P-MRC Holdings, LLC, the venture of MRC and Penske Media Corporation, has parted ways with Hugh Forrest.
The decision was made on April 25.
Forrest had been co-president of SXSW since 2022 and president since 2024. His departure follows shortly after the conclusion of SXSW 2025 and the subsequent announcement of a shorter, more consolidated event for next year.
From its humble beginnings in 1987 as a music festival attracting around 700 attendees and a small roster of artists, SXSW has transformed into a prominent nine-day event. It now draws notable figures like billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban and acclaimed musicians such as Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, and Benson Boone.
Last year, SXSW significantly boosted the local Austin economy, generating an estimated $377.3 million.
Just as the 2025 festival wrapped up, SXSW announced a significant change for 2026: the elimination of its second weekend. Going forward, the interactive, film and TV, and music segments will all take place simultaneously over a condensed seven-day period. (Austin Business Journal)
Austin police continue to investigate the city’s 20th homicide of the year that occurred late Friday evening at a homeless encampment in the 500 block of E. Rundberg Lane.
X user @justicetracking continues to monitor the rising number of murders in Austin this year.
Last year, 71 homicides were reported, down from 75 in 2023 but the same as the 71 reported in 2022. A record 88 homicides were reported in 2021.
KXAN-TV has a data hub that tracks the number and locations of homicides in the city.
Firefighters put out a boat fire that started Saturday night near the 5900 block of Hi Line Road, near the Colorado River and Lake Travis. Three people were critically injured.
Two boats were on fire when they arrived.
One person is dead and another is being evaluated after a collision in Southeast Austin Saturday morning.
Gov. Greg Abbott gave the keynote address at the Texas Peace Officer’s Memorial ceremony in Austin yesterday.
The ceremony in its entirety:
“When I look at the most recent test results, I feel alarmed and disheartened. We still have historically underserved populations, and we must keep pushing forward.” — Lori Solis, President of the Austin Council of PTAs
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) released its 2023 accountability ratings for schools across the state—the first full set of ratings since before the pandemic–and they reveal a stark east-west divide.
Dobie Middle School is facing closure after being given four consecutive failing accountability grades by the Texas Education Agency.
Yesterday, the Webb School community rallied for the school and its faculty, students and parents.
Student staffers at UT Austin’s Fine Arts Library will see their jobs dissolved in the fall after a “reallocation of resources” and reevaluation of its operations.
Following an evaluation survey conducted in the fall of 2024, the Fine Arts Library, along with other libraries on campus, will be adjusting its operating hours. These changes will result in some libraries having reduced hours while others will see an extension of their service times. (Daily Texan)
Don’t expect construction at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to slow down anytime soon.
Officials anticipate more work will be required not long after the current expansion project wraps up in 2030. (Austin Business Journal)
And ABIA officials said travelers should expect delays today.
It looks like a new and improved Barton Springs Bridge is on the horizon. (Austin Monitor)
Hundreds of thousands of hummingbirds, swallows, warblers and other migratory birds are traveling through Austin this weekend.
It’s peak migration season. (KUT 90.5)
Thousands of Texans were without power across Texas on Saturday morning after severe storms brought flash flooding, damaging winds, softball-sized hail, and several tornadoes from late Friday into early Saturday. (Austin American-Statesman)
The majority of the outages were in the Panhandle.
WEATHER
5-DAY FORECAST / AUSTIN, TEXAS
A wind gust with triple-digit speeds blew across West Texas this week and broke records — but it wasn’t related to the any of the tornados raging across the state. (Austin American-Statesman)
John Cornyn or Ken Paxton?
President Trump says he’s not ready to endorse the next Texan for U.S. Senate. (KUT 90.5)
Will Beto O’Rourke run again?
It was a violent Saturday night in San Antonio.
A Houston-based nonprofit called the Jeremiah Counsel Corporation says in a lawsuit that the father and son pastors of Second Baptist Church, its associate pastor Lee H. Maxcy and attorney Dennis Brewer, “deceived and manipulated” the church’s 90,000 members by amending the church bylaws to deny them their right to vote for a new pastor. It claimed church members never received copies of the proposed bylaws, and the four men now control over $1 billion in assets. (Houston Chronicle)
Police are searching for a man who they claim left plastic Easter eggs filled with marijuana in various locations in a Texas town. (People)
In booming Central Texas, wastewater is polluting rivers and streams.
A bill in the Texas Legislature would protect the last 21 pristine watersheds. But for years, previous attempts have been defeated by powerful homebuilders. (Inside Climate News)
Starbase, the SpaceX site, is likely Texas’ next city.
What happens next? (Texas Tribune)
SPORTS
MLS: Austin FC fell 2-0 against Houston Dynamo FC on Saturday night at Shell Energy Stadium. (Austin FC)
Next up…
COLLEGE BASEBALL: No. 1 Texas clinched its 13th straight conference series win, downing rival Texas A&M, 3-2, in the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown on Saturday afternoon at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. (Texas Longhorns)
MLB: The Texas Rangers and Houston Astros both lost games on the road Saturday.
Both teams are back in action today.
NBA PLAYOFFS: Stephen Curry eventually found his shooting groove while Houston tried everything to stop him, finishing with 36 points, nine assists and seven rebounds to lead the Golden State Warriors past the Rockets 104-93 on Saturday night without Jimmy Butler for a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series. (Yahoo! Sports)
Game 4 is Monday in California.
NHL PLAYOFFS: Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog scored his first NHL goal in nearly three years, Logan O’Connor had a short-handed tally and the Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars 4-0 in Game 4 on Saturday night to even their first-round series.
The series shifts back home for Game 5 on Monday.
Race 1 of the GT World Challenge America powered by AWS championship at Circuit of The Americas was held yesterday.
The GT World Challenge America powered by AWS will return to the track for Race 2 on this afternoon at 1:00pm CT.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Rather than an Orange-White scrimmage to culminate the spring football practice period, the program put on a day full of special events with a gameday-like experience for fans Saturday at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium.
2025 NFL DRAFT: Former TexasLonghorn Vernon Broughton was picked by the New Orleans Saints in the third round Saturday.
A Sunday day trip to Kerrville.
