City contracted Mosaic Public Partners will “officially” open the application process on January 8th.
The goal (with an emphasis that Council shouldn’t feel rushed in any way) is for Council to decide on a new City Manager in early to mid-April, under two possible timelines:
- (1) Pick someone and they can start very soon after chosen; or
- (2) pick someone but they have a later start date.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

The City Manager is the highest ranking city employee akin to the CEO. They can only be hired or fired by the City Council.
The office carries strong executive power over the day-to-day operations of the city, as well as responsibility for carrying out Council policy directives.

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Austin mayor talks affordable housing, police, political future in 2024 (KXAN)

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson on Wednesday sat down with KXAN’s Daniel Marin to discuss a variety of challenges and opportunities for the City of Austin as the new year gets underway. This is their conversation below which has been edited for clarity and length… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Leslie Pool launches into the final year of a busy decade (Austin Monitor)

Leslie Pool’s ninth year on City Council has been a productive and busy one. She recalls that she started out 2023 with the intention of helping her newly elected colleagues learn the ropes and accomplish their goals. For Ryan Alter, Zo Qadri and José Velásquez, affordable housing was an important goal. Each emphasized housing in their successful campaigns.

Pool wanted to help her new colleagues succeed in their endeavors, including writing rules that would allow for more housing. She also wanted to continue to work on environmental issues.

Pool was one of the Council members who voted against changes to the Land Development Code in the proposal called CodeNEXT. She was on the losing side of the vote, but ultimately the courts sided with opponents of CodeNEXT, saying the city did not do enough to inform property owners about the proposed changes… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

In 2024, Paige Ellis will focus on her two main loves: mobility improvements and parks (Austin Monitor)

The past year has been a busy one for City Council Member Paige Ellis, who served as mayor pro tem throughout 2023. She described the extra duties of the position as “a great experience.” Noting that Mayor Kirk Watson is very detail-oriented, Ellis said she never had any question about what needed to be done. But she had to be ready to jump in when he was ready to leave the dais, a significant difference from her job as a Council member… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin leads the state in mass layoffs (KUT)

If you’re a company with 100 employees or more and you’re planning layoffs, you have to alert the government and give your employees a 60-day notice under a law known as the WARN Act.

It was designed to give workers time to adjust to the news about layoffs, but these notices can also reflect “structural changes” in the economy, according to the Dallas Federal Reserve.

Luis Torres is a senior business economist with the Dallas Fed who recently co-authored research looking at WARN notices and mass layoffs here in Texas.

He joined Texas Standard to explain what this uptick in WARN notices means for the Lone Star State’s economy... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

U-Haul: Austin ranked No. 5 among top cities for one-way moves in 2023 (Austin Business Journal)

Austin was the top Texas city on the recent list, with College Station at No. 6, Dallas at No. 9 and Conroe at No. 16. The cities that ranked higher than Austin were Palm Bay-Melbourne, Fla. (No. 1); Ocala, Fla. (No. 2); Charleston, S.C. (No. 3); and Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla. (No. 4), according to the list.

The Lone Star State held the top spot among states for the sixth time in eight years, U-Haul reported. Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee rounded out the top five on the recent list… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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[TEXAS NEWS]

The Texas GOP civil war is messier than anyone expected. We charted it. (Texas Monthly)

What does it mean to be a Texas Republican? This year saw the state GOP tear itself apart over that question. The impeachment and subsequent acquittal of Attorney General Ken Paxton and a protracted fight over school vouchers—a program that would let parents use taxpayer dollars to subsidize their children’s private education—exposed schisms in the party that controls all three branches of the state government. The GOP has broken into warring factions—pro- and anti-Paxton, pro- and anti-voucher—all claiming to represent True Conservatism.

The “pro-Paxton” wing accuses its rivals of being Republicans in name only (RINOs) with the ferocity of the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee denouncing communist infiltrators, real and imagined, in the 1950s. Conventional wisdom holds that this civil war is roughly divided between the far-right wing of the Texas GOP and the center-right wing. But a close examination shows that to be too simplistic. Texas Monthly analyzed the relative economic and social conservatism of all 104 Republicans in the Legislature alongside each member’s vote on impeachment… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

House GOP members visit Texas border as Ukraine aid hangs in balance (Associated Press)

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson led about 60 fellow Republicans in Congress on a visit Wednesday to the Mexican border as they demand hard-line immigration policies in exchange for backing President Joe Biden’s emergency wartime funding request for Ukraine.

The trip to Eagle Pass comes as the Senate engages in delicate negotiations in hopes of striking a bipartisan deal. With the number of illegal crossings into the United States topping 10,000 on several days last month, the border city has been at the center of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star, his nearly $10 billion initiative that has tested the federal government’s authority over immigration and elevated the political fight over the issue. An agreement in the lengthy talks in Washington would unlock GOP support for Biden’s $110 billion package for Ukraine, Israel and other U.S. security priorities.

In meetings, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz, James Lankford, R-Okla., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., are trying to make progress before Congress returns to Washington next week… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Justice Dept. asks Supreme Court to let feds keep cutting Texas razor wire at border (Dallas Morning News)

The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court for an emergency ruling Tuesday to let federal agents resume cutting razor wire Texas has installed along the U.S.-Mexico border. “Texas’s placement of the wire near the riverbank in Eagle Pass has proved particularly problematic for Border Patrol agents,” the government told the high court.

“By preventing Border Patrol agents from reaching noncitizens who have already entered the United States, Texas’s barriers in Eagle Pass impede agents’ ability to apprehend and inspect migrants under federal law.” Gov. Greg Abbott accused President Joe Biden of flouting immigration enforcement with the latest legal maneuver.

“Biden begs SCOTUS [the Supreme Court of the United States] to let him cut razor wire Texas installed on border. See you in court,” the governor posted on X. “Americans and courts will reject Biden’s hostility to immigration laws. Texas will continue to deploy National Guard to build border barriers and repel illegal immigrants.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Houston Mayor Whitmire doubles down on public safety, city finances during inaugural speech (Houston Chronicle)

Former state Sen. John Whitmire was publicly sworn in as Houston's 63rd mayor Tuesday morning, alongside Controller Chris Hollins and a new class of City Council members. Accompanied by his daughters Sarah and Whitney Whitmire, the new mayor was sworn in by Harris County Justice of the Peace Victor Trevino III in front of a live audience at Wortham Theater Center. He then administered the oath of office to the 16 Houston City Council members, six of whom are serving their first term. The public ceremony followed a private swearing-in event at City Hall around midnight Monday, also conducted by Trevino.

“Everyone should be smiling this morning because the people of Houston are smiling, because they've elected a mayor that's going to listen to them, a mayor that is known for solving problems,” Whitmire said during his Tuesday inaugural speech. “And that's why it's exciting to be here today.” During his speech, Whitmire vowed to tackle the most pressing issues facing the city, including infrastructure, homelessness, city services and city finances. His top priority remains public safety, he said. “If we do not address public safety, the other quality of life issues will not matter,” he said. The new mayor and council members then convened at City Hall for the administration’s first meeting of the year. The body confirmed the appointments of District K Council Member Martha Castex-Tatum and District A Council Member Amy Peck as mayor pro-tem and vice mayor pro-tem, respectively. Castex-Tatum would act as the mayor in Whitmire’s absence, and Peck would preside over City Council when both Whitmire and Castex-Tatum are unavailable… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

▶️ Full Video of Houston Mayor John Whitmire's inauguration (FOX 26 Houston)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

How the push for diversity at colleges and companies came under siege (The Wall Street Journal)

The management philosophy known as DEI, which had gathered momentum since 2020, has been under siege over the past year because of a collision of legal, economic and geopolitical forces.

The Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in colleges, removing the legal rationale buttressing many diversity programs. An expected slowdown in the economy prompted companies to cut jobs and financial support for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. And the Israel-Hamas war and college presidents’ responses to antisemitism on campus led some to question whether DEI programs and the values behind them extended to all students.

This week brought the resignation of Harvard University President Claudine Gay, whose championing of diversity initiatives made her a target of conservative critics. Gay, Harvard’s first Black female president, had come under additional fire in recent weeks for allegations of plagiarism and for congressional testimony in which she and other college presidents struggled in their responses to questions about antisemitism on campuses… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

3 college heads testified before the House last month. One still has her job (The Hill)

Less than a month after the leaders of three top U.S. colleges testified before the House about antisemitism on their campuses, two of them have been forced to resign, and GOP lawmakers have made clear they are not yet satisfied.

The presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Dec. 5 all declined to say definitively if calls for the genocide of Jews would constitute harassment at their schools.

Penn’s Liz Magill lasted less than a week afterward.

On Tuesday, Harvard President Claudine Gay, who also faced mounting accusations of plagiarism, announced she was stepping down.

“TWO DOWN,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who had first posed the genocide question, posted Tuesday on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I will always deliver results,” she added in a press release… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

A new California law restricts carrying guns in public — testing the Second Amendment (NPR)

Gun owners in California can no longer carry firearms into amusement parks, museums, churches, zoos, banks, public parks or a whole slew of other places, even if they have a concealed carry permit.

Those restrictions are part of a new state law that took effect this week, and it is already facing scrutiny in the courts.

Last month, a U.S. district judge blocked the law from taking effect, calling it "repugnant to the Second Amendment." But a federal appeals court put a temporary hold on that ruling over the weekend, allowing the law to proceed for now… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[2024 Austin City Council Race Watch]

Next fall will see elections for the following Council positions, District 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, and Mayor. Candidates can’t file for a place on the ballot until July 22, 2024.

Declared candidates so far are:

District 2