BG Reads | News You Need to Know (July 30, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
BG Podcast Episode Episode 54: Austin Market Perspective with Zach Cannon of The Burt Group (SHOW LINK)
The BG Podcast returns next Wednesday August 5th with Episode 101!
Note: Show also available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Sound Cloud, and Stitcher
[AUSTIN METRO]
UT Austin asks students to self-quarantine before they get to campus in August (KUT)
UT Austin is asking students to self-quarantine for 14 days before they arrive on campus this fall.
The request is the latest effort in the university’s attempts to prevent COVID-19 infections in the UT community. Since March, 456 people on campus – including students, faculty and staff – have tested positive for the coronavirus. UT topped a New York Times survey published Wednesday of American universities with the most reported cases of COVID-19.
The semester is set to begin Aug. 26. UT says students should stay home and limit interactions with others as much as possible before arriving. Those who can’t quarantine at home for whatever reason are being told to quarantine for up to 14 days when they get to Austin before going to their first activity on campus.
“We know that everyone’s situation is different; please make self-quarantine plans in a manner that makes sense to you,” interim UT President Jay Hartzell wrote in an update Wednesday… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
City Council members propose sweeping cuts to Austin police (Austin American-Statesman)
Three Austin City Council members have rolled out proposals to shift money and responsibilities away from the Austin Police Department amid protests against police brutality and calls to defund law enforcement agencies.
Council Members Greg Casar, Jimmy Flannigan and Leslie Pool all posted proposals to the council’s online message board Friday outlining ways to revamp policing in Austin.
Casar suggested three amendments to the city’s proposed budget that would remove internal affairs and forensics from the Police Department and shift money from previously scheduled police cadet classes to programs that prevent violence and other harm in the city. Such programs could include family violence shelters, homeless services, and housing and mental health care, among others.
“These three initial amendments alone would have a $40 million impact — and combined with amendments proposed by my colleagues and future amendments from me — we can reach an over $100 million change in the police budget toward progressive change,” Casar wrote in an email to constituents.
Flannigan proposed a plan to reconstruct police operations into separate departments with independent department heads and civilian executive leadership in the city manager’s office… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Council advances St. Johns site redevelopment (Austin Monitor)
After over a decade of holding on to the vacant St. Johns site in Northeast Austin, City Council has moved to rezone and open bids for redeveloping the 19-acre property into a mixed-use, mixed-income residential neighborhood and community space.
The property was purchased by the city with bonds totaling $12.4 million with plans for a new police station and courthouse, but the old Chrysler dealership and Home Depot lots have remained empty, producing no property taxes for the city, for the past decade.
“What we’ve got is an empty big-box store that’s falling to disrepair and barbed wire fences,” Council Member Greg Casar said on Tuesday. “And in conversation with the community, that neighborhood has not been asking for continued over-policing, but instead for housing that’s affordable to people who have been priced out, families that want to be able to stay, to not have their school closed, opportunity for family members to come back and places for small businesses and nonprofits to thrive.”
Depending on the development contract bids received, the site may contain between 140 and 300 residential units – with at least half being income-restricted – along the eastern portion of the property surrounding St. Johns Park. Due to the neighborhood’s history as a site of both neglect and disruption by the city and state, the affordable housing units are to be “particularly accessible” to current as well as previous neighborhood residents.
With priorities on economic opportunity, equity and livability, the UT Center for Sustainable Development created four general development scenarios for the property that also include new public infrastructure and street grid connectivity, increased open space and a portion of the property set aside for commercial and community services…(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas Republican Rep. Gohmert tests positive for coronavirus after rebuffing masks (NPR)
Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, who during the pandemic has repeatedly refused to wear a mask in public, tested positive for the coronavirus.
His positive test was caught during a routine screening at the White House, Gohmert said. He was slated to attend a trip to West Texas with President Trump.
"Before you go anywhere with the president or have a meeting with the president we are always tested, and they have a real quick test and the quick test was positive," Gohmert said in an interview with north Texas TV affiliate, KETK.
Gohmert confirmed the news from his Capitol Hill office, raising further concerns that he returned there infected while both chambers of Congress are in session. Gohmert said he would later quarantine from home for 10 days, per advice from the office of Dr. Brian Monahan, the attending physician to Congress.
The news sent shock waves through the Capitol on Wednesday.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday evening that all members of Congress and staff will be required to wear masks in the House chamber except when recognized to speak… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Houston’s 5G landscape is complete. Now what? (Houston Chronicle)
At long last, all three of the major cellular carriers in Houston now offer 5G services. AT&T last week finally opened up to everyone the stealth 5G network that had been invitation-only for selected businesses since late 2018. With T-Mobile (and its merged Sprint network) and Verizon already selling 5G service here, you can now get the next-generation data service from the telecom behemoth of your choice. Last year, in both February and November, I wrote that it was too early to buy a smartphone that supports 5G. Picking up a 5G device back then would have cost you more for fewer benefits. It’s still true that 5G devices typically are more expensive, but that’s changing.
In fact, by the end of the year or early into next it may be hard to buy a current-release smartphone that doesn’t support 5G. Already, you can find 5G capabilities in less-expensive handsets. For example, Samsung recently launched its Galaxy A71 5G with a list price of $600, much less than the $1,000 it cost to buy the Galaxy S20 with 5G when was introduced. There are discounts and deals that cut the price even more. Samsung has even begun adding 5G to existing phones that didn’t have it. The Galaxy Flip Z — a dual-screen smartphone that looks like an old-school flip phone — didn’t come with 5G, but Samsung just started selling a version that does. Sometime in September or October, Apple is expected to introduce its next lineup of iPhones. Current rumors say four new models are coming, including a smaller one with a 5.4-inch display that will make lovers of the original iPhone SE happy, and all of them will be available with 5G… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
TABC suspends Dallas-Fort Worth bars that opened for COVID rules protest last weekend (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
After hundreds of bars reportedly opened across the state on Saturday to protest their state-mandated closure during the coronavirus pandemic, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission suspended the liquor licenses of eight bars in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The Eight Ball Billiard and Bar in Fort Worth and G Willickers Pub in Arlington were formally served with their suspensions, TABC spokesman Chris Porter said. The other six bars have not yet formally received their suspensions and were not identified.
Owners of the bars that have received notices did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Both had their licenses suspended for 30 days. Porter said the commission conducted 1,600 inspections statewide from Thursday to Sunday, afterward issuing 44 warnings and 18 emergency suspensions to bars. Bars across the state opened Saturday for Freedom Fest, an event where owners defied Gov. Greg Abbott’s June 26 order that closed bars as the state’s coronavirus numbers surged. Chris Polone, event organizer and owner of Fort Worth music venue The Rail Club Live, told the Star-Telegram on July 24 that he organized Freedom Fest to make the voices of bar owners heard and to show people that bars can open safely. In Tarrant County, Arlington’s G Willickers Pub, Burleson’s Cooter Brown’s, and Fort Worth’s Rail Club Live and the Eight Ball Billiard and Bar participated in the event. Bars from Houston, Pasadena and Sabinal also participated, according to Polone… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
4 key takeaways from Washington's Big Tech hearing on 'Monopoly Power (NPR)
Four Big Tech CEOs spent Wednesday being grilled — virtually — by House lawmakers, creating a first-ever spectacle that was by turns revealing and, inevitably, awkward.
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Google's Sundar Pichai and Apple's Tim Cook each brought their distinct mannerisms to bear, but all shared an abundantly cautious approach that extinguished most of the difficult questions with well-rehearsed lines about how their firms do not tilt the playing field in their own favor.
The House Judiciary Committee's Democratic chairman, Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, concluded the day-long hearing by hinting at what might lie ahead as lawmakers ponder federal regulations to hold the four companies — worth nearly a combined $5 trillion — to account.
"These companies as they exist today have monopoly power. Some need to be broken up. All need to be properly regulated and held accountable," said Cicilline, adding that antitrust laws written a century ago need to be updated for the digital age.
"When these laws were written, the monopolists were men named Rockefeller and Carnegie," he said. "Today the men are named Zuckerberg, Cook, Pichai and Bezos. Once again, their control of the marketplace allows them to do whatever it takes to crush independent business and expand their own power. This must end."
What's next? Cicilline will issue a report expected in about a month on the subcommittee's investigation into the companies, providing a framework for what shape new regulations on Silicon Valley could take… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Liability shield fight threatens to blow up relief talks (The Hill)
A sharp disagreement over whether to provide coronavirus liability protections to businesses, schools and other organizations has quickly emerged as one of the biggest obstacles to getting a deal on COVID-19 relief legislation.
Both sides are digging in, with Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.) and Democratic leaders — Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) — calling the issue a looming dealbreaker.
Not only is the disagreement standing in the way of passing the first major coronavirus package since late March, it’s also pitting key Republican and Democratic constituencies against each other: the business community versus unions and trial lawyers… (LINK TO FULL 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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