BG Reads | News You Need to Know (October 23, 2019)
[BG PODCAST]
NEW -> Episode 58: The Future of Austin politics with Good Politics' Liz Coufal and Nathan Ryan (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Effort emerges to recall Austin mayor, 5 Council members (Austin Business Journal)
A political action committee has formed with a goal of ousting Austin Mayor Steve Adler and five members of the Austin City Council.
The PAC, “Our Town Austin,” formed Oct. 21. Sharon Blythe created it and said the PAC’s purpose is to recall Adler plus Council Members Natasha Harper-Madison, Sabino "Pio" Renteria, Ann Kitchen, Paige Ellis and Kathie Tovo. The group did not explain why they chose these specific Council members.
To recall a Council member “Our Town Austin” will have to gather signatures from at least 10% of each of their districts. For Mayor Adler, they will need 10% of the entire city — which comes out to about 100,000 signatures.… (LINK TO STORY)
Report on APD sexual assault cases handling to be finished February 2020 (KXAN)
Public safety commissioners learned earlier this month that a city-led report about the Austin Police Department’s handling of sexual assault cases will be finished February 2022 at the earliest.
Amanda Lewis, who leads the Women and Public Safety Commission joint working group, said they have hired a consultant to review APD’s closed sexual assault cases. Most of the consultants’ time will be spent reviewing cases, followed by interviewing APD leadership and staff who work with victims..... (LINK TO STORY)
Housing boom: The Austin neighborhoods that deliver the best returns on investment (Austin Business Journal)
There's no doubt that money is flooding into East Austin, generating wealth for this long-time minority neighborhood while putting pressure on others.
The area is a bastion of economic development and office projects are rapidly popping up due largely to the relatively inexpensive cost of building compared to the Central Business District.
But even the most astute real estate observer might be surprised at just how much housing prices have risen east of I-35 during the past decade. The Business Journals crunched reams of housing data from Zillow Group Inc. (Nasdaq: Z) to identify some of the fastest-growing neighborhoods across the country, including in Austin…. (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
With a lame-duck speaker, Texas House confronts the work of the interim (Texas Tribune)
The Texas House may have been in turmoil on Tuesday — reeling from the news that its once-revered leader, Dennis Bonnen, would relinquish the seat he’s represented since 1997 and with it the speaker’s gavel — but in Houston, urgent business continued apace.
In the student services building at Lone Star College, state Rep. Phil King gaveled in the Texas House Redistricting Committee for the fifth of more than two dozen hearings the Weatherford Republican plans to convene across the state between now and the 2021 legislative session.
“Our path is plotted and everything is in great shape,” King said in an interview before the hearing. The message was clear: Bonnen drama or no, the Legislature’s work continues.… (LINK TO STORY)
Ahead of tornado brush collections, here’s what Dallas learned from its last major storm (Dallas Morning News)
When a storm with high winds and massive rainfall hit Dallas on June 9, city officials said the sheer volume of yard waste to collect off curbs was the worst they’d ever seen.
This time, after tornadoes touched down in Dallas late Sunday night, bulk and brush collection workers will face a new kind of challenge: a concentrated disaster zone, inaccessible roads and loads of structural damage.
But the amount of bulk they’re expecting from construction and demolition debris will be a major undertaking, said Assistant City Manager Joey Zapata.… (LINK TO STORY)
Dallas County DA John Creuzot wants judge in Guyger trial to recuse herself from his contempt case (Dallas Morning News)
The Dallas County district attorney’s office wants the judge in the Amber Guyger case to recuse herself from contempt proceedings involving the DA.
State District Judge Tammy Kemp gave District Attorney John Creuzot an Oct. 31 hearing date to show why he should not be held in contempt for doing an interview about the case with KDFW-TV (Channel 4). The interview aired the night before the trial began Sept. 23.
The DA’s office asked in a motion filed Monday that Kemp sign an order recusing herself from the contempt issue and have another judge assigned to hear the case…. (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Biogen reanalyzes studies, presses ahead on Alzheimer’s drug (Associated Press)
Biogen Inc. said Tuesday it will seek federal approval for a medicine to treat early Alzheimer’s disease, a landmark step toward finding a treatment that can alter the course of the most common form of dementia.
The announcement was a surprise because the drug company earlier this year stopped two studies of the drug when partial results suggested it was not likely to be successful. The company now says a new analysis of more results suggest that the drug helped reduce a decline of thinking skills at the highest dose.
The drug, called aducanumab, aims to help the body clear harmful plaques from the brain. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen is developing it with a Japanese company, Eisai Co. Ltd… (LINK TO STORY)
More California Blackouts To Avert Wildfires May Start Wednesday, PG&E Says (NPR)
Residents in 16 California counties have been warned that Wednesday may bring more intentional power shutoffs to over 200,000 customers. The announcement comes less than a month after utility company Pacific Gas & Electric cut off power for several days to nearly 800,000 customers across Northern and Central California.
Gusty winds, low humidity, and high temperatures threaten to cause fires near the Bay Area and Central Valley, prompting the National Weather Service to issue Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watches.
Nevada County, a region largely located in the Sierra Nevada, may encounter the most blackouts, with an about 42,400 customers estimated to be affected. Member station KQED has a map outlining planned outage areas.… (LINK TO STORY)