BG Reads | News You Need to Know (March 3, 2022)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
After razor-thin loss, Ledesma-Woody says she’ll seek a recount (Austin Monitor)
After losing to incumbent Margaret Gómez by just 219 votes out of 21,677 cast in the Travis County Commissioner Precinct 4 race, challenger Susanna Ledesma-Woody announced Wednesday that she would seek a recount.
During most of Tuesday night’s ballot counting, it appeared that Ledesma-Woody would defeat Gómez and end her county career after more than 27 years in the Precinct 4 seat. However, Gómez pulled ahead after 10 p.m., and by around midnight the county’s longest-serving commissioner had prevailed.
In announcing her decision to seek a recount, Ledesma-Woody said, “I am extremely grateful to my campaign supporters, and especially the 10,729 voters who entrusted me with their votes. I am also aware of the effect of (Senate Bill) 1 on so many voters,” she said, referring to the state’s new election law that has tripped up numerous voters, especially those seeking to vote by mail.
Ledesma-Woody noted that many mailed ballots had been rejected and that in some cases, ballots came in late. She said she would ask for a recount, “Because the Travis County preliminary election reconciliation unofficial totals indicate that additional ballots can be added to the final count and because there is a 1 percent differential in the unofficial voting tally” for the Precinct 4 race.
Gómez campaign manager Joe Cascino told the Austin Monitor via email, “The Gómez campaign will respect the process and results of a recount if it occurs. However, we are confident that we have won this election and remain grateful for our supporters.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Becerra wins Democratic primary for judge, clerk’s race set (KXAN)
Ruben Becerra won the Democratic primary for Hays County Judge over challenger Brandon Burleson 68% to 32%. Becerra received 8,427 votes to Burleson’s 3,943.
The County Judge oversees the county’s governing body, the commissioners court, which makes decisions for the county.
In Becerra’s first term, he created a public defender’s office and a no-kill animal shelter. His initiatives also include establishing a mental health center.
Burleson’s priorities included COVID-19 vaccinations and affordability. He said he wanted to make the county more efficient and demand a legislative tax-system cure. The San Marcos native owns SoHo Lounge in downtown Austin and Skyline Party Bus… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Lawyer argues staggered council elections, new district maps deny thousands the right to vote (KUT)
An Austin lawyer has sued council members over what he says is the denial of voting rights to tens of thousands of residents.
Bill Aleshire filed the lawsuit in a Travis County district court Tuesday on behalf of a dozen Austin residents. In it, he argues that nearly 24,000 people who were moved into new council districts as part of the city’s recent redistricting efforts are being denied their right to elect a local representative.
“They were moved from a council district that had been on their ballot to one that has never been and won’t be for two more years,” he told KUT. “In a representative democracy it is not the government that designates and tells people who their representative will be. The voters get to choose.”
Austin staggers its council elections, as part of a measure approved by voters in 2012. Representatives for half the city’s council districts are on the ballot every two years, with council members serving four-year terms.
But when a group of volunteers redrew the council district maps last year — something the city does every 10 years based on new demographic data from the census — some residents found themselves in new districts being represented by people they didn't vote for… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin ISD to end mask mandate March 7 (Community Impact)
On March 2, Austin ISD officials announced students will no longer be required to wear masks starting March 7.
Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said the district will not require indoor masking in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, which states that students do not have to wear masks in areas of low or medium transmission for COVID-19.
"We learned that masks work, along with our layered protocols," Elizalde said. "These layered protocols effectively got us through delta and omicron, and for that, and our entire community, we are eternally grateful."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Alpine-X wants indoor ski resorts in Austin, Dallas (Austin Business Journal)
Alpine-X wants to bring snow to the Lone Star State with its indoor snowsport venue.
The Virginia-based company is opening its first location in its hometown but hopes to open the doors to an indoor ski and snowboard resort in Texas by early 2025, according to an announcement from the company.
Alpine-X executives said they have signed a letter of intent with a developer to build resorts in Austin and Dallas. The company said it will partner with the unnamed developer to form a joint venture to select sites and raise capital for at least two resorts in the state… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
See inside Icon's curvaceous 3D-printed home debuting at SXSW 2022 (Austin Business Journal)
Austin startup Icon Technology Inc. is debuting a striking home in East Austin that it constructed in a first-of-its kind collaboration between its large-scale 3D printer and human architects and builders.
The newly built — or should we say printed — home features a variety of curved walls that blend into high-end fir wood. It's something of a new age model property that shows how 3D printing can allow for more creative architectural decisions while keeping costs significantly lower than what they'd be with old school building methods.
"This is all just a deposit on the future," Icon co-founder and CEO Jason Ballard said as he walked through the home at 1700 Riverview St. "I truly think in the future that entire streets and neighborhoods and communities will be built by robots. And I think that future will be faster, more affordable and with a lot, as you see here, more design freedom."
Icon developed the property, which it calls "House Zero," with Lake Flato Architects, a San Antonio-based firm that was one of several to propose hybrid home designs. The 2,000-square-foot, three-bed, 2.5-bath home will be showcased at South by Southwest on March 13 and 14, as will the 350-square-foot accessory dwelling unit that sits next to it… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Henry Cuellar, Jessica Cisneros head to runoff for South Texas congressional seat (Texas Tribune)
Embattled U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar’s political purgatory will extend into the spring.
Weeks after the FBI raided his home and office, one of Texas’ most powerful Democrats in Congress was unable to secure his party’s nomination Tuesday and will face progressive attorney Jessica Cisneros in what is expected to be a bitter May 24 runoff.
“Today, we proved just how powerful our movement is and are ready to keep fighting for the future we deserve," Cisneros said in a Tuesday statement. "Together, we will take control back from Big Oil, private prisons, and Wall Street, and put it back where it belongs: with the people.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Rep. Van Taylor apologizes for affair with ‘ISIS bride,’ abruptly drops reelection bid (Dallas Morning News)
Rep. Van Taylor apologized Wednesday for an affair with an ex-jihadist dubbed the “ISIS bride” by British tabloids and abruptly dropped his bid for a third term, conceding the GOP runoff to rival Keith Self, a former Collin County judge. “About a year ago, I made a horrible mistake that has caused deep hurt and pain among those I love most in this world. I had an affair, it was wrong, and it was the greatest failure of my life,” he said in an email to supporters. The infidelity surfaced just before Tuesday’s primary with help from a third candidate, Suzanne Harp. A Plano resident named Tania Joya -- widow of the most infamous American to join the Islamic State – contacted Harp last Thursday, hoping she would confront Taylor privately and persuade him to drop out and resign from Congress.
Instead, Harp sent a supporter to interview Joya, who along with her husband has been profiled in the The Atlantic and tabloid fodder for years in her native Britain. On Sunday afternoon, two days before the primary, a rightwing website, National File, posted audio of that 35-minute interview full of salacious details about the nine-month affair. The next day, the conservative site Breitbart posted a similar story that it labeled “exclusive,” Conservatives gleefully spread the stories on social media. Although Taylor has enjoyed stellar ratings from the NRA, Heritage and other conservative groups, he was one of four Texas Republicans who voted to certify President Joe Biden’s victory, That earned a snub as Donald Trump endorsed nearly all other Texas congressional incumbents, and Self and Harp had made it central to the campaign. On Monday night Harp, having orchestrated the publicity, pounced. She called the revelation of the affair “shocking…disturbing and unbecoming of a sitting U.S. Representative” and warned that it would be “dangerous to have compromised and corrupt representation in Washington.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
White House unveils new COVID preparedness plan to combat future variants (Associated Press)
It's time for America to stop letting the coronavirus “dictate how we live,” President Joe Biden’s White House declared Wednesday, outlining a strategy to allow people to return to many normal activities safely after two years of pandemic disruptions. One highlight is a new “test to treat” plan to provide free antiviral pills at pharmacies to people who test positive for the virus. The 90-page National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan spells out initiatives and investments to continue to drive down serious illness and deaths from the virus, while preparing for potential new variants and providing employers and schools the resources to remain open. “We know how to keep our businesses and our schools open with the tools that we have at our disposal,” said White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients.
Meanwhile, 140 million Americans, or 43% have now had COVID, according to a new assessment from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That estimate comes from a surveillance program that tested nearly 72,000 blood samples that were sent to commercial labs from late December to late January. The samples were checked for antibodies from infection, and were distinguishable from antibodies that came from vaccination. More than 947,000 people in the U.S. have died from the virus according to the CDC. Wednesday's White House announcement follows Biden's Tuesday night State of the Union speech, in which he pointed to progress against the pandemic since last year, with a dramatic reduction in cases, along with readily available vaccines and the likelihood of new tests and therapeutics soon becoming more accessible. “This plan lays out the roadmap to help us fight COVID-19 in the future as we move America from crisis to a time when COVID-19 does not disrupt our daily lives and is something we prevent, protect against, and treat,” the White House said. “We are not going to just 'live with COVID.' Because of our work, we are no longer going to let COVID-19 dictate how we live."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)