- Coming up on Austin InSight: Texas takes on technology.

Communities forced to consider their appetite for AI, from data centers to surveillance cameras.

And later, campaign season hits full swing.

We'll set the stage for November.

Austin InSight starts now.

- [Announcer] Support for Austin InSight comes from: Sally and James Gavin.

And also from: Daniel L. Skret.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music ends) - Hi there, and thanks for joining us.

I'm Laura Laughead.

Central Texas communities and the state as a whole are trying to strike a delicate balance when it comes to data centers.

On one side of the scale, the economic opportunity that comes with large-scale development to support the AI boom.

On the other, significant concerns about power and water use, the local environment, and the impacts on neighboring property owners.

New polling from the Texas Politics Project attempts to capture public opinion.

57% of Texans surveyed said they would oppose a data center in their community.

30% said they would support it, with the rest giving no opinion.

That opposition is showing up in state politics.

Governor Greg Abbott ordered a pause on approval of new data center development and called on state regulators to conduct an audit of data center projects.

The move came in stark contrast to last fall when the governor called Texas, quote, "The epicenter of AI development" at an event announcing Google investments in data centers in Texas.

Governor Abbott explained what's changed since then in an interview with ABC's This Week.

- What data centers were doing, and this is the problem that we are facing here in Texas, but you mentioned what's going on nationally.

And that is, they pop up in places that nobody ever heard of before until they started the construction.

And so they had not been working in collaboration with the state, they'd not been working in collaboration with local governments.

And so, they basically dug their own grave for the problem that's been caused for them, and that's why they got the backlash they deserve.

- Local communities have been grappling with these issues too, like in San Marcos where council members voted to ban data centers, and in Taylor where projects are moving forward despite pushback from residents.

Now Austin is tackling the issue, and here to tell us more about that is our local government reporter, Sam Stark.

Hey, Sam.

- Hey Laura.

Good to be here.

- So let me get this straight.

The Austin City Council just passed a resolution seeking to regulate data centers.

What does it do?

- Yeah, so the Austin City Council last Thursday unanimously voted to fast-track regulations for large data centers.

They directed city staff to bring back a new set of zoning rules surrounding the facilities by the end of this year.

Council members are concerned that the city's current land code does not specifically define or regulate data centers, potentially allowing a large facility to be built without first getting city approval.

The new amendments could determine where large data centers are allowed and potentially ban hyperscale facilities from the city altogether.

A second phase of the rules is expected in the spring, which would establish more detailed development and environmental standards addressing concerns related to things like water and electricity use, noise and lighting, and other neighborhood impacts.

Here's what Council Member Paige Ellis said before the vote.

- We have a lot of conversations up on this dais that, you know, we are grappling with to say, how do we provide reliable, affordable electricity to our residents?

How do we ensure we have clean drinking water for everybody that lives in Austin?

How do we protect a healthy food ecosystem?

There is still a lot of work to do to help make sure that we have what we need to protect our constituents and to make sure that we're keeping it here and protecting our environment at the same time.

So I'm really glad this is moving forward today.

- To clarify, does Austin currently have data centers?

What about those larger ones?

- Yeah, so there are currently no hyperscale data centers within the city limits, which is why city leaders want to create new regulations before a developer might propose one.

But the city does currently have 10 smaller ones that don't require as many resources as the ones City Council is concerned about.

- So what's the difference?

Can you explain?

- Yeah.

Well, the state currently defines a large energy load user, data centers, or otherwise, as a customer requiring 75 megawatts of power or more.

Austin Energy currently supplies power to 10 data centers, which require between 1 and 20 megawatts of power.

Hyperscale data centers, which are often used to power AI, are often expansive, some spanning more than 1,000 acres, and resource-intensive, consuming hundreds of millions of gallons of water a year and requiring more than 100 megawatts of power.

And for reference, the city said 1 megawatt is enough to power about 250 homes.

- So can you spell out why these large data centers have become so controversial?

- Yeah.

I mean, a lot of it comes down to the sheer amount of resources these facilities can use.

As I mentioned, some hyperscale data centers can require more than 100 megawatts of power and consume hundreds of millions of gallons of water a year.

And that's a particular concern in Austin, where city leaders are already grappling with how to meet the community's water and energy needs.

But it goes beyond that.

Communities where these facilities have been proposed or built have also raised concerns about noise, bright lighting, heat, and other impacts.

- Well, I know the saga is only just beginning, and you'll be there to cover all of it.

Our local government reporter, Sam Stark, thank you so much for your coverage.

- Thanks for having me.

(upbeat music) - Now to growing flack for Flock.

Those are the high-tech cameras that scan passing vehicles, read license plates, and store the data for law enforcement purposes.

The governor's office is ordering state agencies to pause funding for the technology.

A Texas Tribune investigation found the state used a new $1 fee on Texan's car insurance to fund $30 million in grants to help local law enforcement get Flock cameras.

Texas cities are also increasingly grappling with concerns about the technology.

Pflugerville City Council voted last week to turn off their cameras.

Lago Vista and Burnet County did the same last month.

Now, Austin's have been off for more than a year, though city leaders floated reconsidering that after a shooting spree earlier this spring.

Stephen Simpson is reporting on this trend for the Texas Tribune, and he's joining us now.

Stephen, thanks so much for being here.

- Thank you guys for having me.

- So Stephen, what's at the root of this opposition?

Why are so many critics opposed to having these Flock cameras in their communities?

- Well, a lot of the opposition started in 2025 when a Johnson County Sheriff's deputy was using the national Flock cameras to potentially track a woman who was going across the nation to get an abortion.

Once this was learned, it kind of started a big outrage about how much these cameras had access to people.

And ever since then, we've seen various reports of law enforcement abuse, whether it be stalking or just using license plate readers for unknown reasons multiple times.

- Now, didn't city and county leaders hear these concerns when they made the original decisions to install Flock cameras?

Why is the tide changing now?

- Well, it's kind of two parts.

One, the counties kind of believe some of this would blow over and that the benefits of using these Flock cameras would outweigh some of the negatives.

But as we can see now, the public is taking sort of matters into their own hands.

Some are just taking the cameras off the poles, they're kind of running them over and chopping them down.

So like, now the counties and cities are kind of having to just deal with like, "Hey, is this worth the money if the public is going to actively destroy these cameras?"

- Yeah, people did not play around.

The running them over was definitely a bold choice.

And even through all this, many law enforcement agencies, they're steadfast saying these cameras absolutely make community safer in spite of all the news stories about officers' misuse, right?

- Right.

And a lot of law enforcement agencies say, while there is potential for misuse with these cameras, the benefits outweigh the, I guess, negatives of this.

One is like they're able to track kidnapping victims using these Flock cameras.

A lot of the Amber alerts that we get, they're using Flock cameras to track the vehicle.

So they're saying while there is potential for this to be misused by law enforcement, they're saving lives by using these cameras.

- And as you wrote for the Tribune, getting rid of Flock cameras can be complicated for some of the municipalities looking to part ways.

Can you explain why that is?

- Well, a lot of the issues is that the county and cities don't actually own these Flock cameras.

A lot of these, like retail stores, like a Kroger or Home Depot might have their own Flock camera, or an HOA or the neighborhood association might have a Flock camera, or just someone that has a house can buy a Flock camera.

But the issue is that like any of these Flock cameras become part of the nationwide system.

So the county themselves could divest from it, but there's still going to be cameras lying around.

Specifically with Texas DPS, they have access to a lot of the cameras across the highway.

It doesn't seem like they have any intention of getting rid of those right now.

- Well, certainly very important context to this ongoing issue.

Stephen, thank you so much for your coverage and for sharing your insight with us here today.

- Thank you guys for having me again.

(upbeat music) - This weekend, Labor Day weekend, traditionally kicks off crunch time for campaigns for November elections.

This year, it's the 2026 midterm, with plenty at stake in races across Texas.

Here to set the stage for a busy two months ahead leading up to election day is Dr.

Brian Smith, political science professor at St.

Edwards University.

Dr.

Smith, thank you so much for being with us today.

- Thank you for having me.

- So let's start with the top of the ticket here in Texas, this bitter fight for US Senate between Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democratic State Representative James Talarico.

A Democrat has not won a statewide race like this in decades, but polling is showing an extremely tight race, with Talarico leading in many.

So, what should people know about this latest polling we're seeing?

- Right.

The Democrats haven't won a statewide race since 1994 and a Senate race since the 1980s.

So, this is a very close race.

What the polling is telling us is, snapshots of different groups of people are saying that Talarico has a slight edge over the Attorney General, but it's still too close to call, in the sense that even though he's leading, it doesn't mean that he has the race in the bag because we still have two months to go.

It also means that for Talarico, he's in a good advantage because usually at this point, the Democratic candidates are trailing by 4, 5, 6%.

So not only do they have to make up that ground, they have to get additional votes to win.

- Now, polling at this point, though, is much more favorable for other statewide Republican leaders.

Governor Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, they're polling well ahead of their Democratic challengers.

What does that tell you about their races in contrast to the Senate race?

- They have better name recognition and more resources than the candidates that they're running against.

The other problem for the Democrats is, the Talarico race is sucking out a lot of the energy and oxygen and money, so it's floating up to Talarico at the expense of these other candidates.

Also, when we look at Ken Paxton, he has a lot of baggage.

Abbott and Patrick don't have that same level of baggage, so they're running ahead of their competitors by 5, 6%.

They're incumbents, better funded, better known, and those are the things you need to win elections.

- What different strategies or campaign messages are you seeing from Paxton and Talarico at this point that you think will land with voters?

- Talarico is really going after the idea that the Attorney General is a corrupt person.

That he's corrupt, he's unfit for the office, that he has too much baggage to represent Texas, and it's landing because there is all that history.

For the Attorney General, what he's trying to do is pivot away.

He went really negative early and he framed Talarico in a certain way, but it hasn't really gained him any votes.

So what we've seen him do is really start to focus back on more traditional Republican issues, like security, immigration, his role as Attorney General, and starting to really try to figure out, how am I going to make up this ground that right now is 1 or 2% but could easily grow?

- Another key storyline this November will be the battle for the US House, especially after the rare mid-decade redistricting efforts here in Texas and a handful of other states.

Texas was trying to find an additional five Republican seats in Congress.

Do you see that helping or hurting here, or are there just enough other variables to make control of Congress too hard to predict?

- If the Republicans nationwide didn't redistrict mid-cycle, they would've lost the House, guaranteed.

But because of that, it's made it much closer.

Here in Texas, we know that the Republicans have created more additional seats for their party, but at the expense of turning safe seats into more competitive seats.

Meaning they've carved off Republican voters from safe areas to create other Republican districts, which means that the Republicans in these districts, yeah, there's more Republicans, but they're new districts, so you have to know the new landscape, and their margin isn't as great.

So, the Republicans, if all works out, they're going to pick up those seats.

But if Donald Trump is unpopular, if Republican turnout is down, the Democrats could steal some.

- Now, speaking of Donald Trump, when we look at Texas, Donald Trump was very successful along the Texas-Mexico border, which historically up to that point had been reliably blue.

Trump is not on the ballot, of course, but his policies will likely influence voters.

How important do you think the border region will be for some of these statewide races, as well as Congress?

- The Republicans have really done well with the border issue when the Democrats were in charge, saying, "The border is unsafe.

It's a poorest border."

They made a lot of headway there among the core Republican base, but that issue is gone.

The border is not one of the top issues in this election.

So, down in the Valley, what we're thinking about in terms of shaping the election, it's going to be about turnout, especially, can Talarico motivate the people in the Valley the same way that he's motivating some of the Democrats in the bigger cities?

That's going to be huge.

And how will the Republicans be able to get Valley support without Donald Trump on the ticket?

So they have to figure a way to craft a message that says, "We're going to be the better party for you, not on immigration, not on those issues, but on the issues that are mattering right now," things like affordability and inflation.

- Certainly never a dull day ever in Texas politics, and I know the whole state is watching, as well as the nation for that matter, watching all of this unfolding until November.

Well, Dr.

Brian Smith from St.

Edwards University, thank you so much for getting us geared up for a very busy election season.

- Yeah, thank you for having me.

(upbeat music) - Next, the Austin Chronicle is having a birthday.

It's turning 45.

Since 1981, the independently-owned Chronicle has been an Austin institution, covering the music, the politics, and the culture that make Austin, Austin.

And in an era when local media is under immense pressure, that's an especially meaningful milestone.

We have Kimberley Jones, editor-in-chief of the Austin Chronicle, with us in the studio.

Kimberley, first, I want to say congratulations and thanks for being with us today.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- So 45 years is a big deal, especially when you think about the other Austin institutions that have come and gone during that time.

We've had several Austin Chronicle reporters on the show.

What does this milestone mean to you and your newsroom?

- Oh my goodness.

Honestly, it feels good to be celebrating it.

It feels good to still be doing what we're doing, more or less what we've been doing since 1981, putting out a free newspaper every week for the entire community that speaks to the community interests, and also, you know, has some fun doing it.

- Now, take us back to 1981, a little history lesson.

Why was the Austin Chronicle founded in the first place?

What was the creative vision there?

- Well, I wasn't there at the time.

I showed up a little bit later.

Yeah.

But, yeah, the Chronicle is an alt weekly, so it was founded with that model in mind.

The alt weekly started, The Village Voice was the first one.

And alternative weeklies were founded as an alternative to mainstream media, the daily newspapers.

And it was a place where you could be a little bit more playful, a bit pugnacious, progressive, all those things, and also fundamentally free, and speaking to the communities that maybe didn't always get the spotlight on them.

So that was sort of why the Chronicle was founded, and that's still what we're doing, you know, covering issues that are important to Austin, the environment, workers' rights, reproductive rights.

Those are a lot of the issues that have meant a lot to us over the years, and of course, our culture coverage too.

- And I want to talk more about that in a second.

And it is unique.

The Austin Chronicle has stood the test of time, and it has stayed this unique, amazing voice even when the media landscape was crowded.

Y'all have had such a front-row seat to so much of Austin's recent history.

How, though, in your view, has the Chronicle evolved alongside the city and maybe what has stayed the same?

- Yeah.

Well, we're still independent, independently-owned.

We're a really small staff.

And yes, we have had a front-row seat to an evolving Austin.

I think our archive is really... - Exhibit A.

- Yes, is really sort of an incredible... - Time capsule, really.

- A time capsule of, yeah, of a changing Austin, a rapidly changing Austin.

But I think that because we live in Austin, we're of Austin, we're living the same lives as a lot of other Austinites.

We're worried about rising rents.

We're worried about rising costs.

We're worried about how the city is changing and if it still reflects the Austin that we all know and love.

- Do you worry that Austin is losing some of the culture that the Chronicle was created to cover?

- I don't, because every single week, we are putting out an issue that we could put out an issue three times the size if we had the resources.

We have no trouble finding really important stories to cover, really cool artists and filmmakers and musicians who are just starting out.

And that's really, I think that's a big part of our mission, is getting to people when they are just breaking out, or getting to issues that are not getting the kind of attention at other publications.

- And it's exciting to think we've come so far in 45 years, what maybe do the next 45 years look like for y'all?

- I mean, I hope we get to keep doing this.

And again, we're doing that with our readers' support.

But that was a big deal for us with this anniversary issue that just came out, is that we didn't want to look backwards, we wanted to focus on who we are right now, and just really, we did this sort of, our publisher had this fun idea to do a yearbook style.

So we've got... - Oh, so cute.

- Yeah, we've got the seniors, we've got the juniors, the sophomores, and the freshmen, and I made it into the senior class.

But it's really about just sort of showing everybody, like, these are the humans who are putting out this paper every week.

We are your neighbors.

We see you at shows.

We see you voting, all of that.

So we just really wanted to personalize ourselves, especially, as you know, like, we're all swimming in AI slop now, and it's really important that people know, like these are just humans who are putting out this paper every week.

- Yeah.

Humans who bust their butts, who live in the community, they go to the same grocery stores.

We're not rolling in dough over here.

They do it for a love of the game, a love of their community, a love of journalism that is so incredibly apparent.

And we're lucky to be in this Austin media landscape alongside y'all fighting the good fight.

Kimberley Jones, editor-in-chief of the Austin Chronicle, congratulations again, and thank you for sharing your insight.

- Thank you so much.

(upbeat music) - A group of Austinites is pushing their limits to keep their bodies fit and minds sharp.

Decibel senior multimedia journalist, Blair Waltman-Alexin, shows us how they're keeping it moving.

(passionate music) - In your mind, when you see an 80-year-old, what do you see?

Someone in a wheelchair, someone with a walker, someone that can barely move around?

That's not it.

Uh-uh.

(energetic music) - People ask me all the time, like, "Oh, you're working with seniors.

Are they knitting all day or something?"

I wish.

That would be awesome if there was some break.

We're going on field trips.

We're doing parties.

Like we're dancing.

- Who said seniors can't have fun?

(lively music) (passionate music) Your goal is to touch those shoulder blades.

Keep that back as straight as we can.

- This is the senior exercise class.

Average is between 45 to 55 people on a day-to-day basis.

- And reach.

Reach.

- It's also nice because it is participant-led.

- It's not a teeny bumper up there, by far.

By far.

Crisscross.

(eager music) I'm Neomi Delgado.

Over your head.

I've been doing this for 17 and a half years.

Exercise and I were not the best friends.

Back leg.

Stretch.

It's my passion because, like I said, when I saw people that were my age and were just giving up.

You know, "This is going to be my life from now on."

I said, "No, no, no.

You can do it.

You can do it.

You know, it's not going to be easy.

I'm not saying it's easy, but you can do it."

Looking good, looking good.

We do a whole hour without a break.

We use straws.

We use pill bottles.

(light music) That's our goal.

To stay in our homes longer and take care of ourselves.

- It gets a little bit more difficult as we get older just to do some of the day-to-day activities.

So strength training, balance training, exceptionally important.

(light music continues) It is a very difficult topic because, number one, people don't really talk about aging.

We avoid that.

The Austin proper, about 12 to 13% of the population are 65+.

By the year 2060, the growth will equate to about 22%.

And we really need to think about how we serve this population.

Healthcare is a huge thing that we need to think about.

- Have you been there before?

Oh.

- Additionally, having an opportunity to get out of the house and socialize is exceptionally important.

If you are lonely and isolated at your home, it is like smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

So there is a huge decline if you can't get out of the house and be a part of a community.

And that's really what those programs actually offer, is that opportunity for them to stay healthy on the inside out.

- Stretch, stretch, stretch.

In this whole wide world, there's only one of you.

So that makes us drop that left hand, makes us royalty.

Do your royalty wave.

(attendees clapping) Royalty wave.

Have a great afternoon.

It's very rare you find something senior-friendly.

We've been told by a lot of them that they enjoy coming over here because they feel accepted.

- But that's, again, a place where they've established community.

Like even if it's just an hour for three days out of the week, there is a community that exists within the exercise group.

(bright music) - We know we're not going to do what we could at 20, or 30, 40, or 50, but we can do something maybe a little slower, but we can still continue doing.

And that's what I tell them all the time, that's our goal.

(bright music continues) You know, we woke up this morning, it's a good day.

(bright music continues) - And that's our show.

If you want to see more Austin InSight, you can catch all our episodes on the Austin PBS YouTube channel and in the PBS app anytime for free.

Thanks again for watching.

We'll see you next time.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music ends) - [Announcer] Support for Austin InSight comes from: Sally and James Gavin.

And also from: Daniel L. Skret.

(bright flute music)