Austin City Council members are contemplating levying a new fee to pay for city parks.

Why it matters: Facing a budget deficit, the City Council is searching for ways to raise money instead of slashing maintenance and key park programs.

• The parks department has an operating budget of $185 million this fiscal year.

What they're saying: Parks, splash pads, playgrounds and recreation centers — as well as park programming such as summer camps — "are vital to our city's identity and quality of life," Council Member Paige Ellis posted on a city message board last week.

• "But maintaining them requires sustained, reliable funding, and it is clear that the status quo is not enough,"

How it works: Without offering details, Ellis proposed "a small, dedicated fee on utility bills, with all revenue going directly toward the maintenance and improvement of Austin's parks system."

• Residents enrolled in a city-sponsored financial assistance program could be exempt from paying the monthly fee, she suggested.

Between the lines: ParkScore, a national comparison of park systems across the 100 most populated cities in the U.S., produced by the Trust for Public Land (TPL), rated Austin 54th in 2025, down from 44th in 2024.

• "Austin's slip mostly has to do with other cities rising faster and that the city's score has largely remained the same," Rebecca Bullis, a spokesperson for TPL, tells Axios.

Zoom out: The ParkScore drop "shows we can't keep doing things the same way," Council Member Vanessa Fuentes wrote on the message board last week in support of a fee.

• "But let's make sure we get the equity piece right, both in how we structure the fee and where the money actually goes."

Zoom in: Residents living in lower-income neighborhoods have access to 64% less nearby park space than those in higher-income neighborhoods, per the TPL ParkScore report.

The other side: Last year, Austin parks officials noted underlying "historic injustices" with park acquisition and said the city "is balancing the cost of acquiring parkland in an expensive market with rapid population growth and limited departmental resources."

💰 What's next: The Austin City Council will adopt its budget for the coming fiscal year in mid-August.

Women have been prescribed GLP-1 drugs at higher rates than men since 2021, according to newly released 2024 data from FAIR Health, a nonprofit that studies healthcare costs and coverage.

Why it matters: This is another cultural moment when women, especially those approaching menopause, are paying more for their well-being.

Zoom in: Some 18.6% of women prescribed GLP-1 drugs received them for weight loss (and not diabetes) — double the rate of men, at 9.3% — according to FAIR Health.

• Women between 40 and 64 have been the top recipients of GLP-1 prescriptions since 2019. For men, the top users in most years have been seniors.

How it works: GLP-1 drugs mimic a naturally occurring hormone which helps regulate blood sugar and promote feelings of fullness, per Harvard Health Publishing.

What we're hearing: "In my experience, thus far, it's been entirely women" — many of them approaching menopause — who ask to be on GLP-1 drugs to lose weight, says family physician Beth Oller, who practices in rural Kansas.

• At a certain age, "the things you used to do for weight loss aren't cutting it anymore," says Oller, who's 45 and tells Axios she has firsthand experience with this.
• "Your body is distributing fat in a different way than before," and even hormone replacement therapy "doesn't take the rest of our tissues and our bodies back to being 20," she says. "It's rough."

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🏟️ The Pac-12 has extended an invitation to Texas State to join its conference. (Seattle Times)

🏥 Manor has started construction on its first-ever hospital, expanding health care options for the area. (KXAN)

🏡 An Austin drag queen and real estate agent found the perfect home while appearing on "House Hunters." (The Austin Chronicle)

⚖️ The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to a Texas law that aims to limit minors' access to pornography on the internet. (Axios)

Monday

🎹 Head to Chess Club, for a performance by techno band Future Blondes, with openers Biproduct and Husks of the Dead. 9pm, $12.

Tuesday

🎨 Hear what Stephanie Elizondo Griest, author of "Art Above Everything," has to say about "art monks" — dancers, writers and musicians who dedicate their lives to art — at BookWoman at 7pm. Free.

Wednesday

🎶 Attend a classical guitar concert by the Baker 4 at the Howson Branch library, 6-7pm. Free.

Thursday

🎥 Watch the 1976 documentary "Heartworn Highways," about Townes Van Zandt and other Austin musicians, at AFS Cinema. 6pm, $13.50.

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👋 Asher here, your local wildlife correspondent.

What's happening: I noticed this small, baby bird all alone on our doorstep on Friday morning.

• I didn't know what to do — I grew up on the tenth floor of an apartment building, removed from nature — and my wife called Austin Wildlife Rescue.

What they're saying: We were told to make a fake nest "in the hope parents come back and take care of it."

• We settled on a sieve with some moist paper towels in it.

What we're reading: This book, naturally.