BG Reads | News You Need to Know (July 12, 2023)
[BG PODCAST]
Welcome to Episode 204! Bingham Group Associate’s Hannah Garcia and Wendy Rodriguez with CEO A.J. review the week in Austin politics and more.
The discussion covers:
• City of Houston sues state to block new law (HB 2127) they argue erodes cities’ power → https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/03/houston-texas-lawsuit-local-control/
• The City of Austin begins their budget adoption process on July 14th. —> viewtopic.php
• The City of Austin Planning Commission is urging a quicker process for Land Development Code Amendments after more than a dozen amendments were initiated this year → https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2023/07/planning-commission-urges-quicker-processing-of-land-development-code-amendments/
• City of Austin Ethics Review Commissions approves pandemic-era changes to lobbying ordinance →https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2023/07/ethics-review-commission-oks-pandemic-era-changes-to-lobbying-ordinance/
• Fraud revealed after audit of Parks and Recreation Department → https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2023/07/insufficient-staffing-revealed-in-audit-of-fraud-and-waste-at-parks-and-recreation-department/
>>> SHOW LINK <<<
Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
[AUSTIN METRO]
Public Safety Commission recommends guardrails for APD-DPS partnership – or ending it (Austin monitor)
The Public Safety Commission recommended that City Council establish a plan governing the recently resumed partnership between the Austin Police Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety – or discontinue it altogether.
Commissioners voted on Monday to approve the recommendation, which calls for “significant community engagement,” as well as parameters defining “goals, time periods, accountability, data sharing, reporting and expectations.” Two members – Pierre Nguyen and Timothy Ruttan – abstained, citing a “lack of concrete measures,” such as specific demands for community engagement and a clear timeline for implementation.
Commissioner Lauren Peña supported the resolution, saying such parameters would help rebuild community trust in the police in the wake of the partnership, which has sparked concerns about racial profiling and over-policing… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Why multibillion-dollar Samsung supplier chose to expand to small city east of Austin (AUstin business Journal)
LS Electric leaders plan to develop the site in phases. The first and second phases will be focused on remodeling, renovating and expanding to eventually include manufacturing space over the next two years, followed by building out the new warehouse and office space. They plan on hiring 50 people in the first phases, consisting of a combination of local hires and transferred employees. Kim added that he's already spoken with the University of Texas at Austin and high school and technical colleges in Bastrop to start establishing a workforce pipeline.
"We're in the business of supporting companies with all of their energy needs, so we want to make sure that we become not just successful in terms of our business. We feel that Bastrop and Texas is going to be our next home, and we feel very good about the place and that people have been welcoming to us," he said, adding that he wants to make sure LS Electric continues to invest in and grow alongside Bastrop… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Memo: ‘Drastic steps’ needed to properly staff Austin airport toweR (KXAN)
Air traffic controller staffing for the tower at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) has “already fallen behind the rapid increase of air traffic within our airspace,” according to a memo sent to regional air traffic control representatives.
Just last month, the CEO for United Airlines blamed such staffing shortages – which are occurring nationwide – for recent delays that plagued various airlines.
A spokesperson for AUS said air traffic control shortages impact airline operations more than airport operations. Airport operations include monitoring airport roadways, the airfield and parking versus things like flight schedules.
Air traffic controllers communicate with pilots within 40 miles of the airport. Crews in the tower
According to the air traffic control staffing memo obtained by KXAN, the tower has seen “unprecedented growth in air traffic over the last two years,” and staffers are “working mostly six-day workweeks” to keep up… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Downtown Austin businesses say uptick in crime is negatively impacting public safety in the area (CBS AUstin)
Downtown business owners tell CBS Austin they’d like to see more action that will combat rising crime and the growing number of homeless people in the area.
They say both factors are negatively impacting businesses and causing a decline in the perception of public safety. This topic is a continuation of a story CBS Austin covered regarding Monday night’s Public Safety Commission meeting… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
Texas deploys barrier of buoys, nets in Rio Grande to deter border crossings, amid legal challenge (Houston Chronicle)
Gov. Greg Abbott put a barrier of buoys and netting into the Rio Grande on Monday to block migrants from crossing from Mexico into Texas despite legal challenges to the plan. The move comes as attorneys for an Eagle Pass kayak outfitter seek an emergency meeting with a judge in Travis County to impose an injunction against Abbott to stop deployment of the 1,000-foot barrier that human rights groups said could lead to more drownings. Abbott has shrugged off the legal challenge filed over the weekend, saying he has every right to defend Texas and is ready to fight the case to the Supreme Court if necessary. “Texas has a constitutional right to secure our border,” he said.
On Friday, the Texas Department of Public Safety and National Guard began preparing to deploy the buoy barrier near Eagle Pass, which has seen a surge of migrants over the last year. Abbott has already sent more DPS officers and troops to the same area to place miles of razor wire on the banks of the river under Operation Lone Star, a border security initiative he launched in early 2021. Jesse Fuentes, an Eagle Pass resident who runs Epi’s Canoe and Kayak Team, said in his lawsuit that Abbott does not have the legal authority to put the buoys in the water and that they will impede his business, which provides boat rentals and guided tours of the river. The buoys have webbing below the waterline to prevent people from swimming underneath them. Epi's “will be unable to conduct tours and canoe and kayak sessions in Eagle Pass because of the installation of the buoys,” Fuentes' suit states. Carlos E. Flores, the attorney representing Fuentes, said Abbott is misusing the state’s disaster declaration at the border to deploy the buoy barrier and enact other security measures along the river. He said nothing in the state’s disaster declaration allows Texas to create its own Department of Homeland Security to mimic the federal government’s jurisdiction over the border or immigration enforcement… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Most Texas beaches pose safety risks due to high fecal bacteria levels, report says (Dallas Morning News)
Some popular Texas beaches are contaminated with high levels of fecal bacteria, making them potentially unsafe for swimming, according to a new report. Nonprofit group Environment Texas found that 90% of Texas beaches tested in 2022 for fecal bacteria tested positive at least one day. Pathogens in fecal matter pose a health risk to swimmers, sometimes forcing beaches to close for public safety. Each year, millions get sick in the U.S. from swimming in oceans, lakes, rivers and ponds, with most cases going unreported. Varying from mild to more serious, illnesses include nausea, diarrhea, ear infections and rashes. Environment Texas tested 61 beaches across the state. Of those, 55 tested positive for fecal contamination at least one day, meaning they exceeded the safety threshold set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Eight beaches exceeded the EPA’s threshold more than 25% of testing days. Those beaches include Cole Park in Corpus Christi, which tested positive for fecal contamination on 54% of days, Ropes Park in Corpus Christi (41%), and Texas City Dike in Galveston Bay (28%), according to the report. Sylvan Beach Park in La Porte tested positive for fecal contamination 21% of the days, and Galveston’s Seawall Boulevard at 25th Street tested positive 26% of the days. Fecal matter washes into the ocean from a variety of sources, including urban development, sewage overflows, factory farms and livestock operations. To reduce contamination, the report recommends major financial investments to stop sewage overflows and runoff pollution. Environment Texas noted that a massive infrastructure package passed in 2021 provides $11.7 billion for sewage and stormwater projects, but the EPA has estimated the need is roughly $271 billion. “Now is the time to fix our water infrastructure and stop the flow of pathogens to our beaches,” Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas, said in a statement… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
F.T.C.’s Court Loss Raises Fresh Questions About Its Chair’s Strategy (NEw York times)
Lina Khan became chair of the Federal Trade Commission two years ago on a promise to bring bold action against the biggest tech companies.
For too long, Ms. Khan said at the time, the agency had been a weak cop and needed to challenge behemoths like Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Google in the courts to stem their growing power. Even if the F.T.C. lost the cases, she later added, they would be a partial victory because the agency would signal that antitrust laws needed to be updated for the modern internet era.
But on Tuesday, Ms. Khan suffered the biggest blow yet to her hallmark agenda. A federal judge rejected the F.T.C.’s attempt to stop Microsoft’s $70 billion acquisition of the video game maker Activision Blizzard from closing, saying the agency failed to prove the deal would reduce competition and harm consumers. That followed a loss in February, when a judge rejected an F.T.C. lawsuit seeking to block Meta from buying the virtual reality start-up Within.
The defeats raise questions about Ms. Khan’s ability to carry out her ambitious goal of reversing decades of weak antitrust enforcement, as political pressure mounts and patience wanes for the 34-year-old academic, who has ruffled the feathers of corporate America. Ms. Khan’s critics are more emboldened and are speaking out more loudly to poke holes in her take-it-to-the-courts strategy, saying the losses are not even partial wins — they’re just losses… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
‘A Real Threat’: Senate Hearing Shows Tense Build Up to PGA Tour-Saudi Pact (Wall Street Journal)
Even before the Senate’s Tuesday hearing on the stunning deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi sovereign-wealth fund had begun, lawmakers have netted some tantalizing revelations about how the tense buildup to the moment when the formerly bitter enemies came together.
The new information is found in emails and other messages turned over to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. They show that the talks were initiated months earlier than previously known by a British businessman who later implied a powerful threat: That if the sides couldn’t agree, the Saudis would double down on their already lavish foray into professional golf.
PGA Tour chief operating officer Ron Price repeatedly told senators that the polarizing deal ends costly and risky litigation and insisted that any new venture emerging would be “a PGA Tour-controlled subsidiary.”
“We faced a real threat that LIV Golf, which is 100% financed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, would become the leader of professional golf,” he said of the Tour’s motivations.
Price also confirmed that the Tour has been notified that the Justice Department’s antitrust division is going to look at the agreement, on the heels of an earlier investigation of the Tour’s rules and regulations… (LINK TO FULL STORY)