BG Reads | News You Need to Know (October 28, 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* Announcing The Bingham Group Foundation
Today, we proudly announce the launch of The Bingham Group Foundation, our company sponsored 501(c)(3) nonprofit. With a board representing Austin’s diversity, the Foundation will contribute financially to inspiring nonprofits creating educational and economic access for underserved communities in the Austin Metro. Learn more here.
*NEW* BG Podcast Episode 112: Discussing Community Healthcare with Perla Cavazos, Deputy Administrator, Central Health (SHOW LINK)
On this episode we speak with Central Health executive Perla Cavazos about the agency’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and initiatives going into 2021.
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin's top doctor warns that November COVID surge could be worse and last longer than the first (KUT)
There is a 100% probability that the coronavirus epidemic is growing in the Austin metro area, modeling from the University of Texas Modeling Consortium shows.
As other areas across Texas – most notably El Paso – experience new surges of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the city’s interim health authority says Austinites must remain vigilant.
“They are in a crisis right now, and this is certainly something that we have to pay attention to,” Dr. Mark Escott told Travis County commissioners Tuesday. “Because as we saw this summer, surges in other jurisdictions around the state often predated surges of our own.”
Escott says projections from UT Austin show the area could be near stage 4 restriction territory by as early as Nov. 4. That would put the seven-day average for daily hospitalizations at a minimum of 40.
The current average is 21 hospitalizations per day, keeping the city in stage 3 restrictions. At this stage, residents are encouraged to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people; at stage 4, the guidance is just two people. A month ago, the hospitalization average was just shy of 16.
“We are concerned by the fact that the state is sending hundreds of health care workers to El Paso,” Escott said, "and that El Paso is in the process of evacuating some of its patients to other metropolitan jurisdictions for care, because they cannot provide it.”
Data from UT Austin also project more than 700 hospital beds, and almost 200 intensive care beds, might need to be used for COVID patients in the area by the third week of November… (LINK TO STORY)
With COVID-19 projections 'bleak' through Thanksgiving, Travis County keeps bars closed (Community Impact)
Interim Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe announced Oct. 27 that due to worsening coronavirus transmission rates, the county would not give bars permission to reopen.
Gov. Greg Abbott gave local governments the green light to reopen bars at 50% capacity starting Oct. 14. While neighboring Hays, Williamson and Bastrop counties chose to do so, Travis County elected to consider the option for two weeks before making a call.
“As promised, Dr. Mark Escott and I have spent the past two weeks evaluating the COVID-19 data for Travis County. Unfortunately, we have not seen significant improvement in our hospital bed utilization or in the utilization of ICU beds. Furthermore, with school districts preparing to allow for additional in-person learning and the upcoming weekend celebrations, we must be mindful of the increased public interaction that will take place as a result. For these reasons, it is my decision not to open bars," Biscoe said in a press release.
The decision comes after Escott, the interim health authority for Austin and Travis County, warned local officials earlier in the day about projections for increasing coronavirus transmission and hospitalization rates in the coming weeks.
"Right now, the projections for Thanksgiving are bleak, but it’s not too late to turn that around," Escott told county commissioners at their Oct. 27 meeting… (LINK TO STORY)
City prepares to implement new Wildland-Urban Interface fire code (Austin Monitor)
Austin Fire Department officials gave the Environmental Commission an update on the new Wildland-Urban Interface Code Wednesday.
City Council voted in April to adopt the new code, which regulates residential and commercial building requirements to protect structures against wildfires.
With the WUI Code expected to be implemented on Jan. 1, 2021, the city is working on the code’s administrative rules, Austin Fire Marshal Tom Vocke said during a presentation to commissioners.
Vocke said they’ve been busy consulting stakeholders like other municipal governments, city commissions and construction industry representatives.
“We’ve had a lot of input from every side, a lot of competing interests,” Vocke said. “We’ve tried to weigh all those things and come up with what we feel is a balanced response.”
While there is wildfire risk across the city, some areas like West Austin’s District 10 are at higher risk than others.
“As more folks push in, the density is increasing,” Vocke said. “We’re trying to stop urban sprawl, but at the same time that adds density.” Vocke said most homes destroyed by wildfires catch fire from floating embers, not direct contact with flames.
“That has allowed us to focus on ignition-resistant construction as our primary means of making this Wildland-Urban Interface Code effective in the city,” he said. “What we didn’t want to do is have a fire code that allowed flammable structures to exist and removed all of the vegetation from the area as a way to meet the code.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Mobility bond projects get environmental clearance, construction to start (KXAN)
Projects approved as part of the 2016 Mobility Bond have received environmental clearance from the Texas Department of Transportation and can continue, the City of Austin announced Tuesday.
In the city’s press release, the city says the South Lamar Boulevard project, from Riverside Drive to U.S. Highway 290, and the Burnet Road project, from U.S. 183 to the MoPac frontage road, can move toward construction as a result of the clearance.
“Environmental clearance is a critical milestone before construction can begin,” said Mike Trimble, the director of Austin’s Corridor Program Office. “We appreciate our ongoing partnership with TxDOT to transform these roadways into safer, more connected corridors for everyone who uses them.”
The South Lamar Boulevard corridor will the first in line for improvements with utility relocations between Riverside Drive and Barton Springs Road scheduled for November, the city said. Construction is anticipated to begin early next year.
Improvements for the area include ADA-compliant sidewalks, two-way bike lanes on both, intersection improvements and enhanced landscaping, the city said.
The improvements on Burnet Road are scheduled to begin early next year as well. They’ll start near the intersection with Braker Lane ahead of the anticipated finish of Austin FC’s stadium. The initial work in that area should take 3-4 months, the city said, with drainage and roadway construction to start as early as 2022… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
A week before the election, Texas National Guard prepares to deploy troops to cities (Texas Tribune)
The Texas Army National Guard said Monday that up to 1,000 troops could be dispatched to cities across Texas ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
Brandon Jones, a spokesperson for the Guard, said the deployment is not related to the election and troops would not be stationed at polling places. He said it was a continuation of peacekeeping efforts that began during anti-police brutality protests this summer.
“The Texas Military Department was activated to provide additional support to the Department of Public Safety in the summer of 2020,” Maj. Gen. Tracy R. Norris, the adjutant general of Texas, said in a statement. “Texas Service Members continue to support [the Texas Department of Public Safety] in this capacity, guarding historical landmarks such as the Alamo and the State Capitol.”
Troops could be sent to five major cities: Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio, according to the San Antonio Express-News, which first reported the move. The newspaper reported that Guard members could arrive as soon as this weekend… (LINK TO STORY)
Abbott’s move to send troops to cities — still unexplained — would be rare to the point of extraordinary (Houston Chronicle)
Governors can deploy troops for numerous reasons, from natural disasters to border security. But observers found the situation rare to the point of extraordinary when the Texas National Guard revealed that Gov. Greg Abbott has directed that its troops be prepared to respond to disturbances after the Nov. 3 election in major cities across the state. Abbott has not explained his reasons, so far.
Ben West, a security analyst at Stratfor, an Austin-based geopolitical intelligence consulting firm, said he anticipates most of the troops will be sent to Houston and Austin, which saw the bulk of the state’s racial justice protests this summer. Guard officials have compared the new mission to its response in June to the unrest. While an election-related deployment is uncommon, 2020 might be the exception, West said. “When everything is just upside down, things that in any other year would have been extraordinary get lost in the wash,” he said. The governor has pushed hard in recent weeks to convey to voters his allegiance to law enforcement, and has proposed new laws that would stiffen punishments for unruly protesters, including mandatory jail time.
“My sense is that it is unlikely that there is civil unrest in Texas cities in the wake of the election, and particularly that the police and local forces couldn’t handle, so I think (Abbott’s directive) is more of a political statement in support of the broad theme of law and order,” Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson said… (LINK TO STORY)
Records show Trump’s border wall is costing taxpayers billions more than initial contracts (Texas Tribune)
On the same day in May 2019, the Army Corps of Engineers awarded a pair of contracts worth $788 million to replace 83 miles of fence along the southwest border.
The projects were slated to be completed in January 2020, the Corps said then. Four months into this year, however, the government increased the value of the contracts by more than $1 billion, without the benefit of competitive bidding designed to keep costs low to taxpayers.
Within a year of the initial award, the value of the two contracts had more than tripled, to over $3 billion, even though the length of the fence the companies were building had only grown by 62%, to 135 miles. The money is coming from military counter-narcotics funding… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
McConnell and Schumer's relationship shredded after court brawl (The Hill)
The relationship between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has hit a new low after the bitter fight over newly sworn in Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
The rancorous nature of their relationship was on full display Monday evening, moments before the Senate voted to confirm Barrett along party lines, when Schumer declared it would “go down as one of the darkest days in the 231-year history of the Senate.”
The deterioration of their relationship in recent months, a tense election year when control of the Senate in 2021 is at stake, raises questions about their ability to work together in the future and whether Democrats will change the chamber’s rules once in power to circumvent McConnell entirely.
A growing number of Democrats are pushing for Schumer to eliminate the legislative filibuster if they win the Senate majority.
Schumer on Monday slammed McConnell personally, accusing him of hypocrisy and lying. He also offered a chilling warning of what Republicans might expect if Democrats win back control of the Senate on Nov. 3.
“The next time the American people give Democrats a majority in this chamber, you will have forfeited the right to tell us how to run that majority,” he said. “I know you think that this will eventually blow over. But you are wrong.”
“My colleagues may regret this for a lot longer than they think,” he later added… (LINK TO STORY)
Dems urge voters to avoid mailing ballots in final week (Politico)
With a week to go until Election Day, Democrats are pushing a new get-out-the-vote mantra: There’s still time to vote early, but it is too late to put your ballot in the mail.
Far more Democrats than Republicans plan to vote by mail in 2020, according to polling and ballot request data. That leaves the party more exposed if ballots returned via mail don’t reach election officials until after state deadlines. Now, those deadlines are looming in key battleground states, as are worries about postal delays and new concerns the Supreme Court will change procedures in important states.
The Supreme Court declined on Monday night to reinstate a lower court decision that extended mail ballot return deadlines in Wisconsin. Now, ballots are due in the state by the time the polls close on Nov. 3. The lower court had ordered Wisconsin to count ballots postmarked by Election Day as long as they were received some days later, and the ruling raised Democratic concerns about still-pending Supreme Court cases on extended ballot receipt deadlines in other swing states, like Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
“Bank it, bank it, bank it. Bank it!” Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democrat, said in an interview, urging voters to cast their ballots now and to not wait. “If you have a ballot, deliver it to a secure ballot box. Don’t mail it in. I am not advocating at this point to trust mail.”… (LINK TO STORY)