BG Reads | News You Need to Know (January 2, 2023)
[AUSTIN METRO]
'We did big things': Looking back at Steve Adler's 8-year tenure as Austin's mayoR (Austin American-Statesman)
During his eight years as mayor, Steve Adler has governed Austin through plenty of good and bad. What his tenure can't be called is boring.
Austin has experienced rapid growth throughout Adler's time in office, with the population climbing more than 21% between 2010 and 2020 and affecting affordability, housing and transportation. He also helped the city navigate a 100-year flooding event, the threat posed by a serial bomber, the coronavirus pandemic and the disastrous winter freeze in February 2021.
Adler, the city’s 52nd mayor, was elected in 2014 and again in 2018 but will leave office in January because of limits on consecutive terms. He'll hand the torch back to Kirk Watson, who served as Austin's mayor from 1997 to 2001 and was reelected this month… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Tovo considers changes and challenges after 11 years on Council (Austin Monitor)
After more than a decade on Austin City Council, Kathie Tovo’s view on the nature of elected life is that plenty of day-one priorities and worries for new Council members are likely to remain top concerns for years to come.
Take housing availability and homelessness, for example. Tovo thinks back to when these two hot-button issues were emerging and starting to demand attention from her and some of her Council colleagues after her election in 2011. At the time, the city was still under an at-large Council system. Tovo and then-Council members Sheryl Cole and Chris Riley had noticed the increase in unhoused populations downtown and elsewhere and began having some of the first discussions about the need for permanent supportive housing… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Google, Texas universities to pump out more tech-savvy students (Austin Business Journal)
Tech giant Google LLC is embarking on a new partnership with the University of Texas and the Texas State University system, offering its career certificates program to undergraduate students in the Lone Star State.
The move comes at a time when tech CEOs are worried the industry won't have the talent required in the coming years. It's the technology giant's largest statewide university partnerships to date.
With a growing presence in Austin, the participating institutions will embed Google’s certificate programs into undergraduate degree programs and co-curricular opportunities, giving students the opportunity to receive university credit… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Electric vehicle leasing service Autonomy opens for business in Austin (Austin business Journal)
The electric vehicle subscription company Autonomy is now offering its services in Austin, giving Central Texans another option to get behind the wheel of the new technology.
Working with Tesla products, the Santa Monica-based company currently offers both the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y for monthly leasing, bringing another online subscription model to the motor vehicle industry with an emphasis on electric vehicles.
Autonomy aims to take advantage of the untapped market between the three-year lease term and the traditional rental market and provides an opportunity to “EV skeptics” who have the opportunity to live with a vehicle for a month without having to commit to a purchase.
Those who sign on with Autonomy will have their vehicle of choice available to them in a matter of weeks, ready for delivery or pickup. It began offering its services to Texas drivers on Dec. 14… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas' top court says it can't force state to extend deadline for corporate tax break (Austin American-Statesman)
On the cusp of the new year, the Texas Supreme Court denied a request from several renewable energy companies to force the state to process all applications for a major corporate tax break program that expired at the end of 2022.
Many business advocates have argued that Texas lawmakers must replace the program — known as Chapter 313 — or watch the state lose out on big-ticket expansions and relocations.
Chapter 313 of the Texas Tax Code established a program that allowed school districts to offer property tax incentives to businesses that wanted to build within the districts’ boundaries. The state comptroller's office is in charge of evaluating and certifying that proposed agreements meet the standards set by Texas law. After that certification is granted, final approval for the tax breaks comes from the individual school districts… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Gov. Gregg Abbott: Texas is building the future for all (Austin American-Statesman)
The future of Texas has never been brighter. As the Lone Star State breaks record after record for economic growth and innovation, state leaders are providing the opportunity, workforce, infrastructure, resources and freedom to deliver the dream of a Texas-sized tomorrow.
Central Texas continues to attract global innovators. This spring, Tesla opened its billion-dollar Austin Gigafactory vehicle manufacturing plant. Samsung is increasing investments in the region with up to 11 new semiconductor manufacturing facilities in Taylor and Austin with potentially 10,000 new jobs created. Other prominent relocations and expansions include Parus Holdings Inc., TFF Pharmaceuticals, Mondee, SEON, Yellowfin, and Google.
Texas is the new headquarter of headquarters. Our pro-business policies have catapulted relocations of businesses large and small. Since I took office in 2015, more than 260 businesses have relocated their headquarter to Texas. As the world’s ninth-largest economy, Texas has earned the title of Best State for Business for a record-breaking 18 years in a row. This extraordinary economic growth puts more Texans on the path to prosperity through higher wages and unprecedented opportunities for advancement… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
TCU tops Michigan in wild CFP semifinal that had just about everything (Dallas Morning News)
The little private school that could is now one victory away from the top of the college football world.
Underdog TCU stunned Michigan and pretty much everybody outside of the Fort Worth city limits, upending Big Ten champion Michigan, 51-45, in the College Football Playoffs at the Fiesta Bowl. The Horned Frogs (13-1) advance to the national championship game in Inglewood, Calif., on Jan. 9 against Georgia (14-0).
“We look forward to teeing it off again in 10 days and having a chance at a national championship,” first-year coach Sonny Dykes said.
Expect TCU to be a substantial underdog in the title game just like it was Saturday… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Peter Sakai sworn in as Bexar County’s first Asian American county judge (San Antonio express-News)
For the first time in 21 years, a new Bexar County judge is at the helm of Commissioners Court.
Peter Sakai, a Democrat elected by a comfortable margin in November, was sworn in Sunday before a crowd of notables that included fellow judges, friends and family.
The ceremony, held in the county courthouse’s Double-Height Courtroom, a grand ceremonial space, was infused with references to Sakai’s Asian heritage. He is the first Asian American to serve as Bexar County judge… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
2024 contest comes into view with hurdles for both parties (Associated press)
Both political parties are opening the new year confronting critical questions about the people and policies they want to embrace as the next election speeds into view.
The challenges are particularly urgent for Republicans, who hoped to enter 2023 with a secure grip on one, if not both, chambers of Congress. Instead, an underwhelming midterm election yielded only a thin House majority that will expose fierce intraparty divisions this week as California Rep. Kevin McCarthy fights for the speakership. And before the end of the month, the Republican National Committee must resolve a divisive leadership battle of its own.
A central figure in virtually everything is Donald Trump, the former president who transformed the GOP more than seven years ago and is still fighting to exert his will over Republicans in Congress, the RNC and Republican voters just as the next presidential primary season begins… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Vice President Harris reaches 2023 at a crossroads (The Hill)
Vice President Harris finds herself at a crossroads as she enters her third year in office.
After a bumpy start, which saw a string of missteps and a slew of staff departures, Harris has sought to steady the ship.
Now, as President Biden is expected to run for reelection, Harris will need to support him in that effort while making her case that she’s able to step in at a moment’s notice and can follow him to the White House in 2028.
“The vice president is at an interesting place,” said one Democratic strategist. “In some ways she still has to prove she can be president, but she also has to walk a fine line and show she’s supporting the president and not her own agenda.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Eric Adams fights crime by day, parties by night and thinks he’s the future of the Democratic Party (Politico)
As he ends his first year, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has rebranded one of the top political jobs in the country.
After 12 years of Mike Bloomberg — a nasally technocrat disgusted by partisan politics — and two terms of liberal Bill de Blasio — a hyper-partisan Democrat who found himself at odds with virtually everyone in the business — Adams made his own idiosyncratic mark on the office.
The self-professed mayor of “swagger,” whose press conferences were even spoofed on Saturday Night Live, Adams has injected the role with the bravado of past New York City mayors like John Lindsay, Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani. He embraces the 1 percent and the poorest communities alike and shrugs off persistent questions about his ties to people with criminal histories. He teams up with Republicans when convenient and lambasts his own party for acquiescing to the far left… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[meetings this weeek]
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
[BG PODCAST]
Bingham Group Week in Review (12.21.2022)
Bingham Group Associate Hannah Garcia and CEO A.J. catch-up on the short holiday week including:
Council staff picks; Official runoff election results (LINK TO FINAL RESULTS: bit.ly/3FMlZEv); and this week’s winter storm advisory
Episode 178
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