BG Reads | News You Need to Know (October 21, 2019)
[BG PODCAST]
NEW -> Episode 57: Micromobility Policy with the City of Austin’s Jason Redfern and Jacob Culberson (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will send state agency to clear homeless encampments under Austin overpasses, monitor water quality (Community Impact)
Less than 24 hours after Austin City Council moved to further adjust a pair of laws that impact the homeless population, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office said the governor will send in state agencies to address and monitor Austin’s homelessness challenge.
Abbott will assign the Texas Department of Transportation to clear out active homeless camps under Austin’s highways, and continue to monitor the city’s water quality for e-coli and other bacteria, according to a statement from the governor’s press secretary, John Wittman. In a previous letter, Abbott warned that the city’s growing homelessness issue put Austin’s water quality at risk of contamination… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin’s justice activists defy headwinds of criticism to force policy changes (Austin American-Statesman)
The people responsible for Austin’s progressive shift in criminal justice reform include a 31-year-old man who was on probation for most of his adult life for a robbery he says he didn’t commit, an ex-software whiz who left a good job to craft policy proposals for an advocacy nonprofit, and a woman who spent 25 years in an Illinois prison for killing a man she says raped her.
They are social justice activists, a growing community of reform-minded people whose rise in power in the past five-plus years has pushed local elected officials to enact policies that benefit marginalized citizens at a time when Austin’s urban core is becoming increasingly white and wealthy... (LINK TO STORY)
Council OKs ‘Domain on Riverside’ (Austin Monitor)
After months of combative public hearings, City Council has approved the vast, controversial Eastside development nicknamed the “Domain on Riverside.”
The 97-acre project promises to bring housing, retail, restaurants and offices to Riverside Drive and Pleasant Valley Boulevard. But the development will come at the expense of five existing apartment complexes that offer close-in affordable housing. At the final Council hearing Thursday, residents from those complexes offered emotional testimony about the upcoming demolition of their homes and expressed fear that they would not be able to find other places to live… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
At GOP caucus meeting, House Speaker Dennis Bonnen offered resolution calling for his own resignation (Texas Tribune)
House Speaker Dennis Bonnen addressed his fellow GOP members officially for the first time in months on Friday, offering, through an emotional speech, a motion for his colleagues to call for his resignation, three people in the room told The Texas Tribune.
"It is the will of the caucus that Dennis Bonnen should step down as Speaker of the House," members in the closed-door meeting, shocked at the scene before them, read on a piece of paper… (LINK TO STORY)
Early voting in Texas’ constitutional amendment election starts Monday. Here’s what voters will decide (Texas Tribune)
Texas voters are about to weigh in on 10 proposed amendments to the state constitution, which deal with everything from retiring law enforcement animals to the state's tax code. Voters in three state House districts will also participate in special elections to fill empty seats.
Early voting begins Monday and runs through Nov. 1. Election Day is Nov. 5... (LINK TO STORY)
Buzbee and King aim to tie one another to Turner in hopes of making mayoral runoff (Houston Chronicle)
Mayoral candidates Tony Buzbee and Bill King are both seeking to tie one another to Mayor Sylvester Turner as they battle for conservative votes and the chance to face the mayor in a potential December runoff. Buzbee, who was positioned about 10 percentage points ahead of King in a poll conducted last month, is now running online and mailer ads that draw attention to King’s former employer, delinquent-tax collection law firm Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson.
King previously managed the firm’s Houston office and put Turner’s law firm on retainer in 2004. One of the ads says King “made millions off city contracts while paying Mayor Turner,” who was among multiple then-state representatives hired by the firm. On Saturday, King slammed Buzbee for backing Turner in the 2015 runoff, when Turner narrowly defeated King. A new site launched by King’s campaign, tonyandturner.com, is headlined by a photo of Buzbee with his arm around Turner’s shoulder and hearts floating above the mayor’s head… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
1st federal opioid crisis trial to focus on distribution (Houston Chronicle)
The case is about the conduct of a group of companies in two Ohio counties, but far more than that is riding on the first federal trial on the opioid crisis, expected to open Monday in Cleveland.
The counties are looking for money to help them fight and fix the epidemic, while families who lost loved ones to overdoses are seeking justice. The companies, meanwhile, say they followed the law and are aren't to blame for the crisis… (LINK TO STORY)
Warren says she’ll release ‘plan’ to pay for Medicare for All (Politico)
Days after 2020 rivals accused her of not being candid on how she would pay for Medicare-for-All, Sen. Elizabeth Warren told a crowd at a town hall that she would be rolling out a plan “over the next few weeks” detailing how she would pay for the plan.
“Right now the cost estimates for Medicare for All vary by trillions and trillions of dollars and the different revenue stream for how to fund it, there are a lot of,” the Massachusetts Democrat told a crowd in Indianola, Iowa, on Sunday at a town hall. “This is something I’ve been working on for months and months, and it’s got just a little more work until it’s finished.”… (LINK TO STORY)