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Mayor Kirk Watson is asking some Austin ISD parents to request that their school be shut down in order to avoid a state takeover of the entire school district. Watson says the move is about empowerment. What do parents think about the proposal?
And the GOP brought a first-of-its-kind midterm convention to Texas this week as we inch closer to Election Day.
Every election is dominated by a few issues, and there’s no doubt data centers are on the minds of quite a few Texans heading to the polls. We’ll hear from some of those Texans.
Plus, Levitation is back in Austin with shows at some of the biggest venues in town. We’ve got a breakdown of the lineup and some tips on staying strong over the next four days.
Austin Signal is made possible by listeners like you. You can support our work by making a donation at supportthispodcast.org
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] Mayor Kirk Watson is asking some Austin ISD parents to request that their school be shut down in order to avoid a state takeover of the entire school district. Watson says the move is about empowerment. What do parents think about that proposal? And the GOP brought a first of its kind midterm convention to Texas this week as we inch closer to the midterms. Every election is dominated by a few issues and there’s no doubt data centers are on the minds of quite a few Texans heading to the polls. We’ll hear from some of them. That’s coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:36] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Kehanel.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:41] Plus, Levitation is back in Austin with shows at some of the biggest venues in town. We’ve got a breakdown of the lineup and some tips on staying strong over the next four days. Plus, we’re gonna catch up with Austin FC as they finish their season. Now, that’s up next. It’s right here on Austin Signal. . Howdy out there. Thank you for tuning in and listening to Austin Signal. It is Thursday, September 10th. I’m your host, Jerry Kiechanel. Thank you, for being with us today. The Austin Independent School District will find out if the state has decided to take over the district come December, but that hasn’t stopped leaders in town from coming up with ways to possibly avoid that. Mayor Kirk Watson this week sent out an email asking parents of students at failing schools to request that their schools be closed. Now after parents learned the information, they had some thoughts on that ask from the mayor. For more about that, we are speaking with Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vazquez. She is the education reporter here at KUT News. Greta, great to see you.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:01:48] Hi, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:01:49] Okay, let’s start with this week’s development. We had Acacia Coronado from Austin Current on yesterday talking about it, but just remind us, there was an email sent by Austin Mayor Kirk Watson to parents who students attend these schools. What is he asking them to do?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:02:01] Yeah, so this was actually an email. It is his weekly newsletter where he said that he was proposing this plan where, so let’s go back, the district got five, two schools got five consecutive failing grades, which means the state can come in and appoint a new superintendent and a board of managers. Now, the Mayor Kirk Rotson is saying there’s another option, which is if a majority of parents from those schools sign a petition and send it to the commissioner. Asking for the the state or the district to close these schools then a whole takeover can be avoided and so he’s saying this is a way to save the district because if the TA comes in and takes over the whole district it’s very likely that these schools will be closed anyways. So I talked to him yesterday he told me that he’s been talking with the superintendent and with board members about this and that this is way to uplift families. Let’s listen to him.
Kirk Watson [00:02:58] In what I’m attempting to do, I’m trying to lift them up so that they’re empowered and then we get those resources through a plan that the superintendent will put together that does elevate those schools.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:11] So he’s saying this plan would mean making sure that these schools or these students will have the right resources moving forward after the schools are closed.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:20] Okay, that word empowered is the big word. I’m gonna ask you about that in a second. First, you’ve been speaking with the parents of some of the students who attend these schools. Did they know that this proposal was coming? Was this a surprise to them?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:03:30] Not at all, they did not know. I talked to multiple parents, mostly from Burnett, but also parents from Webb, and they all said that they were surprised about the proposal. Some of them didn’t even know what was happening. Like somebody told me, like, what do you mean a state takeover, you know? And so- You were the one that told them. Yeah, we had to inform them. And so they were very surprised about the proposals. They said that neither the district nor the city has been talking to them about this. And they’re- years before there had been talks about closing the schools. They fought very hard to not have them closed. So they were saying, we’re back at like, at the beginning of this, we have to fight for our schools once more. And I talked to Vanessa Gomez, who is a parent at Webb. She was also a parent at Burnett. So she has ties with both schools. Yeah. And she said, why do we need to sacrifice our schools? Let’s listen to Vanessa.
Vanessa Gamez [00:04:20] We have nothing to lose if the TA take the housing ISD. Nothing to lose. Right now, we don’t have voice. Nobody listen to us. We was many years ago, ask, make recommendations, try to help at the school. What happened? Nothing. We are at the same point. We are like a start over again and again.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:47] Okay, let’s go back to that word, empower. Mayor Watson says he wants to empower families with this action. How are parents feeling? Are they feeling like they’re in control?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:04:56] So I think from what Vanessa said, and you can hear in her voice, I talked to her late last night because also these are parents that work throughout the day. It’s very hard to talk to them during the day, I talk to her at 9 p.m. Yesterday. She was very sad and she was telling me, we feel like we really don’t have a say, like we didn’t have say for so many years and now they’re asking us to come and have a say which is to close our schools is very unfair. She’s not the only one that is feeling this way. I talked to Ingrid Saucedo, who is a Burnett parent. And she told me that they feel used. Let’s listen to her.
Ingrid Saucedo [00:05:28] Well, they have told us things and they have not fulfilled them, so how are we going to trust in something, in someone who has always failed us? So, I do not believe in signing.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:05:44] So she’s saying here that for many years, the district has promised a lot of things to these families and they haven’t delivered and so she’s saying, how are we going to trust that they will deliver this time? And at the end she’s saying, I will not be signing and that is something that I heard from multiple parents. Vanessa said the same, that they will not be signing a petition to close their schools.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:04] Okay, what have you heard so far from the district on this matter?
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:06:07] I have not heard from the district. I sent a few questions yesterday. I asked for an interview with somebody on the matter and I have not heard back.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:16] Okay, well, this continues to be an evolving situation that we’ve been following all year, and it seems like we will continue to follow through the rest of 2026. That is Greta Díaz-González Vázquez. We’ll have a link to her latest reporting in today’s show notes. Greta, thank you for your time.
Greta Diaz Gonzalez Vasquez [00:06:29] Thank you, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:31] Okay, the ongoing debates over data centers in Texas could be a decisive factor in the upcoming governor’s race between Republican incumbent Greg Abbott and Austin Democratic Representative Gina Hinojosa. As KERA’s Pablo Araoz-Pena reports, some rural Texas voters who say they’ve voted Republican in the past are now, quote, breaking rank from the GOP because of the party’s response to rapid data center growth.
Pablo Arauz Peña [00:06:56] Cheryl Shaddon says the noisy data center across the road from her Hood County farm turns the volume down when reporters or politicians visit her neighborhood. That was the case, she says, when Democratic State Representative Gina Hinojosa stopped Bye in July!
Cheryl Shaddon [00:07:12] When she said she was coming to Grainberry, it was within an hour and it was completely silent here, completely silent.
Pablo Arauz Peña [00:07:19] Schaden has been protesting the data center in her neighborhood for more than two years. She says she has voted Republican in the past, but now she’s fed up with the party, enough so that she agreed to be in an ad for Hinojosa’s campaign for governor.
Cheryl Shaddon [00:07:33] This is not about being red, this is not about being blue, this is not about you being purple and pink polka dots. This is about human rights.
Pablo Arauz Peña [00:07:41] Shadden is among a handful of conservative voters who say they’re either voting Democrat or sitting out the election altogether. That’s because they’re seeing the impact of data centers on their communities firsthand. Rena Schroeder ran as a Republican earlier this year for Texas’ 22nd Senate district, which includes Hood County. She says she lost the March primary to David Cooke because of her opposition to data centers. As a representative for her precinct, she tried to pass a resolution at her district conference to keep big tech out of state and local politics.
Rena Schroeder [00:08:16] You think I was starting World War III. They all started fighting with me. I’m like, am I here with, we’re Republicans. You all are farmers. What the hell are you doing?
Pablo Arauz Peña [00:08:26] Now she has endorsed the Democratic candidate running against Cook, who was endorsed by Governor Greg Abbott. Schroeder says she believes Abbott and the Republican Party sold Texas out to Big Tech by offering tax breaks and other incentives. Abbott previously promised to make Texas a hub for data center developments, but in recent months, as public opposition has grown, he’s begun to rein them in. Here he is in a Fox News interview.
Greg Abbott [00:08:54] What I did is I pressed pause on any new data center approval in the state of Texas, and then I established guidelines and guardrails for all data centers to comply with.
Pablo Arauz Peña [00:09:05] The state Republican party is also calling for tighter regulations. It made the issue one of the GOP’s priorities during their convention earlier this year.
Robert Patterson [00:09:14] Those are pretty strong indications that just calling it economic development and telling people not to get their feathers ruffled isn’t a path that people running for re-election will want to tread anymore.
Pablo Arauz Peña [00:09:26] Robert Patterson specializes in land use and environment at UT Austin. He says there’s stronger opposition to data centers in rural counties compared to cities because the large scale projects are so disruptive. I don’t think you can easily dodge it when you’ve got a data center proposal in your county. While some GOP voters are breaking rank, others like Mary Jo Bloomquist are disillusioned with voting altogether. She lives near a data center in Hood County and says the governor’s actions are too little, too late.
Mary Jo Bloomquist [00:09:57] If he really cared, if he really wanted to do something, he would call a special session.
Pablo Arauz Peña [00:10:02] For voters like Blomquist, staying home seems to be the only choice.
Mary Jo Bloomquist [00:10:07] I’m so disheartened. I don’t have faith in politicians on either side.
Pablo Arauz Peña [00:10:13] Joshua Blank is with the nonpartisan Texas Politics Project, a research initiative based at UT Austin. He says if would-be GOP voters like Bloomquist do sit out the upcoming election, it could spell trouble for Republican candidates.
Joshua blank [00:10:28] In an election environment in which we expect the outcome to be pretty close, if some share of those rural Republicans stay home, the GOP’s firewall in Texas becomes a lot less formidable.
Pablo Arauz Peña [00:10:40] So whether or not that GOP firewall stays up will be up to voters in November.
Jerry Quijano [00:10:47] Thank you for tuning in. This is Austin Signal right here on KUT News. 94 degrees outside of the KUT studios this hour. Hopefully you saw some of that rain yesterday that certainly caught me by surprise here outside the Kut studios. Maybe even got some on Monday. I hope so because there is not much of a rain chance in the forecast looking ahead. The good news is that today, the forecast high is only, only 99. 100 tomorrow, 101 Saturday, back to 100 on Sunday. It is September, right? Not sure about that, but this is Austin Signal. I know that for sure. And we got more show after this break. This is Austin signal. Thank you for tuning in. One of the city’s biggest independent music festivals is back this weekend. Levitation features dozens of shows across multiple venues in the Red River cultural district and out at the far out lounge. Joining us now is Aaron Owens, marketing specialist for the festival. Aaron, thanks for being here.
Aaron Owens [00:11:46] Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:48] So I’m sure that a lot of our listeners out there are familiar with Levitation and there are a lot of big name festivals here in town. Tell us, what sets Levitation apart from the rest?
Aaron Owens [00:11:57] So the primary thing that sets that apart, I think, is the art and the kind of colorful aspect of the lineups that we book, and then also the visual aspects of all the shows. So we have a huge emphasis on what that experience is like live at a venue. And we kind of curate and cultivate artists, both visual artists and audio artists, musicians, that mesh well with that. And so. On top of that, we also are, as you mentioned, one of the largest independent festivals and it’s pretty rare to be an independent music festival. It’s super hard to do that. So we’re really committed to putting on these shows and filling these venues. And that has a great impact on the entire city, which is really awesome. Rather than it being one location, multiple locations, we get a big experience at different types of venues, small and large.
Jerry Quijano [00:12:52] I think every time a festival here in Austin releases their lineup, there’s always mixed reviews, right? Like, ah, this band, this man. I feel like Levitation, for the most part, has really positive reviews for the lineup that’s being featured. So tell us a little bit about the artist coming to town this weekend.
Aaron Owens [00:13:06] Yeah, definitely. I mean, we have a great booking team that really does a lot of hard work to get these shows booked. So we have our kind of main central hub at the far out. That’s where we have are largest shows. In terms of lineup across the weekend, tomorrow night we have Bikini Kill. That girl thinks she’s the queen of the neighborhood. She got the heart. Dice Fits, we have The Garden playing at Stubbs, on Saturday we have Molchat Doma at The Far Out, we have got Peter Hook and The Light, we’ve got Angine De Petrine, they’re playing on Saturday, that show is sold out, but there’s a ton of awesome acts throughout the weekend, and then Sunday is kind of more of a heavy day on the metal side of The Farout. We have Sleep playing. We have Uncle Acid and the Dead Beats, and you know, those are just kind of top level names, but I mean, the list kind of goes on and on, and there’s a lot of really cool small shows happening as well.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:31] Last year, the event or part of the event was held at the Palmer Event Center and this year is going back to the far out lounge. Is there any reason for that change?
Aaron Owens [00:14:38] It’s specifically related to how we can operate as an independent and how we can continue to do this. And so, you know, it’s always tough to promote music festivals and sell concert tickets, especially in a town where it’s so competitive. So we really just have to make decisions that are not only best for us and the longevity of our company, but also the impact on Austin, the impact on artists and then fans. And so this this is the decision we made to. Incorporate all of those elements and give everyone a great time.
Jerry Quijano [00:15:28] You mentioned that there’s a really great lineup out at the Far Out Lounge. There’s also going to be some shows in the Red River Cultural District, correct?
Aaron Owens [00:15:34] Yes, there are. So we have shows starting tonight at Mohawk, we have shows at the 13th floor, we had some shows at Elysium. And then we even have some shows down the street from us here at the 29th Street ballroom. So we had about, I think, six shows there. Two tonight, one’s an early show, one is a late show. And just about every night we have shows at Mohawk and we have shows at 13th floor and so There’s, you know, the idea pretty much is to go to far out, experience the lineup there, and then come downtown to see some other shows that go on later.
Jerry Quijano [00:16:11] Yeah, and you mentioned a lot of venues there. I just want to make clear for the audience, originally the event, part of the event was going to be held out at Radio East. That’s not the case anymore, correct?
Aaron Owens [00:16:20] It is not the case. We’re hosting those large main hub festival shows at the Far Out now.
Jerry Quijano [00:16:25] Okay, this week the Red River Cultural District sent out a letter asking for city leadership to act as venues and stores in the district have been closing shop. Since you partner with so many of these venues, can you just speak a little bit to their importance to what you do and to the city at large?
Aaron Owens [00:16:42] Yeah, I mean, I think there’s this idea of small stages and how these huge mega touring artists, they had to start somewhere. And importantly, they have support on those tours that need to start summer. You can’t become an artist and play on a 10,000 person stadium without first playing in a room for 100 people or even 50 people. So it’s really… Very critical to the importance of not only live music, but specifically independent live music to have a space for artists to come and play and actually be able to develop their skills and get recognized and have ticket history. So I would say it’s vital. I would it’s incredibly vital.
Jerry Quijano [00:17:44] All right, one last question for you to get out of here. ACL is only three days, but levitation is four, and that’s a critical extra day. What’s the key to pacing yourself over these four days and enjoying it and making the most of levitation?
Aaron Owens [00:17:55] Well, I would say planning your schedule out, make sure you know who you wanna see and where they’re gonna be. Make sure you accommodate for travel and parking times. And then make sure your hydrate. Don’t have too much fun the first day. And try to pace yourself as you go. But there’s awesome stuff to see the whole weekend. So there’s things to look forward to every night.
Jerry Quijano [00:18:16] Far out, all right. We have been speaking with Aaron Owens. He is a marketing specialist for Levitation. Levitation gets started today, and we’ll have more about the lineup in today’s show notes. Aaron, thank you for your time.
Aaron Owens [00:18:25] Thank you so much, I appreciate it.
Jerry Quijano [00:18:33] Alrighty, September is football season, with the NFL kicking off last night, and the fourth ranked Longhorns hosting top ranked Ohio State this weekend right here in Austin. But it’s still football season two, with Austin FC entering into the closing stretch of this Major League Soccer season. Here to tell us more is Juan Diego Garcia. He’s one of the hosts of the Vamos Verde podcast, all about our city’s soccer team. Juan, welcome back to the show.
Juan Diego Garcia [00:18:57] Always a pleasure, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:18:59] Okay, the Verdant Black were back in action last night, who did they face and how did this
Juan Diego Garcia [00:19:03] The Colorado Rapids came to visit Q2 Stadium, and the visitors actually took the lead early in the first half, despite the fact that Austin seemed like they had a bit more momentum throughout the night, and they did manage to level it late in the second half off of the head of Facundo Torres, and that makes it five straight matches unbeaten in MLS Play for Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:25] Yeah, which has been a nice stretch after kind of a tumultuous stretch for the club. Can you remind us of some of the recent changes that have happened there?
Juan Diego Garcia [00:19:31] Let’s start at the top. They are refreshing their entire soccer leadership. They just brought in a new sporting director. He’s the guy who signs the players and builds the roster, builds the team. He came in over the summer. He is hard at work rebuilding the roster for the new head coach that’s coming at the end of this season. They also went on a bit of a selling spree, and they sold a bunch, or loaned out some as well, players. To give that new sporting director the resources in the upcoming winter transfer window to really build the roster top to bottom ahead of 2027.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:07] Yeah, as the new sporting director sees fit. That makes sense. Austin has about 10 games remaining this regular season and they are currently near the bottom of the table. So looking ahead a little bit, what are you watching for as we begin as we began to make the transition to next season?
Juan Diego Garcia [00:20:23] Well, one of the biggest stories of the summer are a couple of youngsters that have been signed up from Austin FC2. They’re being given first team opportunities to earn a spot on next year’s roster. Those two are Ervin Torres and Jorge Alastuwe. And, yeah, pretty much everybody is auditioning for either their spot on the roster next year with Austin or auditioning for another team, and then maybe Austin can get a little bit of value from them should they decide to move on. But the playoffs are within reach, which is not something I expected to be saying right after the World Cup. It felt like that gap was really wide, but they are sitting four points behind ninth place San Diego. Ninth place gets you into the playoffs in Major League Soccer. And they have a home match coming up later this month against San Diego, and we call that in the business a six pointer because even though one team walks away with three points, stealing points from a major rival like this effectively means you win, you’re getting six points. Yeah, you are gaining as much points as you win.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:27] Much ground. You mentioned a name there that sounds familiar because I believe you and Jimmy Moss got a chance to talk to Jorge Alasdoway, did I get that right?
Juan Diego Garcia [00:21:37] That is correct.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:37] Okay, tell us a little bit about him
Juan Diego Garcia [00:21:39] Yeah, he’s the guest on our latest episode of Vamos Verde. He is a product of Barcelona’s famous, legendary La Masia Academy. Took a ride around a few other teams, went through Poland before ending up at Austin and started in Austin FC too. But the massive roster turnover over the summer has allowed for these opportunities for some of these young guys. And Jorge is one of them that has been given the opportunity to maybe prove that he deserves to be on the team next year. And we talked about a few things. We talked about that shared Barcelona DNA with captain Ilya Sanchez, how that’s going as well as how he’s approaching this opportunity to really solidify his spot on the senior team.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:26] Okay, well speaking of Barcelona, it’s hard to believe we’re only about two months removed from the end of this summer’s World Cup when we got to see so many of the biggest stars of this sport. So looking beyond our city and our team here, what’s been catching your eye in international competition so far?
Juan Diego Garcia [00:22:39] Yeah, while MLS is doing their playoff chase, the European side of things just recently kicked off their season, much like the Longhorns and the NFL here in the States. MLS will be transitioning to that fall to spring schedule next year. That also means that the Champions League just kicked off. It kicked off this week with the league phase. There’s a play in ahead of time, but the proper Champions League really starts now. And it’s already kicking off with a bang. There was a World Cup favorite for many people, Ferran Torres. He’s with a new team, made his European debut with new club Paris Saint-Germain, and did so in style, scoring a hat trick.
Jerry Quijano [00:23:19] All right, well, Champions League is definitely a good way to keep that World Cup fever going strong. And always hearing from you helps us to keep our soccer fever going here. That is Juan Diego Garcia, one of the hosts of the Vamos Verde podcast. Juan, thank you. Always happy to chat, Jerry. And thank you out there for spending the day here with us on Austin Signal. That is it for us. But we have more at kut.org slash signal and more about the stories we shared with you in today’s podcast, Show Notes. Rene Chavez is our technical director, Alexandra Hart is our producer, and Kristin Cabrera is our managing producer. I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. We’ll talk to 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.
