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  • BG Reads Week in Review (for week of June 17, 2024)

BG Reads Week in Review (for week of June 17, 2024)

BG Reads Week in Review (of June 17, 2024)

June 22, 2024

BG Reads Week in Review

Presented by:

Top Clicks for the Week of June 17, 2024:

[CITY OF AUSTIN]

[WEEKEND NEWS]

What do people want from Austin's next police chief? Here's what they said in survey (Austin American-Statesman)

Nearly 1,230 people took an anonymous survey to tell the city what they want to see from the next person chosen to be the Austin Police Department's chief.

The survey, which closed on June 10, included three questions:

  • How would you rank the safety in Austin today compared to five years ago?

  • What do you believe are the most important characteristics to have in the next Chief of Police?

  • What do you believe should be the most important priorities for the next Chief of Police?

For the final two questions, each respondent selected their top three choices from a variety of answers.

City officials said they hope to have a candidate selected by the end of July. Austin has been without a permanent police chief since last September. Interim Chief Robin Henderson said she would not apply for the position… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Austin's life sciences sector quantified (Austin Business Journal)

Years of work promoting Austin's life sciences sector, scouting new companies to move here and building out startup incubators and lab spaces are paying off, and the growth is expected to continue, according to a new report by Opportunity Austin.

The regional economic development group recently hired McKinsey & Co. to analyze the local life sciences ecosystem. There are plenty of highlights:

  • 137% growth in life sciences venture capital investment in Austin from 2018 to 2023.

  • The metro has 300-plus life sciences companies, employing 21,000 people. It also has more than 1,000 life sciences startups.

  • More than $1 billion has been spent on research funding through the region’s academic and corporate institutions.

  • More than 1.5 million square feet of life sciences facilities are under construction.

  • Austin ranks 14th in the number of life sciences patents developed per 1 million people.

Texas adopts guidance for how doctors should interpret abortion ban (Texas Tribune)

The Texas Medical Board on Friday adopted guidance for how doctors should interpret the state’s new abortion laws, reducing paperwork requirements some saw as overly burdensome but declining to provide a list of cases in which an abortion would be legal.

The board unanimously approved the new guidelines after making revisions in response to concerns raised by doctors, lawyers and people who say they were denied medically necessary abortions. The changes included removing a controversial provision that appeared to encourage doctors to transfer patients who might need an abortion.

Board Chair Dr. Sherif Zaafran acknowledged Friday that, even with these edits, this guidance doesn’t address all the concerns the board heard during this process.

“There are certain things that we can address and there are certain things that we ultimately don't feel that we have the authority to address,” Zaafran said... (LINK TO FULL STORY)

Congress debates expanded draft [for females] amid military recruitment challenges (New York Times)

The United States military has not activated a draft in more than 50 years, but Congress is weighing proposals to update mandatory conscription, including by expanding it to women for the first time and automatically registering those eligible to be called up.

The proposals making their way through the House and Senate stand a slim chance of becoming law, and none would reinstate the draft compelling service right away. But the debate over potential changes reflects how lawmakers are rethinking the draft at a time when readiness issues have risen to the fore and as the Pentagon is facing recruitment challenges amid a raft of risks and conflicts around the world.

The House last week passed an annual defense policy bill that, along with authorizing $895 billion in military spending including for a 19.5 percent pay raise for troops, contained a bipartisan proposal that would make registering for the draft automatic.

At the same time, a Senate committee last week approved a version of the Pentagon policy bill that would expand the registration requirement to women. Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and the chairman of the panel, has championed the draft parity proposal… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

In writing the country’s most sweeping AI law, Colorado focused on fairness, preventing bias (NPR)

This spring Colorado passed the country's first comprehensive law over how companies and governments use artificial intelligence to make key decisions over people's lives.

“Whether (people) get insurance, or what the rate for their insurance is, or legal decisions or employment decisions, whether you get fired or hired, could be up to an AI algorithm,” warns Democratic State Rep. Brianna Titone, one of the main Legislative sponsors of the bill.

The law isn’t aimed at deep fakes or fraud, which some states, including Colorado, have addressed in other laws, but applies to how AI is used in evaluating people for things like school applications, hiring, loans, access to health care or insurance…(LINK TO FULL STORY)

Supreme Court Rulings This Week:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office has filed a motion to appeal a district court's ruling that allowed an Austin marijuana ordinance to stay in place.

On Friday, court documents indicated that the state is planning to appeal that ruling.

Paxton's office filed the lawsuit earlier this year over concern about the Austin Freedom Act, which voters approved in 2022. It deprioritizes enforcement of low-level marijuana possession, ending citations and arrests for Class A or Class B marijuana offenses… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

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