BG Reads | News You Need to Know (April 7, 2023)
[AUSTIN METRO]
Former airport CEO had conflict of interest, report shows (Austin monitor)
Jacqueline Yaft, who recently resigned her job as CEO of the Austin Aviation Department, had a conflict of interest beginning in June 2019 when she went to work for the city, according to an investigative report from the Office of the City Auditor. Although she was required to inform the city of the conflict by filing a form within weeks of joining city staff, Yaft did not do so until she was under investigation in September 2022.
Auditors said they began to investigate Yaft after receiving a complaint that she was “interfering in the management” of an aviation contract involving her previous employer. Brian Molloy, chief of investigations for the auditor’s office, said his group did not find any specific problem with the contractor as a result of Yaft’s involvement. However, they did discover the violation of the city’s conflict of interest rules.
As the airport’s chief executive, Yaft was in charge of overseeing the day-to-day operations of the airport, including budget and financial matters, development and construction of the airport.
Interim City Manager Jesús Garza announced Yaft’s resignation in early March, along with other major personnel changes.
The crux of the investigative report is the conclusion that Yaft failed to disclose her conflict of interest upon joining city staff and that she routinely flouted her obligation to step away from dealing with her former employer, which had a $10 million contract with the airport. She had meetings with representatives of the contractor outside the presence of other airport staff and she authorized payment of invoices, contrary to the city’s rules regarding conflict of interest, the report says… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
County greenlights long-awaited performance audit of Central Health (AUstin monitor)
On Tuesday, the Travis County Commissioners Court greenlit a long-awaited independent performance audit with auditing firm Mazars for $854,200. The audit will examine how Central Health has used taxpayer money, with a close eye on the controversial, taxpayer-funded allocation of $35 million per year to Dell Medical School, which began dispensing in 2014 and has continued into the present.
While voters approved that measure in 2012, many expected the money to directly fund trauma services, communitywide health clinics and the health care of those in need. After all, Central Health was Travis County’s public hospital district, and language in the original ballot measure specified the spending be “consistent with the mission of Central Health.”
But only 4 percent of that money went to clinical care, according to Fred Lewis, an attorney and outspoken advocate of the latest performance audit. (The Dell Medical School data was obtained via subpoena last June.) The rest, according to subpoena data, went to “fundraising, admissions, the dean’s office, business affairs, non-clinical research, and undergraduate medical education.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas aims to attract semiconductor investment amid national boom (Austin american-statesman)
Semiconductor investment in the United States in the next several years could be unprecedented, and Texas is angling to reap big benefits.
Industry experts say Central Texas, which has a strong history of semiconductor manufacturing, is poised to be one of a handful of regions that could see significant investment from federal legislation passed last year, but local incentives, a strong workforce pipeline and other resources will be key.
Texas is eyeing its own state legislation that would further incentivize semiconductor buildout in Central Texas, including at least one bill that has been introduced that would create a fund and consortium with representatives from the Texas higher education institutes.
On March 15, Gov. Greg Abbott said he supports proposed legislation called the Texas CHIPS Act, which is designed to encourage semiconductor companies to expand in the state, and leverage Texas higher education institutes.
“This is a national competition to design and build the future of semiconductors," Abbott said, "and it is a race that Texas must win for our state, our workforce, our national security and our future.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas House approves $302.6 billion state budget with tax cuts and teacher and state employee raises (Texas Tribune)
The Texas House on Thursday approved a historic $302.6 billion state spending plan for the next two years, sending to the Senate a proposal that would bring pay raises to state employees, as well as tax cuts and more mental health services to millions of residents.
The plan pushes some $136.9 billion in general revenue to some of the state GOP leadership’s biggest priorities for the next two years, including $17.5 billion for property tax cuts, $5 billion in new money for schools and $4.6 billion on border security.
The budget plan also leaves tens of billions of dollars in unspent general revenue available to them after record-breaking tax collections left the state flush with more cash than ever before. That includes a $37.2 billion surplus higher than the entire budgets of 24 states… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Do Texas cities' employment laws constitute vital protection or absurd 'patchwork'? Debate rages at CapitoL (Austin business Journal)
An effort to limit local governments' capacity to regulate employment practices at businesses in the state is advancing at the Texas State Capitol.
It's the latest attempt to concentrate more regulatory power at the state level instead of in the hands of more progressive city councils, something that has surfaced during past legislatures.
This year, the Texas Regulatory Consistency Act — consisting of House Bill 2127 and Senate Bill 814, introduced by Rep. Dustin Burrows and Sen. Brandon Creighton, respectively — would give the state exclusive power to regulate employment-related matters including leave, hiring practices, benefits and scheduling practices. It could remove local protections set up for construction workers and the LGBT-plus community, among others… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Tennessee House expels 2 Democrats over gun control protest (AP News)
In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest calling for more gun control in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Nashville. A third Democrat was narrowly spared by a one-vote margin.
The split votes drew accusations of racism, with lawmakers ousting Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who are both Black, while Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, survived the vote on her expulsion. Republican leadership denied that race was a factor, however… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Feds barged into the wrong hotel room during a drill, then detained the guest inside (NPR)
Federal agents and military personnel conducting a training exercise at a Boston hotel interrogated an unsuspecting civilian after they entered the wrong room by mistake.
Authorities confirmed to NPR that no one was injured in the incident, which happened around 10 p.m. Tuesday night and is now under review by the FBI and Department of Defense.
"First and foremost, we'd like to extend our deepest apologies to the individual who was affected by the training exercise," said Lt. Col. Mike Burns, spokesperson for U.S. Army Special Operations Command.
Members of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command had set out to conduct "essential military training" with assistance from the FBI-Boston Division, Burns said in a statement.
"The training was meant to enhance soldiers' skills to operate in realistic and unfamiliar environments," he added. "The training team, unfortunately, entered the wrong room and detained an individual unaffiliated with the exercise."
The FBI-Boston Division said personnel were "mistakenly sent" to the wrong room "based on inaccurate information."
The agency did not provide any information about the person who was detained, other than to say they were "not the intended role player."
CBS News affiliate WBZ-TV reported that the guest was a man in his 30s who works as a pilot for Delta Air Lines.
The man had been asleep in his room at the Revere Hotel when agents began banging on his door and demanding to be let in, according to WBZ-TV. It says the agents handcuffed the man, put him in the shower and interrogated him for more than 45 minutes before they realized their mistake, uncuffed him and apologized…. (LINK TO FULL STORY)