BG Reads | News You Need to Know (January 13, 2023)
[AUSTIN METRO]
New director Shay Ralls Roalson speaks on future of Austin Water (FOX 7 Austin)
Last month, the City of Austin named a new director for Austin Water, the first woman to lead the department.
Shay Ralls Roalson, Austin Water Director, joined FOX 7 Austin's Rebecca Thomas to discuss her new position… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin ISD poised to select search firm to find next superintendent (Community impact)
Austin ISD's Board of Trustees is poised to select a search firm to find the next superintendent for the district on Jan. 26.
A request for proposals was released by the trustees to help find a permanent superintendent. The RFP closed on Jan. 10 and trustees reported that five firms responded. Those firms are Ray and Associates Inc., Alma Advisory Group, Eugene Associates PC, McPherson Jacobson LLC and GR Recruiting.
The next step will be for trustees to review and evaluate those proposals from all five firms. Trustee Noelita Lugo, At-Large Position 8, said during the Jan. 12 informational board meeting that trustees will meet Jan. 13 and narrow down the number of search firms in the running. A short list of two or three search firms will be invited to give oral presentations on Jan. 17… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
After another high school student dies from a fentanyl overdose, education campaign ramps up (KUT)
The death of another student from a fentanyl overdose has prompted Hays County officials to escalate their warnings about the drug.
The county sheriff confirmed the death on Sunday.
Tim Savoy, chief communications officer for the Hays Consolidated Independent School District, said this has been an ongoing crisis. Three Hays CISD students died from fentanyl overdoses last summer and a fourth student died the first week of school… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Want to know how the city enforces density bonus agreements? Read on. (Austin Monitor)
This week, the Community Development Commission learned more about how the city ensures the reduced-rent housing units created through its density bonus programs go to people who meet the income eligibility requirements.
At the commission’s Jan. 10 meeting, Commissioner Karen Paup said she asked staff from the Housing and Planning Department to help them better understand the eligibility monitoring requirements for units created through the city’s many density bonus programs.
“If you drive down South Lamar or up North Lamar or up Burnet – all those new apartments – it’s a little-known fact that 10 percent of most of those units are affordable at 60 or 80 percent of median family income,” Paup said. “And it’s increasingly an incentive that accompanies new construction, so it’s an important program in the respect that it’s growing.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas House speaker addresses prospects of anti-LGBTQ bills, gun legislation and casinoS (Texas Tribune)
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan said Thursday a select committee he formed in 2021 will address a number of social issues that conservatives are pushing this legislative session.
During a media briefing at the Capitol, the Beaumont Republican was asked if he had any appetite this session for GOP legislation targeting LGBTQ Texans, specifically a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for transgender children.
“It’s gonna be part of a much larger issue,” Phelan said. “I created a select committee on youth health and safety for this specific reason, dealing with all these issues, whether it’s the issue you highlight or whether it’s issues in the classroom.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Abbott says migrants in ‘military style gear’ are crossing border in ‘invasion’ of Texas (Dallas Morning News)
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shrugged off a rebuke for calling the surge of illegal border crossings an “invasion,” ramping up the rhetoric Thursday by warning that migrants in “military style gear” are now sneaking into Texas. The governor’s office pointed to news reports showing migrants dressed in camouflage, captured last February through May in remote parts of West Texas. None of the reports indicate weapons. Migrants and smugglers have used camouflage clothing to avoid detection for years. Examples abound of captured migrants in camouflage during the tenure of Donald Trump, though Abbott indicated it’s a new phenomenon during an interview on CNN in which he accused the President Joe Biden of ignoring pleas for help in sealing the border… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
California says it will dismantle death row. The move brings cheers and anger (NPR)
California this week pushed ahead with controversial efforts to dismantle the largest death row system in America.
Under Gov. Gavin Newsom, the state is moving to make the transfer of condemned inmates permanent and mandatory after what the state's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) calls a successful pilot program that voluntarily moved 101 inmates off death row into general population prisons across the state.
The effort is in keeping with Newsom's belief that the death penalty in America is unjust, is racially and class biased and has little connection to justice.
"That's a helluva thing: The prospect of your ending up on death row has more to do with your wealth and race than it does your guilt or innocence," the Democratic governor said last year. "Think about that. We talk about justice, we preach justice. But as a nation, we don't practice it on death row."… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Biden political future clouded by classified document probe (Associated press)
Virtually everything was going right for President Joe Biden as he opened the year.
His approval ratings were ticking up. Inflation was slowing. And as Democrats united behind his likely reelection campaign, Republicans were at war with themselves after a disappointing midterm season.
But on Thursday, Biden’s political outlook veered into more uncertain territory after Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate the Democratic president’s handling of classified documents… (LINK TO FULL STORY)