BG Reads | News You Need to Know (April 1, 2022)
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
AGENDA - Regular Meeting of the Austin City Council (Thursday, April 7, 2022)
OF NOTE
Sponsors: Mayor Pro Tem Alison Alter, Mayor Steve Adler, Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, Council Member Paige Ellis.
[BG Podcast]
Episode 153: Discussing the City of Austin's cryptocurrency study
Today’s episode (153) features Austin Council Member Mackenzie Kelly (District 6). She and Bingham Group CEO discuss her recently passed resolution "directing the City Manager to conduct a fact-finding study on the adoption, use, and holding of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies by the City of Austin."
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Improvements, hiring at Austin Water likely remedies for boil-water notice (Austin Monitor)
The city appears likely to approve a special budget item that will pay for more than a dozen new hires and operational software improvements at Austin Water.
City Council’s Austin Water Oversight Committee voted unanimously Thursday to support the recommendations of staff that were the result of the investigation into what caused a three-day boil-water notice in early February for customers of the utility. That vote moves the proposed expenditure forward for a vote at a future Council meeting.
City leaders had considered making a bill credit to customers part of the after-action steps, but recent memos from Austin Water have supported making investments in staff, equipment and software instead. The cost for those improvements, including 16 full-time positions, is expected to be around $2 million.
Earlier this week, Austin Water released the report detailing its internal investigation into how the turbidity, or cloudiness, of water coming out of the Ullrich Water Treatment Plant increased far past allowable levels on the evening of Feb. 4, leading to the shutdown of the plant and the boil-water notice the next day… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Hutto ISD accepts application for agreement on potential $2.4B Applied Materials project (Community Impact)
Applied Materials, a California-based company that provides supplies and services to semiconductor manufacturers, may bring a $2.4 billion research and development laboratory to Hutto.
At a March 31 meeting, the Hutto ISD board of trustees accepted an application for a value limitation agreement, a kind of tax incentive, in connection with the project.
Sara Leon, attorney for HISD, said accepting the application was only the first step in a longer review process that will last several months. Neither the project nor the agreement are final at this time.
"We'll be coming back as this progresses along—or doesn't—and see where we're at," Board President Billie Logiudice said.
Leon said Applied Materials would invest approximately $2.4 billion in Hutto in connection with the project… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin metro population wave continues to rise (Austin Business Journal)
About 66% of all U.S. counties welcomed new residents from other states in 2021. The five-county Austin metro had an estimated 40,264 residents move in from elsewhere in the state and U.S. in 2021, plus 2,277 new residents from other countries.
One Central Texas county ranked among the top U.S. counties in terms of population gain. Williamson County gained an estimated 27,760 new residents in 2021, making it one of the 10 fastest-growing counties in the nation.
Meanwhile, Bastrop County was among four counties across the nation that surpassed 100,000 residents in 2021, reaching an estimated population of 102,058. The other counties were Cleveland County, North Carolina (100,359); Lancaster County, South Carolina (100,336); and Grant County, Washington (100,297).
Hays County saw an estimated population increase of 11,588, from 243,809 to 255,397; Travis County saw an increase of 9,054, from 1,296,100 to 1,305,154; and Caldwell County jumped an estimated 824 residents, from 45,967 to 46,971.
When looking at migration, Austin City Demographer Lila Valencia said domestic migration — which includes people moving from other states, as well as other counties in Texas — has been increasing for several years now. The growth, she said, has more to do with the area’s economic growth than with the pandemic… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
ECPR founder sells firm to new CEO (Austin Business Journal)
Kristin Marcum, longtime president of Elizabeth Christian Public Relations LLC, has acquired the firm from the eponymous founder. Financial details were not disclosed.
As part of the acquisition, Marcum will take over as CEO and Christian will move into an of-counsel role with the firm, according to a March 31 announcement.
ECPR, founded in 1995, is a mainstay on the Austin PR scene. Clients have included Google, St. David's HealthCare, Texas Mutual Insurance Company, Austin Board of Realtors and the Austin Chamber of Commerce, among others. The firm also helped lead the MLS2ATX campaign — an outreach effort that culminated in January 2019 when Austin FC was named the 27th Major League Soccer franchise.
“We’ve known for a decade that Kristin would succeed me as owner of the firm, and the time has come to make all that succession planning a reality,” Elizabeth Christian said in a statement. “I’m definitely not retiring. Among my many plans is to make this transition seamless for our clients. I could not be happier for the opportunity to sell this firm to her because I am confident that she will preserve the legacy of the business while taking it to new heights.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas State University selects Arkansas State University chancellor to become next president (Texas Tribune)
Texas State University has named Arkansas State University Chancellor Kelly R. Damphousse as the sole finalist in its search for next university president.
Damphousse was named after a six-month national search.
Damphousse announced his resignation from Arkansas State Thursday after serving almost five years at the helm of Arkansas State. Once confirmed by the Texas State University System Board of Regents, he will take over the role from Denise Trauth, who has served as Texas State’s president for two decades.
Trauth, who became president in 2002, announced her plans to retire in August and is expected to step down by June. She said she had made the decision before she received a cancer diagnosis later last year.
During her tenure, Texas State has grown considerably from 25,000 students to 38,000 and she helped foster an increase in the number of Hispanic and Latino students, landing the school’s designation by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Meta to invest $800 million in new Central Texas data center (Dallas Morning News)
Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, will invest $800 million in a new data center in fast-growing Temple in Central Texas. The 900,000-square-foot project will create 100 jobs, the company said Thursday. Construction is expected to begin this spring at a 393-acre site off NW H.K. Dodgen Loop and Industrial Boulevard. At peak of construction, the project will employ 1,250 workers. Meta expects the data center to be operating in 2024. The data center is intended to help support all of Meta’s apps and services, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Meta Quest. The company will also use the center to accommodate the growing number of photos and videos being shared.
Katie Comer, community development regional manager at Meta, said Temple offers established infrastructure, a strong talent pool and supportive community partners. “Community partners have been vital to this project, and we look forward to calling Temple home for many years to come,” Comer said. Meta also operates a data center in north Fort Worth that opened in 2017 and has grown into a $1.5 billion investment. The massive facility totals more than 2.6 million square feet over 150 acres. The social media giant operates data centers supported by 100% renewable energy. In Texas, Meta has invested in more than 700 megawatts of wind and solar energy. Data center construction has been one of the state’s strengths, with Dallas-Fort Worth ranking as the third-largest market in the U.S., according to real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield. Its year-end report said it expects rental rates to trend upward in early 2022 due to global supply chain constraints.
Meta will receive a partial property tax abatement for 10 years from the city and Temple Economic Development Corp. Mayor Tim Davis said the city of 82,000 residents is known for its business-friendly environment. And the surrounding area serves as an employment hub for a region with a population of 450,000. “Meta’s decision to establish a presence here in Temple is a significant win for our community and proof that our process works,” Davis said. “We are excited for the opportunities this project will create for our residents and look forward to being a part of Meta’s continued growth.” Meta’s investment comes even though Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the tech giant in February, alleging it unlawfully used facial recognition technology to collect biometric data on Texans without their informed consent… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Cornyn confirms he’ll vote no on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s nomination to Supreme Court (Dallas Morning News)
Sen. John Cornyn affirmed Thursday what was already apparent, that he will vote against confirming Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court. His fellow Texas Republican, Sen. Ted Cruz, has been railing against Jackson, depicting her as a proponent of so-called critical race theory, an academic framework that probes the way policies and laws uphold systemic racism, and accusing her of being soft on child porn defendants. Cornyn’s announcement came as little surprise. So far only one Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, has declared support for the nomination. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has blasted Jackson as lenient in sentencing. It’s widely assumed that the Senate, controlled by Democrats by virtue of the vice president’s tie-breaking vote, will confirm the first Black woman justice with hardly any Republican support. Cornyn said he went into the process “with an open mind,” though he used his time during last week’s confirmation hearings probing for signs that she would spend her lifetime appointment trying to impose a liberal ideology. That was ultimately his rationale for opposing her.
“The job is not to start with the desired result and work backwards and cherry pick the legal reasoning to justify the decision,” Cornyn said, adding that Jackson’s testimony left him convinced that she would not abide by that. “‘Ultimately, I fear Judge Jackson has a blind spot when it comes to judge-made law, and she would use her seat on the Supreme Court to create new rights out of whole cloth and engage in result-oriented decision-making. ... For that reason, I will oppose Judge Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Biden will tap oil reserve, hoping to push gasoline prices down. (New York Times)
Under growing pressure to bring down high energy prices, President Biden announced on Thursday that the United States would release up to 180 million barrels of oil from a strategic reserve to counteract the economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. With midterm elections just months away, gasoline prices have risen nearly $1.50 a gallon over the last year, undercutting consumer confidence. And the cost of diesel, the fuel used by most farmers and shippers, has climbed even faster, threatening to push up already high inflation on all manner of goods and services. “I know how much it hurts,” Mr. Biden said Thursday as he announced the plan. “As you’ve heard me say before, I grew up in a family like many of you where the price of a gallon gasoline went up, it was a discussion at the kitchen table.” Mr. Biden has few tools to control commodity prices that are set on global markets, so he is turning to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, ordering the largest release since that emergency stockpile was established in the early 1970s.
But the move will most likely have a modest impact because it cannot make up for all the oil, diesel and other fuels that Russia used to sell to the world but is no longer able to. “Our prices are rising because of Putin’s action,” Mr. Biden added, referring to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. “There isn’t enough supply. And the bottom line is if we want lower gas prices, we need to have more oil supply right now.” Mr. Biden’s plan, to release one million barrels of oil a day for 180 days, would represent roughly 5 percent of American demand and 1 percent of global demand. To put that in context, Russian oil exports are down about three million barrels a day. The U.S. benchmark oil price fell about 6 percent on Thursday. The administration’s announcement came as Russia conveyed mixed signals about its aims for the war in Ukraine, now in its sixth week. Despite Kremlin claims that it was withdrawing from the outskirts of Kyiv, the capital, fighting continued in that area on Thursday, and Western officials said they saw little evidence of a Russian pullback. “Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities, so we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering,” the NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said at a news conference. Russian officials also said they would allow a respite for greater humanitarian access to the devastated southeast port of Mariupol, once home to 400,000 people, which has come to symbolize Russia’s battlefield tactic of indiscriminate destruction. Previous agreements for pauses in fighting around Mariupol have repeatedly broken down… (LINK TO FULL STORY)