BG Reads | News You Need to Know (August 4, 2023)
[BG PODCAST]
EPISODE 209 // Welcome to Episode 209! Bingham Group Associate Hannah Garcia CEO A.J. Bingham review the week (ending 7.28) in Austin politics and more.
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[city of austin]
Austin City Council FY24 Budget Priorities:
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin's I-35 plans revised to include new cap and a $25 million boardwalk (KUT)
The I-35 expansion through Central Austin is undergoing significant revisions as local officials try to negotiate improvements to the $4.5 billion project, aimed at widening the highway that's cut through downtown Austin since it opened in 1962.
Adjustments to the once-in-a-generation project include the possibility of covering larger sections of the highway north of downtown, constructing a $25 million boardwalk on Lady Bird Lake and filtering stormwater runoff into the Colorado River.
These details were outlined in a July 19 letter from Mayor Kirk Watson to advocates fighting to limit or halt the highway expansion. When Watson was a state senator, he played a big role in securing money for the I-35 project.
A trio of Austin City Council members this week posted Watson's letter online — revealing to the public these latest changes — and voiced their concerns about the I-35 expansion while suggesting improvements to pedestrian safety, air quality and stormwater filtration… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
It’s Expensive to Build in Austin, and Regulations Are Adding Cost (Austin Chronicle)
Since at least 2017, reducing the cost of housing has been a top priority for the city. But in a hot real estate market with rising construction costs nationwide, what power does local government really have to do that? Two newly published reports tackle that question and find that reducing the cost burden of fees and building regulations is a crucial step.
The reports on the costs of producing housing in Austin show that a single-family (SF) home in Central or West Austin is the most expensive type of housing to build in the city on a cost-per-unit basis. The high cost of SF development in Central and West Austin stems from land and construction costs, which can amount to about 80% of total cost in a residential development. Land is more expensive in Central and West Austin, but the reports also found that the regulatory fees imposed on developments in these parts of town – including tree care requirements, flood controls, environmental protections, and rezoning costs – can make or break projects and disincentivize multifamily developments. (Researchers emphasize in the report that they did not consider the environmental benefit of these regulations – just the costs they add.)… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Southwest Airlines launching nonstop from Austin to Puerto Rico next year (KXAN)
Southwest Airlines will soon be adding a new nonstop from Austin. Flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico, will take off next year.
The airline will fly the AUS-SJU route on Saturdays beginning March 9, 2024. A spokesperson for the airline told KXAN the route is intended to be seasonal.
“We are excited to connect the Heart of Texas nonstop into the Caribbean,” the spokesperson said.
Southwest Airlines will soon be adding a new nonstop from Austin. Flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico, will take off next year.
The airline will fly the AUS-SJU route on Saturdays beginning March 9, 2024. A spokesperson for the airline told KXAN the route is intended to be seasonal.
“We are excited to connect the Heart of Texas nonstop into the Caribbean,” the spokesperson said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Google subsidiary Waymo is expanding its driverless car program in Austin (Austin American-Statesman)
Waymo, which returned to Austin to test its self-driving technology earlier this year, is doubling down with plans to expand its ridehail services to Central Texas.
The company, which started as a project of Google before becoming a Google subsidiary known as Waymo in 2016, was one of the first companies to use Austin as the testing location for autonomous technology.
On Thursday, the company announced plans to make Austin the fourth city it will offer ridehail services but did not announce the specific timing for when it aims to offer public rides. Waymo already operates 24/7 ride-hail services in San Francisco and Phoenix, and also offers rideshare in Los Angeles under its Waymo One service.
Waymo isn't the only self-driving vehicle on the road in Austin. The city has been a testbed of self-driving technology since Waymo first operated in the city, and currently is being used to test vehicles by Cruise and Volkswagen.
Under a state law that passed in 2017, autonomous vehicles can operate without a driver inside, and can be used on highways as long as they can follow traffic laws, have insurance like other cars and are equipped with video recording equipment. Manufacturers are also considered responsible for any collisions or broken traffic laws… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
NOTE: Cruise is a Bingham Group client.
[TEXAS]
Top Texas A&M officials were involved in botched recruiting of journalism professor, who will receive $1 million settlement (texas Tribune)
Several high-level Texas A&M University System officials — including the board of regents and the flagship campus’ president — were involved in discussions about how to handle a Black journalism professor’s job offer after conservatives criticized her hiring, according to an internal report released Thursday.
The details of the report contradict former Texas A&M University President M. Katherine Banks’ earlier claims that she was unaware that the school had watered down its offer to Kathleen O. McElroy after the pushback. Banks abruptly retired last month amid turmoil spurred by the botched hiring.
The report also confirms the unusual involvement of system-level regents, who are gubernatorial appointees, in a university-level hire. And the report confirms that university leadership tried to delay the announcement of McElroy’s hiring until after this year’s legislative session ended.
Texas A&M also confirmed Thursday that it would pay $1 million to McElroy in a settlement… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas AG Paxton wants whistleblower statements tossed from impeachment evidence (Dallas MOrning News)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wants to exclude from his upcoming impeachment trial statements made by whistleblowers. In a motion filed Wednesday, Paxton called on the Senate court to discard all statements made to the House investigating committee that recommended his impeachment. He named four whistleblowers who sued after his office fired them claiming it was retaliation over complaints they made to the FBI about the attorney general. The filing is the latest in a steady drumbeat of legal challenges to his May 27 impeachment on allegations that include corruption, abuse of office and bribery that Paxton has called a “sham.”
He is challenging the statements made to the committee because witnesses were not under oath, which Paxton argues violates his Sixth Amendment rights and state law. “This entire proceeding is therefore premised upon hearsay upon hearsay upon hearsay, containing flawed assumptions and suppositions,” Paxton’s motion states. “And on this basis, the House seeks to overturn the will of more than four million voters.” The Senate will conduct Paxton’s impeachment trial Sept. 5. He is the first statewide official impeached in Texas in more than a century. Allegations against him include that he gave political favors to a campaign donor in exchange for home remodeling work and a job for a woman with whom Paxton had an alleged affair. He is also accused of obstruction of justice and unfitness for office. Paxton has denied any wrongdoing… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Armed personnel must be on every Texas campus, leaving some schools scrambling to adjust (Dallas Morning News)
More Texas teachers, administrators and others outside of law enforcement will be carrying guns when school starts this month because a new state law requires armed personnel on every public campus starting Sept. 1. The change represents legislators’ most significant response to last year’s Uvalde massacre, where 19 children and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary. A nationwide police shortage and lack of significant new funding has schools across Texas struggling to hire additional staff to protect campuses that don’t already have school resource officers, namely elementaries. To meet the new law, more Texas districts are considering teachers and other employees to be school marshals or guardians, which allow staff to be armed. Plano administrators acknowledged at a recent July board meeting that “fully trained, on-duty police officers” are the best option. However, at a $3 million cost, it’s not feasible to hire what the district needs to cover the 49 campuses. So they recommended the marshal program as a “strong option.” If the district used school marshals, it would join with other Collin County districts, including Princeton and Lovejoy… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Raising money and poll numbers, Donald Trump stays 'Teflon Don' amid indictmentS (NPR)
Even early in his 2016 presidential run, Donald Trump understood the pull he had with Republican voters.
It was evident in many of the comments he made but perhaps most famously when he talked about how much support he enjoyed with the base.
"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK? It's, like, incredible," Trump said at a campaign stop in Iowa in January 2016.
He survived multiple scandals during that campaign and later as president, including two impeachments. He remains the only president to ever have been impeached twice.
And now, Trump remains the undisputed front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, despite facing three indictments on a variety of criminal charges, most recently on Tuesday. While it's still unknown what impact the latest federal indictment — on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack — will have on the electorate, so far he has weathered every storm… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Bud Light’s Plan to Win Back Drinkers: Stick to Beer (Wall Street Journal)
The culture wars have cost Bud Light big time. Now, the beer brand’s owner says its market share is stabilizing and that it will win back drinkers by staying away from controversial topics.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, said Thursday its U.S. sales, profit and market share had all fallen sharply in the second quarter as consumers abandoned Bud Light following a promotion it did with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
But AB InBev also defended Bud Light, saying a large survey it commissioned of U.S. consumers during the quarter shows the brand is still viewed favorably and that people just want it to stick to selling beer.
“Beer is about relaxation,” Chief Executive Michel Doukeris said in an interview. “People do not want to enjoy their beer with a debate. They want beer to be simple, beer to be for everyone and beer to be enjoyable as they share it with family and friends.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)