BG Reads | News You Need to Know (February 1, 2021)
[BINGHAM GROUP]
NEW // BG Episode 126: Building a Texas Political Community with Pink Granite
RECENT // BG Podcast Episode 124: Opposing Strong Mayor Reform with Austin for All People
RECENT // BG Podcast Episode 125: Shifting to a Strong Mayor System with Austinites for Progressive Reform
CITY OF AUSTIN
THE 87TH TEXAS LEGISLATURE
LINK TO FILED HOUSE BILLS (1,631)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Would a strong mayor format give voters more power? We asked Austin's city manager to weigh in. (Austin American-Statesman)
EXCERPT: If voters approve the change, City Manager Spencer Cronk will lose not only his power, but also his job. It's a cold reality he addressed publicly for the first time this week in a conversation with the American-Statesman.
Cronk, hired in 2018 from Minneapolis after a drawn-out search to fill the city manager position, said he will not actively oppose the PAC that is recommending the power shift, but he will take the time to educate voters about the implications of moving to a strong-mayor form of government.
A drawback, he said, would be the risk of stifling council members – and by extension the constituents in their districts – by diminishing community voices and furnishing the mayor with veto power. Under the ballot proposal, the mayor would be able to veto council decisions he or she does not agree with, and it would require a vote by two-thirds of the council to override that veto.
"It's often who has the ear of the mayor that would influence decision-making, not only with who would be hired into key administrative roles, but then how policies would move forward," Cronk said. "There's a lot of authority that would be granted to that position that in our current form of government is very much balanced between the council members and the districts that they represent, so you're hearing a lot more voices in those discussions."… (LINK TO STORY)
City of Austin announces new Civil Rights Officer (City of Austin)
The City of Austin has identified Carol Johnson as the City’s first Civil Rights Officer. Ms. Johnson will start her new position on February 16, 2021.
The new Civil Rights Officer is responsible for supporting department programs and initiatives as it relates to all six of the Strategic Outcomes outlined in Strategic Direction 2023. The Civil Rights Officer reports to the Deputy City Manager and will develop and monitor a clear vision for the Civil Rights Office, advance the City’s non-discrimination efforts, and promote outreach, education, and awareness events for both businesses and community stakeholders.
“I am very happy to have Carol Johnson join our team as the City’s first Civil Rights Officer. Her extensive experience in civil rights matters will be instrumental in driving the department’s programs for establishing goals, policies, and best practices that address racial equity, social equity, and inclusion for City of Austin residents,” said Deputy City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin area businesses may operate at higher capacity after decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations (KXAN)
Saturday marked the seventh straight day that COVID-19 patients have accounted for less than 15% of staffed beds in our hospital region, meaning business capacity limits for the area could be relaxed.
Restaurants, retail stores, office buildings, manufacturing facilities, gyms and exercise facilities and classes, museums and libraries could soon be able to operate at 75% again, according to a previous order from Gov. Greg Abbott. Elective surgeries would also be able to resume at hospitals.
Trauma Service Area O has been below the 15% hospitalization threshold from Saturday, Jan. 23 to Friday, Jan. 29. Hospitalization data from the state is released a day late. The state’s newest numbers, released for Friday, put the current COVID-19 hospitalization rate in our area at 12.05%, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services dashboard.
Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell has made a request with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission to allow bars to reopen at 50% capacity for indoor seating, according to a release from the county… (LINK TO STORY)
Planning Commission recommends rezoning Delta Kappa Gamma building to make way for tower (Austin Monitor)
Paving the way for a proposed 31-story residential tower on the site of the historic Delta Kappa Gamma building at 416 W. 12th St., the Planning Commission voted 11-0-1 last Tuesday to recommend the requested Downtown Mixed-Use (DMU) zoning.
The circa-1959 midcentury-modern building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, serves as the headquarters for Delta Kappa Gamma International, a nonprofit that supports women educators worldwide. But burdened by the aging building’s maintenance costs, the organization hopes to cash out and move elsewhere. Developer Stratus Properties plans to demolish the building and construct a residential tower.
Multiple DKG members spoke at the meeting and urged the commission to recommend the requested zoning change. Local preservation groups decried the proposed demolition. While commissioners said they appreciated the historic building, they were swayed by the nonprofit’s pleas and the opportunity to provide much-needed housing downtown along a major transit corridor.
“This is our opportunity to allow them to continue to grow … and take full advantage of this property that is a great location for a lot of homes,” Commissioner Greg Anderson said.
Council will get the final say on the DMU zoning, which limits buildings to a height of 120 feet. If Council approves the zoning change, applicant Michael Whellan said he will apply for a Downtown Density Bonus, which allows more height in exchange for adherence to Great Streets guidelines, Austin Energy Green Building standards and Urban Design guidelines.
Plans for the tower show design elements that mimic midcentury-modern style and a “commemorative garden space” as further homage to the original structure. Plans are still preliminary, Whellan cautioned… (LINK TO STORY)
A Hyatt-owned resort hotel in Austin is letting people 'test drive' life in Texas for $18,500 a month (Business Insider)
Miraval Austin created an extended stay program that lets people "test drive" what it's like living in Austin, Texas as tech companies continue to flock to the "next Silicon Valley."
The new migration boom to Austin is no secret. Companies like Oracle and Tesla recently announced their plans to relocate from the Bay Area to Austin, Texas, a city that offers benefits like more advantageous tax laws and cheaper living costs.
Tech giants are the only ones eyeing a move to Texas. According to data from U-Haul, Texas saw the arrival of more one-way U-Haul trucks than any other state from 2016 to 2018.
"Austin offers people the cachet of a cool cultural center and a burgeoning tech hub paying high wages, while still remaining much more affordable than coastal markets like San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle," Jeff Tucker, a senior economist at Zillow, told Insider's Natasha Solo-Lyons in December … (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS]
Progress in the fight against the coronavirus is coming, but Texas is a long way from herd immunity (Texas Tribune)
The mythic idea of "herd immunity" from COVID-19 in the long journey back to normal may be out of reach for Texas any time soon, state health officials and medical experts say. But while it remains the ultimate goal, they say it isn’t necessary to begin stemming some of the pandemic’s devastating effects in the state.
The state's high percentage of residents under 18, most of whom aren't approved for the vaccine, combined with those who can't or won’t take it for other reasons, means that the state will struggle to immunize enough Texans to halt the chain of transmission and indirectly protect people who are not immune, experts said.
In Texas, hitting the 70% to 80% level that experts estimate is needed would mean vaccinating some 22 million people, or nearly 100% of adults in the state, according to census numbers… (LINK TO STORY)
'Something really bold': Texas schools' next big pandemic challenge? Getting kids caught up (Houston Chronicle)
With students finally settling into a pandemic-altered routine and widespread vaccine access on the horizon, Texas education leaders are turning to their next great challenge: catching up potentially millions of children falling behind in school. Faced with the possibility of devastating student learning loss, educators across the state are in the early stages of planning for the 2021-22 school year and beyond, starting to devise significant — and likely disruptive — changes to their calendars, curricula and staffing. Several of Texas’ largest districts already have restructured their upcoming school year, adding multiple weeks of instruction or moving up their start dates to stem the so-called “summer slide.” The adjustments will impact many of the state’s more than 5 million students, whose academic, behavioral and emotional development have been stunted by the pandemic.
The effort also will test the state’s dedication to equity, the oft-cited-but-frequently-unfulfilled principle that children with the greatest needs should receive the most resources and support. While conclusive data on the pandemic’s impact remains elusive, educators widely agree that Black and Latino children, as well as students from lower-income families and those with disabilities, are more likely to fall behind than their peers. “We need to use this opportunity to really step back and think about what students need, and then build a system and schedule and structure that helps them get that,” said Bridget Worley, executive director of the education nonprofit Texas Impact Network. “If we start back where we left off, we’re doing them a disservice.”
Since the dawn of the pandemic in Texas, state and local leaders have poured immense amounts of energy and money into assisting students impacted by the public health crisis. Many educators are working around-the-clock to ensure students can learn in-person or online. Public school districts have spent more than $1 billion on computer devices and wireless Internet hotspots, making a huge dent in the digital divide. Many districts have tweaked their curricula and expanded credit recovery opportunities. The coming years, however, will require an even bigger investment if education leaders want to minimize students’ learning losses, stem the widening of achievement gaps and address children’s mental health needs. Education experts say the limitations of virtual instruction and isolation of learning from home have set back online-only students, while families report that the quality of in-person classes pales in comparison to that before the pandemic… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATION]
GameStop Day traders are moving into SPACs (Wall Street Journal)
Day traders fueling enormous gains in popular stocks such as GameStop Corp. are also powering big swings for another suddenly hot investment: so-called blank-check companies.
Special-purpose acquisition companies—shell companies planning to merge with private firms to take them public—are rising more than 6% on average on their first day of trading in 2021, up from last year’s figure of 1.6%, according to University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter. Before 2020, trading in SPACs was muted when they made their debut on public markets.
Now, shares of blank-check companies almost always go up. The last 140 SPACs to go public have either logged gains or ended flat on their opening day of trading, per a Dow Jones Market Data analysis of trading in blank-check companies through Thursday. One hundred and seventeen in a row have risen in their first week. The gains tend to continue, on average generating bigger returns going out to a few months.
The gains in companies that don’t yet have any underlying business underscore the wave of speculation in today’s markets. Merging with a SPAC has become a popular way for startups in buzzy sectors to go public and take advantage of investor enthusiasm for futuristic themes.
But lately, day traders are even putting money into SPACs before they have revealed what company they are buying. At that stage, they are pools of cash, so investors are wagering that the company will eventually complete an attractive deal.
Despite the risks, many are embracing the trade, underscoring how online investing platforms and social-media groups now send individuals flocking to new corners of markets, including shares of unprofitable companies such as GameStop and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. That trend also is playing out in everything from shares of silver miners to SPACs, which were relatively rare before last year but are suddenly ubiquitous in finance… (LINK TO STORY)
Unwelcome on Facebook and Twitter, QAnon followers flock to fringe sites (NPR)
January brought a one-two punch that should have knocked out the fantastical, false QAnon conspiracy theory.
After the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the social media platforms that had long allowed the falsehoods to spread like wildfire — namely Twitter, Facebook and YouTube — got more aggressive in cracking down on accounts promoting QAnon.
Just two weeks later, Joe Biden was inaugurated president. That stunned those adherents who believed, among other things, that Donald Trump would stay in office for another term and that he would arrest and execute his political enemies.
"There's no one cohesive narrative that's really emerged yet. And I pin that on [QAnon] not really having a leader right now," said Mike Rothschild, a conspiracy theory researcher who is writing a book about QAnon.
The QAnon universe has two stars. There's Q, the mysterious figure whose cryptic, evidence-free posts on anonymous online message boards spawned the baseless claim that a satanic cabal of pedophiles runs rampant in government and Hollywood. The other star is Trump, who was supposed to expose and defeat that cabal… (LINK TO STORY)
Trump parts with impeachment lawyers a week before trial (Associated Press)
Former President Donald Trump has parted ways with his lead impeachment lawyers just over a week before his Senate trial is set to begin, two people familiar with the situation said Saturday.
Butch Bowers and Deborah Barbier, both South Carolina lawyers, are no longer with Trump’s defense team. One of the people described the parting as a “mutual decision” that reflected a difference of opinion on the direction of the case. Both insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations.
One said new additions to the legal team were expected to be announced in a day or two… (LINK TO STORY)