BG Reads | News You Need to Know (April 25, 2023)
[AUSTIN METRO]
More than 500 Austin kids need help going to summer camp (KXAN)
Austin Sunshine Camps, a summer camp committed to providing the experience of overnight camp to disadvantaged children, is gearing up for its major fundraiser in May to help cover the camper’s costs.
This summer, 525 kids between the ages of eight and 15 are planning to attend the camp organized by the Young Men’s Business League.
“Our mission is to provide the magic of overnight camp without the barrier of cost,” Maddie Freedman, Austin Sunshine Camps development and communications coordinator, said. “So all of our campers come here for free.”
Fundraising takes place year-round to cover the $1,500 per camper cost, highlighted by the H-E-B Sunshine Run… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Taxpayers sue City Council over funding plan for Statesman site (Austin monitor)
Taxpayers Against Giveaways, the Save Our Springs Alliance and three taxpayers – former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, former City Council Member Ora Houston and Allandale neighborhood homeowner Faye Holland – have filed a lawsuit suit against City Council to stop it from putting tax money into a fund for development of the former Austin American-Statesman site on Lady Bird Lake.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs are Bill Bunch, Bill Aleshire and Fred Lewis.
The suit, filed Monday in Travis County District Court, alleges that actions by City Council to create the South Central Waterfront Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, or TIRZ, were illegal. The area covers 118 acres along the south shore of Lady Bird Lake. According to the suit, the plan “will divert $354 million in property taxes over 19 years from the general revenue to pay for the private infrastructure of a projected $8 billion in luxury development on premier land within the designated zone.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin's police oversight ballot items, propositions A and B, explained (Community impact)
Austinites can now weigh in on a pair of ballot measures tied to police oversight with early voting running from April 24-May 2 ahead of election day May 6.
Two items, both called the Austin Police Oversight Act, are on the ballot.
The first, Proposition A, was developed by the local criminal justice reform group Equity Action last year. Equity Action is supporting the Yes on A No on B campaign involving many local activist and political organizations.
The ballot language reads: “Shall the voters of Austin adopt an initiated ordinance, circulated by Equity Action, that will deter police misconduct and brutality by strengthening the City's system of independent and transparent civilian police oversight?”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Hutto ISD to hold largest bond election in district history(Community impact)
In an attempt to keep up with enrollment growth, Hutto ISD will hold a $522 million bond election in May—by far the largest the district has ever called.
Student enrollment in HISD has grown substantially in recent years, and data projections show the trend will continue: it is expected to nearly double from 9,688 to 18,240 by the 2032-33 school year.
The bond aims to help accommodate growth by funding the construction of two new elementary schools as well as upgrades and expansions to campuses across the district… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
With his agenda through Senate, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick pushes House to comply (Dallas Morning News)
With nearly his entire legislative agenda approved by the Senate weeks before the Legislature’s session ends, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is now pressuring Speaker Dade Phelan and House Republicans to ratify his wish list. Patrick’s priorities include providing property tax relief through raising the homestead exemption and providing public money for students to attend private schools. Phelan disagrees with Patrick on the mechanism to reduce property taxes and a majority of House members are against a Senate school choice proposal. But the Senate has approved 29 of Patrick’s 30 legislative priorities, which sets up a showdown with Phelan, who has his own agenda. “Texans should know that their Senators are working hard to deliver for them,” Patrick wrote in a news release this week trumpeting that all of his priority bills were on track for passage. “I look forward to the Texas House’s swift passage of these needed reforms so Texas can continue to be America’s juggernaut for centuries to come.”
Patrick can now use the Senate’s work to prompt Phelan to rubber stamp the Senate’s agenda. And if lawmakers run out of time, he’ll prod Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session to force lawmakers to consider legislation left on the table. It’s a tactic he’s used during previous legislative sessions. Abbott, who doesn’t participate in the Legislature, also has his own priorities. The stakes for this session are high for politicians and Texas residents. Lawmakers are mandated to approve a budget, but there are numerous other proposals in the works. At the top of all lists, Republican leaders have promised residents property tax relief, which is made more possible by a $33 billion budget surplus. But the House and Senate are at loggerheads on property tax relief proposals. They also disagree on school choice and what’s needed to bolster the state’s electric grid, which made national headlines in 2021 after a winter storm left millions of Texans without power and water… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas should be site of $11B National Semiconductor Technology Center, Sen. Cruz says (Dallas Business journal)
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in a visit to Dallas renewed his call for Texas to be the site of an $11 billion center aimed at restoring the nation’s leadership in the advanced semiconductor manufacturing industry.
Tens of billions of dollars for new facilities to manufacture advanced semiconductors are being invested in Texas — mostly in North Texas and the Austin area.
Congress in August approved $53 billion for semiconductor manufacturing and research through the CHIPS Act, an initiative aimed at supercharging the U.S. semiconductor industry and revitalizing the country’s innovation ecosystem. This funding includes $11 billion for research and development, the focal point of which will be the National Semiconductor Technology Center, an innovation hub planned to improve semiconductor technology and seed new industries built on the capabilities of a wide range of advanced chips… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Research leaders at Texas A&M University raise “serious concerns” with President Kathy Banks’ leadership(Texas tribune)
Eight months after Texas A&M University professors expressed frustration that President Kathy Banks was leaving them out of major decisions, a well-respected group on campus says researchers at the flagship university also have “serious concerns” with the president’s leadership, based on survey results from a poll the group conducted.
In a letter sent to Banks last week, the Council of Principal Investigators, an elected group of faculty and researchers who help oversee research activity at the school, said responses from “principal investigators” — faculty and researchers within the A&M system who are allowed to oversee research grants — revealed “widespread discontent.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Biden announces 2024 reelection bid (The Hill)
President Biden announced on Tuesday that he will run for reelection, ending months of speculation over whether he will seek another term.
“When I ran for President four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America – and we still are” Biden said in a video announcing his campaign. “The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer.”
“Every generation of Americans has faced a moment when they’ve had to defend democracy, stand up for our personal freedoms, and stand up for our right to vote and our civil rights,” he added. “This is ours. Let’s finish the job.” … (LINK TO FULL STORY)
As Carlson and Lemon Exit, a Chapter Closes on Cable’s Trump War (New York Times)
They were on very different networks and did very different things to draw very different ratings.
But the synchronous exits of Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon from the cable news landscape on Monday represented the end of an era for their industry — the most combative and partisan since Ted Turner introduced the concept of 24-hour news to television more than 40 years ago.
No equivalence can be drawn between the two hosts. Mr. Carlson often led in the ratings by running wild at Fox News with white nationalist and false conspiracy stories that put him in a class by himself. Mr. Lemon became known for his anti-Trump broadsides that were tame in comparison — and drew much smaller ratings — yet could come off as plenty hot by the standards of CNN.
But in their most recent incarnations, Mr. Carlson and Mr. Lemon were both products of the Trump years — set-top-box combatants who often made headlines themselves by giving their audiences generous helpings of indignation and outrage.
Now, in different ways, their ousters represent at least a temporary pulling back from the excesses of the media coverage that the Trump election, presidency and post-presidency spawned… (LINK TO FULL STORY)