BG Reads | News You Need to Know (January 8, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
NEW -> Episode 69: Judge Aurora Martinez Jones, Travis County Civil Courts (LINK TO SHOW)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Downtown Commission hears fundraising plans for 300 new shelter beds (Austin Monitor)
A partnership between the Downtown Austin Alliance and the Austin Chamber of Commerce has identified 14 sites that could become the location for a new large shelter to serve the city’s homeless population.
At last month’s Downtown Commission meeting, representatives from those groups, which are working to register a new nonprofit group called ATX Helps, discussed their fundraising plans and three-part strategy to have a new shelter with at least 100 beds operating by the end of the first quarter. The group was launched in early November and thus far has raised $90,000 toward its goal of $14 million, with a verbal pledge of $1 million.
Bill Brice, a board member for the downtown alliance, said the first shelter can be opened once approximately $1 million is raised, with the rest of the fundraising total covering costs of creating at least one additional shelter, a centralized storage facility for people to stow their belongings, and two years of operational expenses.
No site has emerged as a leading choice to locate the shelter, but a team of local real estate and business leaders are working to find the best public or privately owned parcels.
ATX Helps hopes to create 300 new shelter beds to provide immediate assistance to the more than 1,100 chronically homeless people in Austin. Along with creating a storage facility, Brice said the group’s third goal is working with the homeless to reconnect them with family members or other networks that could quickly get them back on their feet without having to rely solely on the city’s patchwork of service organizations… (LINK TO STORY)
County sets up new committee to put pressure on city leaders over Expo Center (Austin Monitor)
Travis County leaders want to put pressure on the city of Austin to help them rebuild the aging exposition center.
On Tuesday the Commissioners Court voted unanimously to set up a nine-member committee tasked with “engaging and educating Travis County residents and community leaders about the value of redeveloping” the facility on Decker Lane.
Rob Golding, CEO of Rodeo Austin, by far the most important expo center user, will be the committee chairman. Joining him on the panel are:
Jeff Travillion and Brigid Shea, Travis County commissioners
Dyana Limon-Mercado, county Democratic Party chair
Nelson Linder, president of NAACP Austin
Laura Morrison, former Council Member
Barbara Scott, president, Colony Park Neighborhood Association
Jack Weaver, executive vice president of real estate company Catellus
Alan Graham, founder of Mobile Loaves and Fishes
Jack Gullahorn, president of Jack W. Gullahorn PC
Kerry Getter, founder of Balcones Resources
Bloomberg to travel through Austin in campaign swing (Austin American-Statesman)
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will stop in Austin on Saturday as part of a bus tour through Texas. The 77-year-old billionaire, who entered the crowded Democratic field in November, also announced Tuesday that he will make campaign stops in San Antonio and Dallas on the same day. Bloomberg’s campaign did not release additional details on his plans in Austin.
“We are bringing together voters from every corner of our nation to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “Together, we are taking him on in every state and territory, and building a coalition of Americans committed to solving our biggest problems and fixing what’s broken in America.” The bus tour will be Bloomberg’s third trip to Texas as a candidate, where he plans to open a Texas headquarters in Houston and 16 field offices around the state. The campaign told NBC News on Monday that it has 500 organizers and staff in more than 30 states… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Gov. Greg Abbott warns Texas agencies seeing 10,000 attempted cyber attacks per minute from Iran (Texas Tribune)
Gov. Greg Abbott is warning Texans to be “particularly vigilant” regarding potential cyberterrorism from Iran, suggesting that heightened tensions with the country have caused an increase in attempted attacks on state agencies.
“This is something that everybody in the state of Texas needs to be concerned, prepared and be able to address,” Abbott said Tuesday during a meeting of the Domestic Terrorism Task Force, which he formed after last year’s anti-Hispanic deadly mass shooting in El Paso. “I think it’s very important that everybody be particularly vigilant about what may happen out of Iran.”
Abbott, citing information from the Texas Department of Information Resources, said that as many as 10,000 attempted attacks per minute from Iran had been detected over the past 48 hours on state agency networks. He pointed to a cyberattack last year that involved dozens of local governments in Texas, stressing the importance of public and private sectors alike practicing “good cyber hygiene.”… (LINK TO STORY)
He spent a month in Texas jail accused of hauling 3,350 pounds of marijuana. But lab results say it was legal hemp. (Texas Tribune)
In the ongoing chaos of hemp’s legalization that has sent marijuana prosecutions plummeting, Texas has encountered a 3,350-pound problem.
Last month, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper arrested a driver who the agency claimed was hauling more than a ton of marijuana through the state near Amarillo. Aneudy Gonzalez was jailed for nearly a month on federal charges, and the plant material was seized. But last week, the 39-year-old was released from jail, his case was dismissed and the cargo is expected to be returned.
The reason? Lab results indicate the substance was not marijuana but legal hemp.
In legalizing hemp production last year, state lawmakers narrowed the definition of marijuana from the cannabis plant to cannabis with more than 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the ingredient in the plant that produces a high. Any cannabis with less than that amount of THC is hemp, which is used in products like clothing, twine, protein powder and CBD oil… (LINK TO STORY)
Related: BG Podcast Episode 62: Cree Crawford, Founder and President, Ionization Labs
Former Castro supporters in Texas switch to Biden after Castro drops out (Texas Tribune)
Several prominent former supporters of Julián Castro in his home state are endorsing Joe Biden for president now that the Texan is no longer running — and a day after he threw his support to Biden rival Elizabeth Warren.
In an announcement first shared with The Texas Tribune, Biden’s campaign unveiled 10 new Texas endorsements, including eight from people who had been with Castro. They include five state representatives and members of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus: Reps. Rafael Anchia of Dallas, Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City, Eddie Lucio III of Brownsville, Oscar Longoria of Mission and Armando "Mando" Martínez of Weslaco. (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
McConnell's win on impeachment trial procedure was months in the making (Politico)
Chuck Schumer demanded Tuesday morning that Republicans allow witnesses to testify during President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial. But Mitch McConnell already knew he had the votes to roll over his adversary. It took just a few hours on Tuesday for McConnell and Senate GOP leaders to clinch a final whip count in support of moving forward with a trial framework that completely ignored Democratic requests. And all 53 Republicans — even moderates such as Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitt Romney of Utah — have agreed to the majority leader’s proposal, according to senators involved in the process.
McConnell had spent months cultivating his caucus to get to this point. And after McConnell formally told his colleagues of his plans at the GOP’s weekly lunch, he went out and told a media horde the same. “We have the votes,” McConnell declared, meaning Republicans can start the Trump trial with no Democratic input once Speaker Nancy Pelosi sends over the articles of impeachment. Under the tentative rules package, which is the same as those used in President Bill Clinton’s 1999 Senate trial, the House will be allowed to present its case against Trump, and then the president’s defense team can respond. At that point, McConnell or any GOP senator could move to end the trial and call for a final vote on the charges against Trump. Or Democrats could try to seek witness testimony or the introduction of new documentary evidence. It will be up to a majority of the Senate to decide… (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.
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