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September 1, 2023

In today's BG Reads:

🚓  Austin police chief turnover follows national trends

⚖️   Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton pursued perks beyond impeachment allegations, ex-staffers say

💵  Inflation has been easing fast, but wild cards lie ahead

🎙️  BG Podcast Ep. 213: Discussing Mckinsey and Co.’s city of Austin Development Site Plan Assessment(Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify)

And more. Read on!

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

Austin police chief turnover follows national trends (Austin Monitor)

Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon’s recent announcement that he will retire ushers in the city’s third search for a top cop in just over five years. 

Experts say police chief turnover is an enduring challenge catalyzed in recent years by social change, including mass protests against police violence and racism in the summer of 2020 that prompted reform efforts in Austin and other cities across the country. 

“Frequent turnover is not desirable,” Ben Brown, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley who has studied police chief turnover in Texas, told the Austin Monitor. “If you have a new chief coming in every year or two, it just encourages instability across the department.” 

In addition to potential instability, the Austin Police Department faces several other challenges, many of which predate Chacon’s appointment as chief. They include long-standing staffing shortages, stalled labor contract negotiations, backlash against its recent partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety and internal resistance to reform… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

And in other Austin Metro News:

➡️ Austin ISD may still face conservatorship under the state's alternative special ed plan (KUT)  -> FULL STORY HERE 

➡️ Judge declares city campaign contribution blackout period unconstitutional (Austin Monitor) -> FULL STORY HERE 

➡️ Council approves push to make air conditioning a requirement in Austin (Austin Monitor) -> FULL STORY HERE 

[TEXAS NEWS]

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton pursued perks beyond impeachment allegations, ex-staffers say (Associated Press)

Unexplained Caribbean and European trips that cost taxpayers more than $90,000. A $600 sports coat paid for by an event organizer. A $45 office Christmas cake taken as his own.

These are among the perks that Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ‘s former employees say he reveled in while using his office in ways that now have him facing a federal criminal investigation and potential ouster over allegations of corruption. Paxton’s impeachment trial that starts Tuesday covers years of highly publicized scandal, criminal charges and whistleblower accounts from his inner circle. But records obtained by The Associated Press, interviews with former aides and a review of thousands of legal filings reveal other ways in which Paxton allegedly reaped the benefits of being one of Texas’ most powerful figures. Together, they show how conviction and removal from office could cost Paxton not just a job but a lifestyle.

Last year, that lifestyle included more international trips than Texas’ governor and lieutenant governor combined, and a previously unreported visit to Qatar to watch the World Cup.

There are also accusations of behavior that raised eyebrows among employees at all levels of Paxton’ office, including requesting special license plates but never paying the $12.50 to acquire them.

“He always cared about what trip he was going on, who was taking him to dinner,” James Blake Brickman, one of Paxton’s former deputies, told investigators leading the impeachment in March, according to a transcript. “He likes the perks of the office,” Brickman said. Spokespersons for Paxton and the attorney general’s office did not respond to questions about the accusations made by Paxton’s former staff. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who will act as judge during the impeachment trial, issued a sweeping gag order.

First elected in 2014, Paxton has built a national profile, using his office to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election, challenge Biden administration policies, and to fight for conservative social causes. He won reelection twice despite the clouds of a securities fraud indictment and an ongoing FBI investigation.

The federal investigation and impeachment focus on allegations by eight of Paxton’s former top deputies that he helped a wealthy donor fend off an FBI investigation.

In return, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul allegedly employed a woman with whom Paxton had an extramarital affair and bankrolled the renovations of his million-dollar Austin home. Both men have denied wrongdoing... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

OTHER TEXAS NEWS:

➡️ Dan Patrick says he won’t accept donations during trial, after taking heat for pro-Paxton money (Texas Tribune) -> FULL STORY HERE

➡️ Who’s who in the Ken Paxton impeachment trial, from key participants to potential witnesses (Texas Tribune) -> FULL STORY HERE

[NATIONAL NEWS]

Inflation has been easing fast, but wild cards lie ahead (New York Times)

President Biden has openly celebrated recent inflation reports, and Federal Reserve officials have also breathed a sigh of relief as rapid price gains show signs of losing steam. But the pressing question now is whether that pace of progress toward slower price increases — one that was long awaited and very welcome — can persist.

The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, is expected to tick up to 4.2 or 4.3 percent in a report on Thursday, after volatile food and fuel costs are stripped out. That would be an increase from 4.1 percent for the core measure in June.

And while it would still be down considerably from a peak of 5.4 percent last summer, such a reading would underscore that inflation remains stubbornly above the Fed’s 2 percent goal and that its path back to normal is proving bumpy.

Most economists are not hugely concerned.

They still expect inflation to ease later this year and into 2024 as pandemic disruptions fade and as consumers become less willing to accept ever-higher prices for goods and services. American shoppers are feeling the squeeze of both shrinking savings and higher Fed interest rates. But as price increases slow in fits and starts, they are keeping economic officials wary. Big uncertainties loom, including a few that could help inflation to fade faster and several that could keep it elevated. Price increases have slowed across a range of measures this summer.

The overall Consumer Price Index — which feeds into the P.C.E. numbers and is released earlier each month, making it a focal point for both analysts and the media — has slowed to 3.2 percent from a 9.1 percent peak in June 2022. And as consumers have experienced less drastic price jumps, their expectations for future inflation have come down. That’s good news for the Fed. Inflation expectations can be a self-fulfilling prophecy: If consumers expect prices to climb, they may both accept cost increases more easily and demand higher pay, making inflation harder to stamp out. Still, the moderation has not been enough for policymakers to declare victory. Fed officials have been trying to slow the economy and contain inflation since early 2022. Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, vowed during a speech last week at the Jackson Hole symposium that they will “keep at it” until they are positive inflation is coming under control… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

OTHER NEWS:

➡️ Age ain't nothing but a number but for aging lawmakers, it's raising questions (NPR) -> (LINK TO FULL STORY)

➡️ Thomas, Alito go on the attack over Supreme Court ethics (The Hill) -> (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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