- Coming up on "Austin InSight."

As the dust settles on an ICE shooting in Austin, we're straightening out some of the facts.

Plus, we break down Austin's Proposition I before you head to the polls.

And later, it's hard to miss Matthew McConaughey around Austin, but we're catching up with his wife to learn how she's building a community here.

"Austin InSight" starts now.

- [Announcer] Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally and James Gavin, and also from Daniel L. Skret.

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

I'm Laura Laughead.

The long-awaited 2026 midterm election is just about here.

Early voting opens Monday.

And when Austin voters get their ballot, they'll see 10 city propositions.

The first two, Props A and B, are bond propositions for park and library projects.

Props C through J are proposed amendments to the City Charter.

And nestled among those, almost at the very end, is Prop I. It's the only proposed amendment put on the ballot by citizen petition.

Here's the exact language voters will see.

"Shall the City Charter be amended to require an Independent Affordability and Efficiency Initiative on a regular basis, and before any tax rate increase election, and requiring the independent contractor to identify annual and multi-year savings that exceed the cost of the contractor service," end quote.

A yes vote would require this new audit of city spending.

A no vote would leave in place an existing city audit process, which the Council initiated earlier this year.

Campaigns both for and against that amendment are ramping up.

Local government reporter Sam Stark shows us who is fighting for each outcome and why.

- [Protestors] Don't DOGE our Austin.

Vote no on Prop I.

- [Sam] Austin leaders crowd City Hall's front steps.

- Don't buy Prop I.

- Yeah.

(attendees cheer and applaud) - [Sam] To denounce Proposition I, the November ballot measure that would amend the City Charter and require an independent audit of all city operations every five years.

- Prop I means that each audit will be very expensive.

Prop I dictates that consultants must identify enough cuts to pay their own fees.

- [Sam] The speakers aren't opposed to a sweeping audit of City Hall spending.

In fact, the Austin City Council earlier this year approved a comprehensive audit assessment with similar ambitions to happen every three years.

Proposition I, they argue, (attendees cheer and applaud) has the potential to gut some city departments, as it would require the consultant to find savings to pay for itself.

- It won't even matter if the cuts make sense.

- [Sam] Many at the rally carried signs saying, "Don't DOGE our Austin," referring to the now defunct US Department of Government Efficiency, which was initially led by Elon Musk.

US Representative Greg Casar was in office when the program slashed hundreds of millions of dollars from federal departments, leading to sweeping layoffs and some government disruptions.

- I watched what happened firsthand.

Hundreds of thousands of hardworking public servants pushed out.

Prop I would be Austin's own version of Elon Musk's DOGE.

- Today, the opponents of Prop I began their boogeyman media strategy, trying to preserve the status quo of unaffordable spending and waste by the City of Austin.

- [Sam] Later that same day, Save Austin Now, the group pushing for Prop I, held its own press conference virtually, pushing back on many (attendees cheer and applaud) of the assertions made at the rally.

- One of the principal requirements of the audit is that we hire professionals who have performed the same or similar work previously.

We're not talking about hiring some political hack.

It's not gonna be hard to find savings in this City of Austin.

- [Sam] While this proposal is set to be voted on, the city-led initiative is going forward.

Council members already approved an independent consultant to conduct the audit over 25 other competitors.

- When the efficiency ordinance was passed, we worked with City Council to make sure that it was gonna be focused on effective service delivery, and we believe in that.

- [Sam] Brydan Summers is the president of AFSCME Local 1624, the city's labor union, whose members turned out in large numbers for the rally, worried the charter-initiated audit would make their jobs more difficult, less efficient, or jeopardize them.

- This has really flown under the radar, and that this is one of the issues that is going to make the biggest impact on the city in this election cycle.

- [Sam] This is Sam Stark for "Austin InSight" and Austin Current.

- A central difference between the two options is that the city-led audit is an ordinance, which means future councils can more easily vote to change it in the future.

Now, the audit on the ballot is a charter amendment, which essentially edits the city's constitution.

Any charter amendments require voter approval, making them more difficult to change.

(cheerful music) Meanwhile, it's now been several weeks since an ICE agent shot a man in North Austin.

As more information has come out, our understanding of what happened that day is evolving, but some important questions remain unanswered.

Joining us today to break down what we've learned and what we still don't know is Tony Plohetski, senior reporter at KVUE and the Austin American-Statesman.

Tony, I know you've been busy breaking this down.

Thank you so much for being with us today.

- Absolutely.

Thanks for having me.

- So Tony, to reiterate here, Wilber Garces-Perez was shot on September 20th.

He was in his car near 183 and Anderson.

And initially, his attorney said this started when an unmarked SUV sideswiped him, but Austin Police later said this encounter started much sooner and released video.

What did we learn from that video?

- So what we learned from that video is that actually, the encounter was twofold.

It actually started when those ICE agents saw Garces Perez emerging from a restaurant.

Keep in mind, his attorney says he was working for DoorDash that day.

They followed him out of that parking lot.

They chose to do that instead of intervening or interacting with him in the parking lot.

So they pulled him over a short distance later.

And an Austin Police officer, who was off duty, but actually was out running errands that Sunday afternoon, had a mounted camera on his personal vehicle, and it actually caught the two ICE agents talking to Garces Perez at the driver's side of his vehicle, of that blue Toyota Corolla.

What we know, according to authorities, is that after that brief interaction, that is when he actually took off and led those ICE agents on what has been described as a high-speed chase through a business area and neighborhoods in North Austin.

What we know is that some minutes after that, about 10 minutes, give or take, the ICE agent then used, one of the two, used his unmarked black SUV to ram into the blue Toyota Corolla.

It's a maneuver that law enforcement sometimes calls a PIT maneuver, but essentially, trying to stop someone from fleeing at that point.

- And now, Garces Perez is facing a federal charge of assaulting and resisting a federal officer.

Prosecutors allege he hit an officer with his car's side mirror as he drove away from that initial traffic stop.

Garces Perez has had an initial hearing on that federal charge.

What did we learn from that hearing?

What is the evidence?

And what does that evidence actually show?

- And that evidence was really litigated in that hearing, that detention hearing in federal court here in Austin.

What federal prosecutors contend is that as he was leaving, that initial interaction with those two ICE agents, the side-view mirror hit one of the ICE agents.

And so the basis of the charge really is that.

That is the foundation, that the ICE agent says he was injured during that.

Garces Perez's legal team assert that essentially, this is a trumped-up charge, that it is, really, a rarely applied federal charge, and that, essentially, what they contend is that the federal government is using Garces Perez's behavior to try to insulate the ICE agent who actually opened fire on him those minutes later from possibly being held accountable for the shooting itself.

- But that then brings us to a separate question.

Why did the ICE agent shoot in the first place?

The government says the agent feared being hit by Garces Perez's car, but what evidence have they provided to support that?

Questions still remain, regardless of all the context we discussed, whether that shooting was justified.

- And that is the key question, is, why did that ICE agent open fire?

Again, as you mentioned, he asserts, what we believe he asserts, is that he believed that Garces Perez was about to hit him in that blue Toyota.

Here's the problem, that ICE agent, what we know, was not wearing any sort of body camera, his body camera.

So there's no footage of those moments.

And so, now, it is likely going to be a he-said, he-said type situation.

We also know that, of course, investigators are trying to do as much analysis as they possibly can of the scene itself to try to determine where exactly the ICE agent was positioned when he opened fire, why he opened fire from the position that he was in.

All of that is now part of this sprawling federal investigation, but it's also part of the ongoing Austin Police investigation as well.

- And finally, where do things stand with the multiple legal proceedings involving Garces Perez?

What should we expect to happen next with respect to his criminal and immigration proceedings?

- So he faces up to 20 years behind bars on that federal charge that he is actually facing.

So now, that process will go through the courts, just as any other criminal case would.

The big question now, though, and I think the attention going forward most immediately in coming days and weeks, and possibly months, is whether or not local prosecutors from the Travis County District Attorney's Office will, based on the Austin Police investigation, present this case to a Travis County grand jury and try to actually bring those state charges.

If they were to do that, that could possibly spark a major and protracted legal battle between federal investigators and federal prosecutors and local prosecutors here in Travis County.

We believe that it is possible that the federal government may try to assert that this ICE agent is actually shielded from local prosecution because of federal laws that, in many instances, or most instances, ban that kind of state prosecution.

But again, that gets us into the future, there are a lot of questions about that, but those are some of the things that we're going to be watching for as all of this continues to unfold.

- Indeed.

And as you mentioned, there are still a lot of questions lingering, and I know you and your team will be working hard to answer those for us.

Well, Tony Plohetski, senior reporter from the Statesman and KVUE, thank you so much for bringing us up to speed.

- Thanks for having me.

- That shooting also prompted our Decibel team to take a deeper look at what's happening more broadly with immigration enforcement here in the Austin area.

Here's senior multimedia journalist Blair Waltman-Alexin with a little of what they found.

(sirens blaring) - Come on.

- [Blair] This is the first time that we know of that ICE agents have shot and wounded someone in Austin.

The residents and community members have been sounding the alarm for months now about immigration enforcement in the community.

Plus there's been an increase in the number of arrests and detentions across the state.

ICE divides the state by area of responsibility.

Austin and much of central Texas falls under the San Antonio AOR, and this area has seen massive increases in street arrests since August.

It's currently third in the nation.

According to data from the Deportation Data Project, arrests jumped from 662 in January of last year to over 3,000 arrests in July of this year.

That's a more than 300% increase.

That means there's also a huge influx of cases to immigration court.

- There's just no doubt about it.

- [Blair] Denise Gilman is the co-director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin.

Gilman says there are not enough attorneys to take on all of these cases, so many people have to defend themselves in court, and they can be very difficult cases to win.

- So on any given day, there might be 600 cases having master calendar hearings in immigration court in San Antonio.

There are not enough attorneys, paid, or certainly free or low-cost, to represent that kind of number of cases.

You have 0.001 chance of winning a case in immigration court without an attorney right now.

Even with an attorney, because of numerous actions that have been taken under this administration, asylum grant rates are down to about 7%.

- [Blair] Several arrests in Rundberg have made headlines.

A family who was detained after a traffic stop by Dobie Middle School, a mother who was deported after she called 911 during a domestic disturbance, a teacher who was arrested in the middle of the school year.

- [Protestors] Free Luis Fernando.

Free Luis Fernando.

- [Blair] And a high school senior who was picked up after a shift at a fast food restaurant.

(dramatic music) - That story from Blair also explains some of the terminology and acronyms we heard after the shooting.

You can watch the full version along with the rest of Decibel's coverage at decibelatx.org.

(cheerful music) Austin has become a destination for all things health and wellness.

And this month, an event is bringing hundreds of women together to talk about beauty from the inside out.

The first-ever Women of Today Beauty Summit is a full-day experience covering everything, from skincare, haircare, nutrition, wellness, and more, with a portion of proceeds benefiting the Central Texas Food Bank.

Women of Today is an online community where women share ideas on everything, from recipes, wellness, self-care, and lifestyle.

Camila Alves McConaughey is the founder of Women of Today.

I spoke with her recently about the community she's built and this new addition to their in-person events.

Camila, it is so great to be with you.

- It's great to be here.

Thank you for having me.

- You know, for people who are just now learning, though, about Women of Today, you have built this community around women learning from each other and sharing with each other.

What inspired you to start Women of Today in the first place?

- Because that's how I've learned, you know, in my life.

I learned from other women.

I've taught other women.

I seek inspiration from other women.

When I'm going through hard times, that's who picks me up and carry me on, you know?

And throughout the years of what we do, you know, for a living with the job that we do, with my husband, you know, we move a lot, and we go to all these random places, and we live there for a period of time.

And I had to learn to build community in all these places.

And it hit me one time when I came back home, and I started thinking, "Oh, the community I'm building in those places are actually a bigger community than the community that I have at home."

And I'm like, "Why is that?

Why are we not having a larger conversation about the things we love, the things we struggle with, what we're trying to find solutions for?"

So I kind of went on this journey to start Women of Today.

Really, when you go on the website, the things you see there, or the events we're putting together, the experiences we're putting together, it really is the community telling us what they're looking for.

- And something cool about your story that I learned was, you know, you grew up with a strong sense of community- - Yeah.

- In Brazil.

And your dad is a farmer and a rancher, and you have this connection to the land, as you've previously said in interviews, to the dirt.

- Yeah.

- I love that.

How much of your philosophy around wellness and food, for that matter, goes back to how you grew up?

- I think that grow up in an environment, you really get to see and understand, you know, the 360 of things.

- Yeah.

- You know?

Because when you're on a ranch, when you're in a farm, in a big city, I lived in all those environments, you start to really grasp and understand, "Okay, it really is a 360.

It's not just one thing or another," right?

So the way that we approach recipes, the events, everything, we're not telling people what to do.

We're sharing you real information, real facts, then you take that in, and you make your own.

You make that part of your life.

You make your own version of it.

So even when we're doing recipes, we're not telling you, "You have to eat meat, don't eat meat, be vegetarian."

No, this is the recipe.

If you eat meat, this is what you use.

If you're vegetarian, this is what you use.

If you're vegan, that's another option here for you.

When we're doing the events, right, like I really work hard on finding true experts, right?

So it's not about who's hot on social media, who's out there preaching this or preaching that, because a lot of those people are not true experts.

- Yeah.

- It's really surprising, actually, to see.

- Scary.

- It's really scary.

So we really spend a lot of time finding real experts that are really practicing, that have studied things, that really have the credentials to give people answers and tools that they're actually looking for.

So we always look at a 360 approach and very inclusive as well.

- And that actually brings us to the next question.

You know, you're bringing this sense of community that you have ingrained in you to your community here in Austin- - Yeah.

- For the first-ever Women of Today Beauty Summit.

- I know.

- And now, when we say beauty, we're not just talking about makeup, though.

I do love makeup.

We're talking about everything.

We're talking about hair care, skincare, nutrition, overall wellness.

What do you hope women and the people who attend take with them that we can't just get by scrolling on social media?

- My hope and how I'm kind of structuring this is that women would reconnect with their own definition of beauty.

What do they find to be beautiful?

What do they value in beauty?

And how do they see themselves being beautiful?

Like what is that true definition, if you were to put all the noise aside, you know, all that stuff that we get hit with all the time?

So my goal is that if they can kind of go back to that connection, and then we have real experts that are giving you then the tools to deal with whatever questions you have, what issues you have, what improvements you wanna make, or, you know, highlight more things that you want to highlight, then you can leave that day feeling like you have the tools, but doing your own way, not what somebody's telling you to.

- You know, you mentioned, like as part of your mission statement, that you wanted to create a community that brings together women of all different backgrounds, all different cultures and age groups.

You know, you're famously close friends with your mother-in-law.

- Yeah.

- I'm close friends with my mom and all of her friends.

They're some of my best friends.

What do we gain when we are friends with and we connect with women of all different kinds of experiences?

- It's a great question, you know, because when I first started doing this, a lot of people were like, "No, you have to hit one demograph and one age group."

- [Laura] Yeah.

- I'm like, "I'm not doing that.

And whether this works or doesn't work, I'm not doing that," because the reality is, as individuals, we are better when we learn from each other, whether it's learning from others' mistakes, whether it's learning from others' winnings, you know, and success.

And having this open conversation with people from different generations is extremely important.

- Yeah.

- People that are ahead of us, they have so much knowledge, and they can give us, "Hey, you know, if you're gonna try that, let me give you a warning.

I've seen this happen this way or that way."

And it kind of helps you guide your path, right, and gives you a lot of wisdom.

Interacting with people that are younger than you, they keep you young, and you know what I mean?

And bring you joy and bring all this connection to new things that are coming up, and easier ways of doing things, new ways of doing things, right?

And multicultural was very important to me too, because this is the world we live in now, you know?

And so many cultures have so many great things to share.

And with that exchange, I think it really opens up for all of us to embrace, no matter who it is, no matter what age, no matter where you're from, it's a safe and a really cool space to be in.

- Well, we cannot wait for the summit.

Camila Alves McConaughey, the founder of Women of Today.

- Thank you for having me.

- Thank you so much for being here.

The Women of Today Beauty Summit is Sunday, October 18th.

And to learn more about Women of Today, you can head to womenoftoday.com.

(cheerful music) This week, Austin City Limits wrapped up taping for its 52nd season here on Austin PBS.

And the end of the season (audience cheers and applauds) is also a wrap for the storied careers of four men who made the show such a success for decades.

Producer Jeff Peterson, Director Gary Menotti, Lighting Director Walter Olden, and Photographer Scott Newton are all retiring.

Among them, they have more than 160 years working on ACL.

In that group, Newton leads the way with 49 years as ACL's house photographer.

We caught up with him previously here on "Austin InSight" to hear how he views his role documenting ACL history.

(cheerful music) (audience cheering) - People are like jewels, in the sense that they have many facets.

You know, I'm getting this facet, but let's get another one.

Let's shoot a back shot.

Let's shoot different kinds of things, trying to evoke a different facet, you know, because each facet, you know, shows a part of the truth, not all of the truth.

Music comes from another place, not necessarily from the person, and they call that other place the muse.

This is a illustration of the process.

The muse is spiritual, not in any particular place, but out in the air, out on the ether.

And there she is, the way I see it, those fingernails, you know, pulling it in, giving voice.

That's one of my better shots.

(hopeful music) I got the gig by shooting a whole bunch of pictures at the Armadillo when it first opened.

One thing led into another, and the next thing I know, I'm the house photographer at the Austin Opera House, which was owned by Willie Nelson at the time.

I had a good friend who was visiting me named Jody Fisher, and she was Willie's unofficial secretary.

And she said to me, "You know, they need a photographer down at Austin City Limits."

And I said, "I don't know anybody down there."

She said, "Well, I do."

And she picked up the phone, rotary dial, and dialed a number, and said, "Terry," it turned out to be Terry Lickona, "Terry, I've got somebody you need to meet."

And so I went over the next day, showed my stuff to Terry.

I can see him holding the slides up to the lights.

And he said, "Well, these are great."

He said, "I can't tell you you're hired today, but you're hired."

(laughs) So that was 1979, and that was 46 years ago now.

- Such an incredible talent and an amazing career.

We wish Scott all the best in retirement, along with Jeff, Gary, and Walter.

But before we go, we wanted to take a moment to remember one of the biggest names in Austin philanthropy.

Joe Long died last week.

You may know the name from the Long Center for the Performing Arts, the Long Institute of Latin American Studies at UT Austin, or the Long School of Medicine at UT San Antonio.

Joe and his wife, Teresa Lozano Long, gave more than $150 million to nonprofits and universities across the state, supporting education and the arts.

Teresa died back in 2021.

Joe Long was 96-years-old and such a gift to all of us here in Austin.

That's our show.

If you wanna 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.

(cheerful music) (cheerful music continues) - [Announcer] Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally and James Gavin, and also from Daniel L. Skret.

(cheerful music)