State of the City address
The pandemic and racism are the two major themes of Austin Mayor Steve Adler’s State of the City address. Adler says the city has put $22 billion behind the COVID economic recovery efforts.
“But it’s not enough. We need more help. Congress needs to pass CARES 2 act. And it needs to provide support directly to cities.” Aside from the economic damages, Mayor Adler also calls the pandemic a moral challenge.
“COVID-19 is not just killing people. It’s impacts are disproportionately felt by communities of color,” Adler says.
The pandemic is highlighting city government moves from the past, specifically made to exclude some from opportunity. That needs to be addressed and in some cases, restitutions need to be made.
Homeless camping ban petition
After making a strong push to get Austin’s homeless camping ban reinstated, the city clerk says the petition submitted to get the issue on the November ballot has come up several 100 signatures short of the needed 20,000 signatures. The clerk says some were duplicates, while other people withdrew their names. Meantime, the bipartisan group behind that petition, Save Austin Now, says the city’s count is not accurate, and it believes thousands of names were improperly thrown out.
COVID-19 update
Travis County officials said earlier this week they think COVID-19 numbers have plateaued and are no longer falling. The numbers look like they’re backing up that belief. In the past 48 hours, the number of hospitalized patients has only fallen by two, currently at 308 this morning. The good news is the number hasn’t gone back up, but it’s really not falling. However, there has been a jump in recoveries of about 500 since yesterday morning. 20,059 people have recovered out of the 22,024 confirmed cases.
There are still 61 Williams County coronavirus patients in the hospital, which has been unchanged for the past few days. 30% of beds are still available. This week, the county said that’s not very different than any pre-COVID year. Some of the other county numbers are still moving in the right direction, including active cases, which have dropped by 30 over the past day. A total of 5,251 people have made recoveries out of the 5,949 cases found since March, and
UT football during COVID-19 pandemic
University of Texas football games remain a hotly debated issue by Austin Public Health. Travis County Health Authority Mark Escott is warning against packing thousands of people from all over the city and state into Darrell K Royal stadium.
“I’m concerned about the idea that on September 5th, three days before schools reopen, that we’re gonna have 25,000 people at one place; and I think that would be a big mistake,” says Escott.
25,000 fans would represent 25% seating capacity. He says we should focus on schools and education first. If that proves to be safe and successful, other activities could then be discussed.
First day of school voting
The Austin school board will vote on its first day of school tonight, but some employees worry they won’t get paid if the year doesn’t begin on August 18. The discussion is to push the first day back into September. This teaching assistant who spoke anonymously with KVUE says missing one check could throw all of her finances in upheaval.
“I’m a single parent. I have only one income coming in; that would have sent my house statement, my car payment, my utility bills, my food,” she says.
The district hasn’t indicated whether or not some employees may miss out on getting paid. The group Education Austin is asking for hazard pay or hero pay, as they call it, for teaching assistants, janitors and bus drivers.
A group of parents, teachers and staff in the Pflugerville district is calling on the school board to push back the first day of school until September 8th. They’re also pleading for the board to request an eight week waiver from the TEA allowing continued online learning. The board is expected to discuss those requests tonight.
A strong majority of Round Rock school district parents still appear uncomfortable about in-person classes. District spokesperson Jenny LaCoste Caputo tells CBS Austin the plan is to begin phasing kids back onto campus after September 10th.
“We’re generally trending about 69% saying that they will remain virtual and just over 30% saying that returned to campus,” says Caputo.
The first day of school will be August 20th. The first three weeks will be completely online for all students.
Blue green algae in Ladybird Lake
More of the toxic blue green algae has cropped up in Ladybird Lake. City of Austin says the toxins have been confirmed at Auditorium Shores, Red Bud Isle and Festival Beach. Dogs shouldn’t swim or even or drink from the water. Experts say even licking a bit of water off of their fur could be toxic or even fatal to dogs.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-8-6-20
