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- BG Reads 1.30.2025
BG Reads 1.30.2025
🟪 BG Reads - January 30, 2025
Bingham Group Reads
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January 30, 2025
➡️ Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 Austin City Council meeting today (10AM) Agenda + Livestream Link
🟪 Austin leaders relieved after Trump administration rescinds federal funding freeze memo (Austin American-Statesman)
🟪 Williamson County postpones potential subdivision regulations hearing to March (Austin Business Journal)
🟪 Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick outlines sweeping conservative agenda with list of top 25 legislative priorities (Texas Tribune)
🟪 CDC ordered to stop working with WHO immediately, upending expectations of an extended withdrawal (Associated Press)
Read On!
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
🏛️ Today @10AM -> Austin City Council Regular Meeting
🏛️ City Memos:
ℹ️ Helpful City Links:
Updated List of Council Committees and Appointments -> View the latest proposed list (1.25.2025)
BG Blog: Austin City Hall Week in Review (Week of January 20th, 2025)
Essential Resources for Navigating the City of Austin in 2025
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
➡️ Austin leaders relieved after Trump administration rescinds federal funding freeze memo (Austin American-Statesman)
Austin leaders let out a sigh of relief Wednesday afternoon following the rescinding of a memo from the Trump administration calling for a freeze of federal funding — a move that could have put hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of local projects and programs in jeopardy.
“Losing federal support would devastate our community, jeopardize critical projects, and harm our most vulnerable Austinites,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said in a statement shared to social media Wednesday afternoon, adding that he was thankful the White House memo outlining the freeze had been rescinded.
Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes said in a statement she was relieved the White House reversed course but noted “the confusion it caused put millions of dollars for Austin’s infrastructure, public health, roads and transit projects at risk.”
In a memo Wednesday that was obtained by the American-Statesman, the city's intergovernmental relations office informed City Council members of hundreds of millions of dollars for projects that could have been jeopardized by the freeze, including major projects at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The memo was sent prior to news of the policy being rescinded.
Of the $911 million the airport is expected to spend on major capital improvements over the next two years, “including critical expansion projects,” the city estimated around $300 million in federal funding was potentially in jeopardy, the Wednesday memo states… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Elon Musk claims Tesla will launch a self-driving service in Austin in June (Tech Crunch)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday his company will launch a paid ride-hailing robotaxi service in Austin, Texas using its own fleet vehicles this coming June — the latest in a long line of sky-high promises he has yet to meet about autonomy.
Musk was otherwise unsurprisingly light on details. During an earnings call, Musk said there will be no drivers in the cars, which will use the yet-to-be-released “unsupervised” version of its Full Self-Driving software. He also said he expects the unsupervised FSD software to be released to owners in California and “many regions of the U.S.” this year.
But the idea of owners adding their own cars to the Tesla ride-hail fleet won’t happen until at least next year, Musk said.
The CEO then called 2025 “maybe the most important year in Tesla’s history.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Proposals to address wildfire dangers face opposition (Austin Monitor)
Two items on today’s City Council agenda related to wildfire prevention have raised alarms among at least two community groups – the Save Our Springs Alliance and Community Not Commodity. The agenda indicates that the first item would allocate nearly $200,000 for a study of wildland fire fuels by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station.
The second item is for $7.5 million to pay contractors to manage vegetation and perform prescribed burns. However, the agenda indicates that the current budget does not have that much money for the second item.
Mayor Kirk Watson has expressed his support for those items in his Watson Wire newsletter. On Wednesday, Watson emphasized the danger posed by wildfire and offered this assessment of the items… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Williamson County postpones potential subdivision regulations hearing to March (Austin Business Journal)
The Williamson County Commissioners Court has again postponed a public hearing regarding controversial proposed amendments to the county's subdivision regulations to March 4.
The proposed updates, which were originally scheduled to be heard in December and then January, include tweaks to processes related to transportation systems, water and wastewater, and more. They have been met with some trepidation from developers who are concerned it would add a level of red tape to the booming, business-friendly region north of Austin.
Members of the development community previously contacted by the Austin Business Journal expressed substantial misgivings about many of the proposals, including a requirement to obtain guarantees from water and wastewater utilities earlier on in a project, saying it runs counter to how the process works… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ Behind the deal: How Cedar Park landed Enovis' $25M manufacturing expansion (Austin Business Journal)
About two and a half years ago, Enovis Corp. executives made a list of areas around the country where they could expand their Austin-based surgical division. Central Texas came in at No. 4.
That's part of the reason why Enovis executives are quick to credit Cedar Park officials for landing the $25.5 million expansion, with the help of incentives, that will create at least 162 jobs in the region's first big economic development project of 2025.
"I think the effort level and commitment from Cedar Park just really stood out throughout the whole process," said Enovis' Shayne Myhand, vice president of manufacturing and supply chain. "We needed a partner to grow with, and Cedar Park positioned themselves as the best long-term partner to grow with."… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
➡️ Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick outlines sweeping conservative agenda with list of top 25 legislative priorities (Texas Tribune)
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday unveiled a sweeping list of his top 25 legislative priorities, including proposals to cut property taxes, shore up the state’s electric grid and water supply, and infuse religion into public schools. Patrick, a Republican who presides over the Texas Senate, holds enormous power in setting the Legislature’s agenda and deciding which bills get passed into law.
His priorities outline a broadly conservative agenda, ranging from “guarding against inappropriate books in public schools” to requiring local law enforcement to “assist the federal government’s deportation efforts.” Most legislation on Patrick’s list had yet to be filed; the only details were his office’s informal titles for each bill, such as for Senate Bill 14: “Texas DOGE – Improving Government Efficiency.”
Some priorities were linked to spending items outlined in the first drafts of the state budget filed by lawmakers last week, including an effort spearheaded by Patrick to create a $3 billion dementia research institute. Patrick’s list included a pair of proposals, Senate Bills 10 and 11, described as “Placing the Ten Commandments in School” and “Protecting the Freedom to Pray in School.” Another, Senate Bill 24, was titled “Educating Texas Students on the Horrors of Communism.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
➡️ CDC ordered to stop working with WHO immediately, upending expectations of an extended withdrawal (Associated Press)
U.S. public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official, John Nkengasong, sent a memo to senior leaders at the agency on Sunday night telling them that all staff who work with the WHO must immediately stop their collaborations and “await further guidance.”
Experts said the sudden stoppage was a surprise and would set back work on investigating and trying to stop outbreaks of Marburg virus and mpox in Africa, as well as brewing global threats.
It also comes as health authorities around the world are monitoring bird flu outbreaks among U.S. livestock. The Associated Press viewed a copy of Nkengasong’s memo, which said the stop-work policy applied to “all CDC staff engaging with WHO through technical working groups, coordinating centers, advisory boards, cooperative agreements or other means — in person or virtual.” It also says CDC staff are not allowed to visit WHO offices… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
➡️ With sweeping executive orders, Trump tests local control of schools (New York Times)
With a series of executive orders, President Trump has demonstrated that he has the appetite for an audacious fight to remake public education in the image of his anti-woke, populist political movement. But in a country unique among nations for its hyperlocal control of schools, the effort is likely to run into legal, logistical and funding trouble as it tests the limits of federal power over K-12 education.
On Wednesday evening, Mr. Trump signed two executive orders. One was a 2,400-word behemoth focused mainly on race, gender and American history. It seeks to prevent schools from recognizing transgender identities or teaching about concepts such as structural racism, “white privilege” and “unconscious bias,” by threatening their federal funding. The order also promotes “patriotic” education that depicts the American founding as “unifying, inspiring and ennobling” while explaining how the United States “has admirably grown closer to its noble principles throughout its history.” The second order directs a swath of federal agencies to look for ways to expand access to private school vouchers. Both orders echo energetic conservative lawmaking in the states.
Over the past five years, the number of children using taxpayer dollars for private education or home-schooling costs has doubled, to one million. More than 20 states have restricted how race, gender and American history can be discussed in schools. States and school boards have banned thousands of books. It is not clear what real-world effect the new federal orders might have in places where shifts are not already underway. States and localities provide 90 percent of the funding for public education — and have the sole power to set curriculums, tests, teaching methods and school-choice policies.
The orders are likely to strain against the limits of the federal government’s role in K-12 education, a role that Mr. Trump has said should be reduced. That paradox is a “confounding” one, said Derrell Bradford, president of 50CAN, a nonpartisan group that supports private school choice. He applauded the executive order on vouchers and said that taken together, the two orders mark a major moment in the centuries-old debate over what values the nation’s schools should impart… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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