BG Reads | News You Need to Know (December 8, 2021)
atx in front of Whole Foods N. Lamar (Austin, TX)
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
Austin City Council Regular Session Agenda (Thursday at 10AM)
NOTE: This will be the final Regular Session of 2021.
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
APD officials target spring start date for next cadet class, pending approval (KXAN)
With 72 cadets expected to graduate from the Austin Police Department’s 144th cadet academy Jan. 28, officials are looking ahead toward solidifying their next academy start date.
During the Austin Public Safety Commission meeting Monday, APD leaders noted a targeted date of March 28 to begin the 145th cadet academy. However, that date is dependent on authorization from Austin City Council, the body that greenlights when classes will begin.
City requirements mandate the city manager “must request authorization for the commencement of the 145th Cadet Class and any subsequent classes in FY22.” In a statement, a spokesperson for the city said staff will come forward for direction from the council on authorizing the next cadet class sometime in February.
“In the meantime, staff is focused on conducting the reimagined pilot 144th Cadet Class, capturing lessons learned, and, if appropriate, implementing changes in real time rather than wait for the next class,” she said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin “is facing an unprecedented housing crisis,” city council says (FOX 7)
The City of Austin recently determined that there is a need to build at least 135,000 additional housing units over the next decade. A large amount of these units will need to be classified as affordable housing units. This is written in a resolution sponsored by Natasha Harper-Madison.
"We’re critically, critically short on housing. If our own city-sanctioned regulations are adding to the high cost of housing in Austin we need to know that, and we need to fix it," said Harper-Madison.
The resolution was discussed at a work session Tuesday and is expected to be voted on this Thursday. It directs the city manager to analyze the cost of producing housing in the city, and figure out how to cut those costs and red tape.
"In huge parts of Austin, it's a cakewalk for a home builder to take a property, demolish one small house and replace it with one big house. If that same builder wanted to replace a small house with four or six or eight units, that process could involve rezoning, subdivision, site planning," said Harper-Madison.
This red tape is especially hurting smaller mom-and-pop home builders, says Nick Quijano, vice-president of the Austin Infill Coalition. "The permitting process is one of the challenges," he said.
The process can drag for months and can get expensive. Council Member Alison Alter agreed Tuesday. "When we have conversations with developers, and they talk about permitting, it's still taking a really long time. If we are trying to figure out situations where the mom and pop can actually do the development, incentivize the mom-and-pop folks to be able to do the development versus the big corporations, that's a whole different analysis and set of things we need to look at," said Alter… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
City of Austin faces hiring challenges, low retention as economy continues to grow (KXAN)
Several City of Austin (COA) departments struggling with post-pandemic hiring and retention challenges are trying to bring more attractive options for job seekers as the city’s economy continues to grow.
According to the city, employee turnover has increased this year compared to previous years and hundreds of vacant positions have yet to be filled.
“Good employees are changing career fields or going to the private sector after being offered more money,” said Jen Samp, Public Information Officer for Austin Public Health (APH)… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
University of Texas plans to comply with vaccine mandate for federal contractors (Austin American-Statesman)
The University of Texas plans to comply with President Joe Biden's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for certain employees involved in federal contracts, university officials said. The mandate is at odds with Gov. Greg Abbott's ban on all public and private entities in the state, including universities, from requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The University of Texas System Board of Regents is appointed by Abbott. Biden signed an executive order Sept. 9 mandating that employees working on or in connection with a federal contract must be fully vaccinated. The order applies to new contracts as of Nov. 14 or renewed contracts as of Oct. 15, and the compliance deadline for the mandate is Jan. 18.
The requirement is part of a multipronged federal effort to slow the spread of the virus, even as a new, potentially more infectious variant has been detected in multiple states. Federal and state data show that since vaccines became widely available earlier this year, the vast majority of COVID-19 patients in hospitals in Texas and across the country are not vaccinated. About 54% of Texans are fully vaccinated. UT spokeswoman Eliska Padilla said the university has 158 active federal contracts, with a total spending authority of about $500 million. Affected UT employees will be required to comply with the mandate when the university agrees to a contract modification or when it receives a new contract, Padilla said Padilla said the mandate will not apply to all employees, but UT is unable to provide the total number of people who will have to comply with the mandate because officials are determining who is covered on a case-by-case basis. She said members of the UT community who are not affected by the order will not be required to be vaccinated… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
'Grifters in our midst': Rep. Dan Crenshaw slams GOP Freedom Caucus (Houston Chronicle)
U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw slammed members of the conservative Freedom Caucus as “performance artists” and “grifters” during an event with Houston-area GOP congressional candidates over the weekend. “We have grifters in our midst,” the Houston Republican said in a video clip from the event that was posted on social media. “I mean in the conservative movement. Lie after lie after lie, because they know something psychologically about the conservative heart — we’re worried about what people are going to do to us, what they’re going to infringe upon us.” Crenshaw did not call any members out by name in the clip, which was posted to Twitter by Ron Filipkowski, a Florida attorney and Republican who drew attention for backing President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
The clip appears to be taken from a Texas Liberty Alliance event in Cypress on Sunday with Republican congressional candidates Wesley Hunt and Morgan Luttrell, who are both running for open Houston-area districts. Crenshaw directed his criticism at “everybody in the Freedom Caucus — all of them.” The caucus is a group of conservative House members that includes several fellow Texas Republicans: Reps. Louie Gohmert of Tyler, Chip Roy of Austin, Randy Weber of Friendswood, and Michael Cloud of Victoria. It also includes several high-profile GOP members and some of former President Donald Trump’s closest allies, including U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Matt Gaetz of Florida. Crenshaw called them “performance artists” who “get all the attention, they’re the ones you think are more conservative because they know how to say slogans real well,” he said. “They know how to recite the lines that they know our voters want to hear.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
As critical race theory and mask mandate debates heat up, Texas GOP takes aim at local school board and municipal races (Texas Tribune)
Texas Republicans are increasing their involvement in local races, hoping to do more to influence municipal and school board elections that have turned into political battlegrounds during the coronavirus pandemic.
The state Republican Party announced Monday it had formed a new Local Government Committee to work with county parties on backing candidates in nonpartisan local elections, where issues like mask mandates and the teaching of what some conservatives call critical race theory have become flashpoints.
"That's really been the match that totally" ignited this, said Rolando Garcia, a member of the State Republican Executive Committee who chairs the new group. "School board races have always been important, but it's been hard to get the attention and resources to them, and so they've been sleepy affairs."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Biden bank cop nominee withdraws after pushback from moderate Dems (Politico)
President Joe Biden’s choice for a key role policing the nation's banks withdrew her nomination Tuesday after facing pushback from several moderate Democrats, a rare defeat for the president on one of his personnel choices. Saule Omarova’s nomination as comptroller of the currency also met with fierce resistance from Republicans and business groups over her advocacy for a dominant role for government in finance, views that didn’t sit well with some Democrats either. Her confirmation process became increasingly unpleasant, with some GOP lawmakers suggesting that the Soviet-born academic had communist sympathies, an allegation she has vigorously denied.
“I have accepted Saule Omarova’s request to withdraw her name from nomination for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency,” Biden said in a statement. “I nominated Saule because of her deep expertise in financial regulation and her long-standing, respected career in the private sector, the public sector, and as a leading academic in the field.” Omarova, who if confirmed would have overseen national banks, has repeatedly expressed concern about the size and reach of U.S. megabanks. She has suggested the government could play a greater role in lending to the private sector, and she participated in a 2019 Canadian documentary “A--holes: A Theory,” in which she called banking a “quintessential a--hole industry.” Those views led to concerns from multiple Democrats, while lawmakers like Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Mark Warner of Virginia took issue with her opposition to a 2018 law they spearheaded that rolled back regulations on some banks, largely small and regional lenders. Biden said he would continue to work to find a nominee for the position. Omarova, a law professor at Cornell University, would have been the first person who was not a white man to be confirmed to the role. “I deeply value President Biden’s trust in my abilities and remain firmly committed to the Administration’s vision of a prosperous, inclusive, and just future for our country,” Omarova said in her withdrawal letter. “At this point in the process, however, it is no longer tenable for me to continue as a presidential nominee.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Americans’ pandemic-era ‘excess savings’ are dwindling for many (New York Times)
Infusions of government cash that warded off an economic calamity have left millions of households with bigger bank balances than before the pandemic — savings that have driven a torrent of consumer spending, helped pay off debts and, at times, reduced the urgency of job hunts.
But many low-income Americans find their savings dwindling or even depleted. And for them, the economic recovery is looking less buoyant.
Over the past 18 months or so, experts have been closely tracking the multitrillion-dollar increase in what economists call “excess savings,” generally defined as the amount by which people’s cash reserves during the Covid-19 crisis exceeded what they would have normally saved.
According to Moody’s Analytics, an economic research firm, these excess savings among many working- and middle-class households could be exhausted as soon as early next year — not only reducing their financial cushions but also potentially affecting the economy, since consumer spending is such a large share of activity… (LINK TO FULL STORY)