BG Reads // January 27, 2026

Author

A.J. Bingham
January 27, 2026

faustin a

Presented By

www.binghamgp.com

January 27, 2026

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin-area schools announce Tuesday closures as extreme cold and hazardous road conditions remain (KUT)

🟪 Austin mayor says ICE conducting ‘regular’ operations, not targeting warming centers (KXAN)

🟪 How Raleigh beat Austin for California firm's 300-job hub (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 New lakeshore landscape unfolding south of downtown Austin (Community Impact)

🟪 Big Georgetown airport hangar project aims to meet growing needs of Williamson County (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Low test scores on one campus can trigger a state takeover in Texas, affecting Black, Hispanic and low-income students most (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Gov. Greg Abbott wants Texas universities, schools to disclose information on H-1B visa hirings (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Noem in the hot seat after Minneapolis shooting (Politico)

🟪 Ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter joins those calling for boycott of World Cup in United States (Associated Press)

READ ON!

[FROM THE FIRM ]

🟪 Catch Bingham Group this afternoon at the sold out LinkedGlenn Building Beyond Austin - Central Texas Edition (3PM to 5PM), featuring a power-packed roundup of economic development organizations from Caldwell, Hays, Travis, Milam, and Williamson counties.

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ City of Austin Memos:

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Austin-area schools announce Tuesday closures as extreme cold and hazardous road conditions remain (KUT)

Several Austin-area schools, including Austin ISD and the University of Texas, have canceled classes Tuesday as roads remain unsafe for students, teachers and staff.

"While driving conditions are improving across much of the district, hazardous spots remain in shaded and higher areas," Austin ISD officials said in a statement. "Those unsafe conditions are unlikely to improve and could even worsen overnight as melted patches refreeze."

Travis County facilities and offices, including courthouses, will also be closed because of the weather Tuesday. City of Austin offices, libraries and other facilities will operate on a two-hour delay.

Continued cancelations and delays of school and municipal operations come after the extreme cold warning for Central Texas was extended to Tuesday morning.

National Weather Service forecasters said dangerously cold temperatures in the single digits and teens could persist through 9 a.m.

Austin started to thaw out a bit Monday, with highs getting just above freezing in the afternoon. However, some areas in the Hill Country remained below freezing… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin mayor says ICE conducting ‘regular’ operations, not targeting warming centers (KXAN)

Amid swirling concerns and social media rumors of ramped-up U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Austin – including a possible focus on warming centers during a brutal winter storm – Mayor Kirk Watson said he has been told federal agents are conducting only “regular” operations.

“The City of Austin is aware of rumors circulating online of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents staging in Austin in preparation for operations here. City officials have been in contact with regional ICE representatives and have been assured that ICE does not have operations focused on Warming Center or Cold Weather Sheltering facilities,” Watson posted Saturday on X. “Officials have also been told that operations are regular ICE operations and that agents are not coming into Austin from other areas and checking into local hotels.”

KXAN reached out to the city on Monday for clarification about “regular ICE operations” in Austin. A city spokesperson reiterated Watson’s words about ICE agents not traveling from outside the area and checking into Austin hotels, but added: “Regarding ‘local’ ICE agents checking into hotels, ICE would need to address that question.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ New lakeshore landscape unfolding south of downtown Austin (Community Impact)

The lakeside landscape south of downtown is moving closer to long-awaited transformation with millions of square feet of mixed-use space and public areas across a series of high-rises.

The redevelopment of vacant or underused land throughout the nearly 120-acre South Central Waterfront district has been anticipated for well over a decade. Several landmark projects are planned around the area, with most yet to break ground.

The RiverSouth office tower on the district’s west side, completed in 2022, was billed as the first of many higher-profile modern developments coming to the South Central Waterfront. That wave of construction has yet to materialize but is on the way, starting with the One Lady Bird Lake residential tower that broke ground this year.

Development is taking place without formal city regulations—and requirements for community benefits—that were envisioned through a public framework for projects districtwide. While some aspirations from that process may not be realized, the city launched a broader planning effort this fall to set a 10-year blueprint for downtown that now includes the waterfront district… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ How Raleigh beat Austin for California firm's 300-job hub (Austin Business Journal)

As Raleigh courted BuildOps, a Los Angeles-based tech unicorn scouting sites for its third hub, Austin initially looked like the clear winner.

Communications between the company and North Carolina officials indicate that Austin had the talent, Austin won on “friendliness,” and Austin had the preference of the sales team.

Known internally to economic developers as “Project Sergeant,” BuildOps pledged 291 jobs in Raleigh with average salaries topping $100,000. Nearly 600 pages of communications show the decision came down to dollars — and that Austin came extremely close to beating out the City of Oaks.

BuildOps evaluated 10 locations using criteria such as talent availability and tax considerations. The site selection soon narrowed to Atlanta, Austin, Nashville, Tennessee and Raleigh.

Austin took top marks in talent sourcing and employer friendliness. The company noted that Atlanta had SaaS players like ServiceTitan and Building Engines, while Nashville made the list for firms including Built and LeanKit. But Austin — with Procore, OpenDoor, Planview, Rentyltics and Bracelet “as potential targets where we can recruit experienced talent” — topped the category.

But Raleigh ranked highest for local universities and offered the lowest office rents, and it tied Austin on flight availability and tax considerations.

Eventually, the shortlist came down to just Austin and Raleigh. A briefing document sent to members of North Carolina's Economic Investment Committee said Austin “emerged as the best option for BuildOps as a business,” in part because the company already had a remote team operating there.

“However Raleigh offers high potential in an untested market,” the brief states.

In Austin, the firm had identified a coworking office “that will allow us to quickly ramp up hiring while we finalize a lease for the mid/long term space.”... 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ High-rise tower possible near Q2 Stadium in North Austin (Austin Business Journal)

A large industrial property adjacent to the Q2 Stadium could be redeveloped to accommodate a high-rise project that could be about 40 stories tall — the tallest plan yet for that part of North Austin that's budding into the city's second downtown.

The Austin City Council voted Jan. 22 to rezone seven acres at 10200 McKalla Place — which is across the street from a parking lot for Q2 Stadium — to increase the maximum height for the property to 420 feet. That would likely result in a building of about 35 to 40 floors.

The site currently is occupied by warehouses but the rezoning was pursued so the site could accommodate a residential project with "associated ground floor uses,” according to a request letter sent to the city… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Big Georgetown airport hangar project aims to meet growing needs of Williamson County (Austin Business Journal)

Lisa Halvorson joked that her and her husband's work to add 50 airplane hangars at the Georgetown Executive Airport is a little self-serving.

That's because Halvorson, who lives just three miles away from the airport north of Austin, has long stored her plane 1 1/2 hours away in Fayette County due to a 400-person-long waitlist in Georgetown. She makes a day out of every visit, eating lunch in La Grange, buying fuel there and stimulating that local economy.

"I would do everything out there, and it wasn't Georgetown," Halvorson said. "So that's why I was like, 'This doesn't make any sense. We're going to shoot ourselves in the foot.'"

Lisa and her husband, Dusty, took matters into their own hands. They launched Georgetown-based Halvorson Development Group LLC to help build the $6 million project at the Georgetown Executive Airport at Johnny Gantt Field at 500 Terminal Drive. Since the fall, they've been building the 50 hangars across 7 acres and four buildings totaling 60,000 square feet. The first pieces are set to open in May.

HDG will reserve about half of its new hangars for equity investors who can either use them or rent them out, she said. The other half will be available for short- or long-term lease, and investors get a portion of the income from that. They've also been talking with Hangar Direct, a Georgetown-based company that essentially operates as an Airbnb for airport hangars, to keep the sites occupied… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Low test scores on one campus can trigger a state takeover in Texas, affecting Black, Hispanic and low-income students most (Texas Tribune)

The Texas Education Agency last year launched plans to take over four school districts due to low academic performance, confiscating decision-making power from elected leaders based on state-issued F grades at six campuses.

All six “trigger” schools share notable similarities.

Between 80% and 97% of their students live in low-income households, far above the state average of 60%.

Black and Hispanic children make up the dominant majority of the student populations, from 88% at Marilyn Miller Language Academy near Lake Worth to almost every child at Fehl-Price Elementary School in Beaumont.

And nearly half of students at each school are on the fringes of dropping out — including 64% to 92% of kids on five of the six campuses.

Texas’ 2015 school accountability law places a momentous decision in the hands of the state’s education commissioner. When at least one school receives an F for five years in a row, the commissioner must order the campus closed or initiate a state takeover of the entire district, replacing elected school board members with leaders of the education chief’s choosing… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas governor bars state employees from using Shein, Alibaba products (Reuters)

Texas will bar its employees from using Shein, Alibaba and TP-Link hardware and software, the governor said in a statement on Monday, saying his state made the decision to protect the "privacy of Texans" from the Chinese government.

The list, opens new tab also includes online commerce platform Temu and battery maker CATL, according to the statement from Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

This is the latest example of a state government official banning technology from Chinese-owned companies in the name of security. Abbott's ban restricts employees from using the companies' "physical hardware, artificial intelligence and software" on state-owned devices and networks… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Gov. Greg Abbott wants Texas universities, schools to disclose information on H-1B visa hirings (Texas Tribune)

Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that his administration is examining whether Texas taxpayer dollars are being used in connection with employees working under H-1B visas at public K-12 schools and universities.

Internal emails obtained by Quorum Report show the governor’s office asked Texas A&M University System leaders Friday to provide data on employees working under H-1B visas, including their roles and country of origin, by close of business Monday.

Abbott told Mark Davis, a conservative radio talk show host, Monday that the state has inquiries out to public schools and universities and expects to announce an “action plan” later this week based on what is learned.

“I don’t see any reason why we need any H-1B visa employees in our public schools in the state of Texas. But we’re going to find out if there’s some unique skill set or whatever the case may be,” Abbott said.

He also suggested that some visa holders may have been admitted before or during the Biden administration and may have overstayed.

“Those, again, are the type of people that the Trump administration is trying to remove,” Abbott said… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Hundreds of thousands without power in the U.S. after a powerful winter storm (NPR)

Bitter cold is gripping much of the country after a massive winter storm swept across the U.S., dumping ice, sleet and snow from New Mexico to the eastern seaboard. At least 25 deaths are attributed to the weather, according to The Associated Press. Nearly half the nation's population was impacted by the winter freeze, which knocked out power, made road conditions hazardous, and disrupted some of the nation's busiest airports.

Heavy snow is still falling in the northeast, and the National Weather Service (NWS) warns the frigid temperatures will persist over the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. this week. "Numerous record lows are forecast," according to the NWS forecast. "Sub-zero lows are expected nearly every morning from the Northern Plains through the Ohio Valley and into the Northeast."

Ice-covered trees and power lines knocked out power for more than a million customers across the South at the peak of the storm. By mid-morning Monday more than 800,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity, according to PowerOutage.us. Though the number of outages dropped below 700,000 by early afternoon… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Minneapolis killings put a focus on use of body cameras (NPR)

Federal immigration enforcement authorities are facing scrutiny and widespread criticism over their tactics, including the lack of body-worn cameras, following the killing of two U.S. citizens by immigration officers in Minneapolis.

Several factors have led to this: Federal law does not mandate the use of body cameras by the two agencies tasked with leading the efforts to arrest and detain illegal immigrants — Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Additionally, there is a shortage of cameras and a de-prioritization of body-camera programs in the second Trump administration.

This month, immigration officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis — Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti – in separate incidents, and have since been confronted by large crowds of protesters and legal observers. The administration has defended the actions of the two officers involved in the shootings.

After Pretti's killing Saturday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the VA nurse was committing an "act of terrorism" by "attacking" officers and "brandishing" a weapon. The video evidence and eyewitness accounts that have surfaced so far refute that assertion. There has been no evidence that NPR has verified of Pretti brandishing his handgun at any time during the encounter with federal agents.

"There is body camera footage from multiple angles which investigators are currently reviewing," a DHS official told NPR in a statement Monday. The investigation is being led by Homeland Security Investigations, a division of ICE, and supported by the Federal Bureau of Investigations. CBP will also do an internal investigation... 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter joins those calling for boycott of World Cup in United States (Associated Press)

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Monday backed a proposed fan boycott of World Cup matches in the United States because of the conduct of President Donald Trump and his administration at home and abroad.

Blatter was the latest international soccer figure to call into question the suitability of the United States as a host country. He called for the boycott in a post on X that supported Mark Pieth’s comments in an interview last week with the Swiss newspaper Der Bund.

Pieth, a Swiss attorney specializing in white-collar crime and an anti-corruption expert, chaired the Independent Governance Committee’s oversight of FIFA reform a decade ago. Blatter was president of the world’s governing body for soccer from 1998-2015; he resigned amid an investigation into corruption.

In his interview with Der Bund, Pieth said, “If we consider everything we’ve discussed, there’s only one piece of advice for fans: Stay away from the USA! You’ll see it better on TV anyway. And upon arrival, fans should expect that if they don’t please the officials, they’ll be put straight on the next flight home. If they’re lucky.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Noem in the hot seat after Minneapolis shooting (Politico)

White House allies are increasingly blaming one person for the chaotic fallout of the Trump administration’s crackdown in Minneapolis: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

The thrusts of the criticism are familiar, that Noem rushed to the cameras too quickly and sabotaged any independent probe into Saturday’s fatal shooting of 37-year-old Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents. But this time, they’re occurring more publicly, as the White House takes steps to revisit its strategy in Minneapolis.

In one of the most high-profile public rebukes of the DHS chief, Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) wrote on social media that Noem’s actions around the shooting “undermine public trust and the law-enforcement mission.”

“I disagree with Secretary Noem’s premature DHS response, which came before all the facts were known and weakened confidence,” Curtis wrote.

Noem is also now expected to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee after maneuvering from the panel’s chair, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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