BG Reads // April 28, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
April 28, 2025

Presented By

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

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[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Austin to create report on data centers, outlines new rules for AI usage (Austin Business Journal)

Austin is looking to better understand how to align its resources for data centers and update its guidelines for city usage of artificial intelligence.

The City Council passed a resolution at its April 24 meeting to direct the city manager to work with various city departments to study and report on the current and projected environmental impact and usage of local data centers over the next 10 years and ways to implement various policies around AI. Austin Energy, the city's sole electric provider, is part of the municipal government.

The data center report should identify gaps in local resources and infrastructure needed to meet customer demand as the amount of data centers in Central Texas grows. The report should also include how data centers can impact utility rates and other resources as well as make recommendations on how to increase clean energy usage, water efficiency for data centers and the potential risks to the power grid and ways to minimize waste for these centers… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Police oversight report shows progress in 2023 data (Austin Monitor)

The Office of Police Oversight received more than 1,500 public contacts in 2023, forwarding 578 complaints to the Austin Police Department and recommending 215 for investigation, according to the agency’s newly released annual report. Of those, APD investigated 138 cases and sustained policy violations in 11, resulting in eight oral reprimands and six written reprimands.

The number of external complaints forwarded by the Office of Police Oversight to the APD declined slightly in 2023, dropping from 689 the previous year to 578. However, the number of complaints recommended for full investigation rose significantly, with 215 flagged for further review compared to just 47 the year before.

The most common issues cited in complaints involved a lack of assistance from officers, concerns about impartiality or courtesy, dangerous driving, false arrest or detention, and inaccurate or misleading report writing… 🟪 (READ MORE)


✅ Austin air quality gets an F in latest report from the American Lung Association (KUT)

Travis County received an F for its ozone pollution and levels of fine particulate matter, also called soot, in the air, according to a recent report from the American Lung Association.

The failing grade is based on data from 2021 through 2023 and comes after what regional air quality specialists called steady progress over in the years before.

“What this year's report finds is that we're starting to see the last decade of progress undone,” said Charlie Gagen, Texas advocacy director for the association.

In its one passing grade for the area, the report gave Travis County a B when it came to the number of days that saw extreme “spikes” in particle pollution.

Regions with under 3.2 "high particle days" a year obtain a passing grade, according to the standards of the ALA. The report said Travis County was currently averaging less than one such day a year… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Huge Changes in SXSW Leadership (SXSW)

Major changes and departures have just hit South by Southwest, as several senior members of the leadership team were forced out of the company as of Friday.

Top of the list is one of the most recognizable names at the festival in Hugh Forrest. SXSW existed before Forrest, but barely. A former editor and journalist (and Chronicle alum), he joined the then two-year-old festival in 1989. He became an integral part of its growth and identity as chief programming officer when it added the Film and Interactive components in 1994, and has been a constant through its growth and evolution over the last three decades. In 2022 he was promoted to co-president alongside Chief Brand Officer Jann Baskett to replace retiring CEO Roland Swenson, and then became sole president in December 2024. In that time, he was also named Austinite of the Year in 2012 by the Austin Chamber of Commerce and received the Key to the City from Mayor Steve Adler in 2023.

In a statement, Forrest said that "leaving South by Southwest was definitely not my decision. I put my heart and soul into this event for more than 35 years, and I was looking forward to leading several more editions. To this end, I will be rooting big time for the Austin team on the go forward. The city, the country, the world needs the positive energy South by Southwest has traditionally provided and needs it now more than ever."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS NEWS]

✅ Can Texas lawmakers agree on how to spend billions to save the state's water supply? (Texas Tribune)

s water legislation advances in the Texas Legislature, a sharp divide has surfaced over how the state should safeguard and grow its water supply.

The Texas House last week took its first step toward tinkering with legislation already approved unanimously by the Senate. Their changes set up protracted negotiations between the two chambers and dozens of water advocacy groups that all have opinions on how billions of dollars should be spent over the next decade.

At a Thursday House committee hearing, the state’s water community showed overwhelming support for changes to a Senate bill proposed by state Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palenstine. His proposals provide more flexibility for state and local officials to spend billions of dollars over the next decade on projects they deem necessary.

That committee hearing offered a first look into how negotiations between the state House and Senate may go in the final month of the legislative session. Lawmakers in both chambers have put forth legislative packages to address the state’s looming water crisis. So far, much of the attention this legislative session has been focused on the Senate, where state Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, has pushed his solution to the state water crisis that calls for a major investment to create new water supply… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ John Cornyn or Ken Paxton? Trump says he’s not ready to endorse next Texan for U.S. Senate. (Texas Public Radio)

President Donald Trump says he is not ready to tap which Texan he wants to send to the U.S. Senate. The commander in chief told reporters Friday that he likes both incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and outgoing Attorney General Ken Paxton — the two Republicans vying for the seat — but hasn’t made a decision on which would be best for the job. “In a way, I wish they weren’t running against each other,” Trump said in a press gaggle aboard Air Force One, according to The Washington Post. “I’ll make a decision somewhere along the line.”

Cornyn, 73, has held the seat for two dozen years. Before being elected to the U.S. Senate, he was state attorney general and sat on the Texas Supreme Court. He also held the position of Senate majority whip, a position that required him to corral votes for GOP priorities. Paxton, 62, has served a decade as state attorney general. He previously won seats in both the Texas Senate and Texas House, representing the McKinney area. The two men have split repeatedly over the years, most recently spurred by Cornyn’s criticisms of Paxton’s legal troubles. Cornyn has called Paxton, who was impeached and later acquitted for alleged corruption, a “con man.” Paxton says Cornyn is not sufficiently conservative, and has criticized him for his votes on foreign aid and gun policy… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Two new PACs get busy in Dallas elections (D Magazine)

If you hadn’t already heard, it’s municipal election season in Dallas. Early voting has begun. And like budding flowers to springtime, so are burgeoning PACs to election season. Two new political action committees have recently distributed physical mailers and digital ads endorsing slates of Dallas city council candidates. But until now, the PACs’ funding has been a mystery. They were only recently created, and mandated financial reports weren’t released until this week. One PAC is an apparent surrogate for the Dallas County Republican Party. The other is a vehicle for the interests of Airbnb. Let’s take them one at a time.

The Dallas County Republican Party has previously issued direct endorsements for city council candidates, but this time around it has instead funded an arms-length PAC to push endorsements. On February 10, the wonderfully named Committee for a Strong Econcomy PAC was created. Yes, the name is misspelled on official filing documents. Its only donor is the Dallas County GOP, which has contributed $6,000. The second Dallas-focused PAC to recently pop up appears to have a more serious backer. Revitalize Dallas PAC was formed on March 30, and so far, Airbnb has contributed $500,000. Revitalize Dallas has sent mailers endorsing candidates in three districts with open seats: Maxie Johnson, District 4; Monica Alonzo, District 6; and Erik Wilson, District 8. The endorsements are related to a questionnaire that the PAC sent via email to all candidates in races where there is no incumbent. The questionnaire sought candidates’ stances on a number of topics. One question asked candidates about their position on destination gambling. Others asked about housing affordability and public safety. But the majority of the questions related to short-term rentals, which the City Council passed an ordinance to ban in single-family neighborhoods—over 90 percent of the city—by a narrow vote of 8-7 in 2023. That ordinance has since been blocked by court decisions… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Beto O’Rourke says ‘if’ Texans want him to run for U.S. Senate, ‘yes I will’ (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, defeated for U.S. Senate and Texas governor in recent elections but a prodigious national fundraiser, now says that “if” Texans want him to run for Senate again in 2026, “then yes I wlll.” It may be the closest O’Rourke, an El Paso Democrat, has come to announcing for what is expected to be a $200 million-plus campaign against either incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn or challenger Attorney General Ken Paxton, a McKinney Republican. O’Rourke, then a member of the U.S. House, lost to incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz by 3 percentage points in a 2018 election that lifted him into the national spotlight. In 2022, he lost to Gov. Greg Abbott by 11 points. He raised nearly $180 million for the two campaigns. The 2026 Democratic nominee for Senate will be expected to raise as much as $100 million.

In 2019, he launched a 2020 campaign for president. He dropped out that November, a year before the election, but was considered a possible running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden until Biden committed to choosing a Black woman for the ticket. Biden ultimately chose California Sen. Kamala Harris. Speaking to several hundred people April 26 in Denton, Texas, O’Rourke rallied voters at what was billed as a town hall for his voter mobilization organization, Powered by People. Asked in the Q-and-A after his speech whether he would run for Senate, O’Rourke grinned and said, “I’m gonna infer from your question that you do not want Ken Paxton to be your next senator.” He went on to loud cheers: “If ... this is what the people of Texas want — that it’s the highest and best use of what I can give to you — then yes, I will.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[US and World News]

✅ What has DOGE done in Trump's first 100 days? (NPR)

When President Trump returned to the White House in January, he promised to "restore competence and effectiveness" to the federal government by establishing a Department of Government Efficiency.

In the lead-up to his inauguration, DOGE evolved from a meme to an outside commission to a White House office given carte blanche to upend the executive branch in the name of combating perceived waste, fraud and abuse.

✅ With China and the US at intense economic odds, nations are being forced to choose sides (Associated Press)

One went to the United States. The other went to China. It was a sign of the times.

While the Swiss president was in Washington last week to lobby U.S. officials over President Donald Trump’s threatened 31% tariff on Swiss goods, the Swiss foreign minister was in Beijing, expressing his nation’s willingness to strengthen cooperation with China and upgrade a free trade agreement.

As Trump’s trade war locks the world’s two largest economies on a collision course, America’s unnerved allies and partners are cozying up with China to hedge their bets. It comes as Trump’s trade push upends a decade of American foreign policy — including his own from his first term — toward rallying the rest of the world to join the United States against China. And it threatens to hand Beijing more leverage in any eventual dialogue with the U.S. administration.

With Trump saying that countries are “kissing my ass” to negotiate trade deals on his terms or risk stiff import taxes, Beijing is reaching out to countries far and near. It portrays itself as a stabilizing force and a predictable trading partner, both to cushion the impact from Trump’s tariffs and to forge stronger trade ties outside of the U.S. market.

“America and China are now locked in a fierce contest for global supremacy,” Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said in an April 16 speech. “Both powers claim they do not wish to force countries to choose sides. But in reality, each seeks to draw others closer into their respective orbits.”… 🟪 (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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