Austin's Ties to Epstein, State Threatens School Takeovers, & Party Like It's 2008

Today on CityCast Austin, it's the Friday News Roundup. This week flew by. But don't worry, we are here to recap a few very important stories like which Austinites are in Epstein files, the latest on student protests, and we are hearing from you, which is my favorite. It's Friday, February 6th. I'm Nikki Devon, and this is what Austin's talking about. Hello, I am here with our producers, Alyssa Castles. What's up, Alyssa? Hello, hello. And Eva Ruth Moravec, what is up? Eva Ruth. T-G-I-F. So we want to give you guys an update on something that we mentioned earlier this week. So Austin City Council was set to vote yesterday on a $2 million contract with Live View Technologies to expand a pilot program that brought AI-powered surveillance cameras to city parks. But the item was pulled off the agenda after public outcry. A group called No A-L-P-Rs is a coalition of several grassroots groups in town, and they have been protesting and circulated a letter for people to sign on in opposition of the contract. So council members are working to specify how companies can use surveillance technology in town. So yeah, Mayor Pro Temchito Bella is working on this language that really specifies all these, what we want companies to do. And I think that'll, they're hoping to, it seems like, get that framework in place before there is a new contract that suddenly comes up for approval.

Great, great way to do that, guys. Good timeline. You got it. You guys are killing it. But we wanted to give y'all a little update since we had mentioned this earlier in the week. So there was no vote. Yeah, the cameras are not, nothing's changing for now. They did have this pilot program. They said it worked well at combating crime. And. There were some people who spoke in favor of the cameras this week saying, like, you know, if you actually live in these neighborhoods, you might want one of these cameras to be able to see who's breaking into your car, helping law enforcement catch who's breaking into your car, committing crimes around your house. But yeah, people, the outcry won. People showed up. Yeah. People must have listened to our Tuesday News Roundup and formed opinions and took them to the council. It does appear that way. I think this is a really good example of, you know, it does matter. When you make your voice heard, not to sound hokey, if enough people make their voice heard, it matters. You have power in your voice. That's all I'm saying about that before I get too heavy-handed. That's it. That's all I got to say about it. Show up and show out. Don't forget your power, people. So we will, of course, keep an eye on this because, I mean, I have a feeling that this is going to come back around. Yeah. So. Now, on to some crazy, crazy news that caught our eye this week. So the Department of Justice just released a huge stash of files related to the sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein. And in those files were the names of some pretty high-profile Austinites. Now, the documents do not implicate people in crimes necessarily, but they are being released under a law that is intended to reveal what... the government knew about Epstein's sexual abuse of young girls and his interactions with the rich and powerful. And those rich and powerful include... Drum roll, please. Include what some people believe to be Austin's own, Elon Musk. Because listen, I'm not giving in. He is not ours. He doesn't get the title. He does not get the title. I refuse. Elon Musk... and his brother Kimball, who has a restaurant here, and a celebrity doctor based here named Peter Attia. And... Ruth, why don't you tell us about these three individuals and their varying responses to be included into these files? Yeah, Elon Musk, you know, billionaire. He's the owner of Tesla and SpaceX and Moore and a huge employer here in Travis County. So there were several emails between him and Epstein that were released and they show kind of this like awkward.

Bro. There's a lot going on. And then our third, our third guy, Dr. Peter Attia, he lives here in Austin, but he has a practice not here. It's in San Diego and New York City. He's very into longevity medicine and he's written books and he's a podcaster and stuff. His direction or his stuff in these emails is a little more creepy, awful, gross, cringy. CNN described it this way. They said that Atia's relationship with Epstein included a friendly and salacious correspondence between the two in one particularly crude response. He wrote that, quote, Pussy is indeed low carb. Still awaiting results on gluten content, though. What? Yeah, that's pretty disgusting. What? Mm-hmm. Oh, my God. Peter. That's disgusting, Peter. Peter, that's gross. Peter, also, he just got a job as a correspondent on CBS News, which is Bari Weiss's new channel for those following the media news. But you've seen all these other people either step down, resign because of these leaked emails. And he is. As of Wednesday, they are keeping him on. And Peter did, I will say, he released a very long statement to, like, his patience and everybody. And he explains how they met. They met in 2014. Also, after Epstein had already been convicted once. Atia claims that he asked Epstein directly about that conviction and he characterized it as prostitution-related charges. He learned more about that in 2018. He, but he's owning it somewhat. He says I was incredibly naive to believe him. I mistook his social acceptance in the eyes of the credible people I saw him with for acceptability. And that was a serious error in my judgment. To be clear, I never witnessed illegal behavior and never saw anyone who appeared underage in his presence. But she talked about pussy. I just appeared underage. Come on, dude. That's a little wordplay possibly. Come on, bro. It's awkward, to say the least. I mean, in way, way worse, you know, a lot of abuse coming out of these files and just awful treatment of girls. Listen. Plenty of times in my life, I have been in the presence or I have found myself friends with someone that's not a great person. You know what I mean? Like I, I've just misjudged. You're right? I've been like, oh, that person is terrible. I'm never going to talk to them again. Right? Right. And then, you know, I... But it's like if something then comes out later, like if you really were innocently just like, I didn't know who this person. I had no idea. All the ladies seemed over age. Like, like, it's just like nobody appeared to be underage. Like, it's like if something like that would come out about someone that I have, that I am known to be around, I would be breaking my neck.

off top as soon as it came out to be like, I don't know this person. We are not close. I did not know he was diddling kids. This is terrible. I would do whatever I can to help. I would be like throwing myself into trying to, you know, like help. I wouldn't wait 20 years or 10 years later for my name to pop up and be like, hey, whoa, whoa now. I was innocent. I did not know what kind of. It's just like it's so. That's my issue with all of it. Like now everybody is just like, I mean, I was there, but I didn't see anything. I didn't know. I didn't see anything. It's so hard to believe. It's hard to believe. And so now you are affiliated with the company you kept because you kept your mouth closed for this law. It's like. And you went after, you wanted to go after he was already convicted. Do you think I'm going anywhere near somebody that's being convicted of child? Like, come on, dude. Yeah. Use some critical thinking. You wanted to be close to the sun and close to the rich. You wanted proximity. That's it. You know, that's exactly what he says basically in his statement was that like, he's like, yes, I was, I was cloud chasing. I was. I saw this as an opportunity for me to grow and, you know, I was trying to become this bigger deal. But yeah, the Elon Musk responses are weird too. Like, it's just all over the place. So Elon Musk was like essentially begging to go to Epstein Island. Is that right? Pretty much. That, y'all, that, that is so validating for me. Because this man is so cringy. It makes perfect sense. The way that I see him makes sense that he'd be like, come on, guys. Let me come to the island and have fun too, guys. Come on, man. I'm cool. I mean, Elon Musk did ask about the parties. He said, do you have any parties planned on Christmas Day in 2012? And there was also, like, Epstein's assistant even nudged him. To say, like, hey, just a reminder, Elon Musk was asking about coming to your island. Elon Musk wants to come over for a play date. Come on, guys. Anyways, that's his voice for me from now on. Come on, guys. I want to hear you out too. I'm super rich, man. I don't feel bad for him at all. At all.

You know, we love to hear from you whether you agree with our stuff or not. We like talking to you. We love hearing from you. We keep saying this. I say it all the time. And this week, we had a listener respond to our Tuesday News Roundup where we discussed Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton investigating AISD over the student protests. Now there's more news to follow up on. So first of all, let's tell you what the listener said. So. Lister said, and this is in quotes, have you noticed the student protests last Friday were across the state? Lots in and around central Texas, also Waco, Houston, San Antonio, and DFW. Yet, Ken Paxton and Greg Abbott only investigated and sanctioned AISD. Buda had over 500 students and an adult that started a fight. They didn't look into that. This is just another way they scrutinize Austin. Interesting. So yes and no. It's true these two leaders are looking into Austin ISD specifically. However, the Texas Education Agency announced on Tuesday new guidance for all districts related to the protests. I think it's, I think it's. I question that timing, but Alyssa, do you want to get into it? Sure, yeah. So Governor Greg Abbott asked Commissioner Mike Morath, who's the head of the Texas Education Agency, to investigate. And as a result of that, the DEA released some guidance in a statement on Tuesday evening. Part of this guidance included this warning, kind of indicating that the state... had the right to take over the district if the district was found that it was helping students walk out of class and protest. Some other consequences they listed in this guidance that they sent out included students being marked absent, which could risk losing daily attendance funding from the state, as well as teachers potentially losing their teaching license if they found that they were helping or participating in quote. inappropriate political activism. The state law allows for the agency to conduct these special investigations deemed necessary by Commissioner Mike Morath. So he's still investigating AISD to release what's going to happen with the district, but he has the authority to lower accreditation status or accountability rating. Wow. He can also appoint someone to monitor the district as well as, again, with the state takeover idea, replace the elected school board, which is pretty intense consequence, if I might say. Yeah, that's usually what happens if your school, like if schools. fail academically for a long period of time. Like you have, there's like metrics you have to hit for how many schools and all of that that happened in Houston where they took over the whole school board. And I think people here are worried about that and have been, but not for this reason. This kind of came out of the blue. It kind of came out of the blue. It's a little bit jarring. But yeah.

We saw more student protests this week. On Monday, Covington Middle School students walked out. I had a friend whose son went to Covington and she texted saying, okay, well, I have to pick up my son from the Capitol because they walked from Covington, which is in South Austin, all the way to the Capitol. Holy shit. Fleuryville students walked out and as the listener. mentioned there was this altercation between a student and adult male and Buda over these protests. Hayes, CISD, which covers that group of students from Buda, responded acknowledging the fight and saying that Buda PD was investigating. The adult male involved has since been arrested and charged with assault. Hey, CISD also is asking parents for parental consent should their students participate in protests. Otherwise, their students are going to get an excused absences. They also put a teacher on administrative leave after pictures circulated online of him displaying protest signs with profanity while he was on campus allegedly. So that seems. Maybe you shouldn't do that on campus. I don't know. Yeah. And then despite all of this guidance being released Tuesday night on Wednesday, students in Leander staged a walkout. Hey. So. Very interesting. A lot's happening. I mean, I did think that like AISD from what we had heard students that were participating in the walkout, the big one, were counted as absent. So I feel like some of the TEA guidance they're already kind of doing, but it just. solidifies the like state takeover part which yeah and the teacher part that's pretty shocking too yeah i will say in the text i received from my friend she said that you know to the best of her knowledge she her son said the teachers were encouraging it though who knows what that even means for like a sixth grader being like maybe they were learning about peaceful protesting because it's black history month you know like who knows with that actually means. Right. Are they learning something? They're teaching. Yeah. They're teaching. That's the entire point of doing what they do. That's your teaching. You're educating. That is influence. So do you not want teachers to do their job? We teach them about exercising your rights. And so if they then exercise their rights, why is it the fault of the teachers and the educators? They're doing what they're supposed to do. That doesn't mean they're like, yeah, you guys should all walk out right now. You should leave. And there's no way to tell. There's no way to tell what's happening. So this like... hackney, trying to enforce and threatening people's teaching certificate. Like, what are you doing? You think you want.

teachers to enforce something because you're mad that kids are exercising their right to express themselves against what you're doing. That is what they're supposed to do. And if they make that decision and they take that absence during the day, then they've taken that absence during the day. If they've talked to their parents and their parents are okay with that absence, that's not your business. It's not your business. It's not the state's business. Right. Yeah. In my opinion. I'm also like, what do you expect? Do you want them to like lock, like lock them in? Like, you know, what can districts actually do to keep them from exercising their First Amendment right, which is free speech? You know, like, I don't know. And that First Amendment right is for children too. It's not just for adults. Yeah. It's not just for taxpayers or people that vote. And I wonder if like it was. about something else, if the protest was about something else, if the reaction would be the same. Like, let's just say that it was like a Keep Christ and Christmas rally or something, you know, that was happening on a Friday. They would be passing out orange juice and cookies to the kids as they walk to the Capitol if it was about Jesus. Or an anti-abortion rally, you know, that happened during school. It's like, you know, I... I wonder, is it really about when these are happening that, like, they're disrupting the school day, that the kids should be in school, or is it about the subject matter? And we don't really have an equivalent to test it out on. Right. Well, it's the verbiage they use is inappropriate political activism. So that makes me think, okay, well, then what's appropriate political activism? Right. Right. Yeah. What's appropriate? Is it appropriate is only what you personally agree with? Mm-hmm. That's what this is about. It's about who decides. Who gets to decide what's appropriate? Yeah. And also, there's this general complaint around. Gen-Alpha, like they don't care about anything. They're always looking at their phones. Okay, well, turns out that's wrong. Like, these kids are paying attention and they're dialed in and they're exercising their rights and they're passionate and they're doing the one thing that they can do. This is the one thing they can do. They're not throwing things. They're not causing a ruckus. They're just walking. And some of them may honestly not be all that passionate about it or even know what they're participating in. I mean, I'd love to think that like they're all super engaged in making these choices. But like when I was in seventh, eighth grade, if people were doing something that I wanted to, you know, like you don't always. like think things through when you're a teenager. And if a big group of people is going to do something, you're like, yeah, I'll go walk out with y'all. And you're skipping's class. Heck yeah. But no, it is nice to think that they're activated and they're really like, you know, that's nice to think that. Right. I think it's a little idealistic to think that like everyone, every one of these students is like super engaged in making these choices, you know, but.

I think I would say strongly that the majority of them, I don't think they're engaged, but I think that they were probably presented with an option and they're like, yeah, I'll do that. Yeah, that sounds like something I can get behind. Yeah. But also, I would rather kids be skipping school to do this than be skipping school hanging out and somewhere smoking. smoking or doing, you know what, when I saw these walkouts for these kids, the thing that I thought that was like so cool is just that. It's like these kids are together in a group making, making, not making a sand might be a little harsh, but like they're together face to face interacting with each other, walking. talking to each other, doing this really cool thing. As a random-ass black lady, but then none of them know, I feel proud of them. Well, they're certainly feeling... a lot of attention now, you know, for better or worse. And it's a, it'll be a big lesson for all of them to figure out, you know, how this goes and them being kind of in the crosshairs of like this political fight. That's what is it really about, you know? But it's a great lesson in democracy for them either way. Yeah. Absolutely. That's hands on learning right there. Yeah. Hands on learning. Yes. They're going to do what they. Have you met? Have you met a 12 year old? Have you met an 11 year old? They're going to do what they want to do. Yes. I just got a flashback from when I was like 12 and I was really like, you can't tell them what to know. Exactly. Listen, I mean, like, yeah. I mean, I was definitely one of the kids that this would have happened and I would have been like, I'm never doing that again. I can't get in trouble because I didn't like to get in trouble. But like all of my friends are like, you're going with us. We're walking out.

Speaking of doing what we won't, what are our weekend picks? Eva Ruth, you say you're going to do, you're going to be cleaning up. Big plans, y'all. So you're opting out. You're opting out of the plans. Really big plans this weekend to do some manual freeze cleanup. So, yeah, in between that, I'll probably be drinking some Austin East cider and running and eating. Those are my weekend plans. Look at that. Easy peasy. Alyssa, what about you? Yeah, I am deciding still. between two of my friend's events happening tonight. I'm either going to go to my friend's album release show at Cherrywood Center. The band is called Daphne Tunes. They're going to also be performing with Auregraph. It's tonight at seven. Tickets are $15. It's going to be a really great time. I've never been to the Cherrywood Center, but it seems fun. Or... I am going to go see a friend's band, Steve and the Sweethearts, play in Maynor at Rancho Moonrise. There's two-step lessons by Native Texas at 8, and then the band will go on at 8.30. And tickets are also 15 bucks for that. So kind of two different vibes. Yeah. TBD to see what I'm doing tonight, but one of those for sure. I love that there's so many music options on any given night in Austin. Listen, it's great. For $15, too, that's really fun. What about you, Nikki? What are you doing? So, y'all, this weekend is full of stuff to do. I feel like I say that every single weekend. It's also a Super Bowl weekend, so it's crazy. Tonight, there's something at Swan Dive called the Recession Pop Party. And it's like half off cover. So it's only like, $5 to get in. They say their drink specials are too low to advertise, but they're playing artists like Lady Gaga, Kesha, Pitbull, Usher, Katie Perry, LMFAO. Fun. Yeah, it sounds like a lot of fun. I'm super, super, super, super into it. Yeah, so recession pop, which is kind of my, that's my era. But. I like that the prices match the time, too. I love it. Also, at 6 o'clock tonight, Napoleon Dynamite Live is playing at the Paramount, and they are going to have John Heater, Ephron Ramirez, and John Grease there live to interact. Oh, my God. Yes. So Pedro, Napoleon, and Uncle Rico are going to be at this screening. And I am living. I'm like, I might have to make this happen because this is this I know so many. parts of Napoleon Dynamite. And I quote it often, like, all the time. It is a silly thing than Nicole and I do all the time. VIP tickets give you access to the meet and greet. I want to meet Uncle Rico. I'm sure Napoleon and Pedro are delightful. I'm trying to meet Uncle Rico. That's who I want to see. That's who I'll probably try to go and meet. Yeah, so it's the screening of the movie and them on a panel, and it's just up my alley. So that's happening tonight. Love that. I know.

God, I love Austin. Okay, so then tomorrow we talked about this in our monthly guide, but it is Solar Saturday. Black History Month kickoff block party at the Carver Museum. That's from 12 to 6. There's all kinds of stuff happening all day. But starting off with the Black Maker's Vinder Market. Y'all know your girl loves a market. So I will be there for sure. But also happening tomorrow is Busty's Vinder Market. That's happening from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. vintage clothing, vintage plants, jewelry, like jewelry, vinyl. Yeah, and they got brunch. Their food is really good and it's affordable and it's cute. Their little flyer is cute. And then tomorrow night, the boogie is happening at Dawa. Austin Boogie Crew presents the boogie and it's just dancing, funk, soul, disco, boogie at Dawa headquarters. And it's called a grown and sexy edition. So, duh. Hello. And of course, Tritie So Funk, you know, that's my favorite DJ. So, Dawa is on 916 Springdale over in Canopy. It's cute little space. Also tomorrow happening, then this is going to be it. Bad Bunny Bowl at Swan Dive because y'all know Bad Bunny is doing the Super Bowl halftime show. That starts at... Starting a 930 day playing Bad Bunny all night. So that's Saturday night to get you in the mood to get you in the mood for the Sunday game. Sunday, it's Super Bowl Sunday. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Real quick. Even if you're not a football fan, even if you're not, right? Super Bowl Sunday is such a good time to people watch and be out and about and just like get some good specials on booze and wings and just, y'all, I'm sorry. Y'all know how I am. I love a good, like, rivalry football yelling. I don't know why. I love it. I love it. Yeah. You can find Super Bowl watch parties all over the city on Sunday. Austin has you covered. Check CityCast Austin's newsletter. I have a question for our listeners. I'm obsessed with chicken wings, like Buffalo Chicken Wings. And I want to know where everyone's favorite place to get chicken wings in Austin are. Besides Pluckers, because we know Pluckers, chicken wings. But where's everyone's favorite? Ooh, that's a really good... My go-to is Terry's seafood, but I don't know. Because I think of football and I think of chicken wings. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where are you going to be eating your wings on Sunday? Let us know. Yeah. Who has the best chicken wings in Austin? Yeah. So anyways, plenty of stuff to do.

I hope to see you guys out and about. I hope that you get into the city. It's going to be beautiful this weekend. It's supposed to be really pretty this weekend. So, you know, put on your cute clothes and get out into the city. Before we leave, we want to take this opportunity to remind you that we are having an event at Stargazer on February 12th. It's going to be our first member event of the year. And it is going to be a trivia night. And it's going to be hosted by yours truly. Hey. My trivia questions are unhinged, but they're fun. You better study up on all things Nikki likes by listening to every single one of our episodes. Listen. You better get into it because the top two teams gets a prize, a very good prize. So you can bring friends with you. If you are not a member, you can come and sign up to be a member, but you can also just come and talk to us and see what CityCast Austin is all about. But members, we got some special perks for y'all when y'all show up. If you want more information about our neighbor program, go to membership.citycass.fm and become a citycast neighbor today. Woohoo. And we can add a link to our event, RSVP, to our show notes. If you haven't RSVPedia and you're interested, come play with us. Look at that. Look at that. Easy peasy. Be our neighbor. Okay. Elizabeth Reeve, thank you so much for rounding the afternoon with me this week. You guys are amazing. Happy Friday. Happy Friday. Bye, bye. Bye y'all.

That's all for today here on CityCast Austin. Our executive producer is Eva Ruth Moravec. Our producers this week are Adrian Gonzalez, Laura Sutsui, Elizabeth Kama, and Alyssa Castles. And I'm your host, Nikki Devon. Our newsletter editor is Kelsey Bradshaw. And music is by Nelson Valenti Aguilar of Como Las Movies, with additional music by All the Comonos, and Jamie and Drew Shepard from Triple Scoop music via Getty Images. If you enjoyed our show, you already know. Tell your friend that likes chicken wings, rate the show, leave us to review, and subscribe to our CityCastawson Newsletter. We'll be back Monday morning with more news from around the city. Bye y'all.