BG Reads | News You Need to Know (July 11, 2022)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Texas grid operator urges electricity conservation as heat wave drives up demand (ERCOT)
From ERCOT's press release:
"With extreme hot weather driving record power demand across Texas, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is issuing a Conservation Appeal, asking Texans and Texas businesses to voluntarily conserve electricity, Monday, July 11 between 2-8 p.m. ERCOT also issued a Watch for a projected reserve capacity shortage from 2-8 p.m. At this time, no system-wide outages are expected.
"Conservation is a reliability tool ERCOT has deployed more than four dozen times since 2008 to successfully manage grid operations. This notification is issued when projected reserves may fall below 2300 MW for 30 minutes or more.
"ERCOT encourages all electric customers to visit the Public Utility Commission’s (PUC) Power to Save or their electric provider’s websites to get important conservation tips. According to the PUC, ways to reduce electricity use during peak times include turning up your thermostat a degree or two, if comfortable, and postponing running major appliances or pool pumps during afternoon peak hours
"ERCOT continues to use all tools available to manage the grid effectively and reliably, including using reserve power and calling upon large electric customers who have volunteered to lower their energy use.
"ERCOT emphasizes that the call for conservation is limited to the hours of 2-8 p.m."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin remains area hub, but Williamson County sees significant growth (Community Impact)
Travis County remains the hub of Central Texas' growth in population and employment, but Williamson County is continuing to attract more residents and workers over time, according to a new study.
Those trends are displayed in a new report from the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University. Researchers tracked residential and workforce flows between the five counties making up the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area going back to 1990.
Their findings included data on the region's population swell since then, with Austin and Travis County staying at the center of that activity while their northern neighbor becomes more of a draw over time.
"The central city of Austin and its surrounding areas continue to grow, with growth largely concentrated to the north toward Williamson County. This means more urban-style development and jobs for Williamson County, which means many of its cities are no longer strictly bedroom communities of Austin-Round Rock," researchers wrote.
More recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau has shown that expansion around Central Texas is not slowing down, anchored by the rapidly growing Austin as well as some of the fastest-growing cities and counties anywhere in the nation up and down the I-35 corridor… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Renovations to Texas Capitol and mall create a ‘new civic space’ (Austin Monitor)
Finishing touches are being done on the first phase of the Texas Capitol Complex renovation, which is expected to be completed this fall.
The 2016 Capitol Complex Master Plan governs the redesign of the Texas Capitol by expanding state offices to newly constructed buildings while creating larger spaces for civic involvement.
The master plan has three phases; phase one, which is currently underway, involves the construction of two new state office buildings, a central utility plant, an underground parking garage for state employees, and the heavily anticipated Texas Capitol Mall.
When complete, the 3.5-acre mall will stretch from 11th Street to 26th Street, providing easy accessibility from the Capitol grounds to the museum district and the University of Texas and allowing pedestrians to avoid the hustle and bustle of traffic on busy days. The mall will feature tree-lined pathways, an amphitheater and a large lawn for staged events, as well as electric bike charging stations, public art and a pocket park. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has been involved in the excavation portion of the project to ensure that native plants are included in the landscaping of the mall… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
With rout of Atlanta United, Austin FC becomes Major League Soccer's best road team (Austin American-Statesman)
Austin FC coach Josh Wolff continues to pull all the right levers.
Starting a lineup that raised some eyebrows when it was released Saturday, Wolff proved any doubters wildly wrong as El Tree turned in a brilliant performance in a dominating 3-0 win over Atlanta United on the road at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Felipe Martins, Ethan Finlay and Sebastían Driussi scored for Austin FC as it completed a sweep of a three-game road trip and improved its league-best away record to 7-1-3. El Tree has won four straight road games.Here are some thoughts about the game as Austin FC has another short turnaround when it returns home Tuesday to play the Houston Dynamo in a match with large Copa Tejas implications… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Hotel revenue is booming as conventions return to Austin but occupancy still lags pre-pandemic levels (Austin Business Journal)
Austin hotels still face some uncertainty but are boosted by encouraging tailwinds.
They are bringing in more combined revenue than they were prior to the pandemic, but that's due in part to higher room prices and the increased number of hotels. The hotel occupancy rate in May was still 70%, down from 78% in May 2019, according to data from STR Inc.
From January through May, combined hotel revenue in Austin proper reached nearly $620.5 million, compared to a little more than $538 million through the first five months of 2019.
Since 2019, 6,400 hotel rooms have been added in the city, a 22% increase in inventory, according to STR data.
Another bright spot for hotels, especially downtown near the Austin Convention Center: conventions are back, said Stephen Genovesi, executive vice president of Visit Austin. In June, an estimated 15,000-plus people attended Consensus, a conference revolving around cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens. A convention for the Texas Association of Secondary School Principles brought several thousand more visitors last month… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Abbott says he will ‘look into’ Austin’s record-high police budget (KXAN)
Texas Governor Greg Abbott posted a tweet Saturday evening stating that he will “look into” the funding of Austin Police Department to see if it violates a 2021 law, which penalizes Texas cities if they are found to have reduced their law enforcement budget. The City of Austin approved a record $443 million for APD in its 2021-2022 budget, the fourth largest in the state after Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Abbott’s tweet quoted a tweet by the Austin Police Association that states that “65 percent of patrol shifts below minimum staffing” and that the city has defunded APD. KXAN has reached out to the Austin Police Department for comment… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Uvalde mayor disputes report that city officer had chance to stop school shooter (San Antonio Express-News)
A Uvalde police officer armed with a rifle could have shot a gunman before he entered Robb Elementary School and slaughtered 19 children and two teachers May 24. But the officer lost his chance because he was waiting for a superior’s permission to fire. That was one of the major revelations in a report on police agencies’ flawed response to the school shooting, released Wednesday by the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center at Texas State University in San Marcos. On Friday, Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin Jr. flatly contradicted that explosive finding. “No Uvalde police department officer saw the shooter on May 24 prior to him entering the school,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “No Uvalde police officers had any opportunity to take a shot at the gunman.
“A Uvalde Police Department officer saw someone outside, but was unsure of who he saw and observed children in the area as well,” the mayor said. “Ultimately, it was a coach with children on the playground, not the shooter.” ALERRT stood by its 24-page report, which chronicled several significant law enforcement failures that day. “ALERRT has not received any information that contradicts what is stated in the report,” J. Pete Blair, the police training center’s executive director, said in an email to the San Antonio Express-News. “This is the only officer that we have identified as potentially being able to shoot the attacker before he entered the building.” The unnamed officer “was sighted in to shoot the attacker” — in other words, he had the shooter in his rifle’s crosshairs — and “was justified in using deadly force to stop the attacker” under the Texas Penal Code, the report said. The officer was 148 yards from the gunman. That’s “well within the effective range” of the rifle the officer was carrying, but the officer was “concerned that if he missed his shot, the rounds could have penetrated the school and injured students,” according to the report. The account wasn’t entirely damning. The report noted that state standards require police officers to demonstrate accuracy with rifles up to 100 feet from a target and that it was “possible that the officer had never fired his rifle at a target that was that far away.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Built to rent communities gain traction in Dallas-Fort Worth (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
It’s become nearly impossible for first-time homebuyers to afford a starter home in Fort Worth. But with a new product quickly gaining traction across the Sunbelt, those with their sights set on living in a starter home have another option. They can rent one. “Built to rent” communities are being positioned as an answer to the conundrum: I can’t afford a home, but this apartment is too small. These communities, also called “horizontal apartments,” look like your average starter-home neighborhood. Identical rows of single-family homes or duplexes with modest manicured lawns lining a freshly paved street. There might be a community center, and sometimes there’s a pool.
In 2021, about 95,000 built-to-rent units were constructed around the county, estimates Brad Hunter, owner of Hunter Housing Economics, a market advisory firm. In fact, Dallas-Fort Worth ranks third nationally in the number of single-family rentals. Hunter predicts about 120,000 built-to-rent units will be constructed nationwide this year, a 33% increase over 2021. That’s just the beginning, he estimates. As interest rates start to rise, putting homeownership more out of reach for first-time buyers, the built-to-rent product is a trend that’s expected to stay. But, it might be a bigger boon for builders than renters. Between April 2021 and April 2022, the median home price in Fort Worth rose 28.6%, from $276,000 to $355,000. Meanwhile, inventory remains perilously low — April marked six months of inventory below one month in Fort Worth — and mortgage rates are creeping up. The jump in interest rates has increased payments on a $350,000 mortgage by more than $500 a month. “Unfortunately, I think we’re about to enter a period of time when it’s going to be even harder than ever for young families to purchase a home,” said Hunter. In the same time period, rents in Dallas-Fort Worth were up 17.3%, according to data from ApartmentData.com. So, renting is getting more expensive, but not at the same clip. The economics of the housing market are “are forcing people to say, ‘What are the alternatives?’” said Hunter… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Republicans warn Dallas law firm that paying for abortion travel could be illegal (Dallas Morning News)
A group of conservative Texas lawmakers is putting Dallas law firm Sidley Austin “on notice,” doubling down on GOP-led proposals to bar companies from paying for employees to travel to other states for abortions. Rep. Mayes Middleton, chairman of the Texas Freedom Caucus, sent a letter to the head of Sidley Austin’s management committee, arguing that the firm is violating Texas law by reimbursing employees for travel costs to leave the state to receive an abortion. The Republican from Wallisville, east of Houston, says in the letter that the firm’s actions are illegal under statutes enacted in 1925. The Texas Supreme Court ruled last week that these statutes could be civilly enforced against abortion providers after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade last month. Sidley Austin’s public relations director, Matt Messinger, did not respond to requests for comment. The Chicago-based firm has offices across the globe and employs more than 100 attorneys in Dallas.
The letter describes bills the Freedom Caucus, a group of the state’s most conservative lawmakers, plans to introduce during the 2023 legislative session to bar companies from funding abortion-related travel expenses. According to the letter, the legislation would: Prohibit any Texas employer from paying for elective abortions or reimbursing employees’ travel expenses; Allow private citizens to sue anyone suspected of paying for an abortion; Require the state bar to disbar attorneys who violate any abortion-related laws; Empower any district attorney to prosecute abortion-related offenses in areas where the local district attorney chooses not to prosecute them. Several district attorneys in Texas, including Dallas County’s John Creuzot, have said they will not prosecute abortion providers. The letter is similar to one Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Freedom Caucus member from Deer Park, and 13 other Republicans sent ride-share company Lyft in May. The San Francisco-based company said it would create a program to cover the cost of rides for Oklahoma or Texas residents traveling to other states for abortion. The company has also pledged to cover legal fees for drivers sued for transporting someone to an abortion and costs for employees who need to travel more than 100 miles to an in-network abortion provider… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Abbott [Laboratories] reopens Michigan baby formula plant after flooding (NPR)
One of the nation's largest suppliers of baby formula has reopened its Sturgis, Mich., plant after severe flooding from heavy rains forced it to temporarily shut down in mid-June.
The Abbott Nutrition facility reopened July 1 and began producing EleCare, its specialty baby formula, an Abbott spokesperson told CBS News and other outlets.
Abbott is one of the four companies in the U.S. controlling roughly 90% of the multibillion-dollar infant formula market… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[BG PODCAST]
Episode 160: Talking Public Relations, Career advice, and Austin with Kristin Marcum, CEO of ECPR
Today's special weekend episode (160) features Kristin Marcum, owner and CEO of ECPR, Austin's preeminent public relations firm.
Kristin and Bingham Group CEO A.J. discuss her path into PR and her career leading to the C-suite and ownership of the firm.-> EPISODE LINK
Enjoyed this episode? Please like, share, and comment!
SUBSCRIBE / CONTACT US AT: info@binghamgp.com