BG Reads | News You Need to Know (August 10, 2023)
[BG PODCAST]
EPISODE 210 // Welcome to Episode 210! Bingham Group Associate Hannah Garcia CEO A.J. Bingham review the week (of 7.31.2023) in Austin politics and more.
>>> SHOW LINK <<<
Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
[city of austin]
Austin City Council FY24 Budget Priorities:
[AUSTIN METRO]
Texas state troopers are routinely stopping motorists of color in Austin, data shows (Texas Tribune)
Records obtained by the Tribune through an open records request show that DPS has made 1,253 arrests in Travis County between March and July, including 513 in April alone. That includes a seven-week period between mid-May and early July when the state pulled most of the troopers out of Austin and sent them to the Texas-Mexico border.
In 2022, state troopers made 935 arrests in Travis County during the entire year.
Data from the Travis County attorney’s office shows that from March 27, when the city announced that troopers would begin patrolling Austin’s streets, to July 12, 82% of the people charged with misdemeanors by state troopers were Black or Latino.
During that same period, 69% of misdemeanor charges filed by Austin police were against Black people or Latinos, who together make up 41% of the city’s population… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
New Austin Energy GM says there are ’80 things’ to do better after winter storm (KXAN)
One month into his role as Austin Energy’s new general manager, Bob Kahn is already bracing for at least an 80-item, to-do list after thousands of customers lost power during February’s winter storm.
He told KXAN in a sit-down interview he expects an after-action report released later this month, outlining changes and recommendations from the ice storm, which left almost a third of Austin Energy customers without power at its peak… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas Central, Amtrak exploring partnership to advance high-speed rail project (Community Impact)
The controversial plan to reorganize the offices of Civil Rights and Equity and two others is being put on hold and will be evaluated after City Council concludes its work to finalize and approve next year’s budget.
At Tuesday’s budget work session, interim City Manager Jesús Garza said criticism from community groups and objections to the move from many Council members caused him to reconsider the plan, which he’d included as part of the draft budget completed last month. Garza said he was prompted to “take a step back” on the reorganization because of his concerns that the debate could slow the budget process or take Council members’ focus away from other pressing needs.
“Fundamentally, there have been issues that have been raised that touch the history of how the Equity Office, in particular, was established,” Garza said. “And it’s critically important that you be able to focus your attention on the resource allocations for all these departments as you adopt the budget for (2024)… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Democrats Colin Allred, Roland Gutierrez draw distinctions on key issues as they target Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024 (texas tribune)
U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas and state Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio both think they have the platform needed to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the conservative powerhouse who is seeking reelection next year.
Each brings a different profile to the race. Allred is a former NFL player and civil rights attorney from North Texas who was first elected to Congress in 2018. Gutierrez is an immigration lawyer from South Texas who has served in the Texas Legislature since 2008, first in the House and then in the Senate.
Allred openly touts his bipartisan credentials in a closely divided U.S. House. Gutierrez, meanwhile, has become an outspoken Democrat in a Texas Senate where Republicans dominate.
Their differences extend to the issues, according to recent interviews with the two candidates. While they generally agree on many Democratic priorities, they diverge on the best way to address some of them, including gun control, immigration and health care… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Mayor Turner promises 'safety' at Travis Scott's upcoming Houston show at Toyota Center (Houston Chronicle)
Mayor Sylvester Turner has promised to ensure safety in the wake of an all-but-confirmed Travis Scott concert later this year in Houston. Turner's statement, released Tuesday evening, was in response to reports of Scott's Circus Maximus World Tour, which is expected to include an Oct. 19 date at Toyota Center. A publicist for Scott would not confirm the dates, but a full run of shows has been picked up by multiple media outlets. This will be Scott's first show in Houston since the Astroworld Festival tragedy that killed ten people and injured hundreds more in late-2021.
A Harris County grand jury declined to indict Scott or other event officials on criminal charges, largely based on a 1,266 Houston Police report. Civil lawsuits brought by festival attendees are pending. Turner presented Scott with the key to the city during a 2019 concert at Toyota Center. Nov. 18 has also been designated as Travis Scott Day in Houston. Tickets for Scott's upcoming Houston show are expected go on sale this week. Reddit users caught a deleted tweet from Live Nation Houston announcing the date… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
SMU on ACC’s short list of candidates if conference looks to expand (Dallas Morning News)
The next round of realignment began when USC and UCLA announced they were leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. Almost immediately, representatives from SMU — especially David Miller, the chairman of the board of trustees, began reaching out to representatives from the Pac-12, the Big 12 and the ACC. “You have to feel good about where we’re at,” an SMU official said in July 2022. Things have changed a lot since then. The Pac-12 is on the brink of demise, the Big 12 has already added eight other schools and now the Atlantic Coast Conference could be ready to broaden, as well. SMU, according to multiple people familiar with the situation, has been on the short list of expansion candidates for the ACC for quite some time. The ACC, according to Yahoo! Sports, may be targeting SMU.
One person familiar with the situation theorized that SMU’s potential entrance to the ACC could be connected with the possibility of other expansion candidates. ACC officials have discussed adding Cal and Stanford, according to multiple reports. SMU leaders have been internally optimistic, even outwardly cautious, about their realignment hopes over the last year. It accelerated when Pac-12 Commissioner George Kliavkoff visited SMU’s campus for a basketball game in early February. After that, SMU to the Pac-12, along with San Diego State, seemed a matter of when, not if. That is, as long as the Pac-12 stayed alive. Since then, Colorado defected. After that, Oregon and Washington left for the Big Ten, while Arizona, Arizona State and Utah departed for the Big 12. The remaining four Pac-12 schools have been the topic of expansion and merging with multiple conferences, according to reports. There are a lot of factors at play at the moment. “Everyone is talking to everyone,” one person familiar with SMU’s realignment status said. Now everyone is waiting for the next move to happen. Could it be SMU getting an invite to a Power Five conference?… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Anti-abortion movement clashes over crushing defeat in Ohio (Politico)
Anti-abortion forces suffered a staggering loss in Ohio’s special election this week. Now, in the aftermath of that defeat and others over the last year, the movement is grappling with how to forge ahead.
State and national conservatives offer a litany of competing explanations for why they were massively outspent and out-organized, and are butting heads on how to turn things around before November, when abortion will be on Ohio’s ballot directly. With no consensus on the real reason for the loss in a state dominated by Republicans, some are pleading with the GOP to move away from backing near-total bans with no exemptions to stave off further electoral disaster.
“We’re going to have to live with messier compromises going forward or risk this happening again and again,” said Patrick Brown, a fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center who called Tuesday’s result a “five-alarm fire for the pro-life movement.”
“Some think that only a total ban is acceptable. But we see, over and over again, that such an uncompromising position doesn’t have support. There’s no political appetite for that,” he said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Paper exams, chatbot bans: Colleges seek to ‘ChatGPT-proof’ assignments (Associated Press)
[E]ducators are rethinking how they’ll teach courses this fall from Writing 101 to computer science. Educators say they want to embrace the technology’s potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to “ChatGPT-proof” test questions and assignments.
For some instructors that means a return to paper exams, after years of digital-only tests. Some professors will be requiring students to show editing history and drafts to prove their thought process. Other instructors are less concerned. Some students have always found ways to cheat, they say, and this is just the latest option.
An explosion of AI-generated chatbots including ChatGPT, which launched in November, has raised new questions for academics dedicated to making sure not only that students can get the right answer, but also understand how to do the work. Educators say there is agreement at least on some of the most pressing challenges… (LINK TO FULL STORY)