BG Reads | News You Need to Know (December 27, 2019)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
NEW -> Episode 67: Exploring Public Sector A.I. with Valkyrie Intelligence (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Alter highlights progress in public safety in 2019 (Austin Monitor)
Out of all the work she’s accomplished this year, Council Member Alison Alter is particularly proud of what she’s brought to fruition in the realm of public safety.
Beginning in January, Alter posted a resolution calling for a third-party audit of the city’s deeply flawed sexual assault response system. She said the effort is now set to culminate in a major turning point for the city and may result in the city becoming an exemplary model of sexual assault crime response.
In September, City Council granted a contract to Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based independent research organization, to conduct the audit.
“We’re on track to get some really important findings that are going to reinvent our system to provide healing and justice to survivors here in Austin,” Alter said… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin’s gig economy takes shape as workers, companies eschew the traditional employment model (Community Impact)
Months before relocating his company to Austin in September, Nick Soman was driving through the outskirts of San Francisco and passed a line of about 10 Uber drivers parked in the lot of an old 76 gas station.
“I thought, ‘What is happening here?’ These are folks that are sleeping in their cars, and they’re sleeping in their cars because they don’t live in San Francisco. ... They drove in from hours away because San Francisco is where the fares are,” he said.
Soman said that experience drove home the gap in services that are afforded to gig workers, or people who work on independent contracts from companies. Soman opened an office in East Austin for his company, Decent, which administers health care plans for independent workers on behalf of the Texas Freelance Association… (LINK TO STORY)
Jeff Travillion says it’s time to pay attention to eastern Travis County (Austin Monitor)
Jeff Travillion believes it’s time for the east side to get some love from local leaders. While private dollars are transforming the look and feel of much of East Austin and making it increasingly hard for many longtime residents to afford housing, public investment remains woefully insufficient, says Travillion, who just finished his third year representing the northeast quadrant of the county on the Travis County Commissioners Court.
To Travillion, nothing better illustrates the political establishment’s indifference to the east side than the debate between the county and the city of Austin over hotel tax dollars. By approving a $1.3 billion reconstruction and expansion of the convention center downtown, City Council effectively blocked Travis County from pursuing its desired renovation of the exposition center on Decker Lane.
“We have to really analyze all of the public spending so that we can make sure that investment doesn’t only go in one place,” Travillion said. “You can’t say that downtown is deprived of anything. But when we have the opportunity to invest $1.3 billion, do we spread that around the entire county, where people who have been displaced actually live?”… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Murkowski "disturbed" by McConnell's coordination with White House on impeachment (AXIOS)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told ABC affiliate KTUU on Tuesday that she was "disturbed" upon hearing Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's assurance of "total coordination" between himself and White House lawyers in the impeachment trial of President Trump.
Why it matters: A simple majority vote is needed for the Senate to call new witnesses, which McConnell opposes. Democrats view Murkowski as one possible Republican defection, along with other moderates like Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah.)
The backdrop: In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, McConnell said, "We'll be working through this process ... in total coordination with the White House counsel's office and the people who are representing the president as well as the Senate."
“There will be no difference between the president’s position and our position as to how to handle this to the extent that we can," he added… (LINK TO STORY)
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