BG Reads Weekend (4.6.2025)

Author

A.J. Bingham
April 06, 2025

[TOP CLICKS OF THE WEEK]

🇺🇸✈️🇬🇧: Austin is organizing a delegation for the inaugural SXSW London festival, scheduled for June 2-7, 2025. This initiative, led by SXSW, Capital Factory, Opportunity Austin, and the city's Office of Arts, Culture, Music and Entertainment, invites Texas-based entities and individuals aiming to establish connections in the UK. Delegation members will receive a 50% discount on registration badges but must cover their own travel costs.

🚑 🚒 🚓: Austin's emergency services are experiencing delays in response times due to staffing shortages, city growth, and increased traffic congestion. Police response times have risen to over 11 minutes, exceeding the target of under 10 minutes and 44 seconds. The fire department meets its eight-minute response goal only 69% of the time, down from 83% in 2016. EMS response times have improved slightly but still face challenges with 88 open positions. Officials are working on strategic plans to address these issues.

🏢 🏗️ 🛣️: Columnar Investments plans a $100 million mixed-use development, Heirloom, in Georgetown, Texas. Spanning 620 acres, it includes 3,600 housing units, 200,000 square feet of commercial space, and 48 acres of parkland. Centered around a "Main Street" akin to Georgetown's downtown square, the project aims to break ground in 2026.

🏛️ 🔄 🗳️: Liberty Hill ISD Superintendent Steven Snell has been appointed as the new Williamson County judge following Bill Gravell's resignation. Snell will serve until the next general election in November 2026. He plans to step down from his superintendent role after an interim replacement is named.

🚰 📈 ⚖️: Georgetown plans to pump 89 million gallons daily from the Carrizo Wilcox Aquifer, prompting opposition from Bryan, College Station, and Texas A&M University, who rely on the same water source. The $1 billion project, developed by Upwell Water, underscores tensions over water rights amid Texas' rapid growth. ​

🏛️ ⚡💰: Several companies have withdrawn from Texas' $5 billion Energy Fund, citing financial and logistical challenges. This fund was established to provide low-interest loans for building natural gas power plants to bolster the state's power grid. Critics argue that the program lacks proper risk assessment and may not effectively address grid reliability issues.

[BINGHAM GROUP NEWS]

Please join me in welcoming Brittany Heckard to Bingham Group’s Consultant team. Our consultants are contract-based specialists who provide strategic guidance to clients across business, community, and policy issues in Central Texas.

Brittany brings over a decade of experience in public and government affairs, community engagement, and social impact. She previously led legislative and public affairs initiatives at AT&T and supported legal and regulatory efforts at Davis Kaufman PLLC.

Her work has included partnerships with organizations such as Waymo, Ancestry, the Texas Access to Justice Foundation, and the Texas Cultural Trust, where she developed campaigns focused on advancing equity and justice across Texas.

We’re excited to have Brittany on board and look forward to the expertise she brings to our clients and partners.

[WEEKEND NEWS]

🟪 Austin officials reassure public on light rail project (KXAN)

Five years ago, Austin voters said yes to a tax rate election that would fund the construction of a light rail line through the city, but Project Connect has yet to break ground.
Austin transit leaders met this week and want to reassure the public that it is happening.

The Austin Transit Partnership, the group in charge of bringing light rail to Austin, took part in a luncheon this week to provide an update on its efforts.

“The Austin Transit Partnership released their draft environmental impact statement, which is a huge milestone for us to continue forward with Project Connect and Austin Light Rail,” said Ashika Ganguly, the executive director of Transit Forward.

“However, we’re still seeing a lot of ongoing outside threats to the project into Austin light rail, specifically legislation attacking Austin local control and our ability to build light rail here in the city and ongoing lawsuits and the threat of federal funding being taken away,” Ganguly said.

ATP said they’re hitting milestones consistently, that work is happening, and that they’re still on track to start construction in 2027… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

🟪 Austin Public Health loses $15 million to federal grant cuts (KUT)

Austin Public Health is losing millions in funding and 27 full-time employees due to cuts at the federal level, the agency's director said.

Five of Austin Public Health's grants have been eliminated so far, resulting in the loss of an estimated $15 million over time. That money paid for APH’s Refugee Services Clinic, COVID vaccination program and diabetes care program, among other services.

APH did not specify the funding agency for all of the lost grants. The Department of Government Efficiency has made cuts at a number of federal and state health organizations. Last week, it announced it would terminate hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to the Texas Department of State Health Services, including some COVID-era funding that was distributed to local health departments.

At an Austin City Council public health committee meeting Wednesday, APH Director Adrienne Sturrup described learning about the cancellation of funds that filter through the Texas Department of State Health Services, one grant at a time, across recent weeks… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

🟪 Terry Mitchell earns affordability award (Austin Business Journal)

Longtime real estate developer Terry Mitchell is about to get what's coming to him — another award. The president of Momark Development LLC in Austin has been heavily involved in the planning and development of various residential and mixed-use real estate developments.

In his 20-plus years in real estate, Mitchell has helped develop over 20,000 residential units and over $1.8 billion in residential community value. He has earned the 2025 Affordability Award in ABJ's annual Commercial Real Estate Awards program. An awards gala honoring Mitchell and other pros and projects — including special achievement award winner Tim Crowley — will take place May 21 at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Mitchell is behind projects such as The Denizen condos, the Plum Creek neighborhood in Kyle, Chestnut Commons, Edgewick, Gabardine, Macmora Cottages and The Sanctuary Lofts. His focus is largely set on urban residential or mixed-use projects that create unique communities offering extraordinary lifestyles… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

🟪 Comebacks propel Houston and Florida for NCAA Championship in San Antonio (Texas Public Radio)

Houston knocked off Duke in front of a crowd of 68,252 at the Alamodome Saturday, setting itself up for a matchup with Florida in Monday night's championship game. L.J Cryer led the Cougars with 26 points in a dramatic upset over Cooper Flagg and the mighty Blue Devils.

Houston overcame a 14 point deficit in the final eight minutes. The final score was 70-67, decided by several defensive stands — earning a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd.

The University of Houston will now play for its first ever national title. They face a team that has had its own share of comebacks as March Madness turned into April drama. Earlier in the night, Florida mounted yet another come from behind victory against Auburn.

The Gators' tough road to San Antonio included dramatic wins after trailing late against UConn in the second round and Texas Tech in the Elite Eight. This time around, they trailed Johni Broome and Auburn by eight points at the half before Walton Clayton Jr., who scored 34 points, led the Gators on a furious run to defeat SEC rival Auburn 79-73. Clayton is the first player since Larry Bird to record two 30+ point games in the Elite Eight and Final Four… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

🟪 Taiwan eyes zero tariffs with US, pledges more investment (Reuters)

Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te on Sunday offered zero tariffs as the basis for talks with the U.S., pledging to remove trade barriers rather than imposing reciprocal measures and saying Taiwanese companies will raise their U.S. investments. President Donald Trump announced across-the-board import tariffs on Wednesday, with much higher duties for dozens of trading partners, including Taiwan, which runs a large trade surplus with the U.S. and faces a 32% duty on its products… (LINK TO FULL STORY)

🟪 Trump administration argues judge cannot order return of man mistakenly deported to El Salvador (Associated Press)

The U.S. Justice Department told an appeals court Saturday that a judge did not have the authority to order the Trump administration to broker the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly sent to a notorious El Salvador prison, and it suspended a government lawyer who admitted in court that the deportation was an error.

The government’s attorneys asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to pause a Friday ruling by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who ordered the administration to “facilitate and effectuate” Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. by late Monday night.

“A judicial order that forces the Executive to engage with a foreign power in a certain way, let alone compel a certain action by a foreign sovereign, is constitutionally intolerable,” they wrote.

The appeals court asked Abrego Garcia’s lawyers to respond to the government’s filing by Sunday afternoon… (LINK TO FULL STORY)