BG Reads // January 12, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
January 12, 2026

faustin a

Presented By

www.binghamgp.com

January 12, 2026

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Crime in Austin dropped below pre-pandemic highs in 2025 (KUT)

🟪 Austin ISD enrollment opens Monday. What should families know? (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Austin Community College, local dental leaders combat dental hygienist shortage in Central Texas (Community Impact)

🟪 Sakai, Nirenberg to face off in Democratic primary debate (San Antonio Report)

🟪 Texas launches portal for public complaints against colleges (Inside Higher Ed)

🟪 Trump admin faces internal doubts over ICE shooting response (Politico)

🟪 Federal Reserve Chair Powell says DOJ has subpoenaed central bank, threatens criminal indictment (Associated Press)

READ ON!

[FROM THE FIRM ]

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ Meetings this week:

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Crime in Austin dropped below pre-pandemic highs in 2025 (KUT)

Here's some good news to start 2026: Crime went down in Austin last year.

And the drop isn't insignificant.

In 2025, the city saw its lowest number of murders since 2020, and, overall, all violent crime dropped, along with property crime. The decrease brings Austin back to pre-pandemic normals, the Austin Police Department says, but it's also part of a larger national trend of crime-reduction in the U.S… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin ISD enrollment opens Monday. What should families know? (Austin American-Statesman)

Austin Independent School District opens enrollment Monday with some changes that could impact families regardless of whether their home campus is slated for closure.

Austin ISD officials plan to close 10 campuses next year in an effort to shave $21.5 million off a $65 million budget gap. However, the closures have also prompted some programmatic changes, which will mean some shifts for enrollment practices.

All students must go through the enrollment process in Austin ISD’s online Enroll Austin portal, whether the student is new or returning and whether they’re attending their neighborhood school or a specialty program.

Even if families don’t attend one of the 10 schools slated for closure, the timeline for enrollment may have changed since last year, depending on the type of school a student is interested in.

From Jan. 12 to Feb. 6 — a period the district is calling Round 1 — students can apply to admission-based programs like the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, Kealing Middle School’s magnet program or Covington Middle School’s Fine Arts Academy.

Students can also apply to certain dual language programs.

From Feb. 16 to April 10 — dubbed Round 2 — registration opens for general enrollment and transfers.

Students will learn about Round 1 placements on March 13 and about Round 2 placements on April 24… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin Community College, local dental leaders combat dental hygienist shortage in Central Texas (Community Impact)

Central Texas dentists have been feeling the effects of a nationwide shortage of dental hygienists, facing difficulties filling vacant positions to serve a growing number of patients.

A 2019 study by the Texas Department of State Health Services projected that the demand for dental hygienists would outpace supply from 2018 to 2030. In Central Texas, the shortage of dental hygienists was projected to increase by 116.4% from 2018 to 2030, according to the report.

“As the population increases, new patients are coming into practices in Austin,” said Dr. Shailee Gupta, local dentist and member of Capital Area Dental Society. “Without the proper number of hygienists to go with these practices or community centers, there's no way to be able to meet that demand.”

To help counteract this shortage, Austin Community College opened an expanded dental hygiene clinic at its Eastview Campus this fall, nearly doubling the program’s annual cohort of students from 18 to 34… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Public plaza next to Waterloo Park dedicated to Austin 'forever legend' Pike Powers (Community Impact)

City officials formally dedicated the new pedestrian plaza next to Waterloo Park in recognition of Pike Powers, the attorney and lawmaker credited for his role in the growth of Austin's economy and technology ecosystem.

City Council voted last fall to rename a stretch of "Old" Red River Street in downtown's Innovation District to honor Powers, who died in 2021. The city is now working to turn the plaza into an improved public gathering space that can also support downtown events... 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ City-backed music venue faces uncertain future amidst staff, management conflicts (Austin Business Journal)

Empire Control Room and Garage, a live music fixture in the Red River Cultural District for more than a dozen years, is facing a period of operational strain following a wave of staff dismissals, payment disputes and an escalating legal conflict between its owner and former business partners.

These developments have spread virally on social media posts from former employees just over a year after the venue secured city-backed economic development support tied to property ownership.

The city’s late 2024 deal with Empire was intended to provide long-term stability for a venue operating in one of Austin’s most competitive and rapidly changing entertainment districts… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Texas launches portal for public complaints against colleges (Inside Higher Ed)

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board officially launched its Office of the Ombudsman website Friday, providing a portal where students and members of the public can file complaints against the state’s public colleges and universities. The new office was mandated by Senate Bill 37, legislation that went into effect Jan. 1, which increases state control over public higher education by giving governing boards authority over curriculum, faculty governance and hiring and requiring academic program reviews.

It also established the ombudsman’s office to manage complaints and investigations into alleged violations of the state’s DEI ban or of the other provisions of SB 37. In October, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Brandon Simmons as ombudsman. Simmons is a former tech company executive, corporate attorney and venture capitalist who previously served on the Texas Southern Board of Regents and as an entrepreneurial resident and distinguished professor of business at Wiley University in Marshall.

“Through a user-friendly website and engagement on campuses across Texas, I look forward to a collaborative, productive partnership with our institutional leaders and students,” Simmons said in a statement. “Texas leads the nation with top-ranked, rapidly ascending universities, and our office is here to support these great institutions in serving the next generation of Texas students.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Sakai, Nirenberg to face off in Democratic primary debate (San Antonio Report)

Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai and Democratic primary challenger Ron Nirenberg will face off in a debate Feb. 10 at Stable Hall, hosted by the San Antonio Report, the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and Tech Bloc. Sakai and Nirenberg are competing for the Democratic nomination in a March 3 primary race. Early voting for the primary starts Feb. 17. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and tickets are free for those who register in advance online.

Debate sponsorships are available, as well as VIP tickets. The winner will face Republican Patrick Von Dohlen, the lone GOP candidate to file this year, in November. Read about all of the Bexar County candidates running in the March 3 primary here. Sakai, a longtime state district court judge, won a three-way Democratic primary to succeed retiring Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff in 2022.

He spent his first term trying to refocus county resources around its core responsibilities, such as managing the courts, jail and elections, instead of the development major projects his predecessor was known for.

Last year Sakai also navigated the Spurs’ plans to move out of their county-owned facility on the East Side, crafting a deal to rehabilitate the old arena district and help fund the team’s downtown move, which voters approved in November. Nirenberg served as San Antonio’s mayor from 2017 to 2025, leading the city through the Covid-19 pandemic and its first ever affordable housing bond. He’s campaigned openly for Democratic candidates in the past, but his challenge to Sakai is his first partisan race… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Arlington ISD considers Texas’ pay-for-performance teacher program (KERA)

Arlington ISD teachers at 24 at-need schools could receive merit-based raises of up to $36,000 in the next few years. District leaders are considering piloting Texas’ Teacher Incentive Allotment program. The program is meant to incentivize teachers to instruct in high-need schools.

However, some trustees are uncertain whether doing so would provide a boost in teaching and salaries or create culture issues. Last year, trustees discussed the pros and cons of participating in the state’s Teacher Incentive Allotment program, which aims to give high-performing educators more money.

Trustee Sarah McMurrough said she has examined how the program works in other districts but questions how incentives are calculated and whether the measures used to determine those incentives are completely within a teacher’s control. “I just wanted to voice that basing any kind of pay on a controllable (measure) is something that would provide equity and support for all of our hard-working teachers,” McMurrough said during an Oct. 16 board meeting.

Established in 2019, participating districts receive additional state money to give teachers raises based on measures decided by local leaders and the Texas Education Agency, such as results from STAAR tests and parent surveys. When teachers apply for this funding, they can receive one of three designations that determine how much extra money they will get… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ ‘Highly problematic’: Trump admin faces internal doubts over ICE shooting response (Politico)

The Trump administration’s rapid and aggressive response to the Minnesota shooting has prompted quiet concern among some administration allies, as well as former and current Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Particular anguish centers around how quickly Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in public remarks from Brownsville, Texas, on Wednesday insisted that Renee Good, the 37-year old woman killed by an ICE officer, had committed an act of “domestic terrorism” and tried to “ram them with her vehicle.”

Even supporters of the president fear that the administration’s approach — within hours the White House deputy chief of staff had also deemed this a case of “domestic terrorism” — risks undermining public confidence in the ongoing investigation and expanding the credibility gap between the public and the immigration agency patrolling dozens of American cities.

“Do I think it’s domestic terrorism? Yeah, I do,” said a person close to the White House, who, like others in the story, was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the sensitive situation and ongoing investigation. “But it might not have been wise to say that at the outset, how [Noem] said it.” Within 48 hours, another shooting, this time in Portland, Oregon, by a Customs and Border Protection officer, further inflamed outrage as protesters, Democrats and top administration officials accused each other of fascism and terrorism.

The shootings — and the eye witness videos circulating on the internet — come amid heightened tensions between Americans and the thousands of federal agents deployed in U.S. cities. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday lamented the threats and attacks ICE agents are under. On Friday, he shared a new video that he implied vindicated the officer in Minnesota by showing his “life was endangered and he fired in self defense.” Still, the administration’s aggressive tactics, aimed at ramping up arrests and deportations, have brought widespread condemnation and a growing number of confrontations between protesters and immigration officials, who are deployed for crowd control and other tasks the agencies historically don’t perform… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Washington’s new lobbyists: Paid online influencers with few rules (Wall Street Journal)

Last summer, Donald Trump’s 28-year-old former campaign aide Alex Bruesewitz had some new advice for the president: reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug. “Nearly 70% of Republican voters support Trump on this. No brainer!,” he said to more than 640,000 followers on X. What Bruesewitz left out of the post: A political-action committee funded by legal marijuana’s biggest players had just paid him $300,000. Trump’s return to the White House has transformed the federal government and upended the business of lobbying, creating a new class of Washington operatives that blur the lines between consulting, advocacy and journalism.

Corporate and foreign interests that used to rely primarily on paid lobbyists to pitch their case to lawmakers and administration officials are instead pouring money into trying to get their cause promoted by a group of young, conservative influencers known to be close to Trump’s staff.

A camera-ready pack of Gen-Z social-media natives—many of whom were too young to vote when Trump announced his first run for office—are reaping the rewards. They don’t work for traditional news outlets and are thus unshackled from newsroom ethics rules, such as the typical ban on accepting gifts worth more than $25. They don’t have to follow the disclosure laws that apply to big-money super PACs or lobbyists. And they have large followings eager to hear pro-Trump views, a gold mine for those looking to sway both Washington and the public. Israel made plans over the past year to spend $900,000 on an influencer campaign with a U.S. audience, according to disclosure documents, as Israel fights negative sentiment on the right.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with conservative social-media stars on at least two of his visits. The solar energy and health industries have paid thousands of dollars to influencers to support their interests, according to people who have been offered or participated in such deals.

Qatar, beverage interests and others have courted those with online political followings. MAGA influencers are turning access to the White House into lucrative new businesses. Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale has pivoted from campaigning to running a prominent firm that specializes in connecting influencers to companies and others willing to pay for their posts… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump ‘inclined’ to keep ExxonMobil out of Venezuela after CEO response at White House meeting (Associated Press)

President Donald Trump said Sunday that he is “inclined” to keep ExxonMobil out of Venezuela after its top executive was skeptical about oil investment efforts in the country after the toppling of former President Nicolás Maduro.

“I didn’t like Exxon’s response,” Trump said to reporters on Air Force One as he departed West Palm Beach, Florida. “They’re playing too cute.”

During a meeting Friday with oil executives, Trump tried to assuage the concerns of the companies and said they would be dealing directly with the U.S., rather than the Venezuelan government.

Some, however, weren’t convinced.

“If we look at the commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it’s uninvestable,” said Darren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil, the largest U.S. oil company… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Federal Reserve Chair Powell says DOJ has subpoenaed central bank, threatens criminal indictment (Associated Press)

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Sunday the Department of Justice has served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations.

The move represents an unprecedented escalation in President Donald Trump’s battle with the Fed, an independent agency he has repeatedly attacked for not cutting its key interest rate as sharply as he prefers. The renewed fight will likely rattle financial markets Monday and could over time escalate borrowing costs for mortgages and other loans.

The subpoenas relate to Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June, the Fed chair said, regarding the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of two office buildings, a project that Trump has criticized as excessive… 🟪 (READ MORE)

Have comments or questions? 📩 Contact me