🟪 Austin City Council meets today at 10AM

🟪 New study says Austin restaurant permitting can cost nearly $9,000 and requires up to 105 steps (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Texas will require proof of legal immigration status to get professional licenses (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Ken Paxton assails acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock as “loser,” calls for his removal amid fiery grudge match (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Travelers are facing the longest TSA wait times in history (NPR)

🟪 Army extends maximum recruitment age to 42, allowing older recruits to join (ABC News)

🟪 Iran and the US harden their positions as Tehran keeps its grip on the Strait of Hormuz (Associated Press)

READ ON!

☀️ Client Spotlight: Food delivery app Wonder targets Austin amid Texas expansion (Austin Business Journal)

A New York-based food delivery service plans to expand its operations to Austin next year.

Wonder, a mealtime platform, is targeting Texas as part of its recent expansion efforts, according to an announcement. This marks the company's first move outside of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, with San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and Austin as select markets.

The platform combines delivery, pickup, dine-in, meal kits and chef-driven food into one experience across its physical locations and app services.

Customers are able to order from several acclaimed chefs and restaurant brands, including Bobby Flay Steak, Marcus Samuelsson's Streetbird, Di Fara Pizza and Texas-based Tejas Barbecue… 🟪 (READ MORE)

🏛️ Today @10AM: Austin Council Regular Session

✅ New study says Austin restaurant permitting can cost nearly $9,000 and requires up to 105 steps (Texas Tribune)

Steep fees, bureaucratic red tape and lengthy approval processes may be driving small business owners out of Austin or discouraging them from opening altogether.

Some Austin districts once known for their iconic local businesses have undergone significant transformations in recent years. South Congress Avenue, for one, was once lined with homegrown shops, but is now overwhelmingly dominated by out-of-state brands with deep pockets. While increasing costs of construction and rent have undoubtedly been a driving factor behind this shift, a new report presented to city officials Friday argues that onerous and arcane permitting processes are also contributing.

“Austin’s process is so complex that the only entrepreneurs who could make it through easily are those who can hire permit navigators or who can withstand the opportunity cost of delays,” said Ava Mouton-Johnston, city policy coordinator for Institute for Justice, the public interest law firm behind the report. “These small local entrepreneurs were getting started and succeeding despite the city, not because the city was actually supporting them in their policies and rules.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Baby A's site on Riverside Drive could be redeveloped (Austin Busienss Journal)

More housing could be built along East Riverside Drive at a site that currently holds a Baby Acapulco restaurant. 

Grayco Partners, a Houston-based development firm, is seeking to add 1.4 acres at East Riverside Drive and South Lakeshore Boulevard into an existing planned-unit development. That change would allow for up to 357 housing units to be built on site. The developer could also develop buildings up to 180 feet on the property, if it is added to the PUD. Grayco wants the 1.4 acre-site added to the South Shore PUD, which was created in 2009. 

There are no indications the restaurant is closing anytime soon. It could make its transition around the time a train stop is added nearby in the coming years.

Baby A's, as the restaurant is called by locals, at one time had four locations in Austin and is arguably an iconic Austin restaurant. It's famous for its purple margaritas and now has two locations… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Emerson's HQ campus north of Austin listed for sale (Austin Business Journal)

A prominent company has put its 305,000-square-foot local headquarters in Round Rock up for sale. The move comes as it consolidates its real estate portfolio and moves employees to the longtime National Instruments campus near The Domain in North Austin.

Representatives from St. Louis-based Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) on March 24 acknowledged its properties at 1100 W. Louis Henna Blvd. are for sale. The parcels are across I-35 from Dell Technologies Inc.'s headquarters.

Emerson's 14-acre campus includes two class A, five-story office buildings, 1,000 structured and surface parking spaces and 5.4 acres for further development, according to a brochure for the property. Entities tied to the company have owned the site since 2011.

The site serves as the headquarters of Emerson's Software and Systems group. It was previously the operations base for Emerson Automation Solutions, a former subsidiary of the St. Louis company… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Ken Paxton assails acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock as “loser,” calls for his removal amid fiery grudge match (Texas Tribune)

Attorney General Ken Paxton has called for acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock to be removed from office, in a fiery social media tirade responding to a letter Hancock sent accusing Paxton of falling short in his efforts to stop the spread of Muslim-affiliated groups in Texas.

Paxton called Hancock an “incompetent loser” and “embarrassment” to the position of the state’s chief financial officer in a social media post late Tuesday. He called for Gov. Greg Abbott to remove Hancock from office and replace him with the GOP nominee for comptroller, Don Huffines. Abbott did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hancock, a former state senator, was appointed by Abbott in June, after Glenn Hegar left to become chancellor of the Texas A&M system.

Paxton’s beef with Hancock goes back years — Hancock was one of two Republican state senators to vote to impeach Paxton on some of the charges levied by the House in 2023… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas will require proof of legal immigration status to get professional licenses (Texas Tribune)

People seeking a host of professional licenses in Texas, from electricians to dog breeders, will soon have to prove they are in the country legally after the state’s Commission of Licensing and Regulation on Tuesday adopted a new rule that could affect thousands of workers.

Commissioners unanimously approved the change after hearing from a parade of speakers who largely asked them to do the opposite because of worries that it will hamper the state’s economy and burden immigrants trying to make an honest living. The speakers also argued the move will push people to work without a license, and erode state oversight of crucial industries.

The commission oversees the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which plans to implement the rule May 1.

“TDLR has long been evaluating verification of license eligibility in line with federal law. With the transfer of the Texas Lottery to TDLR, the recent launch of our licensing system modernization project, and increased focus on combatting human trafficking, the department is moving forward with lawful presence verification,” Caroline M. Espinosa, a TDLR spokesperson, said Tuesday. “This ensures consistent, secure practices across all programs and strengthens our ability to identify and deter fraud, labor exploitation, and human trafficking.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Travelers are facing the longest TSA wait times in history (NPR)

The Transportation Security Administration is experiencing the longest wait times ever in its 24-year history because of the ongoing partial shutdown, the agency's deputy administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill told the House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday.

Wait times at some major airports have exceeded four hours, and employees at those airports are calling out of work at rates of 40% to 50%, McNeill told members of the committee. If this partial government shutdown continues into Friday, TSA will have missed almost $1 billion in paychecks since it began, McNeill said.

"This level of disruption is unprecedented, and unacceptable, and significantly undermines the security of U.S. transportation systems," she said… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Army extends maximum recruitment age to 42, allowing older recruits to join (ABC News)

The U.S. Army is expanding its recruiting pool, raising the maximum enlistment age from 35 years old to 42, according to new service regulations reviewed by ABC News. 

The move isn’t without precedent. The service lifted the cap to 42 years old in 2006, during the height of the Iraq War, before lowering it back to 35 a decade later. 

Bringing the limit back up puts the Army more in line with the Air Force and Navy regulations, which both cap enlistment at 41. The Marine Corps caps recruits at 28 years old, though older applicants can potentially enlist with special permission.

The biggest hurdle with recruiting is an increasingly shrinking pool of eligible candidates, according to the Pentagon.  

The Pentagon has estimated that only about 23% of young Americans ( between the ages of 17 and 24 years old) are eligible to serve. Much of this is due to academic performance on the military’s SAT-style entrance test, obesity and criminal records... 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Iran and the US harden their positions as Tehran keeps its grip on the Strait of Hormuz (Associated Press)

Iran and the United States hardened their positions as a diplomatic push for a ceasefire in the Middle East war appeared to falter on Thursday. Tehran moved to formalize its control over the crucial Strait of Hormuz while Washington prepared for the arrival of U.S. troops in the region that could be used on the ground in the Islamic Republic.

Sirens over Israel warned of barrages of incoming Iranian missiles and in the United Arab Emirates, two people were reported killed and three were wounded by falling shrapnel from a missile interception over Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

Industry experts say Iran is implementing a “de facto ‘toll booth’ regime,” with some ships paying in Chinese yuan to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of all traded oil and natural gas is transported in peacetime.

Meanwhile, a strike group anchored by the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli drew closer to the Mideast with some 2,500 Marines. Also, at least 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne have been ordered to the region… 🟪 (READ MORE)