BG Reads | News You Need to Know (February 23, 2022)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Former state Sen. Kirk Watson jumps into race to be Austin's next mayor (Austin American-Statesman)
Kirk Watson, who was Austin's mayor from 1997 to 2001 before serving more than 13 years in the Texas Senate, says he hopes to be mayor again and is entering the race to follow Steve Adler in the November election.
Clearing up months of speculation on his political future, Watson launched his campaign Tuesday morning in an email to supporters titled, "Let's do this!"
Watson — a Democrat who recently left his role as the first dean of the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs — also named a campaign treasurer, which allows him to begin raising money. Fundraising has been a strength of Watson's as a political candidate and figures to factor heavily in a race that elections insiders expect to be expensive and reach up to $1 million in spending for the winner.
Watson, 63, is the fourth major candidate to enter the race, joining Jennifer Virden, a real estate agent and former Austin City Council candidate, state Rep. Celia Israel, D- Austin, and Austin City Council Member Kathie Tovo. (Because of term limits, Adler can't seek reelection.)
Tovo has not formally launched her campaign, but previously said she plans to run and has filed an updated campaign treasurer form.
No other candidates of note are expected in the race.
"I’m running for mayor because there’s more to do," Watson wrote to his supporters. "I want to ensure that our city effectively addresses the range of issues that will define our future. Austin should be thinking big. We should be setting and achieving aspirational goals. And we should be able to do those things while still providing basic, day-to-day services."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Council adopts public safety initiative to address vacancy concerns (Austin Monitor)
With staffing challenges at a critical juncture in each of Austin’s three public safety departments, City Council has directed the city manager to build a comprehensive plan to address the shortages.
The ATX Public Safety Vacancy Staffing Plan lays out direction for staffers to identify vacancy challenges and historical trends in each department, outline what each department is doing to fill the vacancies, and provide recommendations and a timeline for implementation, including any budgetary actions. The proposal passed unanimously on consent, with the city manager expected to report back to Council by April 30.
“My goal is to have a transparent process for the city,” said Council Member Mackenzie Kelly, who sponsored the initiative with Mayor Pro Tem Alison Alter and Council members Leslie Pool, Paige Ellis, Ann Kitchen and Kathie Tovo. “It’s important for the Council to be aware of the steps necessary to fill these vacancies, which have already been budgeted,” Kelly added.
Selena Xie, president of the Austin EMS Association, spoke in support of the initiative. She said in her 10 years as a medic for ATCEMS, the department has relied on mandatory overtime to staff its ambulances. “Because of Covid-19 in the last year, it’s really caused our medics to reach a breaking point,” Xie said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Travis County partnering with City of Austin to create public health commission (KXAN)
Travis County commissioners voted Tuesday to move forward with the creation of a public health commission that would oversee and inform public health operations in the City of Austin and Travis County collaboratively.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted public health gaps, commissioner Jeff Travillion said. This commission will help inform leaders, make sure the county and city are on the same page “and that we are talking about public health 52 weeks a year,” he said.
The commission will be tasked with doing the following:
Monitor public health issues in Austin-Travis County
Find areas that need improvement and provide recommendations
Keep leaders informed
Provide an annual report on ways the city and county can improve its public health programs and measures
Have an eye towards public health disparities
Keep the community involved and gather input
Report to the appropriate city and county subcommittees
The motion passed with commissioner Margaret Gómez abstaining. Gómez shared concerns about the overlap of the commission with Central Health, another Travis County-funded program aimed at helping with the overarching health care needs of Travis County and Austin residents… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin Chamber CEO Laura Huffman talks balancing rapid growth, '22 outlook (Austin Business Journal)
On the heels of a major year for economic development in Central Texas, Laura Huffman has high expectations for the fast-growing metro in 2022.
Not only is the wave of company interest and population growth expected to continue, but local leaders are also tasked with making it possible for Austin to comfortably grow into the major metro it's becoming, said Huffman, president and CEO of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. That means addressing topics such as infrastructure, affordability and preserving quality of life.
"There's no question that the economy is hot," Huffman said. "We expect 2022 to be extremely strong with lots of relocations and expansions of our very own local companies, and all of that will create opportunities for local talent."
Huffman added: "The growth we're seeing in our economy ... creates some leverage that we can use to solve some of the problems we're seeing, as well."
Last year, companies of various sizes and industries pledged to create 26,697 new jobs in Central Texas — up nearly 21% from the previous record set in 2020, according to figures from Opportunity Austin, the chamber's economic development arm. Some of the biggest wins came from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., which is planning a $17 billion, 2,000-employee chipmaking plant in Taylor, and Amazon.com Inc.'s (Nasdaq: AMZN) continued expansion across the metro, which is positioning the company to perhaps become the largest private-sector employer in the region… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Gov. Greg Abbott’s two most vocal GOP challengers have long sought to push their party to the right (Texas Tribune)
On Texas GOP primary ballots, Don Huffines and Allen West are technically opponents who each want to unseat Republican Gov. Greg Abbott next week. But on the campaign trail, they’ve largely put up a united front as they appear together at events across the state with platforms that are nearly indistinguishable as they portray Abbott as insufficiently conservative.
That tactic doesn’t seem to be garnering either of them enough support to unseat the incumbent. Abbott is expected to easily fend off all of his intraparty candidates in the March 1 primary and avoid a runoff for the party nomination, according to a recent University of Texas / Texas Politics Project Poll.
But for Huffines and West — the two most vocal and well known of Abbott’s GOP challengers — losing the nomination won’t necessarily mean they’ve lost ground in the larger goal both have long tried to achieve: moving the Republican party further to the right… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas A&M Faculty Senate fights back against Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick attacks on tenure, critical race theory (Houston Chronicle)
Texas A&M University’s Faculty Senate this week voiced its support of academic freedom in response to Lt. Gov Dan Patrick’s recent attacks on the tenure process and critical race theory. The organization, representing faculty at the state’s largest university, is the latest to affirm professors’ ability to decide what they teach. University of Texas at Austin’s Faculty Council last Monday issued its own nonbinding resolution upholding their freedom to teach about race and gender theory, causing Patrick to announce his intent to ban tenure for all new hires at public universities. The Republican leader also said he hopes to introduce legislation designating the teaching of critical race theory as “good cause” for tenure revocation. The A&M Faculty Senate statement on Monday openly criticized state officials but did not name Patrick.
“Whereas the recent rhetoric of Texas state officials opposed to tenure and teaching about issues of race in the classroom is damaging the reputation and future of public higher education in Texas,” the statement begins. Critical race theory is an academic movement among politicians who dispute the existence of white privilege and systemic racism in society. The Republican-led Legislature last year approved a measure that would ban the subject from being taught in K-12 schools, although critics have noted that any efforts to limit the discussion of racism in the classroom could have broader negative impacts. Patrick’s announcement Friday worried many scholars, who cited academic freedom’s bearing on tenure and faculty recruitment. The A&M Faculty Senate noted the same in its statement, adding that academic freedom is the foundation of universities and is affirmed in the 1940 statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, from the American Association of University Professors. “Educators, not politicians, should make decisions about teaching and learning,” the senate wrote, citing the association’s stance. Tenure is an employment status in colleges and universities that denotes an indefinite appointment, preventing faculty from being terminated unless under extraordinary circumstances such as financial constraints and program discontinuation. The faculty board also said it stands with UT professors, the Texas Council of Faculty Senates and others “who are opposed to interference” in academics and curriculum… (LINK TO STORY)
Bitcoin, Texas energy companies forming unlikely alliance as both face critical challenges (Houston Chronicle)
One eats up more electricity than entire countries, and the other pours unwanted natural gas into the atmosphere with abandon. Put the two together and what do you get? A solution to both problems, say bitcoin and energy companies. Oil producers have long used flaring to burn off natural gas, a byproduct of crude production, in far-flung fields that aren’t served by pipelines to take it away. The practice is widely criticized for its release of emissions that are dangerous and contribute to climate change. Cryptocurrency miners, who are paid in digital currency such as bitcoin, require huge amounts of cheap energy to power the fleets of powerful computers searching for answers to extremely complex computational math problems.
A Cambridge University study found that the world’s crypto mining consumes 125 terawatt hours of electricity per year, more than the entire country of Ukraine. But the digital mining companies can haul generators and computing equipment to the distant sources of power, helping to create joint ventures whose numbers are soaring as bitcoin prices soar and flaring comes under stricter regulations. “It’s a no-brainer,” said Matt Lohstroh, co-founder of Beaumont-based Giga Energy, which uses natural gas to mine bitcoin instead of burning it off. Lohstroh said his list of oilfield clients in Texas is growing so quickly that his company had to start manufacturing its own generators to meet demand. “We can’t get them fast enough,” he said. Oil companies also are trying to get ahead of proposed emissions regulations aimed at slowing the release of methane, which is 84 times more capable than carbon dioxide at warming the atmosphere. The Biden administration, for example, hopes to charge royalties for vented or flared natural gas… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
U.S. adds sanctions on Moscow after saying Russia invaded Ukraine (Wall Street Journal)
President Biden imposed new sanctions on Russia, but held back on steeper economic penalties in a bid to maintain leverage over Moscow as the West tries to pressure President Vladimir Putin against launching the broad attack on Ukraine that the U.S. says is likely.
Mr. Biden characterized Mr. Putin’s decision to move troops into Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region as “the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” establishing the U.S. position after the administration initially declined to describe the move using that term. He had previously said he would impose sanctions on Russia if it invaded Ukraine, and some in Congress had been pressuring him to take more severe action against Mr. Putin.
The U.S. president, speaking at the White House on Tuesday, said Mr. Putin’s moves so far are a “flagrant violation of international law” and the international community should respond firmly.
The sanctions announced Tuesday will target two Russian financial institutions and their subsidiaries: VEB, Russia’s state development corporation; and state-backed Promsvyazbank, which focuses on the country’s defense sector. In addition, the U.S. is imposing sanctions on Russia’s sovereign debt, which Mr. Biden said would cut Moscow’s government off from Western financing. The U.S. will also sanction five Russian elites with connections to the Kremlin and their family members… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Facing red wave, Democrats work on a midterm message (The Hill)
Democrats are working on their midterm messaging to meet the changing national sentiment on COVID-19, hoping to strike the right balance between optimism and realism in the midst of mass virus fatigue.
Aiming to show cohesion against Republicans, Democrats in the White House to election pollsters and operatives in battleground states are forming internal strategies with the goal of offering a more tailored public vision for a country easing off debilitating restrictions.
Republicans scoff at these efforts. They claim voters who have abandoned Democrats since President Biden took office are responding to unpopular policies and a massive lurch to the left by the Democratic Party.
While political headwinds and the November map are challenging for the party in power during midterm years, Democrats say that the facts about the coronavirus currently meet the electoral politics they need for success.
The science is on their side, they say, adding they just need the message to match.
“It’s important that Democrats communicate a plan, leadership, setting clear metrics and following the science,” said Celinda Lake, a top pollster for Biden during his 2020 campaign. “That can vary by states as conditions vary. And it depends on how red the state is.”
“But they need to have a consistent frame,” she said.
Throughout the latter part of 2021 and into this year, Democratic lawmakers have been wringing their hands over messaging as GOP officials have gotten more bullish about taking back the House and Senate in November… (LINK TO FULL STORY)