BG Reads | News You Need to Know (February 15, 2022)

News
Written By AJ Bingham

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

3 new hospitals part of St. David's HealthCare $1 billion Austin-area expansion plan (Austin American-Statesman)

St. David's HealthCare is building three new hospitals in Central Texas and adding to five of its existing hospitals in what the health care network says is a nearly $1 billion investment.

By the end of 2024, St. David's will add hospitals in Kyle and Leander and a behavioral hospital in North Austin. 

"It doesn't take much to understand what the growth is like in this community,"  said David Huffstutler, president and chief executive officer of St. David’s HealthCare. "Even before the pandemic, we were continuing to see an increase in capacity constraints in our facilities. We knew we had to be looking ahead to deal with this growth." 

St. David's had been looking at this for several years, Huffstutler said, but formally began the process a year ago. 

"We looked at gaps in our network where there was opportunity, where we needed to fill that gap," he said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Tree division seeks to make enviro manual more user-friendly (Austin Monitor)

The Environmental Criteria Manual, a book of rules used to help implement the city’s Land Development Code, hasn’t had a significant update in the past decade. But best practices for urban forestry have changed since then, and the manual is overdue to reflect those changes. The Community Tree Preservation Division of the Development Services Department is working to modernize the manual and make it a more helpful tool for users to comply with the city’s code. The group is bringing forward its third iteration of improvements to the manual in the past two years.

“We are really trying to make a big focus on plain language, content that is meaningful, that commissioners, the average Austinite, the end user – be it a landscape architect or a home builder – can comprehend … so that staff can do their job and ultimately trees can be better protected,” city arborist Keith Mars said… (LINK TO STORY)

Austin FC ramps up content to fuel growth ahead of sophomore campaign (Austin Business Journal)

As it enters its sophomore season in Major League Soccer, Austin FC is looking to engage more with fans by placing a heightened emphasis on new content initiatives.

“There’s been an appetite for more programming for our fans,” said President Andy Loughnane. “We know that we want to grow our digital audience, and there are new platforms that we can launch and begin curating in a way that is supplemental and additive to the content that we currently bring to life on our existing digital platforms. [And] we want to meet the increasing levels of commercial demand from the advertising marketplace.”

This season, the team will debut a 30-minute pre-match show for all regionally televised home and away broadcasts, 26 regular-season matches in total. The pre-match programming will air on linear television (KXAN) in addition to the Austin FC website and app, which has had 50,000 downloads to date, according to Loughnane.

A four-person desk will be led by play-by-play voice Adrian Healey. For home matches, the portable desk will sit on the southwest corner of Q2 Stadium, while for road matches it will move to field-level. As part of the new original programming, Austin has hired Toronto-based Laszlo Szele, an Emmy award-winning producer, as a freelancer to head broadcast production efforts for the upcoming season… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

New COTA exec excited to join during 'escalating' time with mixed-use plans, F1 negotiations (Austin Business Journal)

As Circuit of The Americas continues to diversity its business portfolio, the executives behind one of the country's premier motorsports venues have tapped a longtime sports business veteran to oversee the further development of the company's 1,500-acre Southeast Austin site.

Mark Pannes — a University of Texas alumnus with past stints as CEO of Italian pro soccer team AS Roma and Major League Soccer's Vancouver Whitecaps, as well as chief marketing officer of the NBA's New York Knicks — took over as COTA's president for strategy and corporate growth on Jan. 1.

"It’s an honor to welcome Mark to our team," COTA Chairman Bobby Epstein said in a statement. "His business background and approach is a perfect fit with our community-oriented, fan-centric culture. I look forward to Mark helping guide our growth and further our success."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin ISD looking at eliminating 250 central office positions (Community Impact)

Austin ISD could reduce 250 central office jobs, including laying off employees, Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde announced Feb. 10.

“It sounds fine as long as you are not one of the 250. Everyone in this room is going to know someone who is one of the 250,” Elizalde said.

Elizalde made the announcement during a larger discussion on expected budget deficits during the 2021-22 school year and the 2022-23 year.

In November 2021, Elizalde announced that she would trim central office staff through attrition—allowing unfilled positions to remain empty as staff leaves naturally. At the Feb. 10 meeting, she said she had planned to continue reducing administrative staff that way for two or three years, but now feels the immediate cuts are necessary.

Elizalde said the district would provide assistance to those who lose their job to find other employment… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Sharon Grigsby: Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson’s message on permitting office mess: City manager won’t fix it so he will (Dallas Morning News)

You haven’t fixed it, so we will. That’s the message Mayor Eric Johnson sent Monday morning to city manager T.C. Broadnax about the mess that the city’s construction-permitting office has become — an operation so broken that it increasingly threatens Dallas’ economic future. In his own effort to get the job done, Johnson has appointed City Council member Paula Blackmon to get to the bottom of what’s wrong in the development services department. Responsibility for this office, like all the day-to-day operations in the city, squarely rests with Broadnax. Yet for almost two years, he and his team have been unable to fix its myriad shortcomings, most significantly the ability to issue permits in a timely manner. “I’ve had enough,” Johnson said when he revealed his plans to me over the weekend. “This isn’t putting a person on Jupiter. This is something other cities do well. Just look up the tollway.”

As surrounding North Texas boomtowns notch big wins, Dallas keeps fumbling the ball with its byzantine operation. Our permitting office has become the single biggest impediment to growing both economic development and the city’s tax base. Even before the pandemic, the operation was no model of efficiency. Then when COVID pushed staff to remote work — and onto a new online system no one was trained to use — the wheels came completely off. The ensuing delays have tempted companies initially keen on a Dallas address to look elsewhere. They’ve left developers vowing never to take another chance on our city. Businesses and homeowners wanting to do even basic work are at their wit’s end. For every three months of permitting delays, more than $31 million is lost in the overall economy, including $9 million in lost revenue for the city, according to the Dallas-based Real Estate Council. Johnson’s move, outlined in an email sent to his colleagues and the city manager Monday morning, feels like a significant moment in the relationship between Broadnax and the City Council. Under our city manager system of government, day-to-day management of Dallas City Hall is Broadnax’s job. The Mayor’s Working Group on Permitting inserts Blackmon directly into that mix… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Economists hopeful infrastructure bill will strengthen Texas’ trade relationship with Mexico (KUT)

Mexico remains one of the United States’ top two worldwide trading partners despite supply chain issues that have plagued manufacturers and consumers since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

With the recent signing of the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, trade experts say Texas’ proximity to Mexico will continue to be an economic boon to the state as it is the country’s top exporter.

In 2021, more than $661 billion in two-way trade passed between the United States and Mexico, according to U.S. Census data analyzed by WorldCity. The lion’s share of that, about $243 billion, passed through the Laredo customs district. Ports in El Paso accounted for about $85 billion, with ports in Pharr, Eagle Pass and Brownsville also in the top 10. Texas' trade relationship with Mexico helps sustain about 1 million jobs, according to the Texas Economic Development and Tourism office.

The federal legislation, commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, provides nearly $17 billion for improvement to ports and waterways, which includes about $2.5 billion for goals and projects outlined in Customs and Border Protection’s 2021-2026 strategic plan. The plan includes deploying technology to “defend the United States and facilitate the secure flow of international trade” which would reduce wait times at ports of entry and adopt new technologies… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

A year after the electric grid failed, Texas focuses on reliability, not climate change (Texas Tribune)

One year ago, when the state’s electric grid failed under the stress of extended freezing weather, Lake was the chair of the Texas Water Development Board, the state agency charged with securing and planning for the state’s water supplies. Gov. Greg Abbott tapped him to lead the Public Utility Commission in April, after the former chair resigned.

In an interview at the agency’s Austin office, Lake said he wants Texans to know that his agency — which regulates the electricity industry and oversees the state’s grid operator — realizes that the mission is critical. His No. 1 priority? “Reliability,” he said. “The lights are going to stay on.”

While the Texas Legislature and electricity regulators spent the better part of a year writing and implementing new policies in hopes of fortifying the power grid to withstand another winter storm, energy and climate experts say reliability also hinges on the Texas grid’s ability to adapt to and help prevent climate change by cutting carbon emissions in a key segment of the economy. Climate and energy experts agree that to get the nation to what’s known as “net zero” — the point at which no more planet-warming gases are emitted than are taken out of the atmosphere — the nation’s electricity infrastructure must dramatically expand and transition to fuel sources that emit few or zero greenhouse gases.

But the grid in one of the country’s most populous states — and its biggest energy-producing state — is far behind where it needs to be to help the nation reduce those emissions and achieve net zero in the next three decades. According to a November Princeton University study, without any change to current policies, Texas may have only a fifth of the solar capacity that it would need to help meet the nation’s net zero goal by 2050 and little over a third of the necessary wind capacity… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Republican challengers are calling Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller dishonest to his face, too (Houston Chronicle)

The three Republicans running for Texas agriculture commissioner sat next to each other behind a wooden table, all wearing white cowboy hats, none of them speaking. In the middle, State Rep James White stared straight ahead at the crowd that had gathered for the candidate forum at Sirloin Stockade, hosted by the Williamson County Republican Women. His arms were crossed. For weeks, White has attacked incumbent Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller for his history of run-ins with the Texas Ethics Commission and the Texas Rangers, saying it is evidence of a lack of personal integrity and a culture of misconduct within his office. White has also attacked Miller for his political record, describing him as a “fake conservative,” accusing him of jacking up fees on farmers to fund his pet projects at the department.

The other challenger, rancher and economics professor Carey Counsil of Brenham, has blasted Miller as “just not an ethical person.” Counsil launched his candidacy after Miller’s top political adviser was arrested on theft and bribery charges last year. “I told you it was going to get sporty,” one spectator near the back whispered as Counsil attacked Miller as dishonest. In an interview after the forum, Miller said that the aide’s indictment — and the years of ethics complaints his office and campaign have faced — are all completely baseless, part of a political witch hunt that was drummed up either by Democrats, his campaign opponents, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick or Gov. Greg Abbott, whom Miller is not supporting in his reelection bid. “I've been through this before. Just with other issues that come from the past. They did it to me, you see what they do? The penalty is not getting convicted, the penalties, the process. All they need is a headline, so now these guys have got headlines,” Miller said. Miller — a Trump ally endorsed by the former president — is well known in the state. He runs a Facebook page with 842,000 followers, and he said his team posts on it sometimes 50 times a day, drawing tens of millions of impressions each month, a social media reach far greater than that of any other state office holder. Miller last year considered a run for governor, but he instead decided to seek re-election… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Texas sues Facebook parent company over use of facial recognition technology (Houston Chronicle)

The state of Texas is suing Facebook parent company Meta Platforms Inc. over its since-terminated use of facial-recognition technology, alleging it violated the state’s privacy and anti-deceptive trade practice laws. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who filed the suit Monday in state district court in Harrison County and made the announcement at a news conference in Marshall, said the state is seeking billions in damages. Over 20 million Texans were users of Facebook in 2021, according to the suit. Facebook, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, shut down the system in November. In February, the company reached a settlement agreement of $650 million with the state of Texas over similar allegations.

The suit alleges that Facebook failed to disclose to consumers that it was capturing biometric identifiers, transmitted the information to other parties and did not destroy the data within a reasonable time. “The problem for Texas consumers is that unlike a Social Security number that can be changed or a driver’s license that can be changed … this can’t be changed,” Paxton said. “Once they have your facial identifiers, biometric identifiers, that information is out in the public because it’s been sold. They’ve let the genie out of the bottle. That damage is significant and permanent.” In a statement, a Meta spokesperson said “these claims are without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously,” but declined to comment further. Facebook has said in the past that more than a third of its members had chosen to use the software, which provided accessibility benefits for the visually impaired. The company had automatically tagged users in photos based on facial recognition up until 2019 when it became an opt-in feature. The announcement of the litigation coincides with the first day of early voting for the March 1 primary, in which Paxton is facing his toughest re-election cycle to date with three serious competitors… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[NATIONAL NEWS]

With Biden's agenda hanging by a thread, Democrats question their leaders' strategy (LA Times)

For all the ire directed by liberal activists at two moderate senators who in recent weeks scuttled President Biden's most ambitious plans, Democratic members of Congress increasingly cast blame on another duo for the failures, raising questions about whether the party can resurrect the centerpiece of its agenda. Some frustrated Democrats say strategic blunders by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain were, in large part, to blame for Biden failing to win passage of a massive social spending and climate plan. The men too frequently sought to appease progressives and their allied groups while antagonizing the moderates needed to pass the legislation, known as Build Back Better, they say. After that bill died in December, leaving Democrats reeling, Schumer and Klain doubled down on the same strategy, pivoting to a quixotic showdown over voting rights that further alienated the moderate lawmakers they still need to revive at least part of the spending plan.

The two leaders played "more to public interest groups than the needs of the U.S. Senate," a Democratic senator said. The senator was one of 20 Democratic lawmakers and administration officials who were interviewed for this story, most speaking on condition of anonymity to candidly discuss what they described as the party's legislative missteps. Those officials said the progressive-first strategy ultimately soured many Democrats on Capitol Hill on the ability of the White House and Schumer to rescue the social spending plan and has left them feeling rudderless as they seek a path to resurrect portions of the plan in a new bill. They described Klain and Schumer as particularly tight partners who speak several times a day, share a disinclination to delegate responsibilities to staff and have guided the Biden agenda in lockstep in recent months. Recent developments have done little to reassure concerned Democrats. During a Zoom call last month with the four Democratic senators who have been the main proponents of extending the child tax credit, Klain insisted the administration was still fighting for it to remain in a salvaged version of the social spending plan. Only days later, President Biden said publicly at a press conference what his chief of staff wouldn't tell the lawmakers privately — that it was a component "I feel strongly about that I’m not sure I can get in the package." To some involved in the negotiations, the Zoom call and Biden's reality check wasn't just an episode of mixed signals… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Peter Thiel, the Right’s would-be kingmaker (New York Times)

The wine flowed. Donald Trump Jr. mingled with the guests. And Peter Thiel, the tech billionaire and host of the event, had a message for the well-heeled crowd: It was time to clean house. The fund-raiser at Mr. Thiel’s Miami Beach compound last month was for a conservative candidate challenging Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming for a spot on the ballot in November’s midterm elections. Ms. Cheney, one of several Republicans who had voted to impeach President Donald J. Trump on charges of inciting the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, was the face of “the traitorous 10,” Mr. Thiel said, according to two people with knowledge of the event, who were not authorized to speak publicly. All of them had to be replaced, he declared, by conservatives loyal to the former president. Mr. Thiel, who became known in 2016 as one of the biggest donors to Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, has re-emerged as a key financier of the Make America Great Again movement. After sitting out the 2020 presidential race, the venture capitalist this year is backing 16 Senate and House candidates, many of whom have embraced the lie that Mr. Trump won the election.

To get these candidates into office, Mr. Thiel has given more than $20.4 million. That essentially puts him and Kenneth Griffin, the chief executive of the hedge fund Citadel, in a tie as the largest individual donors to Republican politics this election cycle, according to the nonpartisan research organization OpenSecrets. What sets Mr. Thiel’s spending apart, though, is its focus on hard-right candidates who traffic in the conspiracy theories espoused by Mr. Trump and who cast themselves as rebels determined to overthrow the Republican establishment and even the broader American political order. These campaigns have raised millions in small-dollar donations, but Mr. Thiel’s wealth could accelerate the shift of views once considered fringe to the mainstream — while making himself a new power broker on the right. “When you have a funder who is actively elevating candidates who are denying the legitimacy of elections, that is a direct assault on the foundation of democracy,” said Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at the left-leaning group New America, who studies campaign finance and hyperpartisanship. The candidates Mr. Thiel has funded offer a window into his ideology. While the investor has been something of a cipher, he is currently driven by a worldview that the establishment and globalization have failed, that current immigration policy pillages the middle class and that the country must dismantle federal institutions… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

AJ Bingham
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