Local leaders are aiming to limit the spread of data centers with new standards for the development of smaller facilities in Austin, and a complete ban on larger and more resource-intensive projects.

The details: City officials are gearing up for a review of data center development policy that could conclude by next spring. The process is the result of a recent council request intended to balance Austin's economic strategy with community values and well-being, given limited city oversight of data centers today.

New rules could restrict data centers to certain types of property, require a public permitting process for any individual projects to advance, or block them completely. Various site development standards would also be included, and city staff recommended setting performance standards to address data centers' noise, heat, light and water usage, and related civic enforcement.

Picnik temporarily closed on July 27 while the restaurant’s team prepared to launch a new concept, founder Naomi Seifter announced on social media. Now, Picnik is reopening with a new limited menu for a week-long soft opening. 

Picnik is now open for lunch and dinner service from 11 a.m.-8 p.m., according to an Instagram post. 

On the menu: After closing at the end of July, Seifter spent the following weeks building a restaurant that uses “nourishing, health-promoting food,” she shared online. The new Picnik will do so by offering one farm-to-table meal per day, cooked with the highest-quality ingredients that the restaurant can obtain. 

• 4801 Burnet Road, Austin

A Travis County-funded feasibility study has found no engineering dealbreakers for a 125 mph passenger rail line connecting Austin and San Antonio, Travis County Judge Andy Brown announced Aug. 20.

The roughly $13.5 billion project would run largely on public right-of-way along SH 130 and I-10, cutting travel time between the two cities to 55-65 minutes, according to county documents.

"Central Texas has studied passenger rail before, and we cannot wait another 30 years to study it again," Brown said in the release.

What you need to know: The line would connect Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to a terminus near downtown San Antonio's Alamodome, with connectivity to the existing San Antonio Amtrak Station, and run independently of freight trains, per the study.

How we got here: Commissioners voted unanimously in October 2025 to hire HNTB for about $125,000 to study SH 130 and I-10 as an alternative to the congested I-35 corridor.

This is a feasibility analysis only, not a funding commitment. Environmental, ridership and financial studies are still needed.

A data center in Cedar Creek, a new building for the ACC Hays Campus and renovations at LASA high school are among the five most expensive projects filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in the Austin metro this week.

1. EDCAUS ($700 Million): EdgeConneX is developing data center campuses in Bastrop County. This project includes the construction of a 576,777 square-foot one-story data center with supporting office space.

2. Austin Community College - Hays Campus ($101 million): A three-story Health Sciences instructional building with classrooms, administrative offices, a testing center, vocational training, instructional spaces, and laboratories will be constructed at the Austin Community College Hays Campus.

3. LASA High School ($21.3 million): Renovations will take place at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin.

4. Bartletts South ($4 million): A new location of Barlett’s steakhouse is coming to Austin.

5. Smart Stop ($1.5 million): A new one story convenience store and two future tenant spaces are coming to Pflugerville.

Texas voters will choose from Republican Bo French, Libertarian Arthur DiBianca and Democrat Jon Rosenthal in this November's Texas Railroad Commission race.

The details: The winner of the race will be sworn in to replace incumbent Commissioner Jim Wright in January.

French beat Wright in a May Republican primary runoff, advancing to the general election. Rosenthal ran uncontested in the March Democratic primary, while DiBianca was selected as the Texas Libertarian Party's candidate during an April nominating convention.

Did you know? The three-member railroad commission does not have any jurisdiction over the state's railroads—that authority was transferred to the Texas Department of Transportation and the federal government by 2005, according to the commission's website. Instead, the agency regulates Texas' oil and gas industries.

Looking ahead: Early voting in dozens of local and state races runs from Oct. 19-30, and Election Day is Nov. 3.