Axios Dallas

June 05, 2026
Happy Friday! Ready is often a decision, not a feeling.
🌦️ Today's weather: High near 86 with a chance of thunderstorms.
🎵 Sounds like: "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere"
🎉 Happy early birthday to our Axios Dallas members Alexander Andrade and Lisa Schmidt!
Today's newsletter is 700 squirmy words — a 2.5-minute read.
1 big thing: New World screwworm found in Texas
A deadly cattle pest called New World screwworm has been found near San Antonio, 60 years after it was effectively eradicated in the United States.
Why it matters: The U.S. beef herd is already the smallest it's been in 75 years, and retail prices for the staple protein are at record highs.
Catch up quick: The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed the case in Zavala County, Texas, and launched an emergency response late Wednesday.
- The industry long feared an infestation in the U.S. after the pest — actually the burrowing larvae of a fly — was found moving north in Mexico.
The latest: Gov. Greg Abbott says he will be briefed before a news conference today on the state's "ongoing and aggressive response" to the matter.
Zoom in: Authorities plan to quarantine and treat the affected animals.
- The USDA's response includes emergency shipments of treatment supplies and accelerated efforts to release sterile flies to control the possible population.
Yes, but: The industry still fears devastating losses, as well as possible sharp drops in consumer demand.
- The CDC says it's rare for the New World screwworm to affect humans, but when it does, it causes bleeding sores that may need surgery.
State of play: Ground beef hit a record $6.89 a pound in May, the highest since the government started tracking it in 1984.
- The squeeze traces to three forces: a historic drought, high feed costs and consumer demand that refused to break.
What they're saying: "We are doing everything possible to protect the interests of American cattle producers," National Cattlemen's Beef Association CEO Colin Woodall said in a statement.
2. 🍋🟩 Margs in the city
Cool off with a margarita this summer and help pick the best one in Dallas.
Driving the booze: 16 restaurants and bars are participating in Visit Dallas' Margarita Mile Cup, which kicked off this week and continues through July.
The big picture: World Cup visitors and North Texans can participate in the bracket-style competition.
- "We want to give visitors an experience that's interactive, undeniably Dallas, and one that they'll remember long after they return home," Visit Dallas chief marketing officer Jennifer Walker said in a statement.
How it works: Save a free digital pass on your phone, visit participating locations and rank their drinks — collecting points along the way.
- Rewards include a keychain worth 200 points and a travel sweepstakes entry worth 500 points.
Zoom in: Billy Can Can's Sonora Showdown, El Fenix's Match Day Margarita and SĒR Steak + Spirits' The Golden Boot are among the contenders.
Fun fact: Dallas restauranteur Mariano Martinez adapted a soft serve ice cream machine in the 1970s to create the world's first known frozen margarita machine.
- The machine is now on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.
3. 🗞 Burnt ends: Bite-sized news bits
🎡 Dallas officials plan to rename sections of two Fair Park streets after the city's first Black city manager and the African American Museum's founding president. (DMN)
🎣 The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is offering a license-free fishing day on Saturday. (CultureMap Dallas)
🚨 A former assistant principal for Wylie East High School was arrested yesterday on a charge of compelling prostitution of a person under 18. It's unclear if the suspect has an attorney to comment on the allegations. (WFAA)
4. 🎶 One nostalgic trend to go
More people are snapping up old MP3 players for a break from smartphones.
By the numbers: Search interest for the original iPod and the iPod Nano spiked last year — even though Apple discontinued the product line in 2022, according to Google Trends data.
- eBay searches jumped for the iPod Classic (+25%) and iPod Nano (+20%) between January and October 2025 compared with the same period in 2024, per internal data shared with Axios.
Zoom in: Old iPods fill Facebook Marketplace, with iPod Shuffles going for $35 and iPod Classic going for upwards of $100 in the Dallas area.
The bottom line: What goes around comes back around, click wheel and all.
This newsletter was edited by Astrid Galván.
Our picks:
🤗 Naheed is loving this rainy weather.
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