AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Elon Musk has for years made Texas a business home and playground, launching rockets, building cars, and dreaming about creating a utopian enclave for his workers on the rural outskirts of the state capital.

Now, a new Musk project is on the brink of victory: an election Saturday to officially turn a small patch of coastal South Texas — home to his rocket company SpaceX — into a city known as Starbase.

If Musk prevails — which appears likely, since the small number of residents eligible to vote include his employees — it will be a victory for the mega-billionaire whose popularity has waned since he became the chain-saw-wielding public face of President Donald Trump’s federal job and spending cuts, and sunk more than $20 million into a failed effort to tip Wisconsin Supreme Court elections. Profits at his Tesla car company have plummeted.

As of Tuesday, nearly 200 of 283 eligible voters had already cast an early ballot, according to county election records. The list of names so far does not include Musk, who voted in the county in the November elections.

The cosmic dateline sounds like a billionaire’s vanity project in an area where the man and his galactic dreams already enjoy broad support from residents and state and local officials. But there are creeping concerns that the city vote and companion efforts at the state Legislature will give Musk and his company town too much control over access to a popular swimming and camping area known for generations as the “poor people’s beach.”

Setting up a company town

Saturday’s vote to establish Starbase is seen as a done deal.

The proposed city at the southern tip of Texas near the Mexico border is only about 1.5 square miles (3.9 square kilometers), crisscrossed by a few roads and dappled with airstream trailers and modest midcentury homes. The polling site is in a building on Memes St., a cheeky nod to Musk’s social media company X.

Musk first floated the idea of a Starbase city in 2021. SpaceX officials have said little about exactly why they want a company town, and did not respond to messages seeking comment this week. But a fight over beach access highlights at least part of what could be at stake.

SpaceX rocket launches and engine tests, and even just moving certain equipment around the launch base, requires closing a local highway and access to Boca Chica State Park and Boca Chica Beach.

Closure currently requires collaboration with surrounding Cameron County. Two bills being considered by state lawmakers would move most of that responsibility to the new city, just as the company seeks permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to increase the number of launches from five to 25 a year.

SpaceX officials say the bills would streamline beach closures and operations at a company that has contracts with the Department of Defense and NASA for use of its heavy rocket Starship, including a goal to send astronauts back to the moon and eventually Mars.

“This fully reusable rocket system keeps the U.S. ahead of global competitors like China, and its being developed right here in South Texas,” SpaceX Vice President of Starship Legal and Regulatory Sheila McCorkle wrote to state lawmakers. She noted the company’s $4 billion investments and thousands of jobs in Texas.

“We need to carry on our mission of turning South Texas into the Gateway to Mars and making humankind multiplanetary,” McCorkle wrote.

Public pushback

A legislative hearing this month on the beach access bills drew just a handful of company executives and environmental activists but generated hundreds of comments from supporters and opponents.

Dozens of people who identified themselves as SpaceX workers, scientists and engineers living in the area submitted identical statements: “It improves coordination around beach access during spaceflight activities without increasing closures. This is key to public safety and continued growth of the space industry in Texas.”

Others praised SpaceX’s mission, jobs and investments in the area.

Opponents countered that the state would be giving Musk and his company too much control over a beach that draws tens of thousands of visitors every year.

Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr., said the county has been a good steward for beach closures and that there is no need to move the authority to the new city.

“SpaceX is a strong economic driver in our region, one of which we are extremely proud,” Trevino said in a letter to state lawmakers. “However, we believe that this bill does not serve the public interest and has received an overwhelmingly negative response from our local community,”

Another proposed bill would make it a Class B misdemeanor with up to 180 days in jail if someone doesn’t comply with an order to evacuate the beach. But that measure would only take effect if beach closure authority is shifted to the new city.

In a temporary setback for Musk and SpaceX, a state House panel this week rejected a bill that would shift control of closing beaches for rocket launches from the local county government to the new city.

Bekah Hinojosa, co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, has organized protests against the city vote and the beach access issue. The group will hold another protest on Saturday, even though the city will likely be easily approved.

Hinojosa said her organization tried to organize a block walk around SpaceX to encourage voters to reject the city vote. The company’s private security escorted them away, she said.

“We’ve been sounding the alarm about Musk and SpaceX for many years,” Hinojosa said. “Now that the rest of the country is starting to listen, if feels like we’re finally being heard.”

TUSKEGEE, Ala. (AP) — A runaway kangaroo named Sheila shut down a stretch of interstate in Alabama on Tuesday before state troopers and the animal’s owner wrangled the wayward marsupial.

The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said the kangaroo was spotted Tuesday hopping along the side of Interstate 85 in Macon County, which is between Montgomery and Auburn.

The sight snarled traffic, and state troopers shut down both sides of the interstate for the safety of motorists. The animal’s owner and troopers were able to capture it, Capt. Jeremy J. Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said.

“When somebody said there was a kangaroo of course I didn’t believe it, and nobody believed it. But I’m looking at him,” Macon County Sheriff Andre Brunson said in a Facebook live video as the animal was captured.

The owner used a dart to tranquilize the animal.

Brunson’s video showed the drugged kangaroo being carried to a vehicle to be returned to its home. The animal was captured on the side of the interstate between Tuskegee and Auburn, the sheriff said.

“We see a little bit of everything here,” the sheriff said.

The animal’s owner, Patrick Starr, told The Associated Press that the animal’s name is Sheila and that she escaped from her enclosure.

“She’s back home safe. She’s up. She’s not sedated anymore. She’s eating. She’s drinking. She’s not injured,” Starr said.

The kangaroo was treated by the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine, he said.

The family runs a pumpkin patch and petting zoo, but Sheila is just a personal pet, Starr said.

“She’s a sweet pet. I’m glad she’s back home, and I’m glad everybody slowed down a little bit,” he said.

Austin Price, who took video of the animal hopping down the interstate, said he had to briefly question if he was seeing things.

“I hear my grandmother yell, ‘Is that a kangaroo?’ ” Price said.

He assumed it was probably a deer until he looked. “And yeah, it’s a kangaroo.”

PARIS (AP) — A trial began Monday in Paris over the 2016 heist in which armed robbers tied up Kim Kardashian in her bedroom and stole millions of dollars’ worth of jewelry during Fashion Week.

The robbery was considered the biggest heist targeting an individual that Paris had seen in decades. The jury of six citizens will conduct the trial along with three magistrates — a procedure in France reserved for the most serious crimes.

Ten people, nine men and a woman, face charges of robbery and kidnapping of the media personality and the concierge of the residence where she was staying on the night of Oct. 2, 2016. Two have acknowledged their participation. The others have denied it.

Kardashian has described being terrified, thinking she would be raped and killed when criminals broke into her bedroom and pointed a gun at her.

Her lawyers said she will testify in person. She is expected to speak on May 13. The trial is scheduled to run through May 23.

“Ms. Kardashian is reserving her testimony for the court and jury and does not wish to elaborate further at this time,” they said. “She has great respect and admiration for the French justice system and has been treated with great respect by the French authorities.”

In a 2020 appearance on David Letterman’s Netflix show, Kardashian tearfully recalled thinking: “This is the time I’m going to get raped. I’m like, ‘What is happening? Are we gonna die? Just tell them I have children. I have babies, I have a husband, I have a family.’”

Twelve people were originally expected in the defendants’ box. One has died and another is seriously ill and can’t be tried. According to the investigation, five of the 10 defendants were present at the scene of the robbery.

The ‘Granddad Robbers’

The French press has dubbed them “The Granddad Robbers” because the main defendants are older and have been bank robbers with long criminal records.

Kardashian told investigators she was taken to a bathroom and placed in the bathtub. Her attackers fled on bicycles or on foot, and she freed herself by removing the tape.

She rushed to her stylist’s room and called her sister Kourtney. Shortly afterward, Kardashian told investigators that she had not been injured. She filed a complaint, adding that she wanted to leave France as soon as possible to be reunited with her children.

According to her testimony and that of the concierge, at least one suspect had a handgun with which he threatened the victims.

Henri de Beauregard, the lawyer representing Abderrahmane Ouatiki, the concierge, said the intruders “were experienced, determined criminals who did not hesitate to threaten him while he was working nights to finance his studies.”

Jewelry worth millions of dollars

The gangsters stole many pieces of jewelry estimated to be worth $6 million, including Kardashian’s engagement ring. Only one piece — a diamond cross on platinum that was lost during the suspects’ escape — has been recovered.

Two of the accused have partially confessed to the crime, as their DNA was found at the scene.

The alleged ringleader, 68-year-old Aomar Aït Khedache, is one of two who allegedly entered the apartment. Nicknamed “Old Omar,” his genetic profile was found on the tape used to gag Kardashian.

Khedache’s lawyer, Franck Berton, said his client is pleading guilty because he acknowledges his participation and “will apologize, will actually explain how it happened, how he was contacted and finally how the events unfolded.”

Khedache, who is deaf, will answer the court’s questions in writing. He left the hotel on a bicycle, as did two others, then met his son, who was waiting for him in a parked car at a nearby train station.

Suspect to express remorse

Another said he tied up the concierge but did not go to Kardashian’s apartment. Yunice Abbas, 71, said he acted as a lookout in the ground floor reception area, making sure the escape route was clear. He told the AP he was unarmed and did not personally threaten Kardashian, but admitted he shared responsibility for the crime.

Gabriel Dumenil, Abbas’ lawyer, said his client aims to “deliver his own truth and explain the reasons that prompted him to do this and simply perhaps also ask for forgiveness and express his remorse.”

Abbas was arrested in January 2017 and spent 21 months in prison before being released under judicial supervision. In 2021, he co-authored a French-language book titled “I Sequestered Kim Kardashian.”

Didier Dubreucq, 69, known as “Blue Eyes,” is the second alleged robber suspected of entering the flat. He denies involvement although he was filmed by CCTV cameras, and numerous telephone contacts with the other co-defendants show his involvement, according to the investigation.

The other defendants are suspected of providing information about Kardashian’s presence in the apartment or accused of playing a role in the resale of the jewelry in Antwerp, Belgium.