Businesses increase capacity to 75%
A lot of Texas businesses were able to increase capacity to 75% today and the restaurant industry is hopeful it’ll be a shot in the arm as it struggles to hang on. Anna Tauzin with the Texas Restaurant Association says there a lot of people are still afraid to eat out.
“There’s a lot of conflicting information out there from the scientific community on what’s safe and what is not, and so it’s keeping guests away,” says Tauzin.
The problems for restaurants will persist until they can either open at 100% or until more relief is approved by Congress. She says the feds provided eight weeks worth of aid for a six month problem.
Bars still not open
The frustration among a lot of local bar owners and workers is really palpable these days. That’s because as businesses increased capacity today, Governor Greg Abbott is still not allowing bars to open their doors to anyone unless they’ve converted into a restaurant already.
“Because bars are nationally recognized as COVID spreading locations, they’re still not able to open it this time,” says Abbott.
The Texas Bar & Nightclub Alliance is bracing for the worst, expecting 50% of its membership to close permanently by the end of the year. A little more than 1,000 bars have already converted into restaurants so far.
COVID-19 update
As of today, there are 733 active cases of COVID in Travis County. 79 of those involved someone in the hospital. However, 200 more recoveries have been added to the tally. That number is now up to 27,294. Since March, the county has confirmed 28,441 cases.
Active cases appear to be back on the upswing for Williamson County, which has seen that number climbing over the past several days. Today, 163 COVID cases are considered active out of the 8,385 cases found since March. Hospitalizations only account for eight of the county’s active cases, and that number is down from 13 on Friday morning. 8,083 people have made recoveries.
Students go back to school
More kids will be back on campus in the Eanes district today. Earlier this month, 25% of students were allowed back. This week, it’s expected that number will climb just above 50%. The district is requiring all staff to return, and that sparked a backlash from some teachers who were asking to be given the choice between on-campus and virtual teaching.
If you have a child in the Austin district, today is the final day for you to respond to a survey on whether or not you plan to send your child back to campus or keep them at home. The district wants an accurate count of how many kids are coming back. On October 5th, campuses will begin opening at 25%.
Austin convention center funding
Back in Austin, the mayor is defending the City Council’s work to expand the convention center. Mayor Steve Adler says some question why these funds being spent on an expansion aren’t going to recovery efforts.
“If we could spend it that other way we would be doing that now.” Adler says residents need to remember what the convention center does for the city.
“When you invest in downtown and downtown property values go up, the tax revenue that the downtown generates becomes the economic engine for the entire city,” Adler says.
He says the city must use those dollars how they’re meant to be used.
Housing market in a Austin metro
The median price for homes in the Austin/Round Rock metro area grew by 11% in August compared to August of last year, up to $355,000. Romeo Manzanilla with the Austin Board of Realtors says that growth comes with an even lower housing stock from 2.6 months this time last year to 1.4 months worth today
“The thing that they’re faced with is right now there is a national lumber shortage. And, at the same time, builders are having a hard time being able to meet the consumer demand for purchases,” Manzanilla says.
Construction times being pushed back from the typical 5-6 months now up to 7-9 months.
Debt relief for former ITT students
A settlement has been reached between Attorney General Ken Paxton and the PEAKS Trust. That’s a private loan program run by the now defunct ITT Technical Institute. Paxton spokesman Alejandro Garcia says it was a high interest, predatory loan that threatened loss of credits and expulsion for nonpayment.
“We’re proud to hold ITT accountable for its deceptive trade practices and provide relief for students who were burdened with unfair student loan debt while pursuing an honest education,” says Garcia.
The settlement grants more than $27 million in debt relief to former students in Texas.
Car burglaries in Rancho Sienna
Another rash of car burglaries has the Williams County Sheriff’s Office on the hunt. Sheriff Robert Chody says several cars were hit early yesterday morning in the Rancho Sienna neighborhood. They’re hopeful that you might be able to help them out if you caught that on surveillance footage. Deputies increased patrols over the weekend and actually interrupted five different burglaries as they were happening. No arrests have been made.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-9-21-20
