A new @evilmopacatx.bsky.social phone app is promising to make sense of MoPac's unpredictable toll lanes by showing drivers how much each minute of time saved will actually cost. Alan Farmer made the app, inspired by "the terrible that is MoPac in the toll lane." www.kut.org/transportati...

More than a dozen new nonstop flights coming to Austin's airport in the months ahead www.kut.org/transportati...

Delta today announced twice daily nonstop service from Austin to Miami is starting Nov. 22 on a Boeing 737-800. Delta also has these nonstops coming up: ✈️ Palm Springs on Nov. 8 ✈️ Denver on Nov. 9 ✈️ Cancun and Cabo on Dec. 20 ✈️ Columbus and Kansas City on Jun. 7, 2026

NEW: Governor Abbott's executive order on hemp would essentially ban the sale of THCA flower (shown below) and THCA concentrates. Abbott's order calls for testing THCA after it's heated and converted to Delta-9, the main ingredient in cannabis that gets people high.

Will TxDOT build a 21-foot-tall concrete noise barrier stretching half-a-mile along I-35 next to where the upper decks are now? Cherrywood residents have to cast their vote by today. www.kut.org/transportati...

In Texas, tweens can still legally buy THC gummies at a gas station, because state lawmakers couldn't agree on whether to ban or regulate cannabis known as "hemp." www.kut.org/politics/202...

Selling THC vapes in Texas will be illegal starting Monday. www.kut.org/politics/202...

BREAKING: Austin's airport expansion will get even bigger under a deal approved just now by the City Council. The contract with seven major airlines unlocks billions in funding and will lead to more than 20 gates being constructed by the early 2030s. www.kut.org/transportati...

EXCLUSIVE: The Federal Aviation Administration is denying a request to upgrade Austin's airspace to the same level surrounding the nation's busiest airports. www.kut.org/transportati...

NEW: As of 6:30 this morning, the Texas Education Agency released A-F scores for more than 9,000 campuses and 1,200 school districts statewide. www.kut.org/education/20...

The city of Austin will install concrete barricades along sidewalks on both sides East Sixth Street from San Jacinto Blvd. to Red River St. The Downtown Austin Alliance has plans to try and make the barricades look nicer. News conference planned for when construction starts on Mon., August 11.

Texas calls this "hemp" because state and federal law is confusing and arbitrary. It's just weed, y'all. Almost exactly what you could buy in California or Colorado. Here's a guide to some of the most popular cannabis products at your local shop. www.kut.org/politics/202...

NEW: Construction starts Monday to rebuild the RM 1431 bridge over Cow Creek that was destroyed by floods. TxDOT hired Hunter Industries for just over $4 million to finish within 60 days. Will get a bonus of $50,000/day for each day they finish early up to 20 days max.

Austin is considering making Sixth Street a two-way street from I-35 to Brazos. Analysis due in late August.

Fixing Austin's low-water crossings would take 200 years at the current pace. www.kut.org/transportati...

Two flood-damaged bridges. Two repair plans. TxDOT is fast-tracking replacement of this bridge on FM 1431 between Marble Falls and Lago Vista. "We're pushing to get this done in weeks rather than months," Austin District Engineer Tucker Ferguson told KUT News. 📷 Mari Urbano

"A very busy day" at Austin's airport. The TSA expects 35,485 departing passengers, about 500 more than July 3rd last year. The Fourth of July? More chill: 24,840 departing passengers expected. But Sunday after the Fourth tends to be busier. Last year, 35,194 were screened through TSA.

NEW: CapMetro says its first-ever police chief is leaving. The news comes one day after the transit agency’s first patrol officers hit the streets. Eric Robins is leaving to be police chief of Alief ISD in Houston. Robins is from Houston and spent 30 years on Sugarland PD. Press release:

New rendering of the 20+ gate concourse being designed for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Concourse B will be connected to the Barbara Jordan Terminal by an underground pedestrian tunnel with moving walkways. Construction starts next year and should wrap up in 2030.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport has 29 air traffic controllers, less than half the FAA's target of 60. So now ABIA is seeing more "ground delays," where the FAA slows the pace of arriving flights to avoid overwhelming the tower. This causes flight delays. www.kut.org/transportati...

TxDOT says someone gained access to their database of crash reports and downloaded almost 300,000 records. The records could have information like names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, license plate numbers, car insurance policy numbers, etc.

Just now, a swearing-in ceremony for CapMetro’s first class of transit police including: - one Police Captain - two Sergeants - nine Transit Police Officers Some will begin patrolling Monday, June 16. Others will still need to finish training.

SOUTH AUSTIN ROAD CLOSURE: FM 1626 will be closed at the train tracks east of Menchaca Road from Friday at 9 AM till Saturday at 5 PM. About 20K cars/day use this crossing. Drivers will have to detour three miles north to Slaughter Lane or six miles south to Buda.

THIS WEEKEND: Three of four southbound lanes on U.S. 183 will be closed from Hunters Chase Drive/Oceanaire Boulevard to Riata Trace Parkway/Pavilion Boulevard. CTRMA says exact timing depends on the weather. But once it starts, the closure will be 24 hours/day from June 6-8.

For those interested in the sharp cost increase to build CapMetro's Broadmoor Station near the Domain (estimate went from $24m to $49m), a public information request came back with a bit more detail. CapMetro had no responsive docs on the original cost estimate of $24 million.

The city of Austin canceled the free 9-10 p.m. hour of night swimming at Barton Springs Pool as a cost-saving measure but then uncanceled it saying the decision hadn’t gone through the right channels. KUT’s Luz Moreno-Lozano is sorting out the confusion. www.kut.org/austin/2025-...

The stockpiling has already begun. www.kut.org/politics/202...

BREAKING: Austin's City Council approves support columns for parks over I-35 at: - Cesar Chavez to 7th Street - 11th to 12 Street - two 300-foot-long stitches close to the Red Line crossing near Airport Boulevard. www.kut.org/transportati...

Moment of Truth: Austin's city council set to vote on where/whether to pay for columns that could support parks over I-35. Top officials from TxDOT's Austin District are in the audience. Livestream: www.austintexas.gov/watch-atxn-l...

Frontier Airlines launched new nonstop service today from Austin to Miami and Philadelphia.

Austin's city council is being warned by budget staff and a consultant that putting parks on I-35 will seriously squeeze city coffers. But some council members still want to spend cash on caps now because they won't be able to in the future. Vote coming May 22. www.kut.org/transportati...

The MLK Jr. Blvd. Bridge over I-35 will close nightly from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. from Monday, April 14 through Wednesday, April 16. Barriers and stripes are being moved. New configuration through late 2025: 🚧 2 eastbound lanes 🚧 1 westbound lane 🚧 1 sidewalk on south side

NEW: Capital Metro says it has no way to determine how much money it lost from months of fare collection glitches that began in 2023 and culminated in a month-long outage last year. www.kut.org/transportati...

Possessing “any amount” of Delta-8, Delta-9, THCA, etc under SB 3 = up to one year in jail and/or a fine of up to $4,000 — twice the penalty of possessing less than 2 oz of actual marijuana. If approved by House and signed by the governor, it would take effect in Sept. www.kut.org/politics/202...

I-35 through Travis County would be designated the "President Donald J. Trump Highway" under a bill filed Friday by State Rep. Joanne Shofner (R-Nacogdoches).

U.S. Homeland Security says it's canceling a seven-year labor agreement with TSA workers signed last May. Still unclear how. TSA short-staffing at ABIA has led to screening lines out the front door. @federalnewsnetwork.com.web.brid.gy has a useful rundown federalnewsnetwork.com/unions/2025/...

The winds were so extreme in Austin yesterday, a private jet was forced off the runway and into the grass at ABIA. @atxjetsetter.bsky.social says the pilot of the Bombardier Challenger 300 appeared to overcorrect after being surprised by a strong wind gust. atxjetsetter.com/post/high-wi...

How should Austin regulate (or not) rentable e-scooters and e-bikes? The city has a survey open till April 6 that's supposed to inform their rule-making. publicinput.com/sharedmobili... In-person open house: March 24 from 4:30-6:30 pm at the Austin Public Library, Carver Branch.

Without journalists to tell you about things like this, you wouldn't know where taxpayer-funded work has gone awry. @kutnews.bsky.social is proud to be able to serve the community with this reporting and more. You can help make it happen at donate.kut.org

EXCLUSIVE: CapMetro's entire fare system collapsed for over a month in 2024. The public never knew just how bad it got. New documents reveal the crisis — and CapMetro's secret fight with German megacorporation Siemens to fix it. www.kut.org/transportati...

People in Austin give their hard-earned cash to @kutnews.bsky.social because they believe in supporting a non-profit, independent local newsroom. But if your reason is "I want this grackle doing the news on my chest," that works too. $12/month gets you both: donate.kut.org

Capital Metro is finally debuting its long-awaited Rapid lines this weekend, but "rapid" for now will mean a 20- to 30-minute wait for the next bus. And the rollout of tap-to-pay could be delayed. www.kut.org/transportati...

Did you know the heart of #ElonMusk’s business empire is in rural Texas? We used records to map how much land he and his lieutenants have in Bastrop County. It’s more than 600 acres. Have a tip about Musk? Email me! www.kut.org/austin/2025-... #musk #spacex #boring #xcorp #txlege #texas

First, AISD’s $954 million budget was projected to have a $78 million deficit. Then it was $92 million. Now it’s a $110 million deficit AFTER $26 million in cuts. So glad KUT’s Becky Fogel is covering this intensely important story. www.kut.org/education/20...

Walkthrough of Austin's light-rail map .... with a juicy #FOIAFriday reveal at the end. www.youtube.com/live/dOlil2u...

NEW: Austin's light-rail would force dozens of businesses to relocate. But ATP's 16,000-page environmental report has no list of which places are actually affected. Many business-owners don't even know yet. So I poured through maps, drove around town and found out. www.kut.org/transportati...

My man Sean Saldana followed a 2013 Ford Explorer donated to KUT to document how an old vehicle can pay for local news. www.texasstandard.org/stories/car-...

Starting next week, the second southbound MoPac exit to Steck Avenue will be closed for up to three months for construction on the MoPac/U.S. 183 interchange.

Air traffic controller staffing at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport was only at 53% of target levels last month according to FAA data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by Fox 7 Austin's John Krinjak. www.fox7austin.com/news/faa-dat...

Today is the last day to share your thoughts on the proposed MoPac South expansion. • Up to two toll lanes in each direction between Lady Bird Lake and Slaughter Lane • New flyover ramps near Barton Skyway • Widened bridge over Lady Bird Lake • Six miles of sidewalk www.kut.org/transportati...