BG Reads | News You Need to Know (January 21, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
NEW -> Episode 70 - Jim O'Brien, Host of The Lobbying Podcast (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin's total home value grew at staggering rate in past decade (Austin Business Journal)
The value of the Austin metro housing market grew by $141 billion, or 126%, in the past decade, according to a new report from Zillow Group Inc.
The housing market in the metro is now worth about $252 billion — about 0.7% of the national market, according to the report. The market was worth about $111 billion in 2010. In 2019, Austin's total housing value grew $22 billion, or 9.5%, year-over-year, according to Zillow.
Austin was one of two large markets — the other being Charlotte, North Carolina — where most of the growth came from new home construction and not appreciation of existing homes, according to Zillow. Home value growth in both of those cities have outpaced the national average since 2010.
There’s no doubt Austin has experienced explosive growth in the last decade. Homebuilders have been delivering a record number of lots in the last few years in an attempt to catch up with the demand for new housing from all of the area’s new residents... (LINK TO STORY)
Delays racking up costs at new $56 million Austin ISD headquarters (Austin American-Statesman)
Construction on the Austin school district’s new South Austin headquarters is months behind schedule, piling up $1.6 million in unexpected costs, according to information obtained by the American-Statesman.
The district also has doubled its spending on utilities as administrators simultaneously use the new building and the old headquarters off West Sixth Street, each of which has up to $24,000 in utility costs per month. Between July 2018 and December 2019, the district has spent at least $700,000 on utility and maintenance costs for the buildings.
The district in 2017 agreed to pay $28 million for the new headquarters — a nine-story building near the northwest corner of Interstate 35 and Ben White Boulevard — and has budgeted an additional $27 million for improvements.
District leaders say the reasons for the delays include obtaining city permits, design changes to the trustees’ boardroom and a more recent decision to put the district’s police department in the building… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Meet the Texas-based church security business training worshippers to fight back in mass shootings (Texas Tribune)
Liberty Hill resident T.J. Wagner yelled commands at his friend James Johnson in an empty classroom at a building in North Texas earlier this month: “Face the wall! Feet apart! Hands behind your back!”
Within seconds, Wagner handcuffed Johnson, leading him out of the room with one hand gripping the metal cuffs and the other squeezing his right bicep to guide him out. Then, the two switched places and it was Johnson’s turn to detain his buddy.
The pair were among a group of several men from across the state who enrolled in a training program this month where they practiced combat moves, learned how to apprehend suspects and shot firearms.
But they weren’t training for law enforcement.They’re just men who are worried about their churches… (LINK TO STORY)
Carbohydrates and conflicts: U.S. nutrition panel to hold rare hearing in Houston (Houston Chronicle)
A panel of scientists crafting influential federal nutrition guidelines — which shape everything from what kids eat in school to what farmers produce and what people buy in the grocery store — is coming to Houston this week for its first public hearing outside of Washington, D.C., in decades. The federally appointed Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee will hear from the public on how to adjust the guidelines, which have been in place since the 1980s. But critics say the panel has long been slow to adjust the standards, even as obesity and diabetes rates have skyrocketed across the country.
Some of the scientists on the panel helped craft the original guidelines and are reluctant to admit their shortcomings, critics say. Some have ties to the food industry or have accepted funding from pharmaceutical companies, raising concerns of conflicts of interest — something warned of in a recent report ordered up by Congress. “It’s like trying to shift the course of the Titanic,” said Nina Teicholz, a journalist and author who is executive director of The Nutrition Coalition, a nonprofit group that advocates for the federal government to be more responsive to nutrition science… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
$11 Billion And Counting: Trump's Border Wall Would Be The World's Most Costly (KUT)
The pricetag for President Trump's border wall has topped $11 billion — or nearly $20 million a mile — to become the most expensive wall of its kind anywhere in the world.
In a status report last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which is overseeing wall construction, reported that $11 billion has been identified since Trump took office to construct 576 miles of a new "border wall system."
And the Trump administration is on the hunt for funding to build even more. The Department of Homeland Security has asked the Defense Department to come up with money for 270 additional miles of border wall that DHS says is needed to block drug smuggling routes on federal land. The Pentagon is studying the request, which did not come with a dollar figure… (LINK TO STORY)
The Bingham Group, LLC is an Austin-based full service lobbying firm representing and advising clients on municipal, legislative, and regulatory matters throughout Texas.
PLEASE RESHARE and FOLLOW:
Twitter #binghamgp
Instagram #binghamgp