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September 15, 2025

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 City, Austin ISD police to revise protocols after 'conflicting messages' sent during Barton Hills shooting response (Community Impact)

🟪 Austin becoming FEMA-approved emergency alert authority, planning 1st test alert (KXAN)

🟪 Travis County increases investment in harm reduction (Austin Monitor)

🟪 New nonstop flights coming to Austin airport in the months ahead (KUT)

🟪 More notice required for public meetings under new Texas law (Community Impact)

🟪 Texas legislative committees will study freedom of speech on college campuses in wake of Charlie Kirk killing (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Texas is running out of water — and Corpus Christi is the first warning sign (Houston Chronicle)

🟪 Trump administration launches trial program to fast-track electric air taxis (NPR)

READ ON!

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ City Memo: Short-Term Rental Regulations – Upcoming Action Item (Development Services Department)

🏛️ 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]

✅ City, Austin ISD police to revise protocols after 'conflicting messages' sent during Barton Hills shooting response (Community Impact)

Austin and Austin ISD police officials are improving emergency communications after conflicting public messaging was sent following a shooting near Barton Hills Elementary School Sept. 10.

“We recognize the seriousness of this mistake, and we are reviewing this breakdown to ensure it does not happen again,” Austin police Chief Lisa Davis said Sept. 12… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin becoming FEMA-approved emergency alert authority, planning 1st test alert (KXAN)

Austinites will receive a test emergency alert on Monday, Sept. 29, as the city of Austin becomes a FEMA-approved authority that can use the national emergency alert system IPAWS.

IPAWS, which stands for Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, is a federally regulated system that allows jurisdictions to contact the public via cell phone towers, television, and radio without requiring any service subscriptions, according to the city. It’s FEMA’s national system for local alerts that provide authenticated emergency and life-saving information to the public.

IPAWS uses Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) to contact cell phones within a geotargeted area and can send messages to televisions and radio stations via the Emergency Alerts System (EAS).

The Austin Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management (HSEM) will conduct a coordinated test of both the EAS and WEA systems on Monday, Sept. 29, around 3 p.m. across the entire city in all three counties… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Travis County increases investment in harm reduction (Austin Monitor)

One of Travis County’s most consistent investments over the last few years has been toward mitigating the opioid overdose crisis, partially funded by a national settlement with the drug companies that helped cause the crisis. In November of last year, the county invested $400,000 of those funds into harm reduction services, and on Tuesday, they upped that to $525,000, which will be split between three community partners: LifeWorks, Texas Harm Reduction Alliance, and Vivent Health [a Bingham Group client]. 

Earlier this year, the Travis County Medical Examiner reported that overdose deaths declined in 2024 for the first time since the county declared an overdose crisis in 2022. In order to continue that trend, the county will invest $175,000 each to three organizations doing work in different areas that make up a holistic approach to harm reduction. 

Vivent Health provides services like medical care, case management, a dental clinic and a food pantry to people living with HIV. They also focus on prevention, providing free walk-in STI testing and treatment, PrEP, and condoms, often in collaboration with THRA, Austin EMS and the Other Ones Foundation. Their LifePoint program looks to expand access to testing and treatment for diseases that result from intravenous opioid use.

“This is specifically pinpointed towards folks who are currently experiencing opioid use disorder, or at risk of opioid use disorder, and are also experiencing Hepatitis C,” explained Cassandra Mabry, director of prevention at Vivent Health. “The focus is on getting folks into treatment and retaining them in treatment. Folks face a lot of barriers, such as transportation issues, communication issues. Our navigators can offer them free transportation services, linkage to community resources and referrals, and appointment reminders. Because Hepatitis C treatment is rather lengthy – it can be up to 8-12 weeks – they check in with those folks really regularly and to see how they’re doing.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ New nonstop flights coming to Austin airport in the months ahead (KUT)

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is heading into the fall with a packed schedule of nonstop flights. Airlines have unveiled a slate of routes that will connect Central Texas travelers to Mexico City's newest airport, Florida's beaches, Colorado's mountains and more.

The number of seats available on flights out of Austin — an industry metric known as "seat capacity," which takes into account the size of planes in addition to the number of flights — will grow by 10% this fall compared to last year.

Fierce competition between the airport's two largest airlines may benefit consumers as Southwest and Delta battle for market share. Southwest still controls more than 40% of the market, but Delta has already carried more than 1 million passengers to and from the city this year, up 12% from 2024.

Southwest CEO Bob Jordan outlined the airline's big plans in an interview with the Austin Business Journal last month. He said the Dallas-based airline is on track to "make Austin the largest airport and largest service we have in the whole state of Texas."

The remark caught the attention of ABIA officials. An airport executive in charge of recruiting new flights called the comments "profound."

"We currently have 131 [daily] departures on Southwest. Houston has 187, and Dallas Love has 210," ABIA's Deputy Chief of Air Service Jamy Kazanoff told airport commissioners last week, spelling out exactly what Jordan's comments imply. "That would be a lot of [flights] for Southwest and Austin."

But Delta [a Bingham Group client] remains the fastest growing carrier at ABIA — for now… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Extension of downtown Austin skyline to continue south of Lady Bird Lake (Community Impact)

A 2-million-square foot mixed-use project at the Ego's property on South Congress Avenue is cleared for development, joining several other prominent high-rise plans moving ahead in the South Central Waterfront near downtown.

City Council approved the 500 South Congress PUD, or planned unit development, Sept. 11. Related Cos.' redevelopment of Ego's bar and surrounding apartment and office buildings on a 6.5-acre site will include:

• 950 residences, with 800 apartments and 150 condominiums

• A 225-room hotel

• 600,000 square feet of office space

• 135,000 square feet of commercial space for retail, a restaurant and grocery store

The site's tallest tower may reach up to 650 feet tall, while the rest of the property can build up to 500 feet.

Related's Texas President Mike Iannacone recently said the 500 South Congress PUD could be the new heart of the South Central Waterfront, which said is becoming a "mixed-use city of the future.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Longtime GOP Rep. Michael McCaul says he will not seek reelection to Congress (KUT)

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, will not seek reelection in 2026 after serving his 11th term in Congress.

The former chair of the powerful House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security committees announced the decision Sunday, saying that he is looking for a new challenge in the same policy space.

“My father’s service in World War II inspired me to pursue a life of public service, with a focus on defending our great nation against global threats, and I have been proud to carry out that mission in Congress for more than two decades,” he said in a news release. “I am ready for a new challenge in 2027 and look forward to continuing to serve my country in the national security and foreign policy realm.”

During his time in Congress, McCaul has focused extensively on these issues, having chaired the homeland security panel from 2013 to 2019 as well as the wide-ranging foreign affairs committee from 2023 to 2025. He also served as the chair of the House China Task Force… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Texas legislative committees will study freedom of speech on college campuses in wake of Charlie Kirk killing (Texas Tribune)

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Friday announced the formation of committees to study bias and free speech at universities amid a firestorm of criticism from conservative lawmakers on statements made by university faculty and students.

The House and Senate Select Committees on Civil Discourse & Freedom of Speech in Higher Education were formed “honoring the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk,” according to a press release. Kirk, a Christian conservative activist who frequently traveled to college campuses to discuss controversial politics, was shot and killed on Wednesday at Utah Valley University during one of his events.

In the wake of Kirk’s death, Republican lawmakers and activists in Texas and across the state have harshly criticized online commentary mocking Kirk and his killing. Several lawmakers have called for the removal of school teachers, professors and public officials who criticized Kirk, which Burrows said highlighted the necessity of the committee.

“The political assassination of Charlie Kirk — and the national reaction it has sparked, including the public celebration of his murder by some in higher education — is appalling and reveals a deeper, systemic problem worth examining,” Burrows said in the press release… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ More notice required for public meetings under new Texas law (Community Impact)

Cities, counties and school district boards across Texas are required to provide more notice for public meetings under a new state law aimed at increasing public participation in government affairs.

Local government agencies must post meeting notices at least three business days in advance of the meeting, meaning weekends and holidays do not count toward the minimum posting period.

House Bill 1522, which became law Sept. 1, increases the notice requirement from 72 hours. Bill sponsor Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, said government boards sometimes posted meeting agendas “on a Friday afternoon for a Monday meeting” under the 72-hour rule, which she said resulted in “lower levels of public participation and engagement in local government.”

The law change is part of “an effort to promote government transparency and citizen participation,” Kolkhorst said during a May 13 legislative hearing… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Federal loopholes may have opened the door for sports betting alternatives that skirt Texas’ gambling ban (Texas Tribune)

With football season ramping up, various social media sites have seen a swarm of new advertisements urging users to download various apps that would allow them to win big on the outcomes of upcoming sporting events.

Some ads make an even more enticing claim to potential Texas bettors: that placing money on the games is newly legal. One ad from prediction market app Polymarket states that football trading is “now legal” in Texas. Other ads imply there are workarounds to the state's strict gambling ban.

“I found a way to bet on the NFL even though we live in Texas,” reads a simulated text in one Instagram ad from prediction market app Kalshi.

Through prediction markets and daily fantasy sports, also known as DFS, Texans have more access than ever to win — or lose — money based on the outcome of sporting events. And it can be done without leaving the state, where betting on contests or games is both illegal and a sticking point among state officials.

Despite the ads’ claims, no new state or federal laws related to gambling regulation passed this year, except for a restriction on online lottery ticket couriers. Repeated efforts in the Texas Legislature to legalize sports betting, casinos and DFS have all faltered, leaving the games unregulated and unclear on these digital alternatives beyond a nearly decade-old nonbinding opinion from Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The lack of legal movement has not stopped online sites from giving Texas players alternatives to sports betting from exploding in availability. The two new ways of playing lean on federal regulations rather than state law to provide their services to players. Executives from DFS and prediction market businesses have pushed back on being linked to sports betting, claiming their peer-to-peer services are skill-based or federally regulated financial transactions, respectively… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas is running out of water — and Corpus Christi is the first warning sign (Houston Chronicle)

Texas is staring down a water crisis, and Corpus Christi is ground zero — where politicians cater to global corporations while billionaires look to cash in on scarcity. Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to yank state funding this week after Corpus Christi’s City Council scrapped a wildly over-budget desalination plant meant to turn seawater into refinery fuel. City officials say taxpayers can’t afford it; industry insists it can’t survive without it. Across Texas, cities and businesses are scrambling for water. Demand is expected to grow 120% as the state’s population reaches 51 million by 2070, the Texas Water Development Board predicted.

Nearly half of those Texans will live in Houston or Dallas. This spring, the Texas Legislature set aside $1 billion a year for water, for the next 20 years, split evenly between new supply projects, like pipelines and desalination plants, and repairing aging infrastructure.

But a Texas 2036 study says the real price tag is $154 billion by 2070: $73.7 billion to fix crumbling water systems, $59 billion for new supplies, and $21.1 billion for wastewater repairs. The Dallas City Council’s 2024 Long Range Water Supply Plan sees a shortage emerging around 2040 if they don’t find new sources. The Metroplex expects demand to rise by 360 million gallons a day by 2070, four times the region’s current capacity. Austin’s Water Forward plan calls for meeting growing demand with conservation, storage, and development of alternative supplies, such as water reclaimed from treatment plants. San Antonio, long plagued by shortages, aims to wean itself from the shrinking Edwards Aquifer. But its future hinges on cutting per-person use. These plans are ambitious and fragile.

A record drought, weaker conservation, or a surge from thirsty industries like data centers could upend them all. Corpus Christi’s mistake was overpromising to big business. Under current Texas law, landowners can pump as much water from the ground as they wish, with little or no regulation. Texas has a long history of landowners taking so much water that it dries up the springs and streams on their neighbors’ properties. Hedge fund billionaire Kyle Bass doesn’t believe the conservation plans will work and sees an opportunity for his firm, Conservation Equity Management. It owns two East Texas ranches over the prolific Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, which stretches in a narrow band from the state’s northeast corner to Laredo. Bass has applied for permits to pump 10 billion gallons of groundwater a year. He told my colleague Megan Kimble he aims to sell to customers “anywhere south of Waco and north of Dallas-Fort Worth.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Trump administration launches trial program to fast-track electric air taxis (NPR)

The Trump administration has unveiled a pilot program to accelerate the use of electric air taxis, a move aimed at establishing U.S. dominance in airspace technology.

The Department of Transportation on Friday said the Federal Aviation Administration's Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) will develop "new frameworks and regulations for enabling safe operations" and form partnerships with private sector companies as well as with state and local governments.

"The next great technological revolution in aviation is here," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement on Friday. "The United States will lead the way, and doing so will cement America's status as a global leader in transportation innovation. That means more high-paying manufacturing jobs and economic opportunity."

The program will include at least five pilot projects and will run for three years after the first project is up and running, the department said. The program will also include piloted and unmanned operations that focus on electric air taxis, also called an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft or eVTOL, that can help with delivering cargo and supplies. The aircraft will also be used to test their effectiveness in emergency situations, such as airlift and medical transport… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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