BG Note | News - What We're Reading (March 19, 2018)
[Austin Metro]
Kathie Tovo gets an opponent (Austin Monitor) LINK TO STORY
Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo will face at least one opponent in her bid for re-election.
Danielle Skidmore recently filed paperwork to join the race for District 9, which includes all of downtown and many Central Austin neighborhoods between MoPac Expressway and Interstate 35, including Bouldin, Hyde Park, Clarksville, West Campus, Old West Austin and Heritage.
Tovo has served on City Council since 2011, when she ousted incumbent Randi Shade in a race that centered largely on the two candidates’ differences over growth and development. She was re-elected to the new, district-based Council in 2014, beating fellow Council Member Chris Riley, whose advocacy of embracing a denser city based on New Urbanist principles contrasted with Tovo’s support for preserving the traditional character of Austin’s single-family home neighborhoods...
Fourth explosion this month injures two; this time in Southwest Austin (Austin American-Statesman) LINK TO STORY
An explosion tore through a quiet Southwest Austin neighborhood Sunday night, sending two men to the hospital with serious injuries and heightening worries that a serial package bomber is targeting the city’s residents.
Shortly before 9 p.m., an explosion rocked a cul-de-sac of well-heeled homes near the Greenbelt just north of the Y in Oak Hill, sparking the closure of several streets and bringing a massive law enforcement contingent of Austin police and FBI agents to the neighborhood. Officers planned to carefully inspect the neighborhood throughout the night for clues and other suspicious objects. Around 11 p.m., police closed an area near Dawn Song Drive to check out a suspicious backpack left near the scene of the explosion...
Police: Man held in SXSW threat ruled out as bomb suspect (Austin American-Statesman) LINK TO STORY
Austin police have ruled out a man charged with making a SXSW bomb threat as a suspect in a string of recent deadly bombings in East Austin that began March 2.
“We do not believe he is involved in the string of package bombs,” Interim Police Chief Brian Manley said Sunday. “We looked into him and we are not thinking he is involved in this.”
Police on Saturday night arrested Trevor Weldon Ingram, 26, and charged him with making a terroristic threat, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison...
[STATE]
UT System regents will consider raising tuition Monday (Texas Tribune) LINK TO STORY
Attending college is set to become slightly more expensive for undergraduates at all eight of the University of Texas System’s academic institutions.
The system’s Board of Regents will on Monday consider upping the cost of tuition and fees at each college they oversee by up to 8.5 percent for in-state undergraduates. Most schools have proposed increases in the 1 percent to 7 percent range, which, if approved, would add hundreds of additional dollars to students’ tuition bills...
Is AT&T a digital underdog? A judge will weigh the Dallas giant against Netflix, Amazon in merger battle (Dallas Morning News) LINK TO STORY
When Dallas-based AT&T faces off with the Justice Department next week over its planned merger with Time Warner, the fight won’t be about just a business deal. For the company, it will be a fight for its piece of the future. The giant telecom, with roots that stretch back to Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone in 1876, finds itself at another pivotal moment in its history. The ground is shifting in its businesses. Growth in the wireless market has slowed, and pricing has been under pressure in a world where smartphones are commonplace. Customers have new ways to watch TV without a cable box or satellite dish. And tech companies born in the digital age are increasingly treading on AT&T’s turf...
Texas A&M stuns reigning champ UNC 86-65 in NCAA 2nd round (Austin American-Statesman) LINK TO STORY
Texas A&M had its big men relentlessly snatching down loose rebounds, its wing players knocking down shots and an entire roster full of guys playing with aggressive confidence.
Stunningly, reigning national champion North Carolina found no match for any of it.
And just as shockingly, the Tar Heels are heading home with the most-lopsided NCAA Tournament loss of Roy Williams' Hall of Fame career...
[NATION]
Trump presses GOP to change Senate rules (The Hill) LINK TO STORY
The Trump administration is putting pressure on Senate Republicans to crack down on Democratic efforts to delay its agenda, fueling talk about the need for rules reform among Republicans on Capitol Hill. Republicans are in discussions with Democrats about bipartisan changes to Senate rules to speed up consideration of President Trump’s judicial and executive branch nominees, but if that effort flounders — as similar ones have in the past — they’re not ruling out unilateral action. White House patience with the Senate’s backlog of nominees is wearing out, as Vice President Mike Pence made clear during a private meeting with the Senate GOP Conference on Tuesday, according to lawmakers who attended the discussion...