AUST I N 3 6 0 | D 1
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TAKING A LEAP INTO CREATIVITY
FROM FOOTBALL TO BUSINESS, A SELF-MADE MAN
Austin’s Patrick Puckett talks about his decision to become a full-time artist in the midst of the pandemic
Selvin Young carries himself as an entrepreneur the same way he did on the field
Sunday, May 31, 2020
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‘So many emotions’ Austin demonstrators take their anger to the streets, highway during Saturday protests By Heather Osbourne and Ariana Garcia hosbourne@statesman.com agarcia@statesman.com
Protesters shut down Interstate 35 in downtown Austin on Saturday, venting frustration and anger over police violence. In chants and on signs, demonstrators called for justice for the officer-involved killings of Michael Ramos in Austin and George Floyd in Minneapolis. Saturday’s rally in Austin followed an overnight demonstration that ended with officers firing bean bag shots and making several arrests. “There are so many emotions,” said Lindsay Smith, who cried as she protested at the start of the noon event Saturday. “I’m so happy they have other races and ethnicities out here supporting black lives. I’m also sad about where America is right now. I just hope and pray there is justice in these cases.” Austin resident Katrina Hill said she came to demonstrate as a worried parent. “I feel like I have to be here for my children,” she said. “I’m a mother, and I have sons. It’s exhausting being black and being in America, because you always have to be on guard. It’s horrible. It’s scary.”
Demonstrators who gathered Saturday to protest police violence shut down Interstate 35 in Austin. The protest started at Austin Police Department headquarters, right, on the I-35 frontage road. Officers stood face to face with people who sometimes shouted obscenities at them. [RICARDO B. BRAZZIELL/AMERICAN-STATESMAN PHOTOS]
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• Cities across the country brace for more unrest, call in the National Guard, A6 • Officials fear massive protests could trigger another wave of coronavirus, A7
See late-breaking developments, more photos and videos at statesman.com.
See PROTEST, A28
Virus demands novel approaches for America By Marco della Cava | USA TODAY
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, political leaders, business owners and entrepreneurs are seeking ways to thoughtfully begin Rebuilding America
America will rebuild. But much like shop owners removing boards off windows in the wake of a natural disaster, Americans aren’t quite sure what the aftermath of the deadly coronavirus pandemic will look like. Will our economic engine need to change what it sells and how it sells it? Will the same consumer habits return? Can the familiar rhythms of the nation’s unabashedly capitalist system resume? The galvanic forces exerted by pandemics always have shaped global history, says Marina Gorbis, executive director at the Institute for See REBUILDING, PAGE A24
S E E T H E R E B U I L D I N G A M E R I CA P ROJ E CT I N S I D E Malls, stores will have new look as shoppers venture inside
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Restaurants juggle welcoming style with safety protocols
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LONE STAR POLITICS P O L I T I FA C T
State budget comparison is off By Amy Sherman and Emily Venezky
Facebook posts
PolitiFact.com
Statement: Texas and Florida have a “balanced budget” while California is “in debt $54 billion” and New York is “in debt $6.1 billion.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has put a massive strain on state budgets, but some social media users have pointed the finger at Democratic-led states. A Facebook post lists metrics for the four most populous states including their budgets. It states that Texas and Florida have “balanced” budgets while California is “in debt $54 billion” and New York is “in debt $6.1 billion.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dennis Bonnen both shared versions of the graphic on Twitter. Bonnen did not include a comment, but Abbott added: “Hmmm...” The post is misleading in multiple ways, and it fails to explain some basics about state budgets. First, it’s common for states to borrow money to construct state buildings, roads or environmental restoration. You can have debt and a balanced budget. And all of these states must pass
a balanced budget. Second, the post describes certain dollar amounts as “debt” when they were actually shortfalls. All four states, in fact, carry billions of dollars in debt. Shortfalls occur when revenue collections come in lower than expected or expenditures can come in higher than forecast, said Brian Sigritz, director of State Fiscal Studies at the National Association of State Budget Officers. Comparing different states’ budget gaps is difficult, because they tend to change month-to-month and states release revenue forecasts at different times. “Debt” in the context of a state budget refers to the cumulative total of all past deficits, less surpluses. A projected shortfall or budget gap is the amount that state officials have to address in order to balance a state budget.
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The Texas Supreme Court weighed in on the fight over whether to expand mail-in balloting during the epidemic, ruling that the lack of immunity to COVID-19 is not a physical condition that would enable most Texans to skip in-person voting.
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Mirroring a partisan split over the practice of proxy voting on the U.S. House floor, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, voted this past week while remaining home, but U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, was marked as not voting, though he did participate in an online committee hearing.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Texas would welcome President Trump and the RNC Convention.” James Dickey, chairman of the Texas Republican Party, responding to President Donald Trump’s tweets pressing North Carolina’s Democratic governor to allow a full-occupancy convention in Charlotte
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Florida’s total state direct debt outstanding as of June 30, 2019, was $20.6 billion. Kurt Wenner, vice president of research at Florida TaxWatch, a key budget watchdog organization, said most officials believe there is enough in reserves and federal aid to avoid a deficit in this budget year. Texas’ budget needs revisions, billions of dollars out of balance Texas passes a budget every two years and the current budget ends Aug. 31, 2021. The state hasn’t revised the budget, but Comptroller Glenn Hegar has said the economy is in a recession and announced that state sales tax revenues from April 2019 compared with
New York’s budget had $6 billion gap, not debt News articles at the end of 2019 stated that New York faced a $6.1 billion budget gap — before the pandemic hit. (The Citizens Budget Commission said the amount was $7 billion.) Before the pandemic, the state was expecting a 7% increase in revenue, but now it is expecting a 14% decline in revenue. A state estimate on April 25 put revenue losses at $13.3 billion this year and $61 billion over the next four years. Outstanding debt at the end of fiscal 2020, which closed on March 31, was $54.4 billion. The state issues debt for capital purposes such as road and bridge construction, environmental conservation, and facility construction.
California’s budget has projected $16 billion budget gap
California’s debt was reported to be $129 billion as of May 1. In the 2020-21 budget Newsom proposed in January, the state of California planned to pay part of this debt and had a projected $5.6 billion budget surplus for the 2020-21 fiscal year. But due to COVID-19, new forecasts show a 25% plunge in “the state’s big three tax sources — personal income, sales and corporations” would lead to a $54.3 billion deficit. Newsom released revisions to the budget on May 14 that are supposed to balance the budget for the next year. But there is a projected deficit in future years, culminating in $16 billion dollars by 2023-24. Our ruling
A Facebook post said Texas and Florida have a “balanced budget” while California is “in debt $54 billion” and New York is “in debt $6.1 billion.” This post misleads readers in multiple ways. We rate it False.
GOP conventions provide grand stage for political drama
TOP 3 STORIES OF THE WEEK
Gov. Greg Abbott continued loosening epidemic-related limits on Texas businesses, allowing water parks and outdoor venues for professional sports to open at 25% capacity. He also allowed recreational sports for adults, mall food courts and driver’s education programs to resume.
Florida, like all states, expected to take budget hit
April 2020 saw the steepest decline since January 2010. Abbott requested that state agencies and universities submit a plan by June 15 that uses savings to reduce their use of revenue by 5%. The most recent calculations show Texas had a total of $59.9 billion in state debt by Aug. 31, 2019.
Jonathan Tilove
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reporter always wants to be in the thick of things. So, as a Texas political reporter covering the 2020 presidential campaign amid the coronavirus pandemic, I can only hope to find myself in the midst of a political convention this summer with President Donald Trump. I might be doubly blessed. Texas Republicans have invited the president to appear at their state convention in mid-July in Houston, an invitation that I cannot imagine the rally-starved president passing on. What’s more, Texas Republicans have invited the president to move the national GOP convention here if North Carolina does not bend to his will to allow a full-scale convention in Charlotte at the end of August. This coming week, Texas Democrats are holding a virtual state convention, culminating in Joe Biden delivering a pre-recorded speech to 12,000 delegates watching from home. Interesting, but it’s not the mano-a-mano drama I witnessed at the 2016 Republican National Convention that nominated Trump. There, Texas’ Sen. Ted Cruz reaped the whirlwind when he failed to endorse
The view from the Texas delegation of the balloon drop at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena as Donald Trump accepted the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016. Trump has been invited to attend the Texas GOP convention in Houston this summer. [JONATHAN TILOVE/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]
Trump in his convention speech. “Wow. Ted Cruz got booed off the stage, didn’t honor the pledge!” Trump tweeted. At a tense Texas delegation breakfast the next morning, Cruz defended his decision not to abide by the pledge of all the GOP presidential candidates to back the nominee. “I’ll tell you the day that pledge was abrogated. The day that was abrogated was the day this got personal,” Cruz said, referring to Trump’s insulting of his wife Heidi’s looks and implicating his father, Rafael, in the Kennedy assassination. “I am not in the habit of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my father.” When a Texas delegate scolded Cruz to get over it because “that’s politics,” Cruz fired back, “this is not about politics.”
“Right and wrong matter,” he said. Cruz eventually backed Trump and has become a most vociferous defender. But I wonder whether he has felt a twinge of empathy as the president has suggested recently that Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” might have murdered a member of his congressional staff in 2001 who died when she lost consciousness because of a heart condition and hit her head on a desk at Scarborough’s Florida office while Scarborough was in Washington. It’s an insinuation the president has persisted in despite the anguished pleas of her widower. Trump calls himself a “counter puncher.” Attack him, and, “I then respond times ten.” During the 2016 campaign,
Scarborough and co-host, now wife, Mika Brzezinski had a symbiotic relationship with Trump, who would call in so they could mutually gloat about the dimness of an establishment that did not take Trump seriously. Now they are relentless critics of Trump. Trump was also counterpunching on the morning of Cruz’s last stand against him in the May 3, 2016, Indiana primary, when he shared with Fox News a report by his friends at the National Enquirer linking Rafael Cruz and Lee Harvey Oswald. “It’s horrible,” Trump said. What set Trump off was a video clip Fox aired in which the elder Cruz, a pastor, told Indiana voters: “I implore, I exhort every member of the body of Christ to vote according to the word of God and vote for the candidate that stands on the word of God and on the Constitution of the United States of America. And I am convinced that man is my son, Ted Cruz. The alternative could be the destruction of America.” “Absolutely horrible,” Trump said. Rafael Cruz is a beloved figure among Texas Republican activists. It would be perfectly natural for him to offer a prayer at their convention. But if he does, the “word of God” 2020 will be to vote for Trump. After all, his son still wants to be president. Watching this unfold amid a global pandemic is better than just good political drama. It is worthy of Shakespeare.
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Stores hopeful with reopening on horizon Austin retail slowly reopens midpandemic, virtual and contactless innovations likely to remain By Heather Osbourne hosbourne@statesman.com
In North Austin, a place exists where children once were endlessly entertained and parents enjoyed moments of peace without hearing their little ones shout, “I’m bored!” The coronavirus pandemic has kept the magic of Terra Toys shuttered inside for two months now, but shop owner’s daughter and store manager Sylvia Edwards sees hope on the horizon. Edwards said if all goes according to plan, the toy store may be able to open its building to shoppers by June 1. Terra Toys is just one of hundreds of retailers in Austin affected greatly by the coronavirus pandemic. Retailers in the weeks leading up to spring break were ordering stockpiles of merchandise in preparation for one of Austin’s busiest times of the year, the South By Southwest series of festivals. However, as the coronavirus quickly spread toward the capital city, business owners were hit with the news that not only would the festival be canceled, but that they also would be forced to shutter their businesses for at least two weeks. It’s now been at least two months. Terra Toys was one of the lucky ones, according to Edwards. The toy store was deemed essential and allowed to stay open longer because of its educational products for children. However, with dozens of little hands touching and even tasting the 100,000 toys on the store floors, Edwards decided to close the brick-and-mortar shop on March 17 because of safety concerns. “We had tools and toys that were able to help occupy children when their parents were unable to do so,” Edwards said. “So, we then began offering curbside pick-up and virtual shopping experiences. Customers responded very well.” Gov. Greg Abbott on May 1 lifted restrictions and allowed retailers to reopen at limited occupancy, but Terra Toys and other Austin shops like Tesoros Trading Company on South Congress Avenue opted to remain closed. Kisla Jimenez, owner of Tesoros Trading Company, known for its folk art and crafts, said lack of access to cleaning products, gloves and masks is one of the
Riley Lenz demonstrates at Terra Toys how she and her store serve customers by utilizing video conferences and sending photos. [STEPHEN SPILLMAN FOR STATESMAN]
main reasons she decided not to open at 25% capacity. Jimenez said she just received a delayed shipment of jewelry meant for South By festival goers, but she now worries she will struggle to sell it. “Austin is such a wonderful place and we are hopeful it will get back to normal soon,” Jimenez said. “We are watching the new case count of the virus and it seems like in Texas it’s going up a bit. We personally feel like it’s not totally safe for people to come out.” Laura Huffman, president and CEO of the Austin Chamber of Commerce, said lack of personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies seems to be a common complaint among the business community. In addition, many stores also remain closed until Abbott allows owners to operate at 50% capacity. Huffman said some business owners, after crunching the numbers, realized they would likely lose money if only opening at 25% capacity. “I think one of the concerns that everyone has is that if we don’t stage reopening in the right way, we will find ourselves back to where we were a month ago,” Huffman said. “There is not a set opening date for many businesses in Austin,” she continued. “I think people have been sheltering in place for a long time now, so there is a natural desire to start moving in the community."
Huffman said businesses, in response, are already learning to adapt and come up with new ways of operating to keep Austin retail afloat. For example, parents can now call Terra Toys to have employees handselect bundles of educational and attention-grabbing products based on their child’s specific interests. Those bundles also are available on Terra Toys’ new website that donates 30% of all proceeds to the Central Texas Food Bank. Allens Boots, which is now open at 25% capacity, completely rearranged its store to help promote social distancing, in addition to virtual tours of its shoe collection and curbside pickup. Good Company, which has two locations in Austin, is now offering face masks for customers in the store and curbside and door-to-door deliveries for those still wanting to shop from home. While Good Company owner Mallary Carroll has opened her location on 12th Street, she has yet to open her South Congress location because of the possibility for heavier foot traffic. “I wasn’t rushing to open South Congress,” Carroll said. “There is just something about our 12th Street location. There are so many locals and it just feels like what is best for now. We’re still busy with curbside delivery and in our opened location we have hand sanitizer and masks and we steam everything customers try on. “I’m used to helping customers cuff
Anna Pouncey delivers a toy order to a customer curbside at Terra Toys in North Austin. [STEPHEN SPILLMAN FOR STATESMAN]
WHAT TO EXPECT State health officials are recommending these health protocols for all retailers in Texas: • Retailers are encouraged to consider dedicating time each day to serve only atrisk customers or deliver purchased goods to vehicles to reduce the need for at-risk customers to enter the store. • If practical, monitor what items customers touch to clean or disinfect when the customer leaves the store. • Contactless payment is encouraged. Where not available, contact should be minimized.
their pants and their sleeves, so it’s a little weird not doing that anymore,” she continued. “But we’re just being very aware and making sure our customers feel safe.” From Terra Toys in the north to Good Company in the south, Huffman said businesses in Austin are showing resiliency as they reshape shopping in Central Texas. “How do we even capture the innovation businesses have displayed?” Huffman said. “We won’t ever go back to exactly how we were, but finding those innovations can make us even more resilient as a region.”
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Minnesota officials: ‘Anarchists’ hijacking protests By Trevor Hughes USA TODAY
MINNEAPOLIS — Drifting out of the shadows in small groups, dressed in black, carrying shields and wearing knee pads, they head toward the front lines of the protest. Helmets and gas masks protect and obscure their faces, and they carry bottles of milk to counteract tear gas and pepper spray. Most of them appear to be white. They carry no signs and don’t want to speak to reporters. Trailed by designated “medics” with red crosses taped to their clothes, these groups head straight for the front lines of the conflict. Night after night in this ravaged city, these small groups do battle with police and the National Guard, kicking away tear gas canisters and throwing back foam-rubber projects fired at them. Around them, fires break out. Windows are smashed. Parked cars are destroyed. USA TODAY reporters have witnessed the groups on multiple nights, in multiple locations. Sometimes they threaten those journalists who photograph them destroying property. The mayor and governor say outside agitators are hijacking peaceful protests over the death of George Floyd and literally fanning the flames of destruction. And experts say things will likely get worse in Minneapolis and in other cities seeing similar peaceful protests that turn violent like Los Angeles; Louisville, Kentucky; Des Moines, Iowa; Detroit, Atlanta; and Washington, D.C. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said protests in the city Tuesday were largely peaceful and organized by local residents, but that the “dynamic has changed over the last several days.” “I want to be very, very clear: The people that are doing this are not Minneapolis residents,” Frey said Saturday. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, without providing specifics, said he believes 80% of the people now taking part in the overnight rioting are from outside Minnesota. “There are detractors. There are white supremacists. There are anarchists,” Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said Saturday afternoon. Leggat, the security consultant, said intelligence reports from his colleagues indicate most of the hard-core protesters in Minneapolis are far-left or anarchists, and that far-right groups have not yet made a significant appearance. He said looting is typically done by locals – usually people with no criminal record who just get caught up in the moment.
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A man kneels on the street in front of police officers while chanting “I can’t breathe” during a protest over the death of George Floyd on Friday in Los Angeles. [JAE C. HONG/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]
Cities brace for increasing unrest, call in National Guard By Aaron Morrison and Sean Murphy The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — Protesters set police cars ablaze, smashed businesses’ windows and skirmished with baton-wielding officers in streets from Atlanta to Los Angeles, as anger over George Floyd’s death spread across the country. Authorities were bracing for more violence Saturday, with some calling in the National Guard to beef up overwhelmed forces. In Minneapolis, the city where Floyd died Monday after a white police officer pressed a knee into his neck and kept it there for more than eight minutes, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz fully mobilized the state’s National Guard and promised a massive show of force to help quell unrest that has grown increasingly destructive. “The situation in Minneapolis is no longer in any way about the murder of George Floyd,” Walz said. “It is about attacking civil society, instilling fear and disrupting our great cities.” On Saturday, after a tumultuous night, racially diverse crowds took to the streets again for peaceful protests in dozens of cities. Friday’s protests, too, had started calmly — in cities from New York to Oakland, California, from Atlanta to Portland, Oregon — before many descended into violence. At least two deaths were
connected to the demonstrations; hundreds of people were arrested and police used batons, rubber bullets and pepper spray to push back crowds in some cities. Many departments reported officers were injured, while social media was awash in images of police using forceful tactics, throwing protesters to the ground, using bicycles as shields, and trampling a protester while on horseback. The unrest this week recalled the riots in Los Angeles nearly 30 years ago after the acquittal of the white police officers who beat Rodney King, a black motorist who had led them on a high-speed chase. The protests of Floyd’s killing have gripped many more cities, but the losses in Minneapolis have yet to approach the staggering totals in Los Angeles. During the five days of rioting in 1992, more than 60 died, 2,000-plus were injured and thousands arrested, with property damage topping $1 billion. Many protesters spoke of frustration that Floyd’s death was one more in a litany. It comes in the wake of the killing in Georgia of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot after being pursued by two white men while running in their neighborhood, and in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic that has thrown millions out of work, killed more than 100,000 people in the U.S. and disproportionately affected black people. On Friday, the officer who held his knee to Floyd’s neck
was arrested and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter — but that appeared to provide little balm. Many protesters are demanding the arrests of the three other officers involved. Comments from President Donald Trump stoked the anger, when he fired off a series of tweets criticizing Minnesota’s response, ridiculing people who protested outside the White House and warning that if protesters breached the fence, “they would ... have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen.” On Saturday, in Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Greenwood District, the site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre that left as many as 300 dead and the city’s thriving black district in ruins, protesters blocked intersections and chanted the name of Terence Crutcher, a black man killed by a police officer in 2016. Other peaceful protests were being held in Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In Atlanta, Georgia native Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics was planning to lead a march Saturday evening downtown from the CNN headquarters to the King Center. Leaders in many affected cities have voiced outrage over Floyd’s killing and offered sympathy for those who were protesting — but as unrest
intensified, many spoke of the desperate need to protect their cities and said they would call in reinforcements, despite concerns that could lead to more heavy handed tactics. The unrest prompted responses across the globe. A top Vatican cardinal, Peter Turkson who is from Ghana, urged pastors in the United States to plead for calm, while U.S. national soccer player Weston McKennie wore an armband referencing Floyd’s death while playing for Schalke in Germany’s Bundesliga. Minnesota has steadily increased the number of National Guardsmen it says it needs to contain the unrest, and has now called up 1,700. The governor is also considering a potential offer of military police, which the Pentagon put on alert. Governors in Georgia and Kentucky both activated the National Guard after protests there turned violent overnight, while nighttime curfews were put in place in Portland, Oregon, and Cincinnati. A person was killed in downtown Detroit just before midnight after someone in an SUV fired shots into a crowd of protesters near the Greektown entertainment district, police said. And police in St. Louis were investigating the death of a protester who had climbed between two trailers of a Fed Ex truck and was killed when it drove away.
Activists say they had seen progress on police reforms By Aaron Morrison, Noreen Nasir and Steve Karnowski The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — Years of dialogue about police and criminal justice reforms in Minneapolis had improved the relationship between the African American community and law enforcement, activists say — before the police killing this week of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died after a white officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes as he pleaded for air. Floyd’s death and footage of his neck pinned under the officer’s knee have unleashed protests and violent clashes with law enforcement — exposing simmering frustration and the fact that there’s much work still ahead, several advocates and leaders told The Associated Press. “Progress and change can ebb and flow,” said Jeremiah Ellison, who won a City Council seat after participating in past protests against police killings of African Americans in Minnesota.
The four nights of unrest this week — including the torching of a police station that officers abandoned — “proved to me that we’ve regressed to the point of 2015,” Ellison said, referring to the year that also saw protests after the death of Jamar Clark, a black man killed by police. Minneapolis — a city of nearly 430,000 that is 60% white, 19% black and 9% Hispanic — has a long history of economic and educational disparities that have marginalized black residents for decades, despite its reputation for progressive values. It is one of the most segregated cities in the country for its size, and schools suffer from stubborn achievement gaps. The city appointed its first black chief of police nearly three years ago, after slow progress toward making the department more inclusive. Earlier this year, a statewide task force made up of activists, people representing victims of police brutality, and law enforcement leaders released recommendations for policing reforms.
That task force was formed in the wake of several highprofile fatal shootings of black men by police in the Minneapolis area. Those included Clark, who was killed during a struggle with two white Minneapolis officers, and Philando Castile, who was fatally shot by a Hispanic suburban police officer during a traffic stop in 2016. While Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer and former president of the Minneapolis NAACP, acknowledges that progress, she said that many old habits are still entrenched. “The system itself has not changed,” Armstrong said. “The culture within the Minneapolis Police Department has not changed.” The city’s police department of more than 800 officers is still predominantly white, she said. The department did not respond to a request for up-to-date figures, but the Star Tribune reported in 2014 that the force, including cadets in field training, was 78.9% white, 9.2% black, 5.2% Asian, 4.1% Hispanic and 2.5%
American Indian. Some leaders, including former Mayor R.T. Rybak and state Sen. Jeff Hayden, have blamed the city’s police union in recent days for fostering a culture that protects brutal officers and resists efforts at reform. The union’s president, Lt. Bob Kroll, did not return a call seeking comment. The eruption of anger in Minneapolis reflects frustration over these realities, despite some progress, said Teqen Zéa-Aida, a longtime activist in the city. But the images themselves also demanded a “public response,” he said, though he pushed for protests to happen online given the risks of gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic. “We saw his eyes ... we saw a lynching. George Floyd is Emmett Till, 2020,” he said, referring to the black 14-year-old who was abducted, beaten and killed in 1955 after he was accused of whistling at a white woman in Mississippi, a lynching that helped spur the civil rights movement.
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Trump says protesters in DC risked attack by ‘vicious dogs’
Biden ally: Klobuchar unlikely to be VP pick By Alan Fram The Associated Press
By Michael Balsamo, Kevin Freking and Ashraf Khalil The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday claimed that many Secret Service agents were “just waiting for action” and ready to unleash “the most vicious dogs, and the most ominous weapons, I have ever seen” if protesters angered by his response to George Floyd’s death had crossed the White House’s security fence. In a series of tweets hours after hundreds of demonstrators had massed outside the White House and scraped with officers in riot gear, Trump belittled them, doubted their allegiance to Floyd’s memory, said they were “professionally managed.” He offered no evidence to back his assertion, and the president even seemed to invite supporters to make their presence felt: “Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???” Trump later rejected the suggestion that he was stoking a potential conflict between protesters and his supporters: “I was just asking. But I have no idea if they are going to be here,” he said. “MAGA is Make America Great Again. By the way, they love African American people. They love black people.” Trump said he had “watched every move” from inside the executive mansion and “couldn’t have felt more safe” as the Secret Service let the protesters carry on, “but whenever someone ... got too frisky or out of line, they would quickly come down on then, hard — didn’t know what hit them.” The president also criticized the mayors of Washington and Minneapolis. Trump said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey “is probably a very good person, but he’s a radical, left mayor.” He then described how he watched as a police station in the city was overrun. “For that police station to be abandoned and taken over, I’ve never seen anything so horrible and stupid in my life,” Trump said when speaking briefly to reporters at the White House. He said Minnesota officials have to get tougher with rioters, and that by doing so they would be honoring the memory of Floyd. The Secret Service said in a statement Saturday that six protesters were arrested and “multiple” officers were injured. There were no details on the charges or nature of the injuries. A spokesman for U.S. Park Police said their officers made no arrests, but several suffered minor injuries and one was taken to a hospital after being struck in the helmet by a projectile. Floyd is the black man who was being held in handcuffs when he died Monday in Minneapolis after a police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air. Protests have erupted in U.S. cities in the days since.
Police set off a crowd-dispersal firework in front of City Hall as several hundred people gather to protest the death of George Floyd on Friday in Columbus, Ohio. [DORAL CHENOWETH/THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH]
Cities fear protests may fuel new wave of virus By Brian Melley and John Seewer The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — The massive protests sweeping across U.S. cities following the police killing of a black man in Minnesota have sent shudders through the health community and elevated fears that the huge crowds will lead to a new surge in cases of the coronavirus. Some leaders appealing for calm in places where crowds smashed storefronts and destroyed police cars in recent nights have been handing out masks and warning demonstrators they were putting themselves at risk. Minnesota’s governor said Saturday that too many protesters weren’t socially distancing or wearing masks after heeding the call earlier in the week. But many seemed undeterred. “It’s not OK that in the middle of a pandemic we have to be out here risking our lives,” Spence Ingram said Friday after marching with other protesters to the state Capitol in Atlanta. “But I have to protest for my life and fight for my life all the time.” Ingram, 25, who was wearing a mask, said she has asthma and was worried about contracting the virus. But she said as a black woman, she always felt that her life was under threat from police and she needed to protest that. The demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis officer pressed a knee into his neck, are coming at a time when many cities were beginning to relax stay-at-home orders.
That’s especially worrisome for health experts who fear that silent carriers of the virus who have no symptoms could unwittingly infect others at gatherings with people packed cheek to jowl and cheering and jeering without masks. “Whether they’re fired up or not that doesn’t prevent them from getting the virus,” said Bradley Pollock, chairman of the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of California, Davis. Even for the many protesters who have been wearing masks, those don’t guarantee protection from the coronavirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends cloth masks because they can make it more difficult for infected people to spread the virus — but they are not designed to protect the person wearing the mask from getting it. The U.S. has been worst hit by the coronavirus outbreak, with more than 1.7 million cases and over 103,000 deaths, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. In New York City, where more than 21,000 people have died during the pandemic, a large crowd in Brooklyn tossed water bottles at officers and torched a police van Friday outside the Barclays Center. Officers cleared the crowd by spraying an eye-irritating chemical. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said after another night of unrest in Minneapolis that many protesters wearing masks were simply trying to hide their identities and “cause confusion and take advantage of this situation.” “I will continue to stress,
because it seems like a lifetime ago: We are still in the middle of a pandemic and passed 1,000 deaths yesterday. We still have hospitals on the verge of being overrun with COVID-19,” he said. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey echoed those concerns: “We have two crises that are sandwiched on top of one other.” The state’s health commissioner had warned just days earlier that the massive protests were almost certain to fuel new cases of the virus. Minnesota reported 35 deaths on Thursday, a single-day high since the start of the outbreak, and 29 more on Friday. But it wasn’t just protesters at risk — unmasked officers stood within arm’s reach of shouting demonstrators. In Atlanta, police Chief Erika Shields waded into a crowd without a mask Friday while she listened to people air frustrations. When Los Angeles officials announced earlier in the week that the city was relaxing stay-at-home orders and reopening stores, they said political protests could resume but with a cap of 100 people. Several hundred people showed up for a protest organized by Black Lives Matter-LA and later shut down a freeway. Most wore masks, but many did not observe a buffer zone. Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Friday that was an ongoing concern. “Show respect for each other by putting on that face covering so that your respiratory droplets aren’t unintentionally getting into somebody else’s mouth, nose or eyes,” she said.
WASHINGTON — Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar seems a less likely choice to become Joe Biden’s running mate on his presidential ticket following this week’s death of a black man in police custody in Minneapolis, a key ally of the former vice president said. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., told reporters on Friday that while he believes Klobuchar is “absolutely” qualified to be vice president, “This is very tough timing for her.” Klobuchar was a prosecutor years ago in the county that includes Minneapolis. During that period, more than two dozen people — mostly minorities — died during encounters with police. Following customary practice at the time, she sent the cases to grand juries, which brought no criminal charges against any of the officers involved. Clyburn, who called his view a “gut feeling,” played a pivotal role in helping Biden become the Democratic Party’s allbut-certain presidential nominee. Clyburn is the No. 3 House Democratic leader and Congress’ highest-ranking black lawmaker. “So often in politics, timing really dictates things. Barack Obama I don’t think could have gotten elected four years before he got elected,” Clyburn said of the former president during a conference call. “And I don’t know whether he could get elected today.” Clyburn helped revive Biden’s badly flagging presidential campaign earlier this year, lifting him to a decisive win in a South Carolina primary in which large numbers of voters were black. That fueled a Biden run to a string of victories in other state contests that resulted in his becoming the party’s presumptive nominee. On MSNBC, Biden said the tensions in Minnesota following the death of George Floyd have “nothing to do with my running mate.” Pressed on whether Floyd’s killing increases pressure to place an African American woman on his ticket, Biden said he’s talked about putting women of color on the Supreme Court and in his Cabinet. “And I also already said that there are women of color under consideration,” he said. Before being elected to the Senate in 2006, Klobuchar, who is white, spent eight years as prosecutor for Minnesota’s largest county. Most of the more than two dozen people who died during police encounters in her tenure were people of color.
In unusual move, US embassies in Africa speak up on Floyd By Cara Anna The Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG — As Minneapolis burns over the police killing of George Floyd and shock and disappointment in Africa grow, some U.S. embassies on the continent have taken the unusual step of issuing critical statements, saying no one is above the law. The statements came as the head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, condemned the “murder” of Floyd and said
Friday the continental body rejects the “continuing discriminatory practices against black citizens of the USA.” Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died after a police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving and pleading for air. Africa has not seen the kind of protests over Floyd’s killing that have erupted across the United States, but many Africans have expressed disgust and dismay, openly wondering when the U.S. will ever get it right.
“WTF? ‘When the looting starts the shooting starts’?” tweeted political cartoonist Patrick Gathara in Kenya, which has its own troubles with police brutality. He, like many, was aghast at the tweet by President Donald Trump, flagged by Twitter as violating rules against “glorifying violence,” that the president later said had been misconstrued. Mindful of America’s image on a continent where China’s influence has grown and where many have felt a distinct lack of interest from the Trump administration in
Africa, some U.S. diplomats have tried to control the damage. The ambassador to Congo, Mike Hammer, highlighted a tweet from a local media entrepreneur who addressed him saying, “Dear ambassador, your country is shameful. Proud America, which went through everything from segregation to the election of Barack Obama, still hasn’t conquered the demons of racism. How many black people must be killed by white police officers before authorities react seriously?”
The ambassador’s response, in French: “I am profoundly troubled by the tragic death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Justice Department is conducting a full criminal investigation as a top priority. Security forces around the world should be held accountable. No one is above the law.” Similar statements were tweeted by the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Uganda, while the embassies in Tanzania and Kenya tweeted a joint statement from the Department of Justice office in Minnesota on the investigation.
A8 Sunday, May 31, 2020 Austin American-Statesman
As restaurants reopen dining rooms, what should guests expect? By Matthew Odam modam@statesman.com
The return of customers to dining rooms on May 1 pierced the silence that had blanketed Austin restaurants since they were forced to close their doors to guests on March 17. The murmur of customers grew louder on May 18, when phase two of Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to reopen the state’s economy allowed restaurants to go from 25% to 50% capacity in dining rooms. The first wave saw a smattering of openings, including the three locations of Tex-Mex restaurant Dos Salsas, interior Mexican restaurant Manuel’s, East Austin icon Juan in a Million and multiple locations of Rudy’s BBQ. The weeks following saw more, such as fine dining restaurant Jeffrey’s, and May 18 ushered in a new crop that included popular chain Torchy’s Tacos and fine dining Hestia downtown. With the governor’s proclamation came a checklist of minimum health protocols that included limits on seating at a table (maximum six people), stringent sanitization practices and single-use disposable menus. The Texas Department of State Health Services also released a safety checklist for individuals that includes social distancing; self-screening for COVID-19 symptoms; considering face coverings in public; and washing and sanitizing hands. Abbott said that those at greater risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19 should remain home as much as possible. Chef-owner Kevin Fink of Hestia, who was nominated for his second consecutive James Beard award amidst the pandemic, opened his live-fire restaurant on May 18, though he planned to book only 15 tables a night, well below the 50% and even 25% thresholds. “For us, all of the state’s guidelines are almost bare minimums,” Fink said. “All good restaurants have always gone above and beyond, whether it’s in food quality or sourcing or safety in general. And I think in a pandemic, you watch those good operators continue to do things like that.” Hestia has also changed its service model, requiring guests to book tables for their 12-course meals in advance. A chef from the restaurant will call guests ahead to discuss dietary restrictions and menu options. Fink hopes the
Dayana Solia takes the order of customers Lexie Belcher, left, and Aleza Ruiz, right, at Juan In A Million on May 1, the day dining rooms in Texas were allowed to reopen. [BRONTE WITTPENN / AMERICAN-STATESMAN]
restaurant can still offer a special hospitality experience. “People have become accustomed to not eating in restaurants now. And they think, ‘Oh, my life’s not terrible, I can do this now,’” Fink said. “But there is definitely a reason why we’re in love with the hospitality of it. And it’s not just being served. There’s a part of the warmth that you feel when you’re in an environment like that. There’s a great longing and missing that feeds your soul.” Chef Iliana de la Vega had kept her Oaxacan-inspired restaurant El Naranjo in South Austin closed for both dine-in and takeout since March 17. On the day capacity limits were raised to 50%, she said she would reopen her dining room the day after Memorial Day. But not without trepidation. “I’m scared to be honest. There are not too many options we have right now, we had to open,” De La Vega said of the restaurant’s financial situation, adding that
she may seat less than 50% capacity. A former James Beard award semifinalist, De La Vega said she consulted with her staff before making decisions. They will add take-out service and take it day by day. “We don’t know if the people will even want to come out to restaurants,” De La Vega said. “It’s overwhelming. That’s the scary part, that you are in unknown territory.” Multiple James Beard nominee Michael Fojtasek of Olamaie was one of the first major restaurant owners to temporarily close his restaurant, turning off the lights March 13, and he might be one of the last to reopen. “The metric that our management team has agreed on is the percentage of number of positive cases relative to the number of tests being taken,” Fojtasek said. “That’s been going down, so as long as that trend continues, we’re looking at mid-June.”
What to expect Masks: Many restaurants will require patrons to wear masks when they enter and when they make their way around common areas like the dining room and restrooms. Employees will wear masks as well. Bring your smart phone: Guidelines from the state include single-use menus. Some restaurant owners will turn to QR codes for diners to pull up menus on their smart phone or simply direct diners to the restaurant’s website. Limited group sizes, properly spaced: If you have more than six people in your group, you will not all be at the same table. Beyond tables being spaced at least six feet apart, diners also can expect distancing measures in place at bathrooms. Some restaurants will allow only one guest in the restroom at a time. Take it outside: There are no seating limits for patio dining, as long as tables are spaced at least six feet from one another.
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A10 Sunday, May 31, 2020 Austin American-Statesman
REBUILDING AMERICA EDUCATION
Learning in flux
Virtual learning, or a hybrid of in-person and online instruction, are among options for the fall By Melissa B. Taboada and Lara Korte
Westwood High School teacher Tamra Franklin is teaching her students virtually, not knowing when she’ll return. Since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered schools in midMarch, educators have grappled with a plan for reopening.
mtaboada@statesman.com lkorte@statesman.com
Tamra Franklin, a Westwood High School English teacher, took some of her belongings out of her classroom on Friday, not knowing when she’d be back. “I’m really not in a mental place where I can consider not coming back in the fall,” said Franklin, who has taught for eight years. “The thing I love about my job is the interactions and relationships with students. I don’t feel nearly as effective as a teacher teaching over a video screen as I do teaching in person.” But for Franklin in the Round Rock district and teachers across the state, continued virtual learning, or a hybrid of in-person and online instruction, may be likely next school year. Since the coronavirus pandemic shuttered schools in mid-March, educators have grappled with a plan for reopening. Districts in the Austin area and throughout Texas are weighing their options for this fall, including having students alternate the days they come to school or limiting capacity. Some districts, including Austin and Round Rock, have launched reentry planning task forces to examine different scenarios and find a path forward. “This also comes down to saving lives and making sure our students, our staff and are family members are safe,” said Austin Superintendent Paul Cruz. Gov. Greg Abbott gave the green light for in-person summer school, though Austin-area districts have made plans for virtual learning only. The Texas Education Agency also has recommended districts launch school in early August, end it in late June and build in longer winter and other breaks. A lengthier school year could help cover ground lost this spring, and would build in breaks to prepare for a resurgence of COVID-19. But without a vaccine, some school leaders are pushing back against an earlier start date. "While I will tell you that nothing is concrete in these uncertain times, I have no plans to recommend altering the start date for the upcoming year," Round Rock Superintendent Steve Flores said. "Given where we are in this pandemic and the fact that there is not a
[JAY JANNER/ AMERICANSTATESMAN]
2019-20 student enrollment Many education leaders project drops in enrollment this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic. Austin | 80,892 Round Rock | 50,990 Leander | 41,330 Pflugerville | 26,252 Hays | 20,792 University of Texas | 50,090 Texas State University | 38,231 Texas A&M University | 64,961
vaccine in our near future, I am doubtful that bringing students and staff back to campus earlier than our scheduled first day of school, August 20, would be our best course of action." Tim Robinson, principal of Buda Elementary School in the Hays district, said it’s premature to try to finalize schedules, budgets or school staffing. “Things keep changing on a regular basis,” he said. “We keep reminding staff to be flexible and realize this is a fluid situation. Everybody is trying to figure out next year and what it looks like and nobody has answers.”
Education leaders expect high-student absenteeism, or drops in enrollment altogether, as some parents may be reluctant to send their children back to campuses. Lower attendance translates into less revenue as school districts’ average daily attendance is used by the state to determine funding. They also expect the legislature to cut education funding in light of the economic impact caused by the pandemic. For Texas colleges, the upcoming months are starting to look clearer, but many questions remain, including how to keep residence halls clean and safe and whether there should be limits at sporting events. Some universities, like Texas State, seem bullish about the fall. In early May, officials said they would reopen the campus for late summer and fall classes, starting July 6. But last week, the university announced its in-person graduation ceremonies, scheduled for early August, would be virtual. The University of Texas is holding off on making official decisions before the end of June. Scenarios include staggering class times and allowing for social distancing in classrooms. The university is
also working on developing its own testing abilities and contact tracing to better mitigate any spread of the virus in the fall. UT’s flagship campus reduced the cost of summer classes this year to encourage enrollment. A spokesman said registration numbers for the summer are up 40% over last year. Like public grade schools, Texas universities will face financial challenges. At a meeting earlier this month, Texas A&M University System Regents were told a fall semester without students would exacerbate the $116 million revenue loss the system has already sustained from the coronavirus pandemic. UT System regents also have said they’re holding off on spending. Administrators also are concerned about enrollment dropping, regardless of whether schools officially reopen. UT System Chancellor James B. Milliken said the system almost certainly expects to see a drop in international student enrollment, which will have a “significant impact” on revenue. “It seems safe to say that campus life will not be exactly like it was last fall, but it won’t be like it was this spring either,” Milliken said.
REBUILDING AMERICA EDUCATION
What to expect when schools reopen Scenarios predict hybrid of inperson and athome
When recess ended, students lined up on orange circles spraypainted on the sidewalk at evenly marked intervals. As the line moved inside, each student was met at the door with a squirt of hand sanitizer. The school has implemented stag gered schedules and separated desks. Younger students walk through hall ways holding hulahoops to prevent them from touching things.
Erin Richards USA TODAY
Imagine, for a moment, American children returning to school this fall. The school week looks vastly diff er ent, with most students attending school two or three days a week and do ing the rest of their learning at home. At school, desks are spaced apart to dis courage touching. Some classrooms ex tend into unused gymnasiums, libraries or art rooms – left vacant while schools put on hold activities that cram lots of children together. Arrival, dismissal and recess happen on staggered schedules and through specifi c doors to promote physical dis tancing. Students eat lunch at their desks. Children learn with the same peers every day – or teachers move around while students stay put – to dis courage mingling with new groups. Teachers and other education staff at higher risk of contracting the virus con tinue to teach from home, while younger or healthier educators teach inperson. Everyone washes their hands. A lot. Frequently touched school surfaces get wiped down. A lot. That outline of a potential school day was drawn from interviews with more than 20 education leaders determining what reopened schools might look like come fall. New guidance from the Cen ters for Disease Control and Prevention supports those plans and more: Teach ers and older students should wear masks, especially when they have to in teract in close quarters. In the absence of a vaccine for CO VID19, social distancing and hygiene will be important to limit spreading the virus. The question is how to success fully implement those measures in schools usually fi lled with crowded hall ways, class sizes of more than 30 people
‘Economics will drive choices’
Staffers install a plastic glass pane on a teacher’s table. ALEX GRIMM/GETTY IMAGES
and lunchrooms of hundreds. “The whole thing is overwhelming,” said Dan Weisberg, a former district of fi cial and the head of TNTP, a nonprofi t formerly known as The New Teacher Project. “This is where federal dollars could help,” Weisberg said. “This is where state guidance could help. This is where galvanizing people behind the idea on how to plan for next year could help.” The new CDC guidance on reopening the economy, a 60page document re leased in the third week of May, recom mends that schools place desks six feet apart, serve lunch in classrooms, close playgrounds, keep children in the same groups every day and cancel fi eld trips and extracurricular activities. It also recommends daily health checks and temperature screenings of staff and stu dents daily, if feasible.
Baby steps toward reopening A few U.S. schools have cautiously
returned to inperson instruction. In California’s Marin County, three school buildings opened May 18 to serve the most needy students: those with disabilities, and those who had fallen off track in high school and were not partic ipating remotely. Teachers wearing masks worked with eight cohorts of 12 students across the three schools, offi cials said. Stu dents washed their hands on arrival, and tape marks in classrooms reminded some to keep their distance. New cell phone signin systems track who comes in and out. In Montana, 11 schools reopened after Gov. Steve Bullock turned such deci sions over to districts this month. Willow Creek School, located 40 miles west of Bozeman, reopened on May 7. The tiny K12 school enrolls 56 students; only 37 returned for inperson instruction. On a recent afternoon, teachers su pervised recess while wearing cloth face masks and holding 6foot pool noodles.
Reopening schools is critical to fully bring back the economy. More parents can work when their children are in school. Just as important: Many kids aren’t learning much at home. Those learning the least are students who lack devices and internet access. Bringing kids back to school presents major worries about health. Many school buildings lack the space to keep children a recommended six feet apart. That’s why education leaders foresee a need to continue virtual learn ing, with kids attending school in per son on alternating days or weeks. And that’s only the start. Districts also must fi gure out food service, espe cially for the 52% of students who qual ify for free or reducedprice lunches and depend on those meals. Schools must provide enough qualifi ed staff to teach students in smaller groups. They must provide emotional support to staff and students. And they need to develop measures to help catch up children who have fallen the farthest behind. Then schools have to fi gure out how to pay for it all. “Economics will drive the choices districts make,” said Marguerite Roza, a professor and director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University. Superintendents from 62 of the country’s largest school districts have called on Congress to provide about $200 billion more in educational stabili zation funds.
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A12 Sunday, May 31, 2020 Austin American-Statesman
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Austin home services sector hopes to ‘come out stronger’ as state reopens By Hojun Choi hchoi@statesman.com
With parts of the Texas economy starting to reopen, some Austin-area home services companies say — with an abundant amount of caution — that they see signs of hope for their industries. Austin-based Revent Remodeling and Construction, a home renovation service, saw a decline in business when the coronavirus pandemic led to widespread uncertainty, said company founder John Gioffre. Gioffre, who started the company in 2018, said most of his clients are people who are making improvements to their place of residence, as opposed to those who are making renovations to sell homes on the market. "The vast majority of our customers are people who are looking to make their dream homes,“ Gioffre said. He said many of his customers opted to put off projects as health officials began ramping up warnings about the spread of COVID-19. Gioffre said some customers asked for refunds on payments that had been made on materials, while other asked the company to leave projects unfinished. Gioffre said he has tried to be flexible with clients during the crisis. "I gave them the option that whatever they are comfortable with is what we will do, because the last thing that we want to do is put someone in a position during a pandemic where their contractors is now pressuring them,” Gioffre said. Gioffre said he is starting to hear back from some of the clients who are now ready to resume home improvement projects. Gioffre said he has hired a new project manager to prepare for an increase in work as local shelter-in-place orders are gradually lifted. “Hopefully, we’ll come out of this stronger than we were before,” he said. Raul Castillo, manager of Austin Tool, said he has seen an uptick in business in the past few weeks. He said the tool shop, which has been open for 37 years, works with many local contractors, including those in construction, as well as plumbing and electrician services. Castillo said his shop has remained open and busy despite shelter-in-place
A protester holds a sign during a “You Can’t Close America Rally” at the Texas Capitol on April 18. Austin-area home services companies say they are seeing signs of hope as the state’s economy gradually begins to reopen. [AMERICAN-STATESMAN FILE]
What to expect Consumer services companies could see a surge in demand as the Texas economy reopens, so there could be a longer than usual waiting list to get some home services scheduled.
orders, because many of his customers were allowed to continue to operate under local regulations. “It has mostly been contractors,” Castillo said. “It looks like people who have home-based projects are still a bit too scared to come out.” He said the store has been able to
retain its employees despite seeing a reduction in business, due to a consistent stream of revenue coming from tool rentals for contractors and workers who conduct home-based services. “You have a lot of people who are like, ‘I need to work. I need to put food on the table,’ So, it seems like they start trickling in,” Castillo said. Castillo said he thinks it will still take some time for the store to see its usual flow of patrons, but said he is already starting to hear from more casual customers. “We have managed keep a good record with our customers, and that’s why they keep coming back,” he said.
“I gave them the option that whatever they are comfortable with is what we will do, because the last thing that we want to do is put someone in a position during a pandemic where their contractors is now pressuring them.” — Revent Remodeling and Construction founder John Gioffre
A14  Sunday, May 31, 2020  Austin American-Statesman
Celebrating the best in High School
Sports with awards presented by Gary Woodland, Misty May-Treanor
Wayne Gretzky, Venus Williams,
Patrick Mahomes, Michael
Phelps and many more!
june 18, 2020 | 6pm AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN has transformed its annual ALL-CENTEX PREPS Awards Show into a star-studded on-demand broadcast featuring some of the biggest names in professional sports, continuing the annual tradition of honoring the best in local high school sports from the past year. The show premieres at 6 pm, June 18, and is free to watch thanks to our event sponsors. presented by
SPONSORED by
watch the show at 6pm June 18
s tat e s m a n. c o m / p r e p s
Austin American-Statesman Sunday, May 31, 2020 A15
Outbreak pushes Austin auto dealers to reshape tactics By Lori Hawkins lhawkins@statesman.com
When the coronavirus pandemic hit Central Texas this spring, area auto dealers responded by rethinking every step in the car buying process. Going online is how most shoppers begin a car search — but now many are completing the entire process over a computer screen. Pickup, delivery or contact-free curbside — the options consumers have adopted for restaurant and grocery services — are now options for car purchases, too. “We took some huge steps to make sure not only customers but employees are safe,” said Brent Rayfield, managing partner at Nyle Maxwell Fiat Alfa Romeo. “You can complete the whole process from home, and many customers are using that option.” Auto sales worldwide have taken a huge hit since the pandemic struck. Coming off a strong 2019 performance, sales plunged in March and April as consumers steered clear of big-ticket purchases. New vehicle sales in Central Texas dropped 11% in April compared to the same month in 2019, according to Freeman Auto Report, a Dallas-based company that tracks auto sales in Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson counties. Sales year-to-date are down 7%. Auto dealers and industry analysts say that incentives — including 0% interest for up to 84 months and no monthly payments for up to four months -- will draw car buyers back to the market. But how consumers shop for autos has changed forever, they say. “For digital, this whole disruptive period with corona is an inflection point from which there is no turning back,” Mike Jackson, chairman and CEO of AutoNation, the country’s largest auto retailer, recently told investors. “For any company that wants to perform in this marketplace, you need first-class digital capability, you need a safe environment for your customers and a safe
Lance Gremillion, sales and leasing consultant at Nyle Maxwell Fiat Alfa Romeo, helps customers Fengjuan Fan and Chuyi Manrriquez with their purchase. [RICARDO B. BRAZZIELL/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]
What to know about car shopping in Central Texas
Nyle Maxwell Fiat Alfa Romeo has reworked its processes and employees now wear masks. Used car sales director Ezdine Chaheine helps Shawn Kunst of Houston with his new Alfa Romeo 4C Spider he purchased recently. [RICARDO B. BRAZZIELL/AMERICANSTATESMAN]
environment for your associates. That is the Holy Grail going forward.” Texas auto dealerships were deemed essential business, so they were able to keep their showrooms open. But many quickly responded to reach customers who preferred to stay home. Local dealers said they are investing in digital sales tools and platforms as consumer buying habits shift online. Dealers have also changed their on messaging, both online and in their advertising. In addition to featuring shiny new vehicles, the dealers now lay out options for online shopping and contact-free test drives and purchases. Nyle Maxwell, owner of the Nyle Maxwell Family of Dealerships, said most purchases are still made through traditional showroom visits. But he said changes being made amid the pandemic will stay in place post-coronavirus. “The whole notion of convenience and speed of the transaction is what we’re all realizing we have to go to,” Maxwell said. “In our industry in years
past it has just taken too long to complete a transaction. The faster we can do a transaction start to finish, I think the better off we all will be.” Some current protocols for servicing vehicles will also likely continue, he said. “We have sent out emails letting folks know that if they have anxiety about bringing cars in that we will go to them and pick up their car or truck and bring it back to them,” he said. “Customers are going to say, 'well you picked up my car in May 2020, will you come get my car in February 2021?’ Of course we will.” In an online letter to customers, Leif Johnson Ford said it has created new options to car shop during the pandemic. They include customized video walk-arounds for customers who are interested in a specific vehicle but are hesitant to visit. The dealer also drops off test-drive vehicles at customers’ door steps and offers a 100% online buying process. Rayfield of Nyle Maxwell Fiat Alfa Romeo said that after customers are
• Dealers have ramped up their online tools and services. That means pickup, delivery and contact-free curbside are widely available for car purchases. • For shoppers not ready to go into a showroom, some dealers are doing video walk arounds of specific cars and are dropping off cars at customers’ door steps for test drives. • For those who want to shop in-store, dealers have added safety protocols such as hand sanitizing stations and physical distancing, and employees are wearing masks.
responding to his dealership’s online outreach. “April definitely was a challenging month. There were a lot of unknowns out there, and there are still a lot of unknowns,” he said. “We don’t know what it’s going to look like a month from now or two or three.” But the dealer’s web activity gives him reason to be optimistic, Rayfield said. “Website traffic is through the roof right now because a lot of people are at home, and when they’re home they shop,” he said. “That doesn’t mean everyone is actually buying vehicles. But they’re shopping, they’re looking, they’re interested.”
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More apples, fewer bananas: How Austinites’ grocery shopping habits have changed By Addie Broyles abroyles@statesman.com
Over the past few years, Americans’ spending on eating out finally surpassed what we spend on groceries. But after more than two months of stay-at-home orders, restaurants are just now starting to reopen with a fraction of the business they had in early March, while grocery stores are still trying to keep up with demand. While many grocery store workers, including those at H-E-B, the largest private employer in Texas, are continuing to earn extra pay for working on the frontline of an essential industry, customers are dealing with rising meat prices caused by interruptions in the supply chain because of COVID-19 outbreaks at meat-processing plants. Some Austin shoppers, including Jennifer Weltz, are shopping at stores that have less foot traffic and taking advantage of restaurants that are continuing to sell grocery provisions, including Crema Bakery and Cafe in South Austin, whose owners have said the cafe will continue selling pantry items. But the biggest change might be customers’ willingness to buy food online for pick-up or delivery. Online grocery shopping is up between 20 and 50 percent over a year ago, according to several recent surveys, and more than half of shoppers say they plan to order even more groceries online in the future. Whole Foods Market opened a new Austin location in the Plaza Saltillo development in East Austin that is being used as a fulfillment warehouse for orders placed online. Customers are trying delivery services from traditional retailers and delivery-only companies, such as Imperfect Foods, Farmhouse Delivery and Thrive Market, for the first time, and food wholesalers, including Farm to Table and Brothers Produce, are also selling directly to customers for the first time. Some grocery stores, such as Trader Joe’s and Wheatsville Food Co-op, are continuing to reserve the first hour of each day for older and high-risk shoppers, while others, including H-E-B, are offering assistance to help seniors order groceries online for pick-up or delivery.
In Taylor, 2nd Street Farm to Market shifted to an online and pick-up model in the first weeks after the coronavirus shutdown began. Now, like many stores, the shop is reopening slowly but will retain some of the delivery and online elements from the pandemic. [ANDY SHARP / FOR THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN]
Farmers markets continue to operate as critical food access points, and the Sustainable Food Center has a new program to set up pop-up markets in restaurants. Cedar Park resident Shellie HayesMcMahon says all these changes have already shifted her grocery shopping — and cooking habits — indefinitely. She usually shops two or three times a week at traditional grocery and club stores, but since the pandemic started, she’s buying from a wider variety of sources. "When restaurants and vendors started selling groceries, it was like a whole new world opened up,“ she says. “Being able to order for contactless pickup from shops that I already trusted for quality makes the drive worth it.” She started buying flour from Easy Tiger, mozzarella and ricotta from Antonelli’s Cheese Shop and fresh vegetables from Hardie’s, a food wholesale company that formerly only sold to
What you need to know about buying groceries now Plan ahead. Many stores that offer curbside and delivery are still facing high demand, so customers might not be able to schedule an order until several days or even a week in the future. Meat prices are rising, but there are no signs of a meat shortage. As U.S. meatpackers try to stay open while reducing coronavirus transmission, we’ll likely continue to see record meat prices through the summer and maybe longer. Buy local, if possible. A diversified food supply chain is healthier than one that relies on only a few major producers, so it’s critical to keep small farms, ranches and food businesses alive. Central Texas farmers are continuing to serve customers by selling directly through their websites or local farmers markets, which are open with physical distancing measures in place. Most of the local markets have a double dollar program to extend SNAP benefits for buying fresh produce. Cook wisely. The lessons we’ve learned during quarantine about wasting less food and finding new ways to use what we buy will serve us — and our food system — for years to come, if we can remember them.
restaurants and food service establishments and is now selling produce, meat, dairy and eggs directly to customers. She will still stop by Costco, but she’s also shopping at a wider variety of stores, including 99 Ranch Market and
La Adelita, a meat market near her house in Cedar Park. She’s also buying fewer bananas and more apples because they last longer. “I've had to adjust to buying larger quantities to last a longer period of time.”
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Stick to the plan amid outbreak, Austin financial advisers say Consumer tips
By Brian Davis bdavis@statesman.com
The stock market takes the escalator going up and the elevator going down. Rarely is the journey more thrilling than in the first quarter of 2020. The White House watched in glee as the S&P 500 index ratcheted higher in January and February. But then the coronavirus pandemic triggered a 35% selloff. Some Austin-area financial advisers said they haven’t been getting phone calls from panicked clients — at least not from those with sound financial plans already in place. “But some people, absolutely,” UBS adviser Mark Moore said. Those who sold in mid March are likely kicking themselves now. Since the March 23 low, the S&P 500 has rallied 35%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange found traction, and oil went back above $30 per barrel after briefly going into negative territory. So what’s next? Moore was one of only four Austinbased advisers named to Barron’s 2020 list of the top financial advisers in Texas. With his clients, Moore said, he stresses the importance of setting aside two years of living expenses, money that’s not going to be subject to market fluctuations. “I think working with the right adviser is paramount,” Moore said. “Whoever you’re working with, ask them what is the plan,” he added. “What is your experience? Why should I work with you? Kick the tires, maybe interview two or three of ’em.” Every major market drop is a chance to reevaluate risk appetite. Some refuse to take on stock market exposure, preferring keep their money in certificates of deposit. Most two-year CD rates nationally are around 1.5%, according to Bankrate. What about guaranteed products with insurance policies and annuities? “As far as anybody wanting to buy anything right now, it’s slow because they’re so much uncertainty,” independent insurance agent David Sanderson said. Sanderson, now in his 39th year in
Check your emotions at the door: Trading activity triggered by emotions is one of the most common ways investors hurt their own portfolio returns. Pick companies, not ticker symbols: Check into how a company operates, its place in the industry, its competitors, its long-term prospects and whether it brings something new to the portfolio of businesses you already own. Plan ahead for panicky times: Don't wait for a crisis. While your head is clear, write down what makes every stock in your portfolio worthy of a commitment -- and what would justify you dropping that stock. Build up positions gradually: Successful investors buy stocks because they expect to be rewarded over years or even decades. That means you can take your time in buying. Source: NerdWallet.com
[AMERICAN-STATESMAN FILE]
the business, said he can tailor an insurance policy to specific client requests. But insurance companies have issued recent guidelines specific to Covid-19. Essentially, those who are not “excessively co-morbidity compromised” can get a policy no problem, Sanderson said. “Anything that would give you a rated condition, currently with most companies writing that policy is going to be postponed indefinitely,” Sanderson said. “They’re just not interested in writing policies that would expose them to paying out because of COVID.” While bonds have a reputation for safety, their prices can fluctuate, too. Bond prices rise when interest rates fall, much like a seesaw. There’s a wide array of University of Texas tax-free municipal bonds available paying about 2% annually for those who can hold until
2022. Taxable corporate bonds have higher interest rates. The Federal Reserve has punished savers and conservative investors by sending interest rates to historic lows. The dividend yield on the S&P 500 exchange trade fund was 1.9% as of mid May. The yield on a 10-year U.S. Treasury bond was 0.74%. The market wants investors buying stocks. In a report to investors, Merrill Lynch wrote: “Relative to bonds, stocks have not been this attractive since the 1950s, with the S&P 500 dividend yield nearly 3x that of the 10-yr Treasury yield.” Holding stocks during an economic stoppage isn’t easy, though. Lots of younger investors are willing to try. Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade and E-Trade all reported an explosion of
new brokerage accounts the past two months. New brokerages like Robinhood offer the ability to buy fractional shares. Still, there’s value in an up-front, long-term planning process, adviser Neil Rubinstein said. His team, the RSA Family Wealth group with Rockefeller Capital Management, is more inclined to aggressively interview prospective clients than the other way around. Planning is essential, Rubinstein said. There will be more market drops in the future. “The big thing we try to advise our clients that all of us, advisers and clients alike, generally don’t make our best decision under duress,” Rubinstein said. “If you’re going to make decisions, you need to be extra focused on homework and slowing down so you don’t make a decision you regret later on.”
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NATION&WORLD NASA, SpaceX launch Americans into space By Emre Kelly and Joel Shannon USA TODAY
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A pillar of fire tore through the skies above Kennedy Space Center on Saturday, as NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley returned to space on a historic mission nearly a decade in the making. The flight, known as Crew Dragon Demo-2, bridges the gap left by the space shuttle program’s final flight in July 2011. It’s the first time a private company has sent humans into orbit — and the first time in nearly a decade that the United States has launched astronauts into orbit from U.S. soil. Ever since the space shuttle was retired in 2011, NASA has relied on Russian spaceships launched from Kazakhstan to take U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station. “Congratulations to you and the team for the first human ride for Falcon 9,” Hurley, a retired Marine Corps colonel and mission commander, said from orbit. “It was incredible. I appreciate all the hard work and thanks for the great ride to space.” Behnken, an Air Force colonel, also thanked SpaceX teams for “putting America back into low-Earth orbit from the Florida coast.” Inside Kennedy Space Center, a small crowd of a few thousand was a fraction of what it would have been without the threat of COVID-19. In attendance to watch the launch in person: President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who flew in for the event for the second time in four days. Elton John’s “Rocket Man” played at an operations building about two miles away as Trump watched the rocket take to the air. Trump offered comments to the press immediately after the launch: “I’m proud of the people, NASA, the people that work together ... It’s amazing, it’s a beautiful
“It’s been nine years since we’ve launched American astronauts on American rockets from American soil. And now it’s done. We have done it.”
sight, a beautiful ship too. “I think this is such a great inspiration for our country,” said the president. “I think any one of you would say that was an inspiration to see what we just saw.” Minutes after liftoff, Crew Dragon separated from the rocket’s upper stage, triggering the activation of its solar arrays to begin providing power to spacecraft systems. Teams watching live at SpaceX’s headquarters in California cheered. “It’s been nine years since we’ve launched American astronauts on American rockets from American soil,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said after launch. “And now it’s done. We have done it.” The liftoff marks the beginning of a roughly 19-hour journey to the orbiting outpost dedicated to science, where astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner are waiting to help open Crew Dragon’s hatch. After docking on Sunday, Behnken and Hurley will spend one to four months on board depending on the demonstration mission’s needs. Before they arrive, the duo will have two opportunities to manually pilot their capsule: one “far-field” attempt and another about 720 feet from the station. The roughly 30-minute maneuvers will give the former shuttle astronauts their first feeling for how Crew Dragon flies outside of simulators. They’ll also have a chance to get about eight hours of sleep, too. If all goes according to plan, the capsule should dock at the ISS at 10:27 a.m. Eastern time Sunday, followed by hatch opening at 1:55 p.m. and a welcoming ceremony 30 minutes later. All events will be broadcast at nasa.gov/ nasatv.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine
The SpaceX Falcon 9 and the Crew Dragon capsule, with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley onboard, lifts off Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. [AP PHOTO/CHRIS O’MEARA]
China says US action on Hong Kong ‘doomed to fail’ By Ken Moritsugu The Associated Press
BEIJING — The mouthpiece newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party said Saturday that the U.S. decision to end some trading privileges for Hong Kong “grossly interferes” in China’s internal affairs and is “doomed to fail.” The Hong Kong government called President Donald Trump’s announcement unjustified and said it is “not unduly worried by such
threats,” despite concern that they could drive companies away from the Asian financial and trading center. An editorial in China’s official People’s Daily newspaper said that attempts at “forcing China to make concessions on core interests including sovereignty and security through blackmailing or coercion … can only be wishful thinking and day-dreaming!” Trump’s move came after China’s ceremonial parliament voted Thursday to bypass Hong Kong’s
legislature and develop and enact national security legislation on its own for the semi-autonomous territory. Democracy activists and many legal experts worry that the laws could curtail free speech and opposition political activities. China had issued no official response as of late Saturday, but earlier said it would retaliate if the U.S. went ahead with its threat to revoke trading advantages granted to Hong Kong after its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
“This hegemonic act of attempting to interfere in Hong Kong affairs and grossly interfere in China’s internal affairs will not frighten the Chinese people and is doomed to fail,” the People’s Daily said. In Hong Kong, small groups of Beijing supporters marched to the U.S. Consulate on Saturday carrying Chinese flags and signs protesting “American interference in China’s internal affair” and calling Trump “shameless and useless.”
Tensions between the U.S. and China over Hong Kong have increased over the past year, with the U.S. defending pro-democracy protesters who clashed with police last year and China vilifying them as terrorists and separatists. “It is now clear that Hong Kong is caught in the middle of major China-U.S. tensions,” said Tara Joseph, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. “That is a real shame for Hong Kong and it will be a challenge in the months ahead.”
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Customers returned to barbershops in Georgia after some states reopened some public places. [AGENCIA EFE/ASSOCIATED PRESS]
REBUILDING From Page A1
the Future, a nonprofit think tank in Palo Alto, California. “Whether it’s the bubonic plague, the Spanish flu or coronavirus, pandemics inevitably are both health events and social events that cause transformations in society and politics,” she says. Leading indicators — from soaring unemployment to looming bankruptcies — suggest a rough restart. As the nation opens, scientists continue a feverish search for a vaccine while health officials remain concerned that the coming fall and winter could bring a spike in new virus cases that require renewed quarantines. But those possible obstacles aside, those who study the human march through history say it is vital to remember the nation’s future can be better than its past. “This isn’t a snow day where you’re waiting for the sun to shine and the world to return, because the world we have lived in for so long in many ways is never coming back,” says Jamie Metzl, technology futurist and co-founder of OneShared.World, an online group that promotes a globally interconnected response to the pandemic. “This is an all-handson-deck moment for the country, the world and our species,” says Metzl. “Everyone has a role to play to build back something better than what is being destroyed.” From Maine to California, reconstruction has started, in most places with equal parts excitement and caution. In Roswell, Georgia, restaurant general manager Mikaela Cupp says “the community’s excited, there’s this pentup ‘We want to get out of the house’ energy.” But in Atlanta, Denita Jones fears bringing the virus home to her family since few coworkers in her office wear masks. “I see people going back to pre-pandemic behavior like everything’s OK in the world, and the rest of us are walking on eggshells,” she says. As this tenuous rebuilding phase unfolds, the USA TODAY Network took a deep dive into a dozen societal sectors to get a sense of how things might look in the future for key facets of the economy. The result is a portrait of a nation in the initial throes of a rebirth, one both painful and high-risk as the country continues to feel the toll in human lives and economic livelihoods. Among our
“This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for the country, the world and our species. Everyone has a role to play to build back something better than what is being destroyed.” Jamie Metzl, co-founder of OneShared.World
glimpses into the future: • Health care: Despite its critical role in safeguarding the public during the pandemic, the virus has exposed the dire distress of those without health care, the financially tenuous nature of smaller hospitals, and the need to better secure nursing homes, whose residents and staff account for many U.S. coronavirus deaths. • Education: School districts are facing massive shortfalls as state coffers get decimated by the coronavirus outbreak. That puts into jeopardy school feeding programs, teacher job security and online learning curriculum for students without at-home technology. • Employment: The highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression, around 15%, arguably is the biggest threat to a robust recovery from the pandemic. Inevitably, sectors will face consolidation, new businesses will be created, and employees will be expected to develop new skills accordingly. The workplace environment also promises to be forever changed, with employees increasingly shifting to telecommuting. • Entertainment: Restaurants are in dire straits, with reservation service OpenTable recently predicting 25% of all restaurants might never re-open. Scripted TV shows will remain on hold until sets can be made safe. Movie theaters, when they come back, are likely to find patrons seated apart and the same film on multiple screens. Big concerts may well never return until there is an effective global vaccine. Virus will spur creative responses Unmistakable in this emerging post-virus reality, experts say, are signs that human creativity will forge new approaches, new products and new social paradigms not only more adaptable to future global crises, but also more responsive to income inequality, climate change and other issues laid bare by coronavirus. “COVID-19 is a dress rehearsal for a more turbulent world, one that will require businesses to be more adaptable to a consumer that is forever changed,” says James Allen, senior partner at global consulting firm Bain & Company and author of a recent blog post, “The Great Retooling: Adapting
for Coronavirus and Beyond.” Among a variety of coming trends, Allen sees a shift toward more “values-based consumption,” where consumers reward enterprises that are “acting as good citizens” during the epidemic. Meanwhile, whitecollar professions will combine lessons learned from remote working with the enduring need for some occasional “high-touch experiences at offices,” he says. And those office spaces are likely to shrink, paving the way for revitalization of urban cores as office buildings become condos. Maria Bothwell, CEO of future-focused advisory firm Toffler Associates, a firm started by the late futurists Alvin and Heidi Toffler, authors of the seminal 1970 book, “Future Shock,” says the nation will reach a phase called “the novel normal” in three to five years. Bothwell anticipates a long period of discomfort in public spaces with strangers, as a “heightened sensitivity to the vulnerability of our health” causes a reflexive recoiling at sneezes and coughs even after there is a vaccine. In addition, no-touch payment systems will proliferate. Public places will temperature screen. And expect an exodus from crowded cities for those whose jobs promote telecommuting. From COVID-19, a New America In the end, there’s little debate that the America that emerges from the coronavirus pandemic will be a New America, not unlike the new nations that emerged from the forge of the Great Depression and World War II. The former created a nation of frugal savers, the latter created a young post-war populace that fueled an unprecedented era of optimistic consumerism. If there is one thing futurists seem to agree on as America rebuilds, it is the hope that resides in those children and young adults whose lives have been indelibly stamped by this pandemic, a group that may well prove to be the next Greatest Generation. Says Bothwell: “In 10 years, we’ll look back at today’s graduates in amazement at what they did as a result of this event.” Follow USA TODAY national correspondent Marco della Cava: @marcodellacava
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Italy’s seas speak: No tourists or boats mean cleaner water By Paolo Santalucia The Associated Press
FIUMICINO, Italy — Pollution from human and agriculture waste spilling into the seas off Rome has decreased 30% during Italy’s coronavirus lockdown, preliminary results from a nationwide survey of seawater quality indicate. Authorities stressed it was too soon to give the lockdown sole credit for the change, saying that shifting sea currents and limited rainfall in April and May also could have been responsible for reduced runoff of livestock and fertilizer waste. But Marco Lupo, director general of the Lazio region’s environmental agency, hypothesized that the evaporation of tourism starting in March could have reduced the amount of sewage produced by the 30 million tourists who normally visit Rome each year. In addition, the lockdown meant Italians couldn’t flock to their seaside vacation homes as they normally would in spring, a phenomenon that typically overwhelms local water treatment plants and results in increased pollutants spewing into the seas, Lupo said. “This year, coastal towns have been much less populated, decreasing the (human-caused pollution) burden” on the water, he told The Associated Press. There’s no indication seas will stay cleaner, since the lockdown is ending and any pollution reduction may be temporary. But scientists around the world have
Italian Lazio region’s environmental agency biologist Salvatore De Bonis shows how they perform tests on sea water on a Coast Guard boat off the coast of Fiumicino, Italy. [DOMENICO STINELLIS/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]
documented some remarkable ecological changes as a result of travel ceasing, industrial production in many countries grinding to a halt and people staying home. Air pollution is down in some of the world’s smoggiest cities, while wildlife such as coyotes and boars have been seen in urban areas. Off Italy’s coasts, which are popular and occasionally polluted, there are visible effects of the lockdown. With the usually busy Gulf of Naples cleared of pleasure boats, cargo and cruise ships, dolphins usually only seen far out in the Mediterranean flock close to shore. Jellyfish have been spotted in the empty canals of Venice. During the lockdown, fishermen are pulling in bigger hauls than usual off Rome’s main industrial port at Civitavecchia. In April, for example, fishermen pulled in 132,277 pounds of fish compared with 114,640 pounds) during the same month last year. Roberto Arciprete, a marine biologist with Civitavecchia’s local fishing cooperative,
hypothesized that the sharp reduction in maritime traffic had resulted in more fish swimming closer to shore. Environment Minister Sergio Costa noted that the coronavirus emergency, while tragic given the loss of life, offered an unprecedented opportunity to create a “photograph” of Italy’s seas. Costa on April 15 tasked the Coast Guard and other law enforcement agencies to work with regional environmental authorities to take water samples and monitor and assess changes in the seas off Italy’s 4,971 miles of coastline. The results will provide data and a baseline from which the country can reboot industrial production sustainably and create “a new normal that we know is absolutely necessary,” he said. “This can give us a point of departure, actually a point of re-departure,” he said in a statement. “This photograph will become the point of reference for the future controls of the seas, lakes and rivers, so that nature and our country can be better cared for.”
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PROTEST
N AT I O N N E W S I N B R I E F
From Page A1
Supreme Court rejects challenge to limits on church services
Gov. Greg Abbott announced Saturday that he was making state resources available to cities to help control local protests of police violence. The offer came as Austin Police Department officials issued a citywide request for assistance, which means all Austin officers are asked to report for duty. Abbott is offering troopers to help municipal police in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston, where nearly 200 people were arrested after overnight demonstrations. Events late Friday night led police to effectively shut off downtown Houston, Floyd’s hometown. The Houston Chronicle reported that most of the arrests were for obstructing roads. Four officers suffered minor injuries, Houston authorities said. Eight police cruisers were damaged or destroyed there. In Dallas, several hundred people gathered at City Hall at noon Saturday. They chanted, “No more,” as workers inside the building looked out on them from the windows. The Saturday rally came after a protest at Dallas Police Department headquarters Friday night led to an unruly march through downtown, where some stores were looted and landmarks were vandalized. Abbott said the Texas Department of Public Safety has sent more than 1,500 officers to assist local police departments and more resources are available as needed. “Texas and America mourn the senseless loss of George Floyd and the actions that led to his death are reprehensible and should be condemned in the strongest terms possible,” Abbott said in a statement. “As Texans exercise their 1st Amendment rights, it is imperative that order is maintained and private property is protected.” Organizers of Austin’s daytime rally called for a noon start at Austin Police Department headquarters. Demonstrators arrived more than an hour early, chanting, "Black lives matter," "Say his name: George Floyd" and "Hands up. Don't shoot." Other chants included derogatory and epithetfilled remarks about police. The local protest was one of thousands across the nation demanding justice for Floyd, who died Monday after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck as he was handcuffed and pleading for air. Chauvin was arrested Thursday and charged with third-degree murder
WASHINGTON
A divided Supreme Court on Friday rejected an emergency appeal by a California church that challenged state limits on attendance at worship services that have been imposed to contain the spread of the
Demonstrators who gathered Saturday called for justice for the officer-involved killings of Michael Ramos in Austin and George Floyd in Minneapolis. [RICARDO BRAZZIELL/ AMERICAN-STATESMAN PHOTOS]
Austin officers respond to demonstrators who gathered Saturday to protest police violence. Gov. Greg Abbott offered troopers to help police in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston.
and second-degree manslaughter. Saturday’s protest also had a local focus. Demonstrators called for justice in the shooting death of the 42-year-old Ramos, an unarmed black Hispanic man who was fatally shot by Austin officer Christopher Taylor on April 24. Officers responded to a 911 call describing two people who might be using drugs in a vehicle and saying that one of the people had a gun. Police Chief Brian Manley said Ramos was driving away from police in a vehicle outside an apartment complex on South Pleasant Valley Road when he was shot. Investigators did not find a gun in Ramos’ car after he was killed. The Ramos case will go before a grand jury, officials announced late Friday. Seventeen-year-old Sierra Richardson, her sister and her mother were among the first to arrive at Austin police headquarters to protest. “I’m here because it’s important for our voices to be heard and for change to happen,” Richardson said. Authorities had boarded up the lobby of the police building, and officers formed a line to keep demonstrators back. Austin officers were later joined by state troopers armed with batons and pellet guns after protesters blocked frontage roads and the I-35 bridge over Eighth Street.
"I'm standing for peace today," said a protester blocking I-35 named John, who declined to give his last name. "I'm afraid. We're waiting for justice. It doesn't come in a day. It doesn't come in a week. We shouldn't tear each other apart as we wait for it to come." Two protesters threw eggs at officers. At one point, a man on a motorcycle tried to drive through a crowd of protesters on the northbound frontage road. The motorcyclist was ripped from his vehicle and beaten. Police quickly intervened and let the man drive away while forming a barricade that pushed protesters off of the frontage road. At least one downtown business, a Starbucks on Congress Avenue, was vandalized with spray paint as protesters walked through downtown. Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services Capt. Darren Noak said medics responded to about 10 calls for service related to the downtown Austin protests. Manley warned on Twitter that authorities would crack down on unlawful behavior. “We appreciate peaceful protest and will continue providing a safe space for the community to express emotions,” Manley tweeted. “That being said, violence and destruction of property will not be tolerated.” After 3 p.m., waves of protesters moved away
from police headquarters toward the Capitol and elsewhere downtown, but dozens remained at the police building, where state police in riot gear and Austin officers formed barricades around the building. The officers stood face to face with people who sometimes shouted obscenities at them. It wasn’t immediately clear how many arrests were made in Austin on Saturday or whether anyone was injured. Capitol police officers, who are part of DPS and are responsible for policing the Capitol grounds, clashed with protesters there, using pepper spray at one point. At 3:45 p.m., demonstrators again started marching back to Austin police headquarters. As crowds began to scatter, helicopters and drones circled police headquarters and the Capitol, where another protest is planned for 1 p.m. Sunday. Additional material by staff writer Philip Jankowski, the Houston Chronicle and The Dallas Morning News.
coronavirus. Over the dissent of the four more conservative justices, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s four liberals in turning away a request from the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista, California, in the San Diego area. The Associated Press
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OPINION Patrick Dorsey.....................................................................Publisher John Bridges............................................................ Executive editor Andy Alford..............................................................Managing editor Juan Castillo............................................................... Opinion editor Bridget Grumet .......................................................... Opinion writer
Together, let’s make Austin even better
W E S AY
Lesson from the pandemic: We’re all connected T he coronavirus has upended life for us all. The disease has sickened too many of our neighbors and shuttered too many businesses. It has pushed us to adopt face masks, social distancing and new sanitation rituals, at least until the discovery of an effective treatment or vaccine neutralizes the COVID-19 threat. But we can take something meaningful from this trying experience: A heightened sense of care for others. A deeper awareness of the challenges others face. A fresh resolve to act with common purpose. We all face the threat of exposure to this highly contagious respiratory disease, but certain groups have shouldered a heavier burden. Latinos accounted for 62% of the COVID-19 hospitalizations in Travis County for May 11-17, even though they make up just 34% of the population. African-Americans, just 9% of the county’s population, account for 15% of the local coronavirus deaths so far. The disease has
spotlighted longstanding inequities. Minorities work in many of the essential but low-paying jobs that can’t be done from home, such as food service, nursing home aides, construction workers and day care workers, increasing their risk of exposure to the coronavirus. Hispanics have a higher rate of diabetes than whites, and African-Americans have a higher rate of heart disease, conditions that can make a coronavirus infection even more dangerous. And access to health care remains a serious problem: Hispanics are almost three times as likely as whites to be uninsured; blacks are twice as likely to be uninsured. Rebuilding America starts with embracing coronavirus safety protocols, but we must go beyond that. The experience of living through the worst pandemic in a century should sharpen our awareness of the needs of others. Businesses should recognize the need to provide paid sick leave so workers don’t bring illnesses to the workplace. Supervisors
should understand that some staffers may need scheduling accommodations if they are caring for a sick relative or a child who doesn’t have school or day care. Political leaders should improve access to health insurance and educational opportunities, because as a practical matter, doing so will make our communities more prosperous and resilient. The rest of us will have daily opportunities to show care for our neighbors. Run an errand for an elderly friend, an especially helpful gesture now that more people are returning to public spaces, increasing the opportunities for the disease to spread. Avoid unnecessary outings or buying up items you don’t need. And yes, wear a mask. It’s a simple, selfless measure to protect others from a deadly disease. For all of the pain of this pandemic, we have been reminded how much our well-being is connected to others. Let’s not let that lesson go to waste. American-Statesman Editorial Board
John Bridges
W
e all know the tiresome trope about our city’s many changes: Austin’s not what it used to be. It was better back in (insert the year when you moved here). For me, that was 1984. Austin was just a third of its current size and dominated by the university and state government to a far greater extent than today. MoPac stopped at Sunset Valley. Ben White and Research had stoplights. Shiner was the closest thing to a local craft brew, and the nearest good barbecue was in Lockhart or Taylor Simpler times for our city, but not necessarily better. Nostalgia for bygone days seems to be a natural part of living in a vibrant region where change is the only constant. We can all be excused, though, for being a bit nostalgic about what we’ve lost the past three months — from high school graduations to spring sports to iconic restaurants to the simple joys of just hanging out with friends and moving unmasked about our beautiful city. As we begin to emerge from our shelters, it us up to all of us to rebuild our region -- to build upon its former glory while retaining its weirdness, righting some of its longstanding wrongs and ensuring the well-being of all. As you’ve seen on the pages leading to this one, today’s American-Statesman is devoted to Rebuilding America, a project of hope and determination by Gannett newspapers nationwide. Today, we’re taking the pulse of our business,
cultural, educational and recreational lives and assessing what’s next. Austin’s rebound from the coronavirus crisis is coming, and we at the AmericanStatesman will be here to chronicle it all, from cheering the triumphs to investigating the missteps. We will be here for businesses reconnecting with customers. We will be here for consumers searching for information on the stores and restaurants they’ve loved. We will be here for citizens seeking to hold their elected representatives accountable. We will be here for the most vulnerable who are looking for help and looking for accurate information to make decisions about their health and safety. We will be here to shine a light and offer solutions for the many problems and divisions that existed long before coronavirus darkened our door. In short, we will be here for Austin. We’ve been here for 149 years — we’ll mark our 150th year of publication beginning July 26. We hope we soon can gather in person to celebrate. I have worked in the Statesman newsroom for 32 of those years, rising from nights and weekends on the news copy desk to leading the city’s best news operation. I’m here because I’m committed to this city and to our readers. We hope that, as Austin rebuilds, you will remain committed to us. This pandemic has served as another reminder of just how important journalism and reliable information are to our safety, our economy and our democracy. Now, we will play an important role in Austin’s next chapter. Together, let’s make it better than ever. Bridges is executive editor of the American-Statesman.
A30 Sunday, May 31, 2020 Austin American-Statesman
Austin American-Statesman Sunday, May 31, 2020 A31
OPINION FROM THE LEFT
FROM THE RIGHT
George Floyd’s death raises an old question: ‘How long?’
Trump’s concern about mail-in ballots is completely legitimate
Yes, Chauvin and three other officers have been fired. That’s not enough. Yes, the FBI is investigating. That’s not enough.
Moreover, there is a huge difference between sending ballots to a small number of citizens who request them and requiring that they be mailed to every registered voter, as Democrats are demanding. Under the Democrats’ plan, ballots would inevitably be sent to wrong addresses or inactive voters, putting millions of blank ballots into circulation — an invitation for fraud. Democrats are already expressing concern that Trump may not accept the results if he loses. So why would they give him an excuse to do so? Maybe because Democrats don’t believe they can win without mail-in voting. During a pandemic, only the most motivated voters are going to show up at the polls, and Democrats have a massive enthusiasm gap with Trump. A March Washington Post-ABC News poll found that just 24% of Biden supporters said they were “very” enthusiastic about supporting him, which is “the lowest [level of enthusiasm] on record for a Democratic presidential candidate in 20 years of ABC/Post polls.” By contrast, more than twice as many Trump’s supporters — 53% — are “very” enthusiastic about supporting him. While Trump voters would walk over broken glass to get him reelected, Democrats are terrified their voters won’t get out of bed to vote for former vice president Joe Biden. Solution? Let them vote from their beds. That could backfire. Democrats are concerned about African American turnout because COVID-19 has hit the black community especially hard. But using mail-in votes may not work out the way they hoped. One recent study found that in 2018, “black voters across Georgia’s 159 counties are disproportionately more likely to have their [absentee] ballots rejected than white voters.” If mail-in voting is attempted on a massive scale in 2020, and large numbers of African American votes are not counted, it may be Democrats who are crying fraud and claiming a violation of the Voting Rights Act. If that happens, Democrats will regret going on record insisting mail-in voting is perfectly safe. Eight years ago, the Times declared that “the flaws of absentee voting raise questions about the most elementary promises of democracy.” Now that Trump is raising those same questions, the publication says doing so is illegitimate. It was right the first time.
Leonard Pitts “I know you’re asking today, how long will it take?”
T
hus spake Martin Luther King Jr. at the end of the Selma to Montgomery voting rights march. He went on to assure his soul-weary people that the moment of their deliverance was just a little ways down the road. “However difficult the moment,” he said, “however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, because truth crushed to Earth will rise again. How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever. How long? Not long ...” And yet, 55 years later, here we are still asking the same thing. Oh Lord, how long? Because 55 years later, we are trapped in a revolving-door nightmare where every exit leads back to more of the same — Oscar, John, Amadou, Atatiana, Tamir, Sean, Freddie, Eric, Sandra, Breonna, Michael, Philando and now, George Floyd, a litany of unarmed African Americans killed by police acting under color of authority. How long can we see our sons and sisters murdered with impunity? How long can we endure with impotent fury? How long can we go on, exhausted to our bones? How long can we be backstabbed by the American dream? Minneapolis police were called on Floyd Monday for supposedly trying to pass a counterfeit bill. They said — surveillance video does not support this — he resisted arrest. In an excruciating bystander video, Officer Derek Chauvin is seen kneeling his full body weight on Floyd’s neck for many long minutes. “I can’t breathe,” moans Floyd, who is handcuffed. Still Chauvin kneels. “I’m about to die,” cries Floyd. Still Chauvin kneels. “Mama!” howls Floyd. Still Chauvin kneels. Floyd is unconscious. And yet even still, Chauvin kneels, Chauvin kneels, Chauvin kneels. Colin Kaepernick once knelt
— remember that? — in protest of police brutality just like this. Many white people, including the one in the White House, lost their minds over that. Do not expect similar outrage here, much less the reckoning we really need. Yes, Chauvin and three other officers have been fired. That’s not enough. Yes, the FBI is investigating. That’s not enough. Yes, Chauvin has been arrested. Still not enough. Indeed, to individuate this to Chauvin or Minneapolis or even policing is to miss the point. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking police brutality, health care inequality, job discrimination, cross-burning or voter suppression. It doesn’t matter if the video shows a man face down on the street crying for his mother as a cop’s knee presses upon his airway or a woman in Central Park weaponizing her whiteness, shrieking to a 911 dispatcher that a black man is attacking her when all he’s done is ask her to put her dog on a leash. Does not matter. It’s all the same story expressed in different ways, contrasting iterations of a single daily aggression: the infernal and seemingly eternal inability of American people and institutions to treat African Americans as if their lives have meaning and value. We’ve been waiting for that to change much longer than 55 years. And to be honest, some of us are tired of it. Indeed, to listen to some African Americans these days — to hear their anger, their deep exhaustion, their cynicism, their emotional disinvestment in this country — is to sense America is running out of time to be what America is supposed to be. And to hear words King meant for reassurance echo as a warning. Just how long can people be expected to put up with hypocrisy and lies? How long can they quiescently endure a revolving-door nightmare? How long before something breaks? How long? Not long. Pitts writes for The Miami Herald.
Marc A. Thiessen
P
WASHINGTON resident Donald Trump is raising a completely legitimate concern that an unprecedented expansion in the use of mail-in ballots in the 2020 election could lead to voter fraud. But that has not stopped his critics from declaring his statements to be false. Really? In 2012, before mail-in voting became a partisan political litmus test, The New York Times published an article titled “Error and Fraud at Issue as Absentee Voting Rises.” The piece noted that “there is a bipartisan consensus that voting by mail . . . is more easily abused than other forms,” and that “votes cast by mail are less likely to be counted, more likely to be compromised and more likely to be contested than those cast in a voting booth.” A bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform, chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, concluded in 2005 that “absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud” and that “vote buying schemes are far more difficult to detect when citizens vote by mail.” No one questions that mail-in ballots have much higher rates of not being counted. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study found that in the 2008 presidential election, 7.6 million of 35.5 million mail-in ballots requested were not counted because they never reached voters or were rejected for irregularities. That is a failure rate of more than 21%. In 2008, it did not matter because the election was not particularly close and mail-in ballots only accounted for a fraction of votes cast. But imagine the impact that would have in a close election in which mailin voting is tried on a massive scale. If mail-in ballots are adopted widely for the 2020 election, mass failures would be inevitable because about half the states have either no or extremely limited vote-by-mail options, and thus lack the experience or infrastructure for sending out, receiving or securing millions of mail-in ballots. We’d be conducting an experiment of unprecedented scale right in the middle of one of the most contentious elections in U.S. history.
Thiessen writes for The Washington Post.
YO U S AY
We don’t need officials telling us to wash up Re: May 17 editorial, “Paxton’s actions hinder efforts to keep us safe.” My wife and I are both over 65 years old, so we are in a high risk group for COVID19. Your editorial was extremely one sided. You’re assuming Texans need or want the government telling them how to live their daily lives safely and healthily. We take affront to this assumption on your part and the part of your newspaper. We don’t need or want the government, store employees or security guards telling us to wash our hands or cover our faces, or any other personal hygiene functions. If you and those of your newspaper staff feel the need for another “mother” serving in the capacity of our government, that’s your prerogative as an American. However, to publicly suggest all Texans need these childish reminders, that extends beyond government boundaries. By criticizing Attorney General Ken Paxton, you’re reflecting an inability of your own to perform basic adult hygiene and personal responsibility. Randy Lindsey, Blanco
Trump deserves blame for chaotic response Sen. John Cornyn, Sen. Ted Cruz, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul and others in the
If they are willing to accept these terms, then they can remove their masks and have fun. Pete Vera, Georgetown
Stock sales suggest GOP knew the danger
GOP are trying to spin the COVID-19 disaster to blame China rather than the president. It won’t work. Whether China should have acted more quickly or transparently is irrelevant now. President Donald Trump is squarely to blame for the delayed and chaotic response that has left more than 100,000 Americans dead so far. He forced the states into an insane bidding war for supplies, continues to hawk unproven and dangerous “treatments” and lies about almost every aspect of his incredibly ineffective response. Our members of Congress must know that Trump’s response has been an unmitigated failure. Yet they say nothing and, even worse, continue to spout his lies and to be mouthpieces for his blame game. If any of them still have a spine and a conscience,
maybe they should locate them and speak up for their constituents and their country before it’s too late. Diana Spain, Austin
Some ground rules for removing those masks I’ve thought of a way to accommodate those who are protesting about having to wear a mask. If they want to remove their masks, then: 1. If that person becomes infected with COVID-19, that person relinquishes all of their health care coverage until he or she is fully recovered from the virus. Health care companies shouldn’t need to pay for their treatments and then raise the premiums for everyone else. 2. If that person infects anyone else with the COVID-19, that person is financially responsible for each other person that becomes infected as a result.
I am curious as to how President Donald Trump justifies blaming China and the World Health Organization for withholding information and not warning the world as to the seriousness and danger of COVID-19, when a number of senators on various intelligence committees were selling stocks? It seems like those in power and responsible were more than adequately warned. They certainly took action then. David Kessler, Austin
Trump brings new perils this election Re: May 25 commentary, “Trump wins. Trump loses. Either way, we could lose.” Thank you, Ken Herman, for one of your most consequential columns. And so appropriate for Memorial Day, especially this one before the most consequential election of our time. It is a good time to ponder the perils this country risks, not only in how President Donald Trump behaves during and after our next election, but how we citizens muster a defense
for seeing it through. After all, the men and women we honor on Memorial Day deserve nothing less than the peaceful transfer of power they so defended. And as I think about the many American soldiers killed or maimed in the minefields of war, I hope we, all of us Americans, can find our way out of the great minefield of division that Trump has so artfully weaponized — not to promote a healthy national debate about the country’s future direction, but only to feed his own fragile and dangerous ego. Michael Pearson, Austin
If it works for census,why not for voting? I have a suggestion for our voting problem — or at least the one Republicans believe we have. We have just completed the U.S. Census online, so why could we not start voting that way? Every registered voter should have their own personal ID with which to log in, and you vote from the comfort of your own home. If it’s good enough for the census, why can’t it be good enough for voting? It sounds reasonable to me, but I’m sure the Republicans will find a way to claim that it will allow voter fraud. Linda Kliarsky, Austin
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Rebuilding America
Kayleigh Tansey and Justin Smith, of Kyle, watch “The Invisible Man” at Evo Entertainment on May 4. The movie theater in Kyle reopened after Gov. Greg Abbott allowed retail stores, restaurants and some other businesses to open to the public at no more than 25% capacity. [JAY JANNER/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]
REBUILDING AMERICA ECONOMY
A STATE REOPENS FOR BUSINESS
By Asher Price
aprice@statesman.com
H
oping to turbocharge a Texas economy shackled by the coronavirus lockdown and bruised by an oil value free fall, Gov. Greg Abbott was among the first public executives in the country to declare his state open again for business. Now the Texas economy — like so much in this coronavirus era — is like a closely watched laboratory experiment. On the ground, from Austin to the hinterlands, businesses report simply trying to survive a devastating couple of months. In some cases, this has required creative work-arounds of businesses of all stripes. In Austin, at least a half dozen strip clubs announced they would reopen May 22. In a Facebook post directed toward its entertainers, Foxy's Cabaret wrote that hair and makeup would need to be finished upon arrival and that employees “must have protective masks as well. All of this is a requirement to work, no exceptions. We will go over the new rules as well before you ever step foot on floor.” In the suburb of Kyle, the entertainment complex Evo Entertainment was showing movies again by early May, with seats available only in alternating rows and a limit of five customers per group. As the end of the month drew near, Evo reopened its bowling lanes, requiring temperature
checks and masks of guests and staff. On the company’s website, CEO Mitch Roberts reported that “not one of our incredible 900 team-members lost their jobs or missed a paycheck,” as the company sold streaming movies. An online market operated by Evo that specializes in do-ityourself pizza kits, found that its top sellers were milk, eggs, toilet paper, ground beef — and gallons of prepared margaritas. As May drew to a close, two Texases were emerging. In rural and suburban areas lightly touched by the pandemic, Texans returned to restaurants and shops in a show of can-do optimism — peppered with a streak of lockdown defiance. In Fredericksburg, a popular Hill Country touristy town known for its peaches, Penny McBride, president of the local chamber of commerce, told the American-Statesman that while most businesses had reopened, many were still operating with reduced capacity limits mandated by the governor. The biggest difference visiting Fredericksburg now and, say, a year earlier, she said, is that some businesses have to limit the number of people who can enter their shops or restaurants. “Sadly, we expect to see some permanent closures as a result of COVID,“ McBride said. Other businesses are not reopening for now, because it’s too difficult to make physical changes to limit customers or operating at a diminished capacity doesn’t
make sense for their bottom lines, she said. Officials in urban areas like Dallas, which saw some of the highest rates of infections, continued to discourage residents from any sort of mingling. Even as Abbott removed some restrictions on restaurants, many continued to be shuttered in Austin, or offering only takeout options. Good news can’t come fast enough. During the heart of the shutdown, from March 15 through May 16, at least 2 million unemployment claims were filed by Texans, according to statistics released by the Texas Workforce Commission. Austin economist Jason Schenker said at a Texas Business Leadership Council event that it could be a couple of years before the Texas economy returns to its pre-outbreak production level. “We probably won't be back to the level we were at before all of this started until about two years from now,” said Schenker, the president of Austin-based Prestige Economics. “Now, the job market might take four or six years, or even longer than that.” From a business perspective, “we only hope our customers will show some patience as well,” said McBride in Fredericksburg. “We desperately want customers back. But like everything else, business operations been upended, and it’s not as easy as just turning the tap on and off.”
“We probably won’t be back to the level we were at before all of this started until about two years from now. Now, the job market might take four or six years, or even longer than that.” Jason Schenker, the president of Austin-based Prestige Economics
A34 Sunday, May 31, 2020 Austin American-Statesman
Austin housing market in good shape to bounce back from downturn, experts say By Shonda Novak snovak@statesman.com
The Austin-area’s housing market had been on a 10-year roll before the coronavirus pandemic. Several market indicators nosedived as the effects began to be felt in the market in late March and continuing into April. Last month’s numbers from the Austin Board of Realtors saw the volume of both closed sales and pending contracts plunge by double-digits in the Austin area, a five-county region stretching from Georgetown to San Marcos. In its April report, the board said sales of single family homes, townhomes and condominiums plunged 21.6% in the fivecounty Central Texas region. Pending sales — an indicator of future volume — plummeted 25%. Still, local housing market experts and real estate agents say there are promising signs the market is well positioned to withstand the impacts of the crisis. They point to a pick-up in activity in recent weeks, fueled in part by record low mortgage rates. Another factor is continued demand coupled with low inventory in certain price ranges — particularly the bottom third of the market where the supply of available homes is extremely low, experts and agents say. “We are very lucky to be in Austin,” said Mark Sprague, a housing industry expert with Independence Title in Austin. "Other markets are not doing as well as we are.“ Jonathan Boatwright, co-owner of Realty Austin, said pending home-sales contracts “fell off a cliff” in late March. But in the past four weeks, they have picked up substantially and now are higher than they were a year ago, Boatwright said in a May 21 webinar featuring Mark Dotzour, who spent 18 years as chief economist for the Texas A&M Real Estate Center. Likewise, some real estate agents say they have seen an uptick in housing market activity coinciding with the state allowing some businesses to reopen in some capacity. New listings also have rebounded as the weather has warmed up, Boatwright said, and he’s also anticipating an increase in closed sales. In addition, he said he has seen a recent trend of people who had pulled their homes off the market re-list them again.
[FREEPIK.COM]
But inventory still remains low in some price ranges. The region as a whole has just a 2.1 months supply of housing overall, Boatwright said. Experts say 6.5 months is considered a market where supply and demand are in balance, with the market not tipped in favor of neither buyers nor sellers. In the webinar, Dotzour said that “the further south of 6.5 months you get, the more ferocious price appreciation is...The bottom third of the price range (in Central Texas) still has way more demand than supply,” and he predicts continued strong demand in that segment. People are relocating to the Austin region and to Texas from places including California, New York, Chicago, Houston, Dallas. And Dotzour said he thinks that continuing migration will only intensify going forward. "We like businesses here, and our cost of living is moderate,“ Dotzour said. Jennifer Puryear, a real estate agent with RE/MAX Austin Skyline in West Lake Hills, said the factors that make the
Mark Sprague is a longtime Austinarea housing market expert who is the state director of Information Capital at Independence Title. He is optimistic about the outlook for the housing market in Central Texas, as evidenced from this excerpt from a Q&A circulating among professionals in the Austin-area real estate community.
personally. I don’t think that values will be greater before or after the pandemic.
When is the right time for sellers to go on the market? Sprague: There isn’t any inventory, so now is a good time. It’s very difficult to list a home if you live in it. It depends on you
What do you see for the future of interest rates and lending in general? If your clients are waiting, they’re going to find more expensive real estate and harder loan qualifications. There’s not a better time to buy. Know this: I think we come out of this still with a record year in 2020. There’s still a chance that we re-open in late May or early June. We are going to be shocked at the re-employment. I’m stumbling because I can’t give enough examples as to why.
Austin area a desirable place to live and work “have not changed and have kept the local real estate market strong. “For three years running, Austin ranked No. 1 as the best place to live in the U.S. and recently as one of the hottest markets in Texas,” Puryear said. “We still see multiple offers on
properties in different areas because inventory is low,” Puryear said. “The market has not cooled in most areas. Some of the high-end luxury listings take a bit longer to sell, but we have not seen a significant reduction in prices. With safety precautions in place, sellers are still selling and buyers are still buying.”
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A36 Sunday, May 31, 2020 Austin American-Statesman
As bars begin to reopen, what will Austin’s summer music scene look like? Want to hear some live music this summer? Here’s what to expect
Deborah Sengupta Stith dsengupta@statesman.com
Austin is the Live Music Capital of the World, and summer in the city is normally stacked with shows from local artists and touring acts in the city’s bustling entertainment districts, with plenty of opportunities to catch some tunes and sip some brews under the evening sky. But this summer’s music calendar is shaping up to be the quietest one we’ve ever seen. “No decisions have been announced or made” about favorite summer music events, John Nixon from Austin’s Parks and Recreation department said on May 19. That includes the Austin Symphony Orchestra’s Fourth of July celebration at Vic Mathias Shores, Austin City Limits Radio’s Blues on the Green concert series at Zilker Park or the Austin City Limits Music Festival in the fall. The following day, Austin health authority Dr. Mark Escott said he can’t envision large-scale events like the ACL Fest happening through the end of year. As far as a summer concert season with touring acts from across the country, there’s “not much of one,” said Graham Williams, owner of Margin Walker Presents, the city’s premiere independent music promotion house. “You don't just decide you want to be on tour. It takes months to plan it out and you announce three or four months out sometimes and so if you can't really guess what's going to be happening a few months from now, it's pretty tough.” In addition, different policies regarding public gatherings from state to state, county to county and city to city make plotting a tour during the pandemic a logistical nightmare. Williams said we might see some smaller artists touring in the fall, but most larger acts are pushing their tours to 2021. On May 22, Texas bars were allowed to open at 25% capacity and storied honky tonk the Broken Spoke was one of the first music venues to reopen its doors. Owner James M. White said he was “tickled to death to open up the bar.” As of press time, the governor’s guidelines require bar patrons to order from tables, not at the bar, and no dancing is allowed, so White said he would prioritize food,
As of press time, large outdoor music events like Blues on the Green, the ASO’s Fourth of July celebration and ACL Fest have not been canceled, but one of Austin’s top health authorities said he can’t see them happening. Some music venues, like the Broken Spoke, have reopened, but in accordance with the governor’s guidelines the club experience is very different. Capacity is reduced, bar patrons must order drinks from tables instead of at the bar and dancing is not allowed. Most touring shows for the summer have been postponed, but some popular venues, including Red River clubs Empire and Barracuda, are selling membership packages and subscription services that will get you into gigs when the clubs reopen. “No decisions have been announced or made” about large events like Blues on the Green in public parks this summer, a representative from Austin Parks and Recreation said on May 19. [ROBERT HEIN FOR STATESMAN/FILE]
Some musicians are experimenting with different ways to have live shows, including drive-in concerts with limited tickets. Ben Ballinger hosted Austin’s first Drive-In concert in May. [DAVE CREANEY FOR STATESMAN]
drink and music over boot-scootin’ for the time being. Most other popular music venues are taking a slower approach, citing the difficulty of covering overhead with the limited capacity and concerns about
health and safety. “Things like nail salons and sit-down dining don’t have the same issues as a crowded bar. If it’s not crowded, we don’t make enough money to cover rent,” said Steve Sternschein owner of the
downtown clubs Empire Control Room and Garage and the Parish. Owners of the Continental Club and the Saxon Pub expressed similar sentiments. James Moody, owner of popular Red River touring destination the Mohawk, said his club will probably reopen at some point this summer, but there are no firm plans yet. “(We) need to prepare a bit more and learn a bit more before we proceed,” he said. With the clubs quiet, some artists are exploring alternative venues for their music. A drive-in concert in early May packed a field in South Austin for a show by Ben Ballinger and friends. Other artists are exploring backyard concerts as a socially responsible concert experience. Williams said larger scale drive-in shows would be “expensive and complicated” to produce, but we might see other artists hosting similar small events this summer. The best way to keep up with what your favorite artist has in the works is to follow them on social media and tune into their livestreams, which have become one of the main ways artists are connecting with fans during the pandemic. While you’re there, drop a couple dollars in the virtual tip jar. Musicians are struggling right now and every little bit helps.
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A38 Sunday, May 31, 2020 Austin American-Statesman
As tourism opens up, what should Texas travelers expect? By Kristin Finan
What to expect
kfinan@statesman.com
The travel and tourism industry has long been vital to Texas’ economy, with an impact of $164 billion and supporting more than 1.2 million jobs in 2018 alone, according to data provided by Gov. Greg Abbott’s office. With the state beginning to open up following stay-at-home orders due to the coronavirus pandemic, some eager travelers are wondering if it’s time to dust off their suitcases and hit the open road. If you’re looking to travel in Texas in the coming months, what should you expect? First, travelers should take it slow. Many attractions are staggering their openings or significantly limiting their capacity to ensure that the public can continue to social distance, and others are still trying to figure out a game plan for reopening. Texas state parks, for example, reopened April 20 for day-use access but require visitors to reserve passes online in advance, allowing parks to control capacity and limit overcrowding. Overnight camping resumed May 18 for those with existing reservations; new camping reservations were not yet being taken as of press time. The National Park Service is handling reopenings on a parkby-park basis. Big Bend National Park is closed through May and is planning a phased reopening, with some features potentially being offered in early June. Most Texas beaches, including beaches in Galveston, Corpus Christi, Port Aransas and South Padre Island, reopened May 1 following Abbott’s decision to let some of the state’s stayat-home restrictions expire at the end of April. Most beaches are encouraging social distancing and limiting overnight camping, though some have still seen significant overcrowding. Texas hotels, too, have begun courting visitors, with many offering significant deals and discounts. Popular Hill Country resorts are also accepting reservations, including the Hyatt Hill Country Resort and Spa and the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa. La Cantera Resort & Spa will reopen June 3
If you’re planning to travel in Texas in the coming months, here are some things you can expect. Book day passes in advance: Texas state parks and many other attractions are requiring visitors to purchase day passes in advance so that they can limit capacity and enforce social distancing. Check websites and plan ahead before you travel. The hotel experience will be different: Hotels will continue to reopen, but there may be limitations on what’s available. Expect limited overnight capacity, social distancing while dining, contact-free service and the elimination of many buffets. Most hotels will offer flexible reservation policies at least through the end of the year. Deals are available. Many hotels, theme parks and other attractions are offering “buy now, visit later” discounts. If there is somewhere you know you’ll want to visit eventually, check the website for purchase-now options.
and will limit overnight occupancy to 50 percent capacity. According to the Port of Galveston, most cruise lines have voluntarily suspended service at least into June, including Carnival Cruise Lines, Disney Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. As far as Texas’ popular attractions, most are reopening on a case-by-case basis. The San Antonio River Walk is open for walking and jogging and some restaurants have reopened. The Kemah Boardwalk and Galveston Pleasure Pier are open, as are some of their shops and restaurants, but rides were closed as of press time. Major theme and water parks including Six Flags Fiesta Texas, Six Flags Over Texas, SeaWorld San Antonio, Space Center Houston, Schlitterbahn Galveston and Schlitterbahn New Braunfels remained closed as of publication deadline. Many small towns and their attractions have reopened. In Fredericksburg, for example, most hotels, shops and restaurants have reopened, including Wildseed Farms and the National
John Thomas, owner of Wildseed Farms in Fredericksburg, had to shut down his business during its busiest time of year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, the popular Fredericksburg attraction is back open. [JAMES GREGG/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]
People enjoy the beach in Port Aransas in March 2020. Most Texas beaches reopened May 1. [COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES]
Museum of the Pacific War. “We do kind of think small-townTexas tourism may be one of the first markets to come back, in that people can drive to it, it’s not going to necessarily be dense, and you don’t have to stay in
a hotel,” said Jon Hockenyos, president of Austin economic consulting firm TXP Inc. “People may think, ‘We were going to go to Europe. We can’t do that, but we can get in the car and drive a few hours and get a change of scenery.’”
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With no equal standards in place, uneven road ahead to restart college sports By Brian Davis bdavis@statesman.com
The coronavirus pandemic stopped the sports world on a dime. But restarting isn’t as easy as it sounds. Professional sports have the leadership and financial resources to follow any standard. The NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball can dictate new rules and set across-the-board health guidelines that must be agreed to by the players. In college athletics, there is no all-powerful commissioner. It’s a hodgepodge of conference commissioners, university presidents and athletic directors making rules as best they can. While everyone has good intentions, nobody is required to listen to each other. State politics impacts their decision-making, too. At least at the state high school level, the University Interscholastic League sets the rules in Texas for all public schools. With the UIL, there is one authority thousands of high school coaches and administrators can look to as their guide. In short, at least from a sports perspective, expect a bumpy road in the coming months. “We’ll learn how to live it,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said on May 20. “We’ll learn how to deal with it.” Speaking on a virtual panel discussion organized by LEAD1, an association of college athletic administrators, Bowlsby pulled no punches. He said athletes will test positive. College athletic departments must have “hospital-quality disinfectant programs.” All of this must happen in a society that is “not very confident right now.” “Even when that begins to happen, you wonder whether people will be willing to sit cheek to jowl in a stadium with people they don’t know,” Bowlsby said. “I think it will change the way we view public assembly.” In late May, progress was made to get athletics going again. The UIL announced that schools can start with limited in-person summer strength and conditioning on June 8. That’s a clear positive step toward high school football in the fall. NFL and NBA facilities were starting to reopen, and Major League Baseball was considering the idea of a limited season. Youth sports, where often times volunteers have to make the decisions, was a mixed bag. USA Volleyball canceled its national championship event in June.
Texas football fans cheer at Royal-Memorial Stadium as their team competes against Kansas State in 2019. It’s still unclear whether UT will allow a full house to attend the 2020 season opener against South Florida on Sept. 5. [STEPHEN SPILLMAN/FOR STATESMAN]
Baseball was uncertain. “Leagues should contact their state and local health authority and other municipalities for guidance prior to resuming any Little League activities,” the national youth baseball association posted on its website. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted a series of guidelines stating that the more interaction athletes had with coaches, the higher the risk of infection. “Therefore, risk of COVID-19 spread can be different, depending on the type of activity.” Still, playing sports at any level requires some degree of risk-taking. The CDC stressed some basic fundamentals for sports teams: anyone who feels sick should stay home, provide constant hand-washing and wear a face covering. The idea of outright canceling the college football season is a non-starter with most administrators. Athletic departments, even ones like cash-rich Texas, need the revenue generated from football to stay afloat. Without the TV money and ticket
revenue generated by football, most college athletic departments would implode. The Longhorns are no different. According to the most recent audited figures, Texas generated $42.5 million on ticket sales for the 2018 season and took in $39.7 million in contributions. Overall, the football program generated $157 million in revenue and spent only $43 million in expenses. The surplus is what funds the rest of the athletic department. The Texas athletics’ fiscal year runs through Aug. 31, so athletic director Chris Del Conte has some time before having to make any hard decisions. However, UT administrators announced the university would have to look at furloughs or layoffs in “revenue-producing units” because of the pandemic. For now, Del Conte continues to map out a plan to get athletes back into the facilities. It generated headlines when the NCAA said that voluntary workouts could resume in June, but the NCAA has little sway over the Power Five conferences. Big 12 athletic directors have been targeting July 1 as a possible re-start date
for full offseason activities, but that’s a fingers-crossed date. Coaches around the country have said they’d need at least six weeks to get ready for the season, since many lost spring football. When UT athletes return, they’re likely to see a world of changes in the weight room and locker room. The school produced a 48-page report specifically for how employees can return to work safely. That includes filling out an online questionnaire, passing a temperature check and wearing a face covering inside the offices at Royal-Memorial Stadium. It’s still unclear whether UT will allow a full house to attend the season opener against South Florida on Sept. 5. Del Conte told the Statesman he has looked at socially distancing fans in RoyalMemorial Stadium but declined to outline the specifics. “Everything we do will be in accordance with the health and safety of our fans, donors and students in connection with what we get from health professionals,” Del Conte said.
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Going to the doctor? How the coronavirus has changed your visit What to expect at a medical office now
By Nicole Villalpando nvillalpando@statesman.com
When the coronavirus started to hit Central Texas, doctors’ offices had to figure out how to continue seeing patients as safely as possible. Offices added telemedicine — virtual appointments through platforms like Zoom or Google Hangouts — for the first time or offered the option to many more patients. Dr. Jason Reichenberg, president of Ascension Medical Group Texas, says their clinics quickly went from 100 telemedicine visits a day to 1,600 a day in two weeks. Many of the changes arrived on March 17 when Gov. Greg Abbott’s emergency declaration waived certain regulations and required state-regulated insurance plans pay the same amount for telehealth visits as in-person visits during this time. Now that Texas is slowly reopening, what can we expect going forward? Patients will see telemedicine visits continue to be an aspect of care. What percentage of care will depend on virus levels in our community. Dr. Katherine Labiner of Child Neurology of Consultants of Austin sees telemedicine as a great way to connect with patients going forward, especially for appointments made just to monitor medication, as well as for patients who live far away or are difficult to transport. It also could be helpful during cold and flu season for patients who have conditions that make them immunecompromised. For recent surgery patients who need a post-operation visit, a virtual appointment avoids exposing them to infection or physically draining them during recovery. The key will be for insurance companies to continue to pay the same rate as in-person visits. Telehealth is not for everyone; it “is not a panacea,” says Dr. Harish Gagneja of Austin Gastroenterology. There are issues with technology and who has access to devices and internet capacity. Doctors want to make sure the appointment goes beyond just a phone call. “I have to see body language and
Emily Young, right, takes the temperature of Cliff Heiss at Walden Dental in North Austin. Expect to be screened with questions and temperatures at all medical offices. [STEPHEN SPILLMAN FOR STATESMAN]
make eye contact,” says Dr. Devin Garza, a gynecological surgeon at Texas Robotic Surgery for Women at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center. Of course, telehealth won’t work for all visits — you can’t do a physical exam, an injection or blood work through a webcam. Not all doctors’ offices are expected to go back to a full schedule any time soon. Some plan to extend hours or have weekend visits to get patients in without having too many people in the office at once. “As we start to open up a little bit, our goal is to stay at 60 percent capacity and not go over that,” says Dr. Kathryn Hudson of Texas Oncology. If you have an in-person visit, you still will be prescreened and have to wear a face covering. As necessary as masks are right now, doctors don’t like them either. When delivering serious information,
a mask can “take away from the personal nature of what we do,” says Dr. Katherine Labiner of Child Neurology of Consultants of Austin. “They are missing something if they can’t see my own face.” Doctors also have changed their physical interactions with patients. “I can no longer hug my patient when I am giving them bad news,” Hudson says. “I can’t put my hand on their shoulder or on their knee like I used to. It’s harder to have that closeness I am used to having.” If you have an appointment, call ahead to confirm whether it’s in-person or telehealth. If you’re not comfortable coming into the office, request a telehealth appointment or a hybrid that is part telehealth, part in-person to limit the amount of time you are in the office. But don’t skip care. Many offices are reaching out to patients who delayed visits or didn’t show up for scheduled appointments.
A doctor’s office visit continues to look different. Here’s some of what to expect: • Checking in online or by phone before entering the office. • Waiting in your car or in a waiting room with very few people in it. • Temperature and symptom checks. (Staff also are screened.) • Staff and patients in masks. Patients must wear face coverings unless there is a medical reason they cannot. • Staff in personal protective gear, including face shields, goggles, gowns and gloves, for more procedures.
Specialists say they saw about 40 to 45 percent fewer people come into emergency rooms for strokes and heart attacks in April, and now they’re concerned that people delayed getting treatment and will have long-term damage. At Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, staff are worried that kids are skipping well-checks, including important vaccinations. “You don’t want to put it off,” says Dr. Eric Higginbotham, chief of pediatric emergency medicine at Dell Children’s. Some offices are having kids come in just for vaccinations, with the rest of the visit by telemedicine. For Hudson, every patient is considered individually to decide whether a visit can be delayed or needs to be in person. “I am spending more mental energy and deep thought about which patients will need to come in,“ she says.
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REBUILDING AMERICA TELEVISION
Cliff hanger: Some shows left in limbo There’s plenty of TV still to come, say executives Bill Keveney USA TODAY
Restarting the huge and varied tele vision industry after an unprecedented coronavirusrelated shutdown doesn’t follow a onesizefi tsall formula. Much has changed on TV since pro duction was halted in midMarch. News programs have continued with guests and sometimes anchors broadcasting from home. Latenight comedy shows and reality singing competitions also have resumed from remote locations. Ratings for many shows have risen, with so many people staying at home. When it comes to the backbone of en tertainment TV, scripted programming, networks and streaming services have been leaning on readytogo fi lmed shows and easiertobuild specials to make up for the lack of new production. Going forward, that supply will dimin ish, although TV executives say we won’t run out of new shows anytime soon. “We’re pretty far ahead, so we don’t see any disruption in our output over the next few months,” Netfl ix chief con tent offi cer Ted Sarandos told CNN in late March, referring to the streaming service’s large supply of original pro gramming. “You know, maybe later in the year, if this progresses long, you’ll start feeling some of that as the physical production is not operating.” The shutdown already wiped out pi lot season, when episodes of prospec tive replacement series are fi lmed, and the midMay advertising upfronts, when the coming season’s primetime schedules and launch dates are an nounced. Some networks still haven’t announced plans to roll out episodes of new and returning series. The Emmy Awards’ planned Sept. 20 ceremony hasn’t been delayed yet, but
A muchawaited HBO Max reunion of the “Friends” cast had to be postponed because of the COVID19 pandemic, but the new Warner Bros. streaming service was expected to proceed with its May 27 launch date. LANCE STAEDLER/NBC
entry, voting and nomination deadlines have been pushed back. However, the bigger question looms: When can TV restart production with out social distancing? Executives can estimate and make plans, but they just don’t know when it will be safe to begin fi lming again – or when governments will allow it. Although Los Angeles, where so much production takes place, is slowly reopening businesses, offi cials have said some stayathome re strictions could extend past July. Tyler Perry has the most ambitious production plan, scheduling “Sistas” to start work July 8 and “The Oval” on July 28, with plans to test and sequester cast and crew at his massive Atlanta studio. CW hedged against delays by push ing its fall season launch of big shows to January, but network chairman Mark Pedowitz likely speaks for many net work and studio chiefs when he says: “Certainty is a hard thing in this world right now.”
He’s hopeful that fi lming can start in late summer or early fall, as the net work’s plans rely on production resum ing by September. Concern for employees’ fi nancial and physical wellbeing are part of the plan ning process, executives say. Netfl ix in March announced creation of a $100 million fund to help entertain ment workers aff ected by the pandemic, while networks and studios are trying to determine the best way to restart pro ductions safely. “One big thing we’re working on now is to fi gure out, what is the protocol to get things back up and going? How can we do that with a real assurance of safe ty?” says Kevin Reilly, president of cable networks TBS, TNT and TruTV, and chief content offi cer for upcoming streaming service HBO Max. With production halted, broadcast networks, which have nightly prime time schedules to fi ll, have been holding back shows with fully produced seasons
to provide new programming for the next few months. Fox, for example, delayed the spring premieres of “Filthy Rich” and “Next” to make them cornerstones of a fall lineup. Networks also are acquiring shows that have aired internationally or on streaming services to beef up original programming options. CW picked up “Tell Me a Story” from CBS All Access, a corporate cousin, while Fox will off er “L.A.’s Finest,” a “Bad Boys” spinoff pre viously available only to Spectrum cable subscribers. Improvisation will likely play a role going forward, following the examples of programs that found ways to fi nish new episodes after fi lming stopped. CBS’ “All Rise” ingeniously fashioned a season fi nale by framing the episode as a trial via videoconference with cast members performing from home, while NBC’s “The Blacklist” fi lled in an epi sode’s unfi lmed scenes with graphic novelstyle animation. Experimentation goes on behind the scenes, too. Sarandos applauded a vir tual table read for Netfl ix’s “Big Mouth,” as cast read an episodic script remotely via online connection rather than to gether in the same room. Streaming services, which have en joyed a bump in viewership with so many people stuck at home, have relied on libraries of original series and past hits. However, the pandemic may not be the best time to launch a new service, as shortform programming service Quibi hasn’t fared well since starting in April, although some of its problems may not be related to COVID19. Whether the pandemic is boon or curse for a new service may become clearer with HBO Max, the new Warner Bros. streaming service that had planned to go forward with its May 27 launch. It’s had to adjust, too, as the tap ing of a muchawaited “Friends” cast reunion, designed to draw subscribers at kickoff , had to be postponed because of stayathome restrictions.
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