An Arctic cold front brought
freezing precipitation to the Austin
area over the weekend.
Classes were canceled today at UT
Austin and most school districts in
Central Texas.
Still, the area made out much better
this time than in ice storms of
years past.
More about the situation locally and
this week's forecast.
And the most high profile candidates
for the Texas Democratic nomination
for the U.S.
Senate race in November debated
each other in Georgetown over the
week. The cases they made and
the status of the race ahead of the
March primary, that's coming up on
today's show.
The Austin Signal is a production
of KUT News, hosted by
Jerry Quijano.
Plus, Annabelle Chairlegs is the
KUTX Artist of the Month for
January.
Their new record, Waking Up, is out
this Friday.
We're gonna chat with the group
leader. Coming up today on
Austin Signal.
Howdy out there, thank you for
tuning in. This is Austin
Signal, I'm your host, Jerry
Quijano. We are glad to be part
of your day.
It's the final Monday of January,
2026, and it's a chilly one
across Austin and Central Texas.
33 degrees this hour out at Camp
Mayberry.
That means after about 50 hours,
the area is no longer dealing
with freezing temperatures at least
some of the area.
There's still a good bit of ice out
on the roads this morning too.
That was the case on my drive in
maybe for you as well.
The weekend weather conditions were
enough to preemptively shut down
classes here at the University of
Texas as well as Austin ISD
and many other school districts in
the area that's in addition to
canceling hundreds of flights out at
Austin Bergstrom International
Airport.
Here is Eric Platt from the local
office of the National Weather
Service.
The good news is that we're not
expecting any precipitation today.
We're going to see plenty of
sunshine.
North winds be a little bit gusty,
but hopefully the sunshine and the
dry north winds will kind of help
start the drying process.
Now while that good news is
applicable to most of the area,
Plaid says that there are some areas
that will need to continue to thaw
at least into tomorrow.
Temperatures are forecasted to drop
back into the teens tonight here in
Austin, possibly even colder
in some areas of central Texas.
Like I say, the sunshine certainly
will help, especially those main
roads today.
But you know, I suspect if you don't
really have to get out, it's
probably best to give it another
day.
Now we might have escaped the
precipitation for now, but freezing
temperatures will be sticking around
the Austin area this week.
The National Weather Service is
forecasting nightly lows in the
teens and twenties every night this
week, except for Thursday, which
right now is expected to reach right
around 33 degrees.
An extreme cold warning that was set
to expire earlier today has
now been extended through nine
o'clock tomorrow morning.
We will continue to keep you updated
on the latest weather impacts here
on KUT News over on the
KUT app.
And online at KUT.org.
Right now we're gonna transition
over and talk with KUT
city hall reporter, Luz Moreno
Lozano.
She is joining us to talk about the
city's response to the weather.
Luz, thanks for coming on the show.
Hey Jerry, thanks for having me.
So I do know that
at least one person died during this
weekend's weather or what details
do we have about that death so far?
Yeah, it was a man who was found
in an abandoned parking lot.
There used to be a Shell gas station
there. It was somewhere along
I-35, kind of near 38
and a half street.
We don't know more about you know
anything else that's happened since,
but Mayor Watson says that this
man probably died of exposure to the
extreme cold and he
kind of touted the fact that
hopefully these kinds of things are
being avoided with the
opening of shelters
and warming centers over the next
several place.
Yeah, let me ask you a little bit
about those warming shelters as
you said they have been operating
and the city made a
point on Friday to talk about how
prepared they were ahead of
the weekend's weather or what was
activity like at the warming
shelters this weekend.
Yeah, there was, I'm hearing record
number of people who took advantage
of the shelters.
I saw this warning that they were
totaling around 879
people who were welcomed across
the seven different facilities that
they're offering.
That number could grow as things,
as we just heard, the
extreme cold warning
was extended to tomorrow morning.
So these shelters are expected to
operate at least through tomorrow,
and they'll another call tomorrow to
decide if they need to keep them
open a little longer.
Okay, well, whenever we get cold
weather, people are always concerned
about the possibility of power
outages, especially when we're
hearing about freezing ice or
freezing rain.
At this hour, we're only seeing a
couple of handfuls of power-outages
across Austin.
How did that play out over the
weekend?
Yeah, you know, I'm
looking at the page right now as we
speak. Yeah, it looks like we have
99.98% of
customers with power, which is a
huge change from those
previous winter storms.
And we saw several outages.
I was hearing that a lot of it was,
you know, they had prepared with
weatherization of systems and
equipment and things.
But the sleet that happened
over the weekend Saturday apparently
has been very helpful.
In. That didn't accumulate on those
heavy tree limbs that we saw, I
think in 2023, when
all the trees were kind of falling
on power lines.
And yeah, and not giving
us power during that
time.
As you mentioned, we heard from the
National Weather Service Meteorologist
at the top of the show.
Yes, it is going to get warmer
today, but it's probably still
best not to drive on the roads if
you don't have to.
With that in mind, I know there was
some disruption to CapMetro transit
service over the weekend.
What sort of transit service is
available right now?
Yes, we are operating on a
limited service
today.
They said that they're hoping to
start everything about noon so that
things should be running.
I did see that they are expecting
to resume normal operations
tomorrow. I think they'll make a
call whether or not that is
going to happen tomorrow, depending
on what the weather does today.
But things are going and you know
busses are going.
It looks like you know bike share
services will remain suspended
today, but they're
Okay, Luce, we only have about 20
seconds left. Have we heard about
any possible other cancelations from
other school districts?
I'm not seeing anything at the
moment. I know that a lot of them
were trying to make calls as
close as they could.
So this afternoon as we started to
see Rhodes thaw, so we'll start to
see those kind of trickling in,
in the next hour or two.
Alright, that is KUT City Hall
reporter Luce Modeno Lozano joining
us here on Austin Signal.
Luce, thanks for the update.
Thanks, Jerry.
And we will continue to keep you
updated here on KUT News
90.5 on the KUT
app and online at
KUT.org.
Well one of the races catching lots
of eyes and ears this midterm
election year is happening right
here in Texas.
That's the U.S.
Senate race for the seat long held
by Republican John Cornyn.
While Cornyns facing his own
challengers in the Republican
primary in March, the focus this
weekend was on the top Democratic
contenders for Senate.
On Saturday, Dallas area
congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and
state representative James Tallarico
of Austin took the stage for a
debate in Georgetown.
Crocket, a former civil rights
lawyer and public defender is
serving her second term in the U.S.
House of Representatives.
Tallarica, a formal teacher, has
been a Texas House member since
2018.
Saturday's matchup was hosted by the
Texas AFL-CIO and the
candidates used the forum to offer
Democratic voters their competing
visions of leadership.
The Texas newsroom's Blaise Gainey
has this recap.
Let's begin the debate.
Over their hour-long debate, Jasmine
Crockett and James Tallarico were
asked about everything from foreign
policy and AI regulation to
healthcare and whether they'd
support raising taxes on
billionaires. And while the
Democratic U.S.
Senate hopefuls agreed on nearly
everything,
Absolutely.
They couldn't help but showcase
their differences, like in the first
question about their leadership
styles.
Crockett framed herself as a visible
political figure who isn't afraid
to be confrontational and take risks
at this critical moment.
I think that I will do the edgy
things, the things that the
political consultants will never
tell you to do, because right
now people are hurting.
Since first heading to Washington in
2023, her frequent jabs
at Republicans have made her known
nationwide, something she said
couldn't be said for Taylor Rico.
He's actually been elected longer
than I have been elected, yet
he's not as known right now because
I have engaged in these fights
and they have been right there
on the front lines.
Crockett pointed to polling showing
her strengths with core Democratic
voting groups like Women and the
Working Class.
Talarico agreed with his opponent on
how high the stakes were in this
election, but censored his pitch
on governing experience and
consistency.
I have fought tooth and nail
for our values in the Texas
House of Representatives.
I have gone toe-to-toe with the
billionaires who are trying to
dismantle public education in
this state.
A key issue for both candidates,
immigration policy and how it's
being enforced by the Trump
administration.
Saturday's debate came just hours
after news broke about another
civilian killed by immigration and
customs enforcement agents in
Minneapolis.
I executed a man
in broad daylight on our streets
just this morning.
It's time to tear down this
secret police force.
Listen, we are not looking at
politics as usual, and so for
anyone that believes that we are
going to be able to respond to this
in a normal way, I think that
they've got it wrong.
Crockett also pointed to her vote in
Congress last week against a bill to
give the agency more money.
The economy and affordability was
also a recurring topic.
Both candidates blamed billionaires
for rising costs and shrinking
public investment.
Several times, Talarico stressed
that the real fight in politics
isn't left versus right,
but top versus bottom.
Billionaires want us looking
left and right at each other,
so we're not looking up at
them. Right now, three
men own as much
wealth as the entire middle class.
Crockett agreed that billionaires
need to pay more taxes and
referenced her vote against Trump's
big beautiful bill, which she called
the big ugly bill
Specifically because it was all
about giving these extraordinary tax
breaks while at the same time
defunding Medicaid and Medicare
The congresswoman also argued for
rolling back Trump's tariffs.
Right now we know that our farmers
and ranchers are filing record
breaking bankruptcies in
this moment because of the trade
policies.
But some of the candidates' sharpest
exchanges censored on executive
power and foreign policy, including
recent U.S.
Military actions.
This intervention in Venezuela
is not only reckless, it is
deeply corrupt.
Trump promised the biggest oil
executives in this country a, quote,
great deal if they gave him a
billion dollars for his reelection
campaign. And then he turned around
and gave them a gift.
He gave them the nation of Venezuela
home to the largest oil reserves
in the world.
The world.
More broadly, Crockett warned this
type of unchecked presidential power
could have destabilizing global
consequences.
This president is seemingly trying
to plunge us not only into a civil
war with ice, but he's also
trying to plung us into World War
III.
They were then asked whether they'd
vote to impeach President Trump.
I think that there is more than
enough to impeach Donald Trump.
Now, after seeing both candidates
in action, Democratic voters will be
whining their choices for U.S.
Senate. Joshua Blank is a UT Austin
political scientist.
Are they looking for someone who's
going to go and be an out
and out fighter or are they looking
maybe for someone who's looking in
some sense to change the trajectory
of things a little bit,
especially along this front, the
sort of dimension of, you know, how
combative it is.
The last day to register to vote in
the March 3 primary is February
2nd.
Early voting starts on the 17th.
I'm Blaze Gainey in Austin.
This is Austin Signal,
thank you for tuning in to
listener-powered public radio
KUT News 90.5.
You can find more from us on the
KUT app and online at
KUT.org.
Coming up, we're going to chat with
the KutX Artists of the Month,
Annabelle Cherlegs.
Their new record is out Friday.
That's after this break.
This is Austin Signal, thank you for
tuning in.
Annabelle Chairlegs have been
rocking here in Austin for a few
years now.
It's part of the reason why they are
the KUTX Artists of the Month
for January.
They've got a new album coming out
at the end of this month called
Waking Up.
True flight,
the sky is calling on me
My feet, they won't step up,
they shout.
Lindsay Mackin is the leading force
of Annabelle Chairlegs, and Lindsay
is here with us now on Austin
Signal. Great to have you.
I'm so excited to be here, thank
you.
Well, we're excited to have you in
here. It's always great to start off
the new year with some good music
here on The Signal.
But before we get into the more
serious things, I think maybe my
producer might have thought your
name was Annabelle Chairlegs.
Does that happen to you often, or do
people know that that is
probably a stage name?
Absolutely all the time.
Okay, okay.
Annabelle, I'm still not-
Missed chair legs, something like
that, you know? Yeah, that'd be good too.
Chair legs, Annabell.
Okay, well, where does it come
from? Where does that name?
Where is its origins?
The first band I was ever in,
in college, we all had just
wacky nicknames, and that was my
nickname. So I sort of just kept it
going over the next step in the
musical journey.
Well, speaking of musical journey,
tell us a little bit about yours.
Are you a self-taught musician?
How long have you actually been
making music of your own?
Yeah, totally.
I actually, I was studying acting in
college. I started singing with a
band and they all sort of
helped teach me guitar.
And we moved to Austin together.
And I was like, you know what, I
want to play guitar and start a
band.
So kept playing guitar and
started recording and writing songs
and then been doing it ever
since.
So when did you move to Austin?
13 years ago.
Okay, how scary, where were you
coming from, and what was that like?
So I was coming from Santa
Fe, New Mexico, had graduated
college there, was gonna move back
to the East Coast and then went on
tour with this band I was in.
And on tour I was like, you know
what?
Let's, I'm gonna keep doing this.
I'll come with you guys to Texas,
why not?
So yeah, kind of was a crazy
thing that just ended up happening
and now I've been here and I love
it.
Yeah, yeah, now you've been here
since then, and you've been working
on music for a while.
Looking back at your musical
journey, I guess, how would you say
your music has changed?
How have you adapted to the
city and kind of melded who
you are and who the city of Austin
is and to what Annabelle Chairleg
sounds like?
Um, it's changed quite a bit.
You know, I kind of think of
Annabelle chair legs, like my
cartoon diary or something,
um, and when I came
here, it had a lot of,
it almost sounded like desert rock.
Like I felt like it was a big piece
of Santa Fe was still with me.
And as I've been here, the
things I've gone through, it
definitely transitioned.
It's gotten a little dark, but I'm
thinking we're coming out of the
darkness and entering into the
light. So yeah, it has kind
of just been.
What my journey's been the last 10
years or so.
And yeah, I'm kind of excited to see
where it ends up next.
Walking next to me
But before I go
I ask me if
Yeah, well you're obviously the
leading force of the band, but tell
us a little bit about the people
that you play with.
Have they been the same group the
entire time?
Have they had different changes?
Who are they?
Yeah, so there's been quite a few
changes, and the group I'm playing
with now, I'm so excited about.
This is actually maybe our
second show all playing together.
Oh really? Okay, here in the studio
1A.
Yes, in City ONA.
So I've been playing with Nick who's
on drums, who's incredible,
for a few years now.
And Nolan Potter, who is playing
guitar, he was actually in the band
10 years ago.
Oh, wow.
And now is back in the bands,
was playing bass for a while, but
now he's on guitar.
And then our newest member is
Simone, and she's playing bass.
Okay, that's very
Very exciting.
Power lineup.
It's awesome.
Your left won't leave
me, no, your left won...
Okay, well tell us a little bit
about waking up and the sound of it.
So Waking Up, actually,
I had recorded an album years ago
and decided I wanted
to not put it out and
rip it in half and make two
different albums.
And originally it was called Heavy
Sleeper and this one,
sort of, I added a few new songs
and it became Waking up and this
is the first part of that ripped
apart album, if that makes sense.
Okay, well tell us a little bit
about the songs that you're going to
be playing in Studio 1A.
Sure, we're playing Concrete
Trees, which is definitely one of my
favorite songs.
I actually wrote that song about
a friend of mine who died and
it was, I was sort of thinking about
when you die, are you still around
and are people with
you or are they, you know, I sort of
imagined me and her running around
New York City and what that would be
like.
So there's a lot of themes on this
album that have to do with death
and dying and sleep and
awake and those
sort of themes, so.
And you said you wrote this album a
few years ago?
A few of the songs.
Yeah, I would say we recorded this
two years ago.
Okay. Exactly.
So.
Okay, so what made you want to
revisit some of that material?
Um, I think that
it sort of found its way back to
the surface.
Um, you know, things sort of fell by
the wayside and then I wrote some
new songs and that it was like, oh,
these all sort of make sense in the
same world, you know, so that was
the idea of splitting that other
album apart was like these new songs
go with these old ones and these old
one goes with these new ones.
So, you know, how can these be more
realized and live in a better world
together?
That's very exciting.
How long have you been making music?
You said you got here in 2013,
right? Is that correct?
And you were already making music
before then.
Going back, I guess now I'm asking
you to kind of go back and
forth from where we are right now
to the music you were making then.
What have you appreciated,
not necessarily like the best part,
but what have you appreciate about
how you have grown as an
artist from that time to now?
I think it's maybe
becoming more fearless,
leaning into things more,
having more intention, believing
in what you're doing more, thinking
about what you saying and what you
playing and doing it and
saying it with intention, I think
has been the coolest thing to
figure out.
Do you think you came to Austin with
a bit of imposter syndrome as
can I do this, am I really
capable of doing it,
and now you're maybe experiencing
that, yeah, I can do
this and I do do this.
Oh, absolutely.
When I first moved here, I hadn't
really, I could barely play guitar.
And I remember I started working at
Home Slice Pizza and I met a
music lawyer and he was like, what
do you do? And I was like, oh, I
have a band. And I didn't really
have a band yet, but I was, like,
I'm going to have a ban.
And he was like well, if you ever
need anything in like law
and music, like let me know.
And i was like absolutely I will and
sure enough like six years later
I got my first like contract
for like a sink situation and
I found his
card and I was like, I'm gonna reach
out and see if he'll help me with
this contract because I don't
understand it.
And sure enough, I reached out and
he got back to me and helped
me out with the contract.
And I was, you know, if you believe
something and you see it and
you believe it's gonna happen, it'll
happen.
That's right.
Fake it till you make it and the
power of saying yes.
OK, so what are you most excited for
our listeners, the KUT acts, KUT
listeners to hear in your
new material?
Um, that's
a great question.
I think I'm ex I would love,
um, people to
feel like they're somewhere else or
feel like there in a scene of a
movie or let themselves go
wherever the sounds take them or
whatever it feels like.
And to just feel that and be
there.
Excellent. Well, your new album is
coming out January 30th.
Do you have any shows coming up to
celebrate?
Yeah, we're actually gonna have an
album release party at Mohawk
on February 13th.
So that's really exciting.
And then hopefully we'll be touring
quite a bit. And I know we're
definitely going to Europe and the
UK in September.
Excellent. Well, congratulations and
hopefully many, many more shows in
the future.
And again, we are going to share the
Studio One A show in our
show notes, kut.org slash
signal. And you can find it in the
show notes for today's show.
We've been speaking with Lindsay
Mackin of Annabelle Chairlegs.
They are the KUTX Artists of the
Month for January.
Thanks so much for talking with us.
Thank you so much.
And thank you out there for tuning
in to Austin Signal, making us
part of your Monday stay
warm out there.
A reminder, an extreme cold warning
is in effect until nine o'clock
tomorrow morning.
We will have the latest for you on
the KUT app and online at
KUT.org.
Thank you to Rene Chavez for his
help with today's episode.
Thank you, to Kristin Cabrera and
Rayna Sevilla.
I'm Jerry Quijano.
Talk to you tomorrow.
This is Austin Signal.