We were looking at some of the ways local and state law enforcement works, and does not work, with ICE and something interesting came up. The feds appear to alert some local police forces to impending raids, but not others. 1/ www.kut.org/crime-justic...

"John Jones was out of options and low on cash." So starts this exceptionally well written piece by @England_Weber on the heinous crime that haunted Austin, and brought decades of grief, trauma and wrongful incarceration. Read it, even if you already know the story. www.kut.org/crime-justic...

City of Taylor Econ. Development Corp. sold land that was "to be held in trust for future use as parkland" to a data center developer. Deed restriction is from 1999, not so long ago. Neighbors outraged. City not commenting. Interesting story from Kailey Hunt! www.kut.org/energy-envir...

Notable comment from head of Austin Resource Recovery in recent city audit. He says only 65% landfill diversion rate is acheivable "Even with perfect recycling behavior." City goal is 90 percent. www.austintexas.gov/sites/defaul...

Austinite Corey Pudhorodsky is about halfway into a 50 hour stay on the Texas state capitol grounds, sharing 50 facts about climate change. He's doing it for his 50th birthday!

First Monarch I've seen in Austin since early summer.

Breaking | GHF whistleblower Lt. Col. Anthony Aguilar says he has been interviewed by the International Criminal Court, which is probing alleged violations of the Geneva Conventions at Gaza aid sites.

Last year Austin's water utility lost 9.3 billion gallons of water because of a leaky distribution system. That's enough to fill Lady Bird Lake about four times over and 31 percent rise from the previous year. Why the big jump? Some of it might be improved monitoring. www.kut.org/energy-envir...

Saharan dust is back! It will hurt air quality this weekend, so stay safe. But also, take a moment to marvel at this natural phenonenon. This stuff rides winds all the way from Africa to get here. And that's just the start of what make it soo fascinating. www.kut.org/energy-envir...

"You all spoke so passionately and you burned valuable time of your life. " Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said. “We can do absolutely nothing about it." Great piece from @mayafawaz.bsky.social on what happens when a data center wants to move next door. www.kut.org/energy-envir...

May was our first month with above average rainfall since last July, all thanks to last week's storms. Still, it was not enough to bring us out of a longterm rain deficit. This spring was also the hottest ever recorded at Austin's Camp Mabry. www.kut.org/energy-envir...

May was our first month with above average rainfall since last July, all thanks to last week's storms. Still, it was not enough to bring us out of a longterm rain deficit. This spring was also the hottest ever recorded at Austin's Camp Mabry. www.kut.org/energy-envir...

Gas utility stories are tough to find visuals for. Everyone's done the meter, the stovetop flame. Looking for something new, KUT's Michael Minasi took a gag reference I put in the audio for this story and came up with this great illustration. More please! www.kut.org/energy-envir...

Starting last January people in Austin started noticing major hikes in their gas bills. In some cases, they report bills doubling, even when they used less gas than they had the same month of the previous year. 1/ www.kut.org/energy-envir...

City staff suggested "instead of building 26.6 acres of caps [...] Austin could construct fewer than 8 acres, covering just Cesar Chavez to Fourth Street and 11th to 12th Street. This [..] would reduce the total price tag to $360 million." from @kutnathan.bsky.social www.kut.org/transportati...

Aurora Energy's Olivier Beaufils on what modeling reveals about the grid and cost impacts of limiting solar & wind development in Texas, and the massive potential benefits of reducing energy waste & increasing demand flexibility. #txlege #txenergy www.douglewin.com/p/the-impact...

Vote "The Disconnect" for Best Podcast in this year's "Best of Austin" Chronicle awards. For years we have helped make sense of the power grid with unmatched reporting and storytelling. More important now than ever! Literally no other podcast like it! vote.austinchronicle.com/politics-and...

Vote "The Disconnect" for Best Podcast in this year's "Best of Austin" Chronicle awards. For years we have helped make sense of the power grid with unmatched reporting and storytelling. More important now than ever! Literally no other podcast like it! vote.austinchronicle.com/politics-and...

Dangerous heat incoming! May triple digits were exceptionally rare in Austin until recently. From 1898 (when records began) to 2002 only three years saw May triple digits. This will be our sixth such year since 2003. www.kut.org/energy-envir...

We've got a TON of info on what Trump's executive order targeting public media funding could mean for @kutnews.bsky.social and @kutx.bsky.social, and stations across the country. Been a little surreal helping with this report on threats to our own operations. www.kut.org/politics/202...

Let's say Harris won last year and Vance was holding 10k-20k person rallies where he railed against left-wing "oligarchy." Would the CW be that this was crazy and a waste of time? Or would we be seeing NYT op-eds and A1s about what "oligarchy" is and why the GOP base was on fire about it?

After this week's rains, a familiar chirping has returned to Austin. The frogs are back. After this story published, I got a ton of feedback about what people think the frogs sound like. One of my favorites was "sneakers on a basketball court." www.kut.org/energy-envir...

"Building new power plants in Texas is about religion." The state pledged billions for more gas power. What does it mean for the power grid, costs and the climate? All that and more in the season finale of The Disconnect. kutkutx.studio/the-disconne...

One of the worst things to happen to TV news in my lifetime is the fixation on how politicians should deal with a crisis from a PR perspective rather than the scandal itself. This wasn't common years ago. They just discussed the substance of the news, not how politicians should spin things.

TOMORROW: Texas Senate will hear SB 819, a bill that would severely limit energy development, restrict Texas' economic growth, raise consumer costs, and make a mockery of private property rights. I'll be tracking and reporting on the hearing live at douglewin.com

Nice solidarity here when Greene calls on an American: "I'm an American journalist, and I'd like to hear your answer to what she's asking."

Spot the camouflaged parrots.

Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.

Batteries shattered the record in ERCOT today w/ over 5,500 megawatts, meeting 10.3% of power demand. Previous record was less than 5,000 megawatts. There were well over 25,000 megawatts of gas and coal plants offline today. Batteries are keeping us out of energy emergencies.

It used to be when a huge hailstone fell in a cow pasture only the cows would see it. Nowadays, that pasture may have turned into a sprawling subdivision, and everyone who lives there has a cell phone to document the discovery (and the damage). www.kut.org/energy-envir...

Literally the the Avengers of Texas energy podcasting. Cap @mosebuchele.bsky.social and Iron Man @douglewin.bsky.social

NEW: In October, we published secret recordings of Russell Vought discussing plans to eviscerate entire agencies and decimate the morale of federal workers if Trump won a second term. It's hard to imagine a more prescient piece of journalism, our editor-in-chief @sengelberg.bsky.social writes.

In this episode we untangle the spaghetti bowl of Texas pipelines. We talk pipeline monopolies, allegations of massive energy company fraud during the 2021 blackout, and hear from a former Enron guy who says he can prove it all. Join us on The Disconnect! kutkutx.studio/the-disconne...

One of the weirder stories I heard while working on the new season of the Disconnect is about Larry Hagman, dressed as JR Ewing, going to an OPEC meeting to tell them to double the price of oil. It was told to me by former Railroad Commissioner Kent Hance. Check it out. www.kut.org/energy-envir...

It's the penultimate day of @kutnews.bsky.social's membership drive. No sugar coating it, tough times in media. But what we do, from incisive local reporting, to podcasts like The Disconnect to community events like ATXplained, is truly special. Pitch in if you can! donate.kut.org

Texas falls from global oil dominance, the 1970s energy crisis strikes, and a gas company cuts power to millions. What comes next? Political intrigue, a fractured system of Texas energy regulation and then.. JR visits OPEC! Check this episode out! kutkutx.studio/the-disconne...

In the category of smart people giving you something you can’t get anywhere else, really loving the 3rd season of The Disconnect by @mosebuchele.bsky.social (show exploring the history and logistics of the Texas Power Grid and what does/doesn’t work). Second episode was about a bar fight.

A drunken fight in an Austin hotel prompted the state AG to say the “end was near” for the Texas oil lobby (it wasn’t). It had newspapers telling lobbyists to stop drinking whiskey (they didn't). But it did change the course of the oil industry forever. www.kut.org/energy-envir...

Strong drink and a bad attitude are never a good combination. But, occasionally, they do change history. In this episode of The Disconnect learn how a drunken brawl in downtown Austin delivered a system of energy price fixing that persists to this day. kutkutx.studio/the-disconne...

ERCOT is issuing a "weather watch" this Wednesday through Friday (19th-21st). This is basically the grid operator's way of saying they're aware cold weather is incoming but: "grid conditions are expected to be normal during an ERCOT Weather Watch." 1/2

It's been four years since the big Texas blackout. What's changed? What hasn't? And what to make of the ERCOT report showing potential energy shortfalls next year? www.kut.org/energy-envir...

@mosebuchele.bsky.social and @mcglinchyreports.bsky.social tell some pretty wild stories about the history of oil and gas this season — fascinating stuff, even if you're not in Texas.

LATEST: Elon Musk is building a company town outside of Austin, Texas. Local leaders say it'll be 10x the size that's been reported. This and more in my latest Elon deep dive. www.kut.org/austin/2025-... #ElonMusk #Boring #SpaceX #Tesla #Elon #Musk #ATX #AustinTX #Texas #txlege #Snailbrook

Season 3 of The Disconnect — our podcast about the Texas power grid — has begun. This time: natural gas — how it failed in the 2021 blackout and why TX leaders call it the future of a reliable grid. The first episode is all about the con man who started it all. kutkutx.studio/category/the...

Hello Bluesky! The new season of our power grid podcast The Disconnect is out! This time we look at the oil and gas industry's role in keeping the lights on. We start with the roaring history of martial law, oil bootlegging and con artistry in the East Texas oilfield! kutkutx.studio/the-disconne...