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Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services provides emergency medical response to over 1.4 million Austin and Travis County residents, and as of May 27 was operating with 107 vacancies, according to Wesley Hopkins, ATCEMS chief of staff.

Staffing vacancies within the department lead to increased overtime for existing personnel, resulting in a consistent increase in ATCEMS’s overtime budget.

“Having the ability to staff ambulances on overtime is certainly an option, but, of course, it’s not sustainable,” Hopkins said.

A closer look: The ATCEMS overtime budget has steadily grown over the past five years, as 2021 overtime accounted for 16.59% of the personnel budget. Now, 25.54% of the personnel budget is allocated to overtime.

ATCEMS also lost the opportunity for over $2.5 million in funding for ambulances and staff after Proposition Q was rejected by voters in November.

The proposition asked voters to approve a 20% increase in property taxes, or a rate of $0.574017 per $100 in property value.

Rollingwood City Council discussed potentially implementing surveillance technology and authorizing a request for proposals for cameras and surveillance infrastructure at a June 17 City Council meeting.

The overview: Although no action surrounding the ordinance or request for proposals was taken at the meeting, council members emphasized the importance of ensuring privacy and security protections while also weighing the benefits of surveillance systems.

What’s next: City Council will continue drafting an ordinance that provides a regulatory framework for the deployment and use of surveillance technology. 

Once the ordinance is complete, discussions surrounding authorizing the request for proposals will continue if the council deems the surveillance technology as feasible and necessary.

“We had a lockdown because of something happening at Zilker Park just a couple of months ago,” council member Sara Hutson said. “With proper precautions for data security, I can see there being some benefit to having this in place.”

Leander ISD families can now access their third through eight grade student's State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, scores, as well as high school STAAR end-of-course exam scores. 

Breaking it down: The TEA uses a four-tiered grading system to score STAAR test performance and determine if students need academic intervention in order to succeed in the next grade. "Approaches grade level" is considered a passing score but could require some intervention. Data for LISD shows that the district's approaches grade level scores outperformed the state in every subject in both 2025 and 2026. Year-over-year, LISD's approaches grade level scores were the same or higher in every subject with the exception of third, sixth, seventh and eight grade math; third, fourth and sixth grade reading; and eighth grade social studies. 

Something to note: Individual STAAR score reports are available to families through their school district's portal or a TEA website using the unique access code provided by their student's school.

Stay tuned: TEA will release science STAAR scores July 31. 

Check out the latest Austin metro transportation project updates.

Upcoming projects
RM 1431 road and intersection improvements
Project: The project will span New Hope Drive to Bagdad Road, and the intersection of RM 1431/Whitestone Boulevard and 183A Toll in Cedar Park.
Update: Preliminary engineering and design of the intersection is next. 

• Timeline: TBD
• Cost: $11.9 million (road), $15.9 million (intersection)
• Funding source: city of Cedar Park, Mobility Authority, Surface Transportation Block Grant

• Timeline: total project completion expected in 2026
• Cost: $5.8 million
• Funding source: Type B sales tax

• Timeline: 2023-26
• Cost: $91.5 million
• Funding source: Waterloo Greenway, city of Austin Tax Increment funding, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers