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- BG Reads 2.11.2025
BG Reads 2.11.2025
🟪 BG Reads - February 11, 2025
Bingham Group Reads
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February 11, 2025
âś… Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 Today @9AM, Austin City Council Work Session Agenda + Livestream Link
🟪 Austin to deliver more affordable housing in 2025 than any other US city, study says (Austin Business Journal)
🟪 How Elon Musk’s crusade against government could benefit Tesla (Associated Press)
🟪 With vouchers fast-tracked, other Texas public education issues to watch this session (Texas Tribune)
Read On!
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
đź“ş Today at 9AM: Austin Council Work Session
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
âś… Austin to deliver more affordable housing in 2025 than any other US city, study says (Austin Business Journal)
Austin is expected to deliver more affordable multifamily housing units than anywhere else in the country in 2025, and it still may not be enough.
With housing affordability a major issue both in Austin and across the country, 2025 is expected to see 78,377 affordable multifamily housing units delivered nationally, with 3,452 units in Austin alone, according to a new report from Yardi Matrix.
Los Angeles is expected to deliver the second-most affordable units this year, at 2,752. Even with nation-leading construction, however, worries persist that Austin still won't have enough. In addition, rising development costs and other issues could reduce the number of new units in coming years… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ How Elon Musk’s crusade against government could benefit Tesla (Associated Press)
Elon Musk has long railed against the U.S. government, saying a crushing number of federal investigations and safety programs have stymied Tesla, his electric car company, and its efforts to create fleets of robotaxis and other self-driving automobiles.
Now, Musk’s close relationship with President Donald Trump means many of those federal headaches could vanish within weeks or months. On the potential chopping block: crash investigations into Tesla’s partially automated vehicles; a Justice Department criminal probe examining whether Musk and Tesla have overstated their cars’ self-driving capabilities; and a government mandate to report crash data on vehicles using technology like Tesla’s Autopilot.
The consequences of such actions could prove dire, say safety advocates who credit the federal investigations and recalls with saving lives… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
âś… American Airlines flight out of Austin grounded for hours after internet hotspot bomb scare (ABC News)
A recent flight out of Austin was delayed for several hours following a bomb scare. Airport officials said an American Airlines flight from Austin to Charlotte was delayed several hours on Friday as authorities were alerted to "suspicious activity."
A flight crew told the Department of Aviation and Austin police that an internet hotspot was creating issues for the flight.
One passenger told ABC News that someone renamed their hotspot to "There is a bomb on this flight," which pushed police to investigate.
The investigation forced the plane to return to the gate so police could sweep the aircraft and luggage for explosives. All passengers were removed from the flight and rescreened by the Transportation Security Administration before being allowed to board again… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
âś… Behind the deal: Austin's Sail Tower sold (Austin Business Journal)
One of Austin's biggest office transactions of 2024 — Cousins Properties' $522 million purchase of the Sail Tower downtown — came together in the waning weeks of the year amid a “perfect storm” of ideal conditions.
That’s according to Tim Hendricks, Cousins’ senior vice president, managing director and top local executive. Cousins bought the 35-story tower from Trammell Crow Co. in December. “The Sail Tower was very unique," Hendricks said.
"It came at a time that, because of the way Cousins was positioned financially, that we could execute on a transaction of that magnitude and we could do it very quickly” — within a matter of weeks rather than months.
Other potential investors might have hesitated to make the purchase because the tenant that has leased the entirety of the 804,000-square-foot tower — tech giant Google — hasn't moved in as expected yet. But Hendricks said Cousins is "very comfortable" with the situation… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
âś… City releases short list for 2025 Heritage Preservation Grant (Austin Monitor)
Bids for the city’s Heritage Preservation Grant are in, and staffers are circling in on the lucky landmarks deemed worthy to snag a slice of the pie.
Heritage Tourism Division Manager Melissa Alvarado stopped by last week’s meeting of the Historic Landmark Commission to run through the short list of recommendees, each with their own proposal for repairs or programming to drum up visitors.
Using revenue from Austin’s Hotel Occupancy Tax, the grant offers occupants of historic sites anywhere from $15,000 to $250,000 per project. This year, the city has identified 20 eligible projects, starring an eclectic mix of local businesses and nonprofits that run the gamut from dive bar to cemetery.
If approved by Council, the Austin Theater Alliance will land funding for ongoing renovations at the Paramount and Stateside theaters, advancing plans to combine the two buildings into a new and improved historic venue. For now, the nonprofit hopes to use the funds to continue restoring the buildings’ aging windows, doors and transoms, as well as replacing the iconic “Paramount” sign with an easier-to-maintain LED replica… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
âś… As Texas gets redder, John Cornyn could face toughest primary season of his career (Texas Tribune)
Sen. John Cornyn is facing what could be the toughest primary challenge of his career as the state party takes a decidedly rightward turn and his popularity among Republican voters dips from 2020 highs.
It’s a remarkable turn for the four-term senator who — before last year losing his bid for party leader — had never lost an election in his life, served in the highest echelons of the Senate Republican Conference, had an early hand in the Republican takeover of Texas and secured a host of legislative wins directly impacting the state.
Attorney General Ken Paxton has repeatedly hinted that he’s interested in challenging Cornyn in the Republican primary, saying on Fox News he could be making moves soon. “As far as my plans, right now, I don't know. I'm just going to serve as attorney general,” Paxton said. “I'm looking potentially at the U.S. Senate. We'll look at that over the next couple of months.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
âś… With vouchers fast-tracked, other Texas public education issues to watch this session (Texas Tribune)
It only took the Texas Senate 22 days from the start of this year’s legislative session to introduce, debate and pass its priority school voucher bill.
Senate Bill 2, which would allow families to use taxpayer dollars to fund their children’s private school tuition, now awaits a vote in the House where similar legislation repeatedly hit a dead end two years ago.
But while the Senate has moved swiftly on vouchers, state officials and education advocates have expressed a need for significant investment in public schools, which the state has a constitutional requirement to fund and where 5.5 million children receive their education.
From declining enrollment, budget deficits and program cuts to student absences, teacher shortages and campus closures, public schools walked into the 2025 legislative session with major challenges.
Here’s what lawmakers are prioritizing… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
âś… A deep dive on U.S. reading and math scores, and what to do about them (NPR)
U.S. students were still nearly half a grade-level behind in both math and reading in the spring of 2024, compared with achievement levels before the pandemic. That's according to the latest release of the Education Recovery Scorecard, a data-rich deep-dive into student learning.
Today's news arrives on the heels of The Nation's Report Card, released at the end of January, which also found students still trying to make up for learning they missed during the pandemic.
But, if that report card provided a grainy Polaroid of what's happening in schools, the Education Recovery Scorecard offers a high-resolution digital photo, allowing researchers to zoom into student learning at the district level in some 8,700 school districts… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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