BG Reads // April 22, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
April 22, 2025

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✅ Today's BG Reads include:

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🟪 Austin City Council Work Session Today @9AM - Cancelled

POLICY SPOTLIGHT: Austin Council to Vote on AI Ethics Framework
📅 Austin Council Hearing: April 24, 2025 at 10AM (Agenda Link)

🏛️ Austin City Council will consider a resolution (Item 55) to establish ethical guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in City operations.

🏛️ The proposed framework would guide how AI is deployed across departments—such as permitting, public safety, and translation services—while prioritizing transparency, workforce protection, and digital equity.

💡 Key directives include:

  • Annual audits of AI tools used by the City

  • Public awareness and engagement campaigns

  • Training resources on AI literacy and responsible use

  • Clear restrictions on AI use for surveillance, discrimination, or job displacement

📩 Have questions on how this might impact your operations or policy goals? Email me for a consult. Please include Item 55 AI Framework Question in the subject line.

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[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Steven Snell inducted as Williamson County’s 32nd judge, announces plans to run in 2026 (Community Impact)

Steven Snell was sworn in as the next Williamson County judge during an April 21 ceremony inside the Williamson County Courthouse in Georgetown at 3:30 p.m. Snell was sworn into office by U.S. Rep. John Carter.

During his remarks, Snell announced he plans on running to keep the county judge position once his term ends in November 2026. “When I heard the position of county judge was open, I looked at it as a way to extend my reach of community service,” Snell said.

“I look forward to serving the four corners of Williamson County.” Precinct 3 Commissioner Valerie Covey said Snell will be Williamson County’s 32nd judge. Snell’s first Commissioners Court meeting as county judge will be April 29. Snell said his top three priorities as county judge are safety, transportation and economic growth… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)


✅ City touts ongoing success in one-year update on micromobility program tweaks (Austin Monitor)

Last April, Austin made changes to its micromobility program, cutting the number of scooters on the street by 2,000 and reducing speed limits among other things. In a one-year update, city staff say those changes have worked out as well as or better than expected.

In a presentation to City Council’s Mobility Committee during a public meeting on April 17, Transportation and Public Works department officials laid out new data that shows a modest decline in overall trips citywide, but a significant boost in trips per vehicle per day, which the city records as TVD.

Mike Kimbro, the department’s program manager overseeing micromobility, said that’s what the city had hoped for.

“One of the goals with this reduction we did [last April] was hopefully, we would see those numbers increase,” Kimbro said, referring to the reduction in the maximum fleet size and the trips per day metrics, respectively. “And we did, citywide,” he added.

Kimbro cited the data, which shows an increase citywide from 1.21 trips per day to 1.36, and a downtown-specific jump from 1.10 to 1.79. Those numbers came in the context of a 30 percent citywide and 45 percent downtown decrease in the total number of scooters available… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Drug deaths are going down in Travis County, but federal funding cuts could halt progress (KUT)

Drug deaths are going down in Travis County for the first time since 2019, according to the medical examiner's annual report.

Total drug deaths decreased 22% from 2023 to 2024, and deaths involving fentanyl fell by 36%. The numbers were released Monday and are a stark difference from last year's report, which revealed the highest rate of accidental overdoses ever recorded in Travis County.

“This has truly been a community wide effort,” Travis County Judge Andy Brown said. “While we still have a long way to go, this drop in overdose deaths shows us that the strategies we’ve implemented are not only working but saving lives.”

Over the past four years, Travis County has spent nearly $5 million on tackling the opioid overdose crisis… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Waterloo Greenway aims to boost partnerships with landowners (Austin Business Journal)

The eastern portion of Austin’s downtown has been difficult to build in due to flooding concerns but the Waterloo Greenway Conservancy says its 1.5-mile park project is helping to change that.

The Waterloo Greenway Conservancy is building out the park system that covers 35 acres and loosely follows Waller Creek on the east of downtown from Waterloo Park to Lady Bird Lake. This area of downtown has been tough to develop because Waller Creek was prone to flooding and much of the surrounding land was in a floodplain, which limited what could happen on the land. 

But the city of Austin completed the Waller Creek tunnel in 2017, which greatly reduced the flood risk in the area and the tunnel allowed for more than 28 acres of land to be removed from the floodplain. A mini-pedestrian highway that can let people traverse much of Austin’s downtown without having to interact with vehicles is envisioned, said John Rigdon, the chief planning and design officer for the Waterloo Greenway Conservancy… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Firefighters, city reach agreement on retirement fund (Austin Monitor)

Negotiators for the city and Austin firefighters have finally reached agreement on how to deal with the Austin Firefighter Retirement Fund so that it complies with state law and can promise retirement benefits to current and future retirees. This has been a vexing problem for the city and its firefighters for some time.

Mayor Kirk Watson told his fellow City Council Members that the city and representatives of the retirement fund have signed a memorandum of understanding about how to deal with retirement funds and current unfunded liabilities.

Until there was an agreement, there was little hope that either of two dueling legislative proposals would make it through either chamber of the Texas Legislature.

Austin Firefighters Association President Bob Nicks told the Austin Monitor that the chairs of each committee oversaw the negotiations, encouraging them to reach an agreement… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Parents push back against AISD's plan to relocate Dobie students to Lamar (CBS Austin)

Shouts of frustration echoed through the cafeteria at Lamar Middle School Monday night, as Austin ISD unveiled a new proposal: if Dobie Middle School is closed, some of its students could be reassigned to Lamar.

The community meeting, meant to gather input on just one of several possible outcomes, quickly turned tense as hundreds of Lamar parents and staff voiced concerns about overcrowding, strained resources, and what they called a rushed, confusing process.

“Why here? Why not distribute [reassigned Dobie students]?” one man demanded during the presentation. Another parent shouted, “What is the plan for addressing the students that the district has been failing at Dobie for the last four years?”

District officials emphasized that no final decision has been made about Dobie’s future. However, due to mounting pressure from the Texas Education Agency (TEA), AISD says it must finalize a plan by April 30. Monday’s meeting focused only on what would happen to Dobie students if the school is permanently closed—one of three options currently being considered… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[TEXAS NEWS]

✅ Why Texas Republicans are trying to rein in high home prices and rents (Texas Tribune)

For decades, Texas benefited from relatively low home prices and rents, a key component of the state’s ability to lure new residents and employers from more expensive parts of the country.

Now, Texas Republicans find themselves trying to rein in the state’s high housing costs — before it’s too late.

The state’s top Republicans have shown increasing alarm as high housing costs have put homeownership out-of-reach for an increasing number of Texas families, especially young ones. GOP leaders have pointed to figures from Texas Realtors that show the typical homebuyer is getting older. The median age of a Texas homebuyer was 48 in 2020. Last year, it was 58.

“Young people have been boxed out of the housing market,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said at a news conference earlier this month… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Prosecutor cites anti-immigrant rhetoric as El Paso shooter is sentenced to 23 life terms (Texas Tribune)

The grinding path to justice for the most lethal mass shooter to ever appear in a U.S. courtroom came to an end Monday when Patrick Crusius pleaded guilty to murdering 23 people and wounding 22 others in an anti-Hispanic assault on an El Paso Walmart in 2019.

“The community you tried to break has become a symbol of resilience, of love overcoming hate, of humanity enduring in the face of evil,” 409th District Judge Sam Medrano said to Crusius after sentencing him to 23 life terms in prison. “This community will always remember those whose lives you stole – their names, their stories, their accomplishments. Their light will never fade. While you, your name and your hate, will be forgotten.”

Crusius was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for capital murder, and life in prison for each of 22 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The capital murder and aggravated assault sentences will be served concurrently, meaning at the same time.

While the hearing was focused on a horrific hate crime from 5 1⁄2 years ago, both the prosecution and defense spoke of anti-immigrant rhetoric that lit the fuse for Crusius’ explosion and continues to animate political and media conversations… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

[US and World News]

✅ As controversies pile up, Trump allies increasingly turn on one another (Associated Press)

The infighting and backstabbing that plagued President Donald Trump’s first term have returned as a threat to his second, with deepening fissures over trade, national security and questions of personal loyalty.

The latest turmoil threatens to engulf the Pentagon, where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has pushed out top advisers and faces fresh controversy over sharing sensitive information about airstrikes in Yemen outside of classified channels. A former Pentagon spokesperson who was ousted last week wrote in Politico that Trump should fire Hegseth for presiding over a “full-blown meltdown.”

The interpersonal drama is not — at least yet — a dominant plot line of Trump’s return to the White House. But its reemergence after a period of relative discipline in his ranks reflects a turbulent management style that has been suppressed or papered over, not reformed… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

✅ Supreme Court weighs who should decide public school curriculum: Judges or school boards? (NPR)

The U.S. Supreme Court jumps back into the culture wars Tuesday, as the justices tackle a clash between two bedrock values in American public schools: On one side is the longstanding tradition of local school boards determining class curriculum for everyone. On the other side is the notion that public schools should accommodate religious objections to some materials by allowing parents to opt their kids out of some classes.

At the center of Tuesday's case is the school system in Montgomery County, Md., the most religiously diverse county in the United States, with 160,000 students of almost all faiths. The school board approved five storybooks with LGBTQ+ characters for use in elementary school classes. The avowed purpose was to teach students tolerance and respect for LGBTQ+ students and parents. But some parents objected, contending that exposure to the approved materials conflicted with their religious beliefs… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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