Abbott proposes legislation against defunding police
Today, Governor Greg Abbott will be proposing legislation to fight local efforts to defund police departments. From the Austin Police Association, Governor Abbott will roll out legislation against defunding local police. He’ll also sign the pledge he promoted on Wednesday.
“I’m calling on every Texan and every candidate for public office, regardless of party affiliation, to join me in signing a pledge against defunding our police departments,” says Abbott.
Rice University political scientist Mark Jones says this has more to do with politics than police.
“It’ll allow Republicans to perhaps earn some points with voters and put some Democrats in an awkward position,” says Jones.
Pro-police billboard campaign
The Texas Municipal Police Association has launched a billboard campaign against the defunding of Austin police. There are two billboards now along I-35 that say “Warning: Austin police defunded, enter at your own risk.” The Municipal Police Association says the safety of the citizens and visitors in Austin has never been more at risk.
Fight for Austin
Mayor Steve Adler is scoffing at the formation of Fight for Austin, a new political action committee looking to get pro-police council members elected in November. Adler says the pack is among the many groups that are pushing an untrue narrative that $150 million has been cut from the police budget.
“I feel like some people think if they say that over and over and over and over again, they’ll convince people that it’s true even though it’s not true,” says Adler.
Austin is still one of the safest cities in the nation with a pretty low crime rate, especially if you remove both larceny and auto theft from the overall crime stats.
Demolishing APD HQ
The Public Safety Commission is again discussing a proposal from council member Jimmy Flannigan to demolish the Austin Police Department headquarters in downtown. Commission member Rebecca Webber says the vision is to redevelop the land in a way that honors social justice.
“The embodiment of council is reimagining so that the public safety aspect of it would not necessarily be police but would be services and things like that,” says Webber
No recommendations have been made as of yet as to what would replace the building, and there’s still a lot of hurdles and red tape need to be overcome. However, there does appear to be growing support for that proposal.
COVID-19 update
Travis County has reached a very welcome benchmark this week. For the first time in months, fewer than 100 people are hospitalized for coronavirus. This morning, 99 people are in the hospital. 24 of those patients are on a ventilator, and that’s a number that’s also seen a continued decline. The county also surpassed another milestone this week in terms of recoveries, rising above 26,000 for the first time. In all, 27,206 cases have been found and 26,173 are recoveries.
Hospitalizations in Williamson County appeared to have plateaued a bit. For several days, the numbers hovered in the mid and upper seventies. Today there are 77. But hospitalizations also account for the bulk of the county’s total number of active cases. 97 active cases this morning. 8,107 total cases confirmed since March and 7,879 have recovered.
Despite some of the good numbers trending still in the right direction, there has been a spike in infections and hospitalizations of young kids and teens. They say there is very little data on patients this young, and that could change public recommendations later on. Director of Austin Public Health Stephanie Hayden says these kids can still be a danger.
“Young people that age have a tendency to be a carrier of COVID-19. They have the ability to pass COVID-19 along as if they were an adult,” says Hayden.
This means it’s more important for kids to mask up and socially distance while in and out of class.
UT football season COVID-19 risks
The new Longhorn football season’s just days away from beginning. With that comes the expectation from Travis County Health Authority Mark Escott that coronavirus will begin to spread.
“If we look at our current rate of transmission in Travis County, we can expect that perhaps 40-50 people out of that 25,000 will show up with COVID-19,” Escott says.
There are also concerns about people standing in line for bathrooms and concession stands. His recommendation is that we all watch the games from home this year. 25,000 fans are expected in the stadium.
This news and more on News Radio KLBJ:
https://omny.fm/shows/klbjam-flash-briefing-1/am-newscast-9-10-20
