🟪 Austin moves to expand tenant protections, eviction prevention plans at affordable rental housing (Community Impact)

🟪 Austin budget forecast includes millions in cuts to housing, job and education programs (KUT)

🟪 Austin selects contractor to build light rail operations and maintenance facility (CBS Austin)

🟪 Incentives on table for massive hotel planned near COTA (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues Democratic donor platform ActBlue (Texas Tribune)

🟪 3 things to know about Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh (NPR)

🟪 Tim Cook will step down as Apple CEO and hand reins over to the iPhone maker’s hardware leader (Associated Press)

READ ON!

Tomorrow // 9AM: City of Austin Council Work Session

✅ Austin moves to expand tenant protections, eviction prevention plans at affordable rental housing (Community Impact)

Austin Housing is moving to roll out increased protections for tenants in lower-income housing, including citywide eviction prevention measures.

Many local affordable housing complexes are supported by city development assistance. Those programs send funding from housing bonds, the Project Connect transit system's anti-displacement initiative and other sources to projects that apply for support.

Earlier this month, City Council directed millions of dollars to create or maintain hundreds of units of affordable housing around Austin under Rental Housing Development Assistance, or RHDA, and Ownership Housing Development Assistance, or OHDA, programs.

The city is now moving to improve how those programs function. Last year, officials approved a pair of resolutions from council members Zo Qadri and Mike Siegel calling to update the RHDA's program oversight and tenant protections. The city housing department has since launched projects to meet those goals, expected to wrap up later this year… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin budget forecast includes millions in cuts to housing, job and education programs (KUT)

Programs that help low-income families, people experiencing homelessness and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault could face funding cuts in the city of Austin's next budget.

A first draft of what the budget could look like was released Thursday. The fiscal year 2027 forecast assumes the city will increase its tax revenue by no more than 3.5% over last year. That's the highest amount the city can increase its revenues without getting voter approval.

That means the average taxpayer would pay about $2,074 a year for a home valued at $495,000. The budget would still have a projected deficit of $26.4 million, according to city officials.

In December, City Manager T.C. Broadnax said the city would have to cut nearly $17 million in social service contracts to keep the deficit from growing further.

The forecast released Thursday morning mirrored that projection while specifically pointing to cuts for permanent supportive housing, workforce development programs and adult education programs.

There is still money to cover a $30 million increase in personnel costs laid out in the three public safety contracts, $3 million to keep the Marshalling Yard emergency shelter open and $2.8 million to hire new firefighters… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin selects contractor to build light rail operations and maintenance facility (CBS Austin)

Austin’s light rail project reached a new milestone this week with the selection of a contractor to build a key support facility.

Austin Transit Partnership has selected Kiewit Austin Partnership, a joint venture between Kiewit Building Group Inc. and Austin Commercial, to design and build the system’s Operations and Maintenance Facility.

The facility will play a central role in the system, serving as the location where trains are stored, cleaned, maintained, and dispatched.

Approval of the contractor allows the project to move into pre-construction, including design work, permitting, and site preparation.

“This is another major step forward, and we now have the full construction team that will deliver Austin’s light rail system,” Austin Transit Partnership CEO Greg Canally said…🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Incentives on table for massive hotel planned near COTA (Austin Business Journal)

The city of Austin could provide economic incentives to boost an effort to build a massive hotel and convention center near Circuit of The Americas. 

Houston-based RIDA Development Corp. plans to develop a 1,000-room hotel and 460,000-square-foot convention center, with 170,000 square feet of rentable space, next to COTA. The Austin City Council could vote at its April 23 meeting to approve an economic development agreement for the project.

According to a slideshow from Austin Economic Development, the planned capital investment for the hotel and convention center is $985 million. The project is expected to generate 900 full-time jobs and 3,800 temporary construction jobs. 

The project is up for performance-based incentives, through which a portion of the hotel's room revenue could be awarded as a grant, records show. The agreement could run for 30 years… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues Democratic donor platform ActBlue (Texas Tribune)

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Monday against ActBlue, a political donations platform that is primarily used by Democratic candidates.

The state court lawsuit is the latest in a string of investigations and legal actions Paxton and Congress have undertaken against the platform over the last few years. Paxton is asking a Tarrant County judge to stop the company from accepting donations via gift cards and prepaid debit cards, and fine them $10,000 per violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

Paxton claims that ActBlue allows improper donations from people outside the United States and those who have already hit the mandated donor limits. He opened an investigation into ActBlue in December 2023, and the next year, sent a letter to the Federal Elections Commission, claiming he had uncovered evidence that “bad actors can illegally interfere in American elections by disguising political donations.”

De’Andra Roberts-LaBoo, a spokesperson for ActBlue, said the company has done more than any other platform to prevent improper donations… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ AI is changing how Texas universities teach computer science as job market slows (Texas Tribune)

Anxiety is in the air at computer science programs on university campuses across Texas.

Universities are incorporating artificial intelligence into education more every year, while admissions to computer science programs are down roughly 20% in Texas and nationally as hiring slows for software engineers.

Students are experiencing those changes in real time as they prepare to enter an uncertain job market in a rapidly changing industry.

“At the very beginning, it was a joke,” said Derek Do, a third year computer science major at the University of Texas at Austin. “The industry took it seriously, but a lot of the students didn’t.”

A computer science degree, previously seen as a reliable path to a well-paying tech job, doesn’t seem like such a sure thing to many students who worry that they will be the first victims of a future built around AI.

“I’ve applied to a billion jobs, as everyone has too,” added Do, who was recently able to secure an internship with a top tech company.

Some of the highest unemployment rates for recent college graduates are degree holders in computer science and computer engineering, at 7% and 7.8% respectively, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York study… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ John Whitmire calls Greg Abbott ICE fight futile; experts disagree (Houston Chronicle)

Mayor John Whitmire says the city must walk back its new policy limiting Houston police officers’ cooperation with federal immigration agents after Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to pull $114 million in grants over the measure, saying fighting back would be “a waste of time.” But some council members are calling on the mayor to challenge state leaders – particularly since Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued the city over its policy. Legal experts say Houston could have a good case, and that a judge could block Abbott from following through on his threat.

Houston’s new policy eliminates a requirement that officers wait 30 minutes for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to arrive when they encounter someone with an immigration warrant. These are civil documents that do not on their own give officers the authority to make arrests.

Legal experts and the authors of the ordinance argue Houston’s new policy brings the city in line with the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits officers from detaining people excessively. For instance, once the original reason for a traffic stop is addressed, a driver with an immigration warrant must be released even if federal agents have not reached the scene. But the measure – and similar policies in the cities of Austin and Dallas – has come under attack from Republicans. Paxton’s lawsuit alleges Houston’s policy violates a 2017 state law prohibiting cities and counties from “materially restricting” cooperation with ICE. And Abbott says the ordinance falls afoul of the terms of Houston’s agreements to receive federal public safety grants that are passed through the state.

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld that 2017 law, called Senate Bill 4, after a lawsuit questioned whether parts of the bill were unconstitutional. But that case did not set a clear precedent, said Marc Levin, the Houston-based chief policy counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice. “A court hasn’t ruled on whether or not SB 4 is in conflict with the U.S. Constitution,” Levin said. “There hasn’t been a ruling on the points at issue here.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Uncertainty reigns at DOJ in the aftermath of Bondi’s departure (Washington Post)

Since President Donald Trump tapped Todd Blanche, his former defense attorney, to temporarily lead the Justice Department this month, the message from those familiar with the president’s thinking has remained consistent: A permanent shot at the job of attorney general is Blanche’s to lose. But that hasn’t stopped a frenzied competition to push other candidates for what has become one of the most important Cabinet-level posts in the president’s plans for his second term.

And the uncertainty around top leadership roles has prompted concern from some in a department already struggling with claims of politicization and the abandonment of long-held norms over the lengths to which Trump’s next pick may go to impress him. Following Trump’s decision to fire Blanche’s predecessor, Pam Bondi, various factions of the president’s MAGA coalition have rallied around figures like Harmeet K. Dhillon, currently head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and Jeanine Pirro, the sharp-tongued former Fox News host and current U.S. attorney in D.C., as alternatives.

Neither Dhillon nor Pirro has been so forward as to openly suggest an interest in the job. But both have taken steps in recent days that are viewed by insiders as efforts to raise their profile and jockey for the president’s attention. Blanche, meanwhile, has quickly moved to leave his own mark on the Justice Department’s downtown Washington headquarters in his new role, pushing out Bondi’s top spokespeople and installing a key ally in a top deputy position.

Others within Trump’s orbit have seized on the department’s shake-up to push their own favored candidates for influential jobs. Some have urged Dhillon and Ed Martin — the president’s pardon attorney and a veteran of Trump’s “Stop the Steal” effort, with whom Blanche has clashed in the past — for top spots, according to multiple people familiar with those efforts. Those people, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to offer candid assessments of current dynamics. Trump has given no indication of when, or if, he intends to formally nominate a permanent replacement for Bondi. Either option carries risks: Nominating Blanche could result in a fiery confirmation fight, but leaving him as an unconfirmed attorney general gives him less stature and legitimacy… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump's labor secretary resigns amid investigation into misconduct (NPR)

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is leaving her post amid an internal investigation brought on by complaints about misconduct.

White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung announced the departure on X, writing "she has done a phenomenal job in her role by protecting American workers, enacting fair labor practices, and helping Americans gain additional skills to improve their lives." Cheung said Chavez-DeRemer was taking a position in the private sector.

A senior official at the Labor Department not authorized to speak publicly about the departure said the secretary had resigned.

Chavez-DeRemer is the third cabinet member to leave during President Trump's second term… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Tim Cook will step down as Apple CEO and hand reins over to the iPhone maker’s hardware leader (Associated Press)

Apple CEO Tim Cook is stepping down from the job that he inherited from the late Steve Jobs, ending a 15-year reign that saw the company’s market value soar by more than $3.6 trillion during an iPhone-fueled era of prosperity.

Cook, 65, will turn the CEO duties over to Apple’s head of hardware engineering, John Ternus, on Sept. 1 while remaining involved with the Cupertino, California, company as executive chairman. That’s similar to the transitions made by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Netflix’s Reed Hastings after they ended their highly successful tenures as CEO.

To allow Cook to assume his new job, Arthur Levinson will relinquish his role as Apple’s non-executive chairman while remaining on its board of directors.

“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company,” Cook said in a statement. “I love Apple with all of my being, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with a team of such ingenious, innovative, creative, and deeply caring people.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ 3 things to know about Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh (NPR)

Kevin Warsh, President Trump's nominee to serve as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, may face a tough fight for confirmation — partly over events for which he has no control.

The Senate Banking Committee holds a confirmation hearing for Warsh on Tuesday — but already one GOP senator has said he will block a vote on the nominee until the Department of Justice drops an investigation into the Fed.

Warsh will also likely face questions about inflation and borrowing costs and whether he can maintain his independence as Trump makes it clear he expects his next Fed chair to lead the charge to lower interest rates.

Here are three things to know as the confirmation process begins… 🟪 (READ MORE)