BG Reads | News You Need to Know (November 1, 2019)
[BG PODCAST]
NEW -> Episode 59: Land Development Code Draft 1 with Mayor Pro Tem Delia Garza (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Report Reveals The Challenges Austin Faced During Last Year's Citywide Water-Boil Order (KUT)
Floodwaters shut down the Colorado River a year ago, bringing mud and silt to the treatment plants that supply Austin’s water. That aquatic sediment was too much for the plants to filter out efficiently. What followed will be remembered by anyone who lived here as “the week we all had to boil our water.”
Earlier this month, the City of Austin released a 346-page report looking at the city response to the breakdown in drinking water quality. It offers recommendations for how to better prepare for reservoirs getting too murky. Floating within the report there are also stories of how Austin’s government and institutions struggled to provide basic services during the boil-water mandate.… (LINK TO STORY)
Mayor Adler asking city staff to explore work experience program for homeless (KXAN)
Austin Mayor Steve Adler is asking city staff to look into a work experience program for those dealing with homelessness in the city.
In an interview with KXAN earlier this week, Adler supported the idea of such an incentive-based program.
It wouldn’t be a typical employment opportunity, though. Adler used the example of people receiving a re-loadable debit card as they clean up trash around the city.... (LINK TO STORY)
As Austin prepares to analyze use of scooters, bikes on public parkland, here is an explanation of how geofencing technology works (Community Impact)
On Nov. 12, city staff from the Austin Parks and Recreation Department is scheduled to go in front of the Austin Urban Transportation Commission to deliver a report on the pilot program that has allowed electric scooters and bikes on some of Austin’s trails since January.
Armed with the data from that program, which began in early 2019, city staff is set to then take findings to the Parks and Recreation Board and eventually City Council, with an ultimate goal to devise a long-term solution for scooter and bike usage based on the data they have gathered.
In September, the Austin Parks and Recreation Department announced geofencing technology was established as part of the pilot program. The program, the city said, was designed to “discourage scooter usage on parkland” and came about in response to what the city called “growing concerns over safety and inappropriate use of micro mobility devices on parkland.”… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Vaping epidemic to get more scrutiny in the Texas Senate (Houston Chronicle)
Seven states have already taken steps to ban vaping or e-cigarettes and now a key Texas official is calling on lawmakers to take a closer look into the industry as well.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who leads the Texas Senate, has instructed two committees to look into new potential vaping regulations. The Senate Criminal Justice Committee will review whether penalties are stiff enough to keep vaping and e-cigarettes out of the hands of minors. The Health and Human Services Committee will look into the broader “emerging public health concerns” related to the devices…. (LINK TO STORY)
Most Texas voters have heard nothing or little of the scandal that sunk House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, UT/TT Poll says (Texas Tribune)
A recorded and reckless conversation between a top state official and a political activist rocked the state Capitol this summer and upended the career of Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen last month. But it hardly registered with most voters, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
More than two-thirds of registered voters said they have heard “nothing at all” (50%) or “a little” (18%) “about the controversy over a June 2019 meeting between the speaker of the Texas House and the head of a political action committee.” Only 12% said they have heard “a lot,” and 19% said they have heard “some” about the incident…. (LINK TO STORY)
ICE transfers detainees out of West Texas facility after water shortage in Sierra Blanca (Texas Tribune)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has transferred detainees out of a West Texas detention center after a water shortage forced the facility to use portable toilets and bottled water.
The shortage has forced the West Texas Detention Facility, operated by Louisiana-based LaSalle Corrections, to turn off its water every night and outsource its laundry services since the shortage began Oct. 21.
The agency said it has transferred a number of detainees to other facilities in the El Paso area “To fully ensure the health, safety and welfare of those in our care."... (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
House votes to formalize Trump impeachment inquiry, amid sharp partisan divisions (Dallas Morning News)
The rancorous impeachment inquiry moved to a new phase Thursday, as the Democrat-run House voted 232-196 formalize the process with a package of rules that will govern open hearings on President Donald Trump’s alleged misdeeds.
The historic vote split almost completely along partisan lines, with only two Democrats — from New Jersey and Minnesota — bucking their party. All the Texas Democrats in the House voted for the resolution, while all Texas Republicans voted against it.
Republicans have complained for five weeks that Democrats have deprived Trump of transparency and due process by taking testimony in secret, and for more than two years that Democrats have been seeking a pretext for impeachment…. (LINK TO STORY)
Chicago Teachers Strike Tested Schools, Mayor And The City (WBEZ 91.5)
One of Chicago’s longest teachers strikes in the last half century is finally over.
The 11-day walkout gripped the city, putting conditions in its under-resourced schools in the spotlight and testing Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s will and political acumen early in her tenure.
A deal to end the walkout came Thursday after a meeting between Lightfoot and Chicago Teachers Union leaders. The mayor emerged from the meeting to say she had agreed to make up five days missed due to the strike…. (LINK TO STORY)
Blocked Citizenship Question Not Likely To Lower Census Response, Bureau Finds (NPR)
If the Trump administration had been allowed to add the now-blocked citizenship question to the 2020 census, it likely would not have had a significant effect on self-response rates, the Census Bureau said Thursday.
Preliminary analysis of a national experiment the Census Bureau conducted earlier this year with two versions of a test census form — one with a citizenship question and one without — suggests that question could lower self-response rates in some parts of the country and for some populations. In a blog post released Thursday, the bureau highlighted a 0.3% difference in the share of participants identifying as Hispanic.
Still, the differences overall were "small," according to Victoria Velkoff, the bureau's associate director for demographic programs who wrote the post…. (LINK TO STORY)