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- BG Reads 8.27.2024
BG Reads 8.27.2024
🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - August 27, 2024
Bingham Group Reads
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www.binghamgp.com
August 27, 2024
Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 Texas Supreme Court to decide whether Austin has a charter election this year (Austin Monitor)
🟪 Will free tuition help more students pursue higher ed? Austin Community College hopes so. (KUT)
🟪 This Texas city is too hot, short on water—and booming (Wall Street Journal)
🟪 Delta Air Lines to launch nonstop Austin-New Orleans route in February 2025 (KXAN)
Read On!
[BINGHAM GROUP]
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Learn more about Bingham Group’s experience here, and review client testimonials here.
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Texas Supreme Court to decide whether Austin has a charter election this year (Austin Monitor)
The Supreme Court of Texas has accepted a petition for a writ of mandamus in the Save Our Springs Alliance lawsuit against the city of Austin regarding alleged violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act. If the court agrees with the plaintiffs that the city violated the Open Meetings Act in setting a charter election for Nov. 5, the part of the election related to 13 proposed changes to Austin’s charter could be halted. The remainder of the ballot would not be impacted by the lawsuit.
A Travis County judge has already issued a temporary restraining order in the case and set a temporary injunction hearing for Thursday.
As Bill Aleshire, attorney for the SOS Alliance, explained in his request to the Supreme Court, the deadline for setting items on the November ballot is this Friday for Hays and Williamson counties. The deadline for Travis County is Sept. 5. Regardless of who wins the injunction battle in the Travis County District Court, there will be insufficient time for either party to appeal…
Will free tuition help more students pursue higher ed? Austin Community College hopes so. (KUT)
Altogether, high school graduates from more than 20 public school districts in ACC’s service area are taking advantage of the program. So are 72 homeschooled students, 249 charter school graduates and 104 students who earned their GED on or after July 31, 2023.
According to data ACC shared with KUT on Friday, more than half of the participants in the free tuition program are women. Fifty-three percent are Hispanic, 30% are white, 7% are Black and nearly 5% are Asian.
ACC said the program is the driving force behind significantly higher enrollment during the 2024 fall semester… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
This Texas city is too hot, short on water—and booming (Wall Street Journal)
People and businesses have flooded into Kyle, Texas, since the pandemic, making it the second-fastest-growing city in the U.S. The influx is creating wealth but also contributing to a big problem: Kyle is getting hotter and running low on water. Housing developments pop up seemingly overnight on this patch of hills and prairie between Austin and San Antonio. Amazon.com recently opened a 308,000-square-foot sorting center in town.
Tesla built a megafactory nearby. But climate change can make living here brutal. Underground, the aquifer that Kyle relied on is shrinking. The city for three years now has had to buy water rights from nearby San Marcos to satisfy its growing population. Temperatures hit nearly 100 degrees before this summer even started, and drought conditions persist. People wear neck fans, limit outdoor time to early morning and nighttime, and keep their children inside.
Cities across the South and Southwest, in states such as Arizona, Florida and Texas, have been growing like gangbusters, especially since the pandemic. Newcomers arrive looking for low taxes and ample space. Expanding populations attract new employers and commerce, which raise property values and bolster tax rolls.
But many of these boomtowns, including Kyle, are hot and dry, and getting more so. They face unique—and costly—challenges, such as where to get enough water and how to heatproof the new football field. The more people move in, the bigger the strain on dwindling resources and the greater the number of people exposed to harsh weather that can turn deadly. Water has been growing scarcer for decades here, but the shortage is worsening.
Creeks and watering holes are drying up, hurt by prolonged droughts and the faster evaporation caused by higher temperatures. Hays County, where the city of Kyle is located, will likely experience extreme droughts at least one-quarter of each year by 2040, according to data provider ICE Sustainable Finance. Last summer, Kyle and other municipalities limited the use of sprinklers and soaker hoses to once every other week, a problem because many Texan homeowners must moisten the soil under their foundations to avoid settling and cracks.
The city banned washing cars at home and using local water for construction projects. Stephanie McDonald, who bought her home in Kyle in 2015, worries about its foundation because the soil underneath can dry up and sink during drought if it isn’t watered.
At city council meetings this spring, McDonald, 62 years old, told officials that there wasn’t enough water for the new housing developments they were approving. Homes and businesses in Kyle needed 4,382 more gallons of water per minute at peak consumption times last year than the city could supply, up from 571 gallons in 2021, according to an engineering report commissioned by the city. Trying to fill the water gap has been expensive for the city and its residents… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Delta Air Lines to launch nonstop Austin-New Orleans route in February 2025 (KXAN)
Delta Air Lines will soon offer nonstop service between Austin and New Orleans.
Flights will operate twice daily beginning Feb. 27. An airline spokesperson said the route will launch as part of its Mardi Gras special event package, and service will then remain yearround.
Flights will depart AUS at both 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Return flights will leave New Orleans at both 10:15 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. Flights will operate on Embraer 175 aircraft by SkyWest Airlines, which operates as Delta Connection.
“The timing of this frequency increase is perfect for Austinites and Central Texans traveling to New Orleans for Mardi Gras and Spring Break,” Badawi said. “We can’t thank Delta enough for their continued investment into our community.”…
Shortage of affordable housing in Travis County needs solutions, SHFC head says (Austin Business Journal)
Travis County, like much of the nation, is in the midst of a crisis in housing affordability.
In July, the median sales price of a Travis County home hit $525,000, according to the Austin Board of Realtors and Unlock MLS, and the average rent in Austin as of March was $1,707, according to RentCafe.
It's causing housing experts such as those at Redfin to point out that only a sliver of
teachers can afford to live near their school.
One organization working to curb those figures is the Strategic Housing Finance Corp. of Travis County, which named Dianna Grey executive director earlier this summer. SHFC is a nonprofit that partners with private developers to boost access to affordable housing… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Squeezed by inflation and politics, a Texas food bank gets creative to keep people fed (Texas Tribune)
Inflation, stagnant wages and the state’s decision to pass on $450 million for a federal summer lunch program have only made the problem worse. For decades, food banks across the country have filled a role in helping feed people.
However, these organizations, including the one in Lubbock, are also feeling the squeeze.
Dina Jeffries, CEO of the food bank, said people can become vulnerable in a heartbeat, whether it be from job loss, an unexpected bill, or an emergency. Jeffries said communities are still feeling the impacts of the pandemic and inflation.
“If I’m going to the grocery store and saying ‘Ouch,’ I can’t imagine someone being food insecure,” Jeffries said.
Celia Cole is the CEO of Feeding Texas. Cole said more families have turned to food banks this summer. They are working with the Texas Department of Agriculture, which runs an existing summer meal program, but Cole says the food banks are being stretched thin... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[US and World News]
Hundreds of former Bush, McCain and Romney staffers endorse Harris (Washington Post)
More than 200 Republicans who worked for President George W. Bush, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) or the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, warning in a letter that a second Trump presidency “will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions.”
The open letter with the endorsement was first published Monday in USA Today, with 238 signatures. The group of former Bush, McCain and Romney staffers issued a similar letter supporting Joe Biden when he ran against Trump in 2020. In their new, pro-Harris letter, alumni from those three top Republicans were joined by at least five former staffers to the late President George H.W. Bush. In the letter, the GOP alumni wrote that they are voting for Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, despite policy differences.
“Of course, we have plenty of honest, ideological disagreements with Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz,” they wrote. “That’s to be expected. The alternative, however, is simply untenable.”
Those who signed the pro-Harris letter include Jean Becker, George H.W. Bush’s chief of staff; Mark Salter and Chris Koch, former chiefs of staff for McCain; David Nierenberg, Romney’s 2012 campaign finance chair; and David Garman, undersecretary for energy under George W. Bush.
The letter is not only supportive of Harris but critical of Trump. In it, the Republican alumni say Trump presents a threat to the United States and countries around the world, saying that he and his “acolyte,” running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), “kowtow to dictators like [Russian President] Vladimir Putin while turning their backs on our allies. We can’t let that happen.”
The group also wrote that “moderate Republicans and conservative independents in key swing states” were key in securing Biden’s 2020 victory as they “put country far before party” — and that they must once again “take a brave stand” in this election and support Harris over Trump.
In response to the letter, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in an email that the group “would rather see the country burn down than to see President Trump successfully return to the White House.” The letter highlights the continued divisions among Republicans over the party’s embrace of Trump. At the Democratic National Convention last week, several Republicans came out in support of Harris.
Stephanie Grisham, who served as Trump’s press secretary as well as chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump, described her evolution from “true believer” to a critic of the former president, saying that the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection was her last straw, The Washington Post reported. Grisham also claimed in her speech that behind closed doors, Trump mocked his supporters as “basement dwellers.” (In response, the Trump campaign described her as a “stone cold loser.”)
Other Republicans who spoke at the convention included John Giles, the mayor of Mesa, Ariz., and former congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)
_________________________
We are proud to represent and have represented a wide range of clients in the Austin Metro and Texas Capitol at the intersection of government and business.
Learn more about Bingham Group’s experience here, and review client testimonials here.
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