BG Reads | News You Need to Know (September 15, 2020)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
*NEW* BG Podcast Episode 107: Entrepreneurship and Resiliency with Musa Ato, Founder & President, League of Rebels (SHOW LINK)
Note: Shows also available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Sound Cloud, and Stitcher
[AUSTIN METRO]
Austin ISD plans to bring a small group of students back to schools in October (KUT)
When the Austin Independent School District begins phasing students back into school buildings Oct. 5, it will prioritize special education and lower grade levels within each school as the first to return.
At a school board information session Monday night, Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said each school will be able to operate at 25% of its capacity at first and will move up to 50% after a few weeks, when the district can see if COVID-19 cases spiked.
The district sent families a survey last week where caregivers could indicate whether they wanted to send their student back to campus Oct. 5 or continue with virtual learning. A family opting for in-person learning can always decide to go back to learning remotely. The district is still figuring out a procedure for families that decide they want to go from virtual to in-person after Oct. 5.
At elementary schools, Elizalde said, kindergarten and first grade students will come back first, followed by special education students. After that, the district will consider students with other learning needs and students in bilingual programs.
In middle schools and high schools, sixth and ninth graders will get priority for on-campus learning, since they are transitioning to a new school and would benefit most from being in the building, Elizalde said. But students who return to middle and high schools should not expect school to function as it did before the pandemic. Instead of moving from class to class, students will stay in one room all day, attending their classes and completing assignments online… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin Trail of Lights could live on as drive-thru event this winter (Community Impact)
Austinites could be staring at a trail of taillights while attending the area’s annual holiday light show at Zilker Park this winter.
Austin Trail of Lights organizers have asked the city of Austin to allow for a 30-day, drive-thru-only event this year in lieu of the traditional walk-through in order to make the event happen while still following local health guidelines.
City Council is scheduled to vote Sept. 17 on an ordinance to allow the change. The modified Trail of Lights, as detailed in the draft ordinance, would allow for 1,300 cars per night, and admission would not be charged at the event.
“A traditional in-person event is not possible, safe or in alignment with protecting the community’s health, “ the ordinance states; it further describes a drive-thru event as “the only say for Austinites to enjoy the holiday activity.”
If Austin City Council approves the ordinance, event organizers would still need to present an event plan to Austin Public Health for final safety approval… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin airport traveler traffic hits anemic 2020 high in July (Austin American-Statesman)
Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, which set an all-time record for passenger traffic last July with 1.64 million travelers, serviced only 406,065 passengers this July as coronavirus cases surged nationwide.
July data were released Monday and are the most recent made available by airport officials.
Although Austin sees spikes in air travel in March for the South by Southwest festivals and in November for Formula 1 races and Thanksgiving, the airport’s busiest month for many years has been July, the peak of vacation season.
But the coronavirus pandemic has reduced passenger traffic in 2020 to a fraction of what it was a year ago.
The volume of July passenger traffic at the airport plummeted 75.3%, compared to July 2019. But July’s figures are the best the airport has seen since April, the first full month affected by the city of Austin’s stay-at-home order issued March 24 to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Austin’s airport reported a paltry total of 47,781 passengers in April — that’s about a 96.6% decline compared with April 2019.
The airport saw 130,826 passengers in May, a 91.5% drop from May 2019. But May’s numbers represented an uptick in traffic from April. The improving May figures accompanied a partial reopening of many businesses in Texas.
Airport officials reported 291,578 passengers in June, a passenger traffic drop of 81.9% compared to June 2019, but the figures were trending upward… (LINK TO STORY)
Dell to trim workforce this week in move to stay competitive (Austin American-Statesman)
Dell Technologies is laying off employees as part of an organizational restructuring to cut costs, according to a report from Bloomberg news service.
The company did not say how many employees would be affected or at which locations.
Round Rock-based Dell Technologies has about 13,000 employees in Central Texas, making it one of the largest private employers in the Austin metro area. Dell has about 165,000 employees globally.
Bloomberg reported that the technology giant notified employees in an all-hands meeting on Monday. The company said it will eliminate jobs this week to cut costs, an unnamed source told Bloomberg. The report said the reductions would not be limited to any specific team or division.
In a written statement to American-Statesman on Monday, Dell Technologies confirmed that there would be “some job loss or restructuring,” but did not provide more specifics.
Last month, Dell Technologies topped Wall Street expectations for its quarterly earnings, reporting strong demand for products to empower remote work and education, including personal computers, laptops and software. Still, the company has seen a drop in revenue amid the coronavirus pandemic, including in its data center revenue. For the fiscal quarter ending July 31, Dell reported revenue of $22.7 billion, which was down 3% from the same quarter the previous fiscal year.
In May, the company suspended some employee benefits and pulled its financial guidance due to uncertainty caused by the pandemic. At the time it also implemented a hiring freeze, Bloomberg reported… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, food banks continue to serve struggling Texans (KUT)
Early Friday morning, people began lining up by the hundreds in the parking lot of a Fort Worth ISD football stadium, waiting in their cars for workers in brightly colored vests – as well as a handful of Air National Guardsmen in fatigues – to load 100 or so pounds of meat, eggs, produce and dry goods into their open trunks.
Many waved or shouted their thanks as they pulled away, and the cars behind them inched forward to get their groceries. By the end of the morning, the Tarrant Area Food Bank had handed out enough groceries to feed 1,560 families for a week.
Huge food distribution events like this are a well-choreographed ritual now, six months into the pandemic. Even as politicians tout the return of jobs, less than half of the jobs lost in March and April have come back, and some economists expect more job cuts this fall.
Last week, Census Bureau surveyors found that 11.5% of Texans didn’t have enough food to eat in the previous week. That’s left food banks working hard to meet the unrelenting demand of these modern-day bread lines.
“It’s hard to forecast the needs, with the pandemic,” said Steve Martin, regional director of operations for the Tarrant Area Food Bank. “If things turn around in the economy, the need will go down. But even when people are starting to get their jobs back, they’ll still need a little extra boost until they get their first pay check and catch back up.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Sen. Cornyn stands against tribal gaming bill backed by East Texas Republicans (Houston Chronicle)
Congress is poised to allow gaming on the lands of two Native American tribes in Texas after the U.S. House passed a bill pushed by Texas Republicans to take the matter out of the hands of state officials, who have tried for years to shut down bingo facilities on the reservations. But standing in the way of the bipartisan legislation is U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who has pushed back on the bill in the Senate, siding with Texas’ top elected officials who view the bill as the federal government’s latest attempt to bigfoot state law that bans gaming. Cornyn, who is among the most powerful Republicans in the Senate, has urged the committee that would oversee the legislation not to hold hearings on it until the state and tribes can reach a “resolution” — something that has been out of reach for more than a decade as the two sides have battled in court.
The gambling bill is a rare instance of the longtime Republican senator clashing with members of the Texas delegation from his own party, including U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, who authored the legislation. Babin and 18 other members of the Texas delegation, 10 Republicans and eight Democrats, wrote to Cornyn last month urging him to support the bill. They wrote that the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama-Coushatta gaming facilities have an estimated $645 million annual impact on the economies of El Paso and Livingston, where they are based — “two areas that traditionally have high unemployment rates even before the pandemic.” It’s also a position that could cost Cornyn some support in East Texas as he faces what many expect to be his most difficult reelection fight yet. It’s a reliably Republican area, but one where virtually every elected official has backed the Alabama-Coushatta tribe’s electronic bingo operation, which they say supports hundreds of jobs in Polk County. Many have sought to turn up the heat on Cornyn in recent weeks… (LINK TO STORY)
City, FAA Agree Upon Plan For Potential Chick-fil-A At San Antonio Airport (Texas Public Radio)
Under the FAA agreement, the city’s concession contractor will offer a potential space to Chick-fil-A. The restaurant then has to decide if it wants the spot. The San Antonio City Council will have the final say on approving the deal.
In 2019, the San Antonio City Council voted to alter the airport concession contract and remove Chick-fil-A from the proposal, citing its donations to anti-LGBTQ+ groups which triggered backlash from religious conservatives.
Right after that vote, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a complaint with the FAA saying the city council violated religious liberty. The FAA opened an investigation shortly after.
Early Monday, Paxton said the FAA is requiring the city to offer Chick-fil-A an opportunity for an airport stall.
“This is a win for religious liberty in Texas and I strongly commend the FAA and the City of San Antonio for reaching this resolution. To exclude a respected vendor based on religious beliefs is the opposite of tolerance and is inconsistent with the Constitution, Texas law, and Texas values,” said Paxton.
However, officials with the City of San Antonio paint a different picture. While Paxton claims it’s a requirement, San Antonio City Attorney Andy Segovia said it’s an agreement.
“The City maintains that at no point did it discriminate against Chick-fil-A. Any placement of Chick-fil-A at the San Antonio Airport is ultimately contingent on Chick-fil-A's continued interest and approval by the City Council,” Segovia said. “Unfortunately and ironically, AG Paxton’s false declaration of victory significantly jeopardizes the potential for a mutually beneficial and amicable resolution.”
The city’s agreement with the FAA says the airport concession contractor, Paradeis Lageder, will propose a plan for Chick-fil-A to hold a stall at the airport within 45 days. If Chick-fil-A decides it wants to proceed, the San Antonio City Council will hold a vote sometime later… (LINK TO STORY)
Oil demand could fall by 80 percent by 2050 under net-zero policies (Houston Chronicle)
Oil demand could fall by as much as 80 percent over the next three decades if net-zero policies are adopted worldwide to combat climate change, according to a new BP report.
The British oil major on Monday published a report that forecast what the global energy landscape could look in 2050 under three scenarios: “Business as usual”, “Rapid” transition and “Net zero.” “Business as usual” assumes that governmental policies, technologies and societal behavior continues as normal while “Rapid” and “Net zero” assume that policies and behaviors shift quickly or drastically to reduce carbon emissions. (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
Frustrated lawmakers draft their own pandemic aid package (Politico)
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers on Tuesday will put forward their own plan to deliver badly needed coronavirus relief amid a bitter stalemate between their party leaders.
The House Problem Solvers Caucus has assembled a roughly $2 trillion plan that includes a second round of stimulus checks, unemployment aid and small business loans that they say would last through at least next spring. Lawmakers involved described it as a final attempt to pry loose some kind of bipartisan relief deal before Congress leaves Washington for the election season, with the U.S. economy sputtering and millions still out of work.
But the push by the rogue rank-and-file members, led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) and Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), is likely to meet sharp resistance in the Senate, where Republicans are expected to balk at the price tag. The most recent Senate GOP proposal had a price tag of roughly $650 billion.
The House group — which includes roughly four dozen members, evenly split between Republicans and Democrats — voted to endorse the bill earlier this week, as frustrations at the delay have mounted in both parties. In addition to consulting their own leadership, the lawmakers also involved the White House in their planning, with feedback that one source described as “positive.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Polls show trust in scientific, political institutions eroding (The Hill)
The American public is beginning to lose trust in political leaders and scientific institutions as the coronavirus pandemic drags into its sixth month, troubling signs that raise the prospect that millions of Americans may not take advice or get a vaccine once one becomes available.
Two new surveys show most Americans still trust leading scientists and institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but that those levels of trust are beginning to erode.
Nearly 8 in 10 Americans trust the CDC, according to a survey conducted by the COVID-19 Consortium for Understanding the Public’s Policy Preferences Across States, a group of researchers at Northeastern University, Harvard, Rutgers and Northwestern University. That figure is down from 87 percent who said they trusted the Atlanta-based CDC in April.
A poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found 67 percent of Americans have a great deal or a fair amount of trust in the CDC to provide reliable information about the coronavirus. That number has dropped 16 percentage points since April. Trust in the CDC among Republicans has dropped a whopping 30 percentage points.
The Consortium poll found fewer than half, 47 percent, trust the news media, while just 43 percent say they trust President Trump and only 42 percent trust Congress. Those numbers have all declined precipitously from the spring, when most Americans rallied to their leaders as the crisis began to unfold… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Universities are partnering with student influencers to boost their own brands (KUT)
Colleges are partnering with students who have large social media followings to boost the colleges’ own brand awareness. Students are compensated, often with merchandise or university “experiences.” And University of Louisville strategic communication expert Karen Freberg told Texas Standard that universities need influencers to help their brands stand out online.
“What we are seeing is more universities kind of realizing, Oh, the traditional channels of communication that we have been using may not necessarily be effective,” Freberg said.
Student influencers are attractive because they attend the university themselves. But they’re also skilled at gaining attention and followers online.
“They are already in the mindset of building a community,” Freberg said. “But it also is another way for them to be evaluated on how successful they are in terms of using social media strategically to perhaps get a job, an internship.”
And rather than financial compensation, Freberg said these students trade in merchandise, or swag, and campus experiences like exclusive tickets to football games. These are all things the influencer can then share with their followers.
“If they’re able to get a really good experience firsthand because they’re an influencer, and share that with the community, that is more valuable to them than basically getting a paycheck,” Freberg said.
But there are ethical considerations. Freberg said universities have to be careful who they partner with because an influencer could be fake, or their following might not be as strong as it appears online. Influencers also need to be transparent about their relationship with the university. If not, they could violate Federal Trade Commission rules… (LINK TO STORY)