ATX Pulse 6/18-19/26 (free): ATP Reviews Light Rail Design // Deep Eddy Pool to Close for a Week // APD Investigating Two Homicides in 24 Hours // COA Hires New Head of Economic Development // ACC Could Expand to Pflugerville // UT Softball Signs Florida State Star, Austin Native

In partnership with

THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2026 - FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2026

Compiled by Matt Mackowiak

Thank YOU for being a FREE subscriber.

Please become a PAID subscriber below.

STATEWIDE NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE

Are you one of the 220,000+ subscribers to Must Read Texas, a newsletter that delivers everything you need to know from across Texas each weekday.

Subscriptions are $7/mo or $70/yr here: http://mustreadtx.substack.com.

> Become a FREE subscriber here.
> Become a PAID subscriber for $7/mo or $70/yr here.

SPONSOR #1: Kalshi

You called it. Now you can get paid for it.

You already know who's going to win the California governor primary.
You have a take on the Texas Senate race, the 2028 presidential field, and whether the next Rotten Tomatoes score lands above 80.

You form these opinions every time you read the news. And Kalshi is where those opinions have real value. Prediction markets cover the full range of what politics and culture actually produce — governor matchups, Senate runoffs, Billboard chart leaders, award show outcomes, celebrity news.

Every market has real money behind it. Prices shift as new information comes in, which means the market reflects more than any single pundit, poll, or hot take. If you're already forming opinions, you're already doing the work.

Kalshi just lets you act on it. Find the race or chart you're already following and trade what you know.

Get started today.

_{Trade responsibly.}

SPONSOR #2: Kalshi

The World Cup Has a Market for Every Match.

From the group stage to the final, trade real outcomes on Kalshi, official regional partner of the Argentine National Team. Who wins, who advances, who takes the trophy. Peer-to-peer, no house, cash out anytime. Get $10 free.

Trade Every Match

_{Trade responsibly.}

SPONSOR #3: The Cheap Investor

5 Defense Stocks Most Investors Haven't Found Yet

AI-integrated systems. Satellite infrastructure. Advanced aerospace platforms. Five companies are winning significant Pentagon contracts in each, and we profiled all of them in one free research report.

See the report

WEATHER

Today: H: 94° / L: 78°. AM clouds and PM sun.

Tuesday: H: 95° / L: 77°. AM clouds and PM sun.

Wednesday: H: 96° / L: 76°. AM clouds and PM sun.

Thursday: H: 96° / L: 75°. AM clouds and PM sun.

Friday: H: 97° / L: 76°. AM clouds and PM sun.

TOP NEWS

"Austin Transit Partnership reviews light rail design as business stresses about relocation" via KEYE — Austin’s long-debated light rail project moved into another phase as the Austin Transit Partnership met to discuss design and preconstruction work, while some businesses along the planned route continued to raise concerns about potential displacement.

Veronica Castro de Berrera, chairwoman of the Austin Transit Partnership Board of Directors, said major infrastructure projects inevitably affect surrounding areas. “As with any big infrastructure project, there are always disruptions,” Castro de Berrera said.

Castro de Berrera said the partnership is committed to working with businesses to reduce construction impacts. “We’re asking our team to be able to have a strategic business support effort on how to mitigate the noise. How to mitigate the dust, how to make sure that the people who access those businesses are able to continue to access those businesses,” she said.

That effort also includes relocations for some businesses. “We’re trying to mitigate as much as possible any kind of displacement of businesses along that alignment,” Castro de Berrera said. (KEYE)

"Deep Eddy Pool to close for a week for repairs: What Austin swimmers need to know" via AAS – Deep Eddy Pool at 401 Deep Eddy Ave. will close June 22-28 for repairs to a fill inlet valve that broke earlier this year. The mechanism helps ensure the pool fills in time for morning openings.

Deep Eddy Pool is a spring-fed swimming hole with water that maintains a year-round temperature of 68 to 70 degrees. It includes a 10-lane, 100-foot-long lap pool and a 1-acre wading pool.

Before the pool was built, people swam, camped and picnicked at a beach named for a swirling eddy created by a huge rock jutting into the river. The rock was later blasted away. Businessman A.J. Eilers bought the beach in 1916 and built what became the first outdoor concrete swimming pool in Texas. He later added summer rental cottages.

“Deep Eddy quickly grew into as much carnival ground as swimming pool,” according to a 2012 American-Statesman article. “A diving baby (who was really more of a toddler), a man dubbed “the Human Fish,” who ate a banana while sitting underwater, and the Great Lorena and her Diving Horse, who plunged off a wooden ramp into a canvas-lined tank 30 feet below, performed regularly.” (AAS)

"Teaching was her passion. As Austin ISD closes schools, Martin math teacher leaves the classroom" via KUT – For the last 12 years, Michelle Scruggs drove every weekday from Georgetown to the corner of Comal and Haskell streets in East Austin. With a cup of coffee in hand, she would go into Martin Middle School, up the stairs and into her math classroom.

Room 208 at Martin is the only one that has a blue sky and clouds painted on the ceiling. Its walls are covered with student art, colorful paper airplanes and algebra equations.

"I love teaching. I absolutely adore teaching. I adore my kids," Scruggs said.

Scruggs always knew she would be a teacher. She started teaching when she was 8, making her friends do the lessons she developed. In 1991, she started her official teaching career in Ohio. When she moved to Austin in 2014, she began working at Martin Middle School, where she taught math to seventh and eighth graders. The historic school is now the place where Scruggs will end her teaching career. (KUT)

THE BLOTTER

"Austin crime: Police investigating 2 homicides within less than 24 hours apart" via FOX7 – Austin police are investigating two homicides that happened less than 24 hours apart and less than a mile apart.

Austin police said a man shot and killed 28-year-old Jose Salgado-Amador on Monday, June 15. Salgado-Amador was working as a mechanic in a parking lot off East Riverside Drive when police said the man demanded something from him, then shot him, ran, and drove away in a light-colored sedan.

Detectives are requesting any information from anyone who was in the area on Monday night or anyone with knowledge of the incident. Anyone with photos, videos, or other potential evidence is requested to share them with APD.

Less than 24 hours later, and less than a mile away, police responded to another homicide. APD said a wife and husband were found dead inside a home on Oltorf Street. (FOX7)

Subscribe to Austin Insider (Premium) to read the rest.