MRT: Tesla Picks Austin for $1B, Factory; Southwest Tests Therma Cameras at DAL; TX Hits New Daily High in COVID Deaths; Abbott Down to 48% Approval
Here's What You Need to Know in Texas Today.
MustReadTexas.com – @MustReadTexas
BY: @MattMackowiak
THURSDAY – 07/23/20
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TOP NEWS
"Tesla picks Austin for $1 billion auto factory,"The Austin American-Statesman's Shonda Novak and Bob Sechler -- "In one of the largest economic development projects in Austin’s history, electric automaker Tesla says it will build a $1.1 billion assembly plant in Travis County that will employ 5,000 people.
Wages at the factory — to be located on 2,100 acres off Texas 130 and Harold Green Road — will start at $35,000 annually, counting benefits, bringing job opportunities and investment to a southeastern portion of the county that officials say is sorely in need of them.
It will produce the electric vehicle maker’s upcoming Cybertruck electric pickup, as well as be a second site to build its Model Y SUV. Tesla officials previously have said they intend to break ground on the factory by the third quarter of this year, although CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday that initial work at the site actually began last weekend.
“The location is five minutes from (Austin-Bergstrom International Airport) and 15 minutes from downtown Austin,” Musk said, speaking on a conference call with Wall Street analysts following the company’s second-quarter earnings release.
“We are going to make it a factory that is going to be stunning,” he said. “It is right on the Colorado River. So we are actually going to have a boardwalk where there will be a hike and biking trail. It is basically going to be an ecological paradise — birds in the trees, butterflies, fish in the stream. And it will be open to the public as well, so not closed and only open to Tesla.”" Austin American-Statesman
"Group of Texas bars plans to open illegally in statewide protest Saturday against Gov. Abbott’s shutdown order,"The Dallas Morning News' Jeremy Hallock -- "The last time we spoke with Chris Polone, owner of Fort Worth music venue The Rail Club Live, he was preparing for a July 4 Tea Party Protest concert in defiance of Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to shut down Texas bars as a measure to curb the spread of coronavirus. That event got his liquor license suspended, and the shutdown order is still in place.
Polone, however, is now organizing Freedom Fest in alliance with other bars and venues across the state that will open their doors illegally for concerts on Saturday, July 25.
When Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission officers gave him the option of shutting the event down or losing his liquor license on July 4, Polone — who was broadcasting on Facebook Live — got on stage, ranted, and tore up the paperwork. Then he went outside, lit up a cigarette, and said his lawyers were ready to sue the state of Texas.
“We were bound to a liquor license,” Polone says. “But we had no alcohol, and no money had exchanged hands. They violated my First Amendment right because it was a protest, not a concert, in a building I own.”" Dallas Morning News
"Beto O'Rourke calls Texas GOP 'a death cult' over coronavirus response,"The Hill's Morgan Gstatler -- "Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) on Tuesday called his home state’s Republican Party a “death cult,” referring to Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's (R) response to the coronavirus crisis.
“This is one of the most craven, callous failures of leadership that I’ve ever witnessed in my life,” the former Democratic presidential candidate said during an interview on MSNBC.
O’Rourke's comments come amid a significant surge of coronavirus cases in the Lone Star State, noting that hospitals are at near-full capacity and bodies are being stored in refrigerated trucks due to full morgues.
The former congressman slammed Abbott for preventing local government from enforcing their own coronavirus restrictions.
Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez issued an emergency order on Monday that mandated people shelter in their residences, restricting travel and limiting gatherings. The order also established a countywide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., with exceptions for medical emergencies or those working in essential services." The Hill
"As school reopenings falter, some Texas parents hire private teachers. Others can only afford to cross their fingers,"The Texas Tribune's Aliyya Swaby -- "Earlier this summer, Kristina Boshernitzan and a group of neighbors stood in the driveway of her Austin home for a socially distanced meeting to figure out how to take greater control of their childrens' educations.
With the coronavirus spreading unpredictably and plans to safely reopen schools shifting day by day, the parents grappled with the increasing prospect that it might be unsafe, or impossible, to send their children back to school in the fall.
Each faced difficult decisions. One neighbor's husband had stage 4 cancer, and she didn’t want her children to expose him to the new coronavirus, which they might pick up in a classroom. Another mother had young twins with lung issues. Just a cold is enough to send them to the hospital, and they can take no risk of being exposed to COVID-19.
Boshernitzan, who works full-time at a nonprofit, wanted parents to pool resources and find ways to make virtual learning easier. They discussed hiring a college student or nanny to help children complete their online school district coursework, or finding a music or arts instructor who could replace enrichment courses while schools are closed for in-person learning." Texas Tribune
"Group sues UT-Austin on behalf of white students who say they were unfairly denied admission,"The Austin American-Statesman's Lara Korte -- "A national organization has filed a suit in federal court on behalf of two white members who claim the University of Texas did not give them a fair opportunity to apply for admission because of their race.
The suit, filed Monday by the nonprofit Students for Fair Admissions, claims UT’s use of racial preferences in admissions violates the 14th Amendment, federal civil rights laws and Texas law. The suit names over a dozen UT officials as defendants, including James B. Milliken, chancellor of the UT System, and Jay Hartzell, UT’s interim president.
Students for Fair Admissions claims to have more than 20,000 members, including students, parents and others who believe racial classifications and preferences in college admissions are unfair, unnecessary and unconstitutional. The group had filed a similar case in 2018 against UT, which was recently dismissed. The group also sued administrators at Harvard University. Last fall, a federal judge upheld Harvard’s race-conscious admissions policy as constitutional.
Edward Blum, president of the organization, is a longtime challenger to affirmative action practices across the country. In 2008, he helped rejected UT applicant Abigail Fisher sue the university, which ended in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case upholding UT’s use of race in admissions practices." Austin American-Statesman
"Southwest will test thermal cameras at Dallas Love Field," via AP-- "Southwest Airlines will test thermal cameras for spotting people with fevers beginning next month at the Dallas airport as it tries to convince people to fly during the coronavirus pandemic, officials said Wednesday.
The trial could run up to three months, but readings captured by the cameras won’t be linked to individual travelers, said officials with the city and the Dallas-based airline.
The trial will evaluate the cameras, where equipment should be placed, and how thermal screening would affect traffic flows at security checkpoints at Dallas Love Field.
Southwest said it and city representatives will then decide on additional testing. The airline did not say when readings could be tied to individuals. A spokesman said that the airline will tell customers and employees about any changes to current procedures at the airport.
Scott Halfmann, the airline’s vice president of safety and security, said the test “could be an important, additional layer of precaution that Southwest can offer customers,” which he said is especially important during the virus pandemic.
The Transportation Safety Administration is considering taking passengers’ temperatures at other airports. Airlines like the idea, but health officials warn that it would not detect people who have COVID-19 but don’t show symptoms. COVID-19 is the illness caused by the new coronavirus.
The city of Dallas owns Love Field, and Southwest controls most of the gates at its hometown airport." AP
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
"As Texas hits 4,400 COVID-19 deaths, local leaders again press Abbott for lockdown authority,"The Houston Chronicle'sJeremy Blackman -- "Texas recorded its highest daily death toll from the coronavirus Wednesday, while cases and hospitalizations continued to level off in a possible sign that the state is nearing an overall peak in infections.
More than 200 deaths were reported, according to a Hearst analysis of the most current state and county totals. The statewide death toll from the pandemic is now above 4,400, up from 2,500 at the beginning of July.
Public health experts predicted the rise in fatalities, given the surge in cases and hospitalizations that began last month amid holiday celebrations, public protests and the state’s reopening. Many cities and counties are still undergoing devastating outbreaks, particularly in Latino communities along the Gulf Coast and the Mexican border.
The state is now reporting well over 100 deaths per day.
Statewide, the growth in new daily cases and hospitalizations still appears to be slowing, and may be beginning to plateau. The rate of people testing positive for the virus is now at 14.2 percent, the lowest since July 6. It has been on a downward trend since July 16.
Public health experts are still waiting to see whether the flattening holds, and many have said the positivity rate will need to drop drastically before the state can effectively manage outbreaks — or consider sending students back to classrooms in the fall.
In Houston and other hard-hit cities, local leaders again called on Gov. Greg Abbott to allow them to impose targeted, temporary lockdowns to slow their infection rates.
“Until we can get that positivity rate down to 5 percent or below, our contact tracing and testing is not going to be nearly as impactful,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, a Democrat, said in an interview with CNN.
Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez also appeared on the network urging the governor to allow local lockdowns. Cortez ordered many county residents to shelter in place earlier this week, while acknowledging that it is unenforceable under restrictions currently in place by Abbott.
“If I can even simply get 10 percent of people to follow it, I’m 10 percent better than I was today, because yesterday we had 49 people pass away and that is certainly not acceptable,” he said.
Abbott has refused to allow any shutdowns, and said Wednesday that his recent statewide mask order appears to be slowing infections. He urged cities and counties to issue more citations for violators. His mandate only allows for penalties on repeat offenses, which can be hard for law enforcement to track.
“We need to make sure we have enough time for this practice to be utilized by everyone,” Abbott said in a TV interview.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found that a slim majority of respondents oppose a new statewide lockdown, though a large majority say local officials should be able to issue them for their jurisdictions.
Democrats have blasted the governor for his refusal to step up restrictions as deaths rise.
“The people in San Antonio are nervous, not only about contracting the virus but whether there will be space at local hospitals if they do get sick,” U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said in a press conference in Washington.
Castro questioned Abbott’s political courage. “For whatever reason, he won’t make the tough decisions. He has to step aside and let local leaders do it.”
Meanwhile, health experts pressed state and federal leaders across the political spectrum to compromise and find solutions.
“Local school boards are making a decision to close schools, but the bars and restaurants are still open,” Scott Gottlieb, a leading expert and former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, said in a CNBC interview. “We need to make a decision about what’s important and what we’re willing to sacrifice right now, until we’re on the other side of this.”
Dr. Peter Hotez, a professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said the country is currently on track to reach 220,000 deaths by October.
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” he said in a virtual town hall with state Rep. Sarah Davis, R-Houston. “We have to stop acting like this is a fait accompli, like it’s inevitable. There are things we can do.”
Hotez has called for new national benchmarks, and has said states with large outbreaks, including Texas, will need to consider lockdowns in order to get there.
“The goal should not be a bed or ventilator for every Texan,” Davis said. “The goal should be to prevent anybody from getting to that point.”" Houston Chronicle
"Gov. Abbott's plummet in public approval depicted in yet another Texas poll," The Houston Chronicle'sTaylor Goldenstein -- "Nearly two-thirds of Texans believe the coronavirus is “out of control” in the state, and Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval rating has plummeted to 48 percent over the last month, a new Quinnipiac University poll shows.
That’s a substantial dip from Abbott’s approval ratings in early June when 56 percent of voters approved of the job the second-term Republican was doing. Until recently, the crisis hadn’t affected Abbott’s rating, which had been unchanged since September.
Polls released two weeks ago showed a similar plunge for Abbott, finding that approval of his COVID-19 response had dropped from 60 percent to 44 percent. Ratings for states’ top leaders throughout most of the country have dropped, according to that survey, with the average governor experiencing a decline of 10 percentage points. Abbott's rating was fifth-lowest in the country among governors.
It was in late June that Abbott began to roll back some of the business reopenings he’d allowed earlier that month, as the percentage of Texans testing positive for COVID-19 crept up to almost 10 percent, the red flag that he’d said would cause him to reconsider.
On July 2, Abbott instituted a statewide mask mandate after weeks of resisting doing so and curbing local governments’ ability to enforce their mask orders.
The Quinnipiac poll was taken July 16-20, surveying 880 self-identified registered voters. It has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points.
While 65 percent of respondents said they believe the virus is out of control here, 66 percent of those surveyed say they personally know someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19, up 31 points from early June.
“The concern is palpable as the number of virus victims soars and it's getting more personal every day, as the patient lists increasingly include friends, family and neighbors,” said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy.
As Texas’ hospitals begin to fill up with COVID-19 patients and near critical thresholds, 69 percent of voters said they were either "very concerned" or "somewhat concerned" about the state's hospitals running out of space to care for sick patients. Thirty-one percent say they are “not so concerned” or “not concerned at all.”
The state hit a record in hospitalizations on Tuesday with 10,848 lab-confirmed positive COVID-19 patients occupying hospital beds.
Despite Abbott’s low approval rating, more than half of Texans agree with his insistence that a statewide stay-at-home order is not yet necessary. Abbott’s face mask mandate was also a popular move, with 80 percent voter approval.
But most, or 68 percent, also want to see Abbott allow local governments to issue local stay-home orders.
The area where more than half of voters, or 52 percent, seemed to think Abbott floundered was reopening the economy “too quickly.” Another 33 percent said it was “about the right pace” and 13 percent said it was too slow. Seventy-six percent approved his move to close bars as a way to reduce the spread of the virus." Houston Chronicle
TEXANS IN DC
"'We're finally taking a stand.' Texas Republicans cheer closure of Houston's Chinese consulate,"The Houston Chronicle's Benjamin Wermund -- "An alleged attempt by China to steal American research on a coronavirus vaccine was the “nail in the coffin” that pushed the U.S. to close the Chinese consulate in Houston, according to the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
While the Trump administration’s decision to close the consulate is among the most significant moves yet in an ongoing geopolitical feud between the two nations, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, said it’s not the White House that is escalating things.
“I would say the Chinese Communist Party has escalated this by their malign behavior,” he said. “We’ve given them every opportunity to join the family of nations and the fact is, it didn’t work. And President Xi has made it clear what his policy is, and it is to dominate in the economic and military space.
“We’re finally taking a stand against them.”
McCaul is among the Texas Republicans who have been some of the most outspoken hawks about China in recent months. Already, the Chinese government has sanctioned U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, and threatened to do the same to Houston U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw.
McCaul, meanwhile, leads the House GOP’s wide-ranging investigation of China’s alleged cover-up of the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak, its suppression of dissent and its theft of U.S. intellectual property.
“They are our top, really, top competitor and our long-term biggest national security threat,” said McCaul, whose district stretches from Austin to Houston. “I would argue they already are today, the way they’ve stolen so many things.”
And Houston’s consulate has been central to those efforts, McCaul said, calling it “the epicenter of where the research theft has taken place.”
McCaul pointed to the ouster last year of three scientists at MD Anderson Cancer Center accused of trying to steal research. And he said Houston’s vast medical system is a logical target for hackers — including those hunting for research on the coronavirus vaccine. Within Houston’s medical complex, Houston Methodist, Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston are doing that work.
“This is not some made up allegation, this is real stuff, and they infiltrated our universities and our research and they take advantage of our academia system and our freedom of speech and press to turn it against us,” McCaul said.
Court documents unsealed Tuesday describing the alleged attempt to steal coronavirus vaccine research do not link the two suspects to the Houston consulate. Democrats in Congress say it’s up to President Donald Trump to offer more proof to back up his decision to punish the Chinese government.
“While the White House has posed concerning allegations against China — allegations that I take seriously — questions remain as to why the State Department specifically targeted the consulate in Houston, and why such escalatory actions were warranted,” said U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, a Houston Democrat. “The White House must be transparent and show that it is taking smart and thoughtful action—rather than engaging in brash foreign policy.”" Houston Chronicle
REMAINDERS
HOUSTON DASH: "Daly's goal send Dash to final with 1-0 win over Thorns" AP
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