Axios Dallas

October 06, 2025
Happy Monday! If you're looking for a fight, you'll find one.
☀️ Today's weather: High close to 90.
🎵 Sounds like: "Pretty Little Baby"
🏈 Situational awareness: The Dallas Cowboys are 2-2-1 after defeating the New York Jets 37-22 yesterday.
- The Cowboys have a bye this week.
Today's newsletter is 937 gently parented words — a 3.5-minute read.
1 big thing: Why mothers are leaving the workforce
More women are leaving the workforce, pushed out by a lack of child care support and stricter return-to-office policies, per a new KPMG analysis.
Why it matters: The exodus translates to less income and financial stability for households, as well as fewer career growth opportunities for women.
- There's fallout for the overall economy, too: Businesses lose productive and experienced workers, and growth slows.
Where it stands: The departures started after pandemic-era supports for child care lapsed in 2023.
- The exodus appears to be accelerating as the job market weakens and federal job cuts and policy moves take a disproportionate toll on working women.


By the numbers: College-educated mothers with very young children are seeing the biggest declines.
- The percentage of these women in the labor force fell to 77% in August 2025, from a high near 80% in 2023, according to KPMG's analysis of Census Bureau data.
- The next group to see drops: women without a bachelor's degree with young kids, whose labor force participation declined by about 1 percentage point.
- Fathers, both with and without a bachelor's degree, with very young kids had slight increases in labor force participation over the same period.
Reality check: Labor force participation for women is still higher than pre-pandemic levels, though the trajectory is down.
How it works: When child care is too pricey or unavailable, mothers typically leave paying jobs to stay home.
- That's become even more likely now, as companies increasingly ask employees to work in the office, even on hybrid schedules.
2. 🤝 Helping parents stay afloat
Small businesses will be critical for holding on to women in the workforce, says Sadie Funk, national director of the Fort Worth-based organization Best Place for Working Parents.
The big picture: After a few years of progress, working women are moving backward.
- The gender pay gap is back to where it was in 2017, moms are underrepresented in Congress and reproductive rights remain in limbo.
What they're doing: Funk says many small businesses are leaning into the opportunity to be "responsive employers" and retain more of their workers.
Case in point: The Varghese Summersett law firm in Fort Worth converted one of its office spaces into nursery for babies and playroom for older children.
- Austin's Kerbey Lane Cafe offers free take-home meals for employees' families twice a week, Funk says.
- Some companies delay their start time on the first day of school.
The bottom line: "It's absolutely critical for our economy to keep women in the workforce," Funk says.
- "And if you are not open to remote work, that's okay. There are other ways you can lean in and support your employees."
3. 🗳️ Last day to register to vote
Today is the last day to register to vote in Texas ahead of November's statewide constitutional election.
Why it matters: Texans have the chance to vote on statewide propositions covering issues including property tax cuts, prohibiting the Legislature from establishing inheritance taxes and creating statewide research funds.
- Some school districts and municipalities are holding bond elections.
What you can do: Check your voter registration status at VoteTexas.gov.
- Update your name or address with the secretary of state if needed.
Key dates: Early voting is Oct. 20-31.
- Oct. 24 is the last day to apply to vote by mail.
- Election Day is Nov. 4.
Zoom in: Registering to vote requires printing the paperwork and going to the post office.
- Call your county's voter registration office if you have any questions or need help registering.
- Or check your county's websites: Collin County, Dallas County, Denton County, Rockwall County and Tarrant County.
4. 🗞 Burnt ends: Bite-sized news bits
🚨 A college student was fatally shot Friday night while working at a Fort Worth gas station. The suspect was arrested. (Star-Telegram)
🎡 The State Fair of Texas has its first vegan-exclusive booth this year, ran by twin brothers. (NBC5)
⚖️ Current and retired sheriff's department employees are suing Dallas County in federal court over overtime pay. (DMN)
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5. 🐘 One less serious election to go

The Fort Worth Zoo has a pretty little baby, and you can help name her.
Why it matters: Asian elephants are considered an endangered species that are threatened by habitat loss and poaching.
- The Fort Worth Zoo's elephants span four generations. Matriarch Rasha, 54, is one of few great-grandmother Asian elephants in North America, per the zoo.
The latest: The calf was born Aug. 18 at 36 inches tall and 250 pounds.
- After bonding privately with her mom and herd, the public can now see her in the zoo's Elephant Springs area.
Fun fact: Female Asian elephants typically weigh 6,000-8,000 pounds.
The intrigue: The zoo has a tradition of giving the elephants born on its grounds a Texas-themed name.
- The calf's mother, Bluebonnet, was the first elephant born at the zoo, in 1998. The calf's brother, Brazos, is almost 4 years old.
What's next: Choices for the newest calf are "Birdie" after Lady Bird Johnson, "Susie" after black-eyed Susan wildflowers and "Rosie" after the Yellow Rose of Texas.
- Vote by 10am today. The zoo will announce the name tomorrow.
This newsletter was edited by Bob Gee.
Our picks:
🩷 Tasha is reading how Kansas City celebrated Chappell Roan over the weekend.
😞 Naheed is remembering the time she dropped her ice cream at the Fort Worth Zoo as a kid.
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