Headlines / Quote of the Week
Fri., Dec. 27, 2024
More Billionaire Buddies: Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. ambassador to Italy? Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta, owner of the Houston Rockets and Landry’s restaurant group and a donor to Greg Abbott. Fertitta also hosted a fundraiser for Trump at his Post Oak Hotel in Houston this year, The Texas Tribune reports. Fertitta’s great-great-uncles emigrated from Sicily to Galveston, where they operated a nightclub which doubled as an illegal casino. Previously, Abbott appointed Fertitta to the University of Houston System Board of Regents, and Fertitta has been chair of the board for a decade.
Build the Wall Full of Holes: Is a wall a wall if there are big holes in it? The Chronicle would argue no, and using that standard, the $3 billion that Texas taxpayers have shelled out for Gov. Greg Abbott’s border fantasy have been completely wasted. A first-time analysis by The Texas Tribune finds that the few-and-far-between segments of the wall Abbott promised in 2021 have been built in remote areas, leaving huge gaps in between. Turns out, many landowners have refused to let the wall be built on their properties. Next up, Tribune reporters: Find out which builders got the contracts and if they kicked anything back to Abbott.
Auctioning Off the Border Wall: And, of course, the border-obsessed Republican Party continues to find more ways to get pissed about the wall. This week’s outrage concerns a claim by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick that President Joe Biden is auctioning off materials intended for construction of the border wall “for pennies on the dollar.” The auction Patrick referred to was ordered by Congress last year and, according to The Texas Tribune, much of the material has already been purchased with Texas tax dollars. Nonetheless, Trump referred to the auction as “almost criminal” – meaning, it’s not criminal?
AG Sues Over Trans Athletes: Speaking of wasting our goddamn money: Ken Paxton continues to flush taxpayer dollars down the toilet to spread trans hate. The AG announced on Sunday (right in time for Christmas!) that he is suing the National Collegiate Athletic Association for violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, accusing the group of allowing transgender women to participate in events marketed as women’s competitions.
Government Still Governing, Woohoo: Congress avoided a government shutdown at pretty much the last minute Friday. The House was set to pass a continuing resolution last week to keep the government open until March in a bipartisan deal, but some Republicans hated the plan, and then least-favorite-Austinite Elon Musk tweeted that the package was no good. Trump was against it, too, and within 24 hours, the resolution was dead. The passed spending package includes financial aid for farmers and money for recent natural disasters.
Death Sentences Commuted: Speaking of the orange monstrosity, you may recall that Trump went on a killing spree at the end of his term in 2020, pushing the executions of several people on the federal prison system’s death row, the first such executions in decades. To stop him from killing more, President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 remaining federal death row prisoners.
Nonstop Flights in 2025: What flight options will we have out of Austin in 2025? KUT’s Nathan Bernier laid out changes in detail this week. A few new nonstop flights will be added to Jacksonville, Memphis, Milwaukee, and Reno. But the airport is expecting overall less passenger traffic. Internationally, Lufthansa is downgrading its service to Frankfurt with a smaller aircraft from March through August, and KLM Royal Dutch will continue flying to Amsterdam on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Hey Texas, It’s Okay to Accept Help: The deadline for Texas to apply to participate in a federal food assistance program that gives families $120 per school-aged kid to buy groceries in the summer is coming up Jan. 1, and Texas hasn’t done its thing yet. Texas was one of 13 states that did not opt into the program in 2024, and advocates are concerned the state will miss out on hundreds of millions of dollars for the second year in a row, KUT reports.
Backing Pennybacker Bridge: City Council’s cooking on a plan to improve access to the Pennybacker Bridge Overlook for years to come. To get more people enjoying one of the most bangin’ views in Austin, Council members unanimously approved eminent domain proceedings to acquire a little more than an acre near the Loop 360 overlook for roughly $167,186. This will become public parking, sidewalks, and trails to serve the overlook, the Austin Monitor reports.
Everything’s (Still Getting) Bigger in Texas: Texas’ population grew by a little more than half a million people between July 2023 and July 2024, per census estimates. That puts the state population at more than 31 million. Though growth among new residents coming from other states slowed, the overall population growth of 1.8% was still the third-highest in the country, behind Florida and the District of Columbia.
Austin Drops to 5th Biggest: Austin has dropped from fourth-most populated city in Texas to fifth, based on population estimates from July 1, 2023, and Jan. 1, 2024, which were published in the Texas Demographic Center’s 2023 Population Estimates report. Fort Worth took the spot, growing 7.7%, compared to Austin’s 2.6%, the Statesman reported.
Local Real Estate Market Basically Steady: Austin’s “supernova” growth period looks to be over, but real estate experts and developers expect Central Texas to remain a desirable location in 2025, per Urban Land Institute’s report called “Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2025.” The report found a lower than ideal completions-to-household formation ratio, which signals undersupply. Meanwhile, we seem to have an oversupply of office space, as the local office market faces the same kind of slowdown observed in other large metros.
What’s With Those Flags Along MoPac?: They’re not an art installation, unfortunately, but they will become something beautiful ... eventually. If you’ve noticed the rows of pink and blue flags along MoPac southbound in North Austin, KVUE reports that they are markers placed by the Texas Department of Transportation to identify wildflower seedlings the transportation agency has planted as part of a series of landscaping projects underway throughout parts of Central Texas.
Quote of the Week
“There’s an old adage that’s tongue in cheek. It says there are two kinds of property in Texas. Those that have hogs and those that will.”
– City of Kyle PArks and Recreation Conservation Program Manager John Davis
Got something to say on the subject? Send a letter to the editor.
