BG Reads // April 2, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
April 02, 2025

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We’re growing BG Reads and want to better understand who’s reading. Your quick answers help us shape content and build a stronger community.

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

✈️🇬🇧 Austin delegation being formed for first SXSW London (Austin Business Journal)

🌳 🔐 New data reveals which popular Austin parks car burglars are targeting most (KVUE)

🧬🏗️ New zoning could support expansion of Austin’s life sciences sector (Community Impact)

📈🏛️ NYSE Texas opens with Trump Media as its first listing (WFAA)

📊🌍 Trump is set to announce ‘reciprocal’ tariffs in a risky move that could reshape the economy (Associated Press)

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ Appointments: Council Member Mike Siegel (District 7) has appointed Adam Powell to the City Austin Planning Commission. Adam, who ran for the open District 7 seat in 2024, also serves as the Executive Director of the Austin History Center Association.

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Austin delegation being formed for first SXSW London (Austin Business Journal)

Applications are open for businesses and individuals interested in being part of the Austin delegation for South by Southwest’s inaugural London festival in June.  

The Austin delegation, announced by SXSW, Capital Factory, Opportunity Austin and the city's Office of Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment, will help represent the city and the state of Texas during SXSW London. Members of the Austin delegation are eligible for 50% discounts on registration badges, although participants will be required to pay for their own travel expenses. 

The delegation is open to any Texas-based company, organization, educational institution, entrepreneur or individual seeking to build connections or business in the United Kingdom. Applications and more information can be found on Opportunity Austin’s website.

Opportunities for corporate sponsorships also are available for group activities in London, which could include creation of an “Austin House” during the June 2-7 festival.

Ben Wright, a spokesperson for the Austin delegation, said an upper limit on delegation membership hasn't been determined yet because details area still being worked out, nor is there an application deadline yet.

Meanwhile, Austin’s Office of Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment also will be coordinating a separate group of local musicians, producers and talent buyers for SXSW London to further promote the city as an international music destination and deepen trade ties between the U.K. and Austin… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Ann Richards principal abruptly resigns; students, families seeking answers (FOX 7)

The resignation of a beloved and long-time principal shocked much of the Ann Richards School for Young Women community.

Many families and students are seeking answers about the sudden resignation of an Austin ISD principal. 

"The principal had spoken previously about how this was always her dream job," said middle school parent Ted Hennessy. "It really seems strange to have such a sudden and unexpected resignation without any explanation."

Nicole Griffith was the principal at the Ann Richards School for Young Women since 2022, until last week when the district notified families in an email on Thursday that Principal Griffith resigned from AISD, the day before. 

"The big concern is whether we'll ever find out the reason is having a level of transparency and accountability," said Faye Kolly, a middle school parent. "It doesn't make any sense when a well-decorated, experienced educator at a school like Ann Richards just leaves for no reason." 

The school did not explain why this decision was made with fewer than two months left in the school year… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Private jet company doubling its capacity at Austin's airport (Austin Business Journal)

A Houston-based company plans a $60 million expansion at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport due to an increase in demand for private flights and jetway parking.

Million Air, a luxury fixed-base operator, started construction on March 18 for its second phase expansion at the airport.

The effort will yield a 15,600-square-foot, two-story office building; three new hangars that total 120,000 square feet; two new two-story departure lounges that are 7,300 square feet each; a new valet and ground parking lot that will add 233 parking spaces; as well as a ramp/apron expansion that will add roughly 534,000 square feet of parking space for airplanes, according to an announcement from Million Air.

CEO Robert Woolsey said the addition of the three hangars will double the capacity that Million Air can handle because the three new hangars will be much larger than Million Air’s seven existing hangars. He said this expansion is badly needed for ABIA’s private operations because the current capacity is “bursting at the seams” and there are several times a year when ABIA has to turn away private jets to serve commercial and cargo airlines… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ New data reveals which popular Austin parks car burglars are targeting most (KVUE)

Austin officials are ramping up efforts to combat a surge in car break-ins at popular parks and greenbelts.

Visitors can see the evidence in piles of glass from broken windows, however, new data revealed that 90% of these crimes occur in just 16 of the city’s nearly 400 parks.

Included in those hotspots are popular parks like Bull Creek, Mount Bonnell, St. Edward's Park and Zilker Park — locations with high foot traffic and large parking lots.

Austin Police Assistant Chief Lee Rogers highlighted the issue during a meeting on Tuesday, emphasizing that repeat offenders are targeting those areas.

“This is where the people are. This is where the vehicles are,” Rogers said. “We are targeting those specific groups and locations.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ New zoning could support expansion of Austin’s life sciences sector (Community Impact)

A new zoning use for science industries could support the growth of facilities in the biotech, diagnostics, medical, pharmaceutical and research fields in Austin, and build on the hundreds of companies and tens of thousands of jobs in place today.

Austin's extensive zoning rulebook includes different land uses that can be allowed on property around town, covering a range of residential, commercial, industrial and civic activities. Mayor Kirk Watson said the city currently doesn't account for some aspects of life sciences, leading him to propose a new use specifically for that sector this spring.

“The Austin region ranks among the top emerging markets for life sciences, so it’s important for the city to make life sciences research accessible to both private and public entities," Watson said.

"By allowing this use in city code, we are able to facilitate the growth of the science research industry in Austin while also supporting the Dell Medical School and the city’s innovation district." City Council signed off on Watson's request for a life sciences designation March 27. Next, the new regulations will be developed and presented for final approval "as soon as feasible," according to the council resolution… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

✅ Remembering John Thornton, founder of The Texas Tribune (Texas Tribune)

Texas and the American journalism community have lost a luminary. John Thornton, a founder of The Texas Tribune and one of the most vital and influential leaders in nonprofit journalism, died on Saturday. He was 59.

His passing is an immeasurable loss for our staff, our board, our many supporters and readers past and present. Without John, the Tribune and the ecosystem of nonprofit news that it helped build would not exist. The Tribune was born in 2008 from his search for a sustainable model for news. He was a leading venture capitalist in Austin at the time, having served as managing partner of Austin Ventures. He and his partners had been studying the decline in the media business.

Newspapers and television stations were slashing their staffs. Coverage of state capitols — the places where billions of the public’s dollars are spent to support our schools, roads and health care — was disappearing the fastest. John concluded that public service journalism was a public good — and that the commercial businesses that had traditionally supported it were unlikely to sustain it moving forward… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ NYSE Texas opens with Trump Media as its first listing (WFAA)

NYSE Texas is officially open for business as of Monday, becoming the first securities exchange to operate in Texas. Its first listing was President Donald Trump’s Trump Media and Technology Group, the parent company of his social media platform Truth Social. The New York Stock Exchange announced its plans to reincorporate its Chicago branch in Dallas as NYSE Texas in February.

“We are thrilled to open NYSE Texas to corporate issuers and to welcome Trump Media & Technology Group to our NYSE community through a NYSE Texas listing,” said NYSE Group President Lynn Martin. “This new offering, which we announced just last month, will allow companies to capitalize on the pro-business dynamics in Texas. We applaud Trump Media, Governor Abbott and the state of Texas on their commitment to supporting the innovation of U.S. capital markets.”

The New York Stock Exchange says Texas is home to the largest number of companies listed on the NYSE, representing more than $3.7 trillion in aggregate market value, according to a press release. Trump Media says it will list its warrants on the NYSE Texas exchange, though its primary listing will continue to be on the NASDAQ. “We’re honored to become the initial listing for NYSE Texas, which is a great fit for TMTG as we diversify into financial services and other realms. Texas provides a fantastic climate for business and entrepreneurship that aligns with TMTG’s mission,” Trump Media and Technology Group CEO Devin Nunes said.

“This listing, alongside our plans to reincorporate in Florida, shows we’re part of a growing movement to take our business to states that value free enterprise and personal freedom.” NYSE Texas is set to have competition, though, as financial giants move into North Texas. The upstart Texas Stock Exchange announced its plans to bring a long-hoped-for national stock exchange headquartered in Dallas last summer and plans to launch this spring… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ San Antonio will be U.S. metro most damaged by Trump's Canada trade war, study finds (San Antonio Current)

The San Antonio-New Braunfels area stands to lose more from the Trump administration's trade war with Canada than any other U.S. metro, according to a new study. AD While Mexico is typically thought of as the Alamo City's primary trading partner, 48% of the area's exports actually cross over to Canada, an analysis by economists from Canadian Chamber of Commerce shows.

Those exports constitute roughly 3.4% of the San Antonio-New Braunfels' total gross domestic product and accounted for $6 billion in 2023. Even though the San Antonio metro is closer to Mexico, large amounts of exports from its automotive, aerospace and petroleum-refining sectors end up in Canada, Andrew DiCapua, the chamber's principal economist told the Current.

Now, as the Canadian government retaliates against Trump's 25% tariffs on goods from the U.S.'s northern neighbor, San Antonio businesses — from its Toyota Tundra truck plant to producers of agricultural equipment, construction gear and aircraft — will feel the pinch. "If companies aren't selling as much, that hurts their bottom lines and contributes to job losses," DiCapua said.

"That, in turn, leads to fewer people buying things, which puts more strain on the local economy." Further, the drop in Canadian exports will come as San Antonio's middle-class and low-income families face higher retail prices due to the White House's taxes on imports, ranging from food to car parts.

"At the end of the day, a trade war is bad for everybody," DiCapua said. "Tariffs are economically destructive, and a lot of economists are downwardly revising their predictions for U.S. growth right now as a result."… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Former Houston ISD board president testifies that she accepted $17K in bribes at Walmart parking lot (Houston Chronicle)

A former Houston ISD board president testified in federal court that she accepted $17,000 in cash in a Walmart parking lot in connection to school bond projects in 2016 and 2017.

Rhonda Skillern-Jones, who entered a guilty plea to a conspiracy charge in 2021, said Friday she accepted $5,000 and later $12,000 in cash after a district vendor, Anthony Hutchison, completed campus projects with leftover school bond money allocated to Skillern-Jones' trustee area in HISD. The money was HISD District II's remainder from a nearly $1.9 billion bond that repaired or replaced 40 schools.

The longtime public servant — who has worked for the state and Harris County Precinct 1, as well as an elected on HISD's and Houston Community College's boards — testified for the government in an ongoing trial around HISD's former Chief Operating Officer Brian Busby and Hutchison. The two face a 33-count indictment that includes conspiracy, bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, wire fraud, witness tampering and willfully filing false tax returns. She was the last witness among five formerly affiliated with HISD who accepted cash from Hutchison… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Dallas HERO threatens to sue city of Dallas over police staffing. (D Magazine)

Dallas HERO sent the city a sternly worded letter today demanding that Dallas officials comply with the terms for Proposition U. This proposition was part of a slate of three charter amendments the group had campaigned for in November. Two of those amendments passed: Proposition S, which allows residents to sue the city if they believe the city isn’t complying with the charter, ordinances, or state law, and Proposition U, which (among other things) requires the city to maintain a police force of 4,000 officers.

Dallas HERO says that (as of February) the city has 3,169 officers, which is not 4,000. In February, the Dallas City Council agreed with the Dallas Police Department, which said it couldn’t onboard that many officers. They set a goal of 300 new officers a year. That’s not good enough for Dallas HERO. Its new executive director, Damien LeVeck, said in a press release, “Prop U is not a suggestion.”

The group wants the city to comply with Prop U by May 30. However, the organization’s former executive director, Pete Marocco, sang a different tune during the campaign to pass S, T, and U. At that time, Morocco told D Magazine the group supported “a responsible scalable plan mindful of capacity and standards to absorb new officers.”

Morocco, who was caught on camera inside the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection, has since gone on to other things, and apparently his assertion has been forgotten, as the organization’s letter to the city claims the city has been out of compliance since November 2024. Maybe it’s time to consider going to the dogs. But in the meantime, consider this piece we wrote about Proposition U before the election… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

✅ Trump is set to announce ‘reciprocal’ tariffs in a risky move that could reshape the economy (Associated Press)

After weeks of White House hype and public anxiety, President Donald Trump is set Wednesday to announce a barrage of self-described “reciprocal” tariffs on friend and foe alike.

The new tariffs — coming on what Trump has called “Liberation Day” — is a bid to boost U.S. manufacturing and punish other countries for what he has said are years of unfair trade practices. But by most economists’ assessments, the risky move threatens to plunge the economy into a downturn and mangle decades-old alliances.

The White House is exuding confidence despite the political and financial gamble being undertaken.

“April 2, 2025, will go down as one of the most important days in modern American history,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Tuesday’s briefing while adding that the new tariffs will take effect immediately... 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ An ‘administrative error’ sent a Maryland man to an El Salvador prison, ICE says (Associated Press)

President Donald Trump’ s administration has acknowledged mistakenly deporting a Maryland man with protected legal status to a notorious El Salvador prison last month, but is arguing against returning him to the United States because of his alleged gang ties and the U.S. government’s lack of power over the Central American nation.

Lawyers for Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, 29, maintain he is not affiliated with MS-13 or any other street gang and argue the U.S. government “has never produced an iota of evidence” that he does.

Abrego Garcia was arrested in Baltimore on March 12 after working a shift as a sheet metal apprentice in Baltimore and picking up his 5-year-old son, who has autism and other disabilities, from his grandmother’s house, his lawyers’ complaint stated… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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