City of Austin hacked
Russian hackers may have hit the City of Austin’s networks. This is according to a report in the online publication The Intercept. The city says it was hit as part of a multi municipality hack, but it is not confirmed whether Russians were actually involved. Cyber security expert Alexander White tells FOX 7 it was a pretty sophisticated attack.
“Most of the high probability, in my professional opinion, that this is a nation state attack,” says White.
The report says hackers gained access back in October and says the City Council has been aware of the attack since October 9 and actually met in a closed door session days later after it was briefed. City officials say no critical systems were impacted, but have not given much information beyond that.
Ranked choice voting
A progressive political action committee says it’s gotten enough signatures to push a May vote on changing Austin’s government. The Austinites for Progressive Reform Pack has collected 24,000 petition signatures in favor of a few city charter changes. The PAC’s Andrew Allison says one of the proposed changes is adopting ranked choice voting.
“Where everybody gets to vote in November and rank their preferences and there’s no need for runoff and whoever breaks 50% wins,” says Allison.
Currently ranked choice voting is not legal in Texas, but groups are pushing bills in the state legislature to change that. Allison says Austin needs to be ready.
COVID-19 update
Travis County’s hospitalizations have risen for another day. Now up to 320. Active cases have also risen through the week. Since March, 44,381 cases have been confirmed. Right now, Austin Public Health says 3,971 of them are active. Almost 40,000 people have made a recovery.
In Williamson County, 1,186 cases of COVID are active this morning. The county has flagged a total of 16,986 cases since March. Hospitalizations have climbed up to 93. That’s an increase of 8. Overall, 15,428 people are said to have recovered.
After winter break school plans
So as it begins to look more and more likely that Travis County will enter Stage 5 on the COVID risk chart, schools are having to decide what to do after the winter break. Education Austin President Ken Zarifis tells CBS Austin he doesn’t think there should be any debate about keeping kids at home.
“I never thought it would be so difficult for people to genuinely act in the best interests of people’s safety in mind,” says Zarifis.
The Austin School District says Stage 5 would cancel all extracurricular activities. The district also says it would consider campus closures if recommended by health officials.
Vaccine distribution in hospitals
Governor Greg Abbott says 224,000 doses were spread out to 210 hospitals yesterday and going forward with the addition of the Moderna vaccine. Abbott says he expects the number of doses to rise significantly starting next week.
“That will allow us to be well over a million people who will be vaccinated just in the state of Texas alone just this month,” says Abbott.
Abbott says there will be no more shutdowns. He says he’s now focused on opening up businesses.
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood is asking Governor Abbott not to block their Medicaid patients during the pandemic. This comes just weeks after an appeals court granted Texas the legal right to do that. The ruling of the Fifth Circuit cleared a path for Texas to eliminate Planned Parenthood clinics from the Medicaid program, even those that don’t offer abortion services. That prompted the Planned Parenthood Federation of America CEO Alexis McGill Johnson to make the following appeal to Governor Abbott, and attorney general Ken Paxton.
“As Texas grapples with the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism, we’re calling on them to at least do the minimum humane thing and give a short grace period for Planned Parenthood to continue providing care,” says Johnson.
Just enough time to find another health care provider.
Eviction moratorium expiring soon
And as the expiration date of the CDCs federal eviction moratorium draws closer, some fear as many as 10% of Texas adults could be at risk. Christina Rosales, the deputy director of the low income housing advocacy group Texas Housers, says their best estimate is coming from a survey question from the census.
“In Texas, 1.2 million adults have said that they aren’t sure that they have the means to pay next month’s rent or mortgage,” Rosales says.
They’re calling on Governor Abbott and the Texas Supreme Court to issue a statewide eviction moratorium until they have a solid plan to keep the 1.2 million Texans housed.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-12-18-20
