Austin City Limits released its 2026 lineup, revealing headliners including Lorde and Kings of Leon, as well as Austin-based acts like The Huston-Tillotson University Jazz Collective and Grocery Bag. 

This year marks the festival’s 25th anniversary, taking place over two weekends: Oct. 2-4 and Oct. 9-11 at Zilker Park. 

Learn more: The full list of headliners also includes The xx and Rüfüs Du Sol. Other sets will also showcase music from Turnstile, Labrinth, Lola Young and The Chainsmokers. 

Other performers expected to perform at the festival are Suki Waterhouse, Rebecca Black, Natasha Bedingfield and Blood Orange. Check out the full lineup on the ACL Music Festival website. 

Austin is increasing the scope and frequency of public homeless encampment clearings this spring.

The details: Public camping is illegal in Austin under both Proposition B, a local ban reinstated by city voters in 2021, and a Texas law passed the same year. The city still has a high number of public encampments and receives hundreds of service requests to address those sites every month. However, homeless strategy officials say current resources haven't allowed adequate response.

Going forward: Starting May 11, several dedicated encampment management teams will begin working citywide five days a week. Most will involve Austin Police Department officers and other city department staff, and one Austin Parks and Recreation-led team will focus on litter removal.

The city will track the number of site visits and timely response to requests, the number of people sheltered or connected to services, and monitor for repeat activity at encampment sites after each cleanup. Later this year, Austin will also launch a new 3-1-1 reporting option and public encampment management dashboard.

On May 26, Texas Republican voters will choose their nominee for the U.S. Senate in a runoff election between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The big picture: The Republican race for U.S. Senate is one of several statewide contests that advanced to May runoffs after no candidate received more than 50% of the vote in the March 3 primary election.

Cornyn and Paxton were the two highest-performing candidates in the eight-way primary race, with Cornyn securing 42% of the vote to Paxton's 41%.

At the polls: Early voting in Texas' runoff elections runs from May 18-22, and runoff election day is May 26.

Looking ahead: The winner of the May 26 overtime round will face the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate—state Rep. James Talarico of Austin—in the November midterm election. Third-party and independent candidates may also appear on the November ballot, and the winner of that election will be sworn in to the U.S. Senate in January 2027.

From a Moxies in the Domain to a new business park in Georgetown, here are five of the most expensive projects filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in the Austin metro this week.

1. Moxies ($7 million): A new Moxies location is coming to the Domain, with construction set to begin in July. 

2. Austin Ridge Bible Church ($7 million): Austin Ridge purchased the Great Hills Baptist Church facility and are working on plans for renovation.

3. Mason Phase 2 ($5 million): This project includes improvements to a single family subdivision, covering 32,000 square feet.

4. Decker Lane site work ($4.5 million): This project includes work on Decker Industrial Park for five buildings, and associated connecting roads and utilities around the building.

5. Bell Gin Business Park ($3.72 million): The project consists of constructing five 7,200-square-foot shell buildings and two 10,800-square-foot buildings for commercial office and warehouse use.