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- BG Reads // August 26, 2025
BG Reads // August 26, 2025
A.J. Bingham
August 26, 2025
Presented By
www.binghamgp.com
August 26, 2025
✅ Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 U.S. Rep. Greg Casar announces run for redrawn Austin-based congressional seat (KUT)
🟪 Austin's nearly $2B in recent nonprofit spending mostly on track, auditors report (Community Impact)
🟪 Austin Community College enrollment increases by nearly 10% (Community Impact)
🟪 Rally Austin eyes bond proposal to shape future sites and programs (Austin Monitor)
🟪 Texas House approves bill aimed to limit city, county property taxes (Texas Tribune)
🟪 “Bathroom bill” advances in Texas House days after tensions flared at hearing (Texas Tribune)
🟪 'Illegal and costly': Chicago's mayor blasts Trump's threat to deploy National Guard (NPR)
READ ON!
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
🏛️ City Manager Executives and Advisors Staff Visual Chart
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[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
✅ U.S. Rep. Greg Casar announces run for redrawn Austin-based congressional seat (KUT)
Austin Democrat Greg Casar announced Monday he will run for a redrawn seat in Congress if the state’s new district map holds up in court.
In a post on X announcing his campaign for District 37, Casar said he’s running to “take on Trump, his billionaire buddies, and their puppet politicians."
“Donald Trump and Greg Abbott don’t want a guy like me in Congress, because I didn’t start my career in courtrooms or in the C-suite,” Casar said. “I started it here, on Austin construction sites, as a labor organizer fighting alongside workers to win a raise, a union and the right to a water break.”
If upheld, the Texas Legislature's new congressional map would eliminate one of the only two solidly blue seats in the Austin area.
Casar has represented District 35 in the U.S. House — which includes parts of Austin, Hays County and San Antonio — since 2023. Under the new map, District 35 retains only 10% of his current constituents. The newly drawn District 37, however, includes 250,000 of Casar’s constituents, according to his office.
The map could have set up a showdown between Casar and Congressman Lloyd Doggett. But Doggett, who has been a member of the House since 1994, announced Thursday he won’t run for reelection if the map holds… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ Austin's nearly $2B in recent nonprofit spending mostly on track, auditors report (Community Impact)
City nonprofit partnerships totaling hundreds of millions of dollars mostly follow best practices, according to a new internal audit review of Austin's wide-reaching nonprofit contracting.
A range of programs for culture and tourism, public health, economic development, homelessness response, and utility management take place through city-funded nonprofits every year.
Austin sent nearly $2 billion to nonprofits between fall 2019 and mid-June 2025, the period covered by the recent audit project. At the request of some City Council members, city auditors looked into the scale of that spending, whether it's happening in line with city procedure, and how results are being tracked. An initial report was released this summer and pointed to a generally effective system.
"Most city contracts we reviewed followed best practices by having quality performance measures that city staff monitor to ensure they are met," auditors wrote… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ Austin Community College enrollment increases by nearly 10% (Community Impact)
Current Austin Community College enrollment is nearing 44,000 students, showing a near 10% growth from fall 2024’s enrollment numbers.
According to a news release, more than 10,300 students are using the college’s Free Tuition Pilot program, which allows students to take classes without paying tuition or general fees for up to three years. In fall 2024, only 4,800 students enrolled in the program.
The program is open to high school graduates from the class of 2024 and Texas GED graduates from the ACC service area.
The news release stated the college is witnessing growth in various areas of study, with the largest growth in health sciences, up in enrollment by 19%.
“The enrollment surge is proof that more students are choosing ACC as their pathway to a better future,” ACC Chancellor Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart said. “That doesn’t happen without the dedication and teamwork of our faculty and staff. This is what it looks like when a college community comes together to put students first.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ Barshop & Oles pauses Brodie Oaks Shopping Center redevelopment (Austin Business Journal)
After the Austin City Council signed off on the rezoning of a shopping center near South Lamar Boulevard and Loop 360 in late 2023 — which was set to become a small skyline in South Austin — the developer is pumping the brakes on the project.
“With the challenging market we’re moving forward very cautiously,” Milo Burdette, vice president of development with Barshop & Oles, told KXAN News.
Burdette said Barshop & Oles doesn’t have a timeline for when construction will start or when the project may be complete. He said it's not even clear if the general project idea brought forward to the City Council several years ago still stands… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ MML Hospitality aims to rejuvenate Easy Tiger (Austin Business Journal)
MML Hospitality is taking over Easy Tiger, a one-time star of Austin's restaurant scene that lately has been down on its luck.
Easy Tiger, a 13-year-old restaurant and bakery, shuttered its beer garden on East Seventh Street in 2024. Then in mid-2024, the company hired former P. Terry's CEO Todd Coerver to lead the business and help rejuvenate the brand, but he didn't remain for long. Now MML Hospitality — a powerhouse in Austin’s hospitality sector — has stepped to the plate as Easy Tiger's new managing operator.
MML Hospitality co-founder Larry McGuire told the Austin American-Statesman that Easy Tiger needs renewed energy. With MML's experience with restaurants and bakeries, it saw an opportunity to support the beloved brand and preserve it, he said.
This isn’t MML Hospitality’s first time swooping in to bolster a business. MML Hospitality took over Jeffrey’s in 2013, Swedish Hill in 2019 and Ski Shores Cafe in 2022. It also brought on executive chef April Bloomfield, whose first big project is helping MML Hospitality revamp the food and beverage program at the 139-year-old Driskill Hotel… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ Rally Austin eyes bond proposal to shape future sites and programs (Austin Monitor)
Rally Austin has identified $259 million in projects and initiatives to be funded through the city’s 2026 bond election, with plans to expand programs supporting cultural venues, legacy businesses and affordable workspace.
There appears little chance that total amount of funding will be included in the final bond package, which is expected to top out at just under $700 million. But the proposal serves as a roadmap for the organization’s evolving role in economic development for the years ahead.
The presentation at last week’s Downtown Commission meeting offered a closer look at both the proposal and Rally’s current level of involvement in dormant city-owned sites such as HealthSouth, the former police headquarters and the historic municipal building.
According to the proposal, the largest portion — $135 million — would support the expansion of the Austin Cultural Trust. That money would enable the acquisition of up to 10 cultural venues, fund capital improvements to existing facilities and provide rental subsidies or technical assistance for as many as 20 local arts organizations. Rally Austin could also build on its existing cultural investments, including projects with Hole in the Wall and the Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex… 🟪 (READ MORE)
[TEXAS/US NEWS]
✅ Texas House approves bill aimed to limit city, county property taxes (Texas Tribune)
The Texas House pushed forward a proposal Monday aimed at containing property tax bills by putting tighter restrictions on cities and counties.
The legislation would further limit how much more in property tax revenue cities and counties can collect each year without voter approval. Under state law, that limit sits at 3.5%. The bill would take that limit down to 1%.
“I believe that we need to venture and do everything we can at the state level to provide lower taxes to our constituents,” said state Rep. Morgan Meyer, R-University Park, who carried Senate Bill 10 in the House.
The bill, which passed the Senate earlier this month, cleared the Texas House by a 78-52 vote.The Senate will either accept changes House lawmakers made to the bill or find a compromise.
Such a limit comes at a tricky time for localities. Cities and counties have already had their budgets crimped by the state’s current limit on property tax revenue enacted in 2019. The cost of paying for essential services like police and fire protection and road construction have only grown since then as the state’s population boomed. Localities have also brought in less revenue from sales taxes thanks to a slowing economy. Federal pandemic relief dollars have all but dried up, and there’s uncertainty over future federal funding… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ “Bathroom bill” advances in Texas House days after tensions flared at hearing (Texas Tribune)
A Texas House panel on Monday approved a legislative proposal limiting transgender peoples’ use of bathrooms in government buildings, the first time in over eight years the lower chamber has advanced a "bathroom bill."
Senate Bill 8 was passed by the House State Affairs Committee in a 9-3 vote after an amendment that would have removed language aimed at giving the bill legal insulation failed.
Last week, tensions between Texans flared at the Capitol during public testimony Friday on the bill.
CJ Grisham spoke in favor of the restrictions in SB 8, one of the items Gov. Greg Abbott asked legislators to pass during this year’s special legislative sessions. After Grisham spoke, several people attending the House State Affairs meeting booed and hurled expletives at him, saying he should be ashamed. Grisham responded with his own expletives before being ushered to the back of the room by a House staff member… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ Abbott calls for legislators to consider greater access to ivermectin (San Antonio Express-News)
Fours years after misinformation around the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin led to an increase in poisonings in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott wants Texans to have expanded access to it. Abbott has called for Texas lawmakers to expand its special session agenda to include legislation that would allow a person to purchase ivermectin at a pharmacy. “Texas should have increased access to the benefits of ivermectin,” Abbott said in a Wednesday news release that also called for the legislature to consider punishments for lawmakers who fled the state and to look at groundwater studies of East Texas aquifers related to conservation efforts. Abbott’s news release did not specify why Texans needed increased access to the anti-parasitic drug, but said that it “will benefit Texans for generations to come.”
In 2021, poison calls spiked amid widespread claims that ivermectin could help treat COVID-19. The claims had no scientific backing. Many people purchased the animal version of ivermectin at feed stores, ingesting the drug that acts as a dewormer for horses and cattle. Ivermectin is an FDA-approved drug used by humans for treating conditions like intestinal strongyloidiasis, a condition caused by parasitic worms. The drug is also used in topical forms to treat external parasites, such as head lice. The animal version of ivermectin is prescribed to treat heartworm disease and other internal and external parasites. The human and animal versions are different and are intended to only be used as prescribed.
Tractor and supply stores across Bexar and Kendall counties saw an increase in ivermectin sales, with Strutty’s Feed and Pet Supply noticing a 60% increase in sales during the first half of 2021. One employee took the drug off the shelves after calls of people wanting to use the animal anti-parasitic drug to treat COVID. In a post that has since been deleted from X, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted, “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, ya’ll. Stop it.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ California Gov. Gavin Newsom calls out the number of Houston murders in latest jab at Republicans (Houston Chronicle)
A social media troll campaign by California Gov. Gavin Newsom targeting Fox News and, apparently, Texas caught Houston in the crossfire this weekend. Newsom's press office posted 2024 homicide statistics for Houston underneath a less-than-flattering photo of a grimacing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Saturday to contrast San Francisco's much lower numbers. The graphic shows Houston's 2024 homicide count (322) next to San Francisco's (35) and calls the figures "facts you won't see on Fox News." "Anyone think Fox News will cover that?" Newsom's press office wrote on X.
The post was one of eight the office shared Saturday and Sunday, targeting seemingly higher crime among other cities and states where Republican governors are in office. Newsom's office name-dropped Miami; Tampa, Fla.; Memphis, Tenn.; St. Louis; Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi and compared each of their crime statistics to that of either Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco or California.
Newsom's press office credits its numbers to violent crime data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association — an organization of law enforcement officials from major U.S. and Canadian cities. The association compiled the total number of homicides, not murders, across U.S. and Canadian cities in addition to rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults. Houston's population is more than double that of San Francisco's, but it still has a higher murder rate than the California city. Houston has a homicide rate of nearly 13.8 per 100,000 people, while San Francisco's is less than 4.23 per 100,000, based on the MCCA data. Last year's homicide total in Houston marked a decrease from 354 in 2023, according to the statistics. The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that there were 330 murders in Houston last year, while the MCCA tallied 322… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ 'Illegal and costly': Chicago's mayor blasts Trump's threat to deploy National Guard (NPR)
Chicago political leaders are slamming a suggestion made by President Trump late last week that he may soon send National Guard troops to the streets of the Midwest metropolis in order to combat crime.
Earlier in August, Trump deployed hundreds of National Guard members to Washington, D.C., as part of what he touted as an effort to reduce crime and root out homelessness. That's despite the fact that Mayor Muriel Bowser has said that violent crime in D.C. is at its lowest level in 30 years.
Speaking to reporters Friday in the Oval Office, Trump said he wanted to take that approach to other U.S. cities, including New York and Chicago.
"Chicago's a mess. You have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent. And we'll straighten that one out probably next," Trump said.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, said in a statement on Friday that Trump's approach was "uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound" and that "unlawfully deploying" the National Guard to Chicago could "inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement."… 🟪 (READ MORE)
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