Latest / Austin Signal / Reflecting on the year of news in Austin

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Reflecting on the year of news in Austin · Austin Signal

0:09
It's the last week of 2025
0:11
and we are reflecting on the year
0:12
that was in news here in Austin.
0:15
We had a resolution on a
0:16
decades-long cold case known as the
0:18
yogurt shop murders, the summer's
0:20
deadly flooding in Austin and
0:21
central Texas, and school campuses
0:24
set to shudder across the city.
0:26
We're going to talk more about the
0:27
news that demanded our attention
0:28
this year and housing is
0:30
always a big topic of discussion in
0:32
Austin, and 2025 was no
0:34
different. More about the status
0:36
of Austin's housing market heading
0:38
into the new year.
0:39
That is coming up next.
0:41
The Austin Signal is a production
0:42
of KUT News, hosted by
0:45
Jerry Quijano.
0:46
Plus, no day or year in
0:47
Austin would be complete without a
0:49
little music. We've got another
0:50
favorite track from 2025,
0:53
and we'll talk about some of the
0:54
artists we lost this year.
0:56
That's coming up next on Austin
0:57
Signal.
1:08
Howdy, and thank you for tuning in
1:10
to Austin Signal.
1:12
This is KUT News 90.5.
1:15
We're on the KUT app and online at
1:17
KUT.org.
1:19
Proud to be listener powered
1:20
public radio.
1:22
It's Monday, December 29th, the
1:24
final Monday of 2025, the
1:25
last week of the year.
1:27
I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
1:29
Thank you for being here.
1:30
We're gonna be looking back on the
1:32
year that was, but first
1:33
we wanted to update you with a bit
1:35
of local news.
1:36
Bob Kafka, an Austin-based activist
1:38
who pushed for accessibility at the
1:40
local, state, and federal level for
1:42
more than 40 years died at his
1:44
home here in the city last Friday.
1:46
The former Army veteran moved to
1:47
Texas in 1974 after
1:49
a car crash left him with
1:51
quadriplegia.
1:52
From there, he began a decades-long
1:54
career in activism for disability
1:56
rights.
1:57
Kafka is survived by his longtime
1:59
partner and fellow advocate
2:00
Stephanie Thomas, who
2:06
and more recently, voting rights
2:08
for people with disabilities.
2:10
This is Austin Signal.
2:12
Thank you for tuning in today.
2:15
We're wrapping up 2025 by
2:17
looking and listening back to the
2:18
year that was here at KUT and
2:20
KUTx.
2:22
Now, if you listen to KUT
2:23
frequently, you know that there is
2:25
a lot going on here in Austin,
2:27
as well as across the state, pretty
2:28
much across the entire globe.
2:30
So today, we're gonna reflect on
2:32
some of the bigger stories covered
2:33
by the KUT newsroom.
2:35
Over the course of this year,
2:37
Saida Carrillo is a senior editor
2:38
for KUT News.
2:39
She is joining us now.
2:40
Hi Saida.
2:41
Hi Jerry, good to be with you.
2:43
I'm glad you are joining us
2:44
to give us a little bit of a rewind
2:46
into what we experienced
2:48
this year here in Austin.
2:50
It is the holiday season.
2:51
We're not expecting the sort of
2:52
airport delays that were caused by
2:54
the federal government shut down a
2:56
few weeks ago, but Austin's airport
2:58
had already been dealing with issues
3:00
already this year. What's the story
3:01
there?
3:02
Yes, so that was one
3:03
of our biggest stories in 2025
3:06
was Nathan Bernier's coverage of
3:08
the air traffic controller shortage
3:10
at Austin's airport, which, as
3:12
you mentioned, of course was
3:13
exacerbated during the government
3:15
shutdown. But this has really been
3:17
a source of ongoing delays at
3:19
airport as Nathan reported back
3:20
in June.
3:21
He found that the Austin
3:23
Airport actually only has about
3:25
half the number of controllers
3:27
that are recommended by federal
3:29
guidelines.
3:30
And so that's led to not only
3:32
ground delays, but also staff
3:34
working a lot of overtime,
3:36
sometimes working six-day work
3:38
weeks. And I think that's an issue
3:39
that really was relevant to
3:41
anybody that flies out of ABIA.
3:44
Absolutely.
3:45
We are almost seven months removed
3:46
now from the devastating flooding
3:48
that killed a lot of people in the
3:50
Texas Hill country, as well as here
3:51
in the Austin area.
3:52
I wanted to talk a little bit about
3:53
how our reporters contributed to
3:55
that reporting, you know, that we
3:57
obviously have our local needs
3:58
here in the Austin Area, but there's
4:00
also a statewide, a
4:03
statewide view that we have to
4:05
take of things.
4:05
How did KUT reporters jump into
4:07
that reporting?
4:08
Yeah, absolutely.
4:09
So it certainly didn't happen in a
4:11
vacuum. The Hill Country flooding
4:12
affected folks from all across
4:14
central Texas and the Austin and
4:16
San Antonio areas.
4:17
Our reporters spent a lot of time on
4:19
the ground talking with people that
4:21
were affected, particularly in
4:23
the Big Sandy Creek area in
4:25
Travis County.
4:26
So I think that they spent a lot
4:28
of times building meaningful
4:29
relationships with folks that were
4:31
affected and finding out what type
4:33
of information was going to be
4:34
useful to them in terms of
4:36
how to navigate.
4:37
Things like FEMA aid
4:39
or insurance and getting
4:41
back on their feet.
4:42
And also you might remember, Jerry,
4:44
people here in Austin were really
4:46
looking for ways to help.
4:48
You might remember the lines we
4:49
saw down the road at the local
4:51
P. Terry's the day that they were
4:53
donating their profits.
4:54
So really just a
4:57
community-wide picture, I think, of
4:59
what that flooding response
5:01
looked like, and then most recently,
5:03
our Williamson County reporter,
5:04
Kaylee Hunt. Visited with a family
5:06
that she had been talking with
5:08
previously in Big Sandy Creek that
5:10
lost their farm.
5:11
And they actually spent Thanksgiving
5:13
with one of the volunteers that
5:15
had been helping them and assisting
5:17
with cleanup efforts in the area.
5:19
So the recovery is ongoing and
5:21
good to keep in touch with folks and
5:23
follow their stories as it continues
5:25
on.
5:25
Yeah, and Kaylee's been doing a
5:27
really great job of staying in
5:28
contact with those folks.
5:29
We're gonna have links to a lot of
5:31
these stories in our show notes at
5:32
kut.org slash signal
5:34
There was also a big breakthrough
5:36
this year in a decades-long Austin
5:39
cold case. What was that?
5:40
Yes, the Austin yogurt
5:42
shot murders in September.
5:45
Austin police identified a new
5:47
suspect after they linked his DNA
5:49
from the scene to another case.
5:51
And I think that that was a moment
5:52
in Austin where it really
5:54
just kind of a lot of folks just
5:56
took in the gravity of this
5:58
development. You know, this was a
5:59
case back from 1991,
6:01
where the families of the victims
6:03
have been waiting and searching
6:05
for answers for literally decades.
6:07
And so Andrew Weber put
6:09
together a really beautiful
6:11
retrospective piece talking with
6:13
folks who had been involved in
6:15
investigating or reporting on the
6:17
case.
6:18
Also our current mayor, Austin Mayor
6:19
Kirk Watson, who was mayor back
6:22
when there were some significant
6:23
developments in the case earlier on.
6:25
And so I would really encourage
6:27
folks to check out that story for
6:29
a good look at kind of the
6:31
significance of this development to
6:32
the city and Austin's history.
6:34
Yeah, so it's a really great radio
6:36
story definitely worth checking out
6:38
and Finally a big story this
6:40
year that will surely continue on
6:41
into 2026 are the
6:43
school closures happening at Austin
6:44
ISD remind us how many campuses
6:46
are closing it and why are they
6:48
closing them?
6:49
So Austin ISD in November
6:51
voted to close 10 schools
6:53
and this is happening because
6:55
the district is doing this in an
6:57
effort to save money as they are
6:59
facing a really major budget
7:01
shortfall.
7:02
Katie McAfee has been following this
7:04
story for KUT and there
7:06
will be lots more changes to come
7:08
at Austin IST before the
7:10
start of the next school year and
7:12
she and other KUT reporters will
7:13
definitely be following those
7:15
developments.
7:15
Yeah, and you can find all of those
7:17
developments at KUT.org.
7:19
Saeeda, one last question for you.
7:21
You mentioned a few reporters there,
7:23
but there's a lot more that goes on
7:24
in the KUT newsroom.
7:26
What are you most proud of your team
7:28
this year accomplishing as you look
7:30
back on 2025?
7:31
Oh, that's a great question.
7:33
I think that there's just been so
7:34
much great storytelling
7:36
around these stories that all
7:38
could have just been, you know, kind
7:40
of quick hit, here's the headline
7:42
and here's what happened.
7:43
But I'm really proud of the work
7:44
that reporters did to dive
7:46
deeper, tell the history
7:47
and the human stories behind
7:50
some of these headlines.
7:51
I think when you look at any of
7:52
these stories, you really get a
7:54
deeper picture of the folks
7:56
behind stories like the
7:58
yogurt shop murder investigations,
8:00
or even folks that are working in
8:01
the air traffic control tower,
8:03
I think reporters have done an
8:04
excellent job of making those
8:06
stories come to life.
8:07
Yeah, bringing Austin to life on
8:09
the radio.
8:10
That is Saida Carrillo, she is a
8:11
senior editor for KUT News.
8:13
Saida, thank you for your time
8:14
today.
8:14
Thanks, Jerry.
8:19
Buying a home in Austin has
8:21
come with lots of ups and downs over
8:22
the last several years.
8:24
Add in inflation and tariffs and
8:26
things only get more complicated.
8:28
But it seems as though the market is
8:30
starting to level out.
8:31
KUT's Jennifer Stayton talked about
8:33
it with KUT City Hall reporter
8:35
Luz Moreno Lozano.
8:37
All right, so first of all, let's
8:39
start just with where we are right
8:41
now. Luz, what did buying a house
8:43
look like?
8:44
In 2025?
8:45
Well, from what I heard from
8:47
experts, they felt that buying a
8:48
house while still not easy
8:51
was a tad less painful this
8:53
year. And when I say that, I mean,
8:54
that means a little less expensive
8:56
and less competition.
8:58
And we're going to be talking about
8:59
why this is happening throughout the
9:01
conversation, but it seems like, I
9:03
don't want to jinx it, it seems like
9:04
those things are starting to
9:06
stabilize.
9:07
Is that a fair way to characterize
9:09
it?
9:09
Yeah, home prices have
9:11
started to level off.
9:13
And that could be better heading
9:14
into next year.
9:16
But we should talk about one of the
9:17
big factors that keep people from
9:19
purchasing a home, and that's the
9:20
mortgage interest rate.
9:21
Right, anybody who right now
9:23
is buying a house or has bought a
9:25
house knows that those rates
9:26
help determine your monthly payment.
9:28
Exactly.
9:29
So right now, those interest rates
9:30
are hovering around 6%
9:33
for a 30-year fixed loan, and it's
9:34
a little lower for 15 years.
9:37
I heard from the Austin Board of
9:38
Realtors that they expect that
9:40
to remain around the same.
9:42
It might even dip a little next
9:44
year, but that is
9:46
still relatively high compared
9:48
to those interest rates we were
9:49
seeing during the pandemic.
9:50
Lou, so if the Austin Board of
9:52
Realtors is right and those rates
9:53
stay level or maybe even slide a
9:55
little bit, what could that
9:57
mean for home buyers?
9:59
Well, if those rates stay
10:00
consistent, that could help lead
10:02
some folks who were on the fence to
10:03
the purchase side of things.
10:05
The lower the rate, the less it will
10:06
cost to buy a home and the
10:08
more people that will be able to
10:10
afford to buy one.
10:11
So we do want to see those rates go
10:12
down a little bit more.
10:13
All right, so, Lou, speaking of
10:15
affording a home, just out of
10:17
curiosity, what is a home
10:19
running, roughly price-wise,
10:20
for Austinites these days?
10:22
Well, the median home price for
10:24
the Austin area was $439,000
10:27
in October, and that's about the
10:29
same as it was last year.
10:31
It seems we might see pricing go
10:33
down a little bit, and we'll get to
10:34
that in a second, but one of the
10:36
things to note about that 439K
10:39
is less than it was more than
10:41
two years ago.
10:42
So back in June, 2023,
10:44
the median Home price peaked out at
10:46
like $480,000,
10:48
so.
10:49
That is what we're talking about
10:50
when we say, a little less strain on
10:51
your pocketbook. I mean, that's a
10:53
pretty big difference.
10:53
So why is the median home price
10:56
in Austin lower now than it
10:57
was a little over two years ago?
11:00
Right, so home pricing
11:01
is also determined by supply and
11:03
demand.
11:04
I heard from experts that there is a
11:06
lot of supply right now, both new
11:08
and resale.
11:10
Builders put a lot houses on
11:11
the ground during the pandemic, but
11:13
also people are starting to move
11:14
outside of Austin and putting those
11:16
homes on the market too.
11:17
So then those suburban areas must be
11:19
seeing growth.
11:20
Oh yeah.
11:21
If you drive anywhere outside
11:23
Austin right now, it feels like
11:25
there are new homes in every corner.
11:27
And what I heard from the Austin
11:28
Board of Realtors is that more and
11:30
more developers are starting to
11:31
build outside of Austin in places
11:33
like Williamson, Hayes and Bastrop
11:34
counties, and even in San Antonio
11:36
and Colleen.
11:37
And that's because they are wanting
11:38
to build in these areas because they
11:40
want to be able to provide homes
11:42
that people can actually afford.
11:44
Well, Lou, so that word
11:45
affordability, what can
11:47
people actually afford?
11:50
Yeah, it's an excellent question.
11:51
Affordability is relative, but I was
11:53
told that to get more people into
11:55
housing, that price needs to be
11:57
closer to like $400,000,
12:00
in addition to a drop in those
12:01
mortgage rates that we were all
12:03
putting on our wishlist.
12:04
All right, Lou, so then let's talk
12:05
about what's ahead.
12:06
What is 2026 looking
12:08
like for the housing market in the
12:10
Austin area?
12:10
Yeah, people in the industry are
12:12
hopeful that we're going to see more
12:14
stabilization.
12:15
We mentioned tariffs and inflation
12:16
earlier that has started to
12:18
normalize in the last several months
12:19
and that is expected to continue.
12:21
Home prices should stay relatively
12:23
flat and mortgage rates are likely
12:25
the same because the
12:27
less fluctuating there is, the more
12:29
confident buyers are feeling.
12:30
And Lou, so the last thing that we
12:32
should mention about the 2026 market
12:34
is Austin's efforts to bring
12:36
housing costs down.
12:37
Yes, the home initiative.
12:39
So Austin created that home options
12:41
for mobility and equity program.
12:44
The goal is to create more housing
12:46
and different kinds of housing to
12:47
make buying a home more affordable.
12:50
We saw a recent report found that
12:52
the city is starting to make some
12:53
headway in this effort.
12:54
They've had hundreds of permits
12:56
already approved to create a more
12:58
dense housing in these single family
12:59
neighborhoods.
13:01
And there have been little negative
13:02
impacts with it.
13:03
So, Luz, how does the city feel like
13:05
the program's going right now?
13:06
Yeah, I think they're encouraged by
13:08
what they've seen so far, but you
13:10
know, only time will tell.
13:11
And they know that this is just
13:13
one of the tools in the toolbox that
13:15
helps create more buying options for
13:17
us tonight.
13:18
All right, that was KUT City Hall
13:19
reporter Luz Moreno-Lozano.
13:21
Thanks for joining us, Luz.
13:22
Thanks, Jen.
13:23
And you can read more of her
13:25
coverage at KUT.org.
13:28
This is Austin Signal.
13:44
Hi, you're listening to Austin
13:45
Signal. My name is Taylor Wallace.
13:47
I'm the morning drive time host and
13:48
song of the day producer over at
13:50
KUTX.
13:51
And my favorite Austin song of the
13:53
year is Anything to Get It
13:55
by Blah Spa.
13:56
That's what I deserve
13:59
Shake a leg, shuffle past,
14:01
send it, eat, deliver No warning,
14:04
no telling
14:05
One of my favorite genres
14:07
is dance punk,
14:09
so anything that is or is
14:11
tangential to at all
14:13
dance punk is
14:15
me, me all over it,
14:17
and so it's just like,
14:19
that whole album is just amazing.
14:37
I saw these guys a few years ago at
14:39
Rio Mart, up the street from campus.
14:41
Yes, there's a convenience store
14:43
that has random shows at four
14:44
o'clock in the afternoon, and I
14:46
was in love.
14:50
Set me up for the
14:52
attack
14:55
For fans of Austin music of decades
14:57
past, get ready for some
14:59
real big boys bassline
15:01
energy.
15:02
Match with the attitude of the
15:03
hives.
15:06
I'm not going to stop Put
15:08
it up fast, but it don't
15:10
even hurt
15:11
And once you've properly fallen in
15:13
love with them like I do, you can
15:14
see them at the KUTX Free Week Show
15:16
Friday, January 9th at Stubbs
15:18
Indoors.
15:22
Take me get it
15:28
And to showcase both of those
15:29
things, here's a little bit of Blah
15:31
Spa's Anything to Get It.
15:44
You're listening to Austin Signal.
15:46
My name is Taylor Wallace.
15:47
I'm the morning drive time host at
15:48
KUTX and the Song of the Day
15:50
producer.
15:55
And you can find more of KUTX's
15:58
favorite songs of 2025
16:00
that is at KUTx.org.
16:05
The loss of musicians important to
16:07
Austin and Central Texas in 2025
16:09
has been a heavy blow.
16:11
As we look back at the folks that
16:13
we've lost, we're also taking time
16:15
to recognize their musical
16:17
contributions.
16:18
Host Miles Bloxson sat down
16:20
with Rick McNulty, music director
16:22
for KUT-X.
16:23
To remember a few of these
16:25
musicians.
16:27
It's been really hard out here for
16:29
Texas music fans.
16:30
I mean, we just lost Joe
16:32
Ely a couple weeks ago.
16:33
Could you tell us a little bit about
16:35
him?
16:35
Yeah, he was a...
16:37
Kind of a rock and roll sort
16:39
of Texas roots.
16:42
You know, he performed it with
16:43
gusto.
16:43
With a briefcase full of money and
16:45
a pistol in his boot The
16:48
cards are on the table when
16:50
the law came bustin'
16:52
in The road goes on forever,
16:54
a party never ends
16:59
He was a bit of a rebel growing up
17:00
in Lubbock, and
17:02
he was kind of
17:04
a pioneer in the sense of that
17:06
roots rock with Jimmy Dale, Gilmore,
17:08
and Butch Hancock with the
17:09
Flatlanders.
17:11
And then when their first record
17:12
went belly up, he just went after it
17:14
on his own and became
17:16
actually kind of well known through
17:17
the Clash of all bands,
17:20
the English rockers,
17:21
if you will.
17:23
And from that point on, he was just
17:25
kind of the staple of Austin music
17:26
by the time he had moved here.
17:28
Oh wow, we've also got a link to
17:30
the memorial piece on kut.org.
17:33
We also lost Flaco Jimenez
17:35
for folks who don't know who was
17:37
he.
17:37
He was a brilliant accordionist
17:40
from San Antonio, caught the
17:42
attention of Doug Som way back when,
17:44
joined the Texas Tornadoes,
17:46
and then he specialized in
17:48
like Conjunto, Norteño,
17:50
Tejano, and yet he also recorded
17:52
with Dr. John, Bob Dylan,
17:54
Freddie Fender, and the Rolling
17:55
Stones.
18:08
And along those lines, we also lost
18:10
another pioneer of music,
18:12
Raul Malo, right?
18:14
I mean, what does he mean to
18:16
music in Texas in general?
18:17
Well, even though he was from
18:18
Florida, we won't hold that against
18:20
him. Um, he was
18:22
beloved here.
18:22
He had a lot of friends on the scene
18:24
and he was an honorary
18:26
citizen of Texas.
18:27
No doubt about it.
18:28
He was friends with just about
18:29
everybody in this town.
18:32
But you need to see
18:52
and this year also brought the loss
18:54
of Bobby Whitlock, a key member
18:56
of Derek and the Dominoes.
18:58
What should people know about his
19:00
legacy?
19:01
Well, he grew up in Memphis
19:03
and learned how to play organ from
19:05
Booker T. Of Booker-T.
19:06
The M.G.'s.
19:08
Became kind of a soul guy, but then
19:10
toured in England, became friends
19:12
with Eric Clapton and George
19:13
Harrison.
19:25
Really, the biggest thing about
19:27
Bobby Whitlock, besides writing a
19:28
couple of great songs on that
19:29
Derrick and the Dominoes album, was
19:31
that he is on
19:33
the Rolling Stones' greatest album,
19:35
but he's uncredited, exile on Main
19:37
Streets, and he's also on George
19:38
Harrison's All Things Must Pass as a
19:40
session musician.
19:56
And finally, there's Todd Snyder.
19:58
Who is Todd Snyde to Austin?
20:00
Todd Snyder was a beloved
20:01
honorary Austinite, if you will.
20:03
He had an acerbic sense of humor,
20:05
great songwriter, and
20:07
cut his teeth a lot here
20:09
in Central Texas,
20:11
even though he kind of grew up on
20:13
the West Coast.
20:14
A little out of place,
20:18
a little out-of-tune
20:21
Sort of lost in space,
20:25
racing the moon
20:29
Climbing the walls
20:31
of this hurricane
20:35
Still lower off
20:40
can't complain.
20:43
All I wanted was one
20:45
chance.
20:50
And all of these musicians and all
20:51
these people who you know advocated
20:53
for music just in general like
20:55
how is this for Texas now like
20:57
what do we do where do we go from
20:58
here Rick this is this is a lot of
21:00
a lot, of great musicians that we
21:02
lost.
21:02
Well, the first thing we do is get
21:03
some more bubble wrap and put it
21:05
around Willie. And then after that,
21:07
we just, I mean, we're coming
21:08
to the time in our lives where a lot
21:10
of these great musicians are hitting
21:12
a certain age, and you know, a lot
21:13
them did not treat their body so
21:15
well. So we're kind of staring
21:17
down mortality.
21:19
I think each passing year, for
21:21
those of the rock generation, it's
21:23
going to be a little tougher and
21:24
sadder.
21:25
And which one of these like hit you
21:27
the hardest? I mean, because this is
21:28
a list of a lot of musicians here.
21:30
Surprisingly, it was Raul Malo.
21:32
I said I'd never
21:34
want your love again.
21:38
I could, you know, I was a fan of
21:39
the Mavericks, but I didn't really
21:41
appreciate his
21:43
singing voice as much as I should
21:45
have. And then when we were starting
21:46
to talk about him and play his music
21:47
right after he passed, it was like,
21:49
oh, what I wouldn't give to
21:51
see him one more time live.
21:53
Yeah, and I think that happens a
21:54
lot, right? We have these musicians
21:56
right in front of us and we take
21:57
them for granted when they're here.
21:59
And then when they leave, they leave
22:00
these long-lasting legacies and
22:02
at least they leave us their music.
22:04
That is the most valuable lesson is
22:06
to see them before they go,
22:08
before they stop coming.
22:09
And, you know, I've done that
22:11
myself. I'm like, oh, I'll catch
22:12
them the next time. No, there is no
22:13
text next time I wouldn't
22:15
advise every one of you.
22:16
If you've got a favorite out there
22:17
that it's still alive, see them
22:18
before they do.
22:20
We've been speaking with KUTX music
22:21
director Rick McNulty.
22:23
Rick, thanks so much for being with
22:24
us here on Austin Sigma.
22:26
It is a pleasure.
22:30
And that is it for
22:32
today's show.
22:33
We're gonna have a link to a bunch
22:34
of the stories and the music we
22:36
talked about in our show notes that
22:38
is at kut.org
22:40
slash signal.
22:42
Kristin Cabrera is our managing
22:44
producer.
22:44
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
22:46
director.
22:48
And Jimmy Mass is Austin Signal's
22:50
Santa Claus.
22:50
I'm his elf and your host, Jerry
22:53
Quijano.
22:53
We will be back tomorrow and
22:55
we'll talk to you then.
22:56
Have a great Monday.