BG Reads | News You Need to Know (February 18, 2022)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Austin Police officers to be indicted for conduct in racial justice protests (New York Times)
A Texas district attorney said on Thursday it was very likely that several Austin police officers would be indicted on criminal charges for their treatment of protesters who were denouncing police violence and racial injustice after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis law enforcement in 2020.
Grand juries meet in secret, and many details of the investigation by Travis County have not yet been publicly released. But District Attorney José Garza said at a news conference that a special grand jury had concluded its work, and Joseph Chacon, the city’s police chief, separately declared that he was “extremely disappointed” in the news that charges against his officers were forthcoming.
Ken Casaday, president of the Austin Police Association, said several lawyers representing officers told the union that 19 officers had been indicted.
The discussion of charges could begin to rekindle divisions that gripped the state capital during days of violent confrontations. Several protesters were injured as officers armed with “less-lethal” weapons, such as rubber bullets and beanbag rounds, confronted large crowds that intermittently blocked traffic on Interstate 35 through downtown Austin… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin to pay $10 million to two men injured by bean bag munitions in 2020 protests (Austin American-Statesman)
The city of Austin has agreed to pay a combined $10 million to settle federal lawsuits with two men who were badly wounded by police during the social justice protests in May 2020.
The settlements with Justin Howell and Anthony Evans, who both suffered head injuries from less-lethal bean bag rounds fired by Austin police officers, were approved in a unanimous vote by the City Council on Thursday.
Howell received $8 million — the most ever in an excessive force case settlement in Austin. The previous record was the $3.25 million that went to the family of David Joseph, a teenager who was naked and unarmed when police shot and killed him in 2015.
Evans received $2 million.
Referencing the sizable payouts, the city released a statement saying Howell and Evans will need ongoing and long-term care.
"We have reviewed the totality of the circumstances surrounding the protests, and we believe it is in the best interest of these plaintiffs and the city of Austin to resolve these cases now," the statement read… (LINK TO STORY)
21 employees left Austin Water in month before boil water notice; council moves forward with audit (KXAN)
Austin City Council voted Thursday to move forward with an external audit process into Austin Water after a series of water boil notices over the past few years. The audit will be managed by the city auditor and reported to council.
“We as a council need an independent set of eyes so that we know that we are taking our oversight responsibilities seriously,” council member Alison Alter, who brought the resolution forward, said.
The resolution states, “Austin Water has experienced five significant negative water quality events and water supply service interruptions in fewer than five years,” one of those being a three-day citywide boil water notice that took place earlier this month.
Thursday, council members continued to ask questions of former Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros who resigned from the position shortly after the boil notice earlier this month. During that question and answer, and in documents posted to the city council’s website, Meszaros and Austin Water staff addressed staffing shortages and their possible role in the issues.
“We had 20 people leave the water department in January,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler noted during a portion of Thursday’s council meeting.
A spokesperson for Austin Water confirmed in January alone, Austin Water had 21 people leave the department. Five of those were resignations, one was a termination, 10 were retirements and five transferred to other City of Austin departments, that spokesperson said.
Meszaros also said there are no supervisors on night shifts right now and no automated alarms to notify supervisors of issues, something they’re looking at implementing down the road… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Environmental Commission recommends denial of city water services to entertainment complex (Austin Monitor)
Plans to develop 70 acres adjacent to the Barton Creek Habitat Preserve into a mega entertainment complex went off course last night when the Environmental Commission unanimously voted to recommend denying the request to extend water and wastewater service to the area.
The yet-to-be-constructed Violet Crown Amphitheater is centered around a venue that could host a whopping 20,000 attendees, but plans for the complex also include two residential towers, office and retail space, a driving range, two nightclubs, a pool club, a distillery, a traditional dance hall, and two large parking garages. While the denial of the service extension request will complicate things for developers and they may have to scale the project back, their plans to build are still on.
“The goal and purpose of this project is to provide the city of Austin with a venue that is unlike anywhere else in the world,” said Craig Bryan, who applied for the service extension. “Red Rocks has its feather in its cap and so does the Hollywood Bowl, and we’re trying to blend the two of them in a manner that is environmentally conscious as best we can.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Trump’s man in Texas, has quietly amassed influence — to the detriment of fellow Republicans (Texas Tribune)
At an event for a congressional candidate last October, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called Rick Perry “one of my best friends in life” and said the two “talk all the time about politics.”
The former governor gushed, “Put me in a foxhole with him any day.”
But earlier that year, the tone of their conversations was more serious. Patrick encouraged Perry, Texas’ governor from 2000 to 2015, to make a comeback and run again, according to multiple people who had direct knowledge of the conversations, even though fellow Republican Gov. Greg Abbott was already campaigning for election to a third term.
Perry ultimately opted against running. But the plotting against Abbott, which has not been previously reported, was perhaps the most brazen example of Patrick’s efforts this election cycle to handpick a roster of allies across all levels of state government and expand his already massive influence. Often, he has done so by weaponizing his close relationship with former President Donald Trump to help elect his friends and hurt his adversaries… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
A year after historic freeze, Texas AG Ken Paxton won’t say where price-gouging investigations stand (Dallas Morning News)
After last winter’s freeze, Attorney General Ken Paxton publicly pledged to take on the companies responsible for statewide blackouts and huge spikes in natural gas prices. His office quickly launched a flurry of investigations into some of the biggest players in the state’s energy market. “I will tirelessly pursue justice for Texans,” the Republican declared at the time. Now, a year later, Paxton has sued just one electricity provider. The attorney general has brought no lawsuits against other energy companies, records show, including those that profited most from the storm. Paxton is not saying publicly whether the investigations into potential price gouging or other deceptive trade practices are active, stalled or have come up with nothing. His office did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Public records requested by The Dallas Morning News offer some insight. In denying the release of some documents, the office said Thursday that its consumer protection division is investigating Dallas-based pipeline giant Energy Transfer, which made $2.4 billion during last February’s storm that sent temperatures plunging and gas prices soaring. Yet over recent months, records show agency attorneys spent less and less time scrutinizing the winter disaster. Last September, lawyers stopped logging hours altogether on an investigation into the state’s electric grid operator, which ordered the blackouts. The lack of information from the attorney general’s office comes as Texans are on the hook for billions of dollars in energy debt that piled up during the freeze. As the state’s consumer protection arm, Paxton’s office has the power to challenge any charges it considers illegal. Tim Morstad, associate state director for AARP Texas, said justice still hasn’t been served… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Dan Patrick vows to ban teaching critical race theory at Texas universities (Houston Chronicle)
The fight over the alleged teaching of critical race theory in K-12 Texas schools may soon be extended to state universities in Texas. Controversial Republican-backed bills against the academic discipline, which studies how race and racism have impacted social structures in the U.S., have had a chilling effect on how subjects about race and gender can be taught in school classrooms.
Pushback against such legislation has come in many forms, with one of the most recent examples being the University of Texas at Austin Faculty Council passing a resolution Monday defending the academic freedom to teach about race and gender justice and critical race theory. The resolution states that educators, not politicians, should make decisions about teaching and learning and supports the right of faculty to design courses and curriculum and to conduct scholarly research.
“State legislative proposals seeking to limit teaching and discussions of racism and related issues have been proposed and enacted in several states, including Texas,” the resolution states. “This resolution affirms the fundamental rights of faculty to academic freedom in its broadest sense, inclusive of research and teaching of race and gender theory.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
San Francisco votes overwhelmingly to recall school board members (Wall Street Journal)
San Francisco Mayor London Breed said she would soon begin selecting interim school board members to replace three who were recalled by a majority of voters in Tuesday’s election.
As of 10:37 p.m. Pacific time Tuesday, 75% of votes counted were for a recall of board President Gabriela López, 79% for recalling commissioner Alison Collins and 72% for recalling commissioner Faauuga Moliga, according to the city elections department. About 130,000 ballots were tabulated, and officials said they had roughly 39,000 left to count, most of which arrived in the mail.
Four other members of the school board haven’t been in office long enough to qualify to be removed from office.
The recall campaign in the overwhelmingly Democratic city drew national attention as one of the highest-profile examples of voter anger over school closures and other education-related issues.
“This is a political earthquake,” said Autumn Looijen, one of the organizers of the recall. “San Francisco is standing up to fight for its children and for good governance.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)