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January 29, 2026

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin council members propose surveillance oversight rules as city revisits controversial contract (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 UT Austin becomes NSF’s top-funded campus, driven by computing and AI (Austin American-Statesman)

🟪 Austin migration numbers studied by Bank of America Institute (Austin Business Journal)

🟪 Report projects more than 6,000 PTSD cases tied to Kerr County floods without sustained mental health care (Texas Public Radio)

🟪 Vacant for 11 months, one of Texas’ bluest congressional districts will pick new representative Saturday (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady as a defiant Jerome Powell resists White House pressure (KXAN)

🟪 D.H.S. review does not say Pretti brandished gun, as Noem claimed (New York Times)

READ ON!

[FROM THE FIRM ]

🟪 [Events] Bingham Group was proud to participate in Building Beyond Austin – Central Texas Edition, organized by Glenn Hart (LinkedGlenn). The event brought together 14 economic development organizations from across Central Texas for a timely conversation on regional growth and collaboration.

As shared in my remarks, Bingham Group is Austin-based with a Central Texas focus, and we value opportunities to engage with partners working to strengthen the region’s economic future.

If you’re interested in engaging on issues shaping Central Texas, we’d welcome the opportunity to connect. Message me here.

🟪 [Podcast] Also, check out my recent feature on the Austin Eras Podcast. Host Adam Flagg and I discuss my path into community leadership and the lobbying profession, growing up in Austin, and what’s shaping the future of Central Texas.

🟪 Book Review - The Austin–San Antonio Megaregion: Opportunity and Experience

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ City of Austin Memos:

• Security Trailer and Monitoring Services - Pilot Program, Privacy and Data Governance, and Recommendations for Implementation (January 27, 2026)

• 2026 Bond Initial Draft Project Recommendation (January 21, 2026)

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Austin council members propose surveillance oversight rules as city revisits controversial contract (Austin American-Statesman)

Over the summer, the Austin City Council faced sustained public backlash over proposed contracts with two surveillance companies selling technology that can aid local law enforcement.

Privacy and criminal justice advocates urged council members to reject the contracts, arguing the tools could be used to infringe on civil liberties and potentially assist federal immigration enforcement efforts.

Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax ultimately pulled both items — automated license plate readers and mobile surveillance trailers at city parks — from council agendas in June and August after it became clear they lacked sufficient support. But he made clear the agreements would return for a vote at some point.

That’s set to happen next week, at least for one of the contracts. The City Council on Thursday will consider a five-year, $2 million agreement to place “mobile surveillance trailers” at city parks after a multiyear pilot program found their presence significantly reduced car break-ins. But the council will also vote on an oversight proposal by two council members that is designed to impose guardrails on all types of city surveillance contracts.

Council member Mike Siegel and Mayor Pro Tem Chito Vela, who have been the most vocally opposed to such technologies, told the American-Statesman they are proposing an ordinance dubbed the TRUST Act, which stands for “Transparent and Responsible Use of Surveillance Technology.”

The measure would establish new disclosure and oversight requirements for city departments seeking to purchase surveillance-related tools, including that staff prepare a “surveillance impact report” for council to consider prior to entering into any agreements with a company that collects data or provides surveillance tools… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ UT Austin becomes NSF’s top-funded campus, driven by computing and AI (Austin American-Statesman)

The University of Texas at Austin was the top university for research funded by the National Science Foundation nationally in fiscal year 2024 — a sign of the university’s leadership in scientific research. Federal funding pays for 60% of UT’s research. In 2024, NSF dollars made up $176.4 million of that funding, accounting for roughly one-quarter of UT’s total federal research dollars. The National Science Foundation’s mission is to advance scientific discovery, national prosperity and national security. The federal agency funds thousands of projects at 1,900 universities annually. UT’s top rank means the Texas flagship received more funding than any other institution, according to a Higher Education Research and Development Survey released last month.

Two major UT centers studying artificial intelligence computing power and image processing received significant investment from NSF. The research keeps UT on the forefront of the rapidly growing fields while ensuring the public can access its benefits. “I do think people all over Texas, if they’re not already, will be using tools that were created by NSF researchers,” said Adam Klivans, the director of the AI Institute for Foundations of Machine Learning. The biggest 2024 NSF grant for UT was a multi-year $457 million investment to build a “leadership-class” computing center, with UT receiving $26 million of the grant in 2024.

The money will go to creating the largest-ever supercomputer, Horizon, which will have ten times the computing power than the current largest computer, Frontera, which is also at UT. The facility marks a new “major facilities commitment to large scale computing,” said Daniel Stanzione, the executive director of UT’s Texas Advanced Computing Center, which is spearheading the project. About 80% of the center’s funding comes from NSF alone, he said. “We keep sort of upgrading the level of funding we’re getting as they trust us more and more to be the right place to do this,” he said. UT has built four other supercomputers with NSF over the past two decades… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin migration numbers studied by Bank of America Institute (Austin Business Journal)

Pandemic-era population growth may feel like a distant memory, but data shows people are still packing their bags for the Austin metro.

Austin topped the list of growing U.S. cities in a new migration report from the Bank of America Institute. The data shows a 0.7% year-over-year increase in the city’s net population in 2025.

Economist Joe Wadford, who authored the report, said Austin is settling among established cities like Seattle or San Francisco.

"Austin has emerged as this tech peer," he said. "It's very matured, matching ... a lot of lifestyle offerings and a big city feel with small-town prices."

Tech startups in Austin are hitting big-city thresholds when it comes to venture capital. Last year saw the biggest fundings ever recorded in the area — Silicon Valley-level numbers.

Although Austin’s population continues to climb, the metro has reached an “unusual equilibrium” as inbound and outbound migrations stay almost equal, according to the report. Unlike other cities that see uneven migration, Wadford said Austin is seeing people largely coming and going from the same areas… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Report projects more than 6,000 PTSD cases tied to Kerr County floods without sustained mental health care (Texas Public Radio)

The July 4 floods in Kerr County could result in more than 6,000 new cases of post-traumatic stress disorder among adults and about 2,000 cases of serious emotional disturbance in children without sustained access to mental health care, according to a new assessment released this week. The assessment was conducted by the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country in partnership with the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute. It highlights that the psychological impacts of disasters often surface well after the initial crisis and can persist for years.

“These effects often emerge months after a disaster and persist without sustained care,” the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country said in a statement. “Informed by interviews with 70 local leaders and supported by data modeling, the report identifies where expanded mental health support is most needed.” The findings build on broader recovery efforts already underway following the floods and are intended to guide long-term investment in mental health services across Kerr County. In response, the Community Foundation announced a $1 million grant commitment to partner organizations working to expand mental health services in the area.

Those groups include Light on the Hill, Hunt Independent School District, and the Hill Country Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Centers. Priority areas for the funding include expanding trauma and grief-informed care, increasing access to mental health services for children, and providing specialized support for bereaved families and frontline responders. Foundation leaders say the goal is to ensure residents affected by the floods have access to mental health care throughout the long recovery process, not just in the immediate aftermath… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Vacant for 11 months, one of Texas’ bluest congressional districts will pick new representative Saturday (Texas Tribune)

On an overcast Friday afternoon, Amanda Edwards, armed with campaign literature and a wide smile, knocked on voters’ doors to ask for their support.

“Amanda Edwards, running to be your next congresswoman!” Edwards, a Democrat, told Steve Kolodziej on his porch in The Heights.

“I voted for you yesterday,” Kolodziej said. “All done!”

The two conversed about the upcoming runoff election in the 18th Congressional District and, inevitably, the circumstances that have led to it — the death of longtime Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee in 2024, the anointment by Harris County Democrats of then-Mayor Sylvester Turner to be the party’s nominee in a narrow vote that summer, his unexpected death in March 2025, and the 11-month wait for representation for residents in one of Texas’ most solidly Democratic districts.

In November, eight months after Turner’s death, voters went to the polls to pick his replacement in a special election. With none of the 16 candidates reaching 50%, Edwards and the first-place finisher, Christian Menefee, advanced to Saturday’s runoff, which will decide who represents the district until the next Congress is seated in January… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Proposed reading list for Texas students draws concern over religious themes, lack of diversity (Texas Tribune)

The Texas State Board of Education delayed voting on a proposed list of required books for K-12 students Wednesday night after hours discussing the reading materials’ religious focus and hearing public concerns about a lack of racial, ethnic and gender diversity.

Voting 13-1, the board delayed consideration until its April meetings to allow members time to consider the list and solicit feedback. Brandon Hall, a North Texas Republican board member, opposed the decision.

A 2023 state law required the Texas Education Agency to create a list of reading materials for the board to consider, with schools required to teach the materials beginning in the 2030-31 school year. The agency recommended nearly 300 books for consideration, though the law only required at least one literary work in each grade… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Could ‘Landman’ help Fort Worth’s film industry grow into a $5B production powerhouse? Experts believe so (Fort Worth Report)

Cowtown’s two-step with Hollywood is lining up to be a showbiz success. Film and TV productions are booming in Fort Worth, thanks to Taylor Sheridan’s “Landman” series, which features prominent shots of the city in most episodes. In 2025, an estimated $1 billion in economic impact spurred the opening of new production facilities and offices across the Fort Worth area. “It really is a Cinderella story for Fort Worth — and it’s just the beginning,” said Taylor Hardy, film commissioner and director of video content for Visit Fort Worth, the city’s tourism arm.

Hardy’s comments came during a 2026 Real Estate Forecast event held Jan. 22 at TCU as experts discussed ways in which Fort Worth can bolster its ties to film and TV productions in North Texas. Until “Landman,” Fort Worth often lost out to Dallas when productions chose filming locations, Hardy said. Since then, with the establishment of a film commission, Visit Fort Worth has kept track of the city’s efforts to secure more film and TV productions for the past decade.

“It was kind of a turning point for our city,” Hardy said. “Before that, we were losing a lot of business to Dallas. They were representing the entire metroplex and they didn’t know our locations and our community.” Despite the initial lack of economic incentives and infrastructure, Fort Worth was still attractive enough to scrape its way into TV and film. Diverse filming locations, including the Stockyards, and talented crew members aided in developing the local industry and attracting new businesses. Fort Worth’s proximity to the middle of the United States was enhanced further by Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, the world’s third-busiest travel hub. “We’re right between New York and Los Angeles, with more direct flights and more availability than cities like Austin or Oklahoma City,” Hardy said.

Cowtown’s pride also helped provide positive experiences for filmmakers and directors, who have been welcomed by residents and officials alike. “That pride in our city is something that’s really contagious,” she said. Since filmmaker David Lowery, a former Irving High School student, did a scene in Fort Worth years ago, he has returned to the city for other projects, including “The Old Man & The Gun,” Robert Redford’s final movie, Hardy said. The film commission’s work with Taylor Sheridan began in 2021 when he sought to film a Fort Worth equestrian scene for the TV series “Yellowstone.” He returned to film the “1883” spinoff in the city, followed by a season of “Lawmen: Bass Reeves,” two seasons of “Lioness,” two seasons of “Landman,” and two new shows, “The Madison” and “The Dutton Ranch.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Caregivers for the elderly could lose wage protections under Trump proposal (NPR)

Caring for the elderly in America is costly – too costly for many people to afford.

Now, the Trump administration is attempting to tackle that problem by rolling back wage protections for more than 3 million workers who care for seniors and the disabled in their homes.

The Labor Department has proposed rescinding an Obama-era rule that extended coverage of the Fair Labor Standards Act to home care workers. The 2013 rule granted them labor protections most other workers have had since 1938.

Those include the right to earn at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and overtime, paid at one-and-a-half times their regular rate when they work more than 40 hours a week. At the time, the Labor Department said the change would fulfill President Obama's promise to "ensure that direct care workers receive a fair day's pay for a fair day's work."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Federal Reserve holds interest rates steady as a defiant Jerome Powell resists White House pressure (KXAN)

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady Wednesday, taking a measured, wait-and-see approach to the economy. Sometimes doing nothing is an act of defiance.

President Donald Trump has put the Fed and its chairman, Jerome Powell, under intense pressure to lower borrowing costs, despite concerns about inflation. By refusing to cut rates, the central bank’s leaders asserted their independence from the White House.

Wednesday’s move comes as Powell and the Fed face a criminal investigation launched by Trump’s close ally Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.

Powell has accused the White House of using the probe as a pretext to push the central bank to back Trump’s long-sought-after interest rate cuts.

At the same time, the future of the Fed’s independence hangs in the balance at the Supreme Court. Justices are weighing whether Trump exceeded his authority when he moved to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook last summer… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ D.H.S. review does not say Pretti brandished gun, as Noem claimed (New York Times)

A preliminary review by U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s internal watchdog office found that Alex Pretti was shot by two federal officers after resisting arrest, but did not indicate that he brandished a weapon during the encounter, according to an email sent to Congress and reviewed by The New York Times. The review makes no mention of the Department of Homeland Security’s earlier claims that Mr. Pretti, a U.S. citizen, “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” Shortly after the shooting, Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, claimed that Mr. Pretti had been “brandishing” a gun. Officials had provided no evidence to back up the claim, which was contradicted by witness videos.

The initial review by C.B.P., which deployed more than 1,000 officers and agents to support the enforcement operation in Minnesota, represents the first official written assessment of Saturday’s shooting since administration officials rushed to blame Mr. Pretti. “These notifications reflect standard Customs and Border Protection protocol and are issued in accordance with existing procedures,” Hilton Beckham, a C.B.P. spokeswoman, said in a statement. “They provide an initial outline of an event that took place and do not convey any definitive conclusion or investigative findings. They are factual reports — not analytical judgments — and are provided to inform Congress and to promote transparency.”

The review was done by C.B.P.’s Office of Professional Responsibility, which normally conducts internal misconduct investigations following shootings, and was distributed to members of Congress on Tuesday, as required by law. It presents a detailed timeline of the events based on body camera footage and agency documentation. At approximately 9 a.m. on Saturday, a federal officer was confronted by two female civilians blowing whistles, according to the review. Although the officer ordered them to move out of the road, they did not move… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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