BG Reads | News You Need to Know (November 13, 2019)
[BG PODCAST]
NEW -> Episode 61: CBD Market for Small Businesses with Prohibition Creamery's Laura Aidan (LINK TO SHOW)
[BG BLOG]
NEW -> In the Weeds: Hemp legislation updates from USDA and State of Texas (LINK TO BLOG)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Delia Garza leaving Austin City Council, likely to enter county attorney’s race (Austin American-Statesman)
Austin City Council Member Delia Garza on Tuesday announced that she will not run for another term, a move that’s a possible precursor to switching political lanes and entering the county attorney’s race in Travis County next month.
Garza, the mayor pro tem, has been on the council since 2015, representing District 2 in Southeast Austin. Garza’s current term expires in early 2021.
“With deeply mixed emotions, I must announce that I will not be seeking reelection to the Austin City Council,” she said. “Those close to me and around City Hall have known for some time that I have been leaning toward this decision for some time now.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Land Code Heads To City Council With Request To Focus Development On West Austin Instead Of East (KUT)
Austin’s new land use code, which determines what can be built in the city and where, is one step closer to being finalized – but first, one city body is asking that the plan encourage development farther west instead of in gentrifying areas.
Members of the city’s Planning Commission signed off Tuesday on recommended changes to the new code, sending it along to the final voting body: City Council. The 9-3 vote came after nearly three weeks of discussion and late nights in City Hall chambers.
“It’s in council’s hands; it’s not in ours,” Commissioner Conor Kenny said. “It’s time to love this code and let it go.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin Abandons South Austin Shelter As It Prepares To Buy Hotels To House The Homeless (KUT)
Austin is no longer pursuing a 100-bed shelter in South Austin and could opt instead to provide housing in motels for homeless Austinites.
The move comes after a suggestion from the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO), the nonprofit that coordinates Austin and Travis County's efforts to address homelessness. Council members will vote on the proposal at their meeting Thursday.
The city announced late last week that it might buy a motel near Oltorf Street and I-35 for $8 million to provide low-barrier housing for roughly 80 people, meaning they could, after a referral, stay in a unit for at least 90 days without undergoing any mandatory case management or treatment requirements.… (LINK TO STORY)
Travis County intergovernmental relations officer announces retirement, triggers "aggressive" hiring schedule (Community Impact)
Deece Eckstein, Travis County’s first intergovernmental relations officer, announced his resignation earlier this month, triggering what County Judge Sarah Eckhardt called an “aggressive” timeline to find his replacement.
Eckstein will retire at the end of this year for health and personal reasons, according to a county spokesperson. He assumed the role in 2008.
“You outstripped our wildest imaginations of how productive this position would be for Travis County,” Eckhardt said to Eckstein at a Nov. 12 Commissioners Court meeting.… (LINK STORY)
[TEXAS]
Court of Appeals stops new Rodney Reed hearing scheduled for Wednesday (KVUE)
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued an order Tuesday that a hearing for Rodney Reed in Bastrop County is stayed until further notice.
The hearing, originally set for Wednesday, was a last-minute attempt for Reed's attorneys to ask a judge to void the execution order set by Senior Judge Doug Shaver in July.
Reed's attorneys argued in their motion that Shaver did not have the authority to order the execution because his assignment as judge ended before he finished the case.… (LINK TO STORY)
Dell Aims to Make Women Half of Workforce in Diversity Push (Bloomberg)
Dell Technologies Inc. announced a goal to make half of its global workforce female by 2030, one of a raft of pledges meant to foster greater diversity and sustainability at the personal computer maker.
The company also set a 2030 target for women to make up 40% of the employees worldwide who manage people. Women comprised 30.4% of Dell’s workforce as of February. And the company said it wants 25% of Dell’s U.S. workers to be African-American or Hispanic by 2030, an increase from almost 13% this year… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Trump administration tells Supreme Court it owns termination of DACA program (Texas Tribune)
The Trump administration told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the program shielding young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children should end regardless of its legality, and the court’s dominant conservative justices showed no inclination to disagree.
Solicitor General Noel Francisco said the administration thinks the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which President Barack Obama authorized through executive action in 2012 to protect law-abiding immigrants brought to the United States as children, is unlawful.
But even if it is not, he said, the Department of Homeland Security has the right to terminate it, and its decision to do so is not reviewable by courts.… (LINK TO STORY)
Supreme Court allows Sandy Hook families' case against Remington arms to proceed (NPR)
The Supreme Court has denied Remington Arms Co.'s bid to block a lawsuit filed by families of victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre. The families say Remington should be held liable, as the maker and promoter of the AR-15-style rifle used in the 2012 killings. The court opted not to hear the gun-maker's appeal, in a decision that was announced Tuesday morning. The justices did not include any comment about the case, Remington Arms Co. v. Soto, as they turned it away.
Remington had appealed to the highest federal court after the Connecticut Supreme Court allowed the Sandy Hook lawsuit to proceed in March. In recent court filings, Remington says the case "presents a nationally important question" about U.S. gun laws — namely, how to interpret the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which grants broad immunity to gun-makers and dealers from prosecution over crimes committed with their products. Remington manufactured the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle that Adam Lanza used on Dec. 14, 2012, to kill 20 first-graders and six adults at the elementary school in Newtown, Conn… (LINK TO STORY)