It's Thursday, or Friday Jr.

🌧️ Today's weather: Teensy chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high in the upper-90s.

🎂 Happy birthday to our members Adi G and Matt Jones!

Situational awareness: The University of Texas plans to eliminate four majors — African and African diaspora studies, Mexican American and Latina/o studies, women's and gender studies, and the race, indigeneity and migration major — following the consolidation of seven departments, KUT first reported.

• Students currently enrolled in the majors will be able to complete their degree.

Today's newsletter is 1,025 words — a 4-minute read.

A new professional sumo wrestling league will debut in the Austin area next month.

Why it matters: As violent combat sports grow in popularity — think UFC — the Sumo Championship League is betting it can sell a family-friendly version.

What they're saying: "Some of the other (combat sports) are a little rougher," league chairman and CEO Stuart Snyder tells Axios. "There's nothing here a family would be offended by. The sport is entirely based on tradition, sportsmanship and honor — things a parent can embrace."

• Snyder, who has worked as an executive at WWE, Ringling Brothers and the Cartoon Network, said he selected Austin for the launch in part because of its sports environment, diversifying population, and concentration of young families.

What's happening: The league, with 45 athletes from nine countries, will hold its inaugural competition Oct. 10 at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. Tickets start at about $45.

• Total prize money for the event is $15,000.

Follow the money: Snyder says he has raised $5 million to jumpstart the league. He declined to disclose the investors.

• Snyder tells Axios the league is looking for a media partner to broadcast the matches. He says the goal is ultimately one "show" a month.

Zoom in: Among the athletes is Jonithan "Jiva" Pilgrim, 35, who lives in Bastrop County — he wrestled at Austin High and Texas State — and trains at Dark Circle, a sumo club in South Austin.

• "My nature is to be a warrior and a fighter, but I aspire to something that isn't just a bunch of barbarians beating their chest and blood strewn all over the floor and people covering their eyes because someone has broken an arm," Pilgrim, a quality assurance engineer at a drug store company, tells Axios.

The bottom line: The sport requires "self-control and temperance," Katie Hardeman, an adviser to Snyder and a Georgia-based sumo trainer, tells Axios.

• Win or lose, "you don't bleat, you don't throw a fit, you accept what has happened and step out. It's something we're lacking as a society."

Texas State University saw the nation's biggest drop in a new campus free speech ranking.

State of play: Texas colleges overall lost ground in the latest national ranking from the civil liberties group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), though results varied widely by campus.

How it works: FIRE and College Pulse, a digital survey research and analytics company, surveyed nearly 63,000 students and incorporated campus speech policies and recent free speech incidents.

By the numbers: Texas State fell from No. 112 last year to No. 259 out of 261 schools this year, the largest year-over-year decline in FIRE's ranking.

• Texas A&M dropped 145 spots to No. 192.
• Texas Tech also fell sharply to No. 193.
• UT Austin improved its overall score and moved up in the ranking to 124, though FIRE still gave its campus speech climate a D-.

Zoom in: FIRE attributed Texas State's sharp decline to several incidents over the last year, including the firing of a tenured professor over an off-campus political talk and the expulsion of a student who mocked Charlie Kirk's assassination.

• Texas A&M also recorded one of the country's largest declines, which FIRE attributed in part to students' declining perceptions of "administrative support," and the firing of lecturer Melissa McCoul after a student secretly recorded a class discussion involving gender identity.

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⚖️ The family of a San Antonio woman who died from pregnancy complications is suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, alleging the state's abortion ban prevented her from receiving necessary care. (Axios)

⚖️ Nate Paul's World Class Holdings is back in bankruptcy court, preventing a Northwest Austin shopping center from being sold. (Austin Business Journal 🔒)

⚡️ Austin's former 3M campus is slated to become a data center as part of a roughly $1 billion redevelopment. (KXAN)

💰 The Travis County Commissioners Court approved Central Health's budget, committing $54 million to expand mental health care services. (Community Impact)

Here's what's happening this weekend.

Friday

📖 Listen to chef and creator Olivia Tiedemann in conversation with chef Joshua Weissman presented by First Light Books at the Baker Center. 7pm, $45 ticket includes a reserved seat and book.

🍺 Kick off Live Oak Brewing's three-day Oaktoberfest, with a steinhoist competition. 5pm, free.

Saturday

🎙️ Dance with Muna on their Gets So Hot tour at Moody Amphitheater. 8pm, tickets around $80.

🍄 Celebrate the opening of Garden Gnome Grove at Zilker Botanical Garden. 10am-2pm, included with garden admission.

Sunday

🐶 Take the kids to read with a trained therapy dog at Little Walnut Creek Branch. 3:45-4:45pm, free.

🧙 Shop from over 200 witchy vendors during Austin Witches Market at Austin Beerworks' Sprinkle Valley location. Noon-4pm, free.

Spend your Sunday museum hopping during Austin Museum Day, where over 35 museums will open their doors with free admission.

What's happening: Along with free entry, museums will offer guided and self-guided exhibition tours and family-friendly activities.

Zoom in: Participating spots include the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, LBJ Presidential Library, Mexic-Arte Museum, Blanton Museum of Art and Bullock Museum.

• Find local vendors, craft activities, guided tours and games at the Neill-Cochran House Museum, 11am-4pm.
• Get a look inside the newly renovated Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, with tours and coloring activities, 1-5pm.

📍 If you go: Check the website to see the hours and information of each participating museum.

Thanks to Bob Gee for editing this newsletter.

🐐 Asher recommends taking your kids to Pioneer Farms on Austin Museum Day.

💅 Nicole is very excited to try this cool nail art studio in East Austin.