Political response to defunding police
Governor Greg Abbott’s new legislative proposal would remove any city’s ability to annex future land if they defund their police departments. Meanwhile, Austin Mayor Steve Adler denies that the city council actually defunded APD this summer. What exactly does Governor Abbott define as defunding?
“I define defunding as exactly what the city of Austin has done. Exactly what Dallas City Council voted to do,” sats Abbott.
Adler calls it political theater. He says Abbot is just trying to distract from the public safety issue of the ongoing pandemic and expects more of this type of thing as we get closer to Election Day.
The Austin City Council still could have a chance to fix the APD staffing problems, at least according to the Austin police union. Austin Police Association president Ken Casaday says over the past few months they’ve seen 13-14 officers leave APD per month. He says that’s not sustainable and nearly double the usual rate. However, he believes the council can fix this.
“The council can turn this around and I’m supportive of them and then their efforts to try to do so. I know it will be tough with all the activists out there,” says Casaday
He says APD needs its academy classes back, noting there are still close to 100 people looking to be an Austin cop.
TX Marshals arrest child abuser
A month long manhunt for a 22 year old man accused of sexually assaulting a baby comes to an end in Central Texas. Brice Gage Watkins, also accused of distributing videos of that act online. Police in Oklahoma issued multiple felony warrants for his arrest last month. The Lone Star Fugitive Task Force says he was arrested last night at a home in San Marcos.
Burglars arrested in Hay County
Nearly a dozen arrests have been made following a months long investigation into numerous thefts, car burglaries and home burglaries. Hays County Sheriff’s Office says the 11 unidentified people committed various crimes between Williamson and Comal counties, hitting 20 different jurisdictions in between. Most of those arrested are said to be teenagers.
COVID-19 update
After breaking back into the double digits for COVID hospitalizations this week, that number has continued to fall down to 92 as of today. ICU bed usage is now back below 40 for the first time in quite a while, and only 25 patients are on a ventilator. The gap between total confirmed cases and recoveries has also gotten much smaller. 27,424 total cases have been found since March and 26,407 are recoveries.
After remaining fairly flat this week, Williamson County’s coronavirus hospitalizations have fallen by nine over the past day. That number now stands at 70. Active cases have also gone down to 95. That’s slightly less than a day ago. Overall, the county has flagged 8,125 cases over the past six months. 7,898 are classified as recoveries.
Small business relief
Travis County has approved more relief for small businesses, known as the TCTX Thrive program. Christy Moffett, with the Economic Development Department says $9 million is available, although there have been far more applications than there are available dollars.
“The top 225 businesses will receive the initial opportunity to sign a beneficiary contract with the county,” says Moffett.
Chosen businesses will get up to $40,000 to help with rent and payroll, PPE and other needs. Long term business planning will also be offered through the business and community leaders, or BCL of Texas.
Save Our Venues
Austin Congressman Roger Williams has again gone to bat this week for local live music venues. He’s pushing for the passage of the Save Our Stages Act, providing $10 billion to America’s music venues. Austen Bailey, with the Mohawk, down on Red River, says these venues are huge economic drivers.
“For every $1 spent in our venues, there’s $12 generated in the local economy,” says Bailey.
Williams says Music venues pump billions of dollars into the national economy every year and create thousands of jobs. The Save Our Stages Act has 137 cosponsors across both the Senate and the House.
Cedar Park abortion ban
This week, Cedar Park City Councilman Tim Kelly proposed an ordinance that would ban abortion in the city. Mayor Corbin Van Arsdale is now speaking up telling a statesman it’s pretty irrelevant because there are no abortion providers in Cedar Park. Van Arsdale accuses Kelly of “attention grabbing” and says they should be focused more on city business, like battling COVID-19.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-9-11-20
