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- BG Reads 10.14.2024
BG Reads 10.14.2024
🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - October 14, 2024
Bingham Group Reads
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October 14, 2024
Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 Council OKs contract for new academy to train ‘workforce of the future (Austin Monitor)
🟪 As music fans leave Austin, AUS anticipates one of the busiest days on record (KXAN)
🟪 SA agents now have access to Austin listings — and vice versa (San Antonio Business Journal)
🟪 SpaceX rocket booster successfully 'caught' on first attempt during flight test (NPR)
Read On!
>>> See also, Austin City Council Regular Meeting Agenda (10.24.2024) <<<
Item Highlight, #47: Discussion and possible action to ratify a proposed five-year Meet and Confer Agreement with the Austin Police Association relating to wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment for police officers of the Austin Police Department.
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
🟪 The Austin Council has four (4) regular meetings left in 2024
📺 City Council Candidate Forum: District 2 - Video (9.26.2024)
📺 City Council Candidate Forum: District 4 - Video (9.19.2024)
📺 City Council Candidate Forum: District 6 - Video (9.5.2024)
📺 City Council Candidate Forum: District 7 - Video (9.5.2024)
📺 City Council Candidate Forum: District 10 - Video (9.30.2024)
📺 City Council Candidate Forum: Mayor - Video (10.3.2024)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Council OKs contract for new academy to train ‘workforce of the future (Austin Monitor)
City Council on Thursday approved a $5 million contract with Workforce Solutions Capital Area to start and manage the Austin Infrastructure Academy for 12 months. In addition to job training, the contract with Workforce Solutions includes the provision of child care services and job placement assistance for mobility and infrastructure related positions. Council approved the contract unanimously with Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison absent.
Austin Water and Austin Energy will provide funding for the contract from their 2024-2025 operating budgets, with Austin Water paying the lion’s share of the bill. The utilities are expected to benefit from the academy by gaining new workers.
As the Council Audit & Finance Committee heard Wednesday, the Austin airport has had difficulty finding enough skilled workers to fill positions there. The Aviation Department has started on a $4 billion expansion of the airport, made more difficult by its vacancy rate… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
As music fans leave Austin, AUS anticipates one of the busiest days on record (KXAN)
While concertgoers are catching the final acts of the 2024 Austin City Limits Music Festival, airport staff at the Austin Bergstrom Airport (AUS) are preparing for one of the busiest days the airport has seen.
With ACL’s Weekend Two wrapping up, AUS said it is projecting Monday to be one of the top 10 busiest days on record as music fans leave Austin. The airport is expecting to see around 37,000 passengers Monday.
“Any day over 35,000 departing passengers is what AUS considers to be an incredibly busy day,” the press release read.
Just because ACL is over does not mean the airport will be any less busy for the rest of October. Thousands of racing fans will flood into Austin for Formula 1 weekend, which starts Friday… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Where do Austin's mayoral candidates stand on transportation issues? (KUT)
When Austinites cast their ballots this election, transportation will be front and center — not just because it's a major challenge for the region, but also because voters will have just navigated their way to a polling station.
Austin's mayor plays a powerful role in shaping how we get around the city and has an influential voice at City Hall. The City Council gets to appoint one of its own to the Austin Transit Partnership, the agency designing and building a multibillion-dollar light-rail network. So far, that's always been the mayor.
To get insight into the candidates' views, we sent five questions addressing five important topics. We included one open-ended bonus question: What's your biggest transit priority?… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
SA agents now have access to Austin listings — and vice versa (San Antonio Business Journal)
San Antonio and Austin real estate agents can now access each other's home listings thanks to a data share agreement between both cities' Realtor boards.
Last week, the San Antonio Board of Realtors announced that its members would have access to Unlock MLS, Austin's multiple listing service. An MLS is a database containing information about homes listed on the market accessible only to real estate industry professionals.
The idea, which surfaced as early as 2017, mirrors the 2023 agreement SABOR struck with the Houston Association of Realtors. It gives San Antonio agents access to listings from three of the four largest Texas markets.
"(This agreement) allows us to help our clients relocate between these major markets and gives us the opportunity to expand our business reach through referrals. It gives all agents the ability to expand their networks and serve new clients," said Jennifer Shemwell, CEO of San Antonio-based brokerage Phyllis Browning Company.
"Ultimately the additional access through Unlock and the current agreement with HAR gives our listings the visibility with 60% of real estate agents across the state of Texas. This means more eyes on our listings and increasing the marketing for a home being sold."
The agreement is part of the overall growth between the two cities, which are melding into a megaregion and one of the country's hottest housing markets. Shemwell said it's likely that home sellers along the Interstate 35 corridor between San Antonio and Austin will see the greatest benefit from this agreement… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
SpaceX rocket booster successfully 'caught' on first attempt during flight test (NPR)
SpaceX on Sunday successfully “caught” its “Super Heavy” booster on its first attempt during a flight test, a first for the company and its most powerful spacecraft.
Starship lifted off from its launch tower into clear morning skies from the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, at 7:25 a.m. CT with all 33 of its Raptor engines firing flawlessly.
Seven minutes into the flight test and after separating from the Starship’s vehicle, the rocket booster was successfully caught for the first time ever in “Mechazilla,” a mechanism with chopstick-like arms on a tower on the launch pad. SpaceX staff cheered as the booster descended onto Mechazilla with 13 engines burning before ultimately being caught with three engines burning.
“The tower has caught the rocket!!,” SpaceX Founder Elon Musk posted on X with a clip of the moment the booster was caught… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
China launches war games around Taiwan drawing anger in Taipei, concern from US (Reuters)
China's military launched a new round of war games near Taiwan on Monday, saying it was a warning to the "separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces", drawing condemnation from the Taipei and U.S. governments.
Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, had been on alert for more war games since last week's national day speech by President Lai Ching-te. Lai's address was condemned by Beijing after he said China had no right to represent Taiwan even as he offered to cooperate with Beijing.
The Chinese military's Eastern Theatre Command said the "Joint Sword-2024B" drills were taking place in the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan.
"The drill also serves as a stern warning to the separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces. It is a legitimate and necessary operation for safeguarding state sovereignty and national unity," it said in a statement carried both in Chinese and English… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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