BG Reads // December 30, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
December 30, 2025

faustin a

Presented By

www.binghamgp.com

December 30, 2025

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin reclaims No. 4 spot among Texas cities by population (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 City of Austin releases new Sixth Street design plan (KXAN)

🟪 Austin ISD names principals for schools affected by closures and turnaround plans (Community Impact)

🟪 Stalled $1.5B data center project to return to San Marcos City Council (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Big-time boosters transformed Texas Tech, but that’s not all it took to reach CFP (New York Times)

🟪 Bankruptcies soar as companies grapple with inflation, tariffs (Washington Post)

READ ON!

[FIRM NEWS]

Honored to share that I’ve been appointed to the Austin Chamber of Commerce 2026 Board of Directors, where I’ll serve as Co-Chair of Regional Policy and on the Executive Committee.

Central Texas is at a pivotal moment. I’m grateful for the opportunity to contribute to conversations around workforce development, infrastructure investment, and long-term regional competitiveness, alongside business and civic leaders committed to the region’s future.

Looking forward to the work ahead and to supporting a strong, resilient Central Texas economy.

📷: W/ Denise Davis (of Davis Kaufman PLLC) 2026 Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce Board Chair.

READ: Austin Chamber Confirms 2026 Board Chair, Chair Elect, and Board
Leadership -> http://bit.ly/4ji2maU

Learn more about Bingham Group’s new practice — and review all of our services here: binghamgp.com/services

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Austin reclaims No. 4 spot among Texas cities by population (Austin American-Statesman)

After briefly losing the position in January 2024 estimates, Austin has returned to being the fourth-most-populous city in the Lone Star State.

Two years ago, Fort Worth overtook the state capital in population estimates by nearly 3,000 residents. Between 2020 and 2024, Fort Worth's population growth rate (7.7%) nearly tripled that of Austin (2.6%). However, July 2024 and January 2025 estimates show Austin reclaiming the No. 4 spot.

Population figures for Texas counties and places from July 1, 2024, and Jan. 1, 2025, were collected in the Texas Demographic Center's 2024 Population Estimates report. All five cities with the most residents saw bigger percent changes from 2020 to 2025 compared with those from 2020 to 2024. As in 2024, Houston (3.4%) and Dallas (2.6%) had the lowest growth rates while Fort Worth (11,1%) had the largest among the top five… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ City of Austin releases new Sixth Street design plan (KXAN)

On Monday, Austin’s Transportation and Public Works Department (TPW) released renderings and preliminary design plans for historic Sixth Street between I-35 and Congress Avenue.

This update is part of a multi-faceted revitalization and public safety improvement plan that began January 2025 with re-opening the street to vehicular traffic on weekend nights… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin ISD names principals for schools affected by closures and turnaround plans (Community Impact)

Austin ISD is taking its first steps to prepare for the closure of 10 campuses next school year.

In early December, AISD Superintendent Matias Segura appointed principals for 17 campuses. Most of these campuses will receive new students from closing schools or implement turnaround plans following multiple failed state accountability ratings.

The district has appointed new principals for Pecan Springs, Sánchez and Wooldridge elementaries, which will be restarted after receiving three consecutive F ratings amid low academic performance. Becker Elementary Principal Travis Barrett will serve as the principal of Sánchez Elementary following the closure of Becker.

Sunset Valley Elementary Principal Elaine Navarro will become the principal of Odom Elementary after Sunset Valley closes. Odom will become a non-zoned campus offering school-wide dual language programming… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Stalled $1.5B data center project to return to San Marcos City Council (Austin Business Journal)

A $1.5 billion data center development that stalled before the San Marcos City Council earlier this year is making its way back through the entitlement process.

For the better part of 2025, Fort Worth-based Highlander SM One LLC and Donald and Germaine Tuff of New Braunfels have been petitioning for approvals to build the campus that would be partially within the San Marcos city limits at 904 South Francis Harris Lane.

Representatives from the development team and city this month presented a discussion-only item where they indicated that the application process was restarted in October and that the nature of it remains the same. It's expected to be considered for the first time before the Planning and Zoning Commission in January, and the City Council in February… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Texas to receive $281 million in federal funds for rural health care (Texas Tribune)

Texas will be receiving the biggest slice of the federal government’s first rollout of a $50 billion fund created to fortify rural health care across the country. 

On Monday, the Trump administration announced how it plans to allot billions of dollars to states over the course of five years from its federal Rural Health Transformation Program — the fund Congress created earlier this year after approving the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. That legislation, in tandem with creation of the fund, slashed Medicaid funding by an estimated $1 trillion.

States made bids to receive portions of the one-time federal funding and Texas, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, is slated to receive more than $281.3 million for the first year of the program in 2026. That’s around $81 million more than what the state asked for in its application… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Big-time boosters transformed Texas Tech, but that’s not all it took to reach CFP (New York Times)

Texas Tech has played the role of disruptor before, but not like this. The Red Raiders won their first outright conference title since 1955, barnstorming through the Big 12 to a program-record 12 wins and No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff, earning a first-round bye. They face No. 5 Oregon in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day in what will be the most consequential game in program history.

“Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl, that’s pretty surreal,” said head coach Joey McGuire. It’s a cut above the early 2000s, when the program had a sword-swinging, Air Raid resurgence under head coach Mike Leach. Those fan-favorite Tech teams put up points in bunches and climbed as high as No. 2 in the country in 2008. Despite punching up at the likes of Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M in the Big 12, they never fully broke through to the top.

This year’s Tech is a bully. An oil-rich bully, specifically, with an influx of donor support led by university board chair and megabooster Cody Campbell, a former offensive lineman under Leach who’s now a billionaire and benefactor. (He was there on the podium after the Big 12 championship victory, wiping away tears.) The liquid-gold finances have been the storyline for a Texas Tech program that poured $25 million into its depth chart and wasn’t shy about it. Money can’t buy happiness, but it buys a heckuva roster. Everybody spends money in today’s college football, though. The top teams spent north of $20 million this season between NIL and revenue sharing, with dozens of others over $10 million.

Most of them still didn’t reach the Playoff. Some didn’t even make a bowl game. Texas Tech bought in and leaned into the narrative, confident it would pay off. It did. Campbell has become the face of Tech’s fortune, and for good reason. He’s not alone, though. The university’s Lubbock campus is located in the West Texas region known as the Permian Basin, the largest oil-producing field in America — and it’s been good for the Red Raiders… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Bankruptcies soar as companies grapple with inflation, tariffs (Washington Post)

Corporate bankruptcies surged in 2025, rivaling levels not seen since the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession, as import-dependent businesses absorbed the highest tariffs in decades. At least 717 companies filed for bankruptcy through November, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. That’s roughly 14 percent more than the same 11 months of 2024, and the highest tally since 2010.

Companies cited inflation and interest rates among the factors contributing to their financial challenges, as well as Trump administration trade policies that have disrupted supply chains and pushed up costs. But in a shift from previous years, the rise in filings is most apparent among industrials — companies tied to manufacturing, construction and transportation. The sector has been hit hard by President Donald Trump’s ever-fluid tariff policies — which he’s long insisted would revive American manufacturing. The manufacturing sector lost more than 70,000 jobs in the one-year period ending in November, federal data shows.

Consumer-oriented businesses with “discretionary” products or services, such as fashion or home furnishings, represented the second-largest group. This contingent usually tops the list and includes many retailers, and its retrenchment is a signal that inflation-weary consumers are prioritizing essentials. The S&P data reflects both Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 filings. In the former, also known as a reorganization, the business goes through a court-administered process to restructure its debts while it continues to operate.

Under Chapter 7, the company closes down, and its assets are sold off. Economists and business experts say the trade wars have pressured import-heavy businesses, which are reluctant to raise prices by too much for fear of alienating consumers. The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Though inflation is currently lower than many economists expected — prices climbed at an annual pace of 2.7 percent in November — many businesses still are eating new costs themselves to hold the line on prices for buyers, experts say. That’s leading to a certain culling of the herd as already-fragile companies struggle to keep up… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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