As Bexar County voters prepare to decide whether to dedicate more than $300 million in venue taxes toward a proposed new downtown arena for the San Antonio Spurs, newly released communications show the NBA franchise has been quietly cultivating relationships with leaders in Austin — including Mayor Kirk Watson.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson and incoming Houston Mayor John Whitmire, two veteran Democratic legislators, are trying to repair their cities’ fraught relationships with the state’s GOP leadership.

Austin officials have suspended the city’s partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety to police the streets of the capital city.

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson had said that troopers pulling a gun on a 10-year-old prompted the end of the agreement. A video of that encounter shows troopers with guns pointed at the ground, not the child.

Spencer Cronk, who headed the city since 2018, fell out of favor with council members after communication failures that mirrored problems from the 2021 winter storm.

The future of Austin’s top city executive plunged into jeopardy Monday as outrage boiled over power outages that have left thousands of people without electricity in the Texas capital for nearly a week and are likely to drag on for days longer.

The mayor of Austin, Texas, has apologized and says the city failed to communicate with its residents after a winter storm left thousands without power for days.

The mayor of Austin, Texas, has apologized and says the city failed to communicate with its residents after a winter storm left thousands without power for days.

As tens of thousands of households and businesses face a third day in the dark, Austin leaders say they will improve emergency communications. But residents and critics have little patience for bungled warnings.

Watson, a former state senator who was Austin’s mayor from 1997 to 2001, pitched himself as a back-to-basics candidate who could ease the city’s growing affordability crisis.

The capital city’s mayoral race is something of a test case in how the state’s rising housing costs might influence local races in major cities.

In three key local elections, the Austin mayoral race will be decided in a runoff, Republican Tim O’Hare won the Tarrant County judge race and Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins won reelection.

Watson was mayor of the city from 1997 to 2001 and is focused on tackling the rising cost of living, homelessness, public safety and transportation.

As the updated death toll from February’s winter storm reached 111 deaths last week, the severity of its full force has continued to come into focus. AdThe Electric Reliability Council of Texas manages the state’s main power grid, which represents 90% of Texas’ electric load and serves more than 26 million customers, according to the agency. Black Texans were “modestly more likely” to have lost power than white Texans, according to the study. The company wants lawmakers to create a revenue stream to Berkshire through an additional charge on Texans’ power bills. Ad“In 2011, when we were asking questions about that winter storm, we were receiving promises and commitments that winterization would occur so that sort of thing wouldn't happen again,” he said.

Former Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt at The Texas Tribune Festival in 2018 Thomas Meredith for The Texas TribuneFormer Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt is set to succeed former state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, in the Texas Senate after state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez said Monday he is dropping out of the race. Eckhardt and Rodriguez, both Democrats, were poised to face off in a special election runoff for the seat. "For that reason," he wrote, "I have decided to forego the runoff for Senate and focus my efforts on winning a Democratic majority and promoting an aggressive, progressive agenda in the Texas House." Eckhardt and Rodriguez finished first and second, respectively, in the six-way race on July 14. Greg Abbott had not yet set a date for the runoff.

Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt speaks at The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 29, 2018. Thomas Meredith for The Texas TribuneFormer Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt was leading the way Tuesday night in the special election to replace former state Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, though it remained unclear whether she would be able to avoid a runoff. Eckhardt, who needs 50% of the vote to win the election outright, was hovering around that figure Tuesday night. Rodriguez touted his 18 years in the Texas House, arguing that his relationships there will serve him well in the Senate. His district includes all of Bastrop County, most of Austin and northern Travis County.