Latest / Austin Signal / Austin ISD planning to cut hundreds of jobs

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Austin ISD planning to cut hundreds of jobs · Austin Signal

0:08
The Austin Independent School
0:09
District is planning to cut hundreds
0:11
of jobs in its upcoming budget.
0:13
That would include teachers,
0:15
librarians, and campus law
0:16
enforcement.
0:17
It's the latest slash as the
0:18
district tries to make up a nearly
0:20
$200 million dollar deficit.
0:22
And Cap Metro's bike share system
0:24
has been shut down since the
0:25
Memorial Day weekend and they're not
0:27
sure when it's going to be back
0:28
online.
0:29
A forensic investigator is examining
0:31
whether lithium ion batteries caused
0:33
the problem.
0:34
More about those stories coming up
0:36
on today's show.
0:37
The Austin Signal is a production
0:39
of KUT News, hosted by
0:41
Jerry Quijano.
0:42
Plus, we're coming up on the final
0:44
weekend of the Kerrville Folk
0:45
Festival.
0:46
Let's take a trip out to the Texas
0:48
Hill Country to get a taste of
0:50
the talent.
0:50
We've got those stories and more
0:52
coming up next, and it's right
0:54
here on Austin Signal.
1:01
Thank you.
1:07
Howdy out there.
1:08
This is Austin Signal.
1:09
It's Thursday, June 4th.
1:10
I'm your host, Jerry Kiechanal.
1:13
The University of Texas at Austin
1:14
has started the removal of the
1:16
campus statue honoring Labor leader
1:17
Cesar Chavez.
1:19
The move comes as Chavez's legacy
1:21
is under scrutiny after a New York
1:23
Times investigation earlier this
1:24
year detailed allegations that he
1:26
sexually abused women and girls.
1:28
The KUT Newsroom is working on this
1:30
developing story, and we'll keep
1:32
you updated here on Austin Signal
1:35
The Austin Independent School
1:36
District plans to cut hundreds of
1:38
jobs next year, including teacher
1:39
positions.
1:40
That's in the new draft of the
1:42
budget released by the school
1:43
district. Here to help us parse out
1:45
what this new budget says is
1:47
Greta Diaz-Gonzalez-Vazquez.
1:48
She is KUT's education reporter.
1:50
Greta, thank you for being here.
1:52
Hi Jerry.
1:53
So I know one of the biggest
1:55
things that folks are talking about
1:56
is the loss of jobs coming out of
1:57
this budget. Tell us more about
1:58
that.
1:59
Yes, yes, that's the biggest thing.
2:01
AISD said it would be 558
2:04
positions that will be affected.
2:05
That does not mean that that number
2:07
of people will lose their jobs.
2:09
We just got numbers from the
2:10
district yesterday because these
2:12
were not numbers that were shared
2:13
with the community as a whole.
2:15
So they said that approximately
2:17
107 vacancies will
2:19
be eliminated, so jobs that
2:21
will not be filled and then
2:23
112 certified
2:25
teachers will be impacted.
2:27
Now Certified teachers are
2:29
safe. They will not be laid
2:31
off. They will just be placed in
2:33
another school.
2:34
So 49 out of those
2:36
112 have been placed and
2:39
around 30 are either
2:41
in progress or waiting for
2:43
placement.
2:44
And 58 will not
2:46
placed in other school
2:48
either because they have resigned or
2:50
retired.
2:52
27 non-certified teachers
2:54
will be impacted.
2:55
So this means that they are
2:57
not guaranteed a job.
2:58
They might be laid off.
2:59
They might without a job next
3:01
school year for 2026, 2027
3:04
school year.
3:06
TA teachers will
3:07
also be impacted that will be 53
3:10
TA teachers.
3:12
This number, they said that they
3:13
will be notified between today
3:15
and tomorrow.
3:17
And we also know that 55
3:19
counselors and librarians
3:21
will be impacted.
3:22
They will be placed also in
3:24
other campuses.
3:26
And we can talk about librarians
3:28
in a little bit.
3:29
And they will also eliminate
3:31
228 department vacancies
3:33
at the central office.
3:34
So it's a lot of cuts.
3:36
Also, campus cuts overall
3:38
will help save $31
3:40
million, because,
3:42
well, yeah, there's a big budget
3:43
deficit, $181 million.
3:46
And some of the changes at campuses
3:48
will also include some that
3:50
we already knew and we have
3:51
discussed here on the signal, like
3:53
cutting planning time for teachers,
3:55
including now also elementary
3:57
teachers. That used to be only for
4:00
middle school and high
4:02
schools. Now that also includes
4:03
elementary teachers and
4:05
increasing the student
4:07
per teacher ratio at elementary
4:09
schools.
4:09
And then also now we know that they
4:11
will cut the number of librarians.
4:14
Campuses with less than 400 students
4:16
will go to having 0.5
4:18
librarians. So that's a part-time
4:20
librarian.
4:21
Same thing goes for counselors.
4:23
The number of counselors per school
4:24
will go down.
4:26
And we also knew that they
4:28
were gonna cut and they will
4:29
continue with this, special
4:31
education and bilingual stipends.
4:34
I talked to a teacher who was
4:35
impacted by the cuts or who was told
4:37
that her position would not.
4:39
Be kept.
4:40
We have heard from her before.
4:41
It's a teacher that used to work at
4:43
Becker. Then she was assigned to
4:44
another school and then that
4:45
position has been cut.
4:46
Her name is Christina coral.
4:48
Let's listen to her.
4:49
So it's been
4:50
been a roller coaster,
4:52
an emotional roller coaster the
4:54
entire time.
4:56
And I think I can speak for many of
4:58
my colleagues that have also been
4:59
cut when I say that the
5:01
main way that this has affected us
5:03
is not only financial insecurity,
5:05
job security, but the
5:07
fact that Many of us
5:09
don't believe that we
5:11
have been considered
5:13
as professionals.
5:15
We have mainly just been considered
5:17
as a number, as a way
5:19
to save the district money.
5:21
So let's talk about those 550
5:23
plus impacted positions.
5:26
How is it being decided who
5:28
stays, who goes?
5:29
What do we know about that?
5:30
Right, right. Like I mentioned,
5:31
certified teachers, Superintendent
5:33
Matias Segura said that they have a
5:35
job secured.
5:36
Maybe they will be moved to a
5:37
different campus, but they will have
5:38
a job.
5:39
Now non-certified staff could be
5:41
facing layoffs, could be
5:43
facing like a part-time position as
5:45
well. The district has many
5:47
vacancies, so they will start
5:48
cutting from there, but that doesn't
5:50
mean that they have enough vacancies
5:52
to cut that nobody will be affected.
5:55
In case of librarians, for example,
5:56
what I've been told is that the
5:58
district will reduce the number of
6:00
librarians. But that doesn't mean
6:01
that some schools will, or
6:03
librarians will be cut more like,
6:05
that doesn' mean that librarians
6:06
will lose a job.
6:08
It means that some librarians will
6:09
move to another school to do
6:11
part-time at their current school
6:12
and then part- time at another
6:14
school. And then I talked to
6:16
Ken Seraphis, who's the president of
6:18
Education Austin.
6:19
And he told me that it's very
6:21
painful because this time around
6:23
the cuts will impact the whole
6:25
district. Let's hear him.
6:26
If you look at the details in there,
6:28
it's about everything.
6:29
It's about every position or
6:31
about every part of
6:33
AISD is having to give
6:35
up money.
6:36
And it's really hard because this
6:38
is all for kids.
6:39
That's the end of the day, this is
6:41
for all kids.
6:42
And the kids are gonna suffer
6:43
because of this.
6:44
They're gonna have less because of
6:46
these.
6:47
Greta, you've been doing some
6:48
reporting on your series of last
6:49
about AISD closing ten
6:51
campuses next year or
6:53
this summer.
6:55
Did that have any impact on the
6:56
budget at all?
6:57
So this is not an impact that
6:59
they're putting in there.
7:00
Closing these campuses has helped
7:01
save $1.5 million.
7:03
So if this hadn't happened, we
7:05
would be looking at a budget deficit
7:07
of over $200 million.
7:10
So I would say, yes, it did
7:11
help, but in the end, they are still
7:13
working on, they had already
7:15
considered those cuts for
7:17
next school year.
7:18
So we're still looking at budget
7:20
that's $181 million.
7:22
So clearly it did not help
7:24
enough.
7:25
And the cuts are being felt
7:27
across the district.
7:29
Okay, we have more about this budget
7:30
draft over at KUT.org.
7:33
It is just a draft proposal.
7:35
How much time is left to make a
7:37
change or save any jobs as part
7:38
of this draft?
7:39
Yeah, the board will discuss it
7:41
tonight. They will get more
7:43
information, but they
7:44
also have to vote on it by June 18th
7:47
or they're expected to do so by
7:49
June, 18th. So not a lot of time.
7:50
What else are you expecting from
7:52
that?
7:53
I think a lot of people will show up
7:55
to the board meeting to talk during
7:56
public comment.
7:57
So I'm hoping to be there and talk
7:59
to impacted teachers, to parents,
8:01
to staff, and just hear what the
8:03
community has to say.
8:05
Alright, that is Greta Diaz Gonzalez
8:06
Vazquez, she is KUT's education
8:08
reporter. Thank you for talking with
8:10
us.
8:10
Thank you, Jerry.
8:19
CapMetro's bike share system is
8:21
still shut down.
8:23
Almost 500 electric bikes have been
8:25
off the roads since Memorial Day
8:26
weekend after a fire at a CapMeto
8:28
facility.
8:30
As KUT's Nathan Bernier reports,
8:32
there's still no estimate on when
8:33
service will be restored.
8:35
Cap Metro bike share is supposed to
8:37
be easy.
8:38
You unlock a bike with your phone,
8:40
ride it across town, dock it
8:42
when you're done.
8:43
Costs $2.50 for half
8:45
an hour or 10 bucks a day.
8:48
Students can get an annual pass for
8:49
$75 or less.
8:52
Tag Brown, who lives in South
8:53
Austin, uses it when friends come to
8:55
town.
8:55
I love the bike share.
8:56
It's an awesome service.
8:58
And I feel like once you see Austin
8:59
from a bike, you see it from a new
9:01
perspective.
9:01
Over Memorial Day weekend, Brown was
9:03
on South Congress Avenue, near the
9:05
bike share station in front of Joe's
9:06
Coffee, and immediately he
9:08
realized something was very wrong.
9:10
I noticed when I got out of the car
9:12
the sky was just filled with white
9:13
smoke and it was almost like
9:15
ACL headliner level of like
9:17
smoke coverage and one of the
9:19
bikes was docked in the station,
9:21
it was just smoking profusely,
9:23
just emitting so much smoke.
9:25
Fire department came, they sprayed
9:26
it with water for quite a while.
9:28
The smoke itself though was putrid
9:30
and you know it
9:32
just had like kind of a sulfuric
9:33
scent to it and you got a little bit
9:35
and you're like I need to move away
9:36
from this immediately.
9:37
Cap Metro confirmed that incident
9:39
involved a bike battery.
9:42
And just a few hours later, that
9:43
same Saturday night, May 23rd,
9:46
an even bigger fire broke out at the
9:48
facility that keeps the whole bike
9:49
share system running.
9:51
We have a single-story
9:53
capital metro building with
9:56
gray smoke coming
9:58
out of the eaves.
9:59
This is Austin Fire Department radio
10:01
communication from that night.
10:03
The building is on an 11-acre cat
10:05
metro facility on East Ben White
10:06
Boulevard at Judson Road, just east
10:08
of Burleson.
10:09
When firefighters showed up, they
10:11
couldn't even enter the building
10:12
because it was too smoky and too
10:14
hot.
10:15
We have pretty hot heat inside,
10:18
over 300 degrees with those
10:19
ceilings, low
10:21
visibility, so we need a
10:23
ventilate before we start sending
10:24
people in here.
10:25
They forced open some roll-up doors.
10:28
Fire hoses were hooked up.
10:29
Engine 6 fire, fire.
10:30
Hydrogen, charge the line.
10:32
Some of the smoke cleared out, and
10:34
they finally got inside and located
10:36
the source of the fire.
10:38
We believe it's the batteries,
10:41
while they're popping up, we're
10:43
still fighting that, but visibility
10:45
has gotten better.
10:47
And it is a little bit
10:48
cooler.
10:49
The Fire Incident Report says it was
10:51
a room filled with batteries.
10:53
Firefighters cooled them enough to
10:55
load them into bins, rolled them
10:56
outside, and dunk them into water.
10:59
Inside division, do we have fire
11:00
knocked down?
11:02
Yes, we do.
11:03
The Austin Fire Department would not
11:05
provide an interview to KUT News,
11:06
but confirmed the fire is not being
11:08
investigated as an arson.
11:10
The next day, Cap Metro shut down
11:12
Bike Share citywide.
11:14
All the bikes had been removed from
11:16
docking stations across the city,
11:17
and there's no estimate for when the
11:19
service will be restored.
11:21
So to understand how one fire could
11:22
take hundreds of bikes off the
11:24
street, you have to understand what
11:26
Austin's Bike Share system came
11:28
to be.
11:31
What a beautiful and fantastic
11:33
day here in Austin, Texas.
11:35
We're here today to announce an
11:37
exciting new way for Austinites to
11:39
get around town.
11:40
It actually began way back in 2013,
11:42
as B-Cycle,
11:44
the late city council member Chris
11:46
Riley, a big bike guy, was
11:48
at the announcement.
11:49
Bike sharing is an innovative way to
11:51
make short trips by bike a
11:52
convenient and affordable option for
11:54
many in our community.
11:55
It started with old fashioned,
11:57
non-electric pedal bikes.
12:00
Eventually they brought in electric
12:01
bikes that give you an extra boost
12:03
when you're pedaling.
12:04
And they were so popular that the
12:06
Cap Metro executive in charge of the
12:07
program announced they were going
12:09
100% electric.
12:11
It's been very clear to us that
12:13
e-assist bikes are what
12:16
people prefer, it's what people
12:17
want.
12:18
Those are used three to five times
12:19
more often than the human powered,
12:22
manual powered bikes.
12:23
CapMetro went looking for a company
12:25
to supply the bikes.
12:26
In 2024, they settled on
12:29
PBSC Urban Solutions.
12:31
A lot of you might not be familiar
12:32
with that, but they're in about 50
12:34
cities around the world.
12:35
And they're owned by Lyft, the
12:36
rideshare company.
12:38
But there was one little detail that
12:39
confused a Cat Metro board member.
12:42
The docking stations don't actually
12:44
charge these new e-bikes.
12:46
They have to be charged someplace
12:47
else. I'm not sure I followed that
12:49
statement earlier.
12:50
The current plan is
12:52
replacing them as is.
12:53
There's going to be solar charging
12:55
to charge like the equipment and the
12:57
electronics.
12:58
And eventually with this expansion
12:59
plan, we're going to look more into
13:00
electrifying some of the stations so
13:03
that they charge when they dock.
13:04
But that's not the initial
13:05
replacement piece.
13:07
Instead, workers had to swap out the
13:09
batteries, drive the depleted
13:10
batteries to that facility on East
13:12
Benwhite Boulevard, and hook
13:14
them up to chargers.
13:15
That might sound kind of weird,
13:17
but it's actually a pretty standard
13:19
industry practice among bike share
13:21
programs.
13:22
Right now, fewer than one out of
13:24
five bike share stations can
13:25
actually charge the bikes.
13:27
And that's what made the facility on
13:29
Benwhite so critical.
13:30
All right, I think both of you
13:32
should be here.
13:33
Art Jackson with CHAT Metro and
13:35
Nathan Bernier with KUT.
13:37
The CapMetro executive in charge of
13:39
bike share, Art Jackson, says they
13:41
want to understand what happened
13:42
before they restore the service.
13:44
The safety and
13:46
wellbeing of our customers and
13:48
the community is our first priority.
13:51
We don't think that there's a
13:52
significant safety issue, but we
13:54
don't know.
13:55
Andy says they don't want to jump to
13:56
any conclusions.
13:58
It's somewhat unclear.
14:00
That's why we wanted an independent
14:02
third party to come in and
14:04
give us some answers as to what
14:06
happened. And as soon as
14:08
we get that information, we'll be
14:10
happy to share it.
14:12
A very open and transparent way.
14:14
That third-party investigator is a
14:15
forensic consultant called Rimkus,
14:17
spelled R-I-M-K-U-S,
14:19
started by a chemical engineer out
14:21
of Houston in the 80s.
14:22
They have expertise investigating
14:24
lithium-ion battery fires.
14:26
And Rimkus is well-known to people
14:28
in the field, like University of
14:30
Texas professor D.K.
14:31
Ezekoia.
14:32
He spent decades researching things
14:34
like battery safety and fire
14:36
forensics, and As Okoye says,
14:38
lithium-ion batteries are generally
14:39
safe.
14:40
But when failures happen, they can
14:42
be intense.
14:43
Unfortunately, when a single cell
14:44
fails, it goes to very
14:46
high temperatures, hundreds of
14:48
degrees up to, you know, say 2000
14:50
degrees Fahrenheit or so, and
14:52
then it spews out.
14:54
Toxic and flammable
14:56
gasses." But Ezekoia says the
14:58
presence of burned batteries does
15:00
not prove they started the fire.
15:02
He's even seen arson cases where
15:04
batteries were used to try and throw
15:05
off investigators.
15:07
This is where it gets complicated.
15:08
So fires happen, of course, fires
15:10
have always happened, but trying to
15:12
identify whether the battery was
15:14
the cause of the fire or
15:16
itself was attacked by the fire is
15:18
a subject of intense research.
15:21
CapMetro says Rimkus is also
15:23
investigating that bike battery
15:24
incident earlier the same day on
15:26
South Congress Avenue.
15:27
But for now, bike share docks are
15:29
empty across Austin, and how
15:31
soon they'll be filled with electric
15:33
bikes again depends at least in part
15:34
on what investigators find inside
15:36
the battery room that kept the
15:38
system running.
15:40
I'm Nathan Bernier in Austin.
15:43
Thank you for tuning in to Austin
15:45
Signal. We will have more coming
15:46
up after this break.
15:59
This is Austin Signal, welcome back.
16:02
The Texas softball team beat Texas
16:03
Tech last night in the first game of
16:05
the Women's College World Series
16:07
Championship.
16:08
The Longhorns will be the national
16:10
champion, two years running,
16:12
if they can win Game 2 tonight.
16:14
If not, they will play a decisive
16:16
Game 3 tomorrow night.
16:18
Both of those games are at 7
16:19
o'clock. You can catch them on ESPN.
16:22
And the San Antonio Spurs lost to
16:24
the New York Knicks last night.
16:25
That's 12 wins in a
16:27
row for the Knicks.
16:29
Spurs looking to bounce back
16:30
tomorrow night in San Antonio.
16:39
Nine miles southwest of Kerrville,
16:41
you'll find Quiet Valley Ranch,
16:43
where the Kerrvill Folk Festival has
16:45
for more than half a century hosted
16:47
one of Texas' quirkiest
16:49
traditions.
16:51
It's a folk music mecca for
16:52
singer-songwriters and the people
16:54
who love hearing them.
16:56
And after last year's devastating
16:57
floods, a gathering place that many
16:59
festival-goers say feels more
17:01
meaningful than ever.
17:03
Texas Public Radio's Jack Morgan
17:05
takes us there.
17:07
Welcome home.
17:08
The greeting at the gate was simple,
17:11
welcome home.
17:12
The phrase appeared on signs
17:13
throughout the grounds and was
17:15
repeated often by festival goers.
17:17
Austin I. Genie Hastings has been
17:19
coming to the Kerrville Folk
17:21
Festival for decades.
17:22
I first came out to Kerrville Folk
17:24
Festival in 1978.
17:26
I was eighteen years old.
17:28
Hastings became an unofficial guide,
17:31
taking me around and introducing me
17:32
to people she's met over the years.
17:34
Greg Bruce and his wife don't just
17:36
come for the music.
17:37
We have a booth that we vend at
17:39
selling vintage clothing and
17:42
Juniper Fair vintage wear.
17:43
And when people gather year after
17:45
year, friendships deepen.
17:47
Our friends we make every year,
17:49
they just multiply, so we've
17:51
got more people to reunite with each
17:53
year.
17:54
I came across an Austinite with
17:56
deep roots to the festival.
17:57
My name is Olive Clementine Massey,
18:00
but at Kerrville I'm Ollie Clem.
18:01
My mom is the crew leader of the
18:03
trash crew in recycling and
18:05
she's Kelly Woe or
18:07
Mama Woe.
18:08
All of a sudden there was,
18:09
strangely, one very small upside
18:11
to last year's floods.
18:13
Volunteers who came to help the
18:14
Kerrville community recover were
18:16
introduced to the festival for the
18:18
first time.
18:19
With the floods that happened last
18:20
year, people came and volunteered
18:22
just to help around Kerrville.
18:23
And that's, now we have 40%
18:25
up ticket buyers.
18:26
They're all newcomers.
18:28
The campgrounds are also where
18:29
longtime attendees find
18:31
creative and sometimes absurd
18:33
ways to entertain themselves.
18:35
In the campgrounds we have some
18:37
like Kerti Gra, which is Mardi Gras
18:39
but it's curvil style and
18:41
we dance and take courtesy
18:43
carts which is the little golf carts
18:44
and put decorations all
18:46
over them and then dance and make
18:47
music.
18:48
Olive has also embraced the idea
18:50
that Kerrville is more than just a
18:52
place you visit every May.
18:54
It is my home.
18:56
Instead of coming to Kerrville and
18:57
saying welcome to Kerrrville, it's
18:59
welcome home.
18:59
Jeannie Hastings was here during
19:01
the flood and nearly witnessed
19:03
a tragedy.
19:04
Met a gentleman from Germany,
19:06
and he and his car got washed away
19:08
down on Turtle Creek, and we
19:10
happened to be witness to that.
19:12
I went downstream with
19:14
a flashlight looking for him.
19:16
Fortunately, he came out of the
19:17
river, and no harm was done
19:19
except to that rental car he had.
19:21
Yeah.
19:21
Another tradition at the festival,
19:24
parents bringing in their children
19:25
year after year until those kids
19:27
eventually find their own place
19:29
in the community.
19:31
Gary Cross says there are adults
19:32
here now who first arrive.
19:35
Sawyer used to come by our camp when
19:37
he was, what, three and a half,
19:38
four, with his little plastic
19:40
guitar. His mom and dad would bring
19:42
him by every day.
19:43
He's now just graduated from the
19:44
Nashville School of Music.
19:46
This isn't just a campground,
19:48
it's a temporary community where
19:49
many people stay for the Folk
19:51
Festival's 18-day
19:53
run. Kross said his 28
19:55
years of going have taught him that.
19:57
Every adult to care kid that I
19:59
know is a good human being.
20:01
Without fail, every single one of
20:02
them.
20:02
He suggested I let the music,
20:04
drifting from campsite to campsite,
20:06
draw me in.
20:07
That's the way to really experience
20:09
this is wonder.
20:10
You follow your ear and your heart
20:12
and go where the music leads you.
20:14
I didn't have to wander far.
20:16
Cross's sprawling tent setup
20:18
featured a refrigerator,
20:21
folding chairs, guitars, and plenty
20:23
of people playing them.
20:27
I'm Aaron Potter, I'm from San
20:29
Diego, California.
20:30
Potter looked right at home.
20:32
For me, it's mostly about, you know,
20:33
jamming, getting to know people,
20:35
meeting, you know, other
20:36
songwriters, especially.
20:37
It's really helpful to
20:39
developing material to
20:41
get another ear on it.
20:43
Potter was having a blast when I
20:44
moved on to the next campsite.
20:46
My name is Bill Nash,
20:48
I've been coming to Kerrville since
20:49
1994, been playing
20:51
music all my life.
20:54
Nash started on French horn,
20:56
then picked up the guitar at 14.
20:58
I played horn all the way through
20:59
college. I got a degree in
21:01
composition and orchestration,
21:04
which was because I wanted to
21:06
be the next John Williams.
21:07
Nash has accomplished a great deal,
21:09
despite a major challenge.
21:10
I'm in my 38th year with MS.
21:13
As I wandered to another campsite,
21:15
I came across what looked like
21:17
nearly a pickup load of sand.
21:18
My name is Christie Atkinson and
21:21
I am from the Franklin, Texas
21:23
area, which is near College Station.
21:25
My father, the amazing Walter, is
21:27
from South Padre Island, Texas.
21:29
She was building an elaborate
21:30
sandcastle when I walked up.
21:32
He's especially known as the arch
21:34
wizard. He makes arches and towers
21:36
and he's a castle guy,
21:38
so I learned to be a castle girl
21:39
too.
21:41
Atkisson thinks her fascination with
21:43
the Kerrville
21:44
Makes perfect sense.
21:45
My background is in performance art.
21:47
I was a clown with Ringling Brothers
21:48
Circus.
21:49
For about five years I've traveled
21:51
all over the place doing
21:52
entertainment.
21:53
Christie punctuated nearly every
21:55
sentence with laughter.
21:56
They need to find something new to
21:58
do.
21:59
If you don't love it, do something
22:00
else.
22:01
Everyone we'd heard so far had been
22:03
out at the campsites, but the
22:05
music your ticket gets you is also
22:07
for the main stage.
22:08
I spent most of the afternoon in the
22:10
campground so I decided to head up
22:12
to the mainstage area as the
22:14
evening entertainment began.
22:20
This was Yasmine Williams,
22:22
I asked for her favorite musician.
22:24
Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix,
22:27
Iron Man by Black Sabbath.
22:29
And then I discovered alternate
22:31
tunings kind of
22:33
a year into playing.
22:34
And then that was what I was
22:36
interested in.
22:37
I learned Blackbird by The Beatles,
22:40
my first fingerstyle kind of song.
22:42
And I was hooked.
22:43
Williams' guitar technique was
22:45
rhythmic and sophisticated and
22:47
warmly received by the audience.
22:49
This was the first Kerrville Folk
22:51
Festival since the July 4th
22:53
floods devastated parts of
22:55
the Hill Country.
22:56
But across Quiet Valley Ranch,
22:59
people talked less about the tragedy
23:00
than about returning to music,
23:03
friendship, and traditions.
23:05
Again and again, festival goers
23:07
described Kerrvill as something
23:09
more than a festival.
23:10
They call it home.
23:12
I'm Jack Morgan in Kerrville.
23:19
And that is it for
23:21
today's show.
23:22
Thank you for tuning in.
23:23
Spending part of the day here with
23:25
us. If you want to
23:27
hear more about those stories or
23:29
read more about them or see more
23:30
about them, you can find more about
23:32
them in the podcast show notes
23:34
and at kut.org
23:36
slash signal.
23:38
Rayna Sevilla is our technical
23:39
director, Alexandra Hart is our
23:41
producer, and Kristen Cabrera is
23:43
our managing producer.
23:45
I'm your host, Jerry Quijano, and
23:47
we will be back tomorrow right here
23:49
on Austin Signal.
23:50
Have a lovely day.