Prototype Vintage will close its South Congress location after 20 years of business. Co-owners Audrie San Miguel and Emily Larson will focus efforts toward the new North Loop location that opened in December.

The details: The 110-year-old building housing the vintage store's South Congress location requires extensive electrical and plumbing updates to modernize operations. The need for such a project prompted San Miguel and Larson to shift focus to their North Austin location, according to a news release. The flagship will officially close June 1 at 7 p.m.

Going forward: The shopping inventory of Prototype Vintage in North Loop will double. The move also allows San Miguel and Larson to incorporate new vintage lifestyle items, pursue more creative collaborations and host event pop-ups, the news release states.

The background: The duo launched their first location on South Congress in 2005 after previously meeting at a North Loop block party. After celebrating 20 years in business, San Miguel and Larson opened Prototype Vintage's second location in December.

City Council required additional monitoring and mitigation measures as new natural gas generation units go online, a week after officials signed off on the controversial project.

The details: Austin Energy uses natural gas peakers with hundreds of megawatts of capacity at two main East Austin power stations. The backup installations are viewed as an "insurance policy" for times of peak power demand, from a hot summer day to severe weather incident.

Officials signed off on a strategy to add 400 MW of capacity from new peaker units in May, a move approved behind closed doors over broad community objections. While privately voting to advance AE's peaker initiative, several council members expressed reluctance and shared doubts with Austinites who'd testified against it. In response, they went on to approve a group of resolutions to serve as community guardrails as the project moves forward.

“I think it's fair to say that these resolutions reflect our concerns and misgivings about the peaker plan," said council member Mike Siegel, who sponsored one of four items on the topic.

Austinites could vote on several updates to the city's foundational rulebook this fall, two years after an election for some of those changes was canceled.

The details: Austin's city charter establishes basic rules and procedures from elections and administration to planning and taxing. The charter can only be amended every two years through an election.

At City Council's request, charter edits were proposed throughout 2024 and officials eventually called an election over more than a dozen potential changes. However, errors in how the city ordered that election prompted a resident lawsuit and the vote was halted under a court order.

Some of those past amendments and at least two new concepts could once again be placed on ballots this fall. Council will discuss a possible 2026 charter amendment election further this summer.

A Sprouts Farmers Market, East 51st Street improvements and a new museum building are among the five most expensive projects filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in the Austin metro this week.

1. Deposition Technology ($27 million): This project at the semiconductor support and manufacturing company consists of a cleanroom expansion and renovation.

2. East 51st Street ($17 million): This project involves the revitalization of East 51st Street from I-35 to Berkman Drive.

3. Sprouts Farmers Market ($4.8 Million): A new location for the grocery store is coming to Hutto.

4. UT Dinosaur Trackways ($4.2 million): The building is a 2,100-square-foot single-story museum, which aims to conserve and house some of Texas’ most renowned fossilized footprints made 113 million years ago by a sauropod and a theropod near Glen Rose.

5. Texas State University: Student Success Commons at the Albert B. Alkek Library ($3.5 million): This project involves the interior renovation of approximately 38,000 square feet of the sixth floor of Alkek Library to add staff offices and study spaces.

Texas’ primary election season came to a close May 26 as candidates declared victory in dozens of federal, state and local runoff races.

The latest: The winner of each runoff will advance to the Nov. 3 general election, joining candidates who won their primaries outright in March.

Voters will see 18 statewide contests on the November ballot, alongside all congressional seats, most state legislative seats, eight State Board of Education seats and a variety of local positions.

On the ballot: 

• U.S. Senate: Attorney General Ken Paxton and state Rep. James Talarico
• Governor: Greg Abbott (incumbent) and state Rep. Gina Hinojosa
• Lieutenant governor: State Rep. Vikki Goodwin and Dan Patrick (incumbent)
• Attorney general: State Sens. Nathan Johnson and Mayes Middleton
• Comptroller: State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt and businessman Don Huffines
• Land commissioner: Dawn Buckingham (incumbent) and Bay City council member Benjamin Flores
• Agriculture commissioner: Businessman Nate Sheets and rancher Clayton Tucker
• Railroad commissioner: Former Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French and state Rep. Jon Rosenthal