The global entertainment company AEG Presents is renovating and rebranding the Emo's Austin space next year.

The details: AEG Presents will begin operating a new venue at the Emo's property in January 2027. It's expected to reopen early next year after "upgrades, renovations, and a full rebrand," according to the company.

Robin Phillips, AEG Presents' Southwest region vice president said the new-look venue will maintain its current capacity and could begin hosting performances as soon as February. Emo's will host its last shows in December and is planning a move into a new space downtown.

The reimagined space will complement AEG's nearby 65,000-square-foot indoor music venue project in the River Park mixed-use development.

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.

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.

Nearly $8.4 billion in new state funding was not enough to save Texas public school districts from budget shortfalls and campus closures, school administrators said June 1.

What happened: During a 10-hour public hearing at the state Capitol, school district leaders spoke of efforts to stretch their budgets amid high inflationary costs as teachers explained their decisions to leave the classroom due to pay cuts and large class sizes.

The big picture: Last year, Texas lawmakers passed House Bill 2, a $8.4 billion school finance bill designed to increase educator salaries, create a new pot of money for fixed costs, provide more training for teachers and boost special education resources.

Roughly one year later, districts across Community Impact’s coverage areas are cutting staff and closing campuses, citing enrollment declines and budget shortfalls. 

Quote of note: "This funding deficit is the final straw for me, and it will be for countless other educators across the state who must leave or who lose their jobs," Austin ISD French teacher Rachel Preston told lawmakers June 1.