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Some parents at two Austin middle schools are running out of time in their effort to get the schools closed, a move to try and avoid a state takeover of the entire Austin Independent School District.
Austin Police characterize the fatal shooting this summer of an unarmed teen as a likely “suicide by police.” But some question the use of force, and argue APD should better handle mental health crises.
There’s still time to apply to vote by mail in the upcoming midterm election. What seniors need to know.
Plus: Meet a local designer turning waste into wearable art for an upcoming fashion show.
The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jennifer Stayton [00:00:09] Some parents at two Austin middle schools are running out of time in their effort to get the schools closed, a move to try and avoid a state takeover of the entire Austin independent school district. Austin police characterized the fatal shooting this summer of an unarmed teen as a likely quote suicide by police, but some questioned the use of force and argue APD should better handle mental health crisis cases. That’s coming up on today’s show. The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jennifer Staten. There’s still time to apply to vote by mail in the upcoming midterm election. What seniors need to know? Plus, meet a local designer turning waste into wearable art for an upcoming fashion show. That and more up next on Austin Signal. Hi Austin, it’s Wednesday, October 14th, 2026. I’m Jennifer Staten. This is Austin Signal. Today is the last day for parents at Burnett and Webb Middle Schools to sign a petition to close their schools in an effort to avoid a state takeover of the Austin Independent School District. KUT’s Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vazquez tells us a group of volunteers has been gathering signatures outside of the two schools.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:01:40] On Tuesday morning, Ana Salas-Porras was outside of Burnett Middle School approaching as many parents as she could. She’d asked them if they knew about the petition to close the school. If they didn’t know what she was talking about, she would explain. Burnett and Webb Middle Schools received five consecutive failing grades from the Bye. Now the Texas Education Commissioner can appoint a new superintendent and a board of managers for Austin ISD. But with enough signatures, parents from both middle schools can ask the state to close their campuses instead and develop a plan for where their kids will go next. For the petition to be valid, 51 percent of parents at each school must sign it. The petition to close the schools is the only way for parents to have a voice, Salas Porras tells a parent. After explaining the situation, she asks parents if they want to sign. Most of them do. Some of the petitions are already filled out with the students’ and parents’ information, including their addresses. Right as school starts, an announcement on the school speakers says every student will be sent home with the petition.
Announcer [00:02:50] That each community member reads the document carefully so they fully understand their rights and options.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:02:55] An AISD spokesperson told KUT that to ensure families had the right information, the district has gotten involved by providing hard copies of the petition, along with an explanation of their options in English and Spanish. With less than a week to gather signatures, on Friday, the Austin Council of PTAs said they would help inform parents and get their signatures. For the plan to work, they need 299 signatures for Burnett and 174 for Webb. That’s why volunteers like las porras have been working non-stop. Juan Oribes is one of two Burnett parents helping out that morning.
Juan Oribes [00:03:29] There is no information for the parents, they don’t know, they are surprised.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:33] She says parents don’t have enough information. Most of them are lost about what’s happening. Initially, Uribe’s was against the petition, but now she says it’s all the same to her.
Juan Oribes [00:03:45] Little bit of hope.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:46] But at least it gives her a little bit of hope. I’m doing what little or a lot for my own good. She feels like she’s doing something for the well-being of her kid, she says. Vanessa Gámez, a web mom, says she doesn’t want to sign the petition. It’s not in her language. Even if it was in her own language, she says she doesn’ understand the Texas education codes mentioned in the petition, as volunteers gather petitions outside of web. Gama says it feels intrus asking parents to sign. A pressionando con algo que pues hay mas dudas, hay m feel pressured, there’s n a lot of questions. In a cuando vas a dejar a un ni para explicar. During dr not enough time to expl Some parents have told h they didn’t quite under To answer any questions, Salas-Borra says volunteers will also be at after school events and football games gathering signatures. And for these parents to realize that they can organize and have a voice and not just let the state take over. Meanwhile, Gammes wishes the two middle schools had that many volunteers show up to uplift them when they needed it. Volunteers and families have until Thursday to submit the signatures to the superintendent, who would validate them and turn them to the state. I’m Greta Díaz González Vázquez in Austin.
Jennifer Stayton [00:05:22] In July, the fatal shooting of Anthony L. Williams II, an unarmed teenager, was characterized by the Austin police chief as a likely, quote, suicide by police. But Austinites came out in droves to protest the shooting, questioning the use of force and arguing the department should better handle cases involving mental health crises. KUT’s Andrew Weber reports.
Andrew Weber [00:05:46] In the immediate aftermath of Anthony Williams II’s shooting, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said after three decades of experience, she was almost certain what it was.
Chief Lisa Davis [00:05:55] And all points are indicating that this was a suicide by police.
Andrew Weber [00:05:59] But this whole incident started with a call. A 911 call, APD says was placed by Williams that said there was a suspect in a park with a gun.
Chief Lisa Davis [00:06:09] Austin 911, do you need police, fire, EMS or mental health services?
Andrew Weber [00:06:14] And that call is key, says Chuck Wexler from the Police Executive Research Forum, a national think tank that provides training for law enforcement across the country. Wexlar says the 911 call dictates the tone of how officers will respond and gives them key information they need to know. Wexlor helped draft Perf’s industry standard training for so-called suicide by cop calls.
Chuck Wexlar [00:06:36] And our whole purpose of this training is to try to prevent this tragedy from happening. That if you can somehow get dispatchers to ask the questions, to try and figure out what this person is, and if they are suicidal.
Andrew Weber [00:06:52] And Austin police have been using that training since it first came out in 2019. Seth Stoughton is a former police officer and criminologist with the University of South Carolina. He previously testified in the trial of Christopher Taylor, an Austin police officer who fatally shot Mike Ramos in 2020. He has questions about the incident.
Seth Stoughton [00:07:10] I certainly can’t just look at this video and the information I know about the scene and conclude, oh, yes, this is definitely suicide by cop.
Andrew Weber [00:07:18] In videos released after the shooting, three officers are seen responding. Williams is by a playscape. When officers approach him, he reaches for his waistband. They fire. He was unarmed. Staunton has questions about that initial 911 call, namely the exchange.
Responder [00:07:32] Is he like brandishing it or does it just happen to happen?
Caller [00:07:39] Brandy, she can get it, I’ll just say Brandy she can do it.
Responder [00:07:44] Someone or is he just by himself?
Caller [00:07:46] You can in by yourself.
Seth Stoughton [00:07:48] A lot of people don’t know what brandishing means or if they do know what brandishing, it means they’re not going to be necessarily using brandishing in the same way as the police or a dispatcher.
Andrew Weber [00:08:00] Stoughton didn’t say whether officers responding to this incident were unreasonable or whether their actions were illegal. But the use of brandishing may have put them more on edge. It’s a phenomenon called dispatch priming, when information related to officers colors how they may react to a call. Stoughtons said it’s a necessary part of being a cop, and it saves lives. But if the information is wrong or incomplete, it can lead to bad outcomes.
Seth Stoughton [00:08:26] Usually I would expect a dispatcher to ask a more open-ended question there, not to supply the terminology that someone may not know.
Andrew Weber [00:08:34] Officers didn’t know Williams was unarmed, and the call was not flagged as mental health-related. Wexler, the other police expert, says there are always variables in these situations, and he points out that it’s never clear whether an incident like this was planned or spontaneous until after the fact.
Chuck Wexlar [00:08:51] Kind of behavior, this kind of phenomenon, happens, and you frequently don’t realize it until after it happens.”
Andrew Weber [00:09:00] The shooting is still under investigation by Austin Police. APD told KUT that it’s working on bolstering its training and communications to better deal with calls involving mental health crises and avoid these types of shootings going forward. Assistant Chief Angie Jones says the upcoming transition of APD’s 911 call center to a civilian-run model presents an opportunity to improve call takers’ performance. The department has quality assurance reviews under APD’s current management. They’re done on an ad hoc basis. The civilian run model would have a manager tasked with regular quality assurance on calls, Jones says.
Assistant Chief Angie Jones [00:09:35] But having a civilian manager that is dedicated to that will allow a much deeper dive into our quality assurance of our call takers, of our dispatchers.
Andrew Weber [00:09:46] As for the officer’s response, Jones says for a decade, the department has been using PIRF’s training on de-escalation and more recently, how to avoid suicide by cop. Cadets at the Austin Police Training Academy simulate situations involving people having mental health crises and they practice de- escalation. How they talk, not barking orders. How they approach a situation, not bull rushing someone with their weapons drawn. Jones says the department is expanding training for active listening and crisis intervention at the academy. It will require that additional training for all officers.
Assistant Chief Angie Jones [00:10:19] And what that’s going to look at is in situations, in these situations where we have time, can we slow things down, earn trust, gain understanding, and build rapport with people before attempting to change their behaviors?
Andrew Weber [00:10:34] Another possible solution to avoid officer-involved fatalities, drones.
Assistant Chief Angie Jones [00:10:39] Those drones will have an operator that will be able to see what’s happening and then tell the officers that are on standby, close by, but not actually making contact what they see. So it gives us a different perspective. And we’re really looking into those types of technologies and advancements.
Andrew Weber [00:10:56] Jones says using drones as first responders could allow officers an eye in the sky and help alleviate pressure on the understaffed department to avoid shootings like these in the future. I’m Andrew Weber, in Austin.
Jennifer Stayton [00:11:21] Polling this fall from AARP shows 84 percent of Texas voters 15 older rate themselves at 10 out of 10 on how motivated they are to vote in this fall’s midterm election. In Texas, those 65 and older can apply to vote by mail. No other reason needed. For KUT’s Longview Project on aging in Austin, I talked with Travis County Clerk Dyana Limon Mercado at her office about what seniors and those who care for them need to know about mail-in ballots. Remind us now what are the age requirements for voting by mail in Texas.
Dyana Limon Mercado [00:11:57] You can qualify to vote by mail for a couple of different reasons. Those include having a disability, being out of the county during the voting period, being pregnant and expected to deliver within three weeks of election day, or being 65 years of age or older. Even though you’re qualifying under the age requirement, you can select an annual application that will qualify you for ballots for the entire year, but you do have to apply every year. Even though you’re 65 years of age or older this year, and you’ll also be that older, older next year, the state still requires you to apply every year.
Jennifer Stayton [00:12:34] Do you know the origin of that requirement of asking folks who are 65 and older to reapply every year to get ballots for that year?
Dyana Limon Mercado [00:12:44] These requirements are developed by the Texas legislature. So with what we generally know about the Texas Legislature and the majority of that body, they have generally aired to be very conservative with allowing folks to apply for ballot by mail.
Jennifer Stayton [00:12:59] So somebody who is age 65 and older or in one of the other categories you describe wants to apply for a ballot by mail, what do they have to do to fill out that application?
Dyana Limon Mercado [00:13:11] You will complete all the voter information fields, including providing one of the following numbers. Either your Texas driver’s license or Texas ID number or your election identification certificate, if that’s your state ID, or the last four digits of your social security number. The state requirement is that you include whichever number is the number you used when you registered to vote. If you’re like me, I registered to vote over 20 years ago. I have no idea, did I use my driver’s license? Did I use social? So we encourage all voters to just include both numbers. That way we can be cautious and hopefully accept their application regardless of which number is included.
Jennifer Stayton [00:13:52] And where can people actually get an application?
Dyana Limon Mercado [00:13:56] Unfortunately, you cannot apply online. We don’t have like an app or a website that the state allows you to use. You can go online to vote travis.gov or votetexas.gov to find that application, complete it, print it, mail it to our office or your elections administrator, depending on your county. You can also go to the secretary of state’s office. You can come to our offices in person if you’d like to. Get an application for ballot by mail, and you can also request that our office or the Secretary of State’s office mail you an application ballot by email as well.
Jennifer Stayton [00:14:27] Is there a lot of steps? Go online, print it out, and then fill it out. All the different numbers. Is there more direct way to do it or is this really like the only way?
Dyana Limon Mercado [00:14:36] That is unfortunately really the way it has to be done. It is a lot of steps. It does put a lot burden and barriers on the part of the voter.
Jennifer Stayton [00:14:45] What is the deadline to apply for a ballot by mail for this fall’s general election?
Dyana Limon Mercado [00:14:50] October 23rd. We encourage folks, though, to apply as soon as possible. It’s kind of a big package.
Jennifer Stayton [00:14:57] You’ve actually got the parts here. I see like I think three envelopes and a piece of paper. What do people need to know to fill this out?
Dyana Limon Mercado [00:15:06] Once we mail their ballot to them, they are going to get an envelope that notes that it’s from the Travis County Clerk’s Office. It will have an official elections logo placed on it and inside of that package will be a series of different notices that are legally required to talk to them about the instructions for returning their ballot by mail, completing their ballot by mail. They’ll have two inner envelopes. So one is going to be the secrecy envelope. Where they actually place their ballot inside. It has more instructions for the voter. And then they’re gonna have their carrier envelope to put the secrecy envelope inside of. And that will already be postage paid. It will be addressed to our PO box. It will have a signature line for them as well and some additional instructions to make sure that they have properly completed everything they need to do to return their ballot to us and have it accepted. Can people…
Jennifer Stayton [00:16:03] Get help filling out either their application for mail-in ballot or the actual ballot.
Dyana Limon Mercado [00:16:09] Yes, people can have assistance for filling out your application for ballot by mail, as well as your actual ballot. Whoever is helping you will review the instructions that we provide on all of these different materials. They will complete an additional witness or assistance section of the application. They will also be able to assist you with your ballot that has another set of forms that go with it as well. What is the dead?
Jennifer Stayton [00:16:34] Line for getting the ballot filled out and all the envelopes and back in the mail so that it gets to you all in time to be counted for the November 3rd general election.
Dyana Limon Mercado [00:16:45] The legal requirement is that the ballot must be postmarked by 7 p.m. On Election Day, so essentially the same time frame as an in-person voter, right? Inline by 7p.m., or postmark by 7pm on Election day. It physically needs to be in our office by 5 p. M. The next business day, so 5 p .m. Wednesday. They also have the option to hand-deliver their ballot to us on Election-day only. You can hand- deliver it to our office at 5501 Airport Boulevard. Every county in Texas is allowed to have one location for hand delivery that is also a legislative restriction so we cannot have multiple drop boxes across the county. It is only on election day and is only your ballot so you cannot bring a ballot for a loved one.
Jennifer Stayton [00:17:28] For both the application and then also the ballot, what can people do to check the status?
Dyana Limon Mercado [00:17:35] The voters can actually check votetexas.gov, votetravis.gov for the ballot tracker and it will also show their application status as well. The state has had several challenges with their voter database, Team 2.0. Because of the different sort of software development bug, syncing issues that we’ve run into, we haven’t always found that system to be the most timely with updating.
Jennifer Stayton [00:18:04] How would you describe seniors as a voting group?
Dyana Limon Mercado [00:18:09] They’re our best voters. They’re well-versed in the procedures. They’ve had many years of experience coming to the polling place, navigating through this process. So they are generally well-prepared walking into the poll place. They know what IDs to bring. And I will say they also tend to be the constituency that has done the most research on their ballot. So they’re quick at the voting booth.
Jennifer Stayton [00:18:35] That was Travis County Clerk, Diana Lee Monmercado. And that conversation was part of our project, The Long View, about aging in Austin. We’ve got more Austin Signal coming up right after this. This is Austin Signal, thanks for tuning in. Have you ever looked at a box of straws and thought, wow, I can make a great dress out of those? No? Well, a few artists in Austin have and they’re sending their straw creations down the runway. For KUT’s Art Beat, Stephanie Federico met one designer who’s turning waste into wearable art for Austin Creative Reuse’s upcoming fashion show.
Stephanie Federico [00:19:27] Joanne Cabaroos is heating up a panini press, but she’s not making a sandwich. First, she needs to put on her gear.
Joanne Cabaroos [00:19:35] I put the respirator here and then the goggles
Stephanie Federico [00:19:39] She closes the lid and sets a timer for 45 seconds. Then we wait and listen. We’re out on the balcony of our apartment in Round Rock.
Joanne Cabaroos [00:19:51] I’m just doing this very safely, carefully outside. I wanna make sure everyone knows that I’m doing this. Maybe people might start doing this too in their household.
Stephanie Federico [00:20:03] Don’t do this in your own home.
Joanne Cabaroos [00:20:05] You can smell something. I’ll remove it from the panini press and I’ll wait because right now it’s sticking a little bit on the parchment paper.
Stephanie Federico [00:20:19] Joanne pulls out a gooey green blob of plastic. It used to be a pickleball.
Joanne Cabaroos [00:20:24] If you want to shape it a certain way, you’ve got to mold it and manipulate the object quickly because it’s going to…
Stephanie Federico [00:20:33] Cool off quickly. She uses a gardening tool to shape the melted pickleball into flowers. She’ll sew those onto an upside-down lampshade attached to a headband.
Joanne Cabaroos [00:20:43] I found a $1 lampshade from Austin Creative Reuse and then I wanted to use it for the hat.
Stephanie Federico [00:20:55] Joanne is creating an outfit she’ll wear for the reuse on the runway fashion show at Mueller’s Branch Park Pavilion this weekend.
Voice [00:21:03] Which one? This one.
Stephanie Federico [00:21:05] A giant bat sculpture hangs from the ceiling as you walk into Austin Creative Reuse. Joanne made it using recycled materials. The Windsor Park Shop has just about every random thing you can imagine. Rows of plastic bins are filled with ornaments, napkin rings, doll parts, and empty shotgun shells. There’s a bin of small plastic containers with lids, and another of large plastic containers with outlets. For $2, you can buy a wooden duck that floats in water. All of this stuff is donated. This place is like a goodwill, but for crafty people. And these materials, well, you wouldn’t think they could be turned into clothes. The idea for a fashion show started five years ago. Staff here wanted to showcase the talent of artists in Austin who are making new stuff out of old stuff. They were also concerned about the amount of waste the fact that
Gillian Strigley [00:22:00] industry sends to landfills. It felt like an opportunity to showcase sustainable style and inspire audiences to see different ways that fashion can be made reuse-centric. That’s Gillian Strigley.
Stephanie Federico [00:22:11] She’s the artist program coordinator at Austin Creative Reuse. About 40 designers will walk their creations down the runway this year. Some will wear the outfits themselves, others will enlist friends as models. The designers aren’t required to use any particular materials, but they’re encouraged to include items that don’t sell well at the shop. They get a lot of those lanyards folks wear around their necks at conferences, and binders, lots of binders.
Gillian Strigley [00:22:38] This year, we actually asked designers, and it was totally their choice, if they wanted to try incorporating some of those more challenging materials. And quite a few people did, so we’re excited to see, especially the binders. I don’t know how that’s gonna work, but I’m very excited to.
Stephanie Federico [00:22:50] Jillian says one time a designer who worked in healthcare used the tops from vials of rattlesnake antivirus.
Gillian Strigley [00:22:57] Venom to make a cloak. You can imagine some outfits
Stephanie Federico [00:23:08] worn out on the streets. But other pieces are more art than fashion. Several have been displayed at the Doherty Art Museum.
Gillian Strigley [00:23:15] Center and local businesses. I’ve also heard of designers breaking down their looks and reusing those materials again in the future. So we we love that our designers are truly inspired by the idea of circular economy and we’ll make sure that those materials continue to be used in one form or another.
Joanne Cabaroos [00:23:30] This is a bike tube I found on the ground when I was walking with my dog.
Stephanie Federico [00:23:35] Back at Joanne’s house in Round Rock, she’s showing me her outfits. Jigsaw puzzle pieces are affixed to the straps of a purple dress. Its skirt is made out of bubble wrap with rhinestones glued to it. She’s incorporated a yoga mat and some duct tape. She’s attached vinyl wreckers to half of a volleyball for a second hat. Pickleball paddles are fastened to one another for a purse.
Joanne Cabaroos [00:23:59] So you’re seeing trash, trash in there. You’re seeing some reuse materials and also real trash. She has to be careful not to become a garbage collector. Everywhere I go, it’s like automatic. Ooh, what is that? Can I use that? Is that worth it to take it home and stuff?
Stephanie Federico [00:24:19] Joanne says there’s really no planning when she puts an outfit together. The design depends on the materials she finds. She’ll walk into Austin Creative Reuse with tunnel vision.
Joanne Cabaroos [00:24:29] And so I look around in the store, oh, that’s the color I want, let me look, let my look. Is this the structure that I think that will fit in my, this idea that I’m, I think.
Stephanie Federico [00:24:42] She’s taking time off from her nursing job to focus on her creations and getting them out there into the world. She made a dress out of used climbing rope that’s on display at Mesa Rim Climbing Gym. And you can see one of her pickleball creations at Pickler Austin West. She knows there’s not a lot of money doing what she’s doing, but hopes with exposure she might get commissions.
Joanne Cabaroos [00:25:04] Build something else. Like my soul is calling me for a creative path. It’s always been, but now
Stephanie Federico [00:25:11] Now is the time.” And she’ll follow her creative path down the runway at Mueller’s Branch Park Pavilion on Saturday. For KUT’s Art Beat, I’m Stephanie Federico in Austin.
Jennifer Stayton [00:25:29] That is it for us today on Austin Signal. Caroline File is our technical director. Alexandra Hart is our producer. Kristin Cabrera is our managing producer. Jimmy Moss is our showrunner. And I’m your host, Jennifer Staten. We’ll talk with you tomorrow.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
