BG Reads | News You Need to Know (August 3, 2021)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
A Council resolution floats safety-minded changes on Sixth Street. Some are more controversial than others. (Austin Monitor)
In response to a recent spate of violence on Sixth Street, City Council unanimously passed a resolution Thursday that sets out to tackle long-neglected safety problems in the area.
If the proposed changes in the resolution come to fruition after discussions among city staffers and Council, the nighttime experience on Sixth Street will change – hopefully for the better.
“We have seen a rash of really tragic violence on Sixth Street, and it made moving these issues forward imperative,” said Council Member Kathie Tovo, who sponsored the resolution and whose district includes Sixth Street. Multiple shootings have taken place on or near Sixth Street recently, including a mass shooting in June in which one person died.
Tovo also recounted the shooting of a homeless woman who became a casualty of a street fight she was not involved in. “The preponderance of evidence suggests that she was there trying to get a drink of water during the period of time where this fight broke out among 60 people, and she was shot dead,” Tovo said.
Though the resolution passed unanimously, Council members had reservations about some of its proposals, such as opening the street to cars and bringing back a juvenile curfew.
The resolution calls for an interdepartmental team of city staff members to consider the changes. Their work will result in a nightlife management plan for Sixth Street between Congress Avenue and Interstate Highway 35 – work that has been done piecemeal in the past, but hardly acted upon.
Among the changes for the team to consider: adding more lights and pedestrian-oriented improvements like seating, barriers and other street furniture; opening the street up to cars to prevent people from congregating in the street; establishing a curfew for juveniles to prevent violence and underage drinking; changing land use rules to incentivize non-bar uses; creating entertainment licenses to better regulate bars; and creating a dedicated EMS presence on weekend nights.
Though past studies and Council actions have led to some changes, many improvements have not yet been implemented. Thursday’s resolution also directs city staff to say which of the past recommendations have been put in place and which haven’t… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
HBO, Netflix lease space in Central Texas to support new projects, sources say (Austin Business Journal)
In recent weeks, two major Hollywood film studios signed separate leases for portions of this year and next so they can shoot projects in Central Texas, according to multiple sources.
Home Box Office Inc., or HBO, has leased 110,000 square feet — about the size of a big-box store — at Kyle Crossing, located at 1980 Kohlers Crossing in the Hays County city of Kyle, while Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) signed on for about 20,000 square feet in East Austin, sources said.
Both leases are short term, according to sources. HBO’s lease is for one year, while the Netflix deal is between 12 and 18 months in length. The leases are said to coincide with productions HBO and Netflix have planned or already started in metro Austin.
The Austin region has a stout history of movie production. Films such as "Office Space," "Miss Congeniality," and the 1974 version of "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" are part of the region's pop culture lore. Hundreds more films have been made in the area, from independent projects to major feature films. The interest from HBO and Netflix reinforces Central Texas' status as a moviemaking hub.
HBO is filming a true crime series in Lockhart and will use the Kyle Crossing space for costumes and storage, according to one source. The 40-acre multi-tenant industrial business park is now 100% leased, according to marketing material on the website of Aquila Commercial, which handles leasing. There are two buildings on site, totaling 535,113 square feet. The suburban business park off I-35 is also home to an Amazon distribution facility.
Netflix will also be filming here in Austin and will use the space at 2008 Alexander Ave. for production, according to multiple sources.
Additional details about the productions, such as title or who is involved, were not revealed. Neither Netflix nor HBO responded to requests for comment… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
ICU capacity limited, Austin-Travis County braces for a return to stage 5 (CBS Austin)
With only 10 ICU beds available in our area, Austin-Travis County is bracing for a return to the highest level of the COVID-19 risk-based guidelines, stage five.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 spike in Austin made national headlines after Mayor Steve Adler was interviewed on CNN.
“It’s scary here in Austin,” said Mayor Adler. “We’re watching increases in ICU and hospital admissions at a rate faster than we had seen in the earlier surges.”
UT expert and Professor of Molecular Biosciences Dr. Jaquelin Dudley said this is due to several breakthrough cases and the Delta variant.
“We’re continually learning about this virus. Particularly, the Delta variant has been shown to be much more transmissible than the one that was circulating last summer,” Dudley said.
In area hospitals that serve over 2.3 million people, only 10 ICU beds across 11 counties are available… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
COVID-19 is spreading fast among Texas’ unvaccinated. Here’s who they are and where they live. (Texas Tribune)
In Texas’ largest counties — Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar and Travis — neighborhoods with the highest proportions of Black and Hispanic populations are some of the least vaccinated areas.
Neighborhoods with median incomes below the county’s median income also hold vaccination rates lower than that of the county’s.
Rural counties have consistently lagged behind the state’s fully vaccinated rate… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas and Florida account for 1 in 3 new U.S. COVID cases, White House says (Houston Chronicle)
Texas and Florida accounted for a third of the new COVID cases reported in the U.S. over the last week, the White House said on Monday as it continues to urge Americans to get vaccinated. “We remain concerned about the continued rise in cases driven by the delta variant,” White House COVID coordinator Jeff Zients said. “These cases are concentrated in communities with lower vaccination rates.” According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Texas reported an average of 8,851 cases per day over the last week. Florida reported an average of 12,168. The national average was 66,606 new cases per day. The two states account for about a sixth of the nation’s population.
Just more than 55 percent of Texans 18 and older are fully vaccinated, according to to CDC data published Monday. That was 38th in the nation. Roughly 59 percent of Florida residents 18 and older are fully vaccinated, 31st in the nation. Zients said that 3 million Americans got vaccine shots over the last week, the highest weekly total since July 4, which he touted as a significant milestone and a sign that more Americans are getting vaccinated as the delta variant spreads. Still, he said, the White House is looking for ways to encourage more people to get vaccinated. President Joe Biden has urged states to offer $100 to residents who get vaccinated and last week he announced that federal workers will have to sign forms attesting they’ve been vaccinated or else be required to wear masks, take weekly tests and more. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, meanwhile, issued an executive order last week barring local governments from limiting the capacity of restaurants and other businesses or requiring facial coverings, even if they are located in a hospital region with a high level of COVID-19 patients… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
With time running out, Texas Legislature still at impasse on GOP elections bill (Texas Tribune)
Heading into the last week of the special legislative session, the partisan standoff over Texas Republicans’ priority elections bill is no closer to a resolution in Austin.
Enough House Democrats to prevent a quorum — 100 of the 150 House members have to be together to conduct official business — are still camped out in the nation’s capital, and Republicans are still waiting for them back in Austin, toiling through the daily monotony.
The few glimmers of hope for negotiation are long gone, and neither side appears to be in the mood for dialogue. Republicans believe they have already compromised plenty on the legislation, while Democrats are distrustful of both the policy driving the legislation and their GOP colleagues after seeing how they have managed the process around the bill so far… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
All 29,000 Memorial Hermann employees must be vaccinated by Oct. 9 or 'voluntarily resign' (Houston Chronicle)
Memorial Hermann on Monday said it will require all employees to be vaccinated by Oct. 9, becoming the third Houston healthcare institution to do so. The hospital system follows Baylor College of Medicine, which announced its employee vaccine requirement last week, nearly two months after Houston Methodist reached its vaccination deadline. Managers and other leaders across the organizations must be compliant by Sept. 11. The deadline is Oct. 9 for all other employees, including the system’s affiliated providers and volunteers. About 83 percent of Memorial Hermann’s workforce is fully vaccinated, including 87 percent of bedside staff, 95 percent of managers and above and all executive leaders, according to the hospital system. Memorial Hermann employs more than 29,000 people.
Exemptions will be made for those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical or religious reasons. Employees who are not exempt and refuse the vaccine “will be deemed to have voluntarily resigned their position,” said Dr. David L. Callender, Memorial Hermann President and CEO. He said spiking hospitalizations and COVID cases prompted the move. “We’ve been waiting a little bit just to make sure the circumstances fully warrant moving forward, and we think they do now, “ Callender said Monday. “We’re seeing the impact of the very aggressive delta variant, a significant spike in new cases and hospitalizations, and about 50 percent of Houston’s population remains unvaccinated, which means the community continues to be at risk.” The move comes as the seven-day positivity rate climbs in the Texas Medical Center, from 11.5 percent last week to 12.1 percent this week. Last month, the rate was 3.1 percent. The number of daily new hospitalizations is now 239, doubling the daily hospitalization figure two weeks ago, according to medical center data. Nearly all new hospitalizations are among people who are not vaccinated, health officials have said. Statewide, hospitalizations jumped by 38 percent within a week, from 4,982 last Monday to 6,853 this Monday, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Here's what's included in the bipartisan infrastructure bill (NPR)
Senators announced the long-awaited text of a nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package Sunday night over a month after President Biden and a bipartisan group of senators first announced such a deal.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act focuses on investments in roads, railways, bridges and broadband internet, but it does not include investments that Biden has referred to as "human infrastructure," including money allocated for child care and tax credits for families. Democrats are looking to address those priorities separately.
The package calls for $550 billion in new spending over five years… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Biden vaccine rule sets stage for onslaught of lawsuits (The Hill)
President Biden’s vaccine rule for federal employees is expected to bolster efforts to require vaccines in the workplace, but experts say it's also likely to spark court fights that could threaten the long-standing legal authority of employers to impose health measures at work.
As the largest employer in the country, the federal government could end up setting the standard for the private sector with Biden’s requirement that workers undergo regular testing, wear masks and socially distance if they choose not to get vaccinated.
A day after Biden announced the new approach, the Walt Disney Co. said all of its employees would need to be vaccinated within two months. Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, said it would require vaccinations for workers at its Arkansas headquarters… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Cable, internet companies stand to gain from broadband funding in infrastructure bill (The Wall Street Journal)
The $1 trillion infrastructure bill moving through the Senate this week stands to be a windfall for cable and fiber-optic internet companies, with $65 billion allocated to improve internet access for poor and isolated communities.
The plan, which must still be reconciled with a House version, would help home internet providers such as AT&T Inc. and Charter Communications Inc. by providing $40 billion in grants that states can dole out to operators that expand their networks to households that lack high-speed service.
AT&T plans to self-fund its fiber-optic network expansion to cover millions of new locations in the coming years. Its chief executive, John Stankey, has said government support in other areas would be “icing on the cake.” Charter Chief Executive Tom Rutledge has said the cable company can expand its network efficiently with help from government subsidies.
The bill would also extend an emergency fund set up earlier this year to cover broadband service for low-income Americans. Those users could eventually become full-paying customers.
The latest version of the bill hammered out Sunday came as a relief to some in the telecom industry who opposed measures being considered in previous iterations, including mandated higher internet speed requirements and incentives for companies looking to compete with existing cable and telephone operators… (LINK TO FULL STORY)