Austin shuts down a neighborhood cooling facility after water destroys its own pump room, while the state prioritizes Starlink over fiber networks and the federal government pardons emissions-tampering truckers.

San Marcos bans data centers to preserve utility capacity, a director faces prison for defrauding Netflix, and the Supreme Court reshapes the limits of presidential firing power over federal agencies.

Austin's roadside landmarks fall to infrastructure expansion as General Motors replaces human labor with robotics and the U.S. Supreme Court considers seizing control of the Federal Reserve.