Austin City Hall

Signing up to speak during a certain public comment period is competitive. How can Austin prevent bots from clogging up the system?

Mike Siegel finished with about 40% of the vote on Nov. 5, while Gary Bledsoe finished with about 19%. The winner on Dec. 14 will fill the seat.

The new historic preservation plan Austin City Council adopted Thursday will replace the city’s four-decade-old guidelines. It includes 107 recommendations to recognize Austin’s rich and complex history and better protect its cultural heritage.

Final tallies released Thursday showed him to have earned 175,090 votes, about 13 votes more than needed to avoid a runoff. It's the fourth time Austin has elected him mayor.

The audit found Jesús Garza used his influence to pay two former city staffers roughly $200 an hour over a 10-month stint. The issue is now before the city's ethics commission.

Incumbent Mayor Kirk Watson needs a majority of votes to be declared a winner and avoid a runoff. There were 3,200 provisional ballots cast that must be verified before being counted.

The new nearly 400,000-square-foot building will house the city's three public safety agencies — Austin Fire, Austin Police and Austin-Travis County EMS. The building sits south of Zilker Park.

Mayoral candidate Doug Greco sued the city over its campaign finance rule that caps how much a candidate can raise from outside the city. A U.S. District judge dismissed the case last week saying the case should be heard by the ethics review commission first.

The City Council voted to designate the land as parkland, which allows the city to use park funds for things like expanding trail access and building playgrounds. Austin has a goal of making sure there's a park within a 5-to-10-minute walk of all residents.

Paxton argues the city's use of taxpayer dollars to fund travel costs for such a procedure violates the Texas Constitution.