BG Reads | News You Need to Know (March 8, 2022)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Austin leaders detail South by Southwest safety, traffic plans ahead of festival (Community Impact)
Austin leaders are planning for another busy South by Southwest Conference & Festivals this month, and they are urging Austinites and visitors to plan ahead of visiting downtown during festival season.
Following its cancelation in 2020 due to COVID-19 and its more limited, virtual-only run in 2021, the festival will once again be held downtown this year—which Mayor Steve Adler said will bring Austin economic benefits on par with hosting a Super Bowl amid its recovery from the events sector's pandemic drop-off.
“Over the last two years we have seen the creative sector and special events industry adapt and modify operations to stream online content, to move outdoors and innovate in ways that only strong, nimble small businesses can. Austin has been a leader in supporting the experience sector industry, working diligently to get events, venues, artists and arts-based businesses back open and on the road to recovery," City Manager Spencer Cronk said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
The proliferation of cashless businesses in Austin (AXIOS)
At Little Brother Coffee & Kolaches on South Congress, don't bother trying to buy an espresso with cash. Details: Same with the kimchi fries at Chi'Lantro BBQ. And when you get your favorite snickerdoodles from Tiff's Treats, you're going to have to reach for a card. More and more Austin businesses now inform customers that their cash will not be accepted. Why it matters: Fewer people use paper money in their daily lives, though cashless businesses can impact millions of "unbanked" Americans who lack credit or debit cards. The rate of "unbanked" households is highest within communities of color, lower-income earners and those with disabilities, according to the FDIC.
Flashback: Austin's Human Rights Commission in January 2020 — the pandemic before-times — recommended prohibiting stores and restaurants with at least five employees from refusing to accept cash. But the Austin City Council never took it up, and then COVID struck — leaving many in those early months wary of exchanging potentially contaminated cash. A host of businesses had already been turning away cash for security reasons, especially as customers increasingly turned to their phones and cards for everyday transactions. Cash was "on the ropes but the pandemic accelerated a decline that's been underway,” Axios' Kate Marino observed last year, with ATM activity in sharp decline around the globe. What they're saying: "People on the lower end of the economic spectrum are being squeezed out," Garry Brown, a member of the city's Human Rights Commission, tells Axios… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin's skyline keeps growing: 46-story office tower planned for downtown (Austin American-Statesman)
A local developer says it plans to break ground this summer on a 46-story downtown office tower not far from the Austin Convention Center.
Cielo Property Group said the tower will have 750,000 square feet of office space and three floors of retail space, including restaurants and entertainment venues. The building, named Perennial, will be one of Austin's tallest office buildings when it opens in late 2025.
With an approved site development plan from the city in hand, Perennial will be the first of two adjacent high-rises planned on the city block, which is just east of Frost Bank Tower, Cielo said.
Cielo bought the site where Perennial will be built last year. The 0.81-acre tract is on the southern half of the block along Fourth Street, between Brazos Street and San Jacinto Boulevard.
Cielo does not yet have a specific proposal for the second tower on the block. which can accommodate a high-rise of up to 886,200 square feet. But instead of a second office tower like it originally considered, Cielo is now working on plans for a residential and hotel high-rise, saying it would provide more nighttime and weekend activity on the block and enhance the amenities for the Perennial office tower… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Gov. Greg Abbott asks for task force to address Texas’ teacher shortage (Texas Tribune)
Gov. Greg Abbott has directed the Texas Education Agency to create a task force to examine the state’s teacher shortage problem.
In a letter to TEA Commissioner Mike Morath on Monday, Abbott said the task force should investigate why these shortages exist, recommend policy changes to the state education agency and consider more flexibility in the teacher certification process.
“This task force should work diligently to ensure that best practices and resources for recruitment and retention are provided to districts to ensure the learning environment of Texas students is not interrupted by the absence of a qualified teacher,” Abbott said.
The pandemic has exacerbated the nation’s teacher shortage. Shifting mask requirements and the closure then the reopening of schools have taken a toll on teachers. At the same time, schools have become the center of the state’s culture wars, and teachers are caught in the crossfire… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Most women denied abortions by Texas law got them another way (New York Times)
In the months after Texas banned all but the earliest abortions in September, the number of legal abortions in the state fell by about half. But two new studies suggest the total number among Texas women fell by far less — around 10 percent — because of large increases in the number of Texans who traveled to a clinic in a nearby state or ordered abortion pills online. Two groups of researchers at the University of Texas at Austin counted the number of women using these alternative options. They found that while the Texas law — which prohibits abortion after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, or around six weeks — lowered the number of abortions, it did so much more modestly than earlier measurements suggested. Combined, the data points to what may happen to abortion access if the Supreme Court decides to overturn Roe v. Wade when it rules on another abortion law this summer. The data shows the limitations of laws restricting abortion. Yet it also shows how restrictions erect significant obstacles, which will cause some women to carry unwanted pregnancies to term.
“There’s no hesitation from our side to declare this a victory for actually protecting pre-born children from elective abortion,” said John Seago, the legislative director of Texas Right to Life, who was involved in the creation of the law. “We’re realists around here, so the best we can do is incentivize women to have their children.” Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who said the bill “ensures that the life of every unborn child who has a heartbeat will be saved from the ravages of abortion” when he signed it, declined to comment on the new numbers. As state legislatures await a Supreme Court ruling and take stock of the Texas experience this year, several have passed new abortion restrictions, even if they conflict with Roe. On Thursday night, the Florida Legislature voted to ban most abortions after 15 weeks. Somewhere between 21 and 26 states are expected to ban or substantially restrict abortion if the Supreme Court permits it. On Monday, an effort by Senate Democrats to codify abortion rights into federal law failed to attract enough votes… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Putin's attacks on civilians raise pressure on US, NATO (The Hill)
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s increased aerial bombardment of civilian areas in Ukraine has triggered allegations of war crimes and raised pressure on the West to take more direct action to save lives.President Biden has yet to publicly reject a no-fly zone, but U.S. officials have said the measure is a non-starter to avoid open military conflict between the West and Russia.
But some experts and lawmakers warn that such declarations might embolden Putin to further carry out atrocities by drawing a line on the steps the U.S. and its allies are willing to take.
Evelyn Farkas, former deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia under the Obama administration, said she is not advocating for a no-fly zone but wouldn’t take it off the table.
“I don’t want to telegraph to Putin ahead of time what we want to do, especially because we know he’s capable of practically anything and we are trying to deter him from further horrific action, from cutting off future options for Ukraine, assistance to Ukraine or our defense of NATO,” she said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)