- The BG Reads
- Posts
- BG Reads 2.19.2025
BG Reads 2.19.2025
🟪 BG Reads - February 19, 2025
Bingham Group Reads
Presented by:
www.binghamgp.com
February 19, 2025
âś… Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 ATP opens multibillion-dollar search for Project Connect contractor (Community Impact)
🟪 Will latest FAA layoffs impact Austin’s airport? (KXAN)
🟪 On anniversary of Texas blackouts, ERCOT forecasts potential energy shortages in coming years (Houston Public Media)
🟪 Trump says he will introduce 25% tariffs on autos, pharmaceuticals and chips (Reuters)
🟪 Trump’s Labor pick tests if Republicans are warming toward unions (Wall Street Journal)
Read On!
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
âś… ATP opens multibillion-dollar search for Project Connect contractor (Community Impact)
The steady hum of rail lines edges closer to reality as the Austin Transit Partnership, responsible for building the city's light rail, issued a multibillion-dollar request for design and construction firms this month.
The agency issued a request for information Feb. 5, which opens a “unique” first step in the final solicitation process, according to Brad Cummings, ATP’s vice president of procurement.
“Because this is such a large project, we are trying to be as collaborative with the industry as possible. We want to foster as much competition as we can, and the only way to really do that is by engaging the industry as early as you can in the process,” Cummings said.
“This is something that's really unique to what ATP is doing and how we procure our goods and services—involving the industry as early as possible.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ Will latest FAA layoffs impact Austin’s airport? (KXAN)
At least one Federal Aviation Administration employee working at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) was laid off amid hundreds of firings from the FAA, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, confirmed to KXAN.
President Donald Trump’s administration laid off under 400 employees from the FAA, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed in a social media post Monday night.
In Duffy’s social media post, the transportation secretary said all of the employees fired Monday were “probationary,” or had been hired by the FAA less than a year ago. He said no air traffic controllers and critical safety personnel were let go as part of the layoffs… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
âś… Commercial EV station moves forward despite opposition (Austin Monitor)
After the Planning Commission denied the request for a commercial electric-vehicle charging lot in East Austin last April, the project is moving forward based on an ordinance passed by City Council. Last April, the Planning Commission voted 7-3-3 to deny the request for the commercial fleet EV charging station that would not be open to the public.
The commissioners expressed concern that the proposed use of the site, located at the intersection of Pleasant Valley Road at Cesar Chavez Street, was not aligned with the Imagine Austin corridor priorities of walkability. “I just really don’t feel like this decidedly auto-oriented use is appropriate in this area that we’ve identified for walkability and pedestrian-oriented uses in our comprehensive plan,” Commissioner Alice Woods said at the April meeting.
Commissioner Felicity Maxwell also pointed out in the meeting that the city is building a new pedestrian and bike bridge just a few blocks to the south, which will enhance multimodal options in the neighborhood… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
âś… On anniversary of Texas blackouts, ERCOT forecasts potential energy shortages in coming years (Houston Public Media)
Texas is the only state in the lower 48 that has no major connections to neighboring power grids. That means energy demand must be answered by supply largely within Texas. It also puts state leaders on the hook when it comes to grid reliability. In the past four years, those leaders have delivered two different messages that might seem contradictory.
One: The grid is better than ever. Two: There's still plenty of work to be done. It's a balancing act that was on display earlier this month during Gov. Greg Abbott’s State of the State speech in which he touted a multibillion-dollar public fund approved last legislative session.
The fund provides incentives to to build new natural gas power plants that can deliver 10,000 megawatts of electricity to the state. “That's enough to power more than 2 million homes,” Abbott said. “We must add more power this session to better fortify our grid,” he quickly added. Almost four years to the day after the start of the blackouts, the state's grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, released a report that will likely deepen concern over the power grid. ERCOT’s Capacity, Demand and Reserves report, released Thursday, looks at different possible grid conditions into the future.
It includes one extreme scenario in which the massive growth in energy demand in Texas surpasses available energy supply as early as 2026… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ This Texas school district invested in a pre-K center that’s specifically designed for younger students (Texas Tribune)
Jefferson Early Learning Center bears little resemblance to elementary schools many adults recall attending in their earliest years. The classrooms have child-sized boats and construction vehicles children can play on, and ceilings painted to resemble outer space.
There are no desks — all space is devoted to learning through play. Windows are low to the ground so children can easily look outside.
The gym floor is made of “pre-K friendly” layered vinyl, rather than hardwood, to cushion inevitable trips and falls. Hallways are lined with a corrugated plastic for wiggly fingers to touch as children transition to other locations.
Children love coming to the building, said teacher Cathy Delamore. “They feel like they own it.”
Alief Independent School District, which serves about 40,000 children in west Houston, is one of a growing number of districts across the country to pump money into creating a building that is tailor-made for pre-kindergarteners. Its new facility cost about $21 million and enrolls nearly 400 4- and 5-year-olds...🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
✅ Trump’s Labor pick tests if Republicans are warming toward unions (Wall Street Journal)
Republicans, long skeptical of unions and labor regulations, have lately shown signs of openness toward both. A confirmation hearing Wednesday for President Trump’s pick to run the Labor Department could show just how far they have moved.
The nominee, former Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon, is unusual for a Republican administration because she was one of only three GOP House members in the previous Congress to co-sponsor the PRO Act, a bill that would make it easier for workers to unionize.
Her selection by Trump worried some conservatives and infuriated proponents of “right to work” laws allowing employees to opt out of paying union dues, even as it pleased unions and attracted the support of some Democrats.
“She is a Republican who has endorsed two of our marquee bills,” said Jody Calemine, director of advocacy at the AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor organization, referring to the PRO Act and another bill that would ensure the rights of government employees to organize.
“That is a very promising thing." Yet the olive branch to unions represented by the Chavez-DeRemer nomination contrasts with adversarial actions Trump has taken since taking office Jan. 20. He has battled with public-sector unions over his efforts to make federal employees easier to remove and to limit their collective-bargaining rights. He fired two Democratic members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board. Their terms weren’t yet over, and the legality of the moves has been questioned.
In prepared remarks for Wednesday’s hearing, Chavez-DeRemer said she would aim to ensure “a level playing field for businesses, unions, and most importantly, the American worker.” Organized labor is at a crucial point in its history. The share of U.S. workers who are union members has been in decline for decades, falling to 9.9% in 2024.
The trend continued through the previous administration, despite wide-ranging efforts by President Joe Biden to encourage workers to unionize. Union leaders overwhelmingly backed then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the fall election, even as blue-collar workers helped deliver the election to Trump… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
âś… Trump says he will introduce 25% tariffs on autos, pharmaceuticals and chips (Reuters)
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he intends to impose auto tariffs "in the neighborhood of 25%" and similar duties on semiconductors and pharmaceutical imports, the latest in a series of measures threatening to upend international trade. On Friday, Trump said levies on automobiles would come as soon as April 2, the day after members of his cabinet are due to deliver reports to him outlining options for a range of import duties as he seeks to reshape global trade.
Trump has long railed against what he calls the unfair treatment of U.S. automotive exports in foreign markets. The European Union, for instance, collects a 10% duty on vehicle imports, four times the U.S. passenger car tariff rate of 2.5%.
The U.S., though, collects a 25% tariff on pickup trucks from countries other than Mexico and Canada, a tax that makes the vehicles highly profitable for Detroit automakers. EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic will meet with U.S. counterparts - Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Trump's nominee to be U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett - in Washington on Wednesday to discuss the various tariffs threatened by Trump.
Asked whether the EU could avoid reciprocal tariffs he proposed last week, Trump repeated his claim that the EU had already signaled it would lower its tariffs on U.S. cars to the U.S. rate, although EU lawmakers have denied doing so. He said he would press EU officials to increase U.S. imports of cars and other products. He did not provide a date for announcing those duties and said he wanted to provide some time for drug and chip makers to set up U.S. factories so that they can avoid tariffs.
Trump said he expected some of the biggest companies in the world to announce new investments in the United States in the next couple of weeks. He provided no further details. Since his inauguration four weeks ago, Trump has imposed a 10% tariff on all imports from China, on top of existing levies, over China's failure to halt fentanyl trafficking.
He also announced, and then delayed for a month, 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and non-energy imports from Canada… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
www.binghamgp.com
Copyright (C) " target="_blank">unsubscribe