BG Reads | News You Need to Know (June 23, 2021)
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[MEETING/HEARINGS]
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Authorities seek new suspect, drop charges against teens involved in Austin Sixth Street shooting (Austin American-Statesman)
Prosecutors are dropping charges against two teenagers who police said were involved in a fight that led to a Sixth Street mass shooting earlier this month, and police are now looking for a new suspect.
De'ondre Jermirris White, 19, is wanted on a murder charge. Investigators believe he is responsible for the shooting death of Douglas Kantor, a 25-year-old tourist, as well as the shooting injuries of 13 others. The violence was Austin's worst mass casualty incident in seven years.
"We believe that, with the help of the public and other law enforcement agencies, he will be in custody soon," Travis County District Attorney José Garza said.
The charges will be dropped against Jeremiah Tabb, who was arrested a week ago on a charge of aggravated assault, and a second teen whose name and charges are not public because he is a juvenile.
While Garza stressed at a press conference Tuesday that the best course of action was to focus on prosecuting White, Austin Police Chief Joe Chacon defended the original arrests that investigators made in the case… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin Development Services leader addresses housing demand, development wait times (Austin Business Journal)
As talk of addressing Austin's outdated land development code resurface, many developers want city officials to prioritize policy changes that will streamline the development process. They complain it is one of the barriers to producing housing in a timely manner.
Timeliness is also a priority of the Austin Development Services Department, though Director Denise Lucas admitted the department is missing some of its goals. Its 400-person staff is being squeezed by the flood of demand for development in the city, which could reach a record high this year.
"DSD resources are strained as a result of the current demand and volumes. Turnaround times are increasing, and we're concerned about the impact it could have on the city's ability to realize its housing and service delivery priorities," Lucas said. "Austin has been a center for growth for quite some time, and that shows no sign of stopping."
The city has come a long way in recent years, she said, especially since the infamous Zucker Report in 2015 delivered a scathing rebuke of how the city was handling permitting and development. Many changes have been made since, and the department continues to consider ways to streamline the process outside of the land development code, which is at the mercy of Austin City Council.
The city's development process is a critical gatekeeper for future projects — both residential and commercial — in fast-growing Austin, which is facing a housing shortage and mounting affordability concerns… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin Police's reimagined cadet class begins training (CBS Austin)
This week begins the months-long training process for the new 144th cadet class for Austin Police Department.
This year’s curriculum is said to be more interactive with more cadet questions, hands-on learning, and looking at events around the world instead of lectures. The lessons will also focus on how to best communicate and de-escalate situations.
The academy as a whole is shifting away from a military-style training academy. Last week 100 cadets held a meet and greet with the public in an effort to begin building community relationships straight out of the gate, which is one of the goals of the new class. As the Interim Chief, Joseph Chacon is overseeing this cadet class but two review committees and an independent third party are observing and providing feedback along the way… (LINK TO STORY)
Fitness franchise F45 Training files for IPO, confirms Austin HQ (Austin Business Journal)
A booming fitness franchise backed by Hollywood star and entrepreneur Mark Wahlberg is gearing up for an initial public offering, according to a June 21 federal filing, and its doing so as an Austin-based company.
F45 lists Austin as its current corporate headquarters in the filing, a relatively new designation for the company that was started in California.
It would add another high-profile entrant to Austin's roster of locally headquartered public companies, which has continued to swell since technology giant Oracle Corp. in December formally shifted its HQ to Austin. The pipeline of entrepreneurial talent coming from the Bay Area to Austin continues to be a talking point for industry leaders as more businesses are lured here by the wealth of opportunity and a friendly regulatory environment, among other factors.
The arrival of F45 brings a fitness company that has sold 2,247 franchise agreements across 63 countries, according to the company's June 21 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A message left for F45 President and CEO Adam Gilchrist was not immediately returned.
The initial paperwork filed by F45 Training Holdings Inc. says the company plans to raise $100 million, which is likely a placeholder number that will be updated later in the offering process. It hasn't yet set pricing for its shares. It plans to be listed under "FXLV" on the New York Stock Exchange. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC is the company's underwriter.
The move follows more than a year of speculation that the company would go public, but conversations of a special acquisition move died out when F45, like other gyms and fitness businesses, had to close down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. F45 now says 86% of its studios have re-opened as vaccinations have increased and Covid cases have fallen in the U.S. The company said its revenue fell from $92.7 million in 2019 to $82.3 million in 2020.
F45 is currently setting up a 44,000-square-foot headquarters at Penn Field in Austin, according to past Austin Business Journal reporting, with a lease that runs through 2029. The growing fitness company was also among the early adopters for Austin-based AnthemIQ, an Austin-based real estate-technology platform that helps tenants find commercial real estate… (LINK TO STORY)
Austin's airport receives $61M in federal grants from FAA (KVUE)
Airports across the country will receive a collective $8 billion from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to help keep airport workers employed, fund construction projects and help financial recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The federal funds come from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which President Joe Biden signed into law in March.
The Lone Star State will receive the third-most amount of funds ($689,928,612), according to the allocation list. California will receive the most ($899,826,548), and Florida is slated for the second-most ($724,091,795).
“The money will help keep people safe and employed by reimbursing operational expenses, debt service payments, and costs related to combating the spread of pathogens at the airport," an Austin-Bergstrom International Airport spokesperson told KVUE. "Airports can also use the money to provide rent relief to in-terminal retail and concession companies. The funding requires that airports continue to employ at least 90% of their pre-pandemic employees for those airports that cover a majority of the traveling public.”… (LINK TO STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sets July 8 date for special legislative session on voting bill, other issues (Texas Tribune)
Gov. Greg Abbott has set a special session of the Texas Legislature starting July 8, his office announced Tuesday.
Abbott’s office did not specify what legislative priorities will be included on the special session agenda and said in an advisory that such items “will be announced prior to the convening of the special session.”
Abbott has already said that he plans to ask state lawmakers to work on two priority elections and bail bills that died in the final hours of the regular legislative session after House Democrats walked out of the chamber.
More recently, Abbott has said the agenda for the Legislature’s overtime round will also include further restricting in schools the teaching of critical race theory, which refers to an academic discipline that explores the role racism plays in institutions and structures of governance. And during a teletownhall with supporters Tuesday evening, Abbott said he would add a call for legislation that would prevent certain social media companies from blocking or banning users based on their viewpoints. Legislation that sought to do so died during the regular session.
The GOP priority elections bill, known during the regular session as Senate Bill 7, was a sweeping piece of legislation that would have created new limitations to early voting hours and curbed local voting options like drive-thru voting, among other things.
It's unclear what tweaks, if any, will be made to the bill during a special session. After the Legislature adjourned in May, some Republicans said they planned to change at least one controversial provision in the bill that dealt with the window for early voting on Sundays. The last-minute addition to the bill had raised concerns that it would harm get-out-the-vote efforts by Black churches.
Abbott's other priority legislation that died, known as House Bill 20 during the regular session, would have made it harder for people arrested to bond out of jail without cash. That bill was also killed after House Democrats broke quorum to block passage of SB 7…(LINK TO STORY)
Houston paid $1.7M for counterfeit N95 masks earlier this year (Houston Chronicle)
The city paid $1.7 million for allegedly counterfeit N95 masks earlier this year, and federal prosecutors have seized the money from the company that provided them, according to court documents. Houston police are investigating the company, Med-Tech Resources LLC, for felony trademark counterfeiting, and Homeland Security investigators also are involved, according to affidavits and police reports filed in the case to seize the money. No charges have been filed to date. Last fall, city officials agreed to purchase 1.25 million 3M masks for nearly $3.4 million from the Oregon-based company. A representative for Med-Tech said it did not know the masks were counterfeit when it purchased and provided them.
The city had set a policy during the pandemic of paying for items only after receiving them, in an effort to avoid the kind of fraud that appears to have ensnared it in the mask case. The boxes of masks arrived in January with the 3M insignia on the containers and purported trademarks on the masks. After an initial inspection, the city sent the company two payments Jan. 8 and Jan. 12, totaling nearly $1.7 million. Amid reports of counterfeit masks across the country and a large number of seizures by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, city officials grew suspicious of their purchase, according to the court documents. The court records say city employees tried to verify the masks on the manufacturer’s website, but were unable to do so. On Jan. 19, officials contacted 3M directly to authenticate them. The next day, a company representative replied: “The product from this seller is counterfeit and we recommend that you DO NOT use product from this seller.”… (LINK TO STORY)
Whistleblowers say Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is distorting testimony to get their lawsuit dismissed (Texas Tribune)
A group of former top aides to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton reiterated in a court filing this week that they believe Paxton committed crimes while in office, and suggested that Paxton is intentionally mischaracterizing witness testimony in their whistleblower case against him for political reasons.
The aides are taking issue with a brief and a press release issued on June 2 where Paxton’s lawyers asked the 3rd Court of Appeals to throw out the case four aides filed against the state’s top lawyer in which they allege he fired them for reporting his alleged illegal behavior to federal and state authorities. Paxton, who has denied the charges, said he fired aides last year because they had gone “rogue” and made “unsubstantiated claims” against him.
Paxton’s lawyer said in June that in a trial court hearing on March 1, former First Assistant Attorney General Jeff Mateer would not say he specifically saw Paxton commit a crime, but only that he had “potential concerns” about Paxton’s dealings with real estate developer Nate Paul. Paul is a political donor and friend of Paxton who the whistleblowers allege Paxton helped with his legal issues in exchange for personal favors… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Fauci declares delta variant ‘greatest threat’ to the nation’s efforts to eliminate Covid (CNBC)
White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday the highly contagious delta variant is the “greatest threat” to the nation’s attempt to eliminate Covid-19.
Delta, first identified in India, now makes up about 20% of all new cases in the United States, up from 10% about two weeks ago, Fauci said during a White House news conference on the pandemic.
He said delta appears to be “following the same pattern” as alpha, the variant first found in the U.K., with infections doubling in the U.S. about every two weeks.
“Similar to the situation in the U.K., the delta variant is currently the greatest threat in the U.S. to our attempt to eliminate Covid-19,” he said.
Fauci’s comments come after CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky on Friday urged Americans to get vaccinated against Covid, saying she expects delta to become the dominant coronavirus variant in the U.S.
Studies suggest it is around 60% more transmissible than alpha, which was more contagious than the original strain that emerged from Wuhan, China, in late 2019
“As worrisome as this delta strain is with regard to its hyper transmissibility, our vaccines work,” Walensky told the ABC program “Good Morning America.” If you get vaccinated, “you’ll be protected against this delta variant,” she added.
The United Kingdom recently saw the delta variant become the dominant strain there, surpassing alpha, which was first detected in the country last fall. The delta variant now makes up more than 60% of new cases in the U.K… (LINK TO STORY)
U.S. existing-home prices hit record high in May (Wall Street Journal)
U.S. home prices in May experienced their biggest annual increase in more than two decades, as a shortage of properties and low borrowing rates fueled demand.
The median existing-home sales price in May topped $350,000 for the first time, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. The figure was nearly 24% higher than a year ago, the biggest year-over-year price increase NAR has recorded in data going back to 1999.
Sales prices have been climbing sharply since last summer, when lockdowns related to the Covid-19 pandemic eased across the country and many people rushed to find more space and bigger homes. Others working remotely seized on the chance to move to a less expensive city.
The price increase is contributing to a slowdown in the pace of home sales. Existing-home sales fell 0.9% in May from April, marking the fourth straight month of declining sales, NAR said.
Sales are also slipping because there aren’t enough homes on the market to meet demand, say economists and real-estate agents. Homes that are for sale are moving quickly. The typical home that sold in May spent 17 days on the market, matching the record low reached in April, NAR said.
Buyers with limited cash for down payments are struggling the most to compete. Just over half of existing-home buyers in May who used mortgages put at least 20% down, according to a NAR survey.
“Affordability appears to be now squeezing away some buyers,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “There are so many people who have been outbid, frustrated they are unable to buy.”… (LINK TO TO STORY)
Early results show Adams leading NYC mayoral primary as counting continues (The Hill)
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams has taken an early lead in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary as votes continue to be tallied in a race that will be determined by ranked choice.
Adams had taken 30.9 percent of the vote in the first round with 88 percent of ballots tallied as of 11:23 p.m. ET. He led civil rights lawyer Maya Wiley with 21.7 percent and former New York City Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia with 20.5 percent. Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang came in fourth with 11.7 percent and conceded the race Tuesday evening.
The primary is the most consequential race in New York City in years, as the winner of the nominating contest will be virtually guaranteed a ticket to Gracie Mansion and tasked with grappling with a slew of pressing issues, including a rise in violent crime and the continued recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
But voters will likely be kept waiting into next month as the race’s ranked choice voting system plays out. Observers have speculated that a winner may not be formally declared until mid-July.
New York City is experimenting with ranked-choice voting for the first time in its history. Under the system, which has been used in San Francisco but few other major metropolitan areas, voters can rank their top five choices. Should no candidate win an outright majority, votes for subsequent picks are reallocated until one contender gets more than 50 percent of the vote… (LINK TO STORY)
The Teamsters want to unionize Amazon workers. Here's what that means (NPR)
The Teamsters want to go after Amazon.
That was the message on opening day of the three-day, virtual convention of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Members from 500 Teamsters local unions are meeting to lay out priorities for the next five years. Delegates will vote Thursday on a resolution vowing support for Amazon workers across the country.
"Be it resolved, that building worker power at Amazon and helping those workers achieve a union contract is a top priority for the Teamsters Union," the document says.
The Teamsters, which represents 1.4 million workers in trucking, warehousing and other logistics industries, has had its eye on the e-commerce giant since long before a failed attempt to unionize Amazon workers in Bessemer, Ala., earlier this year. In 2020, the Teamsters appointed a national director for Amazon, Randy Korgan, who called the company "enemy No. 1" in a recent op-ed… (LINK TO STORY)