BG Reads | News You Need to Know (May 1, 2023)
[AUSTIN METRO]
A month into Austin patrols, state police are disproportionately arresting people of color (KUT)
New data from the Travis County Attorney's office shows Black and Latino people have been disproportionately arrested by state police in the last few weeks.
The data provides a look into the first few weeks of the Austin Police Department's partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety — and raises concerns about racial profiling.
A look at misdemeanor arrests from March 30 to April 22 shows state troopers arrested 108 Latinos and 38 Black people, compared to six white people. The arrest numbers were first reported by the Austin American-Statesman… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Williamson County partners with South Korea in first-of-its-kind economic agreemenT (KUT)
Williamson County Judge Bill Gravell signed the county’s first-ever international economic mutual cooperation agreement with the Korea-Trade Investment Promotion Agency on Thursday.
The history-making deal was signed at the South Korea trade agency's new Global Partnering Center in downtown Austin. It is expected to bring dozens — if not hundreds — of new companies to the area.
"We’re humbled," Gravell told KUT. "Normally, their agreements are with states or nations, and so we’re honored to have that partnership with KOTRA."
He said details of the agreement were hashed out during a trip to South Korea last week.
The trip was initially scheduled so Gravell and other county officials could visit Samsung’s fabrication plant in Pyeongtaek City. The tech giant is building a similar $17 billion chip-making plant in Taylor.
But it was expanded to include meetings with representatives of KOTRA… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Proposed 48-story tower to replace Irene’s, Taquero MuchO (austin monitor)
A new 48-story residential tower may soon rise at 506 and 508 West Ave. in downtown, replacing restaurants Irene’s and Taquero Mucho.
The Planning Commission last Tuesday voted unanimously to support a rezoning that would enable the developers to build taller than allowed under the site’s current zoning, following a series of delays due to opposition from residents in the adjacent Austin City Lofts.
The rezoning from Downtown Mixed-Use (DMU) to Central Business District (CBD) would allow unlimited height, though plans show a 564-foot tower with 359 residential units. Current zoning allows buildings up to 400 feet tall… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS]
The problem with using state troopers as city copS (D Magazine)
Citing staffing shortages in the police department, Austin announced in March that state troopers would patrol alongside city police. Dallas went through this same dance in 2019, asking for help from the Texas Department of Public Safety after the city recorded more murders in a single month than it had in just about two decades. Former police Chief U. Reneé Hall said the department identified eight “high-crime areas,” but she wouldn’t elaborate on how the state troopers would be deployed or how many would be patrolling. In Austin, Mayor Kirk Watson also kept quiet. Yesterday, the Austin American-Statesman obtained a report from the Travis County District Attorney’s Office that showed that nine out of 10 people arrested on misdemeanor charges by the Texas Department of Public Safety in the past six or so weeks were Black or Latino. It sounds similar to the flood-the-zone approach DPS took in Dallas four years ago, when they pulled over 12,500 people in a seven-week period.
In Austin, the Statesman reported that troopers “are being deployed to Austin neighborhoods where police are receiving calls … that indicate where crime is occurring.” And despite the city being about 48 percent people of color, Black and Latino residents accounted for about 90 percent of the trooper arrests. Mostly on “low-level drug offenses, drunken driving, and other crimes.” Council members there shared the same concerns that bubbled up in Dallas four years ago. Specific neighborhoods were seeing an increase in troopers, which made them concerned that they were being targeted. In Dallas, it ended in tragedy. Troopers tried to pull over a driver who failed to signal a left turn. He fled. He was shot and killed exiting his vehicle with a gun. He had been shot 16 times, according to the medical examiner. To some, the presence of troopers led to an unnecessary confrontation with police that ended with a life lost and no sustained decline in violent crime. As District Attorney Creuzot later told the media, “A taillight out is not going to drive down the murder rate.” What’s happening in Austin is relevant here today because the possibility of bringing troopers into town has once again popped up… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Texas House votes to require panic buttons in every classroom and armed guards in every school (Texas tribune)
The Texas House on Tuesday gave final approval to legislation that is calling for significant investments to beef up schools’ safety, including hiring at least one armed security officer at every campus, providing incentives for school employees to get certified to carry a weapon and installing silent panic alert buttons in every classroom.
House Bill 3, authored by Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, passed 119-25. It now heads to the Senate.
The proposal would also require regular safety inspections of school buildings and would give grants to students who want to attend another school district if their current one is not complying with safety standards. In addition, the bill was amended to give schools $100 for each student who regularly attends classes, plus an additional $15,000 each year, to upgrade their security. The change would raise the cost of the bill from $300 million to about $1.6 billion… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Lightfoot sends letter to Abbott urging him not to send any more migrants (The Hill)
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) sent a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Sunday urging him to not bus any more migrants to Chicago, calling his move “inhumane and dangerous.”
“Chicago is a Welcoming City and we collaborate with County, State, and community partners to rise to this challenge, but your lack of consideration or coordination in an attempt to cause chaos and score political points has resulted in a critical tipping point in our ability to receive individuals and families in a safe, orderly, and dignified way,” Lightfoot wrote in the letter.
Lightfoot said that Texas was planning on sending more migrants to Chicago starting Monday, which she argued against, noting that Chicago does not have the resources to house more migrants. She said in the letter that since Chicago has responded to the arrival of migrants sent by Texas in August 2022, the city has cared for more than 8,000 people.
She wrote that Chicago has “no more shelters, spaces, or resources” to address another influx of migrants to the city… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATION]
Biden makes first in-person appeal to donors for ’24 campaign (Politico)
President Joe Biden lambasted “MAGA Republicans” and emphasized abortion rights in a pitch to more than 100 supporters and elected officials Friday, as part of the first in-person donor confab of his 2024 reelection campaign.
The reception, while not a fundraiser, was the first of a two-day meeting that offered Democratic Party officials the opportunity to sell donors on Biden’s reelection campaign strategy and begin an ambitious fundraising push aimed at topping the $1 billion the campaign raised last election cycle… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
JPMorgan Chase buys troubled First Republic Bank after U.S. government takeover (NPR)
JPMorgan Chase, one of the biggest banks in the U.S., is buying failed First Republic Bank's deposits and a "substantial amount of their assets and certain liabilities," JPMorgan Chase said in a press release Monday.The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation announced early Monday that First Republic had been closed and put into the receivership of the the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and then sold to JPMorgan.
This marks the third time the U.S. government has taken control of a U.S. lender this year.
The acquisition includes the "assumption of approximately $92 billion of deposits" and the "acquisition of the substantial majority of First Republic Bank's assets, including approximately $173 billion of loans and approximately $30 billion of securities," JPMorgan says… (LINK TO FULL STORY)