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It’s day two of a special legislative hearing on the Camp Mystic tragedy. Investigators told lawmakers this week that camp operators were “complacent” when it came to safety protocols at the summer camp.
Lindsey Wilson, director of the city’s Equity and Inclusion office, shares details about the Fair Housing and Economic Mobility Conference taking place Wednesday, April 29.
Kendall Antonelli of Antonelli’s Cheese Shop stops by and introduces us to some of her favorite cheeses.
And: Learn how some of the city’s top chefs are partnering up with the students of Austin ISD’s culinary arts and hospitality program.
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.
Miles Bloxson [00:00:08] It’s day two of a special legislative hearing on the Camp Mystic tragedy. Investigators told lawmakers this week that camp operators were complacent when it came to safety protocols. We’ll have updates on today’s hearing. And affordability in Austin has always been a topic of conversation, but it’s not just housing, it’s about education, health, and the ability to work close to home. The City of Austin is taking up that conversation this week. We’ll have a preview. Plus, Kendall Antonelli of Antonellis Cheese Shop stops by to share some of her favorite cheeses and gives us a little on the food scene here in Austin, ahead of the KUT Fest.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:44] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Miles Bloxen.
Miles Bloxson [00:00:49] And some of the city’s top chefs are partnering up with the students in Austin ISD’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality program. We’ll have more up next on Austin Signal. Hi there! It’s Tuesday, April 28, 2026. I’m your host Miles Bloxson. This is Austin Signal. Day two of a special legislative hearing on the Camp Mystic tragedy gets underway today here in Austin. Investigators told lawmakers yesterday that the camp operators were complacent when it came to safety protocols at the Christian Girls Summer Camp, where 28 people died last summer amid historic flooding in the Hill Country. Today, testimony continues with lawmakers questioning the camp’s owners this morning. KUT reporter Kailey Hunt is at the hearing and brings us an update. Good afternoon, Kailey. Hey, Miles. Great to have you. Can you give us just a quick recap of some key moments from yesterday’s portion of the hearing? Yeah. So yes, sure.
Kailey Hunt [00:01:52] The public got to hear for the first time from Casey Garrett, she’s the principal investigator that is helping out state lawmakers to find out what exactly happened at Camp Mystic during that historic flooding on July 4th. And so yeah, we got to hear from Garrett who also notably investigated the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde a few years ago, and Garrett laid out a timeline of that July 3rd July 4th timeline of the flooding and we heard from her testimony and then today we’ve kind of shifted into testimony from the Eastland family, the owners and operators of the camp.
Miles Bloxson [00:02:33] Yeah, so speaking of the Eastland family, and as you mentioned, they own and operate Camp Mystic, they testified and took questions from lawmakers. What were some of the takeaways from that?
Kailey Hunt [00:02:42] Yeah. So it’s been pretty intense this morning. Testimony is still going. We’ve been going since 10 a.m. There was some very intense scrutiny and criticism from State Senator Charles Perry. He’s a Lubbock Republican who helped author some of those new legislation requiring camp safety requirements last summer during the special session. He called into question the ability of the Eastlands. To operate the camp in the future. Here’s what he had to say.
Charles Perry [00:03:17] Legally, y’all probably get to stay in existence. But I will tell you from this guy’s perspective, and I don’t know what my other members are, whatever statute tweaks, whatever laws we make, or whatever rules we have to devise, y’ all will not be an operator next session, next season, if I can have anything to say with that.
Miles Bloxson [00:03:40] I just have to ask, Kailey, this is, you know, it’s a lot going on. What did it feel like to be in the room today?
Kailey Hunt [00:03:47] You know, all I can say is just it’s very intense. You know even just as I was preparing to speak with y’all just now within the last few moments, I see, you know, parents of children who died at Camp Mystic coming out of the hearing room, walking down the hallway, just crying and upset by some of the testimony that they’re hearing. So yeah, emotions are very high here.
Miles Bloxson [00:04:15] I can only imagine, and who else are we expecting to hear from today as this hearing continues?
Kailey Hunt [00:04:21] Yeah, so once the Eastland family is done testifying and answering questions from lawmakers on this investigative committee, we can expect to hear from some representatives from the Texas Department of Health Services. They’re the ones who are responsible for granting and giving out licenses to camps like Camp Mystic to operate during the summertime. And then we can also expect to here from Texas Department of Emergency Management Officials. In fact, I just saw Chief Nimkid here in the hallway as well. So looking forward to hearing from some state agencies. And then they also alluded to maybe hearing from, you know, parents and families of campers, both victims and survivors. What do you feel like?
Miles Bloxson [00:05:07] Families need at this moment.
Kailey Hunt [00:05:13] You know, I think one of the big goals of these hearings and having them play out so publicly is the opportunity for everyone who has been impacted by those deadly July 4th floods, especially at Camp Mystic, to have an opportunity and chance to say what they need to say and to share their stories and their experiences and what they hope. To have going forward into the future.
Miles Bloxson [00:05:46] We’ve been speaking with KUT’s Kailey Hunt, who is at the legislative hearing on the Camp Mystic tragedy, and she’ll continue to follow this story. Kailey, thanks so much for the update. Thanks, Miles. We’ve all seen the headlines that rents in Austin have dropped since pandemic era highs. Still, affordability remains an issue here, whether we’re talking access to housing, good paying jobs, and even access to basic needs. Tomorrow, the city will host a fair housing and economic mobility conference to discuss these issues and their solutions. Joining me now is Lindsay Wilson, director of the city’s equity and inclusion office, which is hosting the conference. Lindsay, welcome to Austin Signal.
Lindsey Wilson [00:06:39] Well, thank you, Miles, for having me. I am excited to be here and talk a little bit about the Fair Housing and Economic Mobility Conference.
Miles Bloxson [00:06:47] And speaking of the conference, I think most folks probably have an idea of what fair housing is, right? But access to affordable housing without discrimination, but exactly what do we mean when we say economic mobility?
Lindsey Wilson [00:06:59] Oh, that’s a great question. And one that I’m glad that you started with, really, because typically when people think about economic mobility, they may think income are climbing up a ladder. What we’ve learned both through our quality of life studies, but also some intentional engagement that we’ve had internally across city departments is we’re talking way beyond income. We’re talking about access and opportunity. Right. And so when we say economic mobility, it’s leading with systems, but really focus on are our residents, are our Austinites able to meet basic needs, financial stability, and live a high dignified life, right? Where housing’s within reach. Right.
Miles Bloxson [00:07:49] About quality of life exactly so big picture what is the goal of this conference and who is this geared toward and who can benefit from attending because it seems like everybody
Lindsey Wilson [00:08:00] you’re spot on there, right? And so April is Fair Housing Month, so that’s the fair housing component of it. But we know that it goes beyond fair housing. And so when you ask the question around who can benefit from it, we were really intentional this year that we invited a variety of stakeholders. So you’ll have everyone from community members to businesses, philanthropic organizations, Independent School District are educational. Uh individuals and so it was it was really a intentional and collaborative effort on the basis of both my team Austin Equity and Inclusion as well as Austin Housing uh to serve as a convener to pull everyone together to have some of these intentional conversations.
Miles Bloxson [00:08:52] I love that and it’s much needed. What are some of the panels and speakers that attendees can expect to hear from?
Lindsey Wilson [00:08:57] Absolutely. And so we have over 50 speakers.
Miles Bloxson [00:09:01] Oh!
Lindsey Wilson [00:09:02] Yes. And so over 50 speakers, over 10 different breakout sessions, and really a little bit of something for everyone. Everything from legal updates around evictions and support animal rules, HUD guidance, to crime-free multi-housing program. Of course, we have the very, For now don’t laugh. We’re now miles joining us and you are will be moderating the keynote panel And so the keynote panel, again, we’re talking about economic mobility, very intentional. We will have United Way there. We will communities and schools. We will asset funders, a grassroot organization, GAVA, mills on wheels. And so again, it’s really an intentional gathering to pull all of our stakeholders together because we recognize we all have a role.
Miles Bloxson [00:10:01] Where can people go to find out more and register for this event? Because I don’t think you want to miss it, right?
Lindsey Wilson [00:10:07] I wouldn’t want to miss it, but to your question, they can absolutely go to speakupaustin.org slash fair housing to register.
Miles Bloxson [00:10:18] All right, we’ve been speaking with Lindsay Wilson, Director of the City of Austin’s Equity and Inclusion Office. Thanks so much for joining me here on the Austin Signal. Thanks for having me. Of course. We’re coming up on a break, but don’t go too far. The KUT Fest starts on Friday, and we’re covering a wide range of topics, including Austin’s famous food scene. Kendall Antonelli from Antonello’s Cheese Shop will join us for the fest. And we’re gonna have a short preview of that panel coming up. And Austin ISD culinary students are pairing with Michelin chefs. That’s all coming up next, right here on Austin Signal. This is Austin Signal, welcome back. The Austin culinary and hospitality scene has exploded in recent years. Restaurant bars, tasting rooms are all an integral part of not only the Austin area’s identity, but the economy. As part of a larger conversation that will be going on at the KUT Fest this weekend, joining us now is one of the guests of the panel, Kendall Antonelli from Antonellis Cheese. Ow, ow. Thanks so much for joining me today, Kendall. I’m super excited to be with you. So Kendall, you’re gonna get a lot of me this week. As you know, I’ll be hosting the still cooking panel at KUT Fest, and I don’t wanna give too much away to the audience before our conversation this weekend, but I have to know, when you decided to open your business, why Austin?
Kendall Antonelli [00:12:13] You know, uh, well, my husband and I went on our honeymoon and it was day two of the honeymoon and John turned to me and said, I’m going to quit my job and do something in cheese. And I was like, right? What? Uh, like, can I annul at this point? No. And he left a really lucrative job. Uh, and then we chose cheese. We thought we’d do it for a year or two and, uh instead here we are 16 years later. Yeah. Is not e-
Miles Bloxson [00:12:34] So how much have you seen the food scene grow in Austin since you’ve opened up your cheese shop?
Kendall Antonelli [00:12:40] A lot. I mean, we, for better and for worse, and I’m more of a positive-leaning person. I’m not really a negative Nancy, except sorry, Nancy’s out there. I won’t, I won’t use that expression anymore. But I like to live with, live with positivity. That being said, a lot of our favorite places have closed. And, you know, people always jump on social media and say, no, they were doing so well. And I think that’s one of the things we can talk about in this panel is there’s this perception of success. We have a huge perception of success and we’ve been non-profitable for two years straight writing out a deficit. We’re really very open about it, so that’s fine. But it has changed a lot, places have closed. There’s also always fresh blood and fresh spirit and fresh ideas and people starting something new. And so I haven’t seen that stop yet either.
Miles Bloxson [00:13:24] And one thing that has been successful for you is the try before you buy method, which I love. And I’m thinking of like wineries of the Hill Country or the breweries or of course, like I said, your cheese shop. What is it about this business model that you think makes it work? Yeah. Cause I love it.
Kendall Antonelli [00:13:40] Look, cheese, let’s be honest, cheese can be scary, at least like pre-pandemic. Now everybody and their grandma owns like a charcuterie biz on social media, but pre- pandemic cheese had this like poo poo pinkies up. Now we’ve owned bougie, we like bougie things, but it really seemed inaccessible. And our whole goal was to make it fun, approachable, playful, and sexy, if you will. Somebody said, you mean passionate? And I was like, no, sexy. Like you look at my cheese case and you want to jump in the cheese case because it’s sexy. Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. So the best way to do that is not for me to tell somebody why it’s good. It’s for them to let their own pallets guide them. And you bought cheese today for me today. So let’s do this. OK, I’m going to do this a little bit differently than normal. So what I brought, I wish I could like ASMR this, y’all. I mean, here, look, this is me opening up some crackers. Why? Because it’s really hard to do in this now. I’m touching everybody’s crackers. Okay. Now that I open the crackers, don’t touch those. Don’t touch the crackers? No, because if you put the cheese on the cracker, girl, you’re just gonna taste the crackers. Okay. And I want you to taste the cheese naked. Okay. Oh, naked cheese, let’s do this. You gotta get intimate with the cheese. So, I’m gonna give you a bite of this cheese. I’m not gonna tell you what it is, and I’ve never done it this way before. This cheese, for people to know, it’s scooped like an ice cream scoop. It’s bright white. And now I’m going to ask you three questions. Is it A, B, or C? Does it taste buttery and grassy? Does it taste nutty and rich, or does it taste tangy and citrus zesty?
Miles Bloxson [00:15:08] I feel like it’s buttery and grassy.
Kendall Antonelli [00:15:10] Oh, okay. Well, let’s do one more. Let’s do this. Okay, try this cheese. And I’m gonna ask you the same same three. So is that one buttery and grassy, nutty or tangy and citrusy? Well, she’s
Miles Bloxson [00:15:29] It’s interesting how your mind has to process.
Kendall Antonelli [00:15:31] And this is actually you don’t have to know this stuff. We do cheese tasting classes I was not actually laying up for this, but you really have to train your palate to kind of pick up these flavor profiles So, okay. So wait, give me my options again for this one. Okay first buttery and grassy No, second nutty and rich or third tangy acidic citrusy
Miles Bloxson [00:15:54] It seems like it could be a bit more tangy to me.
Kendall Antonelli [00:15:57] All right. Well, let’s go there. So choice A, I would have gone, that’s a fresh cheve, a fresh goat’s milk cheese. It’s bright white. You know it visually because it’s bright white and goats can’t process the beta carotenes and grass. But it is known for being tangy, minerally bright, acidic, citrus zest flavors. So that one is more often characteristically that. The second cheese you just tried is Pleasant Ridge Reserve made by Uplands Cheese, one of the most award-winning cheeses in the United States. And that one is made from grass fed cows. You can also tell it’s yellow in color and that’s because of those beta carotenes in the grass. And that’s known for being really buttery and grassy.
Miles Bloxson [00:16:35] Wow
Kendall Antonelli [00:16:36] That being said, you know what? Your palate is your own. So we’ll teach you what flavor descriptors are and you can work on them, but also you just taste and eat what you like, taste what you’re like. And then I always love it when people say, well, you didn’t taste this, you’re wrong. They’ve actually, science has showed that your palate is like a thumbprint. It’s unique to you. So we all taste sweet, salt, sour, umami, all in different places on our tongue. And so, yeah, it may not taste that way to you I am now seeing food a lot more differently. And that’s what, you… When we eat food, people just pop it and take it back. And instead for us, it’s all five senses. It’s audible. If a cheese squeak doesn’t squeak, is it a cheese curd? And it’s the same thing as like a tortilla chip. It feels like it tastes different when it doesn’t break in your mouth and crunch. Nothing has changed about the taste of it. It just has a different sensation of taste and flavor based off of it being stale. So yeah, use all your senses when you’re, it’s a fun experience if you can slow down, which I’m not good at. You can tell I’m a fast talker. But if you can slow down and eat your food the same way you might at the beginning of a wine tasting or and use all your senses, it’s a whole different experience.
Miles Bloxson [00:17:41] Kendall, mind blown. Now, before I let you go, as someone who’s been in business for 16 years, right? Where do you see the future of Austin’s food scene heading?
Kendall Antonelli [00:17:53] That’s a tough one. I mean, I kind of hinted at it earlier that things grow, things die, things close. But people are always coming up with new ideas. And now I think, at least in theory and in some practice, we’re creating new avenues to access capital, so new businesses maybe that were always there are getting a different leg up because more people are seeing them in certain ways. So I’m excited always for the future. That being said, we have a lot of challenges to overcome. It’s paid labor in the industry. It’s people willing to pay for real food. It’s the fact that organic food costs more than something that doesn’t have any real food in it at all. None of those are easy to solve questions, but it impacts us all the way around.
Miles Bloxson [00:18:34] We’ve been speaking with Kendall Antonelli, founder and president of Antonellis Cheese. She will be joining me at KUT Fest this Saturday, along with Erin Franklin of Franklin’s Barbecue and Tevelle Bristol-Joseph of Emerin Rye on the panel, Still Cooking. We’ll have a link with more info at kut.org slash signal. Kendall, thanks so much for.
Kendall Antonelli [00:18:54] Being with me today. Thank you and just remember you said on that panel still cooking but for those of you who don’t want to cook you can just eat some cheese.
Miles Bloxson [00:19:01] And continuing our conversation about the impact in the hospitality scene, our next guests are students in future culinary scene hopefuls who are part of Austin ISD’s Culinary Arts and Hospitality Program. And tomorrow they will be shoulder to shoulder with renowned Austin chefs helping to execute a menu they helped build as part of the annual give back gig. A fundraiser to help sustain programs focused on developing the next generation of Austin’s hospitality workforce. Joining us now are Leilani Martinez, Dina Munoz, Arlo Irving, and Cerise Mazariegos. Welcome to Austin Signal. Thanks for having us. And accompanying them is their instructor who leads the culinary and hospitality program, Jayma Vaughn. Jayma thanks for being here.
Jayma Vaughn [00:19:46] Thank you, Miles, for having us. We are excited to be here. I want to start with you, Jaima. Tell us about this program. Yeah, I can talk all day about this program because it is based around really, really brilliant students. But beyond that, it is a partnership that has been at Travis Early College High School since 2001 with Austin ISD, with Austin Hotel and Lodging Association, and with Visit Austin. And we’re proud to serve the students in our community and to eventually give back to the community in the hospitality and tourism scene. So it’s a great program and I’m excited to be here to talk about it today and our cool upcoming event.
Miles Bloxson [00:20:28] Yes, and speaking of the upcoming event, what is this gift bag?
Jayma Vaughn [00:20:32] So, the Give Back gig is in its third year. It was the brainchild of the Visit Austin Education Foundation. That is the branch from Visit Austin that works with local community partners like Travis High School and like Austin Community College, Good Works, Urban Roots, to give back to community members who are wanting to thrive in the hospitality and tourism and restaurant scene. Um, so the give back gig is where we take these great, incredible culinary students from Travis Early College High School and we partner them with celebrity chefs from the Austin area. Wow. A couple of years ago, something really incredible happened in Austin and that is that the Michelin Guide came to Austin. And this was big, huge news in the hospitality and culinary scene in Austin. So students who maybe wanted to work with the Michelins chef before that had to leave the state. They had to go to Chicago, they had to go to New York to try to get that experience. But because of the Give Back gig and those chefs partnering with us, our students can do that in their own hometown and then they can stay in their hometown. They can go to Austin Community College, major in culinary arts, and continue to work their way up with local chefs who’ve been recognized by the Michelin Guide.
Miles Bloxson [00:21:51] No, it is really cool to be able to work with the best of the best when you’re, you know, in high school. So speaking of that, let’s turn to some of our brilliant students. First, I have Leilani, why are you interested in the culinary arts?
Leilani Martinez [00:22:03] Well I’m interested in the culinary arts because I can be creative with food and honestly you can never make mistakes when it comes to food you can probably like learn from it or make something new that you like and I just like that I get to make food for people that for my loved ones and they get to taste some of my foods. I love that, and Cerise.
Miles Bloxson [00:22:26] What have you already learned about the culinary arts as a student?
Cerise Mazariegos [00:22:30] Well, a basic answer is that I’ve learned knife skills and different ways to cook different foods, but a more in-depth answer would be that I have learned the importance of networking and knowing the right people and being involved in the community and the importance of working well with others and doing your best to help everybody.
Miles Bloxson [00:22:56] That skill set will take you far in any career. So those are good things to learn. And then up next I have Arlo, what do you hope to learn from this event? Because you’re gonna be next to like superstar chefs.
Arlo Irving [00:23:07] Well, to build off Cerise and Ms. Vaughan, to say that networking and having these opportunities with these great, amazing people who already have so much experience in this industry, and to be there and to have that opportunity just makes your view of the future just so much brighter and allows you to build connections early and get into not just the culinary scene but the hospitality scene and make a successful career out of your life.
Miles Bloxson [00:23:33] And Dina, how do you help to use the things that you’ve learned in the future?
Dina Munoz [00:23:38] Well, since I’m graduating soon, I think that I’m gonna use like the networking skills and the communications because I’m going to be communicating with a lot of people because I am going into nursing. So I’m just gonna use what I’ve learned about my internships and my internships when I did human resources. I learned more about what it’s like to work with other people and knowing how to, I guess, react to how other people react to certain things that I probably would react differently to. Yeah, I think I’m just gonna take more the skills on communication rather than like cooking skills.
Miles Bloxson [00:24:16] We’ve been speaking with AISD students Leilani Martinez, Dina Munoz, Arlo Irving, and Cerise Macerriegos, and their instructor, Jama Vaughn. We’ll have a link with more info at kut.org slash signal and in the podcast show notes. Thank you so much for being here, guys.
All [00:24:33] Thank you!
Miles Bloxson [00:24:36] That’s it for us here on Austin Signal. Thanks so much for hanging out with us. Serena Sevilla is our technical director. Alexa Hart is our producer. Christian Cabrera is our managing producer. I’m Miles Bloxson. And for my buddy, Jerry Quijano. Austin Signal is back tomorrow. I hope you have a beautiful day.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
