BG Reads // May 12, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
May 12, 2025

Presented By

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

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[EVENT SPOTLIGHT]

✅ Austin Chamber ATX Policy Forum 2025 // Wednesday May 14th // 8AM to 10AM

Mayor Kirk Watson will take the stage alongside these influential policymakers from across Central Texas including County Judges for Bastrop, Caldwell, and Williamson Counties.

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

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[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ From 11th street and beyond, Rally Austin is blazing trails to keep the city’s arts scene alive (Austin Monitor)

lans to revitalize two acres of city-owned land on East 11th Street are finally materializing, as Austin’s Economic Development Corporation makes moves to get brand new mixed-use developments up and running by 2028.

Bound by Franklin’s Barbecue to the west and Victory Grill to the east, the project is slated to bring space for local businesses and restaurants, music and art venues, an African American Cultural Heritage facility, and over 100 units of affordable housing. Leaders of the city’s Economic Development Corporation, now rebranded as Rally Austin, joined Historic Landmark Commissioners last week for an update.

“[The project] was selected by the Urban Renewal Board to truly reflect what has been lost in that neighborhood for a long time, including Black culture, Black residents and creative workers, as well as many other East Austin residents that have been displaced,” said Chief Transactions Officer Anne Gatling Haynes. “This is a really exciting and vibrant street…and we’re trying to really make sure that the cultural history of the district is within this new project.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

🟪 Thousands of residences, new public spaces planned at mixed-use North Loop development (Community Impact)

A pocket of North Loop just off Hwy. 290 is now lined up to become a mixed-use district with thousands of new residences after City Council approved of a series of zoning updates for the area this spring.

Several properties off Airport Boulevard and East Koenig Lane are now zoned under Austin's DB90 development program. The changes cover more than 13 acres, including the Leif Johnson Ford dealership and adjacent parcels.

DB90, created last year to replace a similar program that was voided in court, allows taller residential buildings with affordable housing and street-level commercial space. City leaders have already signed off on dozens of DB90 cases with potential plans for thousands of new housing units and hundreds of affordable spaces citywide.

The North Loop redevelopment is expected to begin with the northernmost property where the car dealership is now situated. Developer United Properties could also end up seeking even greater building entitlements for the southern tracts before starting construction there…  ✅ (READ MORE)

✅ Inbound flights at Austin airport delayed due to staffing Sunday, FAA says (KVUE)

Austin’s airport saw several flight delays on Sunday due to air traffic control staffing.

According to the FAA, the agency activated what's called a ground delay. It’s a traffic management program that delays scheduled flights coming to Austin.

Flights arriving into Austin were delayed by an average of 45 minutes during the ground delay, which happened around 4 p.m.

That delay has now lifted.

A spokesperson for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport said the airport has enough staff, but the FAA is working through an air traffic control shortage at the federal level.

According to flight tracker Flight Aware, the airport saw 133 delays on Sunday… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ AU40 2025: 17 young Austin pros honored (Austin Business Journal)

Winners for the 26th annual Austin Under 40 awards have been revealed.

KXAN News anchor and reporter Jennifer Sanders walked away with the top honor, Austinite of the Year, after winning in her category. The glass award presented to her at a gala on May 10 will join an Emmy and Edward R. Murrow award already on her shelf.

The list of finalists and winners of the Austin Under 40 awards is used widely in the business world by eager networkers, job recruiters, mentors and mentees. They are listed below, with the winners italicized… 🟪 (READ MORE)

🟪 The Sixth Street transformation has begun in earnest (Austin Business Journal)

Stream Realty Partners, which owns 30% to 35% of East Sixth Street, has about 20 buildings under various forms of construction, said Paul Bodenman, senior vice president of investments.

The visible work is finally coming about five years after Stream bought the sites. Neighbors — and the entire city, frankly — have been eager to see what will become of Austin's most famous street, some of which has remained boarded up since the pandemic.

The plan is to turn “Dirty Sixth” into Old Sixth — a name that is already being plastered across the street — and transform it into an 18-hour hub that offers a safe and family-friendly environment. Bars will remain abundant but expect more shops and restaurants. Think of farmers markets on Sunday morning rather than street scrubbers removing urine and puke.

Stream wants to bring in coffee shops, soft goods and small boutique gyms, plus daytime weekend activations and events for the city. And with Royal Blue Grocery gearing up to close its Congress Avenue shop this June, Bodenman said he believes Old Sixth has a pull for that business.

Stream expects its first tenants to open toward the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027, Bodenman said, with ideally a significant number of tenants opening throughout 2027 and 2028… ✅ (READ MORE)

[TEXAS NEWS]

✅ Texas lawmakers propose abortion pill bill that can’t be challenged in state courts (Texas Tribune)

In 2021, when Texas passed an abortion ban enforced through private lawsuits, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan sarcastically derided the architects of the law as “some geniuses” who’d found the “chink in the armor” to sidestep Roe v. Wade.

Four years later, those same folks are back with a new play to restrict the flow of abortion-inducing drugs into the state and a fresh set of never-before-seen legal tools that experts say would undermine the balance of power in the state.

Senate Bill 2880, which passed the Senate last week, allows anyone who manufactures, distributes, mails, prescribes or provides an abortion-inducing drug to be sued for up to $100,000. It expands the wrongful death statute to encourage family members, especially men who believe their partner had an abortion, to sue up to six years after the event, and empowers the Texas Attorney General to bring lawsuits on behalf of “unborn children of residents of this state.”

The bill has been referred to a House committee, where a companion bill faced significant pushback earlier this month… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[US and World News]

✅ U.S. and China agree to temporarily slash tariffs in bid to defuse trade war (New York Times)

The United States and China said Monday they reached an agreement to temporarily reduce the punishing tariffs they have imposed on each other while they try to defuse the trade war threatening the world’s two largest economies. In a joint statement, the countries said they would suspend their respective tariffs for 90 days and continue negotiations they started this weekend.

Under the agreement, the United States would reduce the tariff on Chinese imports to 30 percent from its current 145 percent, while China would lower its import duty on American goods to 10 percent from 125 percent.

“We concluded that we have a shared interest,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at a news conference in Geneva where U.S. and Chinese officials met over the weekend. “The consensus from both delegations is that neither side wanted a decoupling,” he said.

China said it will suspend or revoke countermeasures adopted in retaliation for escalating tariffs. In early April, the Chinese government had ordered restrictions on the export of rare earth metals and magnets, critical components used by many industries, including automakers, aerospace manufacturers and semiconductor firms. Mr. Bessent said the two countries may discuss purchase agreements of American goods by the Chinese government.

Such a deal could help narrow the American trade deficit with China. The agreement, for now, breaks an impasse that had brought much trade between China and the United States to a halt. Many American businesses had suspended orders, holding out hope that the two countries could strike a deal to lower the tariff rates.

Economists have warned that the trade dispute will slow global growth, fuel inflation and create product shortages, potentially tipping the United States into a recession. Chinese factories also experienced a sharp decline in export orders to the United States, heaping additional pressure on a sluggish economy. Chinese producers looked to expand trade to Southeast Asia and other regions to circumvent the U.S. tariffs… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Another Newark airport disruption as Trump’s transportation secretary talks of reducing flights (Associated Press)

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says he plans to reduce the number of flights in and out of Newark’s airport for the “next several weeks” as it struggles with radar outages and other issues, including another Sunday that again slowed air traffic.

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday, Duffy said he will meet this week with all major carriers flying through Newark Liberty International, New Jersey’s largest airport. He said the number of flight cutbacks would fluctuate by time of day with most targeting afternoon hours when international arrivals make the airport busier.

In addition to equipment outages, the airport has been been beset by flight delays and cancellations brought on by a shortage of air traffic controllers.

“We want to have a number of flights that if you book your flight, you know it’s going to fly, right?” he said. “That is the priority. So you don’t get to the airport, wait four hours, and then get delayed.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Judges warn Trump’s mass deportations could lay groundwork to ensnare Americans (Politico)

A fundamental promise by America’s founders — that no one should be punished by the state without a fair hearing — is under threat, a growing chorus of federal judges say.

That concept of “due process under law,” borrowed from the Magna Carta and enshrined in the Bill of Rights, is most clearly imperiled for the immigrants President Donald Trump intends to summarily deport, they say, but U.S. citizens should be wary, too. Across the country, judges appointed by presidents of both parties — including Trump himself — are escalating warnings about what they see as an erosion of due process caused by the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign.

What started with a focus on people Trump has deemed “terrorists” and “gang members” — despite their fierce denials — could easily expand to other groups, including Americans, these judges warn.

“When the courts say due process is important, we’re not unhinged, we’re not radicals,” U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, a Washington, D.C.-based appointee of President Joe Biden, said at a recent hearing.

“We are literally trying to enforce a process embodied in probably the most significant document with respect to peoples’ rights against tyrannical government oppression. That’s what we’re doing here. Okay?” It’s a fight that judges are increasingly casting as existential, rooted in the 5th Amendment’s guarantee that “no person shall … be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.”

The word “person,” courts have noted, makes no distinction between citizens or noncitizens. The Supreme Court has long held that this fundamental promise extends to immigrants in deportation proceedings. In a 1993 opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia called that principle “well-established.” The daily skirmishing between the White House and judges has obscured a slow-moving, nearly unanimous crescendo: If the courts don’t protect the rights of the most vulnerable, everyone is at risk… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump administration poised to accept 'palace in the sky' as a gift for Trump from Qatar: Sources (ABC News)

In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar -- a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News.

The gift had been expected to be announced next week, when Trump visits Qatar on the first foreign trip of his second term, according to sources familiar with the plans. But a senior White House official said the gift will not be presented or gifted while the president is in Qatar this week. In a social media post Sunday night, Trump confirmed his administration was preparing to accept the aircraft, calling it a "very public and transparent transaction" with the Defense Department.

Trump had previously toured the plane, which is so opulently configured it is known as "a flying palace," while it was parked at the West Palm Beach International Airport in February. The highly unusual -- unprecedented -- arrangement is sure to raise questions about whether it is legal for the Trump administration, and ultimately, the Trump presidential library foundation, to accept such a valuable gift from a foreign power.

Anticipating those questions, sources told ABC News that lawyers for the White House counsel's office and the Department of Justice drafted an analysis for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth concluding that is legal for the Department of Defense to accept the aircraft as a gift and later turn it over to the Trump library, and that it does not violate laws against bribery or the Constitution's prohibition (the emoluments clause) of any U.S. government official accepting gifts "from any King, Prince or foreign State." Sources told ABC News that Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump's top White House lawyer David Warrington concluded it would be "legally permissible" for the donation of the aircraft to be conditioned on transferring its ownership to Trump's presidential library before the end of his term, according to sources familiar with their determination… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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