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BG Reads 12.22.2023

BG Reads 12.22.2023

🗞️ BG Reads | News - December 22, 2023

December 22, 2023

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December 22, 2023

Today's BG Reads include:

✅ APD investigated 47 out of 689 complaints against its officers

✅ Who made Gov. Abbott and AG Paxton’s primary retribution list

✅ Airline passengers are still losing it

Read on!

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Report: APD investigated 47 out of 689 complaints against its officers (Austin Monitor)

Austinites voted overwhelmingly last year to expand the Office of Police Oversight’s authority. Implementing the Austin Police Oversight Act, however, has proven challenging.

The office recently faced criticism from the Public Safety Commission over its lack of progress on this front. Equity Action, which spearheaded the act, sued the city on Dec. 5 for its failure to enact the law, including its continued shielding of confidential police personnel records. And the city and police union remain at odds over the terms of a new labor contract, through which certain provisions of the act must be codified.

It was against this fraught backdrop that the Office of Police Oversight recently released its 2022 annual report, which provides a glimpse into its work prior to the last contract’s expiration in March and the passage of the Austin Police Oversight Act in May… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

It's been a big year for H-E-B, but it's not over as the retail bellwether files more plans (Austin Business Journal)

H-E-B LP opened three grocery stores in the Austin area this year and more are on the way.

The three new stores accounted for about 20% of new retail inventory in the metro this year, said Steve Triolet, senior vice president and market forecasting operations at Partners. H-E-B’s newest grocery stores are in Southwest

Austin, Georgetown and Lake Austin and have a combined footprint of almost 370,000 square feet, he said.

Though this was a big year for H-E-B, the retail bellwether that's a magnet for smaller stores is heating more irons in the fire.

The San Antonio-based company's 50 stores around the area make it the largest employer in the region, though Tesla Inc. is expected to surpass its headcount in the coming year… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin reopens former downtown Salvation Army shelter, now operated by Urban Alchemy (Austin American-Statesman)

The doors of the former Salvation Army shelter downtown reopened Thursday after being closed to the public for several months.

After the Salvation Army announced earlier this year it was closing its downtown facility, the city of Austin moved to lease the space and later purchased it to continue shelter operations there.

The facility, located next to the city-owned men's ARCH shelter, will be operated by the nonprofit Urban Alchemy and will serve women and transgender people experiencing homelessness. Urban Alchemy has operated the ARCH facility since the city abruptly ended its contracts with Front Steps in 2022.

As it reopens in December, the shelter will be able to serve at least 65 people, according to the city's Homeless Strategy Office. By March, it will be able to accommodate 150 people… (LINK TO FULL REPORT)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and AG Ken Paxton promised retribution for votes they didn’t like. Here’s who they are targeting. (Texas Tribune)

The Texas primary season promises more drama than usual as Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton seek revenge against dozens of fellow Republicans in the state House.

Paxton is working to defeat the House Republicans who voted to impeach him in May on abuse-of-office charges. The Senate acquitted him after a trial in September.

Abbott, meanwhile, wants to unseat the House Republicans who thwarted his yearlong crusade for school vouchers, which would allow parents to use taxpayer dollars to help pay for private school costs.

Both of them have their work cut out for them. Sixty House Republicans voted to impeach Paxton, while Abbott is focused on a narrower group of 21 who voted last month to strip a voucher proposal out of a broad education bill… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

California, New York in danger of seeing House delegations shrink further (The Hill)

California and New York could see their House delegations shrink on the basis of population trends, while delegations in the South could grow, according to an analysis of recent U.S. census data.

The analysis by the Brennan Center projected that California would lose four of its 52 congressional districts in reapportionment, the once-in-a-decade process in which population determines representation in Congress, if current trajectories hold... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Airline passengers are still losing it (Wall Street Journal)

The Federal Aviation Administration has recorded nearly 2,000 reports of such incidents so far this year, up 71% from 2019’s full-year tally, though lower than 2021’s unprecedented peak of 5,973 incidents.

The Transportation Security Administration said it had opened 374 investigations into passengers interfering with checkpoint screening in the 2023 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, up from 287 the previous 12 months.

“Airports and what happens on airplanes are kind of a microcosm of what’s happening in society,” said Michele Freadman, a former Massachusetts Port Authority security executive who is involved in federally funded research on passenger disruptions. “We see this violence and tendency to be angry in so many different venues.”… (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