There's still a few hours left to
vote. Early ahead of Tuesday's Texas
Party primaries, what you need to
know before heading to the polls to
vote today or Tuesday,
and a closer look at races for two
Travis County Commissioner seats.
And what exactly is it that Travis
County Commissioners do?
And the federal government is now
challenging a court order to
repatriate a college student
deported after trying to fly to
Austin last year.
More about those stories on today's
show.
The Austin Signal is
a production of KUT News,
hosted by Jennifer Stayton.
A group of jazz musicians with fresh
roots on the east side of Austin has
already gained national recognition.
And it's going to get loud at
Circuit of the Americas this
weekend. NASCAR is in
town. That's all up next on
Austin Signal.
Stay with us.
Hello, this is Austin Signal
from KUT News.
I'm your host today, Jennifer
Stayton. It's February 27th.
Thank you for making us part
of your Friday.
2026 is a midterm
election year, and here in Texas, it
is primary election season.
Early voting ends today.
Election day is Tuesday.
These elections determine who's on
the ballot for this fall's
general election.
Turnout in Travis County is the
highest it's been for any primary
since 2008.
Voter turnout is also up in Hayes
and Williamson counties.
So what's drawing people to these
party primaries?
Well for that, we've got a few folks
from KUT News.
First of all, Ben Philpott is KUT's
managing editor.
Hey Ben.
Hello.
All right. So Ben, first of all we
are voting right now in the party
primaries.
Texas has open primaries.
What does that mean?
Open to the open primary question.
So for those of you who've moved
here from another state Texas
does not have at least at the moment
This is something that lawmakers are
trying to push now But Texas does
Not have party registration
when you're voting in a primary So
that means you can decide are you
going to vote in the Republican
primary or the Democratic primary
when you go in?
Now if there are runoffs you are
tied to Whoever you
whatever party you voted with the
first time around in the regular
primary election So, you voted in
the Republican primary for maybe the
Ken Paxton-John Cornyn race.
If there's a runoff, you can only
vote then in that Republican runoff.
Right, so Ben, what are some of the
races that people will see on the
primary ballot?
Yeah, the biggest stuff is
Senate race in Texas here
with John Cornyn and Ken Paxton, the
two top candidates on the Republican
side, two top candidates of the
Democratic side, Jasmine Crockett
and James Talerico.
But you also have
people running for governor,
lieutenant governor, attorney
general, land commissioner,
agriculture commissioner, all
of the U.S.
Congressional House races, all
of the state house races and
then some you know depending on
where you live a state Senate race
and then all the local county things
as well
All right, so Ben, you mentioned
runoffs. If no one gets 50%
of the vote, what happens?
Yeah, you're going to have a runoff.
You've got to get 50%
plus one, I believe.
50% plus one vote.
That gets you a win.
Because we have the domino effect
of things like the attorney general
deciding to run for Senate,
that means that a half
dozen people are running for
attorney general. That means that
another 12 are running in
the Republican primary side for the
seat. It's just all
over the place.
A lot of these races are going to go
to And we're just gonna have to wait
and see what happens
All right, so Ben.
Where can people vote?
If you live in Hayes County,
anywhere that you see a voting, that
you a polling location, if you live
Travis County, anywhere that see
a polling vocation, that's both
early voting and on primary
day.
Williamson County is different this
year. Right now during, well, you
know, you got a few hours left to
vote wherever you want in Williamson
county for early voting.
On primary day, you have to
go to your assigned
precinct.
So figure out where that is, look it
up, and you have go to that.
If you live and work on opposite
sides of the county, you cannot go
to work and think you're gonna vote
near your work that day.
All right, Ben, where can people
find more information about the
candidates, what's on the ballot,
and how to vote?
Well, obviously, go to KUT.org.
We've got county guides for
Hayes County, Travis County,
Williamson County.
We also have a What's On My Ballot
little app within those
web posts, and you'll be
able to see exactly what you might
be voting for.
And of course, primary night, we'll
have election coverage starting at 7
on KUT.
KUT's managing editor, Ben Philpott,
thanks so much, Ben.
Thank you.
Now a decent chunk of Democratic
Party primary voters will be
electing a pair of candidates to
take seats on the Travis County
Commissioner's Court.
No Republicans are running in those
races, so whoever wins now will
likely win this fall.
With more on these candidates,
here's KUTs Katie McAfee, our Travis
County reporter.
Hey, Katie.
Hey Jennifer.
Alright, so first of all, what did
Travis County Commissioners do and
how long is their term?
Great question.
The commissioner's court sets the
county's tax rate and manages
spending of right now a roughly
$2.2 billion budget.
The county's biggest land item
expense is the jail, but they also
fund roads and parks and
healthcare services, housing and
other services.
Terms are four years and there are
no term limits.
All right, so Katie, let's start
with Bree St. Four.
There's no incumbent because
Margaret Gomez is retiring after
three decades in office.
So tell us about the four candidates
in this race.
Yeah, so first on the ballot is
Susana Ledesma-Woody, a little
bit about her.
This is her third time running for
this position, and she's been
on the Dell Valley ISD School Board
since 2011.
Next we have Ophelia Maldondo
Zapata.
She used to be on the Austin ISD
school board, and she calls herself
a community organizer.
She's been in leadership roles in a
bunch of different nonprofit and
religious organizations.
Then there's George Morales.
He was the Travis County Constable
in precinct four for
over a decade since 2016.
And last on the ballot is Gavino
Fernandez Jr.
He's an activist and he
served on the Travis county
commissioner precinct for staff
for one term back in
the nineties.
So Katie, you spoke with all four
candidates. Do they share some goals
for what they would do if they get
the job?
Yeah, so they all grew up in
precinct 4, so they're all really
familiar with the issues that
this area faces.
Ledezma Woody and Morales have both
campaigned on building more and
better infrastructure in East
Austin, fixing roads, finishing
construction projects that have
dragged on forever.
Ledezima Woody specifically has
talked about building equitable
infrastructure, getting running
water and reliable electricity to
folks who still don't have that.
And I think they all share
a common goal of keeping the
district affordable.
Or at least ensuring it doesn't
become.
Unaffordable.
So Katie, now in precinct 2,
Commissioner Brigid Shea is running
to keep the seat that she's had for
more than a decade now.
Who are the candidates who want that
job?
Yes. So there are three
non-incumbent candidates.
First on the ballot is Rick
Astry-Canada.
He has over a decade of experience
in government consulting and he has
a PhD in public affairs.
Then we have Armanda Marzullo.
She's been a civil rights attorney
for 16 years.
And lastly, we have Reese Ricci
Armstrong.
He is a senior at McCallum High
School and he is a student
organizer.
And Katie, tell us what are some of
the priorities of these candidates,
both the incumbents and the
incumbent and the challengers.
Yeah, you know, affordable housing
was a big topic that came up
for every candidate, including
Brigid Shea.
Marzula specifically said she would
prioritize building affordable
housing within city limits
or at least closer to where more
city services like public transit
exists.
Other than that, people's top
priorities are kind of all over the
place.
Estre Canada said he wants to
prioritize access to affordable
healthcare.
Brigid Shay told me she wants to
continue working on clean energy
initiatives that she's been working
on in office.
Marzullo says she wants to use her
experience with the legal system
to protect folks from ICE right
now.
And a priority for Armstrong is
making ambulance rides free.
All right, KUT's Katie
McAfee, our Travis County reporter,
will have a link to her voter guide
in today's podcast show
notes. Katie, thank you so much.
Thanks for having me on, Jennifer.
The Trump administration's
immigration policy has been front
and center in this midterm
election year, and there's been a
development in an immigration case
involving someone with ties to
Austin.
For the latest on this, here's KUT's
government accountability reporter,
Andrew Weber.
Thanks for coming in, Andrew.
Thanks, man. Thank you for having me,
Jim.
Andrew, so this case is about Ani
Lopez Belloza.
First of all, Andrew, remind us who
she is and what happened to her
last year.
Yes ma'am, Ani Lopez-Pellosa was
born in Honduras, but she
came to the U.S.
When she was eight years old and
she was raised in Austin.
And she currently is
a student at Babson College
up in Boston.
She's studying business up there.
And over, well, right before
Thanksgiving last year, she
was trying to board a flight from
Boston to Austin because
she wanted to come see her folks.
And she was sort of pulled
aside. By immigration authorities
and she was detained and
deported.
And where was she deported to?
She was deported back to Honduras.
Right, Andrew, so then what happened
in her case?
Well, she was
sort of connected with an attorney
and that attorney basically,
you know, filed a
sort of writ of habeas corpus, which
is legal speak, but basically
said that she wasn't given due
process. She wasn't allowed
to appear before a judge,
before an immigration judge.
Before she was deported back to
Honduras.
And ultimately, a federal judge up
in Massachusetts agreed with her
attorney, said, okay,
the feds needed to sort of rectify
this and explain,
at least at the very least explain,
why they deported her when they did.
So the Trump-
administration admitted that she was
wrongly deported and
the government was supposed to lay
out a plan to bring her back to the
U.S. And the deadline for that was
supposed to be today.
What happened?
Yeah, that's basically
the feds were given two weeks to
bring her back or at least provide
a plan to bring her back.
And yesterday they filed a motion
to basically throw the case
out. They said that this judge in
Massachusetts didn't
have a right to even
preside over the case and
that, you know, if
they were going to bring her back,
they were going to immediately
deport her anyway.
I just got off of a call.
It was a press call.
With Ani Lopez Beosas' attorney.
He said that, and I haven't
checked with ICE on this, but he
said that his client, Ani,
was offered a flight back
today. It was supposed to leave at 1
p.m.
And that she would
have essentially come to Texas and
then would have been immediately
deported back to Honduras.
Her attorney, Todd Pomerlo, said,
the government's basically trying to
skirt this court order.
And bring her back and also block
her ability to get a temporary visa.
Because while this was playing out
in court, he applied for that.
All they have to do is let her in
and leave her alone.
She has a green card application
pending, and yet they want to
continue to torment her.
They want to fly her back here
to engage in a charade to then
separate her from her loved ones
again.
All right, so Andrew, what
justification has a federal
government given for this change
that we're hearing about today?
They said that she was here
unlawfully. She wasn't aware of
that, neither was her mother.
She was under the impression that
she was a dreamer, she was, you
know, here under DACA.
And as far as what comes next
in the case, that's not immediately
clear either.
Pomerlo, her attorney, said that
he's gonna fight this, he's prepared
to take it to the Supreme Court if
he wants to.
But, you now, this, Ani Lopez
Belloza is, she said she was
angry, that she just wants to go
back to school, to Babson College,
and, you I hope.
She just wants all of this to sort
of be done and at least have some
resolution.
I'm asking to be treated like a
human with rights and whose life
matters and to be allowed to
care building the life I have worked
so hard for in the United
States.
So this was on a Lopez Belloza
speaking just a little bit earlier
this morning on the call.
Did she have anything else to say?
She didn't really say a whole bunch
else. She just, you know, wants to
come back. She knows that there's a
lot of eyes on this case.
There were, you now, New York Times
reporters on PBC,
PBS NewsHour.
A lot of folks are going to be
paying attention to this as it goes
forward, but right now there's no
clear, real answers.
I know you'll be following it.
KUT's Accountability Reporter,
Andrew Weber, with an update on the
case of Ani Lopez Belloza.
Andrew, thank you.
Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Jen.
And coming up, the Houston Tillotson
University Jazz Orchestra is barely
four years old, but they are already
helping define the next era of
jazz in Austin and across the
country. With their high-energy
performances rooted in traditional
jazz and driven by groove,
swing and expressive improvisation,
we're going to hear about them just
ahead on Austin Signal.
Stay tuned.
This is Austin Signal,
welcome back.
February is almost over,
just one day left.
So we are capping off our series of
Black History Month music profiles
from our sister station, KUTX.
Today, host Miles Blockson tells us
about a group of jazz players with
fresh roots on the East side of
Austin who have already gained
national recognition.
Listen, we came all the way from
Texas.
You deserve a big round of applause.
February is Black History Month and
all month long we'll be highlighting
black artists, innovators, and
places that helped shape the Austin
music scene.
The Euston Tillerson Jazz Orchestra
formed in 2022 as
Eustin Tillerson University's
premier student jazz ensemble.
Led by Dr. Jeremy George,
Director of Jazz Studies, the
orchestra delivers high energy
performances rooted in traditional
jazz, driven by groove,
swing, and expressive improvisation.
It is early, but it's not too early
to swing, right?
Yes, sir.
Before we get started, I want to say
first thing what song we're doing.
We're doing Dig by Miles Davis.
And secondly, it is orchestrated
by our professor of trumpet,
Sparky Lee Thomas.
Woo! Thank you. Please enjoy Dig by
miles Davis.
The ensemble was founded at Austin's
oldest institution of higher
learning, and the city's only
historically black university.
Established in 1875,
Houston-Tillerson was created
through the merger of Samuel Houston
College and Tillerson College,
two schools founded after the Civil
War to educate formerly enslaved
people, supported by the United
Methodist Church and the American
Missionary Association.
The university became a cornerstone
of black higher education in
central Texas.
Serving generations of students
through segregation and beyond.
While the university carries 150
years of history and legacy,
the HT Jazz Orchestra is still
young and already building a
national resume.
The group has performed multiple
times at the Austin City Limits
Music Festival and earned top
placements in jazz competitions.
In 2025, out of more than a hundred
historically black colleges and
universities nationwide,
Houston Tillerson was one of 12
selected for a residency in Norfolk
with Wynton Marsalis.
In 2026, the orchestra took
the national stage at Jazz at
Lincoln Center in New York,
placing third in the National
Collegiate Jazz Championship and
walking away with more than 10
individual and sectional awards,
placing them among the top
collegiate jazz ensembles in the
nation.
Rooted in 150 years of black
excellence, empowered by the next
generation of musicians, the Houston
Telison Jazz Orchestra is
helping define the next era of jazz
in Austin.
And across the nation.
To learn more about the Euston
Tillerson Jazz Orchestra, visit
KUTX.org.
You're listening to Austin Signal.
I'm Miles Bloxson.
For the fifth year in
a row NASCAR returns to
Circuit of the Americas this weekend
And it wouldn't be NASCAR without
a lot of sponsors.
All right, so here we go Let's see
if I can get it the Cup Series
Duramax Texas Grand Prix
powered by Relledyne
will be run on Sunday
KUT's Juan Diego Garcia is
out at Cota this afternoon.
Hey Juan Hey Jen
Sounds like it's already getting
loud out there, so I know the big
event will be at the end of the
weekend But what's happening in the
lead-up to Sunday?
Quite a bit, there's actually two
other racing series that are
supporting the race on Sunday
at Circuit of the Americas.
What you're hearing right now is the
IMSA Sports Car Challenge
cars going around in a practice
session.
That's one of the series that's
gonna be supporting the main
cup series.
You'll also see the cars from the
feeder series for NASCAR,
the O'Reilly Auto Parts series.
They'll be racing tomorrow.
And I'm actually watching the cars
go by right in front of me as they
get scrutineered to make sure
nobody's cheating.
So Juan, I'm a little bit of
a NASCAR novice.
Most of what I know comes from, you
know, the Will Ferrell movie,
Talladega Nights.
But I do know most of the time,
all the drivers have to do is turn
left.
But now this is a road course, of
course, out at COTA for Formula One.
So is there something they have to
do differently for this
race?
Yes actually, they have to turn
right.
NASCAR goes to a few
road courses throughout the year and
some drivers actually specialize in
those specific types of circuits.
Circuit of the Americas is one of
those road courses and
you'll be seeing them sort of
peppered throughout the calendar,
breaking up some stretches of really
big ovals, really small ovals.
There's quite a bit of a variety of
tracks they actually go to
throughout the years.
All right, so Juan, for non-race
fans, what are some of the stories
that we should know about for this
weekend's action?
I think the most exciting thing
across the year is going to be
the return of what's called the
chase.
NASCAR has been experimenting since
about 2013 with various different
playoff formats to try to crown a
champion.
This year they're going back to an
older system.
For the first 26 races, drivers
will accumulate points and the final
10 races will be
the chase for the cup.
The top 16 drivers in the point
standings all have a chance to win
the title. The higher you place the
higher the higher you start and
it's a 10 race sprint to the title.
And Juan, can you tell us about some
of the drivers that are that are
out there for this weekend's action?
Some of the folks we should
know about?
Absolutely. I think the biggest name
to keep an eye on is Tyler
Reddick.
He started the year with two
straight wins and no one has ever
won three straight to start
a year.
And he has some good form here at
Circuit of the Americas.
He won the race in 2023
and last year he was on
pole position and finished in third
place.
So there's every chance Tyler Redick
could be walking out of here making
history.
On the question I've been dying to
ask. So when you go to the website
and look at the sort of introductory
video for this weekend's action,
part of the video is dancing storm
troopers, you know, from Star Wars.
Have you seen the dancing
stormtroopers yet?
You know, Jen, I.
Have not this is a little bit news
to me and now I'm a little
disappointed that I have not seen
them I'm gonna go hunting for some
stormtroopers here in a bit okay
Well, it's early.
It's just Friday afternoon, so maybe
you'll still see them sometime over
the weekend.
So all of this is building up to the
Texas Grand Prix.
It starts Sunday afternoon at 2.30.
KUT's Juan Diego Garcia out at
Circuit of the Americas this
afternoon.
Wanda, thanks so much.
Have a great time.
Thanks, Jen. Always a pleasure.
And that is it for today
on Austin Signal.
We'll have more about the stories
and conversations we shared with you
today in the podcast show
notes. And you can find more from us
anytime at kut.org
slash signal couple reminders
about some of the stories you heard
today early voting does end
tonight for party primary
elections.
Election day is this coming Tuesday.
You can find voter guides and all
kinds of information about the
election.
At kut.org and
be sure to join us for
live election night coverage primary
night Tuesday night starting at
seven right here on
KUT.
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
director on Austin Signal.
Jerry Quijano has been producing
Austin Signal this week.
I'm your host Jennifer Stayton and
thanks so much for being with us
today and I hope you have a
great weekend.