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- BG Reads 3.4.2025
BG Reads 3.4.2025
🟪 BG Reads - March 4, 2025
Bingham Group Reads
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March 4, 2025
✅ Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 Austin is at a 'potentially historic' risk of wildfires Tuesday. Here's how to prepare. (KUT)
🟪 Journal Profile: T.C. Broadnax is an Austin newcomer with a big job (Austin Business Journal)
🟪 Gov. Greg Abbott, RFK Jr. slow to push measles vaccine as Texas outbreak spreads (Houston Chronicle)
🟪 Are home values about to fall? It depends on the location (Wall Street Journal)
🟪 US tariffs on Canada and Mexico take effect, as China takes aim at US farm exports (Associated Press)
Read On!
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
✅ Austin is at a 'potentially historic' risk of wildfires Tuesday. Here's how to prepare. (KUT)
Tuesday's forecast includes low humidity levels, powerful winds and lots of sun: all the ingredients for wildfires to ignite and spread. National Weather Service officials said the conditions are dangerous and "potentially historic." A red flag warning is in effect until Tuesday at 9 p.m.
Meteorologists are expecting 30 mph sustained winds with gusts up to 55 mph. Humidity levels are expected to drop to 15% – in other words, the air will be super dry. (The threshold for a red flag warning is if sustained winds are at least 20 mph and humidity levels are below 20%.)
The conditions are ideal for embers from a cigarette, a chain on the back of a truck or sparks from machinery to ignite dry vegetation and be carried for over a mile.
“Here’s the reality of the situation … if we do get a series of fires started, it will quickly overwhelm our resources,” said Chris Dibrell, fire adapted communities coordinator for the Austin Wildfire Division. “This is what happened in California and out West.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ Journal Profile: T.C. Broadnax is an Austin newcomer with a big job (Austin Business Journal)
Even though T.C. Broadnax moved south along I-35 about 10 months ago, he's still getting to know Austin and its residents.
“I've had an open door and a willingness to really learn more about this community and learn what people are doing here,” the city manager said. Broadnax, who was hired in May to manage the city of Austin’s roughly 18,000 employees and $5.9 billion budget, has arguably the toughest chief executive gig in the region.
He previously had a seven-year tenure as city manager of Dallas — the second-largest city run by a council-manager system in the United States, behind Phoenix.
Broadnax has spent his time getting to know the ins and outs of Texas’ capital city, which he views as facing similar challenges to those of Dallas, such as affordability, economic development and the need to maintain and improve public infrastructure.
“Big cities are big cities,” he said. “I think the difference (between Austin and Dallas) is it's much more reachable and touchable here, and I do understand that the Legislature pays quite a bit of attention to Austin.”
One item still on his to-do list — arguably a rite of passage for any new resident — is to visit a food truck. He said he's working his way through downtown Austin's dynamic restaurant scene and has had plenty of breakfast tacos in the process, something he missed since his time working as an assistant city manager in San Antonio… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ Austin airport breaks ground on new, ‘Texas-sized’ parking garage (Community Impact)
Making room for the future one level at a time, airport and city officials gathered just north of the economy parking lot to break ground on a new parking garage at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Feb. 28.
“When this airport opened in 1999, it was designed to serve a city that was becoming a big international city. Since then, Austin has transformed into a global destination and welcomes tens of millions of visitors every year,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said.
“... With that growth comes a significant responsibility, and that responsibility is to ensure that our infrastructure keeps pace with the needs of our residents and our visitors."
Marking another milestone in the parade of projects coming online for the airport's sweeping multimillion-dollar expansion, the new parking garage will add an estimated 7,000 spaces, as well as electric vehicle charging stations and smart parking and toll gate technologies.
“This is a very big garage—it’s Texas-sized. It’s 2.5 million square feet spread across seven floors with 1000 spaces per floor,” said Cris Ruebush, a principal at PGAL, the design firm behind the project… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ Uber and Waymo officially launch autonomous vehicle service in Austin (Austin American-Statesman)
Waymo's autonomous vehicles have been something of an Austin Easter egg for years, with locals often encountering them at stoplights or road crossings.
However, they will now be less of a tech-themed beautification project and more of a realistic option for getting around the city. Starting today, riders can be matched with a Waymo autonomous vehicle on the Uber app and travel across 37 square miles of Austin.
“Starting today, Austin riders can be matched with a Waymo autonomous vehicle on the Uber app, making their next trip even more special,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO at Uber. “With Waymo’s technology and Uber’s proven platform, we’re excited to introduce our customers to a future of transportation that is increasingly electric and autonomous.”
Nicole Gavel, Waymo's head of business development and strategic partnerships, emphasized the importance of the company's longstanding relationship with Austin.
"When we think about cities, especially the early cities that that we think about bringing Waymo One to, part of it is folks who are maybe early adopters to technology, or enthusiasts of technology and from a city government perspective, that are supporters of new innovations," Gavel said… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
✅ Gov. Greg Abbott, RFK Jr. slow to push measles vaccine as Texas outbreak spreads (Houston Chronicle)
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he’s spoken directly with Gov. Greg Abbott about the measles outbreak in Texas, but neither are telling Texas families to get the vaccine that can stop the spread of the highly contagious respiratory illness. Kennedy said while the vaccines can protect children and contribute to community immunity, the ultimate decision to vaccinate should still be with parents.
“All parents should consult with their healthcare providers to understand their options to get the MMR vaccine,” Kennedy said in an op-ed published Sunday on Fox News. “The decision to vaccinate is a personal one.” His comments come after the Texas Department of State Health Services reported on Friday that the state has now had 146 cases of measles since late January, mostly in the South Plains near Lubbock. Twenty patients have been hospitalized, and one child has died.
Houston health officials were investigating two possible measles cases on Friday, ahead of the rodeo. And an infant too young to be vaccinated tested positive on Friday for measles in Austin, public health officials announced. Kennedy said he promised Abbott and Texas health officials any support they need to “bring this outbreak to an end.” Abbott's office said it had a "productive" call with the federal health agency.
"The state of Texas will continue working with the federal government and explore all resources to help keep Texans safe and healthy," Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said. Abbott issued his first public comments on the situation on Friday, posting on social media that he’s been in regular contact with state health officials, and that the state "will deploy all necessary resources to ensure the safety and health needs of Texans.”
But the governor stopped short of pushing for people to get vaccinated. DSHS officials have been more direct on that front. “The best way to prevent getting sick is to be immunized with two doses of a vaccine against measles, which is primarily administered as the combination measles-mumps-rubella vaccine,” the agency says in a statement. “Two doses of the MMR vaccine are highly effective at preventing measles.” 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
✅ Are home values about to fall? It depends on the location (Wall Street Journal)
Stark regional differences are opening up in the housing market. Buyers have the power to demand big price cuts in some parts of the country, but still face bidding wars in others.
The national supply of homes for sale hasn’t returned to normal yet. In January, U.S. existing-home inventories were 16% below levels seen this time five years ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. Homeowners with ultralow mortgage rates have been reluctant to sell and lose their cheap borrowing costs. But this lock-in effect is slowly loosening as more people decide they can’t delay moving any longer, so supply is increasing.
Beneath the headline numbers, different states are recovering at sharply different paces. Inventory has shot above 2019 levels in a handful of areas. In Texas, the number of properties for sale is 20% higher than it was before the pandemic, data from Realtor.com shows. Florida and Colorado are also above 2019 levels. At the other end of the spectrum, supply is crunched in parts of the Northeast and Midwest.
In 15 states including New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the number of homes currently on the market is still less than half what was normal before the pandemic. Several things are causing a two-speed housing market. One is a glut of newly built homes. Last December, builders had 118,000 ready-to-occupy single-family homes sitting unsold, according to the National Association of Home Builders—the highest level since August 2009. Based on permitting applications, most new construction has happened in the South, particularly in Florida and Texas. Florida expanded its housing stock by 15% since 2020, according to estimates by Brad O’Connor, chief economist at Florida Realtors. These newly built homes are hitting the market at a time when demand from buyers is exceptionally weak because mortgage rates remain high.
As properties sit unsold, inventories are creeping up. Meanwhile, in states like Illinois, strict zoning laws and expensive building costs have hampered new construction. And the inventory of existing homes for sale is gummed up. Jeff Baker, chief executive officer of Illinois Realtors, says that although many homeowners in the state want to move, there is so little supply and prices are so inflated that people have little choice but to stay put.
The lock-in effect of cheap mortgages is also slightly weaker in some regions than in others, which is influencing how fast homes are hitting the market. In the South, 21% of outstanding mortgages on average had a rate of 6% or higher at the third quarter of last year compared with 18% in the Northeast, based on an analysis by Chris Porter, a senior vice president at John Burns Research and Consulting.
This is largely because more homes have sold in the South since interest rates rose, because of continued migration to the region… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ In speech to Congress, Trump is expected to boast about DOGE cuts and Ukraine (New York Times)
President Trump is expected to boast about his assault on the federal bureaucracy and his efforts to upend global relationships during an address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, even as his administration faces lawsuits over his domestic agenda and Europe rebukes him over his treatment of Ukraine.
Addressing his largest television audience since his return to power, Mr. Trump is expected to speak about the speed with which he has pushed through reductions in border crossings, cuts to government through the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, and a slew of executive orders. He is also expected to emphasize the need to pass his legislative agenda, which includes some $4 trillion in tax cuts.
“He’s going to talk about the great things he’s done: The border’s secure, the waste he’s finding with DOGE,” said Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, who speaks frequently with Mr. Trump. “He’s going to keep laying out his vision, where he wants the country to go.”
For Mr. Trump, it will be a remarkable return to a chamber — and a prime-time, nationwide audience — he last addressed five years ago, before voters ousted him from office and replaced him with Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mr. Trump’s return has set in motion a rapid-fire series of actions designed to overturn decades of policy and diplomacy.
During his first term, the president delivered an annual speech to Congress that included a mix of exaggerations and grievance-filled attacks on his enemies. He is poised to do the same again on Tuesday night, using one of the largest platforms that any modern president gets during his time in the Oval Office.
Mr. Trump hinted on Monday that he might use the speech to extend his public feud with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine after the Oval Office blowup between the two leaders last week. Asked by a reporter whether a deal to share rare-earth minerals was still possible after the shouting, Mr. Trump said that “I’ll let you know,” adding: “We’re making a speech, you probably heard.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
✅ US tariffs on Canada and Mexico take effect, as China takes aim at US farm exports (Associated Press)
President Donald Trump’s long-threatened tariffs against Canada and Mexico went into effect Tuesday, putting global markets on edge and setting up costly retaliations by the United States’ North American allies.
Starting just past midnight, imports from Canada and Mexico are now to be taxed at 25%, with Canadian energy products subject to 10% import duties.
The 10% tariff that Trump placed on Chinese imports in February was doubled to 20%, and Beijing retaliated Tuesday with tariffs of up to 15% on a wide array of U.S. farm exports. It also expanded the number of U.S. companies subject to export controls and other restrictions by about two dozen.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country would slap tariffs on more than $100 billion of American goods over the course of 21 days. Mexico didn’t immediately detail any retaliatory measures... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
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