BG Reads | News You Need to Know (October 25, 2019)
[BG PODCAST]
NEW -> Episode 58: The Future of Austin politics with Good Politics' Liz Coufal and Nathan Ryan (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin to help pay rent, mortgages for more people (KXAN)
As the city of Austin continues to grapple with how to address homelessness, it’s also working to boost subsidies for affordable housing to keep people from falling into homelessness.
The city of Austin expects that maintaining a supply of affordable rental units will be a challenge as the anticipated population growth continues in the city.
An income-restricted affordable housing unit in East Austin(KXAN/Alyssa Goard)
Austin’s recent Strategic Housing Blueprint outlines goals for the city to add 60,000 affordable units to the city’s housing stock.… (LINK TO STORY)
Coalition Threatens New Lawsuit to Slow Pipeline Progress (Spectrum News)
The quest to transfer natural gas from one end of Texas to the other continues, but a coalition of Central Texas cities and environmental groups is threatening a new lawsuit to try to stop Kinder Morgan's Permian Highway Pipeline project. This time they're taking it to the federal government.
-Coalition threatens lawsuit over Kinder Morgan gas pipeline
-Coalition members cite environmental concerns
-Pipeline slated to be operational in 2021
Blayne Stansberry defends this drinking water source as the president of the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District. She’s worried the aquifer below the springs is threatened by a pending pipeline project.
Allen Fore with Kinder Morgan says a leak is unlikely… (LINK TO STORY)
Group of Austin Senior Citizens Demanding Gun Reform (Spectrum News)
Nearly a dozen Austin senior citizens took to the streets on Wednesday to voice their collective opinions about gun control.
-Ages range from 77 to 97
-Several have protested before
-They’re OK with guns being used for hunting and protection
The rally took place about a block away from the assisted-living facility the group calls home. The self-proclaimed Austin Seniors for Social Justice range in age from 77 to 97. They are advocating for gun reform.
This was their first rally as a group, but several of the participants have certainly protested before… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Trump administration testing rapid asylum review, deportation process in Texas (Texas Tribune)
The Trump administration has begun testing a secretive program here that aims to speed up the deportation of asylum-seeking migrants after they cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
The pilot program — known as Prompt Asylum Claim Review — streamlines the asylum process so that migrants who are seeking safe refuge in the United States will receive a decision in 10 days or less, rather than the months or years it currently takes, according to Customs and Border Protection officials. The reviews are largely to determine if Central American migrants can be sent back to their homelands.
The accelerated reviews seek to accomplish two Trump administration goals: deterring migrants from attempting to cross the U.S. border and pushing asylum seekers out of the United States. El Paso is the only place where the administration is testing the program, which started this month, according to U.S. officials…. (LINK TO STORY)
DOJ awards more than $85.3M in grants to address school violence (KVUE)
The Department of Justice announced that it has awarded more than $85.3 million in grants to improve school security.
These grants include funding to educate and train students and support first responders who arrive on the scene of a school shooting or other violent event.
More than $5 million of the grants went to preventing violence in schools in Texas. Texas Recipients of the grant include San Antionio ISD, El Paso ISD, Waco ISD, Austin ISD, Del Valle ISD, Seguin ISD, Karnes City ISD, Texas State University and the Texas Department of Public safety…. (LINK TO STORY)
No criminal charges for Bonnen from recording; Dems float conspiracy (Austin American-Statesman)
Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen will not face criminal charges for the deal he sought with a conservative activist, Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne said Thursday.
But she delivered a scathing rebuke of Bonnen’s behavior.
Yenne, a Republican who oversaw the case because Bonnen resides in Brazoria County, said Bonnen’s actions were “offensive,” “lacking in character and integrity,” “demeaning,” and “repugnant.” However, she said, it did not rise to the level of a criminal offense.
Yenne’s decision comes two days after Bonnen said he would not seek another term, following a cascade of Republicans publicly calling on him to relinquish his leadership role.… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
DOJ inquiry into 2016 election becomes criminal investigation (Politico)
An inquiry that Attorney General William Barr ordered into the origins of the probe into possible ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia has now become a criminal investigation, a source familiar with the matter told POLITICO on Thursday.
The investigation, being conducted by the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, John Durham, was launched as an effort by Barr to answer unspecified questions he had about why the FBI began the counterintelligence investigation that eventually led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller.
However, escalating Barr’s inquiry from a management review to a criminal matter means current and former FBI, Justice Department or CIA officials could face the possibility of criminal charges arising from some aspect of their work on the Russia investigation… (LINK TO STORY)
The Real Cost Of The Opioid Epidemic: An Estimated $179 Billion In Just One Year (NPR)
There's a reckoning underway in the courts about the damage wrought by the opioid crisis and who should pay for it.
Thousands of cities and counties are suing drug makers and distributors in federal court. One tentative dollar amount floated earlier this week to settle with four of the companies: $48 billion. It sounds like a lot of money, but it doesn't come close to accounting for the full cost of the epidemic, according to recent estimates — let alone what it might cost to fix it.
Of course, there's a profound human toll that dollars and cents can't capture. Almost 400,000 people have died since 1999 from overdoses related to prescription or illicit opioids. There are more deaths every single year than from traffic accidents. These are lives thrown into chaos, families torn apart — you can't put a dollar figure on those things… (LINK TO STORY)
Hundreds Of Musicians Pledge To Cut Ties With Amazon In 'No Music For ICE' Letter (NPR)
At the place where music, technology and politics converge, you'll find ... discord. A group of more than 380 musicians — including well-known indie artists like Ted Leo, Deerhoof, Damon & Naomi, Zola Jesus, Downtown Boys and Sheer Mag — pledged in an open letter on Thursday to cut all business ties with Amazon over the work of its gargantuan Amazon Web Services subsidiary.
The letter, organized in part by the activist group Fight for the Future and the public introduction to No Music for ICE, was spurred by AWS' plans for a music festival called Intersect. The letter demands that AWS cancel all contracts with independent businesses and government agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, over human rights abuses it alleges they have committed. It also demands that Amazon end work on "projects that encourage racial profiling and discrimination," such as facial recognition technology. (A form of this tech has been deployed broadly in China, where it's reportedly used to target members of the Uighur community and arrest suspects outside concerts.) Amazon's connection to ICE is through the database services it provides to Palantir, a data analytics company that has contracts with the agency. "We will not allow Amazon to exploit our creativity to promote its brand while it enables attacks on immigrants, communities of color, workers, and local economies. We call on all artists who believe in basic rights and human dignity to join us," it reads…. (LINK TO STORY)