It's day two of a special
legislative hearing on the Camp
Mystic tragedy.
Investigators told lawmakers this
week that camp operators were
complacent when it came to safety
protocols.
We'll have updates on today's
hearing. And affordability in
Austin has always been a topic of
conversation, but it's not just
housing, it's about education,
health, and the ability to work
close to home.
The City of Austin is taking up that
conversation this week.
We'll have a preview.
Plus, Kendall Antonelli of
Antonellis Cheese Shop stops by
to share some of her favorite
cheeses and gives us a little on
the food scene here in Austin, ahead
of the KUT Fest.
The Austin Signal is a production
of KUT News, hosted by
Miles Bloxen.
And some of the city's top chefs are
partnering up with the students in
Austin ISD's Culinary Arts and
Hospitality program.
We'll have more up next on
Austin Signal.
Hi there!
It's Tuesday, April 28,
2026.
I'm your host Miles Bloxson.
This is Austin Signal.
Day two of a special legislative
hearing on the Camp Mystic tragedy
gets underway today here in Austin.
Investigators told lawmakers
yesterday that the camp operators
were complacent when it came to
safety protocols at the Christian
Girls Summer Camp, where 28
people died last summer amid
historic flooding in the Hill
Country.
Today, testimony continues with
lawmakers questioning the camp's
owners this morning.
KUT reporter Kailey Hunt is at
the hearing and brings us an update.
Good afternoon, Kailey.
Hey, Miles.
Great to have you.
Can you give us just a quick recap
of some key moments from yesterday's
portion of the hearing?
Yeah. So yes, sure.
The public got to hear for
the first time from
Casey Garrett, she's the principal
investigator that is
helping out state lawmakers to find
out what exactly happened at Camp
Mystic during that historic
flooding on July 4th.
And so yeah, we got to hear from
Garrett who also notably
investigated the Robb
Elementary School shooting in Uvalde
a few years ago,
and Garrett laid out a timeline of
that July 3rd July
4th timeline of the
flooding and we
heard from her testimony and then
today we've kind of shifted into
testimony from the Eastland family,
the owners and operators of the
camp.
Yeah, so speaking of the Eastland
family, and as you mentioned, they
own and operate Camp Mystic, they
testified and took questions from
lawmakers. What were some of the
takeaways from that?
Yeah. So it's been pretty intense
this morning.
Testimony is still going.
We've been going since 10 a.m.
There was some
very intense scrutiny
and criticism from State
Senator Charles Perry.
He's a Lubbock Republican who
helped author some of those new
legislation requiring camp
safety requirements last
summer during the special session.
He called into question
the ability of the Eastlands.
To operate the camp in the future.
Here's what he had to say.
Legally, y'all probably get to stay
in existence. But I will tell you
from this guy's perspective, and I
don't know what my other members
are, whatever statute
tweaks,
whatever laws we make, or whatever
rules we have to devise,
y' all will not be an operator next
session, next season,
if I can have anything to say with
that.
I just have to ask, Kailey, this is,
you know, it's a lot going on.
What did it feel like to be in the
room today?
You know, all
I can say is just it's very intense.
You know even just as I was
preparing to speak
with y'all just now within the last
few moments, I see,
you know, parents of
children who died at Camp Mystic
coming out of the hearing room,
walking down the hallway, just
crying and upset by some of
the testimony that they're hearing.
So yeah, emotions are very high
here.
I can only imagine, and who else are
we expecting to hear from today as
this hearing continues?
Yeah, so once the Eastland
family is done testifying and
answering questions from lawmakers
on this investigative committee,
we can expect to hear from some
representatives from the Texas
Department of
Health Services.
They're the ones who are responsible
for granting
and giving out licenses to
camps like Camp Mystic to operate
during the summertime.
And then we can also expect to here
from Texas Department of Emergency
Management Officials.
In fact, I just saw Chief Nimkid
here in the hallway as well.
So looking forward to hearing from
some state agencies.
And then they also alluded to maybe
hearing from, you know,
parents and families of campers,
both victims and survivors.
What do you feel like?
Families need at this
moment.
You know, I think
one of the
big goals of these
hearings and having them play
out so publicly is
the opportunity for
everyone who has been impacted by
those deadly July 4th floods,
especially at Camp Mystic, to have
an opportunity and
chance to
say what they need to say and to
share their stories and their
experiences and what they
hope. To have going
forward into the future.
We've been speaking with KUT's
Kailey Hunt, who is at the
legislative hearing on the Camp
Mystic tragedy, and she'll continue
to follow this story.
Kailey, thanks so much for the
update.
Thanks, Miles.
We've all seen the headlines that
rents in Austin have dropped since
pandemic era highs.
Still, affordability remains an
issue here, whether we're talking
access to housing, good paying jobs,
and even access to basic needs.
Tomorrow, the city will host a fair
housing and economic mobility
conference to discuss these issues
and their solutions.
Joining me now is Lindsay Wilson,
director of the city's equity and
inclusion office, which is hosting
the conference.
Lindsay, welcome to Austin Signal.
Well, thank you, Miles, for having
me. I am excited to be
here and talk a little bit about the
Fair Housing and Economic Mobility
Conference.
And speaking of the conference, I
think most folks probably have an
idea of what fair housing is, right?
But access to affordable housing
without discrimination, but exactly
what do we mean when we say economic
mobility?
Oh, that's a great question.
And one that I'm glad that you
started with, really, because
typically when people think about
economic mobility, they may think
income are climbing up
a ladder.
What we've learned both
through our quality of life studies,
but also some intentional engagement
that we've had internally across
city departments is we're
talking way beyond income.
We're talking about access and
opportunity.
Right. And so when we say economic
mobility, it's leading with systems,
but really focus on are
our residents, are our
Austinites able to
meet basic needs,
financial stability, and live
a high dignified
life, right?
Where housing's within reach.
Right.
About quality of life exactly
so big picture
what is the goal of this conference
and who is this geared toward and
who can benefit from attending
because it seems like everybody
you're spot on there, right?
And so April is Fair Housing Month,
so that's the fair housing component
of it. But we know that
it goes beyond fair housing.
And so when you ask the question
around who can benefit from
it, we were really intentional
this year that we invited
a variety of stakeholders.
So you'll have everyone from
community members to businesses,
philanthropic organizations,
Independent School District are
educational.
Uh individuals and
so it was it was really a
intentional and collaborative effort
on the basis of
both my team Austin
Equity and Inclusion as well as
Austin Housing uh
to serve as a convener to
pull everyone together to have some
of these intentional conversations.
I love that and it's much needed.
What are some of the panels and
speakers that attendees can expect
to hear from?
Absolutely.
And so we have over 50
speakers.
Oh!
Yes.
And so over 50 speakers,
over 10 different breakout sessions,
and really a
little bit of something for
everyone. Everything from legal
updates around evictions
and support animal
rules, HUD guidance,
to crime-free
multi-housing program.
Of course, we have
the very, For now don't
laugh. We're now miles joining us
and you are will be moderating
the keynote panel And
so the keynote panel, again,
we're talking about economic
mobility, very intentional.
We will have United
Way there.
We will communities
and schools.
We will asset funders,
a grassroot organization,
GAVA, mills on
wheels.
And so again, it's really an
intentional gathering to
pull all of our stakeholders
together because we recognize we all
have a role.
Where can people go to find out
more and register for this event?
Because I don't think you want to
miss it, right?
I wouldn't want to miss it, but
to your question, they can
absolutely go to speakupaustin.org
slash fair housing
to register.
All right, we've been speaking with
Lindsay Wilson, Director of the City
of Austin's Equity and Inclusion
Office. Thanks so much for joining
me here on the Austin Signal.
Thanks for having me.
Of course.
We're coming up on a break, but
don't go too far.
The KUT Fest starts on Friday,
and we're covering a wide range of
topics, including Austin's famous
food scene.
Kendall Antonelli from Antonello's
Cheese Shop will join us for the
fest. And we're gonna have a short
preview of that panel coming
up.
And Austin ISD culinary
students are pairing with Michelin
chefs. That's all coming up next,
right here on Austin
Signal.
This is Austin Signal, welcome back.
The Austin culinary and hospitality
scene has exploded in recent years.
Restaurant bars, tasting rooms
are all an integral part of not
only the Austin area's identity,
but the economy.
As part of a larger conversation
that will be going on at the KUT
Fest this weekend, joining us
now is one of the guests of the
panel, Kendall Antonelli from
Antonellis Cheese.
Ow, ow.
Thanks so much for joining me
today, Kendall.
I'm super excited to be with you.
So Kendall, you're gonna get a lot
of me this week. As you know, I'll
be hosting the still cooking panel
at KUT Fest, and I don't wanna give
too much away to the audience before
our conversation this weekend, but I
have to know, when you decided to
open your business, why Austin?
You know, uh, well, my husband
and I went on our honeymoon and it
was day two of the honeymoon and
John turned to me and said, I'm
going to quit my job and do
something in cheese.
And I was like, right?
What? Uh, like, can I annul at
this point? No. And he left a really
lucrative job.
Uh, and then we chose cheese.
We thought we'd do it for a year or
two and, uh instead
here we are 16 years later.
Yeah. Is not e-
So how much have you
seen the food scene grow in Austin
since you've opened up your cheese
shop?
A lot.
I mean, we, for better and for
worse, and I'm more of a
positive-leaning person.
I'm not really a negative Nancy,
except sorry, Nancy's out there.
I won't, I won't use that expression
anymore.
But I like to live with, live with
positivity.
That being said, a lot of our
favorite places have closed.
And, you know, people always jump on
social media and say, no, they were
doing so well.
And I think that's one of the things
we can talk about in this panel is
there's this perception of success.
We have a huge perception of
success and we've been
non-profitable for two years
straight writing out a deficit.
We're really very open about it, so
that's fine.
But it has changed a lot,
places have closed.
There's also always fresh
blood and fresh spirit and fresh
ideas and people starting something
new. And so I haven't seen that
stop yet either.
And one thing that has been
successful for you is the try
before you buy method, which I
love. And I'm thinking of like
wineries of the Hill Country or
the breweries or of course, like I
said, your cheese shop.
What is it about this business
model that you think makes it work?
Yeah. Cause I love it.
Look, cheese, let's be honest,
cheese can be scary,
at least like pre-pandemic.
Now everybody and their grandma owns
like a charcuterie biz on social
media, but pre- pandemic cheese
had this like poo poo pinkies
up.
Now we've owned bougie, we like
bougie things, but it really seemed
inaccessible.
And our whole goal was to make it
fun, approachable, playful,
and sexy, if you will.
Somebody said, you mean passionate?
And I was like, no, sexy.
Like you look at my cheese case and
you want to jump in the cheese case
because it's sexy.
Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
So the best way to do
that is not for me to tell somebody
why it's good. It's for them to let
their own pallets guide them.
And you bought cheese today for me
today. So let's do this.
OK, I'm going to do this a little
bit differently than normal.
So what I brought, I wish I could
like ASMR this, y'all.
I mean, here, look, this is me
opening up some crackers.
Why? Because it's really hard to do
in this now. I'm touching
everybody's crackers.
Okay. Now that I open the crackers,
don't touch those.
Don't touch the crackers? No,
because if you put the cheese on the
cracker, girl, you're just gonna
taste the crackers.
Okay. And I want you to taste the
cheese naked. Okay.
Oh, naked cheese, let's do this. You gotta get
intimate with the cheese.
So, I'm gonna give you a bite of
this cheese. I'm not gonna tell you
what it is, and I've never done it
this way before.
This cheese, for people to know,
it's scooped like an ice cream
scoop.
It's bright white.
And now I'm going to ask you three
questions. Is it A, B, or C?
Does it taste buttery and
grassy?
Does it taste nutty
and rich, or does it taste
tangy and citrus zesty?
I feel like it's buttery and grassy.
Oh, okay.
Well, let's do one more.
Let's do this.
Okay, try this cheese.
And I'm gonna ask you the same same
three.
So is that one buttery and grassy,
nutty or tangy
and citrusy?
Well, she's
It's interesting how your mind has
to process.
And this is actually you don't
have to know this stuff.
We do cheese tasting classes I was
not actually laying up for this, but
you really have to train your palate
to kind of pick up these flavor
profiles So, okay.
So wait, give me my options again
for this one. Okay first buttery
and grassy No, second nutty
and rich or
third tangy
acidic citrusy
It seems like it could be a bit more
tangy to me.
All right. Well, let's go there.
So choice A, I would have
gone, that's a fresh cheve, a fresh
goat's milk cheese.
It's bright white. You know it
visually because it's bright white
and goats can't process the beta
carotenes and grass.
But it is known for being tangy,
minerally bright, acidic,
citrus zest flavors.
So that one is more often
characteristically that.
The second cheese you just tried is
Pleasant Ridge Reserve made by
Uplands Cheese, one of the most
award-winning cheeses in the United
States.
And that one is made from
grass fed cows.
You can also tell it's yellow in
color and that's because of those
beta carotenes in the grass.
And that's known for being really
buttery and grassy.
Wow
That being said, you know what?
Your palate is your own.
So we'll teach you what flavor
descriptors are and you can work on
them, but also you just taste and
eat what you like, taste what you're
like. And then I always love it
when people say, well, you didn't
taste this, you're wrong.
They've actually, science has showed
that your palate is like a
thumbprint. It's unique to you.
So we all taste sweet, salt,
sour, umami,
all in different places on our
tongue. And so, yeah, it may not
taste that way to you I am now
seeing food a lot more
differently. And that's what,
you... When we eat food, people just
pop it and take it back.
And instead for us, it's all five
senses.
It's audible. If a cheese squeak
doesn't squeak, is it a cheese curd?
And it's the same thing as like a
tortilla chip. It feels like it
tastes different when it doesn't
break in your mouth and crunch.
Nothing has changed about the taste
of it. It just has a different
sensation of taste and flavor
based off of it being stale.
So yeah, use all your senses when
you're, it's a fun experience if you
can slow down, which I'm not good
at. You can tell I'm a fast talker.
But if you can slow down and eat
your food the same way you might at
the beginning of a wine tasting or
and use all your senses, it's a
whole different experience.
Kendall, mind blown.
Now, before I let
you go, as someone who's been in
business for 16 years,
right? Where do you see the future
of Austin's food scene heading?
That's a tough one.
I mean, I kind of hinted at it
earlier that things grow,
things die, things close.
But people are always coming up with
new ideas. And now I think,
at least in theory and
in some practice, we're creating new
avenues to access capital,
so new businesses maybe that were
always there are getting a different
leg up because more people are
seeing them in certain ways.
So I'm excited always
for the future.
That being said, we have a lot of
challenges to overcome.
It's paid labor in the industry.
It's people willing to pay for real
food. It's the fact that organic
food costs more than something that
doesn't have any real food in it at
all. None of those are easy to solve
questions, but it impacts us
all the way around.
We've been speaking with Kendall
Antonelli, founder and president of
Antonellis Cheese.
She will be joining me at KUT Fest
this Saturday, along with Erin
Franklin of Franklin's Barbecue and
Tevelle Bristol-Joseph of Emerin Rye
on the panel, Still Cooking.
We'll have a link with more info
at kut.org slash
signal. Kendall, thanks so much for.
Being with me today.
Thank you and just remember you said
on that panel still cooking but for
those of you who don't want to cook
you can just eat some cheese.
And continuing our conversation
about the impact in the hospitality
scene, our next guests are students
in future culinary scene hopefuls
who are part of Austin ISD's
Culinary Arts and Hospitality
Program.
And tomorrow they will be shoulder
to shoulder with renowned Austin
chefs helping to execute a
menu they helped build as part of
the annual give back gig.
A fundraiser to help sustain
programs focused on developing
the next generation of Austin's
hospitality workforce.
Joining us now are Leilani
Martinez, Dina Munoz,
Arlo Irving, and Cerise Mazariegos.
Welcome to Austin Signal.
Thanks for having us.
And accompanying them is their
instructor who leads the culinary
and hospitality program, Jayma
Vaughn. Jayma thanks for being here.
Thank you, Miles, for having us.
We are excited to be here.
I want to start with you, Jaima.
Tell us about this program.
Yeah, I can talk all day about this
program because it
is based around really,
really brilliant students.
But beyond that, it is
a partnership that has been
at Travis Early College High School
since 2001 with
Austin ISD, with
Austin Hotel and Lodging
Association, and with Visit
Austin.
And we're proud to serve the
students in our community and
to eventually give back to the
community in the hospitality and
tourism scene. So it's a great
program and I'm excited to be here
to talk about it today and our cool
upcoming event.
Yes, and speaking of the upcoming
event, what is this gift bag?
So, the Give Back gig is in its
third year.
It was the brainchild
of the Visit Austin Education
Foundation.
That is the branch from Visit Austin
that works with
local community partners like Travis
High School and like Austin
Community College, Good Works,
Urban Roots, to give back
to community members who are
wanting to thrive in
the hospitality and tourism and
restaurant scene. Um, so the
give back gig is where we
take these great, incredible
culinary students from Travis Early
College High School and we
partner them with
celebrity chefs from the
Austin area.
Wow. A couple of years ago,
something really incredible happened
in Austin and that is that the
Michelin Guide came to Austin.
And this was big, huge news
in the hospitality and culinary
scene in Austin.
So students who maybe wanted to
work with the Michelins chef before
that had to leave the state.
They had to go to Chicago, they had
to go to New York to try to get that
experience.
But because of the Give Back gig and
those chefs partnering with us,
our students can do that in their
own hometown and then they can stay
in their hometown.
They can go to Austin Community
College, major in culinary arts,
and continue to work their
way up with local chefs
who've been recognized by the
Michelin Guide.
No, it is really cool to be able to
work with the best of the best when
you're, you know, in high school.
So speaking of that, let's turn to
some of our brilliant students.
First, I have Leilani, why
are you interested in the culinary
arts?
Well I'm interested in the culinary
arts because I can be creative
with food and honestly
you can never make mistakes when it
comes to food you can probably like
learn from it or make something new
that you like and I just like
that I get to make food
for people that for my loved
ones and they get to
taste some of my foods.
I love that, and Cerise.
What have you already learned about
the culinary arts as a student?
Well, a basic answer is that
I've learned knife skills and
different ways to cook
different foods, but
a more in-depth answer
would be that I have learned
the importance of
networking and knowing
the right people and being
involved in the community and
the importance of working well
with others and doing
your best to help everybody.
That skill set will take you far in
any career. So those are good things
to learn.
And then up next I have Arlo,
what do you hope to learn from this
event? Because you're gonna be next
to like superstar chefs.
Well, to build off Cerise and
Ms. Vaughan, to say that networking
and having these opportunities with
these great, amazing people who
already have so much experience in
this industry, and to be there
and to have that opportunity
just makes your view of
the future just so much brighter and
allows you to build connections
early and get into
not just the culinary scene but the
hospitality scene and
make a successful career out of your
life.
And Dina, how do you help to use the
things that you've learned in the
future?
Well, since I'm graduating soon,
I think that I'm gonna use like the
networking skills and the
communications because
I'm going to be communicating with
a lot of people because I am going
into nursing.
So I'm just gonna use what I've
learned about my internships
and my internships when I did human
resources.
I learned more about what
it's like to work with other people
and knowing how to,
I guess, react to how other
people react to certain things that
I probably would react
differently to.
Yeah, I think I'm just gonna take
more the skills on
communication rather than like
cooking skills.
We've been speaking with AISD
students Leilani Martinez,
Dina Munoz, Arlo Irving,
and Cerise Macerriegos, and their
instructor, Jama Vaughn.
We'll have a link with more info at
kut.org slash signal and
in the podcast show notes.
Thank you so much for being here,
guys.
Thank you!
That's it for us here on Austin
Signal.
Thanks so much for hanging out with
us. Serena Sevilla is our technical
director.
Alexa Hart is our producer.
Christian Cabrera is our managing
producer.
I'm Miles Bloxson.
And for my buddy, Jerry Quijano.
Austin Signal is back tomorrow.
I hope you have a beautiful day.