Across the city of Austin, medics
are working and responding to
emergency calls.
Despite the budget challenges facing
the city and Travis County, voters
in Austin resoundingly rejected
a property tax increase that
officials hoped could be used to
supplement area first responders.
Now those departments are adjusting
to a future with fewer resources.
Plus, the Supreme Court is allowing
Texas to use newly drawn
congressional districts in next
year's midterm elections.
The map was drawn to give
Republicans an advantage in the next
Congress. We'll have local and
statewide reaction to the court's
decision coming up.
The Austin Signal is a production of
K U T News, hosted by Jerry
Quijano.
And the Blue Genie Art Bazaar is
celebrating twenty-five years in
Austin. We'll talk about their
origins and the best times to avoid
the long lines.
That's next here on Austin
Signal.
Howdy out there, thank you for
tuning in to Austin Signal.
You're listening here on KUT News
90.5.
We're on the K U T app and we have
more news online at K U
T.org.
It is Friday and another chilly
day here in the Capitol City, but
this weekend in Austin is shaping
up to be a nice one.
The National Weather Service is
forecasting for the clouds to clear
out of the way and for the sun to
shine its glorious face on us.
Highs in the low to mid
seventies on Saturday and Sunday.
Don't forget about the holiday sing
along tree lighting and downtown
stroll happening in front of the
Capitol tomorrow night from 5
until 8.
We will see you out there.
Alright, let's get on to today's
show.
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday
that Texas can use its
newly drawn congressional map in the
2026 midterm elections.
For more about the decision's
impacts on Austin districts as well
as the rest of the state, we are
talking with the Texas Newsroom's
Capitol Reporter, Blaise Gainey.
Blaise, thanks for being with us.
Yeah, glad glad to be here.
So this fight around the
congressional map has been a a long
saga.
So I'm asking you to take us back to
the beginning, please.
Why did this fight even begin in the
first place? Why did Texas redraw
its maps?
Absolutely. This whole redistricting
saga began when President Trump
asked Governor Greg Gabbott to
rearrange states' congressional
districts to give Republicans an
advantage.
The DOJ also pointed out to
Texas that it had districts they
believed were racially
gerrymandered, which is illegal.
That sent the state into a rare
mid decade redistricting process
before the next census.
Lawmakers quickly passed maps
in a second special session, and
that was successfully challenged in
federal court due to concerns of
racial gerrymandering.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court stepped
in and stayed that ruling allowing
the map to actually be used now.
And while we have been waiting for
this Supreme Court ruling,
candidates here in Texas that are
planning to run for election, maybe
for reelection, they've had to do
some thinking on whether the new map
or the old map is gonna work for
them. One official Austin
Representative Lloyd Doggett, we had
him on the show.
After the three judge panel
initially ruled on the issue, how
has this back and forth been
affecting potential candidates here
in Texas?
Yeah, the map not being in place
created a ton of uncertainty.
Candidates didn't know which
districts they'd actually be running
in, whether the twenty twenty one
map or the newly redrawn map would
be the one in effect.
So some people held off on
announcing in a few incumbents, like
Representative Al Green or Greg
Kazar, had to
consider whether their homes would
even remain inside their districts
now that the Supreme Court has
locked in the map.
It finally gives clarity just days
before the Monday filing deadline.
So candidates should be making those
decisions over the weekend.
Yeah, and I will say about an hour
ago into the KUT email
inboxes, we got a message from
Representative Lloyd Doggett.
He says, I quote, I will continue
working with the same urgency and
determination as if next year
were my last, which in public
office it will be.
After that, I will seek new ways to
join my neighbors in making a
difference in the only town I
have ever called home.
That's a from an email from
Representative Lloyd Doggett at
about twelve fifteen this afternoon.
So he is making it clear that he
does not intend to run
for his old seat, which was part of
the old map. So with this new map,
how is it directly gonna have an
effect on the Austin area?
Yeah, so I mean, y there you
have it. Lloyd Doggett is
retiring.
I mean, that's one of the effects.
And instead you will have
a new district
that encompasses sort of the area
that he used to cover and now
what Greg Kazar covers.
And so, r
Congressman Gregg will be the one
running in that seat.
He he will likely win, but that
means just one less Democrat
representing the area
here.
We got an interactive map over at K
U T dot org where you can see the
changes happening to Austin
districts and others around the
state. Blaise, what's been the
political reaction to the news from
the Supreme Court ruling?
Let's start with those who are in
support of the new maps.
Yeah, Republican leaders, Governor
Greg Gabbott, Attorney General Ken
Paxton, and several House
and Senate members have celebrated
the decision. They said that it
validates the legislature's work and
allows Texas to move forward with
more court interference, without
more court interference.
Democrats, on the other hand, say
the ruling greenlights a map
that dilutes the voting strengths
of fast growing communities of
color, especially around Austin,
Houston, and Dallas.
And they see this as possibly
setting up a situation where we
could have multiple states each
year trying to undergo a red
redistricting process.
We only have about thirty seconds
left, Blaise, but as I mentioned,
this has been a a saga, a lot of
back and forths.
It is this final ruling
is is are these the maps we're gonna
have going forward in the twenty
twenty six midterms?
For now, yes.
But long term, probably not.
Okay. All right, we have been
speaking with the Texas Newsrooms
Capital Reporter Blaise Gainey.
As I said, you can check out his
story and an interactive map over at
KUT dot org about how
these districts are changing.
Blaise, thank you for your time.
Thanks for having me.
This is Austin Signal.
Thanks for spending part of your
Friday here with us.
Across Travis County, medics
are working to respond to emergency
calls while dealing with budget
hardships.
That's after voters rejected a
property tax increase, proposition
Q, that would have brought in more
money for emergency
medical services.
KUT's Luz Moreno Lozano
tells us how the department is
adjusting.
On Tuesday morning, Austin Travis
County EMS and the Austin Fire
Department responded to a call at a
home in Southeast Travis County.
A 78-year-old man had fallen
several days earlier and he was
unable to get back up.
Together, medics and firefighters
helped hoist the man from the floor
of his home onto a gurney and into
an ambulance where they began to
treat him.
We're gonna give you some IDs.
So like we're gonna get an ID on
you.
We're gonna check all your vitals,
we're gonna check your heart,
and we're gonna get you over to
South Austin.
Is that okay with you? Yeah.
Okay.
Selena Shea is a commander with
Austin Travis County EMS.
She's also running for a seat on the
Austin City Council against District
8 incumbent Paige Ellis.
Sitting outside the house, Sia
explains a little more about the
call EMS just received.
This gentleman fell on Friday and
he was able to crawl inside
and he was just not able to get up.
But he thought that
he would recover over time
and he just realized he wasn't going
to.
She says this is one of the most
common types of calls EMS gets
each day, where someone needs
medical attention, but not
necessarily an ambulance.
She says calls for life-threatening
situations like heart attacks,
strokes, and car crashes make up
about 10% of calls to EMS.
But Shea says, regardless of the
nature of the call, an ambulance
staffed with medics responds anyway.
Austin Travis County EMS Chief
Robert Lucret says that may not be
the best use of resources.
In order to be
to respond to those needs, we need
to think differently. And that's
through the innovation of new
programs like our basic life support
ambulances, our mental health
responders, our single unit
responders.
And many of those programs were
outlined in the proposal
for prop Q.
You might remember a lot of buzz in
Austin about Proposition Q.
In November, voters soundly rejected
the property tax hike.
It would have added $110 million
to the city's budget, some of which
would have helped expand EMS
programs.
When the ballot measure failed, the
Austin City Council had to draw back
expenses.
Austin Travis County EMS got
about $3 million to fund overtime
cost. Chief Lucret says that
will allow them to staff all
ambulances to respond to calls in a
timely manner.
But some of those other programs he
mentioned won't be expanding
immediately.
We got it.
Number.
Of ambulances, community health
paramedics, mental health responders
over just the last three to four
years. And so we need to
rethink how it is that we're going
to grow effectively, not only to
keep up with the existing
department, but with the new, larger
Looking ahead, Lucrid says the
department is focused on recruiting
and training new medics, but the
question is how to pay for that as
Austin faces tough budget decisions.
After Prop Q failed, city manager
TC Broadnicks told council members
that they would have to be more
realistic about what the city can
fund.
Some say the issue is how the city
council chooses to prioritize
spending.
Local attorney Adam Lowy has
been a vocal critic of Austin's
spending on homeless services and a
new logo.
He shared his thoughts on a panel
Wednesday hosted by the Texas Public
Policy Foundation of Conservative
Think Tink.
Whoever you are, Democrat or
Republican, I think we all can
agree, yes, we need EMS strong,
but I think people realized
we have the money from E EMS
from the current budget, but we're
spending it on insane things
as opposed to getting them more
money.
The city manager says Austin is
doing an internal audit of its
spending to try and find cost
savings. He and his team are also
looking at ways to help the city
bring in new revenue, which could
support EMS and other crucial
services.
I'm Luz Moreno Lozano
in Austin.
And coming up here on Austin
Signal, we've got some Texas music
history for you to add to your
storytelling archive.
Plus, the holiday season here
in Austin just wouldn't be the same
for lots of folks without the Blue
Genie Art Bazaar.
We're gonna talk about how they got
their starts and the magic
of owning your own piece of Austin
to hold in your hands.
That's coming up next here on
Listener Powered Public Radio.
This is Austin Signal.
You're tuned in to Austin Signal.
Thanks for being here.
The impact Texas has had on
country music is substantial,
but it's not just big names like
Willie Nelson or Bob Wills
who helped shape the genre's sound.
It's also the folks in the recording
studios, the fiddlers in the
band, names that could end
up lost to history.
Jason Mellard from the Center for
Texas Music History has a story
of one such band.
This week in Texas music history, a
group of East Texans give Bob Wills
a run for his money.
On December 2nd, 1927,
in Dallas, the country musicians
of the East Texas Serenators entered
a recording studio for the first
time. The result was a Columbia 78
featuring the song Sweetest Flower
backed with combination rag.
The group recorded a total of 10
records between 1927 and
1937, but together with their
live performances, this small
discography left a big legacy.
The Serenaders were a classic
Southern string band who inspired
the burgeoning Western swing sound
in North Texas.
The group was unique both for its
exploration of diverse styles
and for its instrumentation, most
notably a three-string cello
played with a bow in place of the
larger, fully strung double bass.
Left-handed fiddler Daniel Huggins
Williams was a gifted player who won
fiddling contests across the state
and later tutored Johnny Gimbal,
whose work with country hitmakers
Jimmy Davis, Bob Wills, Willie
Nelson, and George Jones made him a
star in his own right.
The group also featured tenor banjo,
guitar, and sometimes a double
fiddle lineup.
The East Texas Serenaders were
based in country music, but the
group searched widely for new sounds
and incorporated elements of blues,
Cajun, swing, and jazz.
Ultimately, the Serenators had a
major influence on Bob Wills, the
king of Western Swing.
Who once noted that the only group
that gave his early upstart band
any real competition was the East
Texas Serenaders.
And while their primarily
instrumental work was often
overshadowed by the more noted
vocal-led groups, the East Texas
Serenaders claimed their place as
one of the pioneering Texas country
ensembles of the 1920s and
1930s.
You can hear music from the Lone
Star State 24-7 on the Texas
Music Experience at tmx.fm.
Support for this week in Texas Music
History comes from Brain Audio,
maker of a compact portable speaker,
featuring an internal subwoofer
that produces deep bass sound,
engineered in the live music capital
of the world. More at
Brainaudio.com.
That's B-R-A-N-E-Audio.com.
This is Austin Signal.
Thanks for spending part of your
Friday here with us.
The Blue Genie Art Bazaar is
celebrating 25 years here
in Austin.
We're joined now by Dana Younger,
co-founder and partner with Blue
Genie. Howdy, Dana.
Howdy.
Thank you for being with us.
It's 2025.
We're nearing the end of it, but I
want you to take us back a little
bit to 2001.
Tell us a little bit about where the
idea for Blue Genie came about.
Well, we had a fabric.
Application shop.
On the east side and
we made all kinds of sculptures and
murals them that helped decorate
Austin and we love to throw parties.
And we when when whenever
we threw a party, we would put some
art on the walls and and have
a good time.
And this amazing thing happened.
We threw a party at Christmas and
people bought things.
And we were like, that was pretty
cool. We should do that again.
And we've just been doing it, and it
was so fun, we've been doing it for
twenty five years now.
What was the Austin art scene like
back then? Was it a lot was it a lot
of like DIY things like you're
talking about here?
Absolutely, yes.
Space was
Cheap. In two thousand one, it
was a different kind of town.
And and that made
things possible, you know.
Big Medium was getting started.
They had a small group called
Sotolitas that were the sort of
core and they had a space over on
Balm Road and things were a
little more renegade and that
there's a real creative freedom
in things being renegade.
And we are very grateful to
have come out of that time
and and made it to this time.
So I know the art bazaars had
a few iterations, a few different
locations.
But what about that spirit from the
early day is still alive in in
today's marketplace, today's
offerings?
Yeah, well it's fun.
You know, it's
still fun.
It's fun for us.
It's fun for the artists,
and it's fun for the for the
community.
You know, this this town
is kind of magical.
There is so much creative
energy in Austin.
And there always has been, and
that's always been a bit really
important part of what makes Austin
unique. And then the other side of
that is that Austin is very
supportive of creative
endeavors.
People show up
for for cool, fun,
creative things.
And those things have not changed
about Austin, in my opinion,
and that's that helps make Austin
a really special place.
And I think there's also a special
kind of power in buying something
or owning something that somebody
has created.
And use it's almost like having a
piece of Austin's magic in
your hands whenever you go to the
art bazaar.
That's exactly right.
I mean, what we do is we
platform local artists
and designers and give them
a meaningful way
to show their wares
to the Austin public that
can come out and support them.
And and we we love that and
the community loves it.
And they do love to have a piece of
you know, of the creative Austin
energy on their wall or in their
pocket or where you know, wherever
it goes. Oh speaking of those
artists, how how many were featured,
how many were working on that first
project back in two thousand one?
How many artists had their art
featured then and how many are you
featuring now in twenty twenty five?
Oh gosh.
You know, in the very first show
there was just a handful of people.
I mean, we'd we put it up for three
days and maybe had
fifteen people or so
and we kinda had to, you know,
finagle to get friends like
come on, just put some things
up. It's not that hard.
And and now we
feature over two hundred artists
every year.
So it's really changed a lot.
Speaking of that demand, you know, I
I go to the climbing gym
next to the art bazaar location.
And around November and December
parking becomes a lot m less
accessible because the blue
genie is so popping.
You know, because life can
get kind of crazy, people can put
off things to the end.
When is a good time, from your pros'
opinion, when is a good time to kind
of sneak in and avoid kind of the
the crazy hours?
Pro tip is come below.
Aforenoon.
And not on a Saturday.
Okay.
If you really want to come in and
and not have it be super crowded,
Monday through Thursday
are great times to visit the show.
And really any time during the
day. We're open 10 a.m.
To 10 p.m.
We try really hard to be very
accessible.
And so we're just open for
12 hours and you can
find a time in there.
And if you want to come when it's
uncrowded, any time in there Monday
through Thursday is gonna be is
gonna be great. The weekends from
here on out, they're gonna be
bananas.
If you like that sort of thing, come
on out. You can feel the energy of
the of the holiday season, and some
people, some people like that.
It you know, you get a charge out of
it.
I've never been during the crazy
times, but is it true that the a
line, a cue kind of forms out the
window, you have to like you have to
basically become a a bodyguard
and say, No, we can't allow th we
can only have so many people in here
right now?
Okay. That's one of my that's one of
my roles. You'll sometimes see me
out there on a Saturday or Sunday
morning, me or one of my business
partners. You know, these are the
benefits of of ownership.
We get to sweep dust bunnies and we
get to do you know, be a bouncer.
Bouncer. I couldn't think of the
word. Bouncer is the word.
We have been hearing a lot about how
AI is infiltrating a lot of
industries, music, art, not exempted
as well. How do you feel that Blue
Genie offers a place for people to
to go and have something that's
handcrafted, something that's made
by a human who lives in their
community, and and what it what is
the importance in making that kind
of move?
Well people have a lot of people.
Lot of fear about
about AI.
There's massive change happening
in the world right now and
you know and I I think people are
justifiably concerned and not w
it's we don't know what's happening.
And and also
AI and all kinds of other new
technologies are coming and are
here to stay.
And so we just have to
be clear about what our value
systems.
And so we
are a platform for local
artists and designers
to show their to show
their work.
And that's the that's sort of how
we judge what what goes in.
There are all kinds of cool things
happening and there's a place for
all kinds of cool things.
And so I'm
not terribly worried about it.
I think it's interesting and
we should keep our eye on on what's
happening and
you know put your money where your
value system is.
That's right. We always say put your
money where your ears are here on K
U T.
We are speaking with co-founder and
Blue Genie partner Dana Younger.
Dana, what makes Blue Genie
so quintessentially Austin?
We hear about a lost we were talking
about lots of Austin traditions,
right? Tomorrow we have the downtown
sing-along happening in downtown
Austin. Blue genie feels like one
of those as well, something that you
kind of wait for all year long to
get to experience.
W what is it about Blue Genie that
makes it so Austin?
Gosh, that's a good question.
You know, I don't know.
I I don't think I have all the
ingredients to the secret sauce
on on a list.
But I think part of it is that we
did come out of this more renegade
time and we have tried
to retain some of that
you know, creative energy and
renegade feeling.
And and and because that's
what we like.
Also we are a platform
for local artists and designers, and
so it's very Austin.
And Austin loves a
tradition, right?
The the holiday sing along
is a great Austin tradition.
The the Kite Festival is an
amazing Austin tradition.
And we love our traditions.
They're important, they bind us
to our families, they bind us
to our communities, they
create a marker in time,
and these things are really
meaningful to h to humans
and to us as Austinites.
And so people love to show up
and we try to make it easy for them.
And you know, it's free to get in,
it's free to park if you can find a
spot.
Get there early.
But we try to make it easy and we
try to make it fun, and you
can just come and you can have a
drink and you can walk around and
you can meet your friends and you
can have some chuckles and maybe
come away with with a treasure.
We are speaking with co-founder
and blue genie partner Dana Younger.
They are celebrating 25 years
here in Austin.
Dana, thank you for your time.
Thanks for having me.
And thank you for tuning in to
Austin Signal.
That is it for today's show.
But don't forget, you can catch up
on what we've done all week long by
going over to K U T.org
slash signal.
And don't forget to subscribe
wherever you listen to your shows.
Kristen Cabrera is our managing
producer. Rayna Sevilla
is our technical director.
And I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Don't forget, we'll see you downtown
tomorrow night for the holiday
sing along.
This is Austin Signal.