BG Note | News - What We're Reading (January 12, 2018)
[Austin Metro]
Poll shows support for paid sick leave ordinance (Austin Monitor) LINK TO STORY
Most Austinites like the idea of requiring businesses to provide their employees with paid sick days, according to a poll released Thursday.
The survey of 600 Austin voters, which was conducted by Public Policy Polling, a respected national polling firm that typically works with Democrats, was commissioned by the Workers Defense Project, a local workers’ rights group that is pushing for City Council to adopt a sick leave ordinance. The poll had a margin of error of 4 percent...
Parks department mired in drama over cultural center access program (Austin Monitor) LINK TO STORY
The Mexican American Cultural Center Advisory Board voted Wednesday night to ask for the indefinite suspension of a new program that would keep the city’s various cultural arts centers open in the late-night hours.
The move came after three performance groups raised their concerns about the Artists Access Program and its associated contract that would replace their existing agreements with the city...
This $10,000-a-night Austin estate is the most expensive Airbnb in the country (Austin American-Statesman) LINK TO STORY
Traveling to Austin for South by Southwest and really want to do it big?
Well, we’ve found you an Airbnb.
This huge three-house estate in Clarksville is available for all your SXSW needs -- oh, and it happens to be the most expensive Airbnb listing in the country, at a cool $10,075 a night...
[STATE]
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has raised historic $43 million for re-election campaign (Dallas Morning News) LINK TO STORY
Gov. Greg Abbott has a staggering $43.3 million to spend on his re-election campaign, a major hurdle for any of the nine Democrats trying to replace him. Figures obtained by The Dallas Morning News show Abbott raised over $9 million during the fundraising period from July 1-Dec. 31 last year. Allowing for some spending, his campaign fund rose from $41 million in the summer to $43.3 million at the beginning of 2018. Abbott is expected to add to his fundraising total and, perhaps, exceed the $48 million he spent in his 2014 race against Democrat Wendy Davis...
Texas Supreme Court hears oral arguments in plastic bag ban case (Texas Tribune) LINK TO STORY
Plastic bag bans in Texas are hanging in the balance following oral arguments in a state Supreme Court case Thursday morning. In the case Laredo Merchants Association v. The City of Laredo, lawyers spent almost an hour arguing whether Laredo’s 2015 ban was illegal under state law. If the Republican-led court rules against the city, bag bans across the state could be deemed illegal. The city of Laredo’s lawyer, former Supreme Court justice Dale Wainwright, argued single-use bags are not garbage, so they are not covered by the several lines of state law that the case hinges on...
Flu patients leave Texas hospitals strapped (Texas Tribune) LINK TO STORY
Big-city hospitals in Texas have been overwhelmed this week by an influx of flu patients, and state health officials say influenza activity is widespread across the state. At Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, waiting rooms turned into exam areas as a medical tent was built in order to deal with the surge of patients. A Houston doctor said local hospital beds were at capacity, telling flu sufferers they might be better off staying at home. Austin's emergency rooms have also seen an influx of flu patients...
Dallas County sues big drug companies over opioid epidemic (Dallas Morning News) LINK TO STORY
Dallas County sued a slew of drug companies and doctors this week over their alleged roles in the deadly opioid epidemic, joining dozens of other governments nationwide that have launched court battles. The 59-page claim filed Monday in Dallas County court accuses at least 11 pharmaceutical companies — including Purdue Pharma, which makes the bestselling painkiller OxyContin — and three local doctors of knowingly pushing addictive drugs on patients while claiming they were safe. The three doctors have all been convicted of illegal "pill mill" over-prescription practices...
[NATION]
Texas delegation splits on warrantless N.S.A. spying (Texas Tribune) LINK TO STORY
In a rare vote that did not follow Texas delegation party lines, the U.S. House passed a measure on Thursday that will reauthorize the collection of foreign surveillance within the United States for another six years. The legislation will extend the government's capacity to collect the correspondence of foreign targets from American cell phone and technology companies without a warrant, including when an American is involved in the conversation. Republicans mostly backed the measure and Democrats largely opposed it. But many members crossed party lines as those from both ends of the political spectrum have raised privacy concerns about domestic surveillance...