BG Reads | News You Need to Know (October 2, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
BG Podcast Episode 108: Industry Update with Skeeter Miller, President, Greater Austin Restaurant Association (SHOW LINK)
*NEW* Job Posting: Local Government Affairs Program Manager (Austin-Bergstrom International Airport)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Council approves $15M for vital businesses (Austin Monitor)
City Council unanimously approved a revised version of the Save Austin’s Vital Economic Sectors (SAVES) relief effort on Thursday to provide financial assistance to some of the city’s most vulnerable music and arts venues, child care providers, and restaurants and bars.
The modified plan will draw a total of $15 million from city sales taxes, dollars set aside for the Human Capital Management System replacement project and the Fiscal Year 2021 Capital Rehabilitation Fund. As proposed by the city this week, the assistance will be divided equally among three funds: a music venue preservation fund, a legacy business relief grant and a child care provider relief grant.
While the city has not yet identified appropriate sources that could expand the effort beyond $15 million and provide relief for many more businesses that have suffered financially since mid-March, Council urged the city to continue exploring additional options while developing SAVES over the coming weeks.
“I’m looking forward to … continuing to work in the coming meetings to add more money and to provide more help, because it is really important for us to save these iconic places,” Council Member Greg Casar said.
With dedicated funds for child care providers and music venues, Council Member Leslie Pool said that restaurants and bars could be at a disadvantage when applying for the relief dollars. The concern was that music venues could apply for the legacy business relief grant in addition to the music venue preservation fund, while restaurants and bars would be restricted to the legacy business fund. Pool brought an amendment to instead divide the $15 million evenly among the three industry sectors, but it was voted down… (LINK TO STORY)
Travis County officials plan to fight Governor's order limiting drop-off sites for mail-in ballots (KUT)
Travis County officials say they plan to fight Gov. Greg Abbott’s order limiting the number of places where voters can hand deliver mail-in ballots.
Abbott announced the order Thursday, the same day local election officials opened the drop-off sites.
“Under this proclamation, beginning on October 2, 2020, mail ballots that are delivered in person by voters who are eligible to vote by mail must be delivered to a single early voting clerk’s office location as publicly designated by a county’s early voting clerk,” Abbott said in a statement.
Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said the county had set up four sites for voters to hand deliver their ballots. She called the order "most unfortunate” and said she plans to “challenge the governor” and his effort to close three of those sites.
“I don’t know what is going to happen to the governor’s order until we get to the point that I can talk about it in court,” she said. “In the meantime, I am still going to listen to what the county attorney tells me is the appropriate thing for the county clerk to do. And that is what we will follow.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin taps 3 to help assemble city redistricting commission (Austin American-Statesman)
Austin took another step toward redrawing its 10 City Council districts on Thursday, but officials remain concerned about a possible lack of diversity among the group tasked with the process.
Three people chosen Thursday via a random drawing by the city auditor’s office will serve on an Applicant Review Panel that will then select 60 applicants for the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Each Austin City Council member can remove one applicant from the pool, City Auditor Corrie Stokes said.
Stokes will hold another random drawing on Jan. 22 to select the first eight people to serve on the commission. Those eight people will then conduct a process to select six more people to serve on the commission. That 14-member commission will then redraw the boundaries of the city’s council districts.
Of the 44 applications the city auditor’s office received for the Applicant Review Panel, 16 met the eligibility requirements. Of the 16 applicants, 44% were male, 56% were female, 13% were Asian, 19% were Hispanic or Latino and 63% were white, according to the City Auditor’s office.
Named to the Applicant Review Panel were: William Cooper, Abigael McClean and James Christianson… (LINK TO STORY)
850 Austin district teachers pledge not to return to school buildings on Monday (Austin American-Statesman)
About 850 Austin district teachers have pledged not to return to their campuses Monday when school buildings reopen for learning.
Concerned about the threat of the coronavirus to both their students and themselves, the educators said they remain committed to teaching their students, but will do so only in a virtual setting.
Of the 925 teachers who requested medical waivers and accommodations to work remotely, 66% had been approved so far, one was denied and the rest are still pending or have been marked inactive, according to district information released Thursday. In total, 44% of the 1,485 staff members have received accommodations, according to district information released earlier this week.
In total, 44% of the 1,485 staff members have received accommodations, according to information provided earlier this week.
District leaders said they are approving accommodations for those who medically are at high risk from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and have submitted medical documentation. However, such accommodations have not been extended to educators who have high-risk family members, leaving some teachers to refuse to return in person and others to quit… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Gov. Greg Abbott limits counties to one absentee ballot drop-off location, bolstering GOP efforts to restrict voting (Texas Tribune)
Gov. Greg Abbott threw the weight of his office Thursday behind Republican efforts to limit options for Texas voters who want to hand-deliver their completed absentee ballots for the November election — a rebuke to some large, Democratic counties that have set up multiple drop-off locations in what they call an effort to maximize voter convenience.
The Republican governor issued a proclamation directing counties to designate just one location for ballot drop-offs, and allowing political parties to install poll watchers to observe the process.
An unprecedented number of absentee ballots are expected to be cast this year as voters who qualify under Texas’ unusually strict vote-by-mail rules opt to avoid the health risks of voting in person. Republican officials have aggressively fought Democratic efforts to expand access to mail-in ballots during the pandemic… (LINK TO STORY)
After a summer of unrest, Texas police are preparing for possible election night protests (Texas Tribune)
After thousands took to the streets this summer to protest police brutality and racial injustice, galvanized by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, some Texas law enforcement agencies faced stiff criticism for their responses.
Allegations of excessive force prompted some jurisdictions to slash police budgets and others to adopt a series of reforms, from prohibiting the use of certain “less-lethal” weapons to requiring officers to intervene when they see another use extreme measures.
Now, with a contentious election just a month away and with a nation bitterly divided, police are again preparing for protests across the state. Agencies in at least four major cities — Austin, El Paso, San Antonio and Fort Worth — confirmed they are planning for potential unrest around the Nov. 3 election. Officials in other Texas cities declined to say whether they’re doing the same.
The intent of such preparations, said Tara Long, an Austin Police Department spokesperson, “is to ensure the safety of the community while protecting the rights of people to peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights.”… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
President Trump, Melania Trump test positive for COVID-19 (The Hill)
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, the White House physician announced late Thursday, underscoring major challenges facing the country as it seeks to contain the pandemic while raising new uncertainty surrounding the country's leadership weeks before the election.
Presidential physician Sean Conley said in a memo released by the White House late Thursday night that President Trump and the first lady "are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence."
“The White House medical team and I will maintain a vigilant watch, and I appreciate the support provided by some of our country’s greatest medical professionals and institutions. Rest assured I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you updated on any future developments," Conley added. The White House uses Abbott rapid response tests, with the first couple receiving their COVID-19 results after being tested earlier in the day.
The announcement came hours after news broke that White House adviser and top aide to the president Hope Hicks tested positive for the disease. Both Hicks and the president had been together on Air Force One in Cleveland for the presidential debate as well as a campaign rally in Minnesota on Wednesday.
News of Hicks's COVID-19 status raised questions about whether others would test positive for the virus, with the president and first lady both saying Thursday night that they would quarantine while awaiting their results.
Trump took to Twitter just before 1 a.m. on Friday to confirm that he and his wife had tested positive, with the White House also releasing the memo from his physician confirming their diagnoses.
“Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!” Trump tweeted…(LINK TO STORY)
Newsom bans new gas cars — and begs Trump for a fight (Politico)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the state Wednesday to ban new gas vehicles within 15 years, a rebuke to President Donald Trump and other federal leaders already challenging the state's strict fuel economy rules.
Newsom made clear that he wants to use California's gigantic market as a hammer to force automakers to focus on electric vehicles. He said the move is a necessary step to combat climate change as his state battles historic wildfires that have scorched more than 3.6 million acres this year.
But California Republicans immediately seized on Newsom's order as an overstep in a year of unprecedented executive decisions on coronavirus closures. And Trump could use it as another cudgel to portray Democrats as out of touch by forcing drivers into electric vehicles still spurned by the vast majority of Americans.
After signing his executive order, Newsom seemed to welcome Trump criticism. He sent a fundraising email within hours drawing a contrast between Trump's actions on auto emissions and his own. And he braced for a presidential tweetstorm.
"I expect a tweet within 24 hours of me signing the executive order," Newsom said in a "Now This" video he posted Wednesday afternoon on Twitter. "I expect the usual pablum, somehow we're taking something from people or we're denying people choice, when in fact we're accelerating innovation.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Trump's Proud Boys moment dominated debate conversation (AXIOS)
President Trump's refusal to take Chris Wallace's prompt to condemn white supremacy during Tuesday's debate and his "stand back and stand by" comment about the Proud Boys became the No. 1 storyline from the debate online, according to exclusive data from NewsWhip.
Why it matters: The post-debate response put Trump — not Joe Biden — on the defensive, and allowed the former vice president to dodge blowback from his own shortcomings in the debate.
By the numbers: Among the 100 most-engaged stories coming out of the debate, the 3.24 million combined interactions (likes, comments, shares) on stories about Trump's Proud Boys comments and the ensuing uproar were 34% higher than the next biggest topic: the performance of Wallace as a moderator.
The criticism of Wallace largely came from conservative media outlets, which framed the Fox News host as being biased against Trump… (LINK TO STORY)