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- BG Reads // July 8, 2025
BG Reads // July 8, 2025
A.J. Bingham
July 08, 2025
Presented By
✅ Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 At least 84 people died in Guadalupe River flood, 20 more in Central Texas floods (KUT)
🟪 Public health officials urge Austin-area residents to take mosquito precautions following heavy rainfall (Community Impact)
🟪 Austin Fire Chief defends response after accusations of delaying help for Kerr County flooding (KXAN)
🟪 Austin retail construction roaring back to life after a decade of slowdown (Austin American-Statesman
🟪 White House defends national forecasting agency amid questions about warnings, response to Texas floods (Texas Tribune)
🟪 Trump sends letters with new tariff rates on goods to 14 countries, with more to come (NPR)
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
✅ At least 84 people died in Guadalupe River flood, 20 more in Central Texas floods (KUT)
Rescue and recovery efforts following Friday's catastrophic Guadalupe River floods continued on Monday. At least 84 people have died, including 56 adults and 28 children. Not identified are 22 adults and 10 children.
Emergency, county, and state officials reported that multiple flood events throughout Central Texas, including Guadalupe River flood, have killed at least 104 people since July 4.
As of Monday afternoon, there were:
84 dead in Kerr County
7 dead in Travis County
6 dead in Kendall County
4 dead in Burnet County
2 dead in Williamson County
1 dead in Tom Green County
✅ Public health officials urge Austin-area residents to take mosquito precautions following heavy rainfall (Community Impact)
Austin public health officials issued a notice to the public July 5 urging residents to protect themselves from mosquitoes during increased rainfall and moisture that could lead to heightened risk of diseases.
Mosquitoes may carry diseases that contribute to infections such as Zika, West Nile, dengue fever, encephalitis and canine heartworm.
“This has been a wetter and cooler summer so far, a combination which mosquitoes thrive in,” Austin Public Health Director Adrienne Sturrup said in a statement. “Let’s do what we know works to stay safe.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)
🟪 Austin Fire Chief defends response after accusations of delaying help for Kerr County flooding (KXAN)
The Austin Fire Chief insists his department is doing everything it can to respond to deadly flooding in Kerr County after firefighters accused him of actions that delayed deployment of specialized search and rescue crews.
Chief Joel G. Baker responded to the accusations made in a social media post by the Austin Firefighters Association, which claimed that highly trained first responders from Austin were not allowed to respond. The post called the chief’s actions an “egregious dereliction of duty,” and the association announced it would meet on Tuesday to discuss whether to take a vote of “no confidence” in Baker.
The association’s president, Bob Nicks, claimed the state requested assistance from the Austin Fire Department (AFD) special operations teams more than a day before floodwaters rushed from the Guadalupe River early July 4.
In an interview Monday night, Chief Baker refuted the claims, saying he was first made aware of requests from the state on July 4 and AFD deployed three rescue swimmers to the disaster area… ✅ (READ MORE)
✅ Mixed-use project to rise in place of longtime Waterloo Records shop (Austin Business Journal))
Endeavor Real Estate Group's plans for the longtime Waterloo Records & Video's site have emerged.
A proposal is moving through City Hall to rezone the northwest corner of West Sixth Street and Lamar Boulevard to allow for a nine-story, mixed-use building that would have 93 residential units and 18,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. The Austin Planning Commission is set to consider it on July 8.
Developers aim to rezone the site to a mixed-use, transit-oriented development zoning, which also requires that some of the residential units be offered at affordable rates unless the developer opts to pay a fee.
Endeavor representatives did not return requests for comment.
The site is currently home to the iconic music shop Waterloo Records — which is moving just a few blocks north to 1105 N. Lamar Blvd. — the 24 Diner, Amy’s Ice Cream, Lululemon and Lush Cosmetics. Endeavor bought the 1-acre shopping center in 2019… 🟪 (READ MORE)
🟪 Austin retail construction roaring back to life after a decade of slowdown (Austin American-Statesman)
More than a million square feet of new or expanded retail space is expected to be delivered in Austin by the end of 2025, according to a new report, more than double the amount added in 2024.
If that much is completed, it would mark the first time since 2016 that deliveries of such space in the Austin area have exceeded 1 million square feet.
According to a mid-year market report from Weitzman, a Dallas-based commercial real estate firm, developers are planning to add 1.24 million square feet of space across the five-county Austin metro area this year, up from 485,520 square feet in 2024.
“The retail market’s strength is boosted by the Austin area’s strong economic activity,” Weitzman said. “For example, the area’s unemployment at mid-year was a near-full-employment rate of 3.1 percent, compared to the national unemployment rate of 4.2 percent.”… ✅ (READ MORE)
[TEXAS/US NEWS]
✅ White House defends national forecasting agency amid questions about warnings, response to Texas floods (Texas Tribune)
The White House defended its national forecast agency on Monday ahead of an expected visit from President Donald Trump to Central Texas and as questions have emerged about the response to weather warnings ahead of the deadly flooding that killed at least 90 people in the region.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday the National Weather Service offices were adequately staffed and "executed timely and precise forecasts and warnings."
"To any person who has deliberately lied about these facts surrounding this catastrophic event, you should be deeply ashamed at this time," Leavitt said, blasting media members and Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer who have criticized Trump after the floods. "The administration's focus will be on giving the victims in their communities the support they deserve during these recovery efforts in this tragic time."
Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, sent a letter to the Commerce Department’s acting Inspector General calling for an investigation into whether staffing shortages at NWS contributed to the scope of the devastation… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ Gold, silver become legal tender in Texas under new law (KXAN)
Texas has joined a growing movement of states establishing gold and silver currency systems, after Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 1056 into law on June 29, creating what supporters call the most comprehensive precious metals transaction framework in the nation.
The legislation allows Texans to use precious metals stored in the state-run Texas Bullion Depository for every day purchases through debit cards and mobile applications, positioning Texas alongside Arkansas, Florida, and Missouri as states advancing precious metals currency legislation this year.
“I signed a law authorizing Texans to use gold & silver as legal tender in day-to-day financial transactions,” Abbott announced via X. “It fulfills the promise of Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution.”
The law, which takes effect in phases beginning September 2026, enables the Texas Comptroller to establish electronic systems that convert gold and silver holdings into U.S dollars at the point of sale. The full transactional currency system will be operational by May 1, 2027… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ Investors snap up growing share of US homes as traditional buyers struggle to afford one (Associated Press)
Real estate investors are snapping up a bigger share of U.S. homes on the market as rising prices and stubbornly high borrowing costs freeze out many other would-be homebuyers.
Nearly 27% of all homes sold in the first three months of the year were bought by investors -- the highest share in at least five years, according to a report by real estate data provider BatchData.
Between 2020 and 2023, the share of homes bought by investors averaged 18.5%.
All told, investors bought 265,000 homes in the January-March quarter, an increase of 1.2% from the same period a year earlier, the firm said.
Despite the modest annual increase, the rise in the share of investor home purchases is more a reflection of how much the housing market has slowed as traditional buyers face growing affordability constraints, according to BatchData… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ Trump sends letters with new tariff rates on goods to 14 countries, with more to come (NPR)
President Trump posted letters to the leaders of 14 countries, informing them that he plans to impose new tariffs on their exports to the U.S. beginning Aug. 1.
He also signed an executive order officially pushing back a July 9 deadline for trade deals he set in the spring to Aug. 1, and said countries are continuing to negotiate with the U.S.
In letters posted to social media, Trump wrote that "the United States of America has agreed to continue working with" their countries, "despite having a significant Trade Deficit with your great Country." He later added, "Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal," as justification for the new tariff rates… 🟪 (READ MORE)
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