BG Reads | News You Need to Know (January 7, 2022)
Mt. Bonnell overlook
[BINGHAM GROUP]
We are proud to announce Bingham Group CEO A.J. has joined the Austin Habitat for Humanity Board! Unanimously approved last month, A.J. will serve a three year term.
[MEETING/HEARINGS]
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
City urges high-risk people to avoid gatherings as Austin moves to Stage 5 Covid precautions (Austin Monitor)
Austin and Travis County are back at the highest stage of Austin Public Health’s Covid-19 community risk guidance as the omicron variant of the coronavirus has caused a surge of new infections and hospitalizations.
The health agency reports the area’s community transmission rate – the number of new cases per 100,000 people in the past seven days – is at 1,067 as of Wednesday and nearly 30 percent of Covid-19 tests administered in the area are coming back positive.
City and county officials announced the move to Stage 5 at a press conference Thursday, saying they’re concerned that increasing infection rates could cause schools, businesses and other services to close because too many people are out sick or in quarantine.
“We haven’t witnessed the behavior changes necessary to curtail the current spike,” Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Desmar Walkes said. “There will come a point when schools and businesses and community centers will not be able to open their doors if we don’t do something.”
The jump to Stage 5 comes a day after Austin ISD students returned to classrooms from winter break, some for the first time this school year. That includes Travis County Judge Andy Brown’s first-grade daughter.
“By the time I picked her up from school, we were already discussing the community conditions that would lead to today’s move to Stage 5,” Brown said. “That was tough news to hear.”
Under Stage 5, health officials urge high-risk individuals to avoid indoor and outdoor gatherings, even if taking precautions. Travel is discouraged unless it’s essential and dining in public should be outdoors while taking precautions. Shopping should be outdoors or curbside… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin offers fresh funds to nonprofits to build affordable housing (Austin Business Journal)
The city of Austin is offering funding to nonprofits to help boost affordable housing stock, which lags behind the necessary supply for the growing city.
The funds come from the city’s Community Acquisition Program, and will help nonprofits buy property to turn into viable affordable housing. The money will come in the form of no-interest loans, some of which will be forgivable. They’ll be granted on a rolling basis until funds run out, according to an announcement from the city.
According to Travis Perlman, project coordinator with the Austin Housing and Planning Department, there's no maximum for the amount of funding each nonprofit can apply for. But the size constraints of the projects — one acre or less — lead city staffers to believe applications won't exceed $4 million. Perlman said it is likely asks will be more in the $200,000 range to help buy single-family homes for redevelopment.
The program currently has $8 million in funds, a portion of the initial $23 million Project Connect allocation from City Council. Perlman said the amount may be adjusted based on how many applications are received.
Because the funds are part of the Project Connect anti-displacement initiative, which aims to bolster dense affordable housing options along new transit lines, they’ll go only to projects proposed within a mile of a proposed transit line.
The funding is one small part of a larger push to increase housing stock and affordability in Austin. Austin City Council has been pursuing piecemeal code changes — including making it easier to build granny flats and infill housing — to aid developers in that effort... (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Meals on Wheels of Central Texas names new CEO, President (Community Impact)
The Meals on Wheels Central Texas board of directors announced Henry Van de Putte has been selected to become president and CEO of the company.
Van de Putte will assume the role on Feb. 7. Former President and CEO Adam Hauser announced his retirement in fall 2021, according to the press release.
“We believe his record of successful leadership in nonprofit organizations and for-profit industry make him ideally suited to help MOWCTX grow and thrive,” board chair Norine Yukon said in the press release.
Van de Putte previously served as the CEO and executive director of the American Red Cross of the Texas Gulf Coast.
“I am honored to be given this role and excited to join the highly dedicated team of staff and volunteers,” Van de Putte said in the release… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Orlando’s airport seeks CEO from wide variety of finalists (Orlando Sentinel)
Among the nation’s biggest and a fulcrum of Central Florida’s economy, Orlando’s international airport is at a leadership crossroads in replacing the retiring veteran Phil Brown as chief executive officer.
The airport’s parent, the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, meets Friday afternoon to publicly vet six finalists recruited by a search firm to run an airport nearly twice the size of Winter Park, fueled by more than a half-billion-dollars annually from airline, passenger and rental fees and serving as the high-profile gateway for the region’s tourism.
Of the finalists, four offer career experience from big airports, as well as gender and ethnic diversity. Holding top jobs at their current airports, they are: Lance Lyttle of Seattle; Mario Rodriguez of Indianapolis; Mark Thorpe of Ontario, California; and Jacqueline Yaft of Austin, Texas… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Ted Cruz called the Jan. 6 riot a “terrorist attack.” Now he says he misspoke. (Texas Tribune)
After spending a day being slammed by TV pundits and fellow conservatives for describing last year’s U.S. Capitol insurrection as a “violent terrorist attack,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz walked back his comments on Thursday.
The Texas Republican attempted to clarify his intent on FOX News program “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” calling his own words “sloppy” and “frankly dumb.” Cruz insisted he was referring only to the rioters who attacked police during the breach of the historic building.
“For a decade, I have referred to people who violently assault police officers as terrorists. I’ve done so over and over and over again,” Cruz said Thursday.
He then tweeted a clip of his appearance.
His appearance came one day after Carlson lambasted the junior Texas senator for his choice of words during a Wednesday U.S. Senate committee hearing about the oversight of the Capitol Police during the 2021 riot. During that hearing, Cruz acknowledged the “solemn anniversary” of what he called a “violent terrorist attack on the Capitol where we saw the men and women of law enforcement … risk their lives to defend the men and women who serve in this Capitol.”
The mob — made up of President Donald Trump supporters attempting to interrupt certification of the 2020 election — attacked police officers and caused millions of dollars of damage to the Capitol. Lawmakers and staff inside hid in fear for their lives as protesters breached the building carrying zip ties and wearing tactical gear… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texans setting thermostats to 'unsafe' temperatures to save money, report says (Houston Chronicle)
More people in Texas kept their homes at a temperature that felt unsafe or unhealthy in the last year than folks in any other state in the country, according to a report based on U.S. Census Bureau data. The report, from online home improvement marketplace HomeAdvisor, found that 26.3 percent of Texans kept their homes at uncomfortable temperatures at least once in the past year, compared with the national average of 18 percent. At the same time, almost 28 percent of Texans reported being unable to pay their energy bill at least once in the past 12 months compared with 20.1 percent of ratepayers nationwide. HomeAdvisor analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.
The study also found the rate of Texans forgoing necessary expenses — like food or medicine — to pay an energy bill was second only to the rate of those living in Mississippi. About 37.7 percent of the Texas respondents said they skipped other necessities to keep the lights on, while about 28.2 percent of all respondents said the same. Much of those discrepancies can likely be chalked up to the winter freeze and subsequent blackouts of last February. Single-digit temperatures across much of the state knocked power generators offline and thrust millions into frigid darkness. Electricity bills soared for most Texans and for those with retail electric plans with prices that floated with the market, they ran into the thousands. “The winter storm aside, I think the climate in Texas has a pretty broad range between low to high temperatures than most people realize,” said Christian Worstell, the study’s author and a senior writer with HelpAdvisor.com. “Combine that fluctuating climate with the fluctuations of the deregulated power market, it’s easy to understand how over a third of the people there find themselves in a situation where they have to cut back to pay for power.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Democrats quietly explore barring Trump from office over Jan. 6 (The Hill)
In the year since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, a handful of Democrats, constitutional scholars and pro-democracy advocates have been quietly exploring how a post-Civil War amendment to the Constitution might be used to disqualify former President Trump from holding office again. Calls for Congress to take steps to strip Trump of his eligibility, which reached a crescendo in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot, have since decreased. But those who remain engaged on the issue say discussions about applying Section 3 of the 14th Amendment have been ongoing. “If anything, the idea has waxed and waned,” said Laurence Tribe, a constitutional expert at Harvard Law School. “I hear it being raised with considerable frequency these days both by media commentators and by members of Congress and their staffs, some of whom have sought my advice on how to implement Section 3.”
An analysis by The Hill found that around a dozen Democratic lawmakers have spoken either publicly or privately over the last year about how Section 3 of the 14th Amendment might apply to those who engaged in insurrection on Jan. 6. Among those whose offices have spoken recently with Tribe are Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who sits on the Jan. 6 House Select Committee; Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who chairs the powerful House Judiciary Committee; and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.). “I continue to explore all legal paths to ensure that the people who tried to subvert our democracy are not in charge of it,” Wasserman Schultz told The Hill. Nadler and Raskin did not respond to a request for comment. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified after the Civil War, says that officeholders who "have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same" are disqualified from future office. Raskin, a former constitutional law professor, served as a House manager during Trump’s impeachment trial over his role in the Jan. 6 attack. Days after Trump's acquittal in the Senate, Raskin discussed the constitutional provision in a press interview, saying Trump was “right in the bullseye middle of that group."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)