🟪 Austin City Council Meeting livestream (today 10AM) and agenda

🟪 Austin prepares for spring festival season, reimagined SXSW (Community Impact)

🟪 Austin ISD campuses set to close could be leased out to help deficit (KVUE)

🟪 Austin City Council seeks discussion with Waymo after vehicle blocks ambulance during mass shooting response (KVUE)

🟪 Trump is delaying Texas Senate endorsement to pressure GOP senators on SAVE America Act (Politico)

🟪 US to release 172 million barrels of oil from strategic petroleum reserve (Reuters)

🟪 Trump administration to restart Global Entry program (New York Times)

READ ON!

🏛️ Client Spotlight: Delta Air Lines & the SEC Mayors Alliance

Bingham Group client Delta Air Lines served as a proud sponsor of the inaugural in-person meeting of the SEC Mayors Alliance, hosted by Austin Mayor Kirk Watson at The University of Texas at Austin.

The gathering brought together mayors from across the Southeastern Conference footprint for what Mayor Watson called "a cool, fun evening" — capped off with a Delta-sponsored dinner on the Forty Acres.

Delta's sponsorship reflects the airline's ongoing investment in Austin and its commitment to building relationships with civic and regional leaders. We're proud to support Delta's continued engagement in the communities it serves.

✅ Austin prepares for spring festival season, reimagined SXSW (Community Impact)

Austin leaders say the city is prepared for a slew of major events this spring, including a reimagined South by Southwest Conference & Festivals, and advised residents to be aware of impacts from traffic to public safety over the weeks ahead.

“We know and we recognize that there’s an added strain that large events put on our city resources. So when we see traffic congestion, road closures, additional public safety presence, please know that this is to ensure everyone coming to Austin will be able to have a great time in the safest way possible," Mayor Kirk Watson said.

Austin's Spring Festival Season kicks off this month with the official start of SXSW on March 12. The 40th edition of the festival will be spread across multiple hubs and venues in and around downtown, a change partially prompted by the multiyear redevelopment of the Austin Convention Center.

SXSW's new one-week format overlaps with the start of Rodeo Austin at the Travis County Expo Center, and school and university spring breaks. Other major events coming up include MotoGP Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas, ABC Kite Fest at Zilker Park, and the Austin reggae and blues festivals… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin ISD campuses set to close could be leased out to help deficit (KVUE)

Austin Independent School District (AISD) is asking the community to weigh in on what should happen to several campuses that are set to close as the district works to address its budget deficit.

District leaders held a community meeting Wednesday night to gather feedback on how the properties could be repurposed. The meeting is part of a series of discussions the district is hosting as it considers what to do with campuses that will no longer be in use after this school year.

However, some parents say the process has been confusing and that information about the meetings hasn’t been widely communicated.

In November, the Austin ISD Board of Trustees voted to close 10 campuses, with six of those schools scheduled to close by the end of the current school year as part of the district’s effort to offset a growing financial deficit.

District officials say leaving the properties unused is not an option.

“It’d be fiscally irresponsible to sit on these properties and wait to make decisions,” said Jaime Miller, Senior Executive Director of Operations for Austin ISD.

While selling the campuses is one possibility, Miller said the district is also considering other options.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to sell the property,” Miller said… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ This Texas Democrat won a race he thought he dropped out of. Now what? (Austin American-Statesman)

Kelly Hall and his co-worker were playing the video game“Call of Duty” in the office of their Austin towing company, waiting for customers, when his friend turned his attention to another television. The election results were up on the screen, and Hall was winning a race he didn't even know he was still a part of. "I laughed," Hall, 36, said. "I was like, 'Bro, stop playing.' And he's like, 'No, bro, look.’"

Sure enough, he was ahead of his Democratic opponent, Javi Andrade, by a decisive amount. Hall barely remembers the number of the solidly red Central Texas district he ran in or the name of his would-be Republican opponent, state Rep. Ellen Troxclair. He paid a total of $750 on the campaign, enough to cover the filing fee, then never touched a single yard sign or dirtied a sneaker blockwalking.

Hall said he thought he had dropped out of the race back in January, when he said Democratic Party precinct chairs urged him to “do the right thing” and allow the party-backed Andrade to run unopposed. He decided to run for Round Rock mayor instead. But on Tuesday, Hall beat Andrade by almost 3,000 votes after missing a December deadline to drop out in time for his name to be removed from ballots.

The bizarre outcome has thrown what would have been a low-profile race into chaos, with some of the state's top election lawyers clashing over whose name will be on the ballot in November. The Texas Democratic Party is moving to replace Hall, who it says is ineligible for the nomination because he is running in the Round Rock mayor’s race. But the Republican-controlled secretary of state’s office says the party cannot pick a substitute, potentially setting the stage for what could be a drawn-out legal battle… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin City Council seeks discussion with Waymo after vehicle blocks ambulance during mass shooting response (KVUE)

Some members of the Austin City Council are seeking answers from Waymo after video showed one of its vehicles blocking an ambulance as it was responding to the scene of the mass shooting at Buford's bar on West Sixth Street on March 1.

The video, which was taken in the moments immediately following the shooting, shows a Waymo stopped across both lanes of traffic as an ambulance approaches. An Austin police officer is eventually seen accessing the car and driving it into the driveway of a parking garage.

Representatives for Waymo told KVUE on March 1 they were investigating the incident but declined to comment on the record.

ATCEMS Chief Robert Luckritz said the incident with the Waymo car did not affect the overall response to the shooting.

The letter, authored by Councilman Zo Qadri (District 9) and co-signed by councilmembers José “Chito” Vela (District 4), José Velásquez (District 3), Paige Ellis (District 8) and Krista Laine (District 6), asks officials with the autonomous vehicle company to attend a meeting on April 29 to discuss how to better coordinate with the city's public safety agencies during emergency situations.

The full text of the letter can be read below… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ City workers challenge Austin’s IT consolidation (Austin Chronicle)

Austin city workers fear that the plan to consolidate the city’s information technology staff into one central department – called the “One ATS” initiative, or OATS – could lead to hundreds of layoffs over the next two years. They also believe the consolidation could harm city residents’ health and safety. AFSCME Local 1624, the city workers’ union, presented a letter to City Manager T.C. Broadnax on March 4, demanding that he halt OATS.   

“Our members in offices and in the field throughout the City of Austin and Travis County stand in solidarity with city IT workers whose expertise they rely on day in and day out,” the letter, signed by AFSCME leaders Brydan Summers and Carol Guthrie, states. “OATS will reduce the quality of our work, jeopardize our services, threaten our livelihoods, and put our city at risk.” 

AFSCME presented the letter the same day that Kerrica Laake, the chief information officer of Austin Technology Services – the city’s dedicated IT department and the “ATS” in One ATS  – shared information with the city’s Audit and Finance Committee suggesting that Austin could save $200 million a year by consolidating IT staff. Laake said the city spends 81% more on IT services than peer cities. She said only about 30% of city IT staff works in the Austin Technology Services department, with the remaining 70% spread out in other departments like Austin Energy, Austin Water, and Transportation and Public Works… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump is delaying Texas Senate endorsement to pressure GOP senators on SAVE America Act (Politico)

President Donald Trump is delaying his endorsement in the Texas Senate GOP primary to ramp up pressure on Republican senators to pass his high-priority voting restrictions bill, according to two people close to the White House granted anonymity to speak candidly. Trump had been prepared to quickly endorse John Cornyn after the Texas senator outperformed expectations and finished ahead of Paxton, Texas’ attorney general, in last week’s primary, the people said. But Paxton managed to at least forestall that outcome when he announced Friday that if the Senate passes the bill he would drop his campaign.

Paxton’s last-ditch gamble highlighted an area where he agrees with Trump while poking at a sore spot between the president and Senate Republican leaders who have been begging Trump for months to back Cornyn.

And it changed the dynamics inside the White House, according to the two people, an operative close to the White House and an administration ally. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. “I think that was a very smart strategy because it bought time. Because now, if you’re the White House or Trump, why would you now weigh in?’’ said the Republican operative. “Trump has remained very steadfast that he wants this done, and that is a huge priority, and he’s getting pissed off at these members and at [Senate Majority Leader John] Thune.”

Trump posted last Wednesday, the day after the primary, that he would endorse “soon” in the race — and wanted to see whoever he didn’t back drop out of the runoff. He told House Republicans Monday in a speech at their annual legislative retreat in Florida that SAVE America is his “No. 1 priority” on the congressional agenda this year. Paxton, a favorite of the far right with strong MAGA grassroots backing, initially said he would not end his campaign even if Trump backed Cornyn. Trump responded in an interview with POLITICO last week that the comment was “bad for him to say,” and reiterated he would announce his pick soon… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Muslim parents, private schools sue Texas over exclusion of Islamic institutions in voucher program (Texas Tribune)

Four Muslim parents and three private schools have sued Texas leaders for excluding Islamic private schools from participating in the state’s private school voucher program.

The two federal lawsuits ask the court to block the voucher program from discriminating on the basis of religion. The first suit, filed March 1 by a parent acting on behalf of two children who attend a Houston private school, names Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock and Education Commissioner Mike Morath as defendants. A second suit filed March 11 by three parents and three schools names Hancock and Mary Katherine Stout, education savings account program manager, as defendants.

Here’s what to know… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ US to release 172 million barrels of oil from strategic petroleum reserve (Reuters)

The U.S. will ​release 172 million barrels of oil from its strategic ‌petroleum reserve in a bid to reduce oil prices that have soared due to supply shocks from the U.S.-Israeli war on ​Iran, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on ​Wednesday.

Wright said the release is part of a broader ⁠release of 400 million barrels of oil agreed ​to by the 32-nation International Energy Agency earlier in the ​day.

Wright said the release will begin next week and will take about 120 days to deliver.

The U.S. and Israel began attacks on ​Iran on February 28. Iran has responded with its ​own strikes on Israel and Gulf countries with U.S. bases.

Raising the ‌stakes ⁠for the global economy, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it would block oil shipments from the Gulf unless the U.S. and Israeli attacks cease. The war ​has shaken markets ​around the ⁠world.

When asked earlier on Wednesday whether he was looking at the threshold for the ​strategic petroleum reserve, President Donald Trump said Washington ​will "reduce ⁠it a little bit."… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ IEA proposes largest ever oil release from strategic reserves (Wall Street Journal)

The International Energy Agency has proposed the largest release of oil reserves in its history to bring down crude prices that have soared during the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, officials familiar with the matter said. The release of 400 million barrels of oil would more than double the agency’s biggest prior release, when IEA member countries in 2022 put 182 million barrels on the market after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the officials said.

The proposal was circulated at an emergency meeting of energy officials from the IEA’s 32 member countries on Tuesday. Countries are expected to decide on the proposal Wednesday. It would be adopted if none objects, but even one country’s protests could delay the plan, officials said. French President Emmanuel Macron will host a video conference call at 10 a.m. ET with leaders of the Group of Seven advanced economies to discuss ways to mitigate the energy situation, France’s Elysee Palace said.

The IEA proposal is intended to counter the massive disruption caused by the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to global markets. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply moves through the strait every day and the threat of attacks on tankers by Iran have brought shipments to a near standstill. Iranian attacks on oil tankers traveling through the strait are the kind of scenario that led Western nations and their allies to create the IEA in 1974 in the wake of the Arab oil embargo.

The agency, a club of Western nations and their allies, sets guidelines for how much crude member countries must keep in their reserves and coordinates releases to protect economies from oil market turmoil. Since Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel first began their strikes on Iran, the price of oil has soared as much as 40%, breaching $100 before falling this week as traders closely track statements from President Trump on how long the war will last. Oil ended Tuesday under $84, but the price of fuels such as diesel has continued to skyrocket. Economists have warned that a sustained run-up in oil prices risks creating inflation and a stock market correction, in addition to pain at the pump for drivers… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump administration to restart Global Entry program (New York Times)

The Trump administration plans to restart the Global Entry program on Wednesday, just weeks after it paused the program because of a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Global Entry allows for American citizens and legal permanent residents traveling internationally to receive expedited processing upon their return to the United States. Travelers who sign up for the program must pay a fee, are vetted and retain the privilege for up to five years. In a statement, the department said it was restoring the program after evaluating the implications of the shutdown, for which it blamed Democrats. In recent days, reports of extensive delays at airports have been highlighted by the agency as they seek to blame Democratic opposition to funding the department.

Democratic lawmakers have said they are seeking changes to the way Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency under the Homeland Security Department, has been conducting immigration enforcement. The decision to pause the program was surprising because the department has previously encouraged Americans to enroll. “Your time is valuable,” read one agency site urging people to sign up. “As a prescreened Global Entry member, you arrive in the United States, check-in at the Global Entry kiosk and you’re on your way. So what are you waiting for?” The Homeland Security Department had said in late February that it would pause its T.S.A. PreCheck and Global Entry programs to “refocus department personnel on the majority of travelers.” It quickly reversed course on PreCheck, an expedited security-screening program operated by the Transportation Security Administration, which is affected by the shutdown.

The moves are among several measures the department is taking after its funding lapsed on Feb. 14. Lawmakers have been deadlocked over a proposal to restore funding. Democrats have refused to approve the department’s budget unless Republicans accept a range of new restrictions on immigration agents. Those include requiring agents to obtain warrants from judges to make arrests in homes, mandating that they show visible identification and prohibiting face coverings for agents. Republicans have objected to many of the demands, which they consider overly burdensome. Although homeland security funding has lapsed, most of its operations are still being carried out, and department leaders have said that essential functions will continue. ICE and Customs and Border Protection are not expected to be affected unless the shutdown is prolonged… 🟪 (READ MORE)