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- BG Reads // October 14, 2025
BG Reads // October 14, 2025
A.J. Bingham
October 13, 2025
faustin a
Presented By
www.binghamgp.com
October 13, 2025
✅ Today's BG Reads include:
🟪 Travis County invests $21 million in affordable child care (Austin Monitor)
🟪 Austin says it will comply with Abbott order on crosswalks and streets (AXIOS Austin)
🟪 Texas youth camps say cost of implementing new safety requirements will force them to close (Texas Tribune)
🟪 San Antonio Spurs rep refuses to say whether team will leave town if arena vote fails next month (San Antonio Current)
🟪 How Ken Paxton, a rising MAGA star, got rich as a Texas politician (Wall Street Journal)
🟪 Trump says inflation is ‘defeated’ and the Fed has cut rates, yet prices remain too high for many (Associated Press)
🟪 Federal judges, warning of ‘judicial crisis,’ fault Supreme Court’s emergency orders (New York Times)
READ ON!
[CITY OF AUSTIN]
🏛️ City Manager Executives and Advisors Staff Visual Chart
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[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
✅ Travis County invests $21 million in affordable child care (Austin Monitor)
County commissioners have taken their biggest step yet towards getting families tangible access to child care following a voter-approved tax increase to fund sweeping investment in that sector last November. Of the $75 million approved last year, the county has awarded $21 million in two contracts with Capital Area Workforce Solutions to provide direct scholarships to families and gap funding to prop up inadequately state-subsidized providers.
Currently, Workforce Solutions serves about 3,000 children with a network of 300 providers, but there are thousands of families still waiting to receive child care. The current waitlist time listed on the website is two years. The new contracts will provide at least 1,000 more children with child care, making a significant dent in what was an almost 5,000-person waitlist this time last year… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ Austin says it will comply with Abbott order on crosswalks and streets (AXIOS Austin)
Austin officials tell Axios they will comply with a new state directive barring political messaging on roadways.
Why it matters: Gov. Greg Abbott this week threatened to withhold transportation funding from Texas cities that don't remove "any and all political ideologies" from streets.
The state move aligns with the Trump administration's push to ban such displays nationwide, saying they can make roads unsafe by distracting drivers.
Driving the news: Cities and counties have 30 days to remove "non-compliant installations" on streets or risk losing state and federal transportation funding and partnerships, according to a letter Texas Department of Transportation executive director Marc Williams sent to cities and counties Wednesday that was obtained by Axios.
"Texans expect their taxpayer dollars to be used wisely, not advance political agendas on Texas roadways," Abbott had said in a press statement…
Between the lines: Abbott did not mention rainbow crosswalks like ones in Houston, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, though they have long been targeted by anti-LGBTQ+ conservatives… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ City of Buda shares long-term vision and goals (Community Impact)
Buda leaders gathered to discuss the future of the community and to update residents on its future goals.
At a joint meeting of the Buda City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission held on Oct. 8, Buda Development Services Director Angela Kennedy presented an overview of the goals and strategies outlined in the 2024 Our Buda, Our Future Comprehensive Plan, alongside the city council’s 2025-40 Strategic Plan priorities.
Kennedy emphasized that these guiding documents align to set long-term priorities and support coordinated, forward-looking decision-making for the city’s future.
According to city documents, the comprehensive plan was adopted by the city council following a public input process, replacing the previous 2030 plan, Preserving Our Heritage, Sustaining Our Future, which was adopted in 2012.
The agenda states that in August, the council adopted the 2025-40 Strategic Plan, which sets policy direction and outlines priority programs and initiatives for Buda.
The plan features five-year short-term goals and outlines a mission, vision and guiding principles to steer the city’s progress over the next 15 years. It succeeds the previous strategic plan adopted in 2021 and amended in 2023… 🟪 (READ MORE)
[TEXAS/US NEWS]
✅ Texas youth camps say cost of implementing new safety requirements will force them to close (Texas Tribune)
Texas camp owners on Friday urged the state health agency to give them more time and flexibility on costly new safety requirements, saying they could be forced to close by next summer. “We support the goal of making camps safer,” said Riley Watkins, owner of Camp Oak Haven, west of Houston. “Let's work together to find a way for these new bills to work with us instead of against us.” It was the first time youth camp owners got a peek at what two landmark bills passed this year, following the July 4 flooding deaths of 27 Camp Mystic campers and counselors, would mean for them come next summer.
Imelda Garcia, chief deputy commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, and her staff opened the floor for public input on Friday after releasing a dramatic proposal that would raise the initial licensing fee for a large overnight camp from $750 to $11,000. Renewing a license would be slightly less. License fees would no longer be tied to how many days a camp operates and instead be based on the number of campers served. Day camps would also see a license hike, from the current $250 a year to as high as $3,200 for those caring for the most campers. The state insists the fee structure will allow the health agency to recapture the more than $2 million the Texas Legislature budgeted this year to cover the costs of regulating the new safety requirements. Owners of larger camps cautioned that the new hefty fees, especially for smaller camps, will likely put them out of business.
“I’d ask you to continue to look at what is a large camp versus a small camp, as anything over 500 being a large camp is probably just a misunderstanding of how large some camps are,” said Ryan Neuhaus, executive director of Camp Lone Star in La Grange. “I’d love for larger camps like mine to be able to shoulder a little bit more of the cost than the smaller camps.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ San Antonio Spurs rep refuses to say whether team will leave town if arena vote fails next month (San Antonio Current)
During a lively Wednesday night town hall, San Antonio Spurs General Counsel Bobby Perez refused to say whether the team would leave town if voters reject a publicly financed arena deal in November. “We’re totally focused on Nov. 4,” Perez said in response to an audience inquiry about whether the NBA franchise would consider relocating. “We hope that when you look at the numbers, when you look at the facts, you’ll vote for ‘Yes’ for Propositions A and B. That’s what we’re focused on.” Perez’s dodge didn’t satisfy the packed and vocal audience at the West Side’s Mexican American Unity Council building. “Answer the question!” members yelled at Perez. “Liar!” another attendee called.
Indeed, the gathering organized by District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo crackled with a contentious energy different from similar events held by other council members to answer constituent questions about the upcoming election. Unlike some of those town halls, for example, the questions for Perez and San Antonio Rodeo CEO Cody Davenport weren’t pre-approved by organizers. What’s more, Castillo also invited vocal Project Marvel opponent Heywood Sanders, a UT-San Antonio professor emeritus of public administration and Current columnist. City Manager Erik Walsh and City Chief Financial Officer Ben Gorzell also were in attendance.
“What we know about teams is that if they see an opportunity for a larger return, they will move,” Sanders said of the relocation question. “But, the NBA at this point is not necessarily interested in the Spurs moving. They’re not necessarily interested in any team moving. They may well consider expansion.” Sanders brought up the case of the Philadelphia 76ers franchise, whom NBA Commissioner Adam Silver reportedly pressured to remain in its current arena… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ How Ken Paxton, a rising MAGA star, got rich as a Texas politician (Wall Street Journal)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton went from being a middle-class lawyer to a multimillionaire during his two decades on a public official’s salary, according to thousands of pages of previously unreported documents that shed new light on the personal finances of one of the Republican Party’s most-watched midterm candidates. Paxton, who entered state government in 2003 with a modest income and few assets, by 2018 told a lender he had amassed a net worth of about $5.5 million, not including millions in assets he and his wife had previously moved into a blind trust.
The following year, Paxton reaped an additional $2.2 million gain—never previously disclosed—from his investment in a local company with a lucrative Texas state contract, according to the documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, which include Paxton’s tax returns and bank statements. Paxton’s accumulation of wealth has become a key campaign issue as he vies to unseat U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in a hotly contested Republican primary set for March 3, 2026.
A spokesman for Paxton called this article a “bogus hit piece” given to The Wall Street Journal by Paxton’s political enemies. The documents reviewed by the Journal were produced via subpoena by banks and other parties for the impeachment trial. Most were never entered into evidence and haven’t been previously disclosed.
The documents include seven years of Paxton’s tax returns; personal financial statements prepared by Paxton and his wife for a series of property loans; personal bank records; the bank records of his blind trust; and text messages between Paxton, his wife and the trustee of the blind trust. Paxton in 2015 put his assets into a blind trust, a tool used by politicians to avoid conflicts of interest by separating them from management of their money. Although he said in public filings that he would no longer know what assets were in his trust, the text messages show a closer involvement, including in one instance his trustee texting Paxton updates on stock trades… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ Trump says inflation is ‘defeated’ and the Fed has cut rates, yet prices remain too high for many (Associated Press)
Inflation has risen in three of the last four months and is slightly higher than it was a year ago, when it helped sink then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. Yet you wouldn’t know it from listening to President Donald Trump or even some of the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve.
Trump told the United Nations General Assembly late last month: “Grocery prices are down, mortgage rates are down, and inflation has been defeated.”
And at a high-profile speech in August, just before the Fed cut its key interest rate for the first time this year, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said: “Inflation, though still somewhat elevated, has come down a great deal from its post-pandemic highs. Upside risks to inflation have diminished.”
Yet dismissing or even downplaying inflation while it is still above the Fed’s target of 2% poses big risks for the White House and the Federal Reserve. For the Trump administration, it could find itself on the wrong side of a potent issue: Surveys show that many Americans still see high prices as a major burden on their finances… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ Trump administration begins laying off more than 4,000 federal workers amid government shutdown, court filing shows (NBC News)
The Trump administration on Friday began laying off more than 4,000 federal workers, according to a court filing, as the government remains shut down due to the inability of Congress to reach a funding deal. Reduction-in-force notices are being sent to federal workers across seven departments, with the Treasury Department and Department of Health and Human Services being the hardest hit and accounting for more than half of the total layoffs, according to a new Justice Department filing.
The court filing is in response to a lawsuit over the shutdown layoffs from the American Federation of Government Employees and the AFL-CIO. Other affected agencies include the departments of Homeland Security, Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency.
“The RIFs have begun,” White House budget director Russ Vought said on X earlier Friday, referring to “reductions in force” for workers. While he didn’t provide details, a spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget confirmed to NBC News that the layoffs had begun and said they will be “substantial.” On Friday night, a senior administration official told NBC News "those RIFs are a snapshot in time and represent only where things were at the time of the court filing," suggesting the situation remains fluid.
OMB senior adviser Stephen Billy wrote in Friday’s filing that the affected agencies, in addition to others, “may actively be considering whether to conduct additional RIFs, including RIFs related to the ongoing lapse in appropriations.” Billy also indicated that agencies are continuing to weigh layoffs, but “those assessments remain under deliberation and are not final.” He did not provide an estimate for any additional layoffs or the timing… 🟪 (READ MORE)
✅ Federal judges, warning of ‘judicial crisis,’ fault Supreme Court’s emergency orders (New York Times)
More than three dozen federal judges have told The New York Times that the Supreme Court’s flurry of brief, opaque emergency orders in cases related to the Trump administration have left them confused about how to proceed in those matters and are hurting the judiciary’s image with the public. At issue are the quick-turn orders the Supreme Court has issued dictating whether Trump administration policies should be left in place while they are litigated through the lower courts.
That emergency docket, a growing part of the Supreme Court’s work in recent years, has taken on greater importance amid the flood of litigation challenging President Trump’s efforts to expand executive power. While the orders are technically temporary, they have had broad practical effects, allowing the administration to deport tens of thousands of people, discharge transgender military service members, fire thousands of government workers and slash federal spending. The striking and highly unusual critique of the nation’s highest court from lower court judges reveals the degree to which litigation over Mr. Trump’s agenda has created strains in the federal judicial system.
Sixty-five judges responded to a Times questionnaire sent to hundreds of federal judges across the country. Of those, 47 said the Supreme Court had been mishandling its emergency docket since Mr. Trump returned to office. The judges responded to the questionnaire and spoke in interviews on the condition of anonymity so they could share their views candidly, as lower court judges are governed by a complex set of rules that include limitations on their public statements. Of the judges who responded, 28 were nominated by Republican presidents, including 10 by Mr. Trump; 37 were nominated by Democrats.
While those nominated by Democrats were more critical of the Supreme Court, judges nominated by presidents of both parties expressed concerns. In interviews, federal judges called the Supreme Court’s emergency orders “mystical,” “overly blunt,” “incredibly demoralizing and troubling” and “a slap in the face to the district courts.” One judge compared their district’s current relationship with the Supreme Court to “a war zone.” Another said the courts were in the midst of a “judicial crisis.” The responses to The Times serve as the most comprehensive picture to date about the extraordinary tensions within the judiciary, hints of which have begun to spill out publicly… 🟪 (READ MORE)
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