The Austin Daily News - June 6, 2026

In this week's issue: Texas's power grid has 410+ gigawatts of AI data center requests in the queue — five times the entire state's peak capacity Austin City Hall has 176 communications staffers across 28 departments — and they don't communicate with each other — while the city bleeds $26M in budget red ink Austin defense startup just hit a $2.2 billion valuation by making drone-killers that cost $10 per engagement Two prominent Austin hotels foreclosed and a homebuilder sold at auction — the real estate market is separating winners from wishful thinkers Texas just deregulated food trucks statewide, effective July 1 — one license to rule them all Texas doesn't do things small. Let's get into it.