- The BG Reads
- Posts
- BG Reads 9.13.2023
BG Reads 9.13.2023
BG Reads | News - September 13, 2023 🗞️
September 13, 2023
In today's BG Reads:
💵 Council hears details of proposed $1M incentive package for NXP Semiconductors
⚖️ “I did everything at his supervision”: Outside lawyer says Ken Paxton approved every step of Nate Paul investigation
💡 Extremists keep trying to trigger mass blackouts — and that’s not even the scariest part
🆕 Bingham Group content: BG Podcast EP. 215 and more
Read on!
[BINGHAM GROUP]
🎙️ Listen: BG Podcast Ep. 215 -> On this episode we focus another major staffing change in the city's executive ranks. We also touch on Council's discussion around its first potential Ch. 380 agreement with NXP. (Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify).
➡️ Check out our red lined City of Austin org chart. The changes reflect the many changes in city leadership since February 2023. You can view those here: BG Blog: Tracking City of Austin Leadership Changes (Updated September 1, 2023)
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Council hears details of proposed $1M incentive package for NXP Semiconductors (Austin Monitor)
City Council heard details at Tuesday’s work session about the proposed agreement with NXP Semiconductors N.V., which is looking to invest $290.8 million to remove and replace four of its five production lines in Austin. The company employs 2,768 people locally and has facilities on Ed Bluestein Boulevard just east of U.S. Highway 183, and in Oak Hill just west of Escarpment Boulevard.
The proposed incentive package under the city’s Chapter 380 policy would total just over $1 million and include a $631,000 base payment, $158,000 for workforce training, another $158,000 to encourage economically disadvantaged hiring, and $79,000 to encourage sustainable business practices.
Staff from the Economic Development Department said the city’s financial benefit from additional property taxes minus the cost of the incentives would be $1.53 million… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Of note:
The city’s last Chapter 380 incentive agreement was a nearly $7 million package of city and state money given to Merck Corporation, a pharmaceutical company that was expected to grow its local workforce to about 600 people.
The company backed out of those incentives in 2019 after it failed to meet the gradual hiring requirements, with neither the city nor state ever handing over any money to the company.
Also check out:
And in other Austin Metro News:
➡️ Austin City Council to vote on police data expansion (KXAN) -> LINK TO FULL STORY.
➡️ Arborist says push to keep Barton Springs pecan tree 'just doesn't seem practical' (KUT) -> LINK TO FULL STORY
➡️ City to consider expediting airport expansion (KVUE)-> LINK TO FULL STORY
[TEXAS NEWS]
“I did everything at his supervision”: Outside lawyer says Ken Paxton approved every step of Nate Paul investigation (Texas Tribune)
Cammack on Tuesday said Paxton was interested in hiring a “special prosecutor” to investigate a complaint by Austin real estate investor Nate Paul.
Once hired by Paxton, Cammack said, he frequently updated the attorney general on the course of his investigation, including plans to issue subpoenas to investigate two Paul complaints, one that his home and businesses had been illegally searched by law enforcement in 2019, and another claiming he was the victim of a wide-ranging fraud scheme.
Cammack stopped his investigative efforts after receiving cease and desist letters in late September from top officials in the attorney general’s office who said he had been improperly hired. Even so, Cammack testified, Paxton urged him to continue investigating Paul’s complaints.
Ultimately, however, Cammack said the relationship ended in the first week of October 2020 when Paxton and his new second-in-command, Brent Webster, met in Paxton’s office before driving to an Austin Starbucks to fire him.
When he asked about a $14,000 invoice submitted to the agency for his work, Webster told him that he would have to “eat” the loss... (LINK TO FULL STORY)
And in other Texas News:
➡️ Abbott hits Adams for migrant complaints: He ‘could not last a week in Texas’ (The Hill) -> LINK TO FULL STORY
➡️ John Cornyn’s fundraising prowess could be edge in eventual contest to succeed McConnell (Dallas Morning News) -> LINK TO FULL STORY
[NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS]
Extremists keep trying to trigger mass blackouts — and that’s not even the scariest part (Politico)
Maryland’s top utility regulator was watching the news one February morning when a headline blindsided him: Two suspects with neo-Nazi ties had been charged with plotting to take down Baltimore’s power grid. Jason Stanek, the then-chair of the state’s Public Service Commission, said Maryland regulators were “caught flat-footed,” not hearing a word from law enforcement before the news broke — or in the months afterward.
Federal prosecutors have alleged the defendants were driven by “racially motivated hatred” to try to cut power to hundreds of thousands of people in the state’s largest city, which has a predominantly Black population. The FBI declined to comment on its communications with the Maryland commission. But Stanek’s experience is not uncommon.
A POLITICO analysis of federal data and interviews with a dozen security, extremism and electricity experts revealed that despite a record surge in attacks on the grid nationwide, communication gaps between law enforcement and state and federal regulators have left many officials largely in the dark about the extent of the threat. They have also hampered efforts to safeguard the power network.
Adding to the difficulties, no single agency keeps a complete record of all such incidents. But the attacks they know about have regulators and other power experts alarmed: Utilities reported 60 incidents they characterized as physical threats or attacks on major grid infrastructure, in addition to two cyberattacks, during the first three months of 2023 alone, according to mandatory disclosures they filed with the Department of Energy. That’s more than double the number from the same period last year. DOE has not yet released data past March; Nine of this year’s attacks led to power disruptions, the DOE records indicate; The U.S. is on pace to meet or exceed last year’s record of 164 major cyber and physical attacks; And additional analyses imply that the true number of incidents for both 2022 and 2023 is probably even higher. POLITICO’s analysis found several incidents that utilities had reported to homeland security officials but did not show up in DOE data… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
OTHER NEWS:
➡️ WWE, UFC Combined Company Makes Market Debut, Targets Demand for Sports (Wall Street Journal) -> LINK TO FULL STORY
➡️ North Korea’s Kim vows full support for Russia’s ‘just fight’ after viewing launchpads with Putin (Associated Press) -> LINK TO FULL STORY
_________________________
🔎 Have questions or in need of lobbying services? Fill out Bingham Group’s Service Interest Questionnaire and let us see how we can help.
SHARE BG READS FEEDBACK HERE
⬇️
Copyright (C) " target="_blank">unsubscribe
