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- BG Reads 11.22.2023
BG Reads 11.22.2023
🗞️ BG Reads | News - November 22, 2023
November 22, 2023
In today's BG Reads:
âś… Taylor leaders prepare for Samsung to one day build a second chipmaking plant
âś… City splits homeless services into new, separate office
âś… Record crowds are expected to take to the air and roads for Thanksgiving
More stories below. Read on!
[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
District 6
Krista Laine
District 7 (Open seat)
District 10 (Open seat)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Candidates signing up for 2024 City Council races (Austin Monitor)
Although City Council elections are nearly a year away, two incumbents and eight contenders have already indicated their intention to run by filing paperwork appointing campaign treasurers. Another has also told the Austin Monitor that he plans to run again.
District 2 Council Member Vanessa Fuentes and District 6 Council Member Mackenzie Kelly filed new appointment documents this month. So far, there are no other candidates for the District 2 seat, but Krista Laine filed for the District 6 seat on Monday. Laine is listed as president of the Canyon Vista Middle School STEM Parent Association… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Taylor leaders prepare for Samsung to one day build a second chipmaking plant (Austin Business Journal)
Since Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. purchased more than 1,200 acres northeast of Austin, the question has been when – not if – it's going to continue to build out the campus and add to the chipmaking facility the company is currently constructing.
While the company has not yet approved plans for additional development, officials in Taylor are already prepping for what could come next on the sprawling tract near the former intersection of county roads 401 and 404.
Taylor City Council during an Oct. 26 meeting approved a task order with a local division of Nebraska-based engineering firm HDR Engineering Inc. as part of its planning efforts for Samsung's massive site. The city is required to expedite site development, building construction and review processes as part of its agreements with Samsung. The semiconductor company is reimbursed for funding for those projects through a tax increment reinvestment zone agreement.
The task order, dated Sept. 11, is to provide services for "fabrication unit 2." The project notes that Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLC intends to build a second fabrication plant with approximately 2.7 million square feet of final build out, with the scope being for core and shell design and construction. No other details were included in the documents but the infrastructure project was said to be on an expedited schedule.
The South Korean electronics giant is working on the first phase of construction of a next-generation chipmaking hub, which is planned to include 6 million square feet of floor space, a fabrication plant, office space, a parking garage, a central utility building and special utility supply facilities that will be operational next year. The company owns about 1,260 acres and could eventually build as many as nine additional fabs on the space after obtaining incentives from the local school district it said were for planning purposes. The applications detail that the company could create 8,200 jobs and have a capital investment of at least $167.6 billion, with one plant coming online each year between 2034 and 2042… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
City splits homeless services into new, separate office (Austin Monitor)
The city has created a dedicated office for homelessness services, in a move intended to let city staff address that area more quickly and decisively.
Interim City Manager JesĂşs Garza informed City Council of the change in a memo released Tuesday. He signaled some of his plans for solving homelessness in June, when he assigned David Gray, formerly assistant director of the Economic Development Department, to focus specifically on homelessness and report to Assistant City Manager Stephanie Hayden-Howard. That assignment came less than two months before Gray was appointed interim homeless strategy officer following the resignation of Dianna Grey.
“The City’s current organizational structure does not effectively respond to this critical priority in our community,” Garza said in his memo.
Garza notes the change will be effective Dec. 4, with Gray promoted to homeless strategy officer. Austin Public Health’s Homeless Strategy Division and other city staff who primarily work on homelessness issues, including the Homeless Outreach Street Team, will be moved into the new office… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Interim Austin ISD superintendent likely to become permanent (Austin Chronicle)
It looks like there will be a new, permanent superintendent at Austin ISD by early December. And it'll probably be the current interim super – Matias Segura.
Segura has served as interim super since December of last year and has a term ending on June 30, 2024. From the beginning, he's been praised by community members and the AISD Board of Trustees as an even-keeled presence, a clear communicator, and a capable manager.
Near the end of Thursday's meeting, the board voted to approve the profile of the new superintendent they seek. Trustee Candace Hunter moved that the profile include "a prioritization of special education, with specific reference to inclusive practices and a focus placed on multilingual education, more emphasis on staff morale, and an equity statement around gender identity and sexual orientation." The board unanimously approved the motion.
Next, Trustee Arati Singh spoke about the options available to the board in hiring a new superintendent. "One option is to conduct a full national search, which takes several months," Singh said. "Another option is to post the permanent superintendent position now, if it seems a full national search with a search firm is not necessary. When school boards do this it is often because a strong candidate has been identified already."
Singh went on to describe how a pair of outreach efforts by the board, one in the spring and one in the fall, had revealed overwhelming community support for Segura. Trustee Lynn Boswell moved to authorize the posting of the superintendent position from Nov. 17 through Dec. 7 at 5pm – a mere three weeks. "We will consider the applications that we receive in executive session on December 7," she said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[BG PODCAST]
On this episode (224) Bingham Group CEO A.J. Bingham and Associate Hannah Garcia discuss the week of November 20th and 30th in Austin politics.
TOPICS INCLUDE:
âś… The HOME Initiative and What is the public outreach standard?
âś… 2024 Austin Council Race watch and more
Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas faces risk of winter blackouts after grid operator’s plan to add generating capacity fails (San Antonio Express-News)
Texans are facing a higher risk of blackouts this winter after the state electric grid operator canceled plans to add to its power supply — an increase it said last month was necessary to head off emergency conditions during extreme cold. The reason: Plant operators snubbed the request from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which runs the grid, to restart their shutdown plants by Dec. 1. ERCOT asked for proposals after its analysis showed the grid at a 20% risk of going into emergency conditions during severe weather, a condition that would lead it to ask industrial users to reduce usage to keep customers’ lights on. For January, ERCOT said the risk of rolling blackouts was 17%.
Attempting to reduce those risks, ERCOT last month asked utilities with out-of-service coal and natural gas plants to consider reopening them from December through February. It was seeking an additional 3,000 megawatts of generating capacity but got offers for only 11.1 megawatts — enough to power about 2,200 homes on an unusually cold winter day. None of that was from restarting plants but from large-scale electricity users, including utilities and industrial customers, offering to cut their usage when demand peaks. “The request for additional capacity was an extra layer of precaution to mitigate higher risk during extreme weather this winter,” CEO Pablo Vegas said in a statement Friday. “ERCOT is not projecting emergency conditions this winter and expects to have adequate resources to meet demand.”
CPS Energy’s J.T. Deely Plant was the single largest potential power source on ERCOT’s wish list. But the coal-fired plant has been out of commission since 2018, and CPS said it had no interest in reopening it. The city-owned utility told its trustees that it has more than enough power to get its customers through a winter storm… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Ken Paxton announces investigation of media group following Elon Musk’s lawsuit (Texas Tribune)
Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation Monday evening into Media Matters for possible fraudulent activity in response to the media watchdog group’s report last week that prompted companies to pull advertisements from X, the site formerly known as Twitter.
Earlier on Monday, X CEO Elon Musk filed a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas against Media Matters, alleging the organization manipulated information it gathered to defame the social media company.
Paxton said his office would investigate allegations that Media Matters — which he referred to as a “radical anti-free speech organization” — had violated Texas laws protecting consumers from fraud… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Former Mayor Annise Parker backs state Sen. John Whitmire for Houston mayor (Houston Chronicle)
Former Mayor Annise Parker endorsed state Sen. John Whitmire for mayor Monday, as Whitmire looks to build on a first-place finish in the general election to win a December runoff. Parker did not publicly endorse anyone in the first round, but she said she voted for bond investor Gilbert Garcia, who finished with 7.2% of the vote. Garcia served as Parker's finance chair during her mayoral runs and was then appointed Metro chairman when she was elected. With Garcia out of contention, and the mayor's race headed to a runoff between Whitmire and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Parker has thrown her support behind the longtime state lawmaker.
"John Whitmire has the experience and knowledge to succeed as Mayor of Houston,” Parker said in a statement provided by the campaign. “He understands that our city’s budget is structurally unbalanced and he isn't afraid to make tough choices — funding only what we can afford, with a priority put on public safety, infrastructure and basic city services. I endorse John Whitmire for Mayor of Houston.”
Whitmire has said the city must get on a more sustainable financial footing, and he has argued that nobody knows the true state of the city's finances because of a lack of transparency at City Hall. Parker has described the city's financial outlook as a "fiscal cliff" and predicted layoffs may be necessary in the next administration. Whitmire also has campaigned as a bipartisan coalition builder, focusing on public safety and restoring confidence in basic city services such as the water system and garbage and recycling collection. Polls have shown him building a broad coalition that includes conservatives, moderates and parts of his Democratic base… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US/WORLD NEWS]
Record crowds are expected to take to the air and roads for Thanksgiving (Associated Press)
Despite inflation and memories of past holiday travel meltdowns, millions of people are expected to hit airports and highways in record numbers over the Thanksgiving break. The busiest days to fly will be Tuesday and Wednesday as well as the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen 2.6 million passengers on Tuesday and 2.7 million passengers on Wednesday. Sunday will draw the largest crowds with an estimated 2.9 million passengers, which would narrowly eclipse a record set on June 30. Meanwhile, AAA forecasts that 55.4 million Americans will travel at least 50 miles from home between next Wednesday and the Sunday after Thanksgiving, with roads likely to be the most clogged on Wednesday.
The weather could snarl air and road traffic. A storm system was expected to move from the southern Plains to the Northeast on Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing severe thunderstorms, gusty wind and possible snow.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said during a news conference Monday that the government has tried to better prepare for holiday travel over the last year by hiring more air traffic controllers, opening new air routes along the East Coast and providing grants to airports for snowplows and deiciOpenAI reinstates Sam Altman as its chief executive (NPR)ng equipment. But he warned travelers to check road conditions and flight times before leaving home.
“Mother Nature, of course, is the X factor in all of this,” he said. The good news for travelers by plane and car alike: Prices are coming down. Airfares are averaging $268 per ticket, down 14% from a year ago, according to the travel site Hopper. Gasoline prices are down about 45 cents a gallon from this time last year. The national average was $3.30 per gallon on Monday, according to AAA, down from $3.67 a year ago. A survey of GasBuddy users found that despite cheaper pump prices, the number of people planning to take a long driving trip this Thanksgiving hasn’t changed much from last year. Patrick De Haan, an analyst for the price-tracking service, said inflation has cooled but some things like food are still getting more expensive. Consumers are also charging more on credit cards and saving less… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
OpenAI reinstates Sam Altman as its chief executive (NPR)
OpenAI said late Tuesday it had reinstated Sam Altman as its chief executive in a stunning reversal that capped five days of drama that rocked the artificial intelligence community.
The company, maker of the popular ChatGPT, said it would also create a new board of directors. This comes after the former board voted to fire Altman as CEO late last week.
"We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo," OpenAI said in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter. "We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this."
The announcement was the latest development in a drama that began last Friday, when OpenAI's board of directors removed Altman over apparent differences of balancing safety with artificial intelligence with the desire to release new AI tools into the world.
However, internal dissent within OpenAI over Altman's removal quickly became publicly known, as hundreds of employees demanded his return.
But by early on Monday morning, Microsoft, which owns 49% of OpenAI, announced it had hired Altman to lead its new AI team. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also announced that Greg Brockman, a board member and the former president of OpenAI who quit in protest after Altman's sudden departure, would be joining the new AI division at Microsoft alongside Altman.
Later Monday, an estimated 97% of OpenAI's employees had signed a letter stating that the board had jeopardized the mission of OpenAI. The letter demanded the board be dissolved and that Altman and another co-founder, Greg Brockman, be reinstated. Otherwise, all of them would quit in protest.
Minutes after OpenAI announced Altman's return to the company, Altman also posted, saying "I love openai, and everything i've done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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