City planning November 5, 2026 · Brownsville · Data centers

Brownsville's 90-day data center pause reportedly passed and takes effect Thursday

The Brownsville City Commission reportedly passed its 90-day moratorium on applications for "High-Intensity Data Processing Facilities" on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, after residents packed the meeting to oppose data centers. The pause reportedly takes effect Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. The city has said it would run through Feb. 3, 2027.

So far this rests on one news report, linked below. We haven't found a city record of the vote yet. When one posts, we'll update this story.

• What it stops: the draft ordinance says that for 90 days, the city won't accept, process or approve zoning requests, permits, plats, development agreements, utility service agreements, annexations or any other approval that would allow a data center in Brownsville, its extraterritorial jurisdiction or a proposed voluntary annexation. Repairs, permits that don't expand an existing lawful use and complete applications filed before Nov. 5, 2026 aren't covered. The draft also lists other exceptions and a waiver process. We haven't seen the final text.
• Extension: the city said Oct. 7, 2026 that state law allows one extension of up to 90 additional days, "which the City Commission is expected to support." That would take a new vote.
• Today: the city's Environmental and Conservation Task Force holds a work session Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026 at 10 a.m. at the main library, 2600 Central Blvd., with Texas Municipal League training on data center development in Texas cities. It takes no votes.
• Monday: the task force meets Monday, Nov. 9, 2026 at 6 p.m. at the Brownsville Events Center. The agenda lists votes on forming subcommittees and possibly on a preliminary report framework.

Background: our Nov. 1 story and our Oct. 15 story have the agenda and the first reading.

Next: we'll add the details when the city posts a record of the meeting, and report Monday's task force votes.

Around the world

NASA astronaut Anil Menon and CSA astronaut Joshua Kutryk began a spacewalk at 8:36 a.m. ET (7:36 a.m. CT) Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, to install the eighth and final roll-out solar array on the International Space Station. The work will complete an upgrade, begun in June 2021, that takes the station's power generating capacity from 160 kilowatts to about 215 kilowatts, NASA said.

NASA's Swift Observatory re-entered Earth's atmosphere at 7:39 a.m. ET (6:39 a.m. CT) Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, over the North Sumatra region of Indonesia, the U.S. Space Force confirmed, NASA said. Some components may have survived, NASA said.

NASA selected three companies Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, to develop Ka-band space relay concepts for select in-orbit missions, as the agency gradually retires its Tracking and Data Relay Satellite fleet. Maximum potential values with all options are $460.9 million for Viasat, $340.4 million for Global Enterprise Solutions and $264.3 million for Astranis.

Scientists using the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter reported Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, hydrogen chloride detections isolated in the Alba Mons region of Mars during the cold season around aphelion, Mars's farthest point from the sun, plus fresh fissures less than 1 meter wide that they interpret as potential gas pathways to magma at depth. "Our results are best explained by ongoing igneous processes in the Martian interior," the team wrote.

Sources: ValleyCentral, Nov. 4, 2026 · City of Brownsville, News Flash, Oct. 7, 2026 (Ordinance 2026-1826 first reading) · City of Brownsville News Flash, Oct. 28, 2026 · City of Brownsville, Nov. 4, 2026 City Commission special meeting agenda and packet (Ord. 2026-1826, packet pp. 329 to 346) · City of Brownsville, Nov. 5, 2026 Environmental and Conservation Task Force agenda · City of Brownsville, Nov. 9, 2026 Environmental and Conservation Task Force agenda · NASA, Nov. 5, 2026 · NASA, Nov. 4, 2026 · NASA, Swift blog · NASA, Ka-band awards · Science Advances · NASASpaceflight

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