BG Reads Weekend Edition (7.13.2025)

Author

A.J. Bingham
July 13, 2025

PRESENTED BY

[TOP CLICKS OF THE WEEK]

[WEEKEND NEWS]

Austin city manager proposes $6B+ budget, as mayor floats tax rate change (KXAN)

The city of Austin released its fiscal year 2026 budget to the public late Friday, a new step in the city’s budget adoption process. But in a Saturday morning memo, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said he’ll seek other proposals from Austin City Manager TC Broadnax and could ask voters to approve a new maximum tax rate… ✅ (READ MORE)

🟪 FEMA aid extended to Williamson County residents following Central Texas floods (Community Impact)

On July 11, President Donald Trump amended a federal disaster declaration order to include Williamson County, making residents eligible for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Individual Assistance, or IA, program following the July 5 floods.

During a special-called meeting July 11, Williamson County commissioners also extended a disaster declaration previously issued by County Judge Steven Snell on July 5, which had a seven-day expiration date… ✅ (READ MORE)

🟪 Austin Infrastructure Academy sees early success (Austin Business Journal)

The Austin Infrastructure Academy is seeing early returns on its efforts to bolster Austin’s construction and mobility workforce, and talent should start to exit the new pipeline soon.

The academy, which launched in March, has seen notable interest from the private sector and job seekers over its efforts to connect locals to training opportunities in the construction industry. It was spawned by projections that Austin won't have enough workers as it embarks on at least $25 billion in projects, including light rail expansions, I-35 upgrades, a new convention center and a larger airport — not to mention the usual private sector construction.

“We've seen slow momentum, but I think it's going to increase over the next couple of months,” said Yael Lawson, the chief operations officer for Workforce Solutions Capital Area, which oversees the academy. “We're training people now, so we're going to start to see them graduating and hired.”

The academy has held career fairs that have been attended by more than 500 job seekers, and about 58% of Workforce Solutions' training enrollments since have been toward Infrastructure Academy efforts, Lawson said… ✅ (READ MORE)

🟪 Austin firefighters say they have no confidence in Chief Joel Baker over flood response (KUT)

The Austin Firefighters Union overwhelmingly approved a vote of no-confidence in the fire chief Friday over a policy that members said prevented first responders from helping out ahead of the historic Hill Country floods.

Ninety-three percent of the 993 union members supported the resolution.

Earlier this week, union president Bob Nicks slammed Chief Joel Baker’s policy that paused deployments of Austin firefighters to disasters for budgetary reasons. He said the policy led to a delay in personnel getting sent to Kerr County before the flooding on July Fourth.

Nicks said the department turned down requests for service on July 2 and 3 and that AFD could have helped saved lives.

Baker said he was unaware of any requests for service ahead of the floods and defended the department’s response. Both Mayor Kirk Watson and City Manager T.C. Broadnax, who could fire Baker, have said they support his response to the floods.

The department ended up sending firefighters to Kerrville on the afternoon of July Fourth.

In a statement after the vote, Nicks called for an investigation into Baker’s policies and the department’s response.

“Let me be clear, the leadership failed the community when it was needed the most,” Nicks said. “This isn’t about politics, it’s about accountability.”

Broadnax said it was “disappointing” that the union approved the measure and doubled-down on his support for the chief… ✅ (READ MORE)

🟪 Trump defends federal government’s response to Hill Country floods during Texas visit (Texas Tribune)

President Donald Trump and Texas lawmakers on Friday defended the federal government’s response to the deadly July Fourth flooding in Central Texas, claiming that aid was quickly dispatched to reeling communities after the floodwaters swept through.

Making his first visit to Texas since the floods, which killed at least 120 people, Trump toured a part of the disaster site near the Guadalupe River in Kerrville, received briefings from local officials and sat for a roundtable with first responders and other officials. After the event, in response to a reporter’s question about whether federal weather forecasters properly warned of the impending floods, Trump stood by his administration’s response, saying that “everyone did an incredible job, under the circumstances.”

He then bristled at the question and labeled the inquiring reporter “evil.”

“Only a bad person would ask a question like that,” he said.

Other roundtable participants rallied to the president’s defense and praised the pace of the federal government’s response.

“Pointing fingers is for losers,” Rep. Chip Roy said, invoking similar comments made by Gov. Greg Abbott at a news conference earlier in the week. The Austin Republican, whose district was hit hardest by the storm, was effusive in his praise for Trump.

“I can't thank you enough,” he said to the president. “When I called you on Friday, you said, ‘whatever you need.’”

Abbott, who sat to Trump’s left at the roundtable, said it was “the fastest I'm aware of any administration responding so swiftly, so collaboratively, so coordinated as we have in response to this.”… ✅ (READ MORE)

🟪 No playing Spanish-language music: Many immigrants say they have new rules for driving (NPR)

Outside an evangelical church on the outskirts of Tampa, Fla., half a dozen immigrant families wait in the sweltering Sunday heat. The men wear bright, colorful shirts while the women are dressed in traditional Guatemalan embroidered clothing. The service has ended, but no one is rushing to their cars. Instead, they wait for rides home.

The reason is simple: fear. Since Florida granted highway patrol officers the authority to detain drivers based on their immigration status during routine traffic stops, getting behind the wheel has become a calculated risk for many immigrants across the state. Every trip — to work, to church, to the grocery store — now carries the possibility of detention, regardless of legal status.

That has led to new, unwritten rules of the road.

Rule 1: no foreign flags or Spanish-language stickers or advertisements on the car.

"When companies have [ads] in Spanish you know, it's a big target," says Ashley Ambrocio, age 19. She's a U.S. citizen and is driving parishioners today. Rule 2: Try to ride with people you know and trust. They should also be people who are in the country legally. 

Ambrocio moves to Rule 3: no Spanish-language music. "If you guys are gonna be driving to work, turn the radio on to English radio," she advises people. "English music. Some country music, so they can't tell it's a Spanish car in there."

Ambrocio's father, the pastor at this church, was recently deported to Guatemala, after 30 years living in the U.S. He didn't have a criminal record… ✅ (READ MORE)

🟪 Trump announces 30% tariffs against EU, Mexico to begin Aug. 1, rattling major US trading partners (Associated Press)

resident Donald Trump on Saturday announced he’s levying tariffs of 30% against the European Union and Mexico starting Aug. 1, a move that could cause massive upheaval between the United States and two of its biggest trade partners.

Trump detailed the planned tariffs in letters posted to his social media account. They are part of an announcement blitz by Trump of new tariffs aimed at allies and foes alike, a bedrock of his 2024 campaign that he said would set the foundation for reviving a U.S. economy that he claims has been ripped off by other nations for decades.

In his letter to Mexico’s leader, President Claudia Sheinbaum, Trump acknowledged that the country has been helpful in stemming the flow of undocumented migrants and fentanyl into the United States. But he said the country has not done enough to stop North America from turning into a “Narco-Trafficking Playground.”

“Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,” Trump added.

Trump in his letter to the European Union said that the U.S. trade deficit was a national security threat… ✅ (READ MORE)

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