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- BG Reads 9.8.2023
BG Reads 9.8.2023
BG Reads | News - September 8, 2023 🗞️
September 8, 2023
In today's BG Reads:
📈 Life sciences, housing policy seen as keys for Austin’s five-year growth strategy
⚖️ “It was not a mutiny”: Senior staff had no choice but to report Ken Paxton to the FBI, whistleblower testifies
💻 Apple becomes the biggest U.S.-China pawn yet
🔎 Checkout: Next Thursday’s Austin City Council 9.14 meeting agenda
🎙️ Listen: BG Podcast Ep. 214 -> We focus on developments with the so-called "Death Star" bill, House Bill 2127, preemption legislation passed in the recent Texas legislative session. (Also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify).
Read on!
[BINGHAM GROUP NEWS]
Chris Stewart, a former city of Austin Chief Information Officer (2020 - 2023), joins Bingham Group as a consultant.
Bingham Group consultants are contract specialists providing strategic advice to firm clients across business, community, and policy matters in the Austin Metro and Texas.
Areas of expertise include: Economic Development/Incentives, Municipal Policy & Appropriations, Procurement, and Research & Analysis.
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Life sciences, housing policy seen as keys for Austin’s five-year growth strategy (Austin Monitor)
Business leaders see the life sciences sector as the next major piece of the Austin economy and expect it to grow quickly along with semiconductor and automotive manufacturing, financial services and national defense in the years to come.
Focusing on those industries while addressing housing costs and the growing local labor pool were some of the main priorities for the next version of Opportunity Austin, the 20-year strategy that has helped to roughly double the number of jobs in Austin since 2004.
The OA 5.0 plan was revealed to Opportunity Austin members and stakeholders on Wednesday, with an analysis by global consulting firm EY that looked at the region’s economic growth patterns and strengths.
EY’s work resulted in four strategic goals that are expected to keep Austin and the surrounding communities economically strong: making the region more economically diverse, making the area attractive for global investment, providing the labor and intellectual talent that companies need, and improving the local quality of life.
The new plan is the first major initiative from Opportunity Austin since the organization formally split from the Austin Chamber of Commerce earlier this year. Its leaders hope to raise $30 million from the local business community to fund the five-year effort.
Gary Farmer, interim CEO of Opportunity Austin, said the burgeoning life sciences innovation district near the Dell Medical School is likely to attract the most attention and investment, with the area already home to 200 life sciences companies.ivision application process and answer any questions.”
Applicants have long complained about delays in review and inspections related to preliminary plans, site plans and building permits, among other things... (LINK TO FULL STORY)
Related Links:
And in other Austin Metro News:
➡️ Council Member Zo Qadri sets sights on closing ‘windowless-apartment loophole’ (Austin Monitor) -> LINK TO FULL STORY
➡️ Central Health approves budget with a Hail Mary provision to halt layoffs at Integral Care (KUT) -> LINK TO FULL STORY
🚸 And an FYI : Child Care Cliff: 3.2 Million Children Likely to Lose Spots with End of Federal Funds on September 30, 2023 (The Century Foundation)
[TEXAS NEWS]
“It was not a mutiny”: Senior staff had no choice but to report Ken Paxton to the FBI, whistleblower testifies (Texas Tribune)
Ryan Bangert did not want to report his boss, Attorney General Ken Paxton, to the FBI.
A bona fide ultraconservative and former Paxton donor, the onetime deputy first assistant attorney general believed in Paxton and the office, calling it a national "beacon" of the conservative legal movement.
But, as Bangert detailed in crisp, riveting testimony during Thursday’s impeachment trial proceedings, he reluctantly concluded that Paxton’s repeated and escalating use of the office to help his friend and political donor Nate Paul left him and other senior staff with no option but to report the behavior to the FBI.
“It was not a mutiny,” he said, rejecting prior characterizations by Paxton’s lawyers that his top staffers were trying to stage a coup in the attorney general’s office… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL/WORLD NEWS]
Apple Becomes the Biggest U.S.-China Pawn Yet (Wall Street Journal)
Apple might be the king of tech. But in the growing cold economic war between the world’s two biggest economies, it is becoming just another game piece—albeit a big one.
Still the world’s largest public company by market value, Apple has seen that value take a notable hit this week on increasing signs that its business in China might be coming under threat.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the Chinese government is banning the iPhone and other foreign-branded devices from use by workers at central government agencies. Bloomberg reported Thursday that such a ban might also be extended to state-owned enterprises and other government-backed entities. That could amount to a significant swath of people in a state-led economy with a population totaling more than 1.4 billion.
According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, about 56.3 million urban workers were employed by “state-owned units” in 2021. Those jobs commanded an average wage about 8% above the national urban average—an attractive segment for a company specializing in premium devices. And because Apple now ships roughly 230 million iPhones globally every year, 56 million would be a notable chunk to take out of the pool of potential buyers—especially in a mature global smartphone market with low growth prospects… (LINK TO FULL STORY)
OTHER NEWS:
➡️ Biden and Modi are looking to tighten US-India ties as concerns over China rise (Associated Press) -> LINK TO FULL STORY
➡️ ‘How Are You Feeling, Mr. Leader?’ Mitch McConnell’s Weird Return to D.C. (Politico) -> LINK TO FULL STORY
➡️ Even the least expensive areas of California are becoming unaffordable, and more desirable (LA Times) -> LINK TO FULL STORY
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