BG Reads | News You Need to Know (March 2, 2022)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Greg Casar claims victory in Democratic primary for congressional seat (KUT)
Greg Casar, who left the Austin City Council earlier this year, has declared victory in the Democratic primary to represent a swath of Central Texas in Congress.
Shortly after 11 p.m., The Associated Press called the race for Casar, who was leading with more than 60% of the vote. State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez and Rebecca Viagran, a former City Council member from San Antonio, had each secured about 16%.
“Tonight we won. But it wasn’t about me,” Casar said in a victory speech at a bar in East Austin. “This election was about us, this election was about the power of the people, this election was about the power of our movement. Yes, I got lots of votes on this ballot, but actually $15 an hour won tonight, Medicare-for-all won tonight.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin drops down to Stage 3 Covid risk guidance (Austin Monitor)
Austin-Travis County has moved to Stage 3, the middle level, of Austin Public Health’s Covid-19 risk-based guidelines.
The numbers of new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations continue to fall as the worst of the omicron surge subsides in the area.
The move follows revised masking guidance issued Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The area had moved down from the highest level just last Thursday.
The CDC guidance classifies Travis County as a low-impact county, meaning universal masking is not advised. Despite this, APH recommends at Stage 3 that people still wear masks at indoor gatherings with people from outside their homes.
As she made the announcement during a Travis County Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday, APH Health Authority Dr. Desmar Walkes acknowledged that Austin welcomes hundreds of events and international festivals each year, including one that begins next week.
For that reason, she said APH is “recommending masking until the end of the spring festival season – through March 20,” the final day of SXSW… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin, Travis County aim to add tens of thousands of new units to meet demand (Austin Monitor)
As population and living demands explode in the greater Austin area, the Travis County Commissioners Court is grappling with the twin issues of affordable housing and housing needs. Seventy-thousand new units are needed in Austin and Travis County over the next five years to keep pace with population growth, the county projects, while the Commissioners Court says it has already overseen the creation of 10,000 new units over the last five to six years.
The discussion at Thursday’s work session also featured five-year goal recommendations, the pipeline of affordable housing development and current market conditions as they pertain to affordability and policy considerations.
“I’ve been proud that the county, which is not known for generating lots of affordable housing because we have such limited financial tools to work with, has gotten to the point of almost 10,000 units of affordable housing, much of it deeply affordable,” Commissioner Brigid Shea said.
Tax and subsidization incentives are often available in Travis County for developers and housing projects that offer greater affordability to future tenants. In September of last year alone, the county put $110 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars toward affordable housing, administered via dozens of nonprofits including Mobile Loaves and Fishes, Integral Care and Caritas of Austin. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has also granted Travis County millions for affordable housing through the Community Development Block Grant program. This is in addition to scores of other affordable housing developments approved by the county (like this recent one), that often focus on ensuring community necessities like good transit and grocery stores.
The current five-year plan is to ensure the development of 70,000 new housing units in Travis County, 21,500 of which should be outside of Austin city limits, by 2027. While many developers jump at the opportunity to create luxury apartments absent of government direction, the county plans to strongly incentivize more affordable spaces to mitigate the effects of gentrification and the housing shortage… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin may change how taxis are regulated (Austin Business Journal)
A proposal going before Austin City Council this week that would change local taxicab requirements is receiving pushback from at least one of the city’s three remaining cab companies.
Since 1950, Austin’s cab industry has been considered a public utility, therefore requiring companies to secure and maintain franchise agreements with the city.
The Austin Transportation Department (ATD) is looking to repeal those franchise requirements and instead allow taxi companies to operate the same way limousines, pedicabs and scooters do — with less red tape and a faster application approval process… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is headed to a runoff against George P. Bush (Texas Tribune)
Despite an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton failed to garner enough Republican support in Tuesday's GOP primary to avoid a runoff. The embattled incumbent, under indictment since 2015 and facing an FBI probe into how he runs his office, will face Land Commissioner George P. Bush, scion of a political dynasty, in a May 24 runoff, according to Decision Desk HQ.
Paxton, the two-term incumbent, boasted the largest campaign war chest. But in a field of four candidates, he was unable to secure more than 50% of the vote, setting him up on the defensive in the biggest fight of his political life.
Former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman and Bush were neck and neck throughout Tuesday evening, but Bush was able to pull ahead as election day results were tallied. U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert of Tyler trailed them for much of the night. Neither Guzman nor Gohmert had conceded late Tuesday night… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
State GOP leaders win big in Texas legislative primaries (Texas Tribune)
In the first primary election after lawmakers redrew their political maps, the makeup of the Texas Legislature is on track to almost perfectly match the design of its top leaders.
Almost all of the preferred candidates of Republicans Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan nabbed enough votes to avoid runoffs and head into the November general election. And nearly every sitting House and Senate member seeking to return to the Texas Capitol kept their seat.
Those winners will now head to a general election season that is expected to feature fewer competitive races than in recent years, because the districts have been reshaped to preserve a Republican majority and protect incumbents… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
What to know about Dallas’ latest investigation of millions of erased police files (Dallas Morning News)
Dallas council members on Tuesday will weigh in for the first time on a new investigation into the deletion of millions of police files last year. The council’s general investigation and ethics committee plans to hear from Erin Nealy Cox, a former U.S. attorney whose law firm was hired to look into the massive data loss. Council members received copies of her firm’s report last week. The city agreed to pay the firm $548,450 for the investigation. It follows an internal review that was released to the public in September. Both found that the city’s information and technology services department lacked basic policies on backing up data and making sure employees are properly trained. The IT worker involved, who has since been fired, in March deleted more than 20 terabytes of data — or more than 8 million archive police photos, videos, audio, case notes and other items — while moving them from online cloud storage to servers at City Hall.
The worker told investigators he deleted the archive files without verifying if copies of the data existed elsewhere and “did not fully understand the implications of his actions.” He was attempting to move the data as part of a plan approved by his supervisors, who were looking for ways to cut down on the city’s cloud storage costs. The law firm’s report said there was no apparent evidence that the former worker had “malicious intent or criminal purpose” when erasing the files. The IT department relied on the technician to move millions of Dallas police files to an on-site server using the cloud storage management software Commvault, but the worker had only received training on the software twice since 2018. A supervisor told investigators they did not check whether the employee had properly moved the files. It wasn’t until someone from the police department asked about missing files that the error became apparent… (LINK TO STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Biden’s State of the Union Address Pushes Unity Against Russia, Battle Against Inflation (The Wall Street Journal)
President Biden said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is more isolated from the rest of the world than ever after invading Ukraine, using Tuesday’s State of the Union address to highlight the coordinated response of the U.S. and allies and rally Americans behind defending democracy.
Mr. Biden said Mr. Putin “sought to shake the foundations of the free world, thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways. But he badly miscalculated.”
“He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead he met a wall of strength he never imagined,” Mr. Biden said. In addition to other sanctions, he said the U.S. would close American airspace to all Russian flights and assemble a Justice Department task force to go after Russian oligarchs… (LINK TO FULL STORY)