The BG Reads
Posts
BG Reads 8.7.2024

BG Reads 8.7.2024

🗞️ Bingham Group Reads - August 7, 2024

August 07, 2024

View this email in your browser

Bingham Group Reads

Presented by:

www.binghamgp.com

August 7, 2024

Today's BG Reads include:

🟣 Council confirms Lisa Davis as next Austin police chief (Community Impact)

🟣 Dell Technologies cutting more jobs as company reorganizes (Austin Business Journal)

🟣 Budget work session on homelessness spending shows gaps in funding (Austin Monitor)

🟣 Austin city council member rushed to hospital during budget meeting (FOX 7)

Read On!

[BINGHAM GROUP]

🟣 [New] BG Podcast Ep. 263: Austin Politics Weekly Recap And What's Ahead

🟣 Updated City of Austin Org Chart (as of 7.2.2024)

🟣 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.

LINK TO THIS WEEK’s CITY OF AUSTIN HEARINGS + AGENDA

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🟣 [New] Council Member Pool Budget Priorities

🟣 [New] Council Member Qadri Budget Priorities

🟣 [New] Council Member Fuentes Budget Amendments

🟣 [New] Mayor Watson Budget Amendments

🟣 [New] Council Member Ellis Budget Amendments

🟣 [New] Council Member Kelly Budget Amendments

🟣 Joint budget priorities for Council Members Fuentes, Velásquez, Vela, Ryan Alter, and Qadri (Council Message Board)

🟣 Memo -> Imagine Austin Update: Engagement Activities and Launch of the Imagine Austin Working Group Application

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Council confirms Lisa Davis as next Austin police chief (Community Impact)

City Council unanimously confirmed Lisa Davis' appointment as the Austin Police Department's next chief Aug. 6.

Council's vote came days after City Manager T.C. Broadnax chose Davis for the chief position following a nationwide search. City officials and community members also met with Davis and fellow finalist Jeffery B. Norman this summer.Davis will officially succeed interim Police Chief Robin Henderson after the Labor Day holiday in September… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Dell Technologies cutting more jobs as company reorganizes (Austin Business Journal)

Dell Technologies Inc. has implemented a round of layoffs, although the number of job cuts in the Austin metro and companywide is unclear.

A spokesperson for Round Rock-based Dell told the Austin Business Journal that the company is becoming "leaner" by reorganizing its "go-to-market teams" and taking other actions.

"We continually evolve our business so we’re set up to deliver the best innovation, value and service to our customers and partners," the spokesperson said, without providing additional information… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Budget work session on homelessness spending shows gaps in funding (Austin Monitor)

City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes requested a briefing to help her and other Council members understand the intricacies of funding shelter for Austin’s homeless population. She said it was clear from town hall meetings and budget hearings that Austinites are concerned about people without reliable places to stay and the city’s response to the problem.

At the end of Tuesday’s nearly two-hour work session, it was clear that the city has not yet allocated the funding that would be needed to house all of the city’s unsheltered people and those on the verge of becoming homeless. It was also clear that would be a very expensive proposition.

Budget Officer Kerri Lang explained to Council that the projected overall budget for the Homeless Strategy Office for Fiscal Year 2025 is $30.3 million. Operating several homeless shelters, including some for periods of cold weather, is projected to cost the city $13.8 million. The Rapid Rehousing program, which quickly moves people experiencing homelessness into housing while providing time-limited support, is projected to cost the city $4.5 million. Fuentes, Council Member Ryan Alter and Mayor Kirk Watson have all suggested budget amendments to increase the funding for that program... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin city councilmember rushed to hospital during budget meeting (FOX 7)

Austin City Council member Mackenzie Kelly had to be rushed to the hospital on Tuesday morning.

Kelly was at City Hall at the start of the city's budget meeting when she had a "medical event" and had to taken to a nearby hospital.

The District 6 councilwoman is being evaluated and treated at this time, according to her staff.

They did not go into detail about the event… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

Texas schools got billions in federal pandemic relief. It is coming to an end as the school year starts. (Texas Tribune)

[M]ore than $19 billion Texas schools received in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds over the last four years will expire on Sept. 30, with a few exceptions.

The money will go away at a time when Texas schools are already struggling to keep the lights on. A number of districts are planning to enter the next school year with multimillion-dollar holes in their budgets as inflation has sent costs soaring. The Texas Legislature failed last year to approve a significant boost to the base amount of money every school receives per student — an amount that hasn’t changed since 2019 — as lawmakers fought over whether to fund private education with taxpayer dollars.

School administrators say losing the pandemic relief funds not only threatens the programs they paid for but also highlights how precarious their districts’ situation has become after years of clamoring for more state funding... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

Inside the 16 days between Kamala Harris’ launch and her choice of Tim Walz (Associated Press)

Kamala Harris’ whirlwind process to select Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate can be summed up in a word: weird.

With President Joe Biden and Harris, his vice president, seeking a second term together, Democrats weren’t supposed to have a veep search at all.

But as soon as the 81-year-old president ended his campaign and endorsed Harris, it was go time. And there was no playbook for the newly elevated candidate and a vetting team that in a normal campaign would have months, not days, to make such a critical decision… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Usha Vance tries to defend her husband's 'childless cat ladies' comment (NPR)

Usha Vance, the wife of Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, mischaracterized her husband's past comment deriding women without children as "childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives," as she defended him in a Fox News interview that aired Monday.

"I took a moment to look and actually see what he had said and try to understand what the context was," Usha Vance said about her husband's remarks, which he made in a 2021 interview with then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

"Because what he was really saying is that it can be really hard to be a parent in this country. And sometimes our policies are designed in a way that makes it even harder."

But that’s not what Vance was claiming. Here is what he told Carlson at the time… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

AI Is coming for India’s famous tech hub (Wall Street Journal)

Artificial intelligence is upending India’s technology outsourcing business. The industry is pivoting to adapt, but the changes could cost a large number of coveted jobs.

The country’s big outsourcing companies are already using AI and have plans to integrate it throughout their businesses. That might not save the low-end operations that run call centers or do other basic tasks within the so-called business process outsourcing sector.

“If I am just doing a simple contact center service then generative AI is going to replace that person very quickly,” said Keshav Murugesh, chief executive of WNS, a U.S.-listed Indian tech-services company. “It’s as simple as that.”

AI is threatening to disrupt most businesses around the world, not just India’s $250 billion outsourcing industry. The outsourcing boom in India over the past few decades created the “getting Bangalore-d” phenomenon in the U.S., often used for Americans who lost their jobs to more affordable Indian talent… (LINK TO FULL STORY)