BG Reads 7.24.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - July 24, 2024

July 24, 2024

Bingham Group Reads

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www.binghamgp.com

July 24, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 The Austin City Council convenes today at 10AM for a Budget Work Session.

🟣 President Biden reschedules Austin trip to Monday (KUT)

🟣 Finalists for Austin Police Chief go head-to-head on 3 critical issues facing APD (CBS Austin)

🟣 Audit cites lack of progress on homelessness strategies issued five-plus years ago (Austin Monitor)

🟣 CrowdStrike warns of hacking threat as outage persists (Wall Street Journal)

🟣 Harris secures support of enough delegates to claim her party’s nomination (Associated Press)

Read On!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

🟣 Bingham Group has renewed its MBE and DBE certifications with the city of Austin. We are currently seeking sub-consultant services to support projects in the Austin Metro. Learn more here.

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

The Austin City Council convenes today at 10AM for a Budget Work Session. At 3PM Council will conduct a community input session. (Agenda Link)

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

President Biden reschedules Austin trip to Monday (KUT)

President Biden has rescheduled his trip to Austin for Monday, according to the White House.

He will deliver a speech at the LBJ Library commemorating 60 years since the Civil Rights Act was signed by former President Lyndon B. Johnson. Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston, who portrayed LBJ in the 2016 film All the Way, and United Nations ambassador Andrew Young will also participate in the program, the LBJ Library said Tuesday… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Finalists for Austin Police Chief go head-to-head on 3 critical issues facing APD (CBS Austin)

Austin is in the final stage of picking a new permanent police chief. The two finalists are visiting the city this week and holding a meet-and-greet with the public on Tuesday night. The candidates are Lisa Davis, the Assistant Chief for the Cincinnati Police Department, and Jeffrey Norman, the Chief of Police in Milwaukee.

The meet-and-greet with the public will be at the Palmer Events Center. It is a chance for Austin residents to submit questions to the two finalists and get answers about issues facing the department.

Earlier on Tuesday, CBS Austin got the opportunity to do the same. We asked the candidates for top cop about three critical issues facing the department… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Audit cites lack of progress on homelessness strategies issued five-plus years ago (Austin Monitor)

A new report from the Office of the City Auditor has found the city is still working toward accomplishing five recommendations to address homelessness that were suggested at least five years ago.

The report, which was issued earlier this month, is the latest follow-up on the results of four analyses from 2017 to 2019 that produced 10 recommendations in total on how the city gathers data and allocates resources to address homelessness. Four of the recommendations had been completed or were no longer valid as of a 2021 assessment, leaving six still in progress as the focus of the new report.

Audit staff found the city has successfully implemented the recommendation to work with Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) to improve data collection… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

At Council Member Alison Alter’s urging, city commission may have input on natural gas matters (Austin Monitor)

Members of the city’s Resource Management Commission have been trying for months to find out how they can weigh in on the current rate case for Texas Gas Service. They have passed a number of resolutions seeking to have input – not only on the cost of natural gas to consumers, but also on prioritizing fixing methane leaks, which are hazardous to the environment. Members also wish to comment on the gas company’s energy conservation programs, which they find insufficient and not actually aimed at conservation.

The commission recently approved a resolution asking that City Council authorize changing the ordinance governing the commission’s operations so that it’s specifically tasked with commenting on rates as well as environmental questions related to Texas Gas Service’s operations. However, they have been working on the question for more than a year.

Those ordinance changes must first go through the Council Audit & Finance Committee, which heard arguments about the changes on Tuesday. City staff has resisted involvement of the RMC in the rate setting process.

Council Member Alison Alter, who chairs the committee, made it clear Tuesday that she was not satisfied with city staff’s explanations about why they seemed to be refusing input from members of the RMC on Texas Gas Service… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Lakeway to install license plate readers along RM 620 and Hwy. 71 (Community Impact)

In the coming months, the City of Lakeway will install cameras with license plate readers along major roadways like RM 620 and Hwy. 71.The technology has become increasingly popular among Austin-area law enforcement, allowing police to identify license plates associated with criminal activity, Lakeway Police Chief Glen Koen said.

Lakeway first installed LPRs inside its fleet patrol cars in March as a part of a pilot program to test the technology. Since then, Koen said the department has identified eight actionable hits, including missing person reports and stolen vehicles."Without a doubt this has helped us. Before, the officer would have to make the conscious choice to run a plate, now the system does it automatically," Koen said… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Houston candidates pitching themselves to replace the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee on November ballot (Texas Tribune)

The race to succeed U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in her Houston district is already underway, with at least three local politicians considering bids.

Among the declared and potential Democratic candidates are former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, state Rep. Jarvis Johnson and Houston Councilwoman Letitia Plummer. Amanda Edwards, who finished second in the district’s original primary this year, says she is still interested in “serving this community.”

However, since Jackson Lee already won her Democratic primary earlier this year, voters won’t be the ones to decide who will replace her on the November ballot. Instead, candidates will be making their case to a group of Harris County Democratic officials.

The long-serving congresswoman died from pancreatic cancer on July 19, leaving her seat open for the first time in three decades and with just months to go before the general election… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

For the first time since he exited the presidential race, Biden to address the nation (NPR)

In an Oval Office speech this evening, President Biden will address his decision to abandon his race for a second term, as well as his plans to “finish the job for the American people” during his final months in office.

The remarks will be Biden’s first to the public since bowing to pressure from the Democratic Party and withdrawing from the presidential campaign on Sunday.

NPR will carry live coverage of the president’s address online… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Harris secures support of enough delegates to claim her party’s nomination (Associated Press)

Vice President Kamala Harris has secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to become her party’s nominee against Republican Donald Trump, according to an Associated Press survey, as top Democrats rallied to her in the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s decision to drop his bid for reelection.

The quick coalescing behind Harris marked an attempt by the party to put weeks of internecine drama over Biden’s political future behind them and to unify behind the task of defeating Trump with just over 100 days until Election Day. Prominent Democratic elected officials, party leaders and political organizations quickly lined up behind Harris in the day after Biden’s exit from the race, and her campaign set a new 24-hour record for presidential donations on Monday. Several state delegations met late Monday to confirm their support for Harris, including Texas and her home state of California. By Monday night, Harris had the support of well more than the 1,976 delegates she’ll need to win on a first ballot, according to the AP tally. No other candidate was named by a delegate contacted by the AP.

California state Democratic Chairman Rusty Hicks said 75% to 80% of the state’s delegation were on a call Tuesday, and they unanimously supported Harris. “I’ve not heard anyone mentioning or calling for any other candidate,” Hicks said.

“Tonight’s vote was a momentous one.” Still, the AP is not calling Harris the new presumptive nominee. That’s because the convention delegates are still free to vote for the candidate of their choice at the convention in August or if Democrats go through with a virtual roll call ahead of that gathering in Chicago. Harris, in a statement, responded to the AP tally, saying she is “grateful to President Biden and everyone in the Democratic Party who has already put their faith in me, and I look forward to taking our case directly to the American people.” Speaking to campaign staff in Wilmington, Del., Harris acknowledged the “rollercoaster” of the last several weeks, but expressed confidence in her new campaign team.

“It is my intention to go out and earn this nomination and to win,” she said. She promised to “unite our Democratic party, to unite our nation and to win this election.”… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

CrowdStrike warns of hacking threat as outage persists (Wall Street Journal)

The CrowdStrike glitch that caused outages for millions of users of Microsoft Windows devices last week continued to roil industries and snarl global air travel. Around 8.5 million devices were affected by the outage, CrowdStrike said in a statement, adding that it had brought a significant number back online.

Warning customers that bad actors were trying to exploit the event, the company said it had identified a malicious file being sent around by hackers posing as a ‘quick fix’ to the problem. A file named “crowdstrike-hotfix.zip” was being distributed that included malware enabling hackers to remotely control or monitor a user’s device, CrowdStrike said in a blog post… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[2024 Austin City Council Race Watch]

This fall will see elections for the following Council Districts 2, 4, 6, 7, 10, and Mayor.

Declared candidates so far are:

Mayor

District 2

District 4

District 6

District 7 (Open seat)

District 10 (Open seat)

_________________________

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