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October 14, 2025

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 Austin's airport experiences delays due to staffing issues during government shutdown (KUT)

🟪 Group says it’s got enough signatures to force an election over the $1.6B Convention Center project (KXAN)

🟪 Austin mayor considering alternatives after Gov. Abbott's order on crosswalks, street art (CBS Austin)

🟪 New legislative panels will investigate “facts and circumstances” of deadly Central Texas floods (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Hegseth touts push to replace heavyset Texas National Guard troops in Illinois (The Hill)

🟪 Airports say they won’t air Kristi Noem shutdown video at TSA checkpoints (Washington Post)

🟪 News outlets broadly reject Pentagon rules before deadline for signing (Washington Post)

READ ON!

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ Actions taken by the Austin Council Thursday, 10.9.2025 // Archived Video 

🏛️ City Manager Executives and Advisors Staff Visual Chart

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

💰 2026 City of Austin Bond - Public Input

ℹ️ 2025 Essential Resources for Navigating the City of Austin

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ Austin's airport experiences delays due to staffing issues during government shutdown (KUT)

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a ground delay for flights arriving at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport until 9 p.m. Monday, the airport said.

Delays averaging 40 minutes are due to air traffic controller staffing issues, according to the FAA advisory. The maximum delay is 94 minutes. Under the current delay, the airport can only handle between 20 and 24 arrivals per hour.

The Monday after Austin City Limits Music Festival ranks in the top 10 busiest days for the airport. The airport did not say how, if at all, departing flights would be affected by the delay.

A government shutdown has added pressure on air traffic controllers across the country. Delays due to staffing have been reported in airports in Dallas, Houston, Nashville, Philadelphia and other cities… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Group says it’s got enough signatures to force an election over the $1.6B Convention Center project (KXAN)

A group opposed to the redevelopment of the $1.6 billion Austin Convention Center says it has enough signatures to file a petition with the city clerk and potentially force an election in May.

“Way over 20k of you signed for the right to vote on the boondoggle of a Convention Center and to ask for $ to spend on things we care about, and actually attract visitors,” the Austin United PAC wrote on social media.

That PAC is working to force a ballot measure that would stop the project — either until it is approved by voters or for seven years. The petition also calls for the city to prioritize funding for music, arts, cultural and outdoor tourism rather than spending on conventions, the Austin Business Journal previously reported.

On the same day, KXAN watched as the final standing elements of the current Convention Center were demolished.

The city said it received the petition and conduct a standard signature verification process, which takes about 30 days.

“As of today, the Convention Center completed demolition, is in active excavation and construction, and the project is on schedule and on budget,” the city added… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin mayor considering alternatives after Gov. Abbott's order on crosswalks, street art (CBS Austin)

Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is proposing alternative ways to showcase the city's diversity after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the removal of "any and all political ideologies" from Texas streets.

In a message posted Saturday to the Austin City Council board, Watson said city staff identified approximately 16 affected locations, including rainbow crosswalks. Failure to comply within 30 days could cost Austin hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal funding, including $175 million in current grants for Austin Transportation and Public Works alone.

The mayor proposed using city-owned property such as sidewalks, utility poles and other areas not subject to roadway regulations to display community pride and diversity.

"I envision banners along Bettie Naylor Street, potential permanent fixtures on city-owned property like sidewalks or utility poles, potential painting of sidewalks, and things I'm sure I'm not thinking about," Watson said… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Once home to the American-Statesman, iconic downtown Austin lakefront site gets new tenant (Austin American-Statesman)

Sitting on Lady Bird Lake just south of downtown is an iconic piece of waterfront real estate, one of Austin’s most coveted properties. East of the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge, which is known for hosting North America’s largest urban bat colony on summer nights, sits the former home of the Austin-American Statesman. After selling the paper in 2018, Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises retained ownership of the building and 18.9-acre waterfront property at 305 S. Congress Ave. with plans to turn the site into a residential, retail, hotel and office entertainment district.

With redevelopment plans stalled by lawsuits and a cooling market, the site instead has found new life with unconventional tenants. From hosting events to serving as an immersive art exhibit or a luxury car showroom, the building has taken on a variety of roles in recent years. Now, it enters a new chapter, possibly its last, before eventually giving way to condominiums and high-rises. Blending the legacies of two iconic Central Texas institutions, the building is transitioning from printing newspapers to manufacturing batteries for Base Power, an energy startup founded by Zach Dell, son of Dell Technologies Inc. founder and CEO Michael Dell.

The Statesman’s old distribution center, where the newspaper’s printing press still remains, is becoming the company’s first factory. “We were able to secure the Statesman building for our first production line, which we’re really psyched about,” Dell said. “I’m a local, born-and-bred Austinite. And so the Statesman and that building has a special place in my heart so it’s really cool to carry on the legacy of the Statesman in that building for now.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ New legislative panels will investigate “facts and circumstances” of deadly Central Texas floods (Texas Tribune)

Top Republicans in the Texas Legislature have announced the creation of committees tasked with “getting to the bottom of” the July flooding that killed more than 130 people, including 25 young girls and two teenage counselors at Camp Mystic.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows introduced on Monday the Senate and House General Investigating Committees on the July 2025 Flooding Events. They said the panels, which will meet jointly, will study “the facts and circumstances surrounding the July flooding,” including identifying ways to bolster Texas’ preparedness and responses to natural disasters as well as examining actions taken at youth summer camps.

“Camp Mystic has not spoken publicly on the record as to what happened that morning,” Patrick said in a news release. “They will be invited to testify, as will others involved in this flooding event.”

The lieutenant governor also said he was “shocked” that Camp Mystic already has a re-opening plan for next year amid unanswered questions. The camp’s officials said last month they would welcome campers back to their Cypress Lake site, which sits uphill from the Guadalupe River and didn’t sustain flood damage. Parents of the campers and counselors killed in the flood, however, have criticized the plan… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Hegseth touts push to replace heavyset Texas National Guard troops in Illinois (The Hill)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is touting an effort by the Texas Military Department to remove an unknown number of the state’s National Guard troops deployed to Chicago after a photo of seemingly overweight service members arriving in Illinois went viral.

“Standards are back at The [Department of War],” Hegseth posted to social media Monday alongside a story from Task & Purpose, which had reported on the troops’ replacement a day prior.

Texas National Guard troops began arriving in Illinois last week after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) sent an initial 200 service members to the state — an effort temporarily blocked by an appeals court. But it was a set of viral photos, taken by ABC News and showing the troops arriving south of Chicago, that quickly got the public’s attention.

The photos showed several heavyset Guardsmen in military fatigues carrying rifles and duffle bags, drawing online derision for their overweight appearance.

Many people pointed to Hegseth’s comments about fitness standards, made to the U.S. military’s top officers last month, in which he said he no longer wanted to see “fat troops” and “fat generals and admirals.”…  🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Airports say they won’t air Kristi Noem shutdown video at TSA checkpoints (Washington Post)

Airports in more than a half-dozen U.S. markets have declined to display a video in which Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem blames congressional Democrats for the government shutdown and any related travel delays, citing the political nature of its content, according to local authorities. Officials that oversee airports serving Buffalo, Charlotte, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, said the video could violate internal policies that bar political messaging or contravene state or federal laws that prohibit the use of public resources for political activity. “We believe the Hatch Act clearly prohibits use of public assets for political purposes and messaging,” said Molly Prescott, a spokesperson for the Port of Portland, which operates Portland International Airport. Enacted in 1939, the Hatch Act bars federal employees from engaging in politics while on the job and is meant to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion.

Oregon law also precludes public employees from promoting or opposing political parties during working hours, Prescott said, noting: “This is the first time to our knowledge that the Port has declined to play a video.” Westchester County, a community just north of New York City, also declined to show the video; County Executive Ken Jenkins called it “inconsistent with the values we expect from our nation’s top public officials” and “unnecessarily alarmist” in a statement on Friday. Though airports routinely display video greetings from the homeland security chief at TSA checkpoints, the messages typically center on safety or procedures to be aware of, said Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst with Atmosphere Research Group. For example, the agency used the screens to broadcast the need to have a Real ID — the standard for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards that took effect in May — to board a domestic flight. “It is TSA’s top priority to make sure that you have the most pleasant and efficient airport experience as possible,” Noem says in the video, captured by news organizations and on social media. “However, Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ News outlets broadly reject Pentagon rules before deadline for signing (Washington Post)

Media across the ideological spectrum said they will not sign the Defense Department’s restrictive new press policy by Tuesday’s afternoon deadline. The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Associated Press and CNN said they wouldn’t sign, as did Newsmax and the Washington Times. Matt Murray, The Post’s executive editor, said the policy runs counter to the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of the press. “The proposed restrictions undercut First Amendment protections by placing unnecessary constraints on gathering and publishing information,” he said in a statement Monday. “We will continue to vigorously and fairly report on the policies and positions of the Pentagon and officials across the government.” The policy says reporters cannot obtain or solicit any information the Defense Department does not explicitly authorize. Any media representative who does not sign by 5 p.m. Tuesday has 24 hours to turn in their media credentials and clear out of the Pentagon facilities.

After pushback from reporters, news organizations and press freedom advocacy groups, the Pentagon expanded the prohibitions in the document, earning condemnation last week from the Pentagon Press Association, which represents the Pentagon press corps. The policy “constrains how journalists can report on the U.S. military, which is funded by nearly $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars annually,” said the New York Times’s Washington bureau chief, Richard Stevenson. “The public has a right to know how the government and military are operating.” The Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, NPR, Reuters and the Guardian, along with the trade publications Task & Purpose and Breaking Defense, said they were not signing either.

Fox News, Hegseth’s former employer, has not yet said whether it would sign the pledge. The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, who was added to a Signal group chat including Hegseth earlier this year, said the constraints on journalists violate their First Amendment rights. As a result, the magazine’s staffers won’t sign. The media policy is the latest attempt by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to clamp down on journalists covering the Pentagon. The Defense Department’s media staff rarely conducts briefings, kicked out many mainstream news organizations from their dedicated desks, and restricted movement within the Pentagon facilities… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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