BG Reads // September 17, 2025

Author

A.J. Bingham
September 17, 2025

austin a

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www.binghamgp.com

September 17, 2025

✅ Today's BG Reads include:

🟪 City of Austin ends nonprofit contract over alleged record tampering at homeless shelters (CBS Austin)

🟪 Austin budgets $12M for Central Texas higher education partnerships (Community Impact)

🟪 Travis County is raising property taxes to pay for past and future floods (KUT)

🟪  Travis County signs off on Central Health's new budget — with a tax rate increase (KUT)

🟪 Texas Rep. James Talarico ‘not taking instructions or orders’ from national Democratic Party in run for Senate (Houston Public Media)

🟪 Ken Paxton’s legal crusade against Beto O’Rourke is faltering before an all-Republican appeals court (Texas Tribune)

🟪 Bondi prompts broad backlash after saying she’ll target ‘hate speech’ (New York Times)

🟪 The two-speed economy is back as low-income Americans give up gains (Wall Street Journal)

READ ON!

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

🏛️ City Manager Executives and Advisors Staff Visual Chart

CMO Executives and Advisors_July 2025.pdf519.20 KB • PDF File

Last night I attended ULI Austin’s Building Equitable Communities Exchange, where a powerhouse panel featured Aaron Demerson, President & CEO of the Texas Economic Development Corporation, Austin Assistant City Manager Dr. Eric A. Johnson, and Davon Barbour, President & CEO of the Downtown Austin Alliance.

The panel offered candid insights on balancing growth with equity, aligning land use and infrastructure decisions with community needs, and strengthening workforce and economic development through public–private partnerships.

[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]

✅ City of Austin ends nonprofit contract over alleged record tampering at homeless shelters (CBS Austin)

Austin will not renew its contract with Urban Alchemy to operate two major homeless shelters after staff allegedly altered records in a key database system, according to a city memo.

The Austin Homeless Strategy Office said Tuesday it will end its contract with Urban Alchemy on Sept. 30, 2025, following the discovery that staff "misrepresented" exit dates and records in the Homeless Management Information System without permission. While the records have been corrected, director David Gray said he holds shelter operators to high accountability standards.

Urban Alchemy currently operates the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless and the Eighth Street Women's Shelter downtown.

An Urban Alchemy spokesperson said the company "identified staff who improperly, and without permission, misreported HMIS exit dates and records" and notified the city after internal controls discovered the issue. The company terminated the responsible employees. 

The company said it would review misreported records and submit them in its next quarterly progress report to Austin.

The city will enter an emergency contract with Endeavors, which already runs two other Austin homeless facilities. The emergency contract will go before the City Council on Oct. 9 and would run through Sept. 30, 2026.

The city plans to issue a competitive solicitation in 2026 for new shelter operations beginning Oct. 1, 2026… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Travis County signs off on Central Health's new budget — with a tax rate increase (KUT)

Travis County commissioners approved an $875 million annual budget for local public hospital district Central Health, along with an increased tax rate that local officials said was influenced by federal funding changes.

Around 5% of a Travis County homeowner’s property tax bill goes to Central Health. Those taxes must support health care for low-income and indigent residents. Central Health’s new annual tax rate is 11.8 cents per $100 of valuation — an effective increase of more than 9% from last year. That means the average homeowner will pay around $64 more to Central Health on their next bill.

At a meeting last week, Central Health board of managers treasurer Maram Museitif said the tax increase was needed to make up for federal budget cuts affecting Central Health and local partners the agency helps to support.

“We are left without a choice,” Museitif said. “Some of the federal policies have really impacted some of the services that are currently provided. In order for us really to sustain those services, we had to make a difficult choice of raising the taxes.”… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Travis County is raising property taxes to pay for past and future floods (KUT)

The Travis County Commissioners Court has approved a 9.12% property tax rate increase.

All four county commissioners and Travis County Judge Andy Brown supported the increase, which they say is necessary after the county zeroed out its savings account responding to catastrophic flooding this summer. So far, the county has spent just over $21 million cleaning up flood debris and setting up emergency services, according to Travis County spokesperson Hector Nieto.

The tax increase is expected to generate $42 million in additional revenue. It will cost the average homeowner — someone with a home valued around $515,000 — an additional $200 a year… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Austin budgets $12M for Central Texas higher education partnerships (Community Impact)

Austin may spend millions of dollars over the coming years to expand its partnerships with several of the region's major higher education institutions.

After years of informal work with multiple Central Texas colleges and universities, Austin moved this summer to set up official agreements with six Central Texas institutions including:

City departments have worked with all six universities in the past, and Austin already has a longtime interlocal agreement in place with UT. Charles Purma III, program and technology manager in Austin's budget office, said city leaders saw an opportunity this year to strengthen existing partnerships given the student populations and varied areas of expertise in the Central Texas academic community… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Mini-Picassos: Enter the 2025 Zilker Holiday Tree art contest for a festive challenge (CBS Austin)

The holiday season in Austin wouldn’t be complete without the glow of the Zilker Holiday Tree, and this year, local kids can help celebrate it with their own artwork. The City of Austin’s Parks and Recreation Department is inviting young artists to participate in the 2025 Zilker Holiday Tree Youth Art Contest… 🟪 (READ MORE)

[TEXAS/US NEWS]

✅ Ken Paxton’s legal crusade against Beto O’Rourke is faltering before an all-Republican appeals court (Texas Tribune)

In early August, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an explosive lawsuit, accusing Beto O’Rourke of bribery, fraud and campaign finance violations for supporting Texas Democrats who left the state to protest new GOP congressional maps.

Six weeks, four courts, two counties, dueling rulings and hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal expenses later, Paxton’s case against the former El Paso congressman seems on the brink of collapse.

Last week, the all-Republican 15th Court of Appeals undid the temporary restraining order that prevented O’Rourke and his organization from fundraising and distributing donations, ruling it an unconstitutional violation of free speech protections.

While acknowledging the case raises "unusual questions" about whether political funds can be used to help lawmakers leave the state, the court said it is an improper chilling of free speech to preemptively block an organization from spending its money.

“[T]he question today is not whether such activities can be punished after the fact … but whether they can be prohibited before they occur based on a suspicion that they might,” the justices wrote in their unanimous ruling. “At this stage, where little evidence has been offered, the latter would constitute an unconstitutional prior restraint of political activity that may or may not prove to be lawful.”… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Tarrant County’s Democratic commissioners skip meeting to prevent vote on lower tax rate (KERA)

Tarrant County’s two Democratic commissioners didn’t show up at Tuesday’s commissioners court meeting, blocking the passage of a new tax rate and leading to retaliation from the Republican majority.

Democratic Commissioner Roderick Miles Jr. has criticized the proposed tax rate, saying it’s so low that it threatens funding for county services — particularly his employees, who he relies on to serve his constituents. The proposed budget limits the size of each commissioner’s staff, meaning Miles and his fellow Democratic commissioner Alisa Simmons would have to lay people off.

Only three commissioners came to Tuesday’s meeting, and four are required to pass a new tax rate. Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare proposed an amendment to the fiscal year 2026 budget to slash the Democrats’ staffs to one person, limit their travel budgets to $1,000 and eliminate road and bridge crew jobs.

O’Hare said he’d go back to what he called a “more reasonable” budget “when one of the two of our colleagues shows up to vote for the tax rates.”

Republican Commissioner Matt Krause’s office would also have to eliminate one position, according to county budget documents… 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Lina Hidalgo, Harris County chief executive, won’t seek reelection (Texas Tribune)

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, a progressive Democrat whose surprise election gave her party control of county government for the first time in decades and established her as a rising star, said she will not seek reelection after an eight-year tenure as top executive of Texas’ largest county.

In a Monday night interview with Houston’s ABC 13, Hidalgo said she decided to keep her promise of only serving two terms, which she made when she first ran in 2018.

“The first time I was elected I said immediately, ‘I don’t want to do this for 30 years,’” Hidalgo said, adding that she intends to remain in public service and was not ruling out a run for public office in the future.

After unseating longtime incumbent and moderate Republican Ed Emmett, Hidalgo, then 27, emerged as a prodigy among Texas Democrats, many of whom saw her as a potential statewide contender down the road. Her election helped usher in a Democratic majority that allowed her to pursue issues traditionally outside the county’s purview, like childcare and poverty. Her vision for a more expansive government was met with praise from progressive policy advocates and fierce opposition from conservatives… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ Texas Rep. James Talarico ‘not taking instructions or orders’ from national Democratic Party in run for Senate (Houston Public Media)

State Rep. James Talarico, a 36-year-old candidate for U.S. Senate, is embracing the "wilderness" state of the Democratic Party. "I think we’re leaderless right now, and that may feel a little scary to some Democrats, but I actually think it’s an opportunity," he told Houston Public Media. "Everyone’s saying the Democratic Party’s in the wilderness. That’s certainly true, but the wilderness is a place where new leaders, new ideas, new movements can come forth."

Talarico, who held campaign rallies on Friday in Fort Bend County and on Saturday in Houston, is one of those new leaders in his party. His visibility has been on the rise in recent months after a steady stream of viral moments on the Texas House floor, an appearance on Joe Rogan's top-rated podcast and his role in the Democratic quorum break to raise awareness of Texas Republicans' move to redistrict mid-decade at the request of President Donald Trump.

Officially launching his Senate bid last Tuesday, Talarico had been mulling the idea over for months. He's entering an increasingly crowded Democratic primary and will have to run against former Congressman and former NFL linebacker Colin Allred. Talarico told Houston Public Media he and Allred discussed his potential run. "I talked to Colin at the beginning of the summer and told him my interest in this race before he got into it and told him it was nothing against him," he said. "I have great respect and love for Colin Allred – I campaigned vigorously for him last time – but I feel like I’ve got some skills and some experiences to really speak to this moment, and I feel the need to do this for our state and our country." In an interview with CBS, Allred said he welcomes "anybody into the race."

Democrats have an uphill battle to win the seat long held by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican who is facing a primary challenge from the right in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Texas hasn't sent a Democrat to the Senate in more than 30 years. When asked about the lessons from Allred's 2024 loss, Talarico spoke candidly about how Democrats need a new approach. "I think we have to show up everywhere," Talarico said. "We have to run an aggressive, authentic, unorthodox campaign. The old strategies aren’t going to work in Texas. We have to run a race that’s surprising, that is exciting and that can energize people who don’t typically show up in a midterm." To do that, Talarico said he won't be waiting on the national Democratic Party, adding Texans are going to be the ones who save themselves... 🟪 (READ MORE) 

✅ Bondi prompts broad backlash after saying she’ll target ‘hate speech’ (New York Times)

Attorney General Pam Bondi provoked a broad backlash this week after announcing she would “absolutely target” protesters engaging in “hate speech” — and claiming she had authority to investigate businesses that refused to print memorial vigil posters for the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The comments by Ms. Bondi on Monday appeared to reflect a broader effort by the Trump administration to punish anyone who has celebrated Mr. Kirk’s killing or even people who denounced his killing but continued to criticize his political stances.

It is not clear under what authority Ms. Bondi planned to bring “hate speech” cases when the First Amendment provides sweeping protections for free speech that does not directly incite violence. She seemed to back away from a broad interpretation of her remarks on Tuesday morning, writing on social media that “hate speech that crosses the line into threats of violence is NOT protected by the First Amendment. It’s a crime.”

Ms. Bondi was roundly pilloried for her initial remarks by a slew of conservative pundits, authors and lawmakers on social media within minutes of delivering them on two right-wing media outlets, after avoiding expansive public discussion beyond expressing outrage over the killing and support for Mr. Kirk’s young family.

Many of her critics pointed to a May 2024 social media post by Mr. Kirk himself, laying out clearly that while “ugly speech,” “gross speech” and “evil speech” existed, there was no such thing as hate speech under the Constitution.

“Someone needs to explain to Ms. Bondi that so-called ‘hate speech,’ repulsive though it may be, is protected by the First Amendment,” Brit Hume, the longtime Fox News host, wrote on social media.

“She should know this,” he added. Ms. Bondi’s comments came as other top Trump administration officials — among them Vice President JD Vance — have called on ordinary people across the country to seek vengeance against those who have criticized Mr. Kirk by calling their employers in an effort to get them fired. The naming-and-shaming campaign has led to countless people from various walks of life — teachers, medical personnel and members of the armed forces — being dismissed from their jobs or placed on suspension.

While some Republicans have called out violence committed by people on both sides of the nation’s left-right binary, the president and many in his administration have blamed the violence solely on their opponents… 🟪 (READ MORE)

✅ The two-speed economy is back as low-income Americans give up gains (Wall Street Journal)

There are two economies in the U.S. right now, and they are moving in different directions. For high earners and many older Americans, the economy looks robust. They are still spending like gangbusters, and their 401(k) accounts and homes have soared in value. They nabbed 3% mortgages when rates were low. Some might worry about AI eventually coming for their jobs, but for now their positions look relatively secure. For many others, momentum has stalled or reversed. The big wage growth experienced by low-income workers during the pandemic has petered out. Those workers are curbing their spending and in some cases are struggling to find jobs. Unemployment for Black Americans and many young people has jumped. Home prices and rents have risen sharply, making housing increasingly unaffordable. The divided fortunes of rich and poor in the U.S. may sound like an old story. Yet in recent years, workers on the low end of the spectrum began modestly narrowing the gap, as acute labor shortages enabled them to switch jobs and bargain hard for better wages.

Now the gulf is widening again. For much of the past few years, wages for the bottom third of U.S. earners grew at a faster rate than for the top third, Bank of America data show. But since the start of the year, top earners have pulled far ahead. “As the unemployment rate has slowly crept up, and job growth has fallen more sharply, wage growth has moderated, but particularly for low-wage workers,” said Arin Dube, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. “This is disappointing news for those who were hoping the reversal in wage inequality would be a more permanent feature of the American landscape.” In August, annual wage and salary growth fell to 0.9% for the bottom third, the smallest gain since 2016, the Bank of America data show. The top third saw growth of 3.6% year over year, the most since November 2021. That divergence was echoed in year-over-year spending growth in August, with household spending rising just 0.3% for the low-income group and 2.2% for higher-income households. The cooling labor market is probably fueling much of that divergence, said David Tinsley, senior economist at the Bank of America Institute. Federal job data and Bank of America’s internal figures suggest that the softening job market is affecting lower-income households more than other groups, Tinsley said… 🟪 (READ MORE)

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