#NEWS // BG Reads | June 22, 2023
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[MEETINGS/HEARINGS]
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Editorial: City, AISD must shun secrecy in selecting new leaders (Austin American-Statesman)
When the Austin City Council last embarked on a search for a new city manager in 2017, it went to absurd lengths to conceal the job finalists' identities from the public.
The city council voted to conceal candidate names from reporters, then the firm it hired to manage the recruiting abruptly moved the interview site from a local hotel to an unannounced conference room sequestered behind security lines at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The firm even went so far as to suggest candidates?don wigs or sunglasses, or act like tourists, to conceal their identities on the way in and out of their meetings with city council members.?
The subterfuge didn’t work. The candidates’ names leaked anyway, the American-Statesman?sued the city?for violating the Texas Public Information Act and the entire episode turned into an embarrassing public relations debacle for the city council and the hired headhunters. The candidate who landed the position, Spencer Cronk,?was fired?in February after five tumultuous years on the job…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Watson Wire: Hot Wire (Mayor Kirk Watson’s news Blast)
We’re facing yet another weather emergency in Austin, but this one differs from what we all endured in February for several reasons – including the obvious 80-degree temperature swing.
The City Council brought in Jesús Garza to serve as interim city manager in the wake of Winter Storm Mara with a mandate to focus on how to improve basic city services, including the city’s emergency response. Under the previous management, the city had failed to implement key lessons learned during Winter Storm Uri in 2021 and that contributed to the extended power outage and public frustration with the city’s communication.
A key step we’ve taken to ensure the city is prepared and responsive to you during an emergency is the appointment of Ken Snipes as the new Director of Emergency Management. I’m glad he’s in this position…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin urges residents to stay safe as heat index reaches 117 degrees (Austin American-Statesman)
Amid an ongoing heat wave in Austin, city and county officials are urging residents to drink lots of water, keep cool, listen to their bodies, check on others and stay safe.
"People sometimes think, 'Well, I can beat the heat,'" Mayor Kirk Watson said during a news conference Wednesday. "But with this heat, in this humidity, it's dangerous, and we need to pay attention to that."
The National Weather Service had issued an excessive heat warning for Central Texas through 9 p.m. Wednesday as heat indexes could reach 117 degrees. The weather service predicts additional heat warnings will be activated over the weekend and next week…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[TEXAS NEWS]
Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial will begin Sept. 5, with his attendance required (Texas Tribune)
Suspended Attorney General?Ken Paxton?will answer to 16 of 20 articles of impeachment at a trial to begin Sept. 5, the Texas Senate said Wednesday night after spending about 20 hours drafting?the trial rules?in private.
Paxton’s wife, Sen.?Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, can attend, but she will not participate in deliberations or closed sessions when the Senate sits as a court of impeachment, according to the trial rules adopted without discussion Wednesday on a 25-3 vote.
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The three votes in opposition included Angela Paxton and Sens.?Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, and?Bob Hall, R-Edgewood.
The trial, which will be held in public, will begin with opening statements. Lawyers for the House impeachment managers will present evidence first, with cross-examination of witnesses allowed. Paxton’s lawyers will be allowed to present evidence and witnesses as well…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Hispanics officially make up the biggest share of Texas’ population, new census numbers shoW (Texas Tribune)
The point at which Latinos would outnumber white residents to make up the biggest share of the Texas population has been on the state’s demographic horizon for years.
It seemed that long-awaited milestone was reached in 2021 when?a closely watched data release last year was the first to reflect?the culmination of decades of transformative growth.
But confirmation did not come until this week, when the U.S. Census Bureau updated its official population estimates. In new figures released Thursday, the bureau confirmed Latinos have made up the largest share of the state’s population since at least July 2022. The new population figures show Hispanic Texans made up 40.2% of the state’s population last summer, barely edging out non-Hispanic white Texans, who made up 39.8%…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Dallas mayor lays out priorities for final term: public safety, parks, property taxes (Dallas Morning News)
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson plans to spend his final term pushing for Dallas to become the safest major city in America, have the best parks system in Texas, and have the lowest property tax rate of any major city in the region. The declaration came after he was sworn in as mayor for the second and final time Tuesday alongside 12 returning City Council incumbents and two new members representing parts of northeast and southwest Dallas. Improving public safety, park access and lowering property taxes were among Johnson’s top priorities over his first term, but he said they were important to remain as top goals for the city to improve the quality of life of residents and families and to allow them to afford to continue to live and work in Dallas. “Despite what cynics and dividers tell you, Dallas is a great city,” Johnson said during his third City Council inauguration address at downtown’s Meyerson Symphony Center. “And that’s why we must choose greatness every single day, for every single Dallas resident, and we must not settle for anything less when it comes to our people.”
Tuesday’s inauguration was ceremonial. The entire City Council was officially sworn in Monday at City Hall by Dallas Municipal Court Administrative Judge Preston Robinson. The City Charter says the City Council should take office on the first Monday that is 30 days after the final canvass of the general election. That election was May 6 and the final canvass was May 17. City Hall was closed for business Monday to observe Juneteenth. Dallas mayoral terms last four years and district City Council member terms last two years. The mayor and council members are limited to serving eight consecutive years. Robinson administered the oath of office to the 14 City Council members again on Tuesday. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, administered the oath to Johnson, which is uncommon because it is typically given by a judge. Dallas’ mayor and City Council positions are nonpartisan. Johnson’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on why Cornyn was selected. Johnson, who served as a Democrat member of the state House of Representatives from April 2010 to when he was elected mayor in June 2019, and Cornyn, a Republican who has been Texas’ U.S. senator since 2002, have a working relationship…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Alito took unreported luxury trip with GOP donor Paul Singer (ProPublica)
In early July 2008, Samuel Alito stood on a riverbank in a remote corner of Alaska. The Supreme Court justice was on vacation at a luxury fishing lodge that charged more than $1,000 a day, and after catching a king salmon nearly the size of his leg, Alito posed for a picture. To his left, a man stood beaming: Paul Singer, a hedge fund billionaire who has repeatedly asked the Supreme Court to rule in his favor in high-stakes business disputes. Singer was more than a fellow angler. He flew Alito to Alaska on a private jet. If the justice chartered the plane himself, the cost could have exceeded $100,000 one way. In the years that followed, Singer’s hedge fund came before the court at least 10 times in cases where his role was often covered by the legal press and mainstream media. In 2014, the court agreed to resolve a key issue in a decade-long battle between Singer’s hedge fund and the nation of Argentina. Alito did not recuse himself from the case and voted with the 7-1 majority in Singer’s favor. The hedge fund was ultimately paid $2.4 billion.
Alito did not report the 2008 fishing trip on his annual financial disclosures. By failing to disclose the private jet flight Singer provided, Alito appears to have violated a federal law that requires justices to disclose most gifts, according to ethics law experts. Experts said they could not identify an instance of a justice ruling on a case after receiving an expensive gift paid for by one of the parties. “If you were good friends, what were you doing ruling on his case?” said Charles Geyh, an Indiana University law professor and leading expert on recusals. “And if you weren’t good friends, what were you doing accepting this?” referring to the flight on the private jet. Justices are almost entirely left to police themselves on ethical issues, with few restrictions on what gifts they can accept. When a potential conflict arises, the sole arbiter of whether a justice should step away from a case is the justice him or herself. ProPublica’s investigation sheds new light on how luxury travel has given prominent political donors — including one who has had cases before the Supreme Court — intimate access to the most powerful judges in the country. Another wealthy businessman provided expensive vacations to two members of the high court, ProPublica found. On his Alaska trip, Alito stayed at a commercial fishing lodge owned by this businessman, who was also a major conservative donor. Three years before, that same businessman flew Justice Antonin Scalia, who died in 2016, on a private jet to Alaska and paid the bill for his stay…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Justice Samuel Alito: ProPublica Misleads Its Readers (Wall Street Journal)
(Editor’s note: Justin Elliott and Josh Kaplan of ProPublica, which styles itself “an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force,” emailed Justice Alito Friday with a series of questions and asked him to respond by noon EDT Tuesday. They informed the justice that “we do serious, fair, accurate reporting in the public interest and have won six Pulitzer Prizes.”) Here is Justice Alito’s response: ProPublica has leveled two charges against me: first, that I should have recused in matters in which an entity connected with Paul Singer was a party and, second, that I was obligated to list certain items as gifts on my 2008 Financial Disclose Report. Neither charge is valid. Recusal. I had no obligation to recuse in any of the cases that ProPublica cites. First, even if I had been aware of Mr. Singer’s connection to the entities involved in those cases, recusal would not have been required or appropriate.
ProPublica suggests that my failure to recuse in these cases created an appearance of impropriety, but that is incorrect. “There is an appearance of impropriety when an unbiased and reasonable person who is aware of all relevant facts would doubt that the Justice could fairly discharge his or her duties” (Statement on Ethics Principles and Practices appended to letter from the Chief Justice to Senator Durbin, April 25, 2023). No such person would think that my relationship with Mr. Singer meets that standard. My recollection is that I have spoken to Mr. Singer on no more than a handful of occasions, all of which (with the exception of small talk during a fishing trip 15 years ago) consisted of brief and casual comments at events attended by large groups. On no occasion have we discussed the activities of his businesses, and we have never talked about any case or issue before the Court. On two occasions, he introduced me before I gave a speech—as have dozens of other people. And as I will discuss, he allowed me to occupy what would have otherwise been an unoccupied seat on a private flight to Alaska. It was and is my judgment that these facts would not cause a reasonable and unbiased person to doubt my ability to decide the matters in question impartially. Second, when I reviewed the cases in question to determine whether I was required to recuse, I was not aware and had no good reason to be aware that Mr. Singer had an interest in any party. During my time on the Court, I have voted on approximately 100,000 certiorari petitions. The vast majority receive little personal attention from the justices because even a cursory examination reveals that they do not meet our requirements for review…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
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