BG Reads | News You Need to Know (October 22, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
Early voting in Travis County runs through Friday, October 30 (Monday-Saturday, 7:00 AM-7:00 PM, Sunday 12-6 PM). Find early voting locations here (Travis County only).
***NEW*** BG Podcast Episode 111: Discussing COVID-19's Impact on Austin's Tech Scene with Amber Gunst, CEO, Austin Technology Council (SHOW LINK)
On this episode we speak with Amber Gunst, CEO, Austin Technology Council (ATC). She and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss COVID-19’s impact on the Austin tech scene, as well as major state and local policy priorities/concerns going into 2021.
[AUSTIN METRO]
A group of Austinites is petitioning to change the mayor's role and how local elections work (KUT)
A new political action committee wants to change the powers and structure of the Austin City Council — and the way local elections are held.
“I think there are a number of issues that we are facing as a city where individuals from across the city have come together and realized the current system isn’t working for us,” Andrew Allison, treasurer of the Austinites for Progressive Reform PAC, told KUT.
Changes like these require amending the city’s charter, which demands a public vote. Petitioners need to collect 20,000 signatures from valid city voters in order to get the changes on a ballot. The group says it’s planning for a public vote in May.
The PAC began collecting signatures on the first day of early voting and says it has 10,000 so far.
The first change includes moving mayoral elections to the same year as presidential ones. Currently, Austin voters choose a mayor during midterm elections.
“That reform is about turnout and representative turnout because midterm election years feature dramatically less turnout and also less representative turnout, less diverse turnout,” Allison said.
When Mayor Steve Adler was reelected in 2018, nearly 62% of registered voters in Austin went to the polls. Two years prior, during a presidential election, nearly 65% of people registered to vote did.
The PAC also wants to alter the structure of Austin’s local government. Currently, a city manager hired by council members oversees city departments.
“We have a system where the chief executive of the city, who oversees critical day-to-day functions about the city, like the police department, the transportation department, the planning department, the budget process … that person is unelected,” Allison said.
Austinites for Progressive Reform is proposing that the mayor instead take on this role in what’s typically called a strong-mayor system. This would also give the mayor the ability to veto actions the City Council takes.
The PAC also wants to add an 11th City Council district, and institute ranked-choice voting, where voters rank the candidates rather than choosing just one. Additionally, the group wants to create a program that would provide every registered voter in Austin with a $25 voucher, or “Democracy dollars,” that they can contribute to a City Council candidate’s campaign… (LINK TO STORY)
Audit and Finance considers Code Department’s present, with an eye toward the future (Austin Monitor)
When City Council members voted to reduce the Austin Police Department budget, they promised to reassign some duties police have previously handled, but it was not clear which departments would take up those burdens. However, at least some Council members were considering the Austin Code Department to take over some law enforcement jobs.
Last week, Council approved a resolution sponsored by Council members Jimmy Flannigan, Paige Ellis, Greg Casar and Leslie Pool “to identify and implement improvements to the Austin Code Department, and to identify relevant budget and fee amendments to reimagine public safety,” with the help of that department.
According to the resolution, 50.8 percent of all APD 911 calls between January 2017 and July 2020 were designated as “Priority 3 calls, where there is no risk to property or life.” Although support for the resolution was unanimous, it is not clear how many duties Council will end up transferring to Code. Council Member Kathie Tovo said she wasn’t sure she could support giving the department more to do.
It became clear at Wednesday’s Audit & Finance Committee meeting that the department, which has led the effort to seek compliance with Covid-19 regulations since this spring, has faced serious challenges in its regular duties. In particular, Council expressed dissatisfaction with Code’s enforcement of the repeat offender rental program, while discussing the city audit of that program.
Council Member Alison Alter said, “We’ve added a lot of resources and there’s still a question about whether we’re getting the effectiveness” they were seeking from the department.
One of the critical findings of the auditor’s report was the Code Department’s failure to place any properties in suspension due to a landlord’s failure to repair important health and safety items for tenants.
In June, Austin Code did finally place one property in suspension and notified five others that they would be suspended if they failed to come into compliance. Since then, Austin Code has suspended the licenses of eight other properties.
As reported in the Austin Monitor in September, auditors wrote, “It appears known issues have not been proactively addressed by Code management. While completing this audit, we received a draft copy of an evaluation of Austin Code, including the Repeat Offender Program, conducted by Austin Code internal staff. This evaluation identified many of the same issues detailed in this report, in addition to several others. This report was communicated to Code management in August 2019, and it was finalized in April 2020.”
José Roig, interim director of the department, told committee members that the internal report offered many of the same recommendations as the audit… (LINK TO STORY)
Tesla’s Austin-area site could include battery production (Austin American-Statesman)
Tesla could be planning to build more than just vehicles at its $1 billion assembly plant in southeastern Travis County.
The electric vehicle manufacturer has plans to produce battery cells at the site, according to documents filed with the state. The company has already said it will produce its Cybertruck, Semi, Model 3 compact sedan and Model Y vehicles at the plant.
Telsa has started construction on the Travis County site, and the company has begun hiring in Central Texas. Currently, Tesla’s job site lists more than 80 open positions in Austin.
If a battery facility is added to the Travis County site, it would be among the first Tesla locations to have both full-scale battery and vehicle production, in addition to being its second U.S. vehicle assembly factory after its flagship Fremont, Calif., plant.
A company spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment, but Tesla issued the company’s third-quarter financial report Tuesday afternoon.
On a conference call with analysts, CEO Elon Musk said the company’s Austin and Berlin factories, which are both under construction, are expected to start deliveries next year, although with a limited capacity.
“Because of the exponential nature of manufacturing plants, especially with new technology, it will start off very slow at first,” Musk said.
He estimated it will take about 12 to 18 months to reach full capacity, which Musk stressed is still fast for new technology… (LINK TO STORY)
California blood-testing company Genalyte growing swiftly in Austin after pivot to Covid-19 detection (Austin Business Journal)
Genalyte Inc. has received emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for tests the company has developed to detect antibodies in people infected with Covid-19.
It's a pivotal step for the blood-testing business, which is based in San Diego but has its largest office in Austin — a 6,000-square-foot facility at 1624 Headway Circle that Genalyte opened in October 2018. That is where many of the company's lab technicians are now based and where it plans to add jobs this year, including executive-level positions, said Cary Gunn, who founded the company in 2007.
Results of the company’s antibody tests are available in 20 minutes, and ultimately will be available throughout the country at doctor’s offices, health clinics and retailers, Gunn said.
Genalyte announced Oct. 15 the emergency use authorization from the FDA. Such authorizations “may allow unapproved medical products or unapproved uses of approved medical products to be used in an emergency to diagnose, treat, or prevent serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions caused by [chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear] threat agents when there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives,” according to the agency’s website. They have been granted to many companies tackling the novel coronavirus — Everlywell Inc. secured one in May for at-home coronavirus tests, Babson Diagnostics got one in late June for its own antibody test and Luminex Corp. has received at least three for its testing tech.
Genalyte already is offering the tests in Austin and Houston, Gunn said, and the company soon will “start marketing [the Covid-19 tests] broadly.”
Gunn said the company's antibody tests are much more accurate than tests that rely on obtaining material from patients’ nasal cavities or saliva.
The accuracy of Genalyte’s test is “in the high 90th percentile” after day five that a person has been infected with Covid-19, the founder said… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
University of Texas Longhorn band won't play "The Eyes of Texas" this weekend after some members say they're unwilling (Texas Tribune)
The Longhorn Band will not play “The Eyes of Texas” at this Saturday’s football game between the University of Texas at Austin and Baylor University after a survey of members revealed several students are unwilling to play the traditional alma mater song, according to The Daily Texan.
The survey was sent to band members asking if they would be willing to play “The Eyes of Texas,” a song that has divided the university community in recent months over its ties to minstrel shows where performers wore blackface. The Daily Texan reported that a message sent to band members by leader Scott Hanna said the survey results wouldn’t affect whether the band performs at future games. The band has yet to play at a football game this season, due to safety restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Band members are “evenly divided” over playing the song, the student newspaper reported, but responses from certain instrument sections would prevent the band from playing this week. The message from Hanna said many band members wanted to have further discussions about the song, which he said he would facilitate… (LINK TO STORY)
National Democrats are increasingly assertive about their chances in Texas this election — and they’re spending accordingly (Texas Tribune)
A leading Democratic super PAC is switching its advertising strategy in the Houston area from a defensive posture to an offensive one, a notable shift in the homestretch across Texas' wide congressional battlefield.
Beginning Thursday, the House Majority PAC, is redirecting TV ad spending from the 7th Congressional District — where freshman Rep. Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, D-Houston, is running for reelection — to the 22nd District, where Democrats are trying to flip the seat of retiring Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land. That's according to two Democratic sources familiar with information about media buys.
The shift is a move of confidence in Fletcher's reelection prospects, according to one of those sources who is familiar with HMP's strategy. HMP is a Democratic super PAC that aims to elect Democrats to the House and is aligned with House Democratic leadership… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Trump seeks to change race with final debate (The Hill)
President Trump has one last major chance to meaningfully alter the trajectory of the presidential race as he faces off against Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Thursday’s debate in Nashville.
The first contest between the two descended into chaos and was viewed by Republicans as a missed opportunity largely of Trump’s own making. The final debate will feature a new rule allowing both candidates’ microphones to be muted at the start of each segment after Trump repeatedly interjected as Biden spoke in the first debate in Cleveland.
Trump and his allies have spent the week leading up to the debate attempting to lower expectations for the president by preemptively attacking the moderator, NBC’s Kristen Welker, and accusing the debate commission of shielding Biden from scrutiny… (LINK TO STORY)
The pandemic is getting worse again (AXIOS)
Every available piece of data proves it: The coronavirus pandemic is getting worse again, all across America.
The big picture: As the death toll ticks past 212,000, at a moment when containing the virus ought to be easier and more urgent than ever, we are instead giving it a bigger foothold to grow from.
And that's even before we head into winter, when the risk of cases and deaths is expected to grow as everyone huddles indoors in closed spaces.
Where it stands: The U.S. is now averaging about 59,000 new infections per day — the most since early August. New cases were up by about 15% over the past week.
That’s the sixth straight week of increases, following a brief improvement after the summer's surge in cases.
Hospitalizations are up, too. There are about 39,000 people in the hospital today for COVID-19, also the most since early August.
In 16 states, the share of hospital beds occupied by COVID patients is as high right now as it’s been at any point in the pandemic.
Another key metric — the percentage of all tests that come back positive — is also on the rise.
The U.S. is conducting a lot of tests — more than 1 million per day, on average.
The positivity rate grew to about 5.3% over the past week. A rising positivity rate means we’re not simply catching more cases. It means there are more cases out there to catch.
Why it matters: When cases are up, the positivity rate is up and hospitalizations are up, there’s only one conclusion: The outbreak is getting bigger.
One piece of good news: The death rate from the virus is the one thing that isn’t going up… (LINK TO STORY)
An angry Azar floats plans to oust FDA’s Hahn (Politico)
Infuriated by the FDA’s defiance in a showdown over the Trump administration’s standards for authorizing a coronavirus vaccine, health secretary Alex Azar has spent recent weeks openly plotting the ouster of FDA chief Stephen Hahn.
Azar has vented to allies within the Health and Human Services Department about his unhappiness with the top official in charge of the vaccine process, and discussed the prospect of seeking White House permission to remove him, a half-dozen current and former administration officials said.
During some of those conversations, he’s gone as far as to float potential replacements for Hahn, said one current and two former administration officials familiar with the talks, identifying HHS testing czar Brett Giroir and a pair of career civil servants – FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Amy Abernethy and longtime regulator Janet Woodcock – as prime candidates to step in as acting commissioner should Hahn be removed.
The discussions come amid deep frustration with Hahn over his insistence that a Covid-19 vaccine meet stricter-than-normal safety standards — a contentious decision that rendered it impossible for President Donald Trump to fulfill his oft-expressed desire for a vaccine just before Election Day… (LINK TO STORY)