#NEWS // BG Reads | June 6, 2023
[MEETINGS/HEARINGS]
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
[AUSTIN METRO NEWS]
Mayor announces timeline, next steps for city manager search (KXAN)
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson announced to city council members Monday that he’s beginning the search process for a permanent city manager roughly four months after the council parted ways with?Spencer Cronk.
“As I promised, I am taking the steps to begin the search process for a permanent city manager. I committed that we would start in the June/July timeframe,” Watson wrote in a post on the?city’s message board.
Watson announced that he had tapped several council members to serve on a committee to help with the initial stages of the process including narrowing down search firms to complete the search…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin American-Statesman staff strike over low pay (KUT)
Members of the Austin American-Statesman’s labor union went on strike Monday because of an ongoing contract dispute with the newspaper's parent company, Gannett.
Nicole Villalpando, who covers health care for the Statesman and serves as the union's vice chair, said she and some of her other colleagues have to work other jobs.
“We have about a third of the newsroom who cannot afford to live in Austin,” Villalpando said. “They're having to get roommates. They're having to do things like DoorDash and working a second job. ... It's just been really, really tough to do the jobs that we love.”…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Austin police, Texas DPS partnership could come back soon (FOX 7)
The Austin Police Department says its?partnership with the Texas Department of Public Safety?could be back up and running in a couple of weeks. The controversial collaboration was put on hold after troopers were diverted to the Texas-Mexico border last month.
At the Monday, June 5 Austin Public Safety Commission meeting, Austin Assistant Police Chief James Mason gave an update on the partnership, which remains on pause…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
City of Austin executives return to office full time (FOX 7)
City of Austin executives were welcomed back to in-person work Monday, June 5 after almost three years of telework.?
This change comes from a memo sent out by Interim City Manager Jesus Garza informing city executives they will return to the office full time and all other employees will do three days a week starting Oct. 1…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
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[TEXAS NEWS]
Texas lawmakers closed a background check loophole, but many gun measures failed to pass (Texas Tribune)
The first legislative session since the?worst school shooting in Texas?history ended with several proposals that would have limited some access to guns failing to get traction, though one firearm safety bill became law…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
For higher education in Texas, this year’s session was a mixed bag of interference and investment (Texas Tribune)
When state lawmakers released a final version of the budget for the next two years, they included $700 million extra in state funding for Texas’ public universities.
University leaders requested extra funds at the start of the session and agreed to keep tuition flat for undergraduate students for the next two years if the state provided the financial boost…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[NATIONAL NEWS]
Transgender Sports Rules Face Court Test (Wall Street Journal)
A New York-based federal appeals court is set to take up a closely watched case Tuesday over?transgender girls’ participation?in female competition categories for school sports, a combustible cultural question that also raises thorny legal issues.
The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, with all active judges participating, is considering a decade-old Connecticut policy that allows high-school students to compete on the team matching their gender identity, even if that?differs from the sex?listed on their original birth certificates.?
The court is weighing a suit brought by four female high-school track-and-field athletes who say the policy makes it harder for girls to win in their sports because they have to compete against athletes with the physical advantages of male athletes, in violation of Title IX, the federal law barring sex discrimination in education. The court is also considering whether the plaintiffs suffered harms that would give them standing to make their claims in court.
The issue appears destined eventually for the Supreme Court…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
Newsom calls DeSantis a ‘small, pathetic man’ amid questions over migrant flight (The Hill)
California Gov.?Gavin Newsom?(D) on Monday escalated his war of words with Florida Gov.?Ron DeSantis,?a Republican presidential candidate, calling him a “small, pathetic man” and floating kidnapping charges over a flight of migrants sent to his state.
The Democratic governor?lobbed the barbs on Twitter?after California’s attorney general said Florida’s government appeared to be behind a flight of South American migrants who arrived unexpectedly in Sacramento last week…?(LINK TO FULL STORY)
[BG PODCAST]
Welcome to Episode 200! Bingham Group Associate Hannah Garcia and CEO A.J. review the week in Austin politics and more.
The discussion covers:
Bingham Group works to advance the interests of businesses, nonprofits, and associations at the municipal and state level.
CONTACT US FOR A FREE DISCUSSION ON YOUR MATTER AT:?[email protected]