BG Reads | News You Need to Know (September 17, 2020)

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[BINGHAM GROUP]

*NEW* The Political Life: Politics, Partnerships, and Publishing in the New American South (SHOW LINK)

This is a special post from our friends at the Political Life podcast, a show people whose lives are immersed in the political world, and how they got there. The episode features our Atlanta-based colleague Howard Franklin, Founder and Managing Partner of Ohio River South, a strategy firm focused on “the New American South.”

Also check out CEO A.J.'s Political Life episode: Launching a Firm and Lobbying in the Lone Star State (SHOW LINK)


[AUSTIN METRO]

Your minute is up, new recall group says (Austin Monitor)

A new political action committee is aimed at recalling Mayor Steve Adler and Council members Pio Renteria, Ann Kitchen and Paige Ellis. Anyone who has participated in or watched City Council meetings will recognize the group’s name: Your Minute Is Up. That’s something Adler frequently tells speakers who go beyond their allotted 60 seconds.

The founder of the PAC, Becky McMillian, told the Austin Monitor Wednesday that she is not targeting those Council members who are on the November ballot – Greg Casar, Jimmy Flannigan, Leslie Pool, and Alison Alter – because the group is hoping voters will not reelect them. As for Council members Natasha Harper-Madison and Kathie Tovo, she said there were not enough volunteers in those two districts to collect the necessary number of signatures to put an item on the ballot next May.

Like its predecessor PAC, Our Town Austin, Your Minute Is Up is angry about the repeal of Austin’s ban on camping in public places. Our Town Austin founder Sharon Blythe filed a notice of dissolution for her committee on Sept. 4. McMillian filed designation of campaign treasurer for her PAC on Sept. 8. Our Town Austin failed to collect sufficient signatures, at least in part because of people sequestering themselves at home to avoid Covid-19. Your Minute Is Up is urging people registered to vote in Austin to go to its website, download the appropriate form and fill it out in ink. It must be printed out and notarized and returned to Your Minute Is Up for eventual delivery to the city clerk.

McMillian’s press release states, “The reasons for a recall are numerous: for mismanagement of public policies and resources that have eroded the Austin brand and decreased affordability for all citizens, for catering to special interest which is reducing the quality of life for residents and visitors, and for endangering the … health, safety and welfare of Austin citizens and local businesses.”

The news release claims that “the homeless camping situation … has led to an uptick in violent crime. The homeless are now migrating into neighborhoods and endangering the lives of citizens and themselves.”… (LINK TO STORY)


Austin’s Asian community outnumbers Black residents for first time, Census data show (Austin American-Statesman)

For the first time in the history of Austin, Asian American residents now outnumber Black people in the city, according to the latest information from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The data from the bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey show that Austin is now home to 80,117 Asian people, compared to 76,480 Black residents. Austin’s Asian community is now the second-largest in the state behind only Houston, a city more than twice the size of Texas’ capital.

The American Community Survey population estimates are based on data collected before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest numbers show an abrupt about-face in the growth of Black residents living in Austin. From 2010 to 2018, the number of Black residents grew 29% from 63,504 residents to 82,148, outpacing the city’s overall growth in population over that same period, along with increases in Latino and white segments of the population. The 2019 numbers show a sudden decrease of nearly 5,700 Black residents… (LINK TO STORY)


Tesla continues subcontractor search for Travis County gigafactory (Community Impact)

Tesla continues to seek applications from subcontractors for the electric automobile company’s upcoming Southeastern Travis County gigafactory following the selection of the project’s general contractors.

Representatives for Tesla, along with partners from Travis County, invited small business owners to a Sept. 16 webinar to introduce interested subcontractors to the company’s pre-qualification process. In particular, Tesla’s outreach has focused Historically Underutilized Businesses in Central Texas, those certified as being owned by minorities, women, veterans or other disadvantaged demographics by either the city of Austin Small Business and Minority Business Resources Department, the State of Texas or the South Central Texas Regional Certification Agency.

Tesla’s economic incentives agreement with Travis County included a commitment to “make a good-faith effort” to employ local HUBs during the gigafactory’s design and construction process.

“We want to make sure that a company like ours, a majority minority company, is able to take advantage of the great, diverse, diverse talent pool that exists in the Travis County area,” said Rohan Patel, Tesla senior global director of public policy and business development.

Tesla Procurement Manager Jessica Munoz said two general contractors have already been selected for the project, though their names have yet to be announced. Tesla is also seeking subcontractors to bid on a range of work this month, including site logistics, painting, flooring, fireproofing, interior finishing, plumbing, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical projects. In October, Tesla will request proposals for fencing, waste and recycling subcontracts, and in November, proposals for architectural interior work will begin… (LINK TO STORY)


Circuit of The Americas waiting on rezoning that could spur tons of mixed-use development (Austin Business Journal)

Construction on a long-awaited mixed-use development at Circuit of The Americas could start by next summer.

But first, COTA executives are waiting for Austin City Council to approve a massive rezoning at the 1,155-acre site in Southeast Austin, near Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

Council is expected to consider the rezoning request for a planned unit development at its Sept. 17 meeting, though it’s unclear whether a vote will be taken.

If approved, COTA executives envision a tourist magnet with an 11-story hotel, water park and a children’s amusement park already in the pipeline, said COTA Chairman Bobby Epstein. The rezoning request also makes way for potential projects such as condos, indoor and outdoor sports complexes and retail space.

“It’s not certain that all of that would happen, but the zoning allows for the opportunities to be acted upon,” Epstein said. “It allows us to have conversations with businesses and interested parties who want to be a part of what’s developing, but currently, it could be years before the permits get issued. That’s usually what discourages people.”

The larger vision for COTA is to develop a destination for sports and entertainment in Central Texas, he said, with amenities to attract the entire family.

COTA won’t be the developer for all of the projects. Epstein said COTA would either lease or sell acreage on a case-by-case basis to interested developers who will be responsible for financing projects around the country's only Formula One race track — although an F1 race is possible in Miami in 2021… (LINK TO STORY)


[TEXAS]

UT will maintain automatic admission cutoff at top 6% (Austin American-Statesman)

The University of Texas announced Wednesday that it will not change its threshold for automatic admissions for students looking to enroll during the fall and summer semesters in 2022. Any Texas student who finishes in the top 6% of their high school graduating class will be automatically admitted, in accordance with state law. The same threshold was instituted for students matriculating in spring, summer and fall semesters in 2021 by university officials last year.

Texas law requires most public institutions of higher education in the state to automatically admit any Texas high school student who finishes in the top 10% of their graduating class, but the flagship campus in Austin has a different requirement. UT is required to set an annual threshold for automatic admission, so long as 75% of first-year students applying from within the state of Texas are automatically admitted to the school. In 2017, the university dropped its threshold from 7% to 6%, citing the state’s growing population and an increase in applicants. Since then, automatic admissions have been limited to the top 6% of graduating high school classes… (LINK TO STORY)


Why Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a former Democratic state lawmaker, isn’t weighing in on White House race (Dallas Morning News)

Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson is sticking to his pledge to not get involved in this year’s White House race – or any other partisan contest – even at time when recent polls suggest that Texas may be a true battleground state for the first time in decades. The mayor, a former Democratic state representative, reiterated this week in a written statement that he’s “committed to not endorsing candidates in partisan races while serving as mayor.” His hands-off approach – while not that unusual, given that the mayorship in Dallas is a nonpartisan position – stands in contrast to the style of his predecessor, former Mayor Mike Rawlings, who was more willing to wade into presidential politics while in office.

Rawlings, then in the waning days of his time in office, last year offered Joe Biden a full-throated endorsement even before the former vice president had locked up the Democratic nomination to take on President Donald Trump. But Johnson has explained his view that “it’s important that we keep nonpartisan offices nonpartisan,” saying earlier this year that not participating in the election cycle, “in terms of an endorsement, I feel like that’s good for Dallas.” “I don’t think we advance the cause of Dallas by throwing darts at people who we might need to go to for something like a tornado recovery,” he said in February during an interview with The Texas Tribune’s Evan Smith. Many local leaders in Texas prize municipal politics' nonpartisan nature, arguing that it helps avoid some of the gridlock and tribalism present in Washington and Austin. That ideal isn’t always reality; Dallas city leaders are in the midst of a contentious fight over police funding. Johnson is far from the first Dallas mayor to err on the side of non-engagement in partisan races, and particularly those contests that extend beyond the Lone Star State. Even Rawlings didn’t become as vocal on the national political stage until later in his mayoral tenure. “Early on, I felt that same way,” the former mayor said… (LINK TO STORY)


How years of underfunding public health left Texas ill prepared for the pandemic (Texas Tribune)

In the spring, as public health officials were beginning to see the novel coronavirus spreading in Texas, Danny Updike had bad news and good news for health care workers in the San Angelo region where he works in emergency response.

The bad news was that the pandemic had brought a sudden shortage of masks, gowns, gloves and sanitizer as demand soared and imports from China ground to a halt. Prices on the private market were skyrocketing, and most of what remained in the shipping container that housed the region’s modest cache of personal protective equipment had expired after years of budget cuts prevented new purchases. Rubber parts were disintegrated, elastic bands rotted.

The good news: Some of the decade-old personal protective equipment was salvageable, and it had not yet been thrown away — another result of budget cuts.

“There really wasn’t a lot of money to pay to dispose of all that, so they had never done it, which turned out to be good,” said Updike, a former coordinator for the Hospital Preparedness Program in the region. “Most of the PPE in the Concho Valley, the first two months or month or so, they used mainly out of that.”… (LINK TO STORY)


[NATION]

CDC director says masks more guaranteed to work than a vaccine (The Hill)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield said Wednesday that wearing a mask is more guaranteed to protect someone from the coronavirus than taking a vaccine.

Redfield, speaking at a Senate hearing, emphasized the importance of wearing masks, noting that an eventual vaccine is not expected to work in 100 percent of people, and might only work in, say, 70 percent. But a mask is guaranteed to offer at least some protection for all wearers, he added, though it is far from total protection.

"We have clear scientific evidence they work, I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine, because the immunogenicity may be 70 percent and if I don't get an immune response, the vaccine's not going to protect me, this face mask will," Redfield said… (LINK TO STORY)


Trump contradicts his CDC director over masks, vaccine timeline (Politico)

President Donald Trump on Wednesday twice contradicted his own CDC director — on mask-wearing and vaccine distribution — saying the country’s top public health official misspoke while testifying under oath before a congressional committee earlier in the day.

Robert Redfield told the Senate Appropriations Committee that wearing a mask could be more effective than a coronavirus vaccine at keeping the pandemic at bay. "If I don’t get an immune response [from a Covid-19] vaccine it’s not going to protect me. This face mask will,” he said. Redfield later tweeted a similar message — after the president insisted that his top public health official was mistaken and "confused."

The exchange is only the latest example of the president publicly discrediting or pressuring his own appointees and government scientists at the major federal health agencies on the coronavirus pandemic response — on testing, treatments, a vaccine timeline, even the severity of the threat from the virus itself. It comes as Trump resumes holding large indoor campaign rallies and largely avoiding wearing a face mask. Redfield has said the president should embrace face coverings to set an example for the public, though Trump on Wednesday again questioned their effectiveness… (LINK TO STORY)


Millions of gig workers rely on a new Federal lifeline. They now fear it will end (NPR)

Kris Snyder didn't set out to be a professional musician. She began her working life as a corporate trainer for a big retail company. But after churning through seven managers in five years, she got fed up. She gave up a regular paycheck and corporate benefits and started looking for music gigs.

"Weddings, funerals, parties — that sort of thing," says Snyder, a fourth-generation harpist.

She supplemented her performing income by teaching the harp to about two dozen students at her home in Pennsylvania. She also became a kind of musical therapist, with regular appointments at a nursing home and a hospice.

"It just became a calling," Snyder says. "It fed my heart."

The work also helped feed her family, until the coronavirus pandemic hit this spring and the music abruptly stopped. Snyder became one of millions of people who were suddenly out of work but not eligible for standard unemployment insurance.

"It was horrible," Snyder recalls. "I had absolutely no income coming in. My husband, who's a mechanic, he was on a rolling furlough. And I was terrified of losing our home."… (LINK TO STORY)


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