The Austin Daily News - June 18, 2026

In this week's issue: Joshua Baer, the man who built Austin's startup machine from the ground up, gone at 50 — and what happens to Capital Factory now SpaceX just bought the world's most popular AI coding tool for $60 billion, and the entire infrastructure stack ties directly to Central Texas Waymo now has 200+ robotaxis roaming 133 square miles of Austin — the autonomous ride-hail race is officially on $90 million FAA grant, a SoftBank land buy outside Rockdale, and billions more flowing into the Central Texas infrastructure corridor West Campus business owners have stopped calling police on homeless — "What's the point?" — and what that tells you about how broken Austin's public safety response really is Let's get into it.