Following a soft opening in March, bubble tea shop Boba Magic officially opened in May in Southeast Austin. 

The details: The shop serves a variety of milk teas, fruit teas and smoothies in flavors such as honeydew, lychee, taro, Thai tea, dragon fruit, passion fruit and pina colada.

The menu also features specialty drinks such as:

• The Tiger Milk Tea, made with brown sugar syrup, whole milk, Assam black tea and boba pearls

• The Sparkling Peach Yakult, which mixes fizzy soda, a dairy Yakult drink, peach flavors and strawberry poppers

Customers can also top their drinks with boba pearls, fruit-flavored popping pearls, fruit jellies, or a flavored cream foam cap. 

• 9021 Goodnight Ranch Blvd., Ste. 3110, Austin

Austin officials asked to revise new development rules enacted under the Home Ownership for Middle-income Empowerment, or HOME, initiative, more than two years after the residential housing policy first went into effect.

HOME's two phases, approved in 2023 and 2024, generally permitted up to three units of housing on most of Austin's residential lots and reduced the amount of land needed to build a house. While construction under HOME is taking place citywide, several city officials said edits to the development code are now needed to improve its "clarity and predictability" after some projects faced challenges. City Council passed a resolution for technical HOME code updates 9-1.

The vote came soon after a new report from the Austin Board of Realtors found HOME units have been selling for significantly less than their traditional counterparts in the housing market—but still well above levels affordable to the median Austin household.

Check out the latest Austin metro transportation updates. 

Ongoing projects
Oak Hill Parkway
Project: The Texas Department of Transportation is currently reconstructing 7 miles of Hwy. 290 in Oak Hill, transforming the existing four-lane, undivided roadway to a six-lane divided highway with new frontage roads and 14 miles of shared-use paths.
Update: As early as mid-May, the Hwy. 290 and SH 71 flyovers will open. The Convict Hill cross-street bridge opened in April.

• Timeline: 2022-26

• Cost: $677 million

• Funding source: TxDOT

Completed projects
Gattis School Road Segment 3
Project: The city of Round Rock is expanding Gattis School Road—from A.W. Grimes Boulevard to Double Creek Drive—into a six-lane divided roadway, and adding pedestrian improvements, bicycle enhancements and right- and left-turn bays with new traffic signals to A.W. Grimes and Double Creek.
Update: Construction on segment 3 of the road was completed in May. Construction on segment 6 is still ongoing and expected to be complete by late 2027.

• Timeline: 2024-27

• Cost: $26 million (segment 3)

• Funding source: type B sales tax revenue (segment 3)

On May 26, Democratic voters will choose their nominee for Texas lieutenant governor in a runoff election between state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin, and union leader Marcos Vélez.

The big picture: The Democratic race for lieutenant governor 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.

Goodwin and Vélez were the two highest-performing candidates in the three-person primary race, with Goodwin collecting 48% of the vote and Vélez receiving 31%. The winner of the May 26 overtime round will face incumbent Dan Patrick and potential third-party candidates in the November midterm election.

Some context: The lieutenant governor leads the Texas Senate and can exercise the powers of the governor if the governor dies, resigns, is removed from office or is absent from the state, according to the Texas State Historical Association.

At the polls: Texans can vote early from May 18-22, and runoff election day is May 26.