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BG Reads 2.23.2024

BG Reads 2.23.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - February 23, 2024

February 23, 2024

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Bingham Group Reads

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February 23, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 City nixes $2M McKinsey homelessness study

🟣 Related Cos. envisions high-rises in mixed-use hub along South Congress

🟣 Austin ISD recalculating high school seniors’ GPA and rank after discovering inconsistencies

🟣 Texas launches new property tax incentive program to lure new businesses

Read on!

Click here for this week’s Austin public meeting meeting times and agendas.

[BG BLOG]

✅ NEW - City of Austin org chart red line (as of 2/9/2024)

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Austin ISD recalculating high school seniors’ GPA and rank after discovering inconsistencies (KXAN)

Austin Independent School District is recalculating the GPA and class rank for hundreds of high school seniors after discovering inconsistencies in its ranking process. The review of grades has already changed the rank of some students in the top 15 percent of their high school class.

The issue dates back to a pandemic-era policy to mark students as pass or incomplete rather than provide a numerical grade. The practice was only used during the Spring 2020 semester, but according to district officials, there were inconsistencies in how the system interpreted or assigned the value of “P” for passing... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

City nixes $2M McKinsey homelessness study, signaling poor cooperation among partners (Austin Monitor)

City Manager Jesús Garza has canceled a potential $2 million contract with consulting giant McKinsey & Company to perform an analysis of efforts to address homelessness by the city, Travis County, Integral Care and Central Health.

Garza released a memo Thursday morning that suggested there was a less-than-ideal chance of the needed collaboration and financial commitment among the four parties, noting “the conditions for the assessment have changed such that we cannot achieve the community-wide impact originally envisioned.”

Travis County commissioners voted earlier this month not to participate in the study at a cost of $400,000. City Council had approved the solicitation for the study in January… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Related Cos. envisions high-rises in mixed-use hub along South Congress (Austin Business Journal)

A New York-based real estate development firm is planning to transform a 6-acre site at the intersection of South Congress Avenue and West Riverside Drive with high-rise towers — the latest indication that Austin's downtown skyline is poised to expand across Lake Bird Lake.

The Related Cos. wants to establish a planned unit development with a maximum building height of 575 feet, or about 50 stories. The multitower project would include approximately 800 residential units, as well as a 225-room hotel, 200,000 square feet of office space, 90,000 square feet of retail space, 30,000 square feet of space for restaurants and a 25,000-square-foot grocery store, in addition to an underground parking garage, according to documents submitted to the city.

The project would take place within Austin's South Central Waterfront District, a 118-acre area that in the years to come is expected to become a dense, walkable neighborhood that more closely resembles the Central Business District on the other side of the lake... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Texas launches new property tax incentive program to lure new businesses (Texas Tribune)

Texas on Thursday launched a new economic incentives program intended to bring new companies and jobs to the state, replacing a prior job creation system that lawmakers phased out after complaints that it contributed to inequity in public schools.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced the opening of applications for the Texas Jobs Energy, Technology, and Innovation, or JETI, program. Passed with bipartisan support by lawmakers last year, it will provide property tax cuts to eligible companies that move into Texas communities in exchange for job creation.

It replaces Chapter 313, the widely criticized old abatement program that expired at the end of 2022. The new program includes more oversight of participating companies, introduces additional job and salary requirements and halves Chapter 313’s property tax cuts.

“Texas is America’s jobs engine, thanks to our welcoming business climate, robust infrastructure, and skilled and growing workforce,” Abbott said in a statement Thursday. “But we cannot be complacent as we now compete both nationally and globally in industry sectors critical for growth tomorrow.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Houston, NHL talks on potential new hockey team have intensified, says Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta (Houston Chronicle)

Tilman Fertitta’s bid to bring an NHL team to Houston is far from being on ice. The Rockets' owner told Bloomberg in an article published Wednesday that he views a pro hockey team as a vessel to boost the downtown economy.

“We are talking to the NHL, but it’s got to be good for both of us,” Fertitta told Bloomberg. “We just know that when there’s a concert downtown how it activates downtown. We know what the Astros do for downtown. We know what even soccer does for downtown.”

Houston is the nation’s largest city without a pro hockey team, with no club having skated at Toyota Center since the American Hockey League’s Aeros moved to Des Moines, Iowa, after the 2012-13 season. The prospect of an NHL franchise in Houston has been bandied about for more than 30 years — the Minnesota North Stars looked at Houston in 1993 before relocating to Dallas, team chairman Jim Lites told the Chronicle in 2018 — with rumblings picking up in recent years. When Fertitta bought the Rockets in October 2017, he said “I would put an NHL team here tomorrow” as its owner or as a co-tenant at Toyota Center. He had said little publicly in the years since about the NHL before this week’s comments, telling Bloomberg discussions have intensified recently. Fertitta said he was open to bringing in an expansion franchise or relocating a team from another market.

Fertitta also told Bloomberg that Houston-area suburbs have reached out about helping bring an NHL team, but his interest is in boosting the downtown core, where he has various restaurant holdings. Another way a hockey team could boost Fertitta's interests is by providing additional programming for Space City Home Network, the recently rebranded regional sports network now owned by the Astros and Rockets. Last October, Rockets president of business operations Gretchen Sheirr told the Chronicle the ongoing renovations at Toyota Center included “making sure it’s hockey ready” with an “ice machine” needed for it to become an NHL venue… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US/WORLD NEWS]

Odysseus spacecraft completes first U.S. moon landing since 1972 (Wall Street Journal)

America is back on the moon.

An uncrewed spacecraft developed by Houston-based

Intuitive Machines landed on the lunar surface Thursday evening, the first time a U.S. vehicle has touched down there in more than 50 years.

The company’s Odysseus vehicle, carrying research and commercial devices, descended from lunar orbit to land shortly after 6:20 p.m. ET in the moon’s south pole region, according to a National Aeronautics and Space Administration livestream.

“Today for the first time in the history of humanity, a commercial company—an American company—launched and led the voyage up there,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said.

The U.S. last visited the surface of the moon in 1972, during the final mission of the storied Apollo program.

Thursday’s operation was a milestone for the U.S. space industry and program, marking the first time a private company has completed a moon landing. Past attempts by other companies have failed, and successfully landing on the lunar surface has even challenged governments... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Nvidia’s stock market value rose $273 billion in a day. How it rose to AI prominence, by the numbers (Associated Press)

Nvidia’s stock price jumped 16% on Thursday, increasing the company’s market value by a staggering $273 billion in just one day, a record amount.

The chipmaker has been seeing soaring demand for its semiconductors, which are used to power artificial intelligence, or AI applications. The company’s revenue more than tripled in the latest quarter compared with the same period a year earlier.

It’s the latest sign that the excitement surrounding artificial intelligence likely won’t subside anytime soon. Nvidia, which has positioned itself as one of the most prominent players in AI, has been producing some eye-popping numbers. Here’s a look… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

AI safety groups ramp up Washington lobbying (Politico)

Two nonprofits funded by tech billionaires are now directly lobbying Washington to protect humanity against the alleged extinction risk posed by artificial intelligence — an escalation critics see as a well-funded smokescreen to head off regulation and competition.

The similarly named Center for AI Policy and Center for AI Safety both registered their first lobbyists in late 2023, raising the profile of a sprawling influence battle that’s so far been fought largely through think tanks and congressional fellowships.

Each nonprofit spent close to $100,000 on lobbying in the last three months of the year. The groups draw money from organizations with close ties to the AI industry like Open Philanthropy, financed by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, and Lightspeed Grants, backed by Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn.

Their message includes policies like CAIP’s call for legislation that would hold AI developers liable for “severe harms,” require permits to develop “high-risk” systems and empower regulators to “pause AI projects if they identify a clear emergency.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)