I am a journalism & media graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin. In this role, I have had the opportunity to speak with, photograph and tell stories in a compelling manner using various media forms. I am actively looking for opportunities to continue to do so. I have worked for publications like Austin Monitor, Community Impact, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, and Reporting Texas.
US Voters Reject Bond Proposals for School Sports Facilities
US voters gave an emphatic thumbs down to spending tax dollars on school sports facilities while greenlighting many academic or technology upgrades as higher interest rates drove taxpayers to recalibrate their priorities. Of the roughly $1 billion spread across about 40 bond proposals to build new or repair existing athletic facilities, swimming pools and recreational facilities, most of the measures failed, according to a Bloomberg analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence’s Global Markets Group and the Texas Bond Review Board.
US Voters to Weigh Over $44 Billion of Bond Measures in Midterm Election
Voters on Tuesday will decide if US cities and counties can bring more than $44 billion of bonds to the market to finance building and expanding hospitals, schools and roads. That sum is down by roughly a third from 2022 — a midterm election year, typically when more referendums are brought to ballots — as issuers sought approval of more than $66 billion of bond measures. While voters signed off on more than 80% of last year’s proposals, the latest measures come as states and cities run out of federal Covid-relief funds and voters across the country are being squeezed by rising costs.
NYC’s $16.1 Billion Tunnel to NJ Kicks Off Construction After Decades of Delays
The $16.1 billion, long-delayed, once-canceled effort to build a new rail tunnel linking New York and New Jersey is officially starting construction after more than a decade of false starts. “This is a day that I know that this city, this region, this country has been looking for and waiting for for a very long time,” US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said at an event in the Hudson Yards neighborhood on the West Side of Manhattan on Friday.
US Colleges Face Credit Risk Due to Their Private Equity Exposure
US colleges and universities that have been boosting their allocations to private equity face increased credit risk, partly because these investments tend to be less liquid and more expensive, according to a report by Moody’s Investors Service. Private equity holdings accounted for nearly 18% of total endowment assets as of fiscal 2022 — or 30% when venture capital investments were included — according to the report, which cited data from the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
Muni-Bond Yields Have Finally Climbed Enough to Entice Buyers
Municipal-bond yields at the highest in more than a decade are spurring optimism on the part of investment managers, who have been dealing with persistent fund outflows this year as the market has struggled along with the rest of fixed income. The muni market is on track for a second straight year of declines, punished by the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increases and its message that it intends to keep borrowing costs higher for longer to tame inflation.
A Florida Beach Paradise Needs Millions to Keep Toilets Flushing
The accelerating growth of Cape Coral, Florida, is spurring the town to tap the municipal bond market for basic needs like running water and working toilets. The Gulf Coast city plans to sell $138 million in debt next week, with proceeds used for water systems to reduce reliance on wells and site-specific septic tanks. Cape Coral joins other Florida cities building and expanding water and sewer facilities to meet demand from a US migration that’s given the state the fastest-growing population in recent years.
Ice Rink’s Muni Default Risks Pushing a Missouri City Into Junk Territory
A small city in Missouri could see its credit rating cut to junk by S&P Global Ratings because of the financial woes plaguing a local ice rink backed by municipal debt. The St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights, home to 28,000 residents, currently has a BBB- rating, just one rung above junk. A slew of downgrades from S&P has brought its rating down eight notches from AA+ since 2020, largely because of its involvement with the Centene Community Ice Center.
New Yorkers Are Better Off Buying Muni Bonds, Bank of America Says
Wealthy New Yorkers can earn more investing in the city’s municipal bonds right now than in corporate debt, Bank of America Corp. told investors Friday. For New Yorkers subject to the highest tax rates, taxable bonds would need to yield 8.9% to compete with the yield offered on New York bonds, strategists Yingchen Li and Ian Rogow wrote in a note Friday. That’s about 2.8 percentage points higher than a metric of yields on the ICE Bofa index of corporate bonds, they noted.
Clear Eyes, Full Hearts and a $94 Million Texas High School Stadium
Few towns represent the Texas ethos of Friday Night Lights — and the big money behind it — more than the Dallas exurb of Prosper. Spectators gather at a stadium with 12,000 seats, a two-story press box, fancy digs for college scouts and a 60-foot-wide video scoreboard — a venue that cost about $50 million. These high school football games don't always fill the seats, but a local hospital chain paid $2.5 million for the stadium's naming rights anyway.
Bills in the 88th Legislative Session addressing maternal mortality
AUSTIN (KXAN) — At the last legislative session, Texas failed to pass several bills aimed at positively impacting the maternal mortality rate in the state. Most of these bills have been presented again in this session along with new ones echoing some of the Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee’s (MMMRC) recommendations.
“As we talk about educating those who care for all women in general, but Black women in particular, efforts around training for cultural competence, cultural humi...
How severe maternal mortality affects the surviving family
AUSTIN (KXAN) — When a mother dies from pregnancy or in the year post-partum, the effect this has on the family often goes untold.
Clinical social worker and therapist Tesleigh Eure said it is possible children who lose their mothers at birth may struggle psychologically later in life.
According to Eure, there’s research to show that the bond between the mother and child begins during pregnancy. The strength of that attachment to the parent in utero and after-birth can affect the social and e...
Rethinking cultural competency training for Black maternal health
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Klarque Denman, one of the doulas working with Black Mamas ATX or BMATX said assumptions and stereotypes are some of the major contributions to the standard of care shown to Black women.
“If we had a humanistic approach rather than a medical model approach, people would treat people like people,” Denman said. “Paying better attention to detail could make a world of difference.”
Research shows the need for cultural competency arises from the inherent power differential in the...
How can Texas take better care of its Black mothers?
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Patrice Lott felt her appointments were rushed whenever she went in for her prenatal visits. She had deliberately chosen a doctor of color, following a Facebook group recommendation and her own research, and so this was not the experience she was expecting.
“They let me know my appointments coincided with when she got called into the hospital, so we switched it up,” Lott said. “After that, I definitely felt taken care of from top to bottom.”
Black mothers continue to experienc...
Georgetown water customers following new conservation rules as of April 26
GEORGETOWN, Texas (KXAN) – The City of Georgetown said Wednesday a new ordinance went into effect for Georgetown water customers.
While the city will allow hand-watering any day of the week, the city says residential customers using automatic irrigation systems, soaker hoses, drip and hose-end sprinklers must use the following timetable:
Local organizations tell Black birthing stories through poetry
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Black Mamas ATX and Torch Literary Arts organized a poetry night in recognition of Black Maternal Health Week and in celebration of National Poetry Month.
‘Breaking Water: An evening of poetry and storytelling’ was inspired by Wangechi Mutu’s Water Woman, and spoke to Black women’s physical and mythical connection to water, specifically during and around the process of childbirth.
‘Breaking Water’ highlighted the power of art to raise awareness and called others to choose chan...