BG Reads | News You Need to Know (April 12, 2023)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Memo eyes possible polystyrene ban to curb trash in creeks, streams (austin monitor)
The Watershed Protection Department wants city leaders to consider instituting a ban on polystyrene fast-food containers as one of a series of possible steps to reduce the amount of trash in local waterways.
An April 10 memo gives City Council members an update on progress related to a 2020 resolution that called for a comprehensive plan to address an increase in the amount of trash accumulating in local creeks and streams, including what was once believed to be the pervasive problem of motorized scooters being discarded in waterways.
The memo details the programs and strategies that have already been implemented with varying degrees of success, including Austin Resource Recovery’s Clean Creeks Program that saw a dedicated team assigned to manually remove trash from creeks and riparian corridors… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Council looks to boost overdose reversal resources in Austin (Community impact)
A new request from City Council could lead to more funding for overdose reversal kits and related training for Austinites as Central Texas governments seek to combat the rising number of opioid overdose deaths reported from the local to national levels… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Short-staffed Austin airport could get $11M to avoid baggage handling breakdowns (Community Impact)
With many of its luggage technician positions sitting vacant, Austin's airport is set to get a nearly $11 million staffing boost to avoid the possibility of significant baggage operation failures city staff warned are on the horizon.
On April 13, Austin City Council will vote on a $10.98 million contract with Vanderlande Industries Inc. to provide third-party baggage technicians at ABIA for up to two years. Contract information from Austin's Aviation and Financial Services departments noted the new services will help avoid “premature” or “catastrophic” failures for the airport, travelers and airlines.
Vacancies at the airport have come in part thanks to high demand among Central Texas technology and manufacturing companies for the technician skills needed for the baggage system, the airport said. After several ABIA employees left in recent months, the technician positions have now been labeled as hard to fill, meaning ABIA can provide additional incentives to bring on new employees. The aviation department said it has also been working with the city's human resources office to make sure its roles are competitive in the local labor market… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Greg Abbott nixes Iowa invite, another signal that he's not running for president in 2024 (Houston Chronicle))
If Gov. Greg Abbott really wanted to run for the White House in 2024, it is not likely he’d be turning down big Iowa speaking engagements like he just did. While Abbott hasn’t made any formal announcement about running for the White House one way or the other, his lack of travel to Iowa and New Hampshire as other GOP contenders make beelines for those states shows the Texas governor is not laying the early groundwork for a presidential campaign. Iowa and New Hampshire are traditionally the first two GOP presidential primary voting states.
Former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis were all working Iowa voters last month, and this week both former Ambassador Nikki Haley and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina are in the state. But Abbott passed when the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition sent him an invite to speak at its annual spring kickoff in Clive, Iowa, next weekend. Pence, Scott, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, of San Antonio, are among the list of eight candidates who have agreed to speak at the event as they try to get their names in the national conversation. The Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition is typically a key stop in the early run-up to the Iowa Caucus vote, one that former Gov. Rick Perry said he remembers making in October of 2011 as he began his 2012 presidential campaign. “They were places that you needed to go, needed to be engaged in if you were serious about running for president,” the former Texas governor said in an interview on Tuesday. “I learned more about Iowa than I ever thought I would in my lifetime.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texan leading TikTok ban in Congress urges state lawmakers to rein in their own social media legislation (texas tribune)
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, one of the top China hawks in Congress who is leading the charge to restrict TikTok nationwide, warned Texas lawmakers not to discriminate against Chinese Americans and immigrants in their own statewide social media ban legislation.
Both McCaul and members of the Texas House introduced bills to curb perceived security threats by Chinese actors in the country via popular social media apps like TikTok, which is owned by a China-based company. McCaul’s bill, the DATA Act, would require the administration to determine whether TikTok or its Beijing-based parent company, ByteDance, has ever transferred sensitive data to the Chinese government and to ban the app from the U.S. if so… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Two GOP Texas House members call for Rep. Bryan Slaton to resign (Texas Tribune)
Two state lawmakers have called for the resignation of Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, after The Texas Tribune reported that he is being investigated following allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a Capitol intern.
“The past few days in the Texas House, screams of everything that’s wrong with a small segment of its elected officials. Unfortunately calling the behavior of [Slaton] ‘inappropriate’ is a gross understatement,” state Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, wrote on social media Tuesday morning. “He needs to resign.”
The resignation calls have come as Slaton has remained silent about the allegations beyond an initial statement from his lawyer decrying unspecified "outrageous claims." His usual political allies have also stayed quiet about the situation… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Pappas sues Houston over Hobby Airport deal, citing call from former mayoral aide during bid process (Houston Public media)
Pappas Restaurants, which lost a bid to continue operating concessions at Hobby Airport, is suing the City of Houston over an allegedly faulty procurement process and asking a judge to void a lucrative contract awarded to a competitor.
Houston-based Pappas leads a concessions management group called 4 Families of Hobby, which started operating at the South Houston airport in 2003. It finished a close second last month to a joint venture group led by a U.S. subsidiary of Spain-based Areas, which was awarded a 10-year, $470 million contract by the Houston City Council. The 4 Families group subsequently filed a protest with the city, which was denied earlier this month by the city's chief procurement officer, Jedediah Greenfield.
The local restaurant chain responded by filing a 269-page lawsuit Tuesday alleging that the city violated state and local procurement laws and policies, claiming the contract awarded to Areas should be voided as a result… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Macron comments raise questions about Europe's allegiance to the U.S. and Taiwan(NPR)
French President Emmanuel Macron drew consternation on both sides of the Atlantic with a recent interview in which he questioned Europe's allegiance to the United States.
Macron spoke to journalists from Politico Europe and the French newspaper Les Echos, saying that "the great risk" Europe faces is that it "gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy," especially when it comes to the U.S.'s escalating tensions with China over Taiwan. In the interview, he suggested that the "worst thing" would be to "take our cue from the U.S. agenda and a Chinese overreaction."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)