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- BG Reads Weekend Edition (7.6.2025)
BG Reads Weekend Edition (7.6.2025)
A.J. Bingham
July 06, 2025
PRESENTED BY
[TOP CLICKS OF THE WEEK]
[WEEKEND NEWS]
Death toll in central Texas flash floods rises to 70 as sheriff says 11 campers remain missing (Associated Press)
Families sifted through waterlogged debris Sunday and stepped inside empty cabins at Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp ripped apart by flash floods that washed homes off their foundations and killed at least 70 people in central Texas.
Rescuers maneuvering through challenging terrain continued their desperate search for the missing, including 11 girls and a counselor from the camp. How many more remain unaccounted for across the Texas Hill Country and beyond remains unclear as authorities haven’t given an estimate even though it has been three days since the storm began pounding the state… ✅ (READ MORE)
🟪 $2B master planned community coming to fast-growing Caldwell County (Austin Business Journal)
Austin developer Wilson Capital hopes to start development of a 932-acre master-planned community in Lockhart as early as the fourth quarter of this year. It's estimated to cost $2.15 billion.
The community, called Blue Sky, will rise on 932 acres along State Highway 130 southwest of Lockhart, according to an announcement. With thousands of homes plus commercial and medical space — and a school — planned, the community will represent major growth for one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation, Caldwell County.
Once fully built out, Blue Sky will have more than 3,650 single-family home sites. The first phase of development is expected to begin late this year or early next year with construction of the first 450 lots, which will be 40 and 50 feet wide.
Wilson Capital is handling land development, and the homebuilder selection process is underway. Because builders have not yet been selected, floor plans are not yet known but homes are expected to start in the low-$300,000 range… ✅ (READ MORE)
🟪 The next Austin Convention Center is already booking business (Austin Business Journal)
Austin is already securing bigger events due to the city’s effort to expand its convention center.
The forthcoming $1.6 billion convention center has booked nine groups for 2029 so far. That's when the Austin Convention Center reopens. Those events alone should book up to 75,000 hotel rooms and also create an economic impact of $69.4 million, according to data from Visit Austin, which handles sales for the convention center.
And the team there has plenty more prospects, dates and spaces to sell.
The Austin Convention Center closed in April because the city is demolishing it and rebuilding so it can host more and larger events. The new convention center will have 70% more rentable space — 620,000 square feet more than the old convention center.
Besides future bookings, Visit Austin has also said it's been able to generate more interest in the new center. There have been conversations with over 67 convention and citywide groups about booking events at the new convention center.
“These groups equate to a potential estimated 721,000+ hotel room nights and potential total estimated economic impact of $471 million,” said a Visit Austin spokesperson. “Of these groups, 40% of these prospects would not have fit in the old Austin Convention Center building.”… ✅ (READ MORE)
🟪 Millions more Americans could turn to food banks soon. Food banks are simply not ready. (Politico)
Food banks say they are wholly unprepared to feed millions of Americans when Republicans’ cuts to traditional federal safety net programs take effect.
The GOP’s megabill slashes more than $1 trillion from the nation’s largest food aid program and Medicaid, with some of the cuts taking effect as early as this year. Low-income people grappling with higher costs of living could be forced to turn to emergency food assistance.
In preparation, food bank leaders are trying to convince private foundations and state leaders to give them more money. Some states like Minnesota and Pennsylvania have already been weighing shifting additional resources to emergency food programs or standing up new initiatives to counter the loss of federal dollars.
That still won’t be enough… ✅ (READ MORE)
🟪 House Democrats, California leaders weigh tit-for-tat redistricting if Texas Republicans redraw maps (Texas Tribune)
House Democratic leadership, rank-and-file members and representatives for at least one blue state governor have been meeting to decide how to retaliate if Texas Republicans follow through on the White House’s push to reshape the state’s congressional map, according to four Democratic members of Congress familiar with the discussions.
In these talks, people in California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s orbit have signaled their boss’s willingness to counter any redistricting in Texas with a similar move to redraw the maps in his own state, in an attempt to offset potential GOP gains, according to the lawmakers who were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
“This is news to us — our office hasn’t had any conversations about this,” said Izzy Gardon, a spokespeson for Newsom. “We’re always open to bold, creative ideas that hold the GOP accountable, even if the rumor didn’t start with us.”
The Democratic meetings are a response to recent calls from President Donald Trump’s political orbit for Republicans in Austin to draw new district lines that would shift GOP voters from safely red districts into neighboring blue ones, in a bid to flip the seats and protect the GOP’s slim House majority in 2026… ✅ (READ MORE)
