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BG Reads 12.14.2023

BG Reads 12.14.2023

🗞️ BG Reads | News - December 14, 2023

December 14, 2023

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December 14, 2023

Today's BG Reads include:

✅ Austin metro is fastest-growing in the US for 12th year in a row

✅ Elon Musk invests $100M in STEM-based private schools in Austin

✅ Trump immunity request puts Supreme Court in crosshairs

Read on!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

This week, Bingham Group CEO A.J. Bingham joined the board of Austin Ed Fund. Since 1993, the Austin Ed Fund has supported Austin ISD by raising public and private dollars for the district’s most innovative initiatives – often system-wide programs, impacting tens of thousands of students each and every day.

It was also announced that A.J. will serve as 2024 Chair of the 4ATX Foundation, the non-profit arm of Austin FC.

4ATX Foundation’s Verde Leaders program provides free afterschool soccer and social-emotional skills training to students from underserved backgrounds, with sessions often attended by Austin FC players, as well as a year-round intensive leadership development program for high school students called the Q2 Youth Leadership Academy.

[BG Podcast]

Welcome to BG Podcast Episode 226.

On this episode the Bingham Group CEO A.J. Bingham and Associate Hannah Garcia wrap up the week of December 4 in Austin politics.

TOPIC: ✅ The Austin Council's passage (9-2) of the Home Options for Middle-income Empowerment (HOME) Initiative.

LISTEN ON!

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[AUSTIN COUNCIL NEWS]

The Austin Council meets today at 10AM for its final regular meeting of 2023 this Thursday, agenda here.

2024 City Council Meeting Calendar

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Austin metro is fastest-growing in the US for 12th year in a row (Austin Business Journal)

The Austin metro is the fastest-growing area in the nation for the 12th year in a row, according to City Demographer Lila Valencia.

Valencia gave a presentation on the city’s population growth and demographic trends during an Austin City Council work session on Dec. 12.

Austin continues “inching our way closer to that million mark,” Valencia said. The city had an estimated 2022 population of 974,447, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a 1.3% increase since the 2020 census… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

See here presentation here:

Elon Musk invests $100M in STEM-based private schools in Austin (Community Impact)

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, gifted $100 million toward the creation of a primary and secondary school as well as a university in Austin, according to tax filings from organization The Foundation.

According to the filing, the charity plans to create a primary and secondary school in Austin, with the expectation of enrollment beginning with 50 students. Once operational, the focus will shift to creating a university focused on science, technology, engineering and math. The university will seek accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.The filing also states the schools are planned to be tuition-free, and if eventually tuition begins to be charged, students will be offered need-based scholarships.The board of trustees for the school consists of Steven Chidester, Jared Birchall, Ronald Gong and Teresa Holland, per the filing… (LINK TO FULL REPORT)

University of Austin President Pano Kanelos pitches Texas’ newest university as a place dedicated to free inquiry (Texas Tribune)

Pano Kanelos, the founding president of a new private university in Texas called the University of Austin, believes polarization on university campuses today reflects a “hardening” of empathy within American culture.

Speaking at a Texas Tribune event Wednesday, moderated by the Tribune’s Managing Editor Matthew Watkins, Kanelos said he wants to create a classroom experience where students feel comfortable “taking intellectual risks” and can hone their opinions through dialogue.

“I don't think at a university, one opinion plus another opinion should equal two opinions, one winning out in the end,” he said. “One opinion plus another opinion should equal better opinions.”

Kanelos laid out his vision for the new private university, set to launch in fall 2024. He believes it can be a champion for free speech and open inquiry… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

113-acre Silicon Vistas project could bring industrial, commercial, residential space near new Samsung site (Austin Business Journal)

A Dallas-area developer is eyeing a 113-acre mixed-use project near the new Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. factory northeast of Austin.

Silicon Vistas 113 LLC is seeking approval from the Taylor City Council to rezone the property west of the Taylor Municipal Airport near the intersection of Justin Lane and County Road 398. It's located about five miles north of the Samsung site.

The project, dubbed "Silicon Vistas," includes about 77 acres of mixed-use residential and commercial and civic spaces, as well as 36 acres of industrial, according to Council documents. Those plans specifically include approximately 580,000-square-feet of flex and large footprint industrial at the east-side of the site along Justin Lane, and 944 residential units, 56,000-square-feet of commercial space and 23 acres of civic space on the remaining part of the property.

A public hearing was held to introduce the ordinance to rezone the project during a Dec. 5 Taylor Council meeting. The Council will vote whether to approve the rezoning as part of the consent agenda on Dec. 14… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Kate Cox’s case reveals how far Texas intends to go to enforce abortion laws (Texas Tribune)

A year and a half after enacting one of the strictest abortion laws in the country, Texas finally saw a test case.

In a historic lawsuit, Kate Cox, a 31-year-old Dallas mother of two, put herself and her heartbreaking pregnancy story into the public eye to force an answer to an urgent question: Just how serious is the state of Texas about enforcing its new abortion laws?

Pretty damn serious, it turns out.

Cox’s story followed a now-familiar storyline: She and her husband were thrilled to find out they were pregnant, and devastated to receive a lethal fetal diagnosis. Her doctor said she needed an abortion to preserve her health and future fertility, but because of state law, their “hands are tied,” according to the lawsuit… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Gov. Abbott, legislators celebrate new laws at annual higher education conference (Community Impact)

Texas colleges and universities are “at the forefront of [the] mission to ... preserve, protect and advance the future of America,” Gov. Greg Abbott told higher education leaders Dec. 12.College and university officials from across the state convened in Austin for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s annual conference, where they heard from Abbott, state lawmakers and education experts. The two-day conference ends Dec. 13.

This year, the Texas Legislature invested over $5 billion in higher education for the 2024-25 biennium. Lawmakers also approved House Bill 8, a “transformative” law that overhauls how the state funds community colleges.HB 8 increases funding for Texas’ 50 community colleges and incentivizes them to help students earn degrees in high-demand fields, transfer to four-year universities and more. Community colleges were previously funded based on enrollment… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Federal judge upholds Texas’ TikTok ban on state-owned devices (Associated Press)

A federal judge in Texas upheld the state’s TikTok ban on official devices and networks, rejecting a challenge brought by an organization that claimed the restrictions violated the First Amendment.

The lawsuit, filed in July by The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, had argued the ban on official devices – which extends to public universities – was impeding academic freedom and compromising on the ability of professors to teach and do research about the social media app.

The Knight Institute brought the complaint on behalf of Coalition for Independent Technology Research, a group of academics and researchers who study technology’s impact on society. Their lawsuit also cited a member of the group - and a professor at University of North Texas - who they said couldn’t assigning students certain in-class work and had suspend some research projects because of the ban… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

Trump immunity request puts Supreme Court in crosshairs (The Hill)

The Supreme Court must decide if they will immediately weigh in on whether President Trump is immune from criminal prosecution for his actions on and preceding Jan. 6, putting the justices front and center in a pivotal election-year battle.

Calls by Democrats for Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from the decision are already being made, underscoring the court having to take up a thorny political issue — something its chief justice does not want his legacy to hinge on… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Israel is using an AI system to find targets in Gaza. Experts say it's just the start (NPR)

The pace is astonishing: In the wake of the brutal attacks by Hamas-led militants on October 7, Israeli forces have struck more than 22,000 targets inside Gaza, a small strip of land along the Mediterranean coast. Just since the temporary truce broke down on December 1, Israel's Air Force has hit more than 3,500 sites.

The Israeli military says it's using artificial intelligence to select many of these targets in real-time. The military claims that the AI system, named "the Gospel," has helped it to rapidly identify enemy combatants and equipment, while reducing civilian casualties.

But critics warn the system is unproven at best — and at worst, providing a technological justification for the killing of thousands of Palestinian civilians… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

The Fed underwrites the recovery (Wall Street Journal)

The Federal Reserve has two mandates: inflation and unemployment. For two years, though, it behaved as if only the first mattered, raising interest rates so steeply that it knew it was courting recession.

This week, it pivoted. “You’re getting now back to the point where both mandates are important,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters Wednesday after the central bank’s meeting. “We’ll be very much keeping that in mind as we make policy going forward.”

This pivot means the Fed is ready to backstop the economic recovery. It doesn’t rule out a recession, but makes one much less likely.

Officially, the Fed is still unsatisfied with inflation, which Powell said remains too high. Officially, it says it’s more likely to raise rates than cut them at their next few meetings.

Unofficially, the Fed thinks inflation, which has fallen much faster than almost anyone expected, will be in the vicinity of its 2% target before long, and the priority in the coming year will be lowering rates enough to prevent a recession… (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