BG Reads 11.20.2024

BG Reads - November 20, 2024

November 20, 2024

Bingham Group Reads

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November 20, 2024  

➡️ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Central Health fires CEO of partner organization CommUnityCare (KUT)

🟪 Austin Energy proposes gas peaker units, not larger combined cycle plant (Austin Monitor)

🟪 Fast-growing city south of Austin seeks developer for hotel, convention center (Austin Business Journal)

🟪  Gov. Greg Abbott wants to make Texas ‘No. 1 in advanced nuclear power’ (Dallas Morning News)

🟪 Trump taps Linda McMahon for Education secretary (Politico)

Read On!

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

In an October 30 memo, City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced several key additions to the city leadership team, effective November 4.

You can view the memo here: CITY OF AUSTIN MEMO: Executive Leadership Team and Organizational Announcements. An org chart is included on page 3.

We particularly wanted to flag the creation of a Grants Division within the Intergovernmental Relations Office to focus on creating a centralized grant funding strategy and governance for the City that advances City Council’s strategic priorities, leverages local resources, and targets investments for Austin. 

The memo notes “the City lacks a centralized grants function causing us to potentially leave federal and state funding on the table. Staff from across the organization are currently being identified for potential reassignment to the Grants Division.”

🟪 The Austin Council has three (2) regular meetings left in 2024:

  • November 21

  • December 12

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

➡️ Austin Energy proposes gas peaker units, not larger combined cycle plant (Austin Monitor)

Austin Energy has been working for more than a year – collaborating with stakeholders and looking at a variety of technologies, “including energy efficiency, demand response, batteries, rooftop solar expansion and natural gas peaker units or combined-cycle generation and more” – in order to deliver the Austin Energy 2035 plan, according to Austin Energy Chief Operating Officer Lisa Martin.

Martin was the featured speaker at the Austin Energy City Council committee meeting on Tuesday, which started at 9 a.m. and continued for more than four hours.

One of the most important facts about the new 2035 plan is that the utility has given up the idea of constructing a new natural gas combined cycle facility, a solution that was initially on the table.

Martin explained that even though they no longer want to build the combined cycle facility, the utility still believes that it is necessary to build new natural gas peaker units. Environmentalists are generally opposed to any new gas units.

As Martin pointed out to the both Council in person and to the Austin Monitor via email, “What we found through our modeling is that every combination of technologies leads to different tradeoffs, and the model that included new combined cycle generation resulted in low cost and reliability metrics but more emissions than what is compatible with the values and objectives we hear from stakeholders… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Central Health fires CEO of partner organization CommUnityCare (KUT)

The leader of Travis County’s public hospital district has fired the CEO of a partnering nonprofit clinic chain — the latest development in a monthslong conflict between two organizations that serve low-income residents.

“Central Health President & CEO Dr. Pat Lee announced today Dr. Jaeson Fournier is no longer CommUnityCare’s CEO,” a Central Health representative said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon.

Lee put Fournier on leave in early September for unspecified professional misconduct. CommUnityCare board members and other leaders argued he did not have that authority.

The two organizations have a complex relationship. CommUnityCare was formed to take over operations of clinics that had been run by Austin and Travis County. It receives funding from Central Health, and many of its clinics are owned by the agency… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Fast-growing city south of Austin seeks developer for hotel, convention center (Austin Business Journal)

Kyle — one of the fastest-growing cities in the country — is seeking proposals to design, construct and operate a hotel and convention center in the suburb about 20 miles south of Austin.

Officials on Nov. 18 announced a request for proposal for the project that would be situated on four acres of creek-front property within what's being called Kyle's Lake Park District. That development is slated to include a seven-story St. David's HealthCare hospital, offices, retail space, more than 2,000 residential units and a public park between Kyle Parkway and Kohler's Crossing on the north side of the city.

Kyle, the second fastest growing city in the country, with a population of about 62,500, is seeking developers to "create a top-tier destination that will serve as a hub for business, leisure and regional gatherings," according to an announcement. The facility also would have convenient connectivity to Austin and San Antonio along I-35… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ ‘They’re taxed’: APD detectives busy after recent rash of homicides (KXAN)

Austin police held a news conference on Tuesday after at least four homicides happened in city limits within a week.

While officers said that count is a little higher than the same time last year, the crimes are keeping homicide detectives especially busy.

Police Chief Lisa Davis said hours earlier at a breakfast with downtown leaders the staffing situation “would be stabilized” in about two to three years.

“When we start recruiting, we talk about how fantastic this town is and what makes it unique,” Davis said. “People are going to start coming.”

At a news conference at 11 a.m., detectives gave updates on four homicides in the city, all within days of each other.

“This [homicide detective] unit bears the responsibility to investigate and hold those people accountable and responsible,” Lt. Sheldon Askew said.

A workload that quadrupled in a matter of days… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

➡️ Gov. Greg Abbott wants to make Texas ‘No. 1 in advanced nuclear power’ (Dallas Morning News)

Gov. Greg Abbott signaled strong support for a reemerging nuclear power industry Monday, publishing a report that proposes creating a state-backed loan program to develop nuclear power plants. A report commissioned by Abbott’s office proposed a Texas Nuclear Power Fund. The task force report calls on the Texas Legislature to pass a slate of bills supporting nuclear power, including creating a university research network, providing government grants to build a technology supply chain and bolstering the nuclear power supply chain.

“Texas is the energy capital of the world, and we are ready to be No. 1 in advanced nuclear power,” Abbott said in a news release. “By utilizing advanced nuclear energy, Texas will enhance the reliability of the state grid and provide affordable, dispatchable power to Texans across the state.”

Public Utility Commissioner Jimmy Glotfelty, an Abbott appointee to the state’s energy regulatory board and head of the governor’s Texas Advanced Nuclear Reactor Working Group, said the proposed Texas Nuclear Energy Fund would be similar to a $5 billion loan program lawmakers created in 2023 that offers taxpayer-backed, 3% interest loans to companies that build natural gas power plants. “We hope that the Legislature will agree that [the fund] mitigates risk,” Glotfelty said Monday at a nuclear power conference in Austin, adding that loans would fund roughly 60% of development costs and would be repaid over 20 to 25 years. “We’re helping reduce the front-end cost by putting state dollars to work.”

The Public Utility Commission advanced several applications for proposed natural gas power plants for loans earlier this year, although the program has faced lawmaker scrutiny after one of the proposals was headed by a woman convicted of a federal crime. The commission has since removed that application from contention. The fund’s administrator, Deloitte, refunded $7.3 million of its contract over failing to question that proposal. The accounting firm is conducting a due diligence review of loan applications that is expected to take up to eight months, according to PUC spokeswoman Ellie Breed…  🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Former Harris County Public Health chief charged with misuse of official information (Houston Public Media)

Barbie Robinson, the former chief of Harris County Public Health, is facing a felony charge and accusations that she misused official information and prematurely disclosed private details of a $16 million contract with the winning company, according to court documents.

Robinson is accused in court documents of sharing private information about the multi-million dollar deal to assist the company with being selected for the award. The charge comes just months after she was fired from her position during the process of a separate investigation.

The $16 million contract was awarded to IBM for services enabling technology for ACCESS Harris County, a public health program championed by Robinson that’s aimed at serving vulnerable communities.

ACCESS Harris County was funded by the county’s general fund, the Hope Grant and the American Rescue Plan— a government recovery program created to offset the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

➡️ Trump taps Linda McMahon for Education secretary (Politico)

President-elect Donald Trump will nominate his transition co-chair Linda McMahon for Education secretary, according to two people familiar with the transition discussions.

McMahon, 76, gained prominence as a powerful force in making World Wrestling Entertainment a multibillion-dollar enterprise before she led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. She remained an important player in the president-elect’s orbit after he left the White House in 2021.

McMahon was appointed to the Connecticut state Board of Education but resigned roughly a year later in 2010 when she made a failed run for the Senate. She is a graduate of East Carolina University, with a bachelor’s degree in French and is certified to teach the language.

She has minimal education experience but is the board chair of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank stocked with other Trump insiders, and she’d likely sail through her Senate confirmation.

➡️ Oklahoma schools superintendent mandates students watch announcement of new religious department (Associated Press)

Oklahoma’s education superintendent has sent an email to public school superintendents requiring them to show students his video announcement of a new Department of Religious Freedom and Patriotism within the state Department of Education.

Ryan Walters, a Republican, announced the new office on Wednesday and on Thursday sent the email to school superintendents statewide. “In one of the first steps of the newly created department, we are requiring all of Oklahoma schools to play the attached video to all kids that are enrolled,” according to the email. Districts were also told to send the video to all parents of students.

In the video, Walters says religious liberty has been attacked and patriotism mocked “by woke teachers unions,” then prays for the leaders of the United States after saying students do not have to join in the prayer. “In particular, I pray for President Donald Trump and his team as they continue to bring about change to the country,” Walters said.

In announcing the new department, Walters said it would “oversee the investigation of abuses to individual religious freedom or displays of patriotism.” Two of the state’s largest districts, Edmond in suburban Oklahoma City and Bixby in suburban Tulsa, said they have no plans to show students the video. A spokesperson for the Tulsa district, the state’s largest, did not immediately return a phone call for comment.

A spokesperson for the Oklahoma City district, the second largest, said district officials would meet to discuss the email. The office of state Attorney General Gentner Drummond issued a statement Friday saying Walters has no authority under state law to issue such a mandate… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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