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✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin is losing even more water to leaky city pipes than previously thought (KUT)

🟪 Former Mayor Steve Adler reflects on Austin’s progress & challenges since leaving office (CBS Austin)

🟪 Former Texas state Sen. Kelly Hancock to become acting comptroller, run for permanent job (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Trump to decide on Iran action 'within two weeks,' White House says (NPR)

🟪 Inside a school that's working to fix the U.S. shortage of air traffic controllers (NPR)

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ Intergovernmental Relations Office – State Legislative Update

🏛️ Transportation Demand Management 5-year Strategic Plan

🏛️ City of Austin Org Chart (as of June 2025)

💰 2026 City of Austin Bond - Public Input

ℹ️ 2025 Essential Resources for Navigating the City of Austin

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Council reaffirms its commitment to making Austin a more age-friendly city (Austin Monitor)

Austin is getting older, and its growing population of residents aged 65 and up is living proof.

In fact, those between 65 and 74 represented the fastest-growing age group between 2010 and 2020, according to city reports.

With that demographic shift in mind, City Council recently directed the city manager to take greater steps to ensure that all departments offer services aligned with the goals of the city’s Age-Friendly Action Plan, released in 2016 and later adopted by Council. That plan, which was developed by the city’s Commission on Aging in partnership with AARP and other local organizations, was crafted with a number of strategies for making Austin a more livable city for older adults.

Now, the Commission on Aging is working with those same partners to amend the plan to incorporate metrics that will more effectively measure its progress and impact. A 2022 report from the city auditor found that Austin needs to do more to improve the city’s services for older adults, and it called for more public outreach and metrics to measure the city’s progress.

Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes sponsored the resolution, adding to her portfolio of work addressing the city’s public health needs. Her specific interest in bringing forward age-friendly policy grew from witnessing the struggles of older Austinites during the pandemic and through extreme weather events… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Former Mayor Steve Adler reflects on Austin’s progress & challenges since leaving office (CBS Austin)

Steve Adler, who served as mayor of Austin from 2015 to 2023, presided over the city during a transformative and turbulent era — one marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the George Floyd protests, and major policy shifts, including controversial decisions surrounding the funding of the Austin Police Department.

In an exclusive interview with CBS Austin, Adler reflected on his years in office and the city’s direction since his departure. He noted the city’s unique capacity for innovation and resilience.

“There’s an ability to take risks in this city, tolerance for taking risks that I think is unmatched in any city in the world,” he said.

Adler was the first mayor to lead under the 10-1 City Council structure — a historic change in Austin governance that replaced an at-large council system with one composed of representatives from ten distinct districts.

During his tenure, Austin faced some of the most pivotal moments in its recent history. Amid the ongoing national debate on public safety and civil unrest, Adler emphasized the importance of civic engagement… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin is losing even more water to leaky city pipes than previously thought (KUT)

Austin's leaky pipe problem keeps getting worse. In recent years, the city’s water utility has recorded losses of about 7 billion gallons annually due to leaks in its treatment and distribution system. That’s about enough water to fill Lady Bird Lake three times over every year.

Now, an annual review shows the problem could be far greater than officials had suspected.

According to Austin’s Water Audit Report, the city lost nearly 9.3 billion gallons of water last year. That's enough to fill the lake four times, and an increase of nearly 31% from 2023.

The report, a document utilities must file with the state’s Water Development Board every year, found the city lost about 24 gallons of water per Austin resident per day last year, up from 21 gallons in 2023… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Former Texas state Sen. Kelly Hancock to become acting comptroller, run for permanent job (Texas Tribune)

Republican state Sen. Kelly Hancock launched his campaign for state comptroller Thursday shortly after taking a senior position at the comptroller’s office.

His appointment as chief clerk to Comptroller Glenn Hegar paves the way for Hanock, a North Richland Hills Republican, to become interim comptroller after Hegar leaves his office in June. And it gives Hancock an edge in a growing Republican primary race next year.

“Kelly is a great fit to serve as the chief financial officer of Texas,” Hegar said in a statement, who is stepping down to become chancellor of the Texas A&M University System. “As a long-serving member of the Texas Legislature, he helped shape sound financial policy and authored the state’s conservative spending cap legislation”

Hegar added that Hancock is honest, trustworthy, and an “all-around good guy.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ San Antonio swears in younger, more partisan City Council (San Antonio Report)

San Antonio swore in a new batch of city leaders on Wednesday — one that’s both younger and more partisan than the members they replace. Gina Ortiz Jones, a 44-year-old former Air Force Under Secretary who ran for Congress twice as a Democrat, took the dais for the first time amid cheers from supporters sporting “Madame Mayor” T-shirts — a nod to the optimism Democrats were feeling last year about their prospects of a first female U.S. president.

By her side was a City Council with four new members who are also no stranger to the political arena: Former City Hall staffer Edward Mungia in District 4, 24-year-old progressive organizer Ric Galvan in District 6, political dynasty daughter Ivalis Meza Gonzalez in District 8, and longtime Republican activist Misty Spears in District 9.

Together they take the place of a generation of leaders who for years sought to avoid partisan labels — on a dais dominated by socially liberal, pro-business and pro-law enforcement views. The entire City Council elected this year will serve through 2029 before they must seek reelection. As the new and returning members stood together for their first press conference on Wednesday, Jones acknowledged the changing council, but said its members bring passion and a shared desire to see the city thrive. “I couldn’t be more pleased honestly, with the makeup of this council, the expertise, the leadership,” said Jones, who pointed to Galvan and Mungia’s past work at City Hall, as well as other members’ private sector backgrounds.

“If you’ve heard any of them on the campaign trail, [you’ve heard] their true commitment to service … their willingness to fight hard and go to the mat and the things that matter,” Jones said. “It’s a very exciting time, and I know that I speak for my entire team when I say, ‘We’re ready to get to work.'” So far, Jones has hired a chief of staff: her former campaign manager Jordan Abelson, age 27… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ ‘Weak,’ ‘whiny’ and ‘invisible’: Critics of DNC Chair Ken Martin savage his tenure (Politico)

Four-and-a-half months after the Democratic National Committee chair pledged to focus on fighting Donald Trump, Ken Martin’s short tenure leading the organization has been engulfed by bitter infighting. Even longtime party insiders are getting impatient.

Interviews with a dozen DNC members revealed deep frustration with Martin and concern about his ability to unify and lead a party trying to recover from massive electoral losses in 2024.

One DNC member — who, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to speak candidly — described him as looking “weak and whiny,” and another said he has been “invisible” and his “early tenure has been disappointing.”

Rahm Emanuel, former President Barack Obama’s first White House chief of staff, said the committee is floundering. “We’re in the most serious existential crisis with Donald Trump both at home and abroad — and with the biggest political opportunity in a decade,” Emanuel said.

“And the DNC has spent six months on a firing squad in the circle, and can’t even fire a shot out. And Trump’s world is a target-rich environment.”

Many DNC members and outside Democrats, including Martin’s supporters, said they wished the party would just move on from recent internal turmoil and focus instead on mounting an effective fight against Trump… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump to decide on Iran action 'within two weeks,' White House says (NPR)

President Trump will make a decision on whether the U.S. will strike Iran "within two weeks," the White House said Thursday.

"Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks," Trump said in a statement read by Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman.

The statement tamps down on speculation that the U.S. was poised to strike an Iranian nuclear facility as the conflict between Israel and Iran intensifies.

According to a statement from Soroka Medical Center, the largest hospital in southern Israel, several people were being treated for minor injuries and cases of shock after the hospital was struck by Iranian missiles. The strike caused extensive damage to the hospital's old surgical wing, which was preemptively evacuated several days ago, according to the statement. Videos shared online showed shattered hospital rooms and black smoke pouring from the facility.

Iran's state media claimed that the missile was aimed at a military target nearby and denied intentionally hitting the hospital.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retribution for the attack.

"This morning, Iran's terrorist tyrants launched missiles at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba and at a civilian population in the center of the country," he said on social media. "We will exact the full price from the tyrants in Tehran."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Inside a school that's working to fix the U.S. shortage of air traffic controllers (NPR)

The U.S. needs all the new air traffic controllers it can get. The FAA is more than 3,000 certified controllers short of full staffing, and personnel at many facilities are working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has promised to "supercharge" the hiring process. But the reality is that training and certifying new controllers can take years, and the agency's academy in Oklahoma City has limited capacity.

"That's where we come in," says Michael McCormick, who worked as an air traffic controller and manager at the FAA for over 30 years and now runs the air traffic management program at Embry-Riddle. It's one of a half-dozen schools around the country that now offers an accelerated training program that mirrors the classes at the FAA Academy… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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