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A judge in Travis County is expected to decide soon whether Camp Mystic and its owners can settle wrongful death lawsuits out of court stemming from last year’s deadly summer flooding. The families want jury trials, but the owners want arbitration.
Visitors to Big Bend National Park are hoping to catch a glimpse before the protected region changes. The Trump Administration has been pushing on-again-off-again plans for a border wall through the park.
An event this week identifying and highlighting Asian artists in Austin is taking on an added function: Raising funds for some of their own involved in an accident while trying to pursue their art. Austin Creates Together and the recovery for Peelander-Z.
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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] A judge in Travis County is expected to decide soon whether Camp Mystic and its owners can settle out of court, wrongful death lawsuits stemming from last year’s deadly summer flooding. The families want jury trials, but the owners want arbitration, more details, and visitors to Big Bend National Park are hoping to catch a glimpse before the protected region changes. The Trump administration has been pushing on again off again plans for a border wall through the park. More about those stories coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:35] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:40] Plus, an event this week identifying and highlighting Asian artists in Austin is taking on an added function, raising funds for some of their own involved in an accident while trying to pursue their art. Austin Creates Together and the Recovery for P. Lander Z, those stories up next here on Austin Signal. Bye. Howdy out there, you are tuned in to Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Kikano. It is Tuesday, June 9th. Thank you for listening and making us part of your day. A Travis County judge is expected to decide tomorrow whether Camp Mystic and its owners can settle wrongful death lawsuits out of court. Families of the girls who died at the Kerr County camp in last summer’s catastrophic floods want jury trials for the five cases. The camp’s owners, however, say the cases should be settled through arbitration, pointing to an agreement parents signed when registering their daughters for the camp. KUT’s Williamson County reporter Kaylee Hunt has been following the latest developments in this story, and she is back with us in the studio. Hi, Kaylee. Hey, Jerry. So can you please bring us up to speed? What has happened so far with these lawsuits?
Kailey Hunt [00:01:56] Yeah. So what we heard earlier this spring was that, you know, the judge was ordering Camp Mystic to preserve some of the cabins that were involved in last summer’s flooding. Shortly after those hearings, Camp Mystik filed a motion requesting arbitration, and that took place on March 24th. And then last month, on May 13th, we were actually set to resolve that issue. Judge My Gator Gamble was I’m going to rule on whether or not the camp would be able to take that behind closed doors or move forward as a, you know, a, a public, public lawsuit. Yeah. Um, however, hours before that hearing, talking midnight, uh, before that hearing began, the camp withdrew that initial original motion and then refiled amended ones, um, and so that essentially delayed, um this whole conversation of arbitration.
Jerry Quijano [00:02:52] You report the camp’s owners say that the parents sign arbitration provisions when they register their kids for camp. What do we know about those agreements?
Kailey Hunt [00:03:00] Yeah, well, you know, we sign arbitration agreements like this all the time, many times unknowingly, right.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:07] I’m guessing so, yeah.
Kailey Hunt [00:03:08] Yeah, you know cell phones your employment contracts We do it all the time and I mean it’s it’s especially common in situations like these you know where parents are signing their kids up for summer camp and so what we know specifically about the arbitration clause and camp Mystics contract was that it stated that parents who had an issue or Conflict with the camp or one of its employees that they essentially must try and sort them out in private out of court without a lawsuit by a qualified third party or arbitrator. However, there’s legal debate, right, as to whether or not that clause is enforceable just given the seriousness of the allegations of negligence against the camp and its employees.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:53] Why might the camp prefer to do this through arbitration rather than through a jury trial?
Kailey Hunt [00:03:59] Yeah. Well, you know, obviously there’s a lot of public interest in this case. The media’s been all over it. The courtroom has just been packed full of spectators each time there’s been a hearing related to these cases. And so, you can’t presume to know what is going through the camp owner’s minds, but I would assume a lot it would have to do with protecting their reputation, not having to rehash and relive. Much of the trauma that took place last summer out in public, because obviously they lived through the event as well and had one of their family members die. So yeah, I think protecting their reputation, having the ability to do it behind closed doors and in private.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:45] Yeah, and on the flip side of that, why would the parents want to pursue the jury trials?
Kailey Hunt [00:04:49] Right. So, you know, the parents who are suing the camp have been pretty adamant from the beginning, you know about seeking public accountability for what happened to their daughters. They’ve been very outspoken. Again, they’re the ones who’ve been packing the courtroom throughout all these hearings. And so, yeah, I think they’re very, I would assume would believe that, you a jury of their peers. Go through that fact-finding process out in public not behind closed doors that perhaps they’re getting more accountability
Jerry Quijano [00:05:26] Have we seen any indication yet on how the judge may rule in this case? What are you watching for next?
Kailey Hunt [00:05:33] Yeah. I mean, you know, obviously there’s lots of legal debate on this topic, so really could go either way. We do know there’s the vested public interest. I think the judge acknowledges that she’s been very open and to the media being there and in the courtroom and having spectators. She was not happy when Camp Mystic withdrew that original motion for arbitration and refiled it, um, delaying that, uh, she, you know, wasn’t happy with that tactic, but Um, yeah, we will see tomorrow what she ultimately decides.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:06] All right, that is Kaylee Hunt. She is KUT’s Williamson County reporter. She will continue following this story and will bring you the latest updates right here on KUT News and Austin Signal. Kaylee, thanks for being here. Thanks, Jerry. Over half a million people visit Big Ben National Park each year, plenty of those visitors traveling right here from the Austin area. One of the biggest reasons why people say they head to Big Ben, the park’s natural beauty, scenery, and solitude far, far away from the busy city life. So the federal government’s on-again, off-again plans to build a border wall through the park has visitors hoping to catch one last glimpse before the protected region changes. Which in turn has made the need for repairs to visitor lodging and other popular park areas more apparent. Those federally funded renovation plans are also in limbo. The Texas Standards Justin Doud visited Big Ben to explore the potential impact of those delays.
Justin Doud [00:07:10] Known for its rugged and remote desert beauty, Big Bend National Park is not for the faint of heart. It’s bigger than Rhode Island, with hundreds of miles of paved and dirt roads weaving through rough terrain and shifting elevation. In 2024, the park welcomed just half a million visitors, less than 5% of what the most visited park sees annually, but for those Texans and dedicated travelers that commit to the journey. The reward is spectacular. Big Bend is recognized globally as one of the best places on Earth to stargaze because of the low light pollution. And the rare curve in the river’s flow, the park’s namesake, creates stunning vistas in one of world’s most pristine ecological preserves. The park’s most popular stopover is the Chezos Mountain Basin, accessible only by one narrow, curvy two-lane road. At the end of that seven-mile stretch, the only in-park lodging sits alongside a food truck. The only hot meal for tens of miles in any direction. In all honesty, surrounded by stunning views and breathtaking scenery, the Lodge building is not much to look at. It’s rundown, with shingles missing from rooftops and a foundation crumbling below.
Liz Turner [00:08:21] There’s holes in this overhang right here. You can tell that the buildings are just smaller and older. The interiors are definitely dated. You know, you can tell that they’ve, again, they’ve done the best that they can, but you know, you look at the the bed spreads and such and it’s like, is that clean?
Justin Doud [00:08:39] Liz Turner was visiting from Austin. This was her first trip to Big Bend, and she was staying in one of the lodge’s classic motel rooms. She’s far from the only one who thinks the 1964 lodge is overdue for a facelift. In fact, Lauren Reimer, the executive director of the non-profit Big Bend Conservancy, says it goes far beyond that. It needs serious structural repairs.
Lauren Reimer [00:09:01] There’s portions of the foundation that are cracking. And if you even just look at the backside of the lodge, you can kind of see an area where it looks like it’s just about to fall off the hill. We always kind of joke that you could roll a tomato down the floor or it should just keep going.
Justin Doud [00:09:19] That’s why, under a 2020 bill benefiting the National Park Service, Big Bend was slated to receive more than $75 million in federal funds to repair the lodge and the Chezos Basin water infrastructure, two separate projects addressing urgent needs in the area. The repairs would have forced the section of the park to close for up to two years. That was set to begin May 1st. Tourists from across the state and country made reservations ahead of the closure, looking to visit the hot spot before it shuttered to the public. Turner was one of those.
Liz Turner [00:09:49] Big Bent had been on my list for a while, and then I had heard, there was a combination of hearing about this section going to be closed for two years, combined with putting up the wall. I was like, well, I better hurry up and get out here and see it.
Justin Doud [00:10:03] But in early April, just a month before construction was set to begin, the National Park Service abruptly called off the projects, citing substantial budget shortfalls. No further information was given, and the park’s website still includes the project plans with a May 1st closure date listed, just under a one-line banner announcing the project’s cancelation.
Bob Krumenaker [00:10:23] I don’t think the park service at this point knows what it’s going to do. I will say the decision was made by the national office, not by the park. And I think the Park is having to now explain it to people and answer questions of what are you going to do. And frankly, I don’t think they have the
Justin Doud [00:10:45] control over the answers to those questions right now. That’s Bob Krumenaker, the park superintendent from 2018 to 2023, and one of the people who worked on plans for the renovations to begin. He says the decision to fund the renovators now was long overdue.
Bob Krumenaker [00:11:00] Well, it was actually a sense of urgency. So it wasn’t necessarily something that I wanted to do. It was something that
Justin Doud [00:11:08] thought I had to do.” To reach the Chizos Mountains basin, water is carried from Oak Spring at the base up 1,300 feet through pipes laid decades ago. Pipes that some advocates say were already used before they were laid way back then. Crewman Acres says the basin’s water infrastructure is already decades past its life expectancy, and repairs are needed now more than ever in the face of severe drought.
Bob Krumenaker [00:11:31] So the leakage continues. The need for additional storage continues. And so hopefully the delay of water project will not be too long because the risk is catastrophic failure at some point. And then you may have no water at all. And whatever visitor activity and facilities you have up there will be really in a tremendous bind. And from a fire management perspective,
Justin Doud [00:11:59] FIREFIGHTING
Bob Krumenaker [00:12:00] That would also be-
Justin Doud [00:12:01] a serious consideration. The planned renovations were already a scaled-down version of what park leaders think is needed long-term. The idea was to buy the National Park Service 10-20 more years of water access while they found the money for a more permanent fix. Now, even that Band-Aid is being withheld. Big Bend Conservancy’s Lauren Reamer said the decision to wait was made after the price estimate for lodge renovations came in at nearly double what was originally allocated. And that the water project can hopefully resume as soon as it’s bid back out separate from the lodge restoration. That process, however, could have its own problems, raising questions over the logistics and cost of separating the two pursuits.
Lauren Reimer [00:12:41] Ideally, all of this would happen at once and that’s primarily to avoid having multiple closures in the basin over the year. All of those water lines, anything that has a flushing toilet, a running faucet, has a pipe that runs to it under the ground. So renovating those water lines is going to create quite a bit of disruption in the basin. Um because you know those things are going to have to be dug up to be replaced.
Justin Doud [00:13:15] Some local residents view the delay as a step in the right direction. James Evans, a photographer who lives near Big Bend, believes the area should remain preserved and undeveloped. To Evans, the initial construction in the basin was a negative from the outset. It’s just one example of the broad range of perspectives facing the park today. This shakeup is the latest in a string of changes for the National Park Service. Big Bend National Park is one of the many NPS sites nationwide facing severe staffing shortages. Former Superintendent Bob Krumenaker says three of the park’s five division chief positions are currently without a permanent appointment, including the head of maintenance, and the park doesn’t have a deputy superintendent, the second-in-command. Add-in proposed budget cuts that would slash already reduced NPS funding by nearly a order. As visitation numbers reach record highs nationwide, and advocates say Big Bend is in a difficult spot. In the meantime, the pipes continue to leak, and concerns over the park’s ability to combat dangerous fire seasons continue to grow, with no word on when or if the projects will be reinstated. The National Park Service declined to answer specific questions, but a spokesperson said the agency is continuing to evaluate the best path forward for both projects. For the Texas Standard, I’m Justin Dow.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:39] And you are listening to Austin Signal right here on community powered public radio KUT news. There’s more from us coming up right after this break. This is Austin Signal, I’m Jerry Quijano, thank you for tuning in. Late last month, Austin-based band P-Lander Z was in a severe car accident, hospitalizing all three of its members. The Japanese-American punk rock band known for their colorful attire antics and larger-than-life personalities were just starting out on their North American tour. The outpouring of support from fans and musicians from the Austin area in the wake of that crash was enormous, and underscored the impact of art and culture from artists of Asian descent here in the city. To help catalog that impact, the Austin Creates Together survey was created, and this Thursday out at Hope Outdoor Gallery there will be an event for the survey, and at the same time to raise money for P. Landersy’s recovery. The event is hosted by The Lunar Foundation, a non-profit created to promote education, awareness, and celebration of the arts, history, and culture of Asian-American, Native, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders. Joining us now to talk more about that is Erika DiParini-Sugars, Head of Programs at the Foundation. Erika, welcome to the show. Thank you so much. So, tell us more about this survey, why did you want to do it and who is it for?
Erica Deiparine-Sugars [00:16:03] Great. Yeah, we’re really excited about the survey. We created it with support from Nielsen and their Data for Good project. I guess it started because, like most cultural organizations, we wanted to make sure that our programs and services continue to be aligned with the community that we’re serving. And we are an organization that serves AANHPI artists and culture. And what we realized is, one, there’s not a lot of data. Local data about the state of artists generally, and there are lots of pockets here in this creative city of Austin. And also, you know, Austin’s Asian American population is growing quickly, as it is in most big cities in America. And actually, there was a study that the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce did Last year 2025 called the Central Texas Asian Impact Project, which really studied the shift of Asian Americans into Central Texas and found that we are now a population of about 9%. But in the 15 years, we’ve grown almost 71%. And with that shift is really where the demographics are going, who is coming in, and also get a better sense of what their priorities economically as well are. But there’s not a lot of data on artists and arts within, I would say, the community and the culture of Asian-Americans and the sort of artistic influence just seems to be very lacking. So that’s kind of why we put the survey together, is like we are all artists ourselves. We struggle in our arts. And I’ve worked with artists for a long time. And we’ve heard things anecdotally. But we really wanted to figure out what the data tells us right now.
Jerry Quijano [00:17:57] Yeah, and how did you go about starting to reach out and find these people in these communities?
Erica Deiparine-Sugars [00:18:02] Well, one, I think it was helpful to be partnered with GACC, and they’re a partner with some of our programs, particularly our nightmarket.fun program. And that really is a program, it was our tent pole program when we started the organization and really is modeled after sort of the Asian-style night markets. But the idea is to bring together performing artists, visual artists, culinary artists, So it’s really a gathering place of different artists. But with those connections and with this data, we really wanted to say, hey, let’s look at artists across disciplines, but also people of all levels. We are also thinking like, wow, a thriving arts community is also what happens around artists. Who supports them? How do they engage audiences? What does public engagement look like? So we’re hoping to survey both. OK. And then the Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander artists of all, like I said, of all levels, but also kind of the general public across Austin, central Texas, anybody who engages with art as a patron, as a music buyer, go to clubs, go-to-art festivals, how are they supporting the ecosystem for artists?
Jerry Quijano [00:19:27] Yeah, and how they’re interacting with it as well. Okay, so is that open to anyone? Anybody can fill that out.
Erica Deiparine-Sugars [00:19:33] Yes, so anybody can fill out the survey. And then there’s a particular, if you answer that you’re an artist, there are a number of questions that kind of lead you towards like understanding your art and your practice.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:43] Okay, cool. We’re going to have more about that survey in today’s show notes. I wanted to talk a little bit now about P. Lander Z. The band members go by different stage names, Tiger Pink and Yellow. Yellow was actually featured at one of your previous events. Tell us a little more about them.
Erica Deiparine-Sugars [00:19:57] Yeah, I mean, P. Landers is a great kind of example of like the kinds of artists that we have in Central Texas and Austin. Amazing, kind of come together in performance, visual, music, it’s kind of like, the best and bright of all things. And they’re Asian American descent and we’re really excited about having them in our community. But Yellow is a visual artist as and his art was featured in our Nightmarket.fun, our inaugural event. It was really great having him here for that. But we heard through our network while we were putting together the launch event for the survey, we heard about this horrible accident. And so, of course, we wanted to mobilize our network, our community, to point them to the GoFundMe page. And we did that. And so we had this event that we were putting it together anyway. We talked with their management. They were really excited that we were interested in potentially putting this as part of our event. And actually, it’s very fitting. It’s like we want to, one, uplift the visibility of our Asian American artists, but also, you know, come and support and serve when our artists’ community needs us, so.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:12] Yeah, so it’s a launch party that’s also become a benefit and still attacking those same goals What can folks expect if they’re gonna head out there Thursday at the Hope outdoor gallery?
Erica Deiparine-Sugars [00:21:21] Yeah, it’s free. It starts at five. It’s free and it’s for all ages. There are going to be survey stations there so people can engage with the survey on site. It is kind of a longer survey as I said. So, you know, people have questions, people want to engage there. There’ll be music. We have DJ Angel Mixed in Rivera and we also have a couple of dance demonstrations. So we have a Bollywood demonstration around 5.30. With Kush ATX, and then a K-pop kind of lesson later on in the evening, about 6.30, with Aurora Z, the dance company. So we wanna get people active and engaged, engage with the survey, but engage with the Asian American artist community. But all are welcome, and then there is gonna be a benefit table that has Peelander Z merch, and all the proceeds of that will be going to their recovery fund. As well as we’ll have stations set up so that people can donate to their GoFundMe.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:25] All right, that is this Thursday out at Hope Outdoor Gallery. We have been speaking with Erika DiParini-Sugars, head of programs at the Lutner Foundation. Erika, thank you for your time. Thank you so much. And before we let you go, Austin FC is getting a new head coach. The club announced the hiring of Jim Curtin, who spent a decade in charge of the Philadelphia Union. He won the 2020 Supporters Shield and earned Major League Soccer Coach of the Year in 2020 and 22. Interim head coach David Arnoud will remain in charge for the rest of the current season with Curtin taking over ahead of the 2027 MLS season. And World Cup 2026 kicks off Thursday as Mexico takes on South Africa. Juan Diego Garcia from the KUT podcast Vamos Verde will be on the show tomorrow with the preview of the action happening here in Texas. That is it for us on today’s show. There’s more from us at KUT.org slash Signal. But we will be back at the same time tomorrow. And we’ll talk to you then. Have a great day.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
