on a limited service today. They said that they’re hoping to start everything about noon so that things should be running. I did see that they are expecting to resume normal operations tomorrow. I think they’ll make a call whether or not that is going to happen tomorrow, depending on what the weather does today. But things are going and you know busses are going. It looks like you know bike share services will remain suspended today, but they’re
Jerry Quijano [00:06:26] Okay, Luce, we only have about 20 seconds left. Have we heard about any possible other cancelations from other school districts?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:06:33] I’m not seeing anything at the moment. I know that a lot of them were trying to make calls as close as they could. So this afternoon as we started to see Rhodes thaw, so we’ll start to see those kind of trickling in, in the next hour or two.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:46] Alright, that is KUT City Hall reporter Luce Modeno Lozano joining us here on Austin Signal. Luce, thanks for the update.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:06:53] Thanks, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:59] And we will continue to keep you updated here on KUT News 90.5 on the KUT app and online at KUT.org. Well one of the races catching lots of eyes and ears this midterm election year is happening right here in Texas. That’s the U.S. Senate race for the seat long held by Republican John Cornyn. While Cornyns facing his own challengers in the Republican primary in March, the focus this weekend was on the top Democratic contenders for Senate. On Saturday, Dallas area congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and state representative James Tallarico of Austin took the stage for a debate in Georgetown. Crocket, a former civil rights lawyer and public defender is serving her second term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Tallarica, a formal teacher, has been a Texas House member since 2018. Saturday’s matchup was hosted by the Texas AFL-CIO and the candidates used the forum to offer Democratic voters their competing visions of leadership. The Texas newsroom’s Blaise Gainey has this recap. Let’s begin the debate.
Blaise Gainey [00:08:03] Over their hour-long debate, Jasmine Crockett and James Tallarico were asked about everything from foreign policy and AI regulation to healthcare and whether they’d support raising taxes on billionaires. And while the Democratic U.S. Senate hopefuls agreed on nearly everything,
Jasmine Crockett [00:08:17] Absolutely.
James Talarico [00:08:18] Absolutely.
Jasmine Crockett [00:08:19] Absolutely.
Blaise Gainey [00:08:21] They couldn’t help but showcase their differences, like in the first question about their leadership styles. Crockett framed herself as a visible political figure who isn’t afraid to be confrontational and take risks at this critical moment.
Jasmine Crockett [00:08:33] I think that I will do the edgy things, the things that the political consultants will never tell you to do, because right now people are hurting.
Blaise Gainey [00:08:41] Since first heading to Washington in 2023, her frequent jabs at Republicans have made her known nationwide, something she said couldn’t be said for Taylor Rico.
Jasmine Crockett [00:08:51] He’s actually been elected longer than I have been elected, yet he’s not as known right now because I have engaged in these fights and they have been right there on the front lines.
Blaise Gainey [00:09:01] Crockett pointed to polling showing her strengths with core Democratic voting groups like Women and the Working Class. Talarico agreed with his opponent on how high the stakes were in this election, but censored his pitch on governing experience and consistency.
James Talarico [00:09:15] I have fought tooth and nail for our values in the Texas House of Representatives. I have gone toe-to-toe with the billionaires who are trying to dismantle public education in this state.
Blaise Gainey [00:09:26] A key issue for both candidates, immigration policy and how it’s being enforced by the Trump administration. Saturday’s debate came just hours after news broke about another civilian killed by immigration and customs enforcement agents in Minneapolis.
James Talarico [00:09:40] I executed a man in broad daylight on our streets just this morning. It’s time to tear down this secret police force.
Jasmine Crockett [00:09:49] Listen, we are not looking at politics as usual, and so for anyone that believes that we are going to be able to respond to this in a normal way, I think that they’ve got it wrong.
Blaise Gainey [00:09:59] Crockett also pointed to her vote in Congress last week against a bill to give the agency more money. The economy and affordability was also a recurring topic. Both candidates blamed billionaires for rising costs and shrinking public investment. Several times, Talarico stressed that the real fight in politics isn’t left versus right, but top versus bottom.
James Talarico [00:10:20] Billionaires want us looking left and right at each other, so we’re not looking up at them. Right now, three men own as much wealth as the entire middle class.
Blaise Gainey [00:10:32] Crockett agreed that billionaires need to pay more taxes and referenced her vote against Trump’s big beautiful bill, which she called the big ugly bill
Jasmine Crockett [00:10:40] Specifically because it was all about giving these extraordinary tax breaks while at the same time defunding Medicaid and Medicare
Blaise Gainey [00:10:47] The congresswoman also argued for rolling back Trump’s tariffs.
Jasmine Crockett [00:10:50] Right now we know that our farmers and ranchers are filing record breaking bankruptcies in this moment because of the trade policies.
Blaise Gainey [00:10:57] But some of the candidates’ sharpest exchanges censored on executive power and foreign policy, including recent U.S. Military actions.
James Talarico [00:11:05] This intervention in Venezuela is not only reckless, it is deeply corrupt. Trump promised the biggest oil executives in this country a, quote, great deal if they gave him a billion dollars for his reelection campaign. And then he turned around and gave them a gift. He gave them the nation of Venezuela home to the largest oil reserves in the world.
Blaise Gainey [00:11:23] The world. More broadly, Crockett warned this type of unchecked presidential power could have destabilizing global consequences.
Jasmine Crockett [00:11:31] This president is seemingly trying to plunge us not only into a civil war with ice, but he’s also trying to plung us into World War III.
Blaise Gainey [00:11:39] They were then asked whether they’d
James Talarico [00:11:41] vote to impeach President Trump.
Jasmine Crockett [00:11:48] I think that there is more than enough to impeach Donald Trump.
Blaise Gainey [00:11:51] Now, after seeing both candidates in action, Democratic voters will be whining their choices for U.S. Senate. Joshua Blank is a UT Austin political scientist.
Joshua Blank [00:12:00] Are they looking for someone who’s going to go and be an out and out fighter or are they looking maybe for someone who’s looking in some sense to change the trajectory of things a little bit, especially along this front, the sort of dimension of, you know, how combative it is.
Blaise Gainey [00:12:13] The last day to register to vote in the March 3 primary is February 2nd. Early voting starts on the 17th. I’m Blaze Gainey in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:12:24] This is Austin Signal, thank you for tuning in to listener-powered public radio KUT News 90.5. You can find more from us on the KUT app and online at KUT.org. Coming up, we’re going to chat with the KutX Artists of the Month, Annabelle Cherlegs. Their new record is out Friday. That’s after this break. This is Austin Signal, thank you for tuning in. Annabelle Chairlegs have been rocking here in Austin for a few years now. It’s part of the reason why they are the KUTX Artists of the Month for January. They’ve got a new album coming out at the end of this month called Waking Up.
Lindsey Mackin [00:13:22] True flight, the sky is calling on me My feet, they won’t step up, they shout.
Jerry Quijano [00:13:37] Lindsay Mackin is the leading force of Annabelle Chairlegs, and Lindsay is here with us now on Austin Signal. Great to have you.
Lindsey Mackin [00:13:43] I’m so excited to be here, thank you.
Jerry Quijano [00:13:45] Well, we’re excited to have you in here. It’s always great to start off the new year with some good music here on The Signal. But before we get into the more serious things, I think maybe my producer might have thought your name was Annabelle Chairlegs. Does that happen to you often, or do people know that that is probably a stage name?
Lindsey Mackin [00:14:03] Absolutely all the time.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:03] Okay, okay.
Lindsey Mackin [00:14:04] Annabelle, I’m still not- Missed chair legs, something like that, you know? Yeah, that’d be good too. Chair legs, Annabell.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:10] Okay, well, where does it come from? Where does that name? Where is its origins?
Lindsey Mackin [00:14:14] The first band I was ever in, in college, we all had just wacky nicknames, and that was my nickname. So I sort of just kept it going over the next step in the musical journey.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:25] Well, speaking of musical journey, tell us a little bit about yours. Are you a self-taught musician? How long have you actually been making music of your own?
Lindsey Mackin [00:14:32] Yeah, totally. I actually, I was studying acting in college. I started singing with a band and they all sort of helped teach me guitar. And we moved to Austin together. And I was like, you know what, I want to play guitar and start a band. So kept playing guitar and started recording and writing songs and then been doing it ever since.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:53] So when did you move to Austin?
Lindsey Mackin [00:14:55] 13 years ago.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:56] Okay, how scary, where were you coming from, and what was that like?
Lindsey Mackin [00:14:59] So I was coming from Santa Fe, New Mexico, had graduated college there, was gonna move back to the East Coast and then went on tour with this band I was in. And on tour I was like, you know what? Let’s, I’m gonna keep doing this. I’ll come with you guys to Texas, why not? So yeah, kind of was a crazy thing that just ended up happening and now I’ve been here and I love it.
Jerry Quijano [00:15:20] Yeah, yeah, now you’ve been here since then, and you’ve been working on music for a while. Looking back at your musical journey, I guess, how would you say your music has changed? How have you adapted to the city and kind of melded who you are and who the city of Austin is and to what Annabelle Chairleg sounds like?
Lindsey Mackin [00:15:38] Um, it’s changed quite a bit. You know, I kind of think of Annabelle chair legs, like my cartoon diary or something, um, and when I came here, it had a lot of, it almost sounded like desert rock. Like I felt like it was a big piece of Santa Fe was still with me. And as I’ve been here, the things I’ve gone through, it definitely transitioned. It’s gotten a little dark, but I’m thinking we’re coming out of the darkness and entering into the light. So yeah, it has kind of just been. What my journey’s been the last 10 years or so. And yeah, I’m kind of excited to see where it ends up next.
Lindsey Mackin [00:16:23] Walking next to me But before I go I ask me if
Jerry Quijano [00:16:28] Yeah, well you’re obviously the leading force of the band, but tell us a little bit about the people that you play with. Have they been the same group the entire time? Have they had different changes? Who are they?
Lindsey Mackin [00:16:37] Yeah, so there’s been quite a few changes, and the group I’m playing with now, I’m so excited about. This is actually maybe our second show all playing together.
Jerry Quijano [00:16:46] Oh really? Okay, here in the studio 1A.
Lindsey Mackin [00:16:47] Yes, in City ONA. So I’ve been playing with Nick who’s on drums, who’s incredible, for a few years now. And Nolan Potter, who is playing guitar, he was actually in the band 10 years ago. Oh, wow. And now is back in the bands, was playing bass for a while, but now he’s on guitar. And then our newest member is Simone, and she’s playing bass.
Jerry Quijano [00:17:08] Okay, that’s very
Lindsey Mackin [00:17:09] Very exciting. Power lineup. It’s awesome. Your left won’t leave me, no, your left won…
Jerry Quijano [00:17:30] Okay, well tell us a little bit about waking up and the sound of it.
Lindsey Mackin [00:17:33] So Waking Up, actually, I had recorded an album years ago and decided I wanted to not put it out and rip it in half and make two different albums. And originally it was called Heavy Sleeper and this one, sort of, I added a few new songs and it became Waking up and this is the first part of that ripped apart album, if that makes sense.
Jerry Quijano [00:17:57] Okay, well tell us a little bit about the songs that you’re going to be playing in Studio 1A.
Lindsey Mackin [00:18:00] Sure, we’re playing Concrete Trees, which is definitely one of my favorite songs. I actually wrote that song about a friend of mine who died and it was, I was sort of thinking about when you die, are you still around and are people with you or are they, you know, I sort of imagined me and her running around New York City and what that would be like. So there’s a lot of themes on this album that have to do with death and dying and sleep and awake and those sort of themes, so.
Jerry Quijano [00:18:46] And you said you wrote this album a few years ago?
Lindsey Mackin [00:18:48] A few of the songs. Yeah, I would say we recorded this two years ago. Okay. Exactly. So.
Jerry Quijano [00:18:55] Okay, so what made you want to revisit some of that material?
Lindsey Mackin [00:18:57] Um, I think that it sort of found its way back to the surface. Um, you know, things sort of fell by the wayside and then I wrote some new songs and that it was like, oh, these all sort of make sense in the same world, you know, so that was the idea of splitting that other album apart was like these new songs go with these old ones and these old one goes with these new ones. So, you know, how can these be more realized and live in a better world together?
Jerry Quijano [00:19:22] That’s very exciting. How long have you been making music? You said you got here in 2013, right? Is that correct? And you were already making music before then. Going back, I guess now I’m asking you to kind of go back and forth from where we are right now to the music you were making then. What have you appreciated, not necessarily like the best part, but what have you appreciate about how you have grown as an artist from that time to now?
Lindsey Mackin [00:19:49] I think it’s maybe becoming more fearless, leaning into things more, having more intention, believing in what you’re doing more, thinking about what you saying and what you playing and doing it and saying it with intention, I think has been the coolest thing to figure out.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:06] Do you think you came to Austin with a bit of imposter syndrome as can I do this, am I really capable of doing it, and now you’re maybe experiencing that, yeah, I can do this and I do do this.
Lindsey Mackin [00:20:20] Oh, absolutely. When I first moved here, I hadn’t really, I could barely play guitar. And I remember I started working at Home Slice Pizza and I met a music lawyer and he was like, what do you do? And I was like, oh, I have a band. And I didn’t really have a band yet, but I was, like, I’m going to have a ban. And he was like well, if you ever need anything in like law and music, like let me know. And i was like absolutely I will and sure enough like six years later I got my first like contract for like a sink situation and I found his card and I was like, I’m gonna reach out and see if he’ll help me with this contract because I don’t understand it. And sure enough, I reached out and he got back to me and helped me out with the contract. And I was, you know, if you believe something and you see it and you believe it’s gonna happen, it’ll happen.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:10] That’s right. Fake it till you make it and the power of saying yes. OK, so what are you most excited for our listeners, the KUT acts, KUT listeners to hear in your new material?
Lindsey Mackin [00:21:22] Um, that’s a great question. I think I’m ex I would love, um, people to feel like they’re somewhere else or feel like there in a scene of a movie or let themselves go wherever the sounds take them or whatever it feels like. And to just feel that and be there.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:42] Excellent. Well, your new album is coming out January 30th. Do you have any shows coming up to celebrate?
Lindsey Mackin [00:21:47] Yeah, we’re actually gonna have an album release party at Mohawk on February 13th. So that’s really exciting. And then hopefully we’ll be touring quite a bit. And I know we’re definitely going to Europe and the UK in September.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:02] Excellent. Well, congratulations and hopefully many, many more shows in the future. And again, we are going to share the Studio One A show in our show notes, kut.org slash signal. And you can find it in the show notes for today’s show. We’ve been speaking with Lindsay Mackin of Annabelle Chairlegs. They are the KUTX Artists of the Month for January. Thanks so much for talking with us.
Lindsey Mackin [00:22:23] Thank you so much.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:31] And thank you out there for tuning in to Austin Signal, making us part of your Monday stay warm out there. A reminder, an extreme cold warning is in effect until nine o’clock tomorrow morning. We will have the latest for you on the KUT app and online at KUT.org. Thank you to Rene Chavez for his help with today’s episode. Thank you, to Kristin Cabrera and Rayna Sevilla. I’m Jerry Quijano. Talk to you tomorrow. This is Austin Signal.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
