BG Reads | News You Need to Know (August 31, 2021)
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
Mayor Adler's State of the City Address - FULL SPEECH HERE
Austin Council Work Session - Today, 9AM - AGENDA
Joint Meeting of the Austin Council and Travis County Commissioners Court - Today, 9AM - AGENDA
Austin Council Regular Session - Thursday, 10AM - AGENDA
COVID-19: Press Q & A Virtual News Conference - Friday, 10:30AM
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Mayor Adler praises Austin, warns against misinformation (Austin Monitor)
Mayor Steve Adler told Austinites in his annual State of the City speech Monday that although Austin continues to be “a magical place,” there are those who seek to divide us through falsehoods as the city faces its major challenges: the Delta variant, policing and homelessness.
“We cannot let ourselves be distracted or consumed by misinformation” or efforts “to divide us to gain a political or rhetorical advantage,” Adler said. “We need to reach deep into the reservoir that is our community, our common culture, our core values, all the elements that make Austin special.” He urged Austinites to “fight fear with facts and misinformation with listening and truth. If we do, we will find the strength and the power to realize the promise and potential of Austin.”
Adler thanked his colleagues, first responders, health care workers, city employees, teachers and parents, musicians, artists, workers in the hospitality industry, and just about everyone who has lived through the Covid-19 pandemic in Austin. Then he blasted Gov. Greg Abbott.
“It is so hard for me to understand how we can be facing such risks, know exactly what we need to do, and have our governor affirmatively trying to stop local school boards from doing what all the experts say is best to keep our children safe. Parents across the state should be outraged and make their anger known,” Adler said. Abbott has sought to prevent school boards from issuing mask mandates and has ordered cities not to require their employees to get vaccinated. Abbott has also prohibited some private businesses from requiring proof of vaccination from their customers.
The mayor promised to continue to work with the county judge and his City Council colleagues “to use every power we have, for however long we can, to fight to keep our children safe, our workplaces safe for our employees, and our businesses and events open. I will continue to work toward a vaccine mandate for city employees, or alternatively, a testing mandate that allows waivers for those that voluntarily choose to get vaccinated .… I do not know the answer to the great harm caused by the misinformation casting its shadow over Austin. But I know, in the end, it’s up to you. We should each seek out and be guided by the truth.”
He noted that the city has worked hard to keep its citizens safe with mask mandates and vaccine clinics. Adler said if the state had the same Covid rate as Austin-Travis County, 25,000 fewer lives would have been lost to the disease.
Addressing the issue of policing and public safety, Adler quoted interim Police Chief Joe Chacon, who recently said that Austin is one of the five safest big cities in the country. In spite of that positive record, the mayor noted that there are some in the community who are trying to convince Austinites that this is not the case, and they’re doing so for their own political advantage. Austin has the lowest homicide rate of the four biggest cities in Texas, he said. “We are not dealing with the city that is unsafe, but with those working hard to create the perception that we are unsafe.” While he did not mention any specific group or political action committee, he was clearly referring to Republican-backed Save Austin Now.
Any suggestion that City Council does not respect or support Austin’s police force is false, he said, as is the idea that Council “defunded” the police. Although Council moved money out of the police budget for items such as forensics, it did not eliminate those functions. And following actions by the state Legislature that threatened the city’s ability to fund all city services, that money was moved back into the police budget… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Capital Metro's board votes to create police department for transit agency (Austin American-Statesman)
Capital Metro's board on Monday voted to create a police force for its buses, trains and transit stops.
The vote came despite testimony from several local advocacy groups calling for a pause to get more input from the community.
With the vote, CapMetro can now move forward with hiring a consultant to assist in the creation of the police force and the eventual hiring of a police chief.
"This is a big step forward," CapMetro board Chairman Wade Cooper said.
The passage of the resolution advancing the creation of a transit police force and an overall public safety strategy fell short of complete approval from the board. Austin City Council Member Ann Kitchen abstained from the vote after her attempt to delay approval a month failed.
During the meeting, Kitchen said testimony from several people speaking on behalf of criminal justice reform groups such as the Austin Justice Coalition and Just Liberty provided some indications that CapMetro had not sufficiently engaged the community and said major questions remained from stakeholders about the process.
"At a time that when we are part of a large communitywide effort to build an amazing transit system, we should be bending over backwards to build trust and respect the voices of the community," Kitchen said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin Economic Development Corp. launches CEO search (Austin Business Journal)
A permanent leader is needed for Austin's newest economic development engine.
The Austin Economic Development Corp. launched Aug. 30 a search for a full-time president and CEO to take the helm of the organization. The AEDC was created last year to further a wide range of city efforts, such as supporting the cultural arts scene, assisting in community development projects and promoting economic development.
Securing a permanent president and CEO will be a key milestone for AEDC, which has been getting up to full speed in recent months. Veronica Briseño, the city's chief economic recovery officer, has served as AEDC interim president and CEO and Austin City Council approved the 21-member board in March. Other positions will likely become available over the next few years.
Whoever is chosen to lead AEDC will become a central figure in Austin's economic development world and will work on some of the community's largest priorities. The CEO will also work closely with leaders in real estate and others in the private sector.
The AEDC's ideal candidate isn't necessarily someone with a long history in city administration. The job posting calls for someone with experience "at the nexus of economic and community development" and with knowledge of real estate development.
"The ideal candidate should have experience with economic development and downtown redevelopment or other catalytic projects that secure placemaking," the posting stated. "The ideal candidate will have experience in land development and real estate with capabilities deploying capital, developing and managing joint venture partnerships, and providing vision and excitement for the projects available for development through the AEDC."
The AEDC in recent months has outlined a few priorities, such as the long-anticipated revitalization of the South Central Waterfront and acquiring spaces for the arts. The group has also expressed interest in focusing on affordability. Council could also direct the AEDC to focus on other tasks at any given time… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas will soon become largest state so far to enact a 'constitutional carry' gun law (Houston Chronicle)
When Texas’ so-called “constitutional carry” law takes effect this week, experts don’t expect to see an immediate increase in gun violence — but some suggest that crimes involving firearms may slowly creep up as more people carry them in public. The law, which takes effect Wednesday, will allow most Texans 21 and over to carry handguns, either openly or concealed, in public spaces without a license. Its adoption last spring was a win for Texas’ Republican leaders, who say the right to carry without a permit is guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Democrats, law enforcement officers and gun violence prevention advocates have all publicly opposed the policy, fearing it will lead to an uptick in gun-related injuries and deaths.
Twenty other states have adopted some form of permitless carry — Texas is by far the largest — but research on the impact of such laws is limited, and the findings are mixed. A handful of broad studies generally focused on the relationship between gun access and crime has indicated that offenses do rise when it’s easier to get a firearm. Those trends might not be immediately noticeable, but rather appear incrementally over, say, a five- or 10-year period. “We really don’t have good data on a lot of states, which is what you’d really like to be able to come up with strong estimates of the impact of the law,” said John Donohue, a law professor at Stanford University who has studied the impact of various gun access laws across the country.
“But at least from what I’ve seen, for the more limited data periods that we have, it always seems to make things incrementally worse — but it will take some time before we know exactly how much worse it will be.” In Arizona, the next-biggest state to adopt such a law, researchers have drawn conflicting conclusions using different methodologies. A 2014 public health study concluded that incidents involving firearms were 11 percent more likely to result in injury or death after permitless carry went into effect. But 2018 crime research showed that the constitutional carry law had no impact on handgun-related offenses in Tuscon, the state’s second-largest city with 540,000 residents… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
2022 election dates hinge on how fast Texas lawmakers get redistricting bill to Gov. Greg Abbott (Dallas Morning News)
The dates for the 2022 Texas primaries rely on a series of ifs and buts. Many of you remember what former Dallas Cowboys star quarterback and SMU standout Don Meredith used to say: “If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a Merry Christmas.” Instead of candy and nuts, a Merry Christmas in this scenario occurs if Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs into law a bill that redraws the state’s legislative and election boundaries by Nov. 15. That would trigger a March primary election date, with runoffs in May. It would also mean avoiding the dreaded summer election, where turnout is guaranteed to be lower, and underdogs have a chance to rise up. “What this does is make sure you have a mechanism that you keep your March to May primary and runoff, without running in the summer,” state Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, said last week before the House approved a bill that sets 2022 election dates.
The problem for Texas politicos is that there’s no guarantee a redistricting bill will be signed by the governor on or before Nov. 15. The 2022 election calendar bill, approved by the House last week after being developed in the Senate, outlines three sets of potential election dates, with the least-preferred option resulting in a May primary and July runoff. The very sound of summer runoffs likely sent chills through the House chamber. No incumbent facing a scrappy challenger with support from their party’s activist voters wants a dead-of-summer election. Here’s the background. Because of a delay in getting the census information needed to redraw legislative boundaries, lawmakers couldn’t partake in the once-a-decade redistricting process. The data needed will be available to legislators on Sept. 1, and Abbott is expected to call a special session on redistricting this fall. It could occur in September or October. If lawmakers approve bills that Abbott can sign by Nov. 15, the March 1 primary and May 24 runoff will be set. That would mean the filing period for primary candidates would start on Nov. 29 and end Dec. 13. That doesn’t give a lot of time for election officials across the state to adjust, but Hunter believes it will work. If a bill isn’t signed by Nov. 15, a second option would have the primary occurring April 5, with the runoff on June 21. That would require Abbott signing redistricting legislation by Dec. 28. The filing period would be two weeks, from Jan. 10 through Jan. 24… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
The final U.S. military plane has left Afghanistan as America's longest war ends (NPR)
The last U.S. plane departed Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai International Airport a few hours before dawn, marking the end of America's longest war and leaving the country's future in disarray and uncertainty under Taliban rule.
President Biden praised the military for "their execution of the dangerous retrograde from Afghanistan as scheduled," in a statement released by the White House Monday evening.
He also noted ongoing diplomatic efforts to help Americans or Afghan partners who still need to leave Afghanistan, saying he will address the nation on Tuesday about the decision to withdraw by Aug. 31.
The final days of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan were filled with chaos, bloodshed, desperation, fear and panic as troops attempted to stave off attacks by ISIS-K, while trying to coordinate a massive exodus of people out of the country.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin celebrated the work done by U.S. troops and their allies in the final days in Afghanistan.
"Our service members secured, defended, and ran a major international airport. They learned how to help consular officers screen and verify visa applicants," Austin said. "They provided medical care, food and water, and compassion to people in need. They flew tens of thousands of people to safety, virtually around the clock. They even delivered babies."
Austin also mourned the loss of soldiers during the 20 year war in Afghanistan.
More than 2,400 U.S. troops lost their lives in Afghanistan, including the 13 who were killed in a suicide attack near the Kabul airport last week. And in the end, nearly 2o years of engagement was punctuated with the destruction of munitions and equipment by U.S. troops hours before they flew out of the battle-scarred country.
Tens of thousands of Afghans were also killed in the war, and those who survive now face an uncertain future under a repressive Taliban regime — the same regime that provided safe haven to Al Qaeda and that the U.S. set out to topple after 9/11.
A Taliban spokesperson congratulated his country "on the liberation and independence of Afghanistan from the American occupation."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
As Washington stews, state legislatures increasingly shape American politics (New York Times)
With the release of the 2020 census last month, the drawing of legislative districts that could in large part determine control of Congress for the next decade heads to the nation’s state legislatures, the heart of Republican political power. Increasingly, state legislatures, especially in 30 Republican-controlled states, have seized an outsize role for themselves, pressing conservative agendas on voting, Covid-19 and the culture wars that are amplifying partisan splits and shaping policy well beyond their own borders. Indeed, for a party out of power in Washington, state legislatures have become enormous sources of leverage and influence. That is especially true for rural conservatives who largely control the legislatures in key states like Wisconsin, Texas and Georgia and could now lock in a strong Republican tilt in Congress and cement their own power for the next decade. The Texas Legislature’s pending approval of new restrictions on voting is but the latest example. “This is in many ways genuinely new, because of the breadth and scope of what’s happening,” said Donald F. Kettl, a scholar of state governance at the University of Texas at Austin. “But more fundamentally, the real point of the spear of Trumpism is appearing at the state and local level. State legislatures not only are keeping the flame alive, but nurturing and growing it.”
He added that the aggressive role played by Republican legislatures had much further to run. “There’s all this talk of whether or not Republicans are a party that has any future at this point,” he said, “but the reality is that Republicans not only are alive and well, but living in the state legislatures. And they’re going to be pushing more of this forward.” The next battle, already underway in many states, is over the drawing of congressional and state legislative districts. Republicans control 26 of the legislatures that will draw political maps, compared with 13 for Democrats. (Other states have nonpartisan commissions that draw legislative districts, or have just one seat.) Democrats have embraced their own causes, passing laws to expand voting rights, raise minimum wages and tighten controls on firearms in the 18 states where they control the legislatures. But Republican legislatures are pursuing political and ideological agendas that dwarf those of their opponents. This year’s legislative sessions have spawned the largest wave of anti-abortion legislation since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Many Republican legislatures have seized power from Democratic-leaning cities and counties on issues including policing, the coronavirus and tree preservation. They have made base-energizing issues like transgender rights and classroom teaching on race centerpieces of debate. Most important, they have rewritten election and voting laws in ways that largely hinder Democratic-leaning voters and give Republicans more influence over how elections are run — and, critics say, how they are decided. And in some states, they are eyeing their own versions of the Arizona State Senate’s brazenly partisan review of the 2020 vote, a new and, to many, dangerous attack on the nonpartisan underpinnings of American elections… (LINK TO FULL STORY)