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BG Reads 12.27.2023

BG Reads 12.27.2023

🗞️ BG Reads | News - December 27, 2023

December 27, 2023

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December 27, 2023

Today's BG Reads include:

📈 Austin-area GDP growth ranked No. 1 among big US metros

🛫 Austin airport among those bucking national trend

🎲 Odds for more sports betting expansion could fade after rapid growth to 38 states

Read on!

🔎 2024 Austin Council Meeting Schedule

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Austin-area GDP growth ranked No. 1 among big US metros (Austin Business Journal)

In the latest illustration of the magnitude of Austin's economic boom, growth in regional gross domestic product topped all other major U.S. metros in a new analysis.

Real gross domestic product in the Austin area — meaning the value of all goods and services produced, adjusted for inflation — climbed by 7.4%, or about $13.4 billion, in 2022, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. It's the most recent federal data available.

The local growth rate for that year put the Austin area at No. 1 in a ranking by the Orlando Economic Partnership in Florida of the fastest-growing big regional economies in the United States. The Orlando area came in second, with GDP growth of 5.9%.

Nationwide, real GDP growth climbed 2.1% in 2022.

According to the ranking, the top metros for real GDP growth were:

* Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown: 7.4%

* Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford: 5.9%

* Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington: 5.7%

* Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nev.: 5.3%

* Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla.: 4.9%

* Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.: 4.9%

(LINK TO FULL STORY)

D3’s Velásquez says: ‘We’re doing exactly what we set out to do’ (Austin Monitor)

For District 3 City Council Member José Velásquez, this past year’s theme was accessibility and constituent relations.

“We’re doing exactly what we set out to do, which was make the office as accessible as possible and make the person sitting in the chair as accessible as possible,” Velásquez told the Austin Monitor. “That hasn’t always been the case. That hasn’t always been the case at City Hall, period. And so our main charge outside of the work that we got done was to ensure that the community knew: You can pick up the phone, you email, you can text and we’ll be there.”

Velásquez thinks he and his staff set a high bar for constituent relations and offering one-on-one assistance to community members in need… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Vela: Austin may have country’s most progressive housing policy (Austin Monitor)

Chito Vela has had no sophomore slump in 2023. In his second year, the District 4 City Council member has ushered in a new regimen of land use policies tackling Austin’s housing crisis at breakneck speed.

“We were in a real bind for decades, and I think there was universal acknowledgment that our code was not providing the outcomes we needed,” Vela said in conversation with the Austin Monitor. “I think this City Council at large could be one of the most progressive councils in the country in terms of housing policy.”

The whirlwind menu of reforms includes the elimination of costly and land-intensive parking requirements on new construction, proposed by colleague Zo Qadri in May and finalized in an 8-2 vote last month. In a June resolution, Vela tackled Austin’s notoriously strict compatibility standards, calling on staff to rein in setbacks and height restrictions triggered by single-family zoning to fall closer in line with peer cities. The new guidelines, which Vela says will alleviate one of the biggest obstacles to housing units, will return to Council for discussion this spring… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

New Samsung factory delays production schedule, reports say (Austin Business Journal)

Samsung’s $17 billion chipmaking plant north of Austin — one of the biggest factories under construction in the United States — won't start mass producing until 2025, according to media reports.

Several American news outlets — citing the Seoul Economic Daily, a business newspaper in South Korea — reported Samsung has delayed mass production plans at its new chip plant in Taylor, a tiny suburb about 34 miles northeast of downtown Austin. The plant had been expected to start mass production in 2024.

Local Samsung executive Michele Glaze, director of communications and community affairs, said in an email to ABJ: “The Samsung Taylor fab is on target to be operational by the end of 2024. We cannot comment on timing for mass production.”

The initial Samsung building in Taylor is set to have at least 1,800 employees, but when accounting for Samsung's supply chain, its impact is expected to be much bigger. Samsung already employs roughly 4,400 people at its longtime facility in North Austin, but when adding contractors, the company said it supports about 14,000 professionals at the campus in a year, according to a recently released economic impact report… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

More flights, more passengers: Austin airport among those bucking national trend (Austin Business Journal)

If Austin-Bergstrom International Airport has seemed exceptionally busy in 2023, you aren't imagining it.

Flights originating at Austin's airport have climbed by 7,337 — or nearly 42% — from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2023, putting it second nationally in a recent ranking of flights added over that time period. Orlando International Airport was No. 1, gaining 8,685 flights, or close to 21%, according to the analysis of data from Cirium Inc. by the Business Journals… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Texas Medical Board remains silent on abortion laws, despite calls for more guidance (Texas Tribune)

As the licensing and disciplinary agency for Texas doctors, the medical board has the power to revoke a doctor’s license for violating the state’s abortion ban. The agency has, in the past, offered guidance to doctors on new and controversial topics, including COVID-19, and could “assess various hypothetical circumstances, provide best practices, identify red lines, and the like,” the Supreme Court said.

But many doctors, and the advocacy groups that support them, say additional guidance from the state medical board is not enough to allow them to feel confident performing an abortion in Texas.

“Medical emergency exceptions, the way they're written, don't work in real life,” said Molly Meegan, chief legal officer at the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists. “So it's very difficult for a medical board to give better advice than anyone else.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Texas hotel rates increase by over 390% ahead of April’s total solar eclipse (Dallas Morning News)

The highly anticipated total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, is becoming the motherlode for hotels and rental property owners as rates and occupancy around the week of the eclipse are soaring upwards. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Dallas as the city hasn’t been in the path of this type of event since 1878 and won’t be again until 2317. But business owners are also seeing it as an unprecedented chance to raise rates through the roof.

“The solar eclipse presents an excellent opportunity for hotels and Airbnb to increase revenue,” said Rachel Coleman, senior editor at travel website Easy World Travels. “There’s an increase in demand for accommodation during this period, which allows them to raise the prices of rooms.”

The eclipse’s path spans across North America, starting in north-central Mexican cities like Mazatlan and moving northwards to Texas cities like San Antonio, Austin, Temple, Waco, Fort Worth and Dallas.

The eclipse will finish its journey in Newfoundland, Canada, after moving over Indianapolis, Cleveland and Buffalo. Dallas-Fort Worth is the largest major metropolitan area in the path of the eclipse. According to Portsmouth, N.H.-based travel technology company Amadeus, people are anxious not to miss out on the eclipse and are already booking hotels in Dallas-Fort Worth. It’s abnormal given that most hotel bookings are typically purchased within seven days before travel, said Katie Moro, vice president of data partnerships and hospitality for Amadeus. “The eclipse is already showing that it will drive a bumper April 2024 across the regions through which it will pass,” she said. “It’s very unusual to see these high numbers this far in advance. Solar enthusiasts need to book early to avoid missing out.” Dallas hotels are expecting to see occupancies rise by over 500% as nightly rates have skyrocketed over 390%, according to Amadeus… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

Israeli death toll grows as Hamas shifts to guerrilla attacks (Wall Street Journal)

The Israeli military says it could take months to assert control over a key city in southern Gaza, as Hamas guerrilla tactics are causing casualties to mount among Israeli troops. At least 16 Israeli soldiers were killed across Gaza over the past three days, as the military is now focusing on killing Hamas’s leaders and dismantling its extensive tunnel network.

On Saturday, four Israeli soldiers were killed by improvised explosive devices, and another four were killed by an antitank missile fired at their armored vehicle, according to Israel’s state-owned Army Radio and partially confirmed by the military. Five additional soldiers were killed in fighting across the Strip on Friday. Israel’s military confirmed on its website two more additional deaths on Saturday and another on Sunday.

The growing death toll has led to some internal criticism that Israel is endangering soldiers by scaling back its use of force in response to U.S. demands to limit civilian casualties. Israeli security officials and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deny any change to tactics because of American pressure.

Apple watch import ban upheld by Biden administration (Politico)But the growing casualties in the Israeli military highlight the difficulties in wiping out Hamas, which is splintering into a part-guerrilla army and launching attacks from populated areas. Israeli military officials say they have been surprised by the extent of Hamas’s vast military network in southern Gaza and are finding more tunnels and weapons than they expected. A senior Israeli military officer commanding the battalion inside the city of Khan Younis said it could take months before they have control over the city the same way the Israeli military now controls northern Gaza… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Odds for more sports betting expansion could fade after rapid growth to 38 states (Associated Press)

After a “whirlwind” of expansion, the playing field for further sports betting has narrowed to a group of states where various stakeholders all “want to kind of maximize what they get out of the legalization framework,” said Chris Cylke, senior vice president of government relations at the American Gaming Association, which represents the industry. “So that can create some friction.”

The states where sports betting remains illegal are Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Utah.

California and Texas, the nation’s two most populous states, would be the biggest prizes for sports bettors. But neither appear particularly likely to adopt it in 2024.

Voters in California last year overwhelmingly defeated two rival sports betting initiatives following a record $463 million raised by supporters and opponents. The advertising barrage was fueled by divisions among online gaming companies, tribal casinos and horse tracks. Those tensions have continued, with Native American tribes objecting to a new sports betting initiative that is seeking signatures to appear on the 2024 ballot.

The proposed sale of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team to a politically active family that runs the Las Vegas Sands casino company has raised speculation of a bigger push for legal sports betting in Texas. But the state Legislature is not in regular session in 2024, and Texas has no means of placing citizen initiatives on the ballot… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Apple watch import ban upheld by Biden administration (Politico)

The Biden administration has decided to uphold an import ban on some Apple watches in a health care patent infringement case brought by two companies in Irvine, Calif.

The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled in October that Apple, Inc. infringed two patents owned by Masimo Corporation and Cercacor Laboratories, Inc. for a blood oxygen sensor that can read a person’s pulse.

The decision was made by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who is delegated authority from the president to review and potentially overturn import ban orders imposed by the ITC under U.S. trade law… (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