- Coming up on "Austin InSight," just weeks before early voting, counties are scrambling to process thousands of voter registration applications.

Plus, a plea for help for the arts and entertainment district along Red River, what business owners want from the city.

"Austin InSight" starts now.

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

(light electronic music) - Hi there, and thanks for joining us.

I'm Lara Laughead.

Early voting in the 2026 midterms is just a few weeks away now, and voter registrars across Texas are having to scramble to process a backlog of registration applications.

That's because Texas DPS failed to send thousands of those applications onto the counties from its online driver license portal.

Reporter Natalia Contreras has been covering this issue for Votebeat, and she joins us now.

Natalia, thank you so much for being here.

- Thanks for having me.

- So you first reported on this last week, and now we're only a few days away from the deadline to register in the November election.

Is there a chance any Texans will not be able to vote because of this?

- You know, right now, county election officials are working around the clock to get all of these applications processed.

The counties that were hit the hardest with large numbers of records are their large counties, right?

Travis County, Dallas County, Harris County.

However, these are the counties that are well positioned to get this done more quickly because they are really well resourced.

They have IT departments, they have software teams, software engineers that are working with them, and so they're gonna be able to process these applications a lot quicker.

And just a reminder for voters, the processing of these applications does not stop with the October 5th deadline.

So even if, you know, you submit that application on October 5th, it's gonna get processed.

Like, these counties are working beyond the October 5th deadline to get all of these applications and records processed in time.

If, for whatever reason, you get to the polls and you're not on the list, you can cast a provisional ballot, and, you know, there are checks and balances behind the scenes after the election to make sure that the county office got your application.

Those records are there.

So as long as your application is there, your vote should be counted.

- That is indeed important to note for voters.

Now, what have you heard, though, from DPS about how this happened in the first place?

- We haven't heard a ton from DPS, but we do know that this started with, you know, a software upgrade that happened last fall around October of 2025.

It's not clear yet to us why this issue wasn't caught sooner.

You know, we're still trying to work those things out and figure that out.

The same thing with the Secretary of State's office, you know, who kind of, like, flagged DPS that there was a problem here earlier this month.

And so we still don't know much about what caused this, but definitely what they have said and also what the governor has said is that this is resolved, that they've fixed the problem, and you know.

But the downfall of this or the downside of this is that, you know, we have voters that are worried and may not be using that web portal right now and are trying to submit their application you know, by mail or in person.

And so that's just one of the downsides of this, that it's kind of, you know, impacting voter confidence right now.

- It is, that is something that we've been hearing from the community, as well.

Glad to clear up some things.

You mentioned that people are working around the clock to rectify this problem, but what specifically are county voter registrars saying about this strain that this is putting on them?

- You know, I mentioned the large counties and how well resourced they are, but we also need to think about the smaller counties, the medium-sized counties that may not have it in their budget to hire additional help to come in and process these applications.

Another thing that we need to think about is that, even though this was an issue with a DPS web portal where you can check the box and check that you wanna register to vote, we do not have online voter registration at all in Texas.

And so that means that, on top of the backlog of applications that voter registrars and county officials are having to process right now, they're also getting hundreds of applications that they're getting into their offices by walk-ins or that they're getting mailed into their offices.

And, you know, county officials have dealt with this type of backlog before.

This is just a bigger one, right?

But they have always dealt with it, because like I said, we don't have online voter registration.

But what I've learned covering this beat for a few years now is that county officials are usually up to the challenge and they always want voters to know that the election will get done and that if you're an eligible voter, that you will be able to cast your ballot.

And so yes, they have some hurdles ahead of them, but I have talked to them, and I know that they're doing everything they can, everything in their power, to get all of these records processed on time.

- No doubt of that.

Well, Natalia Contreras, senior reporter with Votebeat Texas, thank you so much for breaking it down with us today.

- Thank you.

- For many in Austin, your property tax bill goes to five different taxing entities.

The largest share goes to Austin Independent School District, followed by the City of Austin, Travis County, Central Health, and Austin Community College.

For the last several months, officials from those entities have been balancing their budgets ahead of fiscal year 2027.

Our local government reporter, Sam Stark, has been monitoring those budget decisions and breaks down how the new tax rates may affect your property tax bill.

- [Sam] Fluctuating property values, inflation, and increased needs from government entities amid a growing region have all contributed to often costly changes to your property tax bill.

- Yeah, it's been quite a ride with property taxes, because whenever, like, property values rose super quickly during, like, the peak of COVID time craziness, property taxes, like, doubled overnight.

- [Sam] Blake Carter owns and manages several short-term rental properties, including some in Travis County.

He also runs a consulting business that helps others operate them.

While property values have cooled in recent years, consistent property tax heights have kept them costly.

- The few hundred dollar increase in the grand scheme of things may seem nominal, but I can say, like, for the folks that I talk to, it's important.

- [Sam] As several of Austin's taxing entities impose higher tax rates for fiscal year 2027, some property owners can expect to see a higher tax bill.

Using a hypothetical property that remains valued at $500,000 from 2026 to 2027, that homeowner's property tax bill would increase by about $375 annually.

The City of Austin accounts for the bulk of that increase, about $280.

Central Health adds about $74.

Travis County, about $52.

And Austin Community College, about a dollar.

Austin ISD is the only one of the main five taxing entities in Austin to propose lowering its tax rate, which could save that hypothetical property owner about $34 a year.

This example doesn't factor in things like homestead exemptions.

And for the many properties that decreased in value this year, property tax bills may actually go down.

- All those in favor, please raise your hand.

That passes unanimously.

- [Sam] We're seeing increases as four of the five major taxing entities for Austin homeowners set higher rates.

That's amid inflation, cooling home values, and increased funding for new initiatives.

And while some local leaders were on board with the increases, others were worried about making the city and county a more unaffordable place to live.

- We're operating in a national economy that's tough right now, where people are being squeezed.

The fact that these decisions are happening not in a vacuum, but in a context where people are struggling to pay for groceries and for insurance and for a cup of coffee and all of their other essentials.

- [Sam] Councilmember Marc Duchen pushed for a lower rate during the city's budget discussions and voted against the final proposal.

He worries steady property tax increases, higher utility fees, and taxes associated with additional city debt could push people out of the city.

- We didn't do the job that we could've done to try and make sure that we were showing people that we are prioritizing, making sure that we can keep the city affordable for people now and in the future.

- Now, another factor that may change your bill going into the new financial year is the temporary tax increase Travis County commissioners approved after the deadly July 2025 floods cost the county millions.

The county's overall tax rate rose about 9% that year to help with the disaster response, but that temporary increase does not carry over into this year.

(upbeat electronic music) Meanwhile, Austin's Music Mile is hoping for a revival, and it wants the city's help.

The Red River Cultural District is home to live music venues, bars, and restaurants, but many of those venues are closing, with Valhalla recently joining the growing list.

The district is calling on the city to follow through on its support of the district.

And here to tell us more about that is Executive Director Nicole Klepadlo.

Nicole, thank you so much for being with us.

- Thanks for having me.

- So Nicole, first, let's talk about what is happening along Red River.

In an open letter about the future of the district, you say, "One closure is a headline.

"Two is a cause for concern.

"This many, this close together, is a dire warning."

You didn't mince words.

What's happening to all of these venues that's forcing them to close their doors?

- Yeah, we've really seen a uptick in closures across the block, and those are restaurants, music venues.

Property owners are selling.

These are longtime property owners.

We're also seeing businesses close because of affordability challenges and lease terms.

- What kind of response are you getting since publishing this letter a few weeks ago?

- You know, we've gotten an outpouring of support from musicians and fans and photographers, videographers, sound engineers, people that truly call Red River home.

And we have been in deep conversations with the City of Austin, various departments, council offices, mayor's office, really, just trying to unpack everything that is needed to help support the Cultural District.

- And these artists, this culture is really what makes Austin Austin.

What kind of things are you asking for the city to do specifically to support the future of this district?

- Sure, and it really is Austin.

This is the backbone to so many of our festivals, South by Southwest, ACL After Shows, Levitation.

We are leaning on the city to be creative and come up with some innovative solutions.

We've got some big asks that are more policy-directed, and we have some shorter-term asks.

And we're asking for a regulatory overlay, a Cultural District overlay that will help protect these spaces long-term, these creative spaces, so we can really bank on the fact that we will have live music venues on Red River for years to come.

And we're also acting on retaining creative spaces as part of the Downtown Density Bonus.

It's an incentive program that also property owners could potentially get an incentive for retaining a creative space in the Red River Cultural District.

- Now, with any city experiencing major and rapid growth, there are gonna be inevitably some growing pains.

But as Austin continues to grow, why is Red River worth fighting for?

What does Austin truly lose if this district doesn't continue to survive and thrive?

- Sure, I mean, the spaces in this block are the cultural infrastructure that Austin has to offer.

And like I said, they are the backbone to so many stages for major festivals, major events in Austin.

They are driving hotel occupancy tax.

They're driving mixed beverage tax.

They're driving the visitorship to Austin that has that brand of the live music capital of the world.

If we lose these spaces one by one, we are losing the backbone of that cultural infrastructure.

- Indeed, we are.

And what can we as community members do to help in our way?

- Absolutely., think one of the most important things is, is to lean in and understand what is going on.

It's complex.

And so our website, redriverculturaldistrict.org, has a lot of information to just kind of breeze over and take a look and learn and educate yourself.

Secondly, come down to the district.

Get into these venues, support musicians, tip your bartenders, be kind to one another, and really just embrace the Cultural District for what it is today.

- Absolutely.

An easy enough thing for all of us to do is get out the house, get off the couch, go downtown.

I know parking is hard.

We can just Uber.

You'll see me out there.

It'll be well worth it.

Well, Nicole Klepadlo, executive director of the Red River Cultural District, thank you so much for joining us today.

- Thanks for having me.

(upbeat electronic music) - So we talked about the Music Mile, but when we say Austin is the live music capital of the world, you probably think of country music, rock, jazz, even punk.

But what about opera?

♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Yum ♪ ♪ Yum ♪ ♪ Yum ♪ ♪ Yum ♪ That's a preview of "Ofrenda," the first production in Austin Opera's new home at the new Butler Performance Center in Southeast Austin.

The bilingual opera is sung in English and Spanish, with translations on screen.

"Ofrenda" follows an immigrant mother who works as a custodian at a hospital and meets a mysterious stranger on the bus who gives her a special gift to heal anyone.

It's the first ever opera commissioned by the company.

- Well, I mean, politically, with what's going on right now, everyone is very uncertain about the future for a lot of people in Austin and abroad in houses that are bilingual.

And so seeing that representation here now at this time, I think is unbelievably important.

I hope they walk away knowing that everyone is welcome here.

I am from the hill country of Texas outside San Antonio, and coming back here from New York, it is definitely the music capital of the world.

And opera, just like rock or rhythm, blues, or jazz, it is so alive right now here in Austin, and getting to bring it out in this new way, I think will hopefully reach a lot of people who are into all these different forms of music.

- Austin Opera's new center aims to give you more than just a night out at the theater.

They want to become a year-round cultural hub, offering rehearsal spaces, education, gatherings, and more for opera lovers and other local arts organizations.

- It'll allow us to expand our training programs for young people who are interested in singing and in studying classical music.

We'll be able to greatly expand our line of family programming.

I really hope it becomes, you know, an anchor on the south side of the city for performing arts activity, and a place where artists can come together with creatives and just with community members to talk about projects.

We hope to have every room in this building bustling with activity, with classes, with performances, with rehearsals, so it can really just become a real community hub that is rooted in the performing arts.

- And the best part, parking is easy, so no excuses.

Now, Austin Opera will still perform their larger productions at the Long Center, but with their own space, they can offer even more programming year round.

"Ofrenda" runs October 1st through 11th.

Meanwhile, Americans are struggling with the cost of just about everything, from housing to gas, to groceries.

And one of the staples dear to us here in Texas, beef, is no exception.

Ground beef prices are up 8% from a year ago, beef roasts up 7.5%, steak up 5%, but there are ways to make the most of your meat and the money you spend on it.

Jess Pryles is an Austin-based meat scientist, cook, and author.

She's the founder of the lifestyle brand "Hardcore Carnivore," and currently a judge on Food Network's "Pitmasters."

Now she has a new cookbook called Prime Cuts: The Complete Guide "to Choosing, Understanding, and Cooking Meat."

We previously spoke with her to get her guidance.

Jess, it is so great to have you on "Austin InSight."

- Thank you for having me here.

- So the first two things we have to ask off the top.

One, what is a certified meat scientist?

I am so intrigued.

And two, how does an Australian end up becoming one of America's barbecue authorities?

- I get that all the time.

I think Australians and Texans have a lot in common.

- I think they do, too.

- I've seen this great meme that said Aussies are just British Texans.

- British Texans?

- (indistinct) otherwise, you know, so we definitely have some common thread there.

Meat science, I didn't even know that that was a thing.

And I'd gone through university in Australia, and someone took me out to Texas A&M and said, "Hey, they have this Barbecue 101 class "at the Meat Science department."

I thought, oh, that's interesting.

And then the floodgates opened and I ended up going back to school, and I actually completed my certificate at Iowa State.

- Oh, congratulations.

Okay, those are, Iowa and Texas, okay, those places have really good barbecue.

So now let's talk about your new cookbook, "Prime Cuts."

It's actually your second cookbook.

But it's not just about nice steaks or nice barbecue for that matter.

You're showing people how to use more of the whole animal.

Can you talk about that?

- Yeah, that's sort of my journey.

It's not a whole animal cookbook in like, "Hey, order a whole hog, and I'm gonna teach you how to break it down."

But I think what's really interesting about it is it's the summation of the last 15 years of my career in the book.

And my career has been going from somebody who wasn't really confident choosing or cooking any kind of steak to now teaching everybody how to do it.

And so I wanted to make something that was really accessible to people, that made them feel empowered at the grocery store to pick up a cut they hadn't tried before, to buy something that's on sale that they're not familiar with.

And so you should have seen the spreadsheet when I was working on this thing.

I tried to sort of map it out to where each recipe relates back to a certain meat cut so you can kind of reverse-engineer it by just cooking the recipe or by going to the store and buying something new.

- I love that, because meat can be intimidating.

For as much of a staple as it is, I know I'm certainly very intimidated, especially when I see these cookbooks.

I'm like, I could never in my wildest dreams cook this on any day of the week.

And you mentioned the grocery store.

Rising meat prices, they've been a big issue for a lot of families lately.

What is your best advice for people who want better meat for less money?

What should we actually be looking out for at the grocery store?

- Yeah, I mean, the beef prices are a little tough at the moment, but, you know, for the industry, this is cyclical and this does tend to happen every seven years.

So the good news is there will be relief.

We've passed the peak.

They're gonna grow the herd again and prices are gonna come down.

But until that time, I think you wanna look for things like perhaps you might not be buying prime anymore, let's choose choice, which is the next one down.

Instead of choosing grade, just look for great marbling.

That's that muscly, the white fat within the muscle, and that's what makes a steak taste great.

So I sort of dive into that a little bit in the book, as well.

And of course, the cheaper proteins are always gonna be, like, your chicken and your pork, but we Texans do love beef.

I can call myself a Texan now, right?

- Oh, of course, yeah, after this, you are a certified Texan.

You're more Texan than some other folks, maybe even more than me, with how little I've cooked meat in my life.

But what's one thing we think we know, or to use your word, "understand," about cooking or buying meat that we get wrong?

- Ooh, that's a good one.

You put me on the spot.

- Oh no, I'm sorry.

- No, no, it's a great question.

I'm just like, "Ooh, I'm not too sure."

I think people get stuck in buying the same thing over and over because they're just unfamiliar with any other cut or perhaps how to cook it.

And so you get stuck always picking up the same cuts or staying in the same lane.

And hopefully this will open it up a little bit more.

I've tried to put things in there, as well, like perhaps you wanna make a stir fry.

So you go to the grocery store and you look for stir-fry meat.

What if they're out?

So this teaches you which cuts they are using to cut that stir-fry meat.

So you're still empowered to pick that up and figure it out yourself.

And even if you're not that much of a nerd, like I am, about meat... - We're not all meat scientists, yeah.

- There's still just 100 delicious recipes in there, so it gives to both worlds.

- I love that, it's accessible for anyone.

You got plan A, plan B, plan C, no matter what you're dealing with.

Okay, love it, love it.

Well, Jess Pryles, meat scientist, author, live fire cook, and so much more, thank you so much for joining us today.

- Thank you.

- Her new cookbook, "Prime Cuts: The Complete Guide "to Choosing, Understanding, and Cooking Meat," is out October 6th and will be available at H-E-B stores across Texas.

(light electronic music) We wanna let you know about something special we're working on for next week for "Austin InSight."

We are highlighting the work of our "Decibel" reporting project, which has spent nearly two years in the Rundberg area of North Austin.

With that time coming to an end soon, we want to recap their time in Rundberg.

Here's a sneak peek.

(soft music) - You know, this is Rundberg.

This is our community.

- Save!

- Dobie!

- Save!

- Dobie!

- Save!

- Dobie!

- [Speaker 1] Nice.

- [Speaker 2] We just need stability in this neighborhood.

Like, where's my kid gonna go to school?.

(speaker speaks in foreign language) - Let him speak!

- It's a question!

It's a question!

- Am I gonna be allowed here?

God, it seems like there's just one crisis after another.

- Because we have nowhere to go.

We have no one to turn to to help us.

We have nothing.

(speaker speaks foreign language) (speaker speaks foreign language) - [Speaker 3] It's a good community with hardworking folks.

- You're hitting on something very important, which is community.

- What I'm about to tell you is fire, literally.

(saw grinds) (soft upbeat music) (group exclaims) Hi, I'm Jackie, a reporter with "Decibel," a community journalism project from Austin PBS, (indistinct) and community feedback.

(ball thumps) (balloon pops) (person screams) (taco crunches) - Would you like to join me?

(laughs) (bright music) - Oh, this is neat.

This was us.

- Yeah!

- Give him some freedom, man, give him a break.

He deserves a break, God, amen.

We love you.

Just thank you, PBS, you guys mean a lot.

- And thank goodness somebody's telling the stories in our community.

(bright music) - I think it's wonderful what you're doing.

- Up and down!

(crowd cheers) - You can watch our "Decibel" takeover episode next week on "Austin InSight."

But before we go, we want to share a beautiful moment from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Last week, an owlet, once feared dead, took flight back into the wild.

The bird had been rehabbing for months under the care of Austin Wildlife Rescue, including a surrogate owl mother.

The owlet was born last spring to Athena, a Great Horned Owl that often nests and lays eggs at the Wildflower Center.

But Athena abandoned the nest this year, leaving two hatchlings behind.

Researchers thought both died, but this one surprised everyone, overcoming the odds and now spreading her wings to fly.

We love that, and that is the inspiration and good news we all need this week.

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.

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

(cheerful music)