A couple of days ago, I mentioned in passing the case of Shaquanda Cotton, a high school freshman in Paris, Texas, who was sentenced to seven years in the TYC facility in Brownwood for pushing a teacher's aide. (Vince, Grits, and North Texas Liberal have the background.) Yesterday, as part of TYC Conservator Jay Kimbrough's plan to review all TYC sentences, she was released after serving a year of her incarceration.

"[Kimbrough] made a determination that she served her time and it was time to let that child out," said Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas.

Cotton could have been kept in a cell until her 21st birthday. But a public outcry about the case helped secure her release.

"I've spent the whole year fighting this," her mother, Creola Cotton, said.

On Friday, the 54-year-old single mother rushed to find a rental car and began preparing for the trip to Brownwood today to pick up her daughter and bring her home.

"She's thrilled," said Brenda Cherry, a Paris civil rights activist and a close family friend.

Confidentiality laws prevented Kimbrough from talking about Cotton's case. Speaking in general terms, however, Kimbrough touched on how the TYC's haphazard system of extending youths' sentences could lead to the release of an inmate.

"I have said a lot -- as have parents, staff and legislators -- about the fragmented and disjointed and decentralized process where youth sentences have been extended by TYC," Kimbrough said Friday. "Every facility has a different version plan, model and system."

A week ago, Kimbrough announced he would begin to review every case in which the TYC extended a youth's sentence.

"I started with 'B, Brownwood,' " he said.

For the past year, Cotton has been locked up at the Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex in Brownwood.

West said Cotton would be placed on conditional parole for about three months.

"This particular case defies all logic, and I've worked 25 years as an attorney," West said. "I challenge Americans to take a look at this case where people in the criminal justice system are dealt with differently, based, it seems, on the color of their skin."

Whatever you may want to think, there's a racial aspect to this case that can't be overlooked or hand-waved away. It pretty much boils down to this:

Cotton's struggle against authorities in this small northeast Texas town focuses on a single thread: how a black teenager with no prior criminal history was sent to prison for what her supporters say was a mere brush-up against a teacher's aide, while a white classmate was given probation for burning down her family's rental property by setting a Christmas tree on fire.

Prosecutors in the case counter that the incident involving Cotton was much more serious than a shove. It was an assault, described by Lamar County Attorney Gary Young as a "body slam" that sent a petite 58-year-old teacher's aide to the ground.

"It was no push," Young said. "When you assault a teacher in Lamar County, you're going to get prosecuted."

Young said his office had recommended the white student convicted of arson be sent to TYC. But Lamar County Judge Maurice Superville, the same judge who sentenced Cotton, opted for probation, in part because the white girl had relatives who offered to look after her. Young said Creola Cotton did not cooperate with probation officials and declared she would refuse to do so because her daughter was innocent.

Creola Cotton claimed she said no such thing.

A month ago, we heard about the impending redevelopment of part of the River Oaks Shopping Center. It's now official.

The owner of the historic River Oaks Shopping Center announced plans Friday to demolish a portion of the center and replace it with a multilevel retail development including a two-story Barnes & Noble bookstore.

Houston-based Weingarten Realty Investors, which has owned the center since 1972, said the design of the new $15 million project will echo the architecturally significant structure that will be torn down.

Patty Bender, senior vice president and director of leasing for Weingarten, said the aging center needs major changes.

"With improved access, increased retail space and design enhancements reflective of the center's art deco and moderne character, we will be creating the future of the center within the context of the past," Bender said in the announcement.

The decision was a blow to local preservationists who have opposed the anticipated redevelopment of the shopping center that runs along both sides of West Gray just east of Shepherd. "Preserving the character of the center by tearing it down is a little ironic," said David Bush, director of programs and information for the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance.

The alliance recently sent a petition with more than 25,000 signatures to the chairman and CEO of Barnes & Noble, urging the book seller to reconsider leasing space in the project.

The preservation group also worries that this phase of redevelopment will lead to changes to the rest of the River Oaks center, which includes what Bush said is the last historic movie theater still operating in Houston.

Bender said the new plan will not affect the theater, and the company hasn't made any decisions regarding its future. The theater's lease expires in 2010, at which time it has options to extend, she said.

As we know, whatever happens at the River Oaks will have an effect on another landmark:

Preservationists are also concerned about how the opening of a new Barnes & Noble store could affect the the old Alabama Theater down the street. Located in a Weingarten-owned strip center at the corner of West Alabama and Shepherd, the former theater houses the Bookstop, a Barnes & Noble store, which the retailer said will likely close by the end of its lease term in about two years.

The redevelopment plan also includes construction of a four-story parking garage behind the center that will connect to it.

Some residents of the adjacent neighborhood are concerned the garage will hurt their property values, increase crime and encroach on their views.

"I understand that they need some parking, but I don't understand why they have to destroy a residential neighborhood to do it," said Cindy Rice, a resident of the Live Oak subdivision behind the Black-eyed Pea.

UPDATE: HouStoned has a closer look at the plans for the new shopping center.

Yes, I know it's Saturday. I had this drafted earlier, then never got a chance to post it yesterday. Now I am. Without further ado, here are ten more songs from the current playlist:

1. Raina Do Mer (Queen of the Sea) - Susanna Sharpe and the Samba Police. The best samba band ever from Austin, and the only CD I own that's sung mostly in Portuguese. If she doesn't make you want to get up and dance, nothing will.

2. How You Carry On - Marcia Ball. A legend among Texas blues singers. The first outing I went on with Tiffany (this was between the show at the Mucky Duck where we met and our first real date) was a trip to the Houston International Festival to see Marcia Ball on the Texas stage. That will have been ten years ago on April 20. (And they say men don't remember stuff like that.)

3. East St. Louis Toodle-Oo - from the soundtrack to "The Cotton Club". Lousy movie (saw it in the theater with a bunch of college friends), awesome soundtrack. If you've ever wondered what the fuss over Duke Ellington was about, this is a good place to start to learn.

4. Sugar and Spice - The Searchers. This is from the soundtrack to "Good Morning, Vietnam", and it's a Tiffany CD. The reason I bothered to rip this is because unlike some other movies that feature music from this era (*cough* *cough* The Big Chill *cough* *cough*), it's mostly stuff that hasn't been played to death on oldies and classic rock radio stations.

5. Funky Tom's Place - Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows. Old school Chicago-style blues from a guy who has a song called "300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy" in his repertoire. I recall a family friend taping his Big Twist album for me years ago, and being thrilled when I found a CD copy of it later.

6. Love, Sweet Love - Marcia Ball, Lou Ann Barton, Angela Strehli. Three Texas blues women together on one CD, the only CD I ever bought after reading a review in the Rice Thresher.

7. Nothin' But A Woman - Robert Cray. Back before 104.5 in San Antonio became pioneering classic rocker KZEP, they were a fairly metalhead station called KXZL. Though they were the place to hear such 80s icons as Dokken and Krokus, their range was wide enough to include bluesmen like Cray and his "Strong Persuader" CD. I've been a fan of Cray's smooth guitar and offbeat humor ever since.

8. Wish That I Could Never Love Again - Feo y Loco. Ah, Feo y Loco. The most gloriously tasteless band that I ever followed around obsessively back when the Mucky Duck cost $3 to get in. This is one of maybe two songs in their canon that can be played for one's parents. It's actually my favorite, and I have Ginger and Michael to thank for salvaging it from Feo's cassette-only first album and burning it to a CD, where it eventually wound up on my iPod. I love technology.

9. Crocodile Rock - The Beach Boys. From a CD of Elton John covers called "Two Rooms". You can say what you want about Sir Elton and his music (I like it - sue me), but you have to admit that the Beach Boys are the perfect band to cover this baby.

10. The Iron Man - The Chieftains. It's the Chieftains. What more do you need to know?

After the opening snuff of multiple Democratic amendments, things got better from a Democratic perspective as an amendment to give teachers an across-the-board pay raise as part of the budget bill.

"Bottom line, members, do we want to give teachers a pay raise?'' asked Rep. Rick Noriega. He offered the proposal to shift $583 million in funding from the incentive programs to the raise for teachers and other school personnel.

The Houston Democrat's proposal passed 90-56 in the Republican-dominated House, which gave approval to the overall budget with a vote of 129-14 after 3 a.m. today. Now it goes to the Senate for consideration.

Defenders of the incentive programs -- including top GOP budget-writers -- worked hard to try to ward off the provision. They argued the switch could work against deserving teachers, provide a raise that's less than intended and cost deserving campuses money.

Perry earlier Thursday, before the incentives were cut, had singled them out for praise: "I think the performance pay that is in this budget will put Texas at the top of the heap from the standpoint of a really strong, powerful message about competition in our public schools."

Those who supported the pay raise said money for the incentive programs could be restored later. But, said Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, "This is the only time this session you will be able to vote for a pay raise for your teachers back home."

Although the move still could be changed as the budget goes through the process in the House and Senate, it was a dramatic stand against the position of GOP budget writers on House Speaker Tom Craddick's leadership team, including Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, Appropriations Committee chairman.

I'm getting to this very late (today was a busy day for me), so let me just point you to Vince's exhaustive listing of relevant amendments and how they were voted on, the Observer on Rep. Laubenberg's controversial CHIP amendment (later withdrawn), BOR's budget recap, and Burka on how the teacher pay raise passed, and how the ParentPAC Republicans voted. See you tomorrow.

The Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) has put out its 2007 report on Law Enforcement and Racial Profiling (PDF), with all the data you could want about who gets subjected to consent searches (i.e., searches by police where there is no probable cause to suspect a crime; the officer requests permission to do the search, usually of a motor vehicle, hence the name) and how often they occur. From the executive summary:

Texas' racial profiling law (S.B. 1074, passed in 2001) requires every Texas law enforcement agency to annually create a report on the race of individuals they stop and search and submit it to their local governing body. Because no central repository was written into the law to collect and analyze the data on a statewide level, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) has served since the inaugural year of data reporting as the sole statewide repository and analyst of required, annual racial profiling reports from Texas law enforcement agencies. In this role, TCJC obtains valuable feedback from law enforcement and community members and has assisted agencies in understanding their data, streamlining their reporting practices, and improving the way they protect the public through the implementation of needed policy changes. We also offer technical assistance to agencies regarding the requirements of the law.

To obtain the pool of agencies analyzed in this report, TCJC sent open records requests to 1,074 law enforcement agencies in October, 2006; we requested a copy of each agency's racial profiling report containing racial profiling data for calendar year 2005, as well as the racial profiling policy in use by each agency during 2005. Of agencies that responded with usable information prior to the data analysis process, 221 agencies issued 3,000 or more citations, accounting for 4.9 million stops. Though in some ways 3,000 is an arbitrary number, we chose these 221 agencies to avoid small samples that were not statistically significant.

[...]

We determined that some law enforcement agencies continue to have problems complying with the data collection and reporting requirements of Texas' racial profiling law. Law enforcement, the public, and key stakeholders need a more comprehensive picture of what is happening at Texas traffic stops in order to create better community policing models.

As the sole statewide repository of Texas racial profiling reports, TCJC is well positioned to offer recommendations about what works - and what doesn't work - when it comes to the data collection and reporting provisions of Texas' racial profiling law. As such, throughout the pages of this report we have suggested solutions to the problems facing law enforcement as they undergo data collection and reporting processes, as well as recommendations related to other provisions within the law.

Back in August, Commissioners' Court approved a plan by the Astrodome Redevelopment folks to secure financing for their much-touted Dome Hotel. They were supposed to have that in hand by March of this year. Well, as Tom and Houstonist have noted, that ain't happened yet.

Scott Hanson, president with Astrodome Redevelopment, found a New York bank interested in backing the mammoth development. County officials were not satisfied with the commitment as presented.

[. . .]

Says Hanson: "It's happening. It's just a timing issue. Sometimes the wheels don't turn as fast as we'd like them to."

[. . .]

The developer wants to enter into a definitive agreement with the county this year on the project, and hopes to begin construction by early 2008.

"I think that's probably aggressive," says Mike Surface, chairman of the Sports & Convention Corp.

"These projects wind up taking a lot more time than you anticipate," he adds. "There are still a lot of approvals that have to take place."

[. . .]

"We've come a long way ... but there is a long way between now and getting a deal inked," Surface says. "For people to start booking their rooms today is a bit premature."

While the city-within-a-city of Balcones Heights has adopted red light cameras, its sister city-within-a-city Alamo Heights has demurred.

Police Chief Rick Pruitt says right now the situation is too fluid, with many measures in the Legislature that would crack down on red light cameras.

"There are just so many bills out there, and there is really no direction to these things, other than revenue sharing to the state," Pruitt told 1200 WOAI news. "We may not even be able recover the costs we need to implement this program."

The City of Beauty and Charm authorized a pilot program to test red light cameras on Broadway near Alamo Height High School last year, but so far no cameras have been installed. By contrast, Balcones Heights rushed a red light camera program into place and it's four cameras started mailing phony tickets to people photographed running red lights last Sunday.

As 1200 WOAI news has repeatedly reported, there is no legal requirement that people pay red light tickets they receive in the mail. In Houston, which has had a red light camera program in place since November, no more than a quarter of the people who have been mailed the tickets have paid them.

Pruitt says Alamo Heights will take another look at red light cameras this summer, after the Legislature has adjourned.

Note: See second update below

Whatever you may think of today's budget bill, keep this in mind: It's 100% the work of the Republicans, because Democratic amendments are being snuffed before they even get a chance to be debated.

The Democrats have a number of amendments to take money away from the Governor's Texas Enterprise Fund. The money in the fund is not general revenue but is dedicated by an assessment on employers. Craddick sustained a point of order that these amendments violate the Calendars Committee rule.

The Ds are really mad about this, because their amendments in some cases were drafted by the Legislative Council--for example, Eiland's amendment. The mistake, or the failure to realize the problem, was the Legislative Council's. Craddick said to Eiland, in response to a parliamentary inquiry, that the responsibility for the mistake is the legislator's, not the Legislative Council's. Gallego went to the microphone to say that the traditional practice has been to let members cure errors. This was done during the special session, Villareal pointed out. Craddick said that this was not the policy of the chair. Eiland is really mad: You mean to tell me that these amendments were inappropriately drafted, and we can't fix them. Craddick reiterated that it's the member's responsibility. Merritt went to back mike and pointed out that the head of the Legislative Council is a political hack. This is an old sore. Craddick had that slow, measure tone of voice that he uses when he is really furious.

All that moots some of the latest Legislative Study Group analysis, but I'll quote it beneath the fold anyway. Meanwhile, on a side note, today's quote of the day comes from John Sharp, who says "I can't think of anyone who knows less about [the new business] tax than David Dewhurst." Click the preceeding link for context.

UPDATE More on the Craddick Hack here.

UPDATE: My bad. The stuffed amendments were not all of them, but a set of them having to do with Governor Perry's Texas Enterprise Fund. As noted in the comments, some Dem amendments, like this one, were accepted. My apologies for the confusion.

The Office of the Governor:

Texas Enterprise Fund: The Governor requested $182 million in general revenue for the Texas Enterprise Fund. $120 million has been appropriated to TEF in Article I, and the remaining $62 million is in Article XI as an item for future consideration. The TEF is used by the Governor to grant corporate subsidies. The Skills Development Fund in Article VII provides funding to local job training programs in partnership with public community and technical colleges. A percentage of those funds are used to provide cash grants through the TEF. There is a contingency rider in Article XI that would reduce the appropriations to TEF by $12.8 million if HB 48, which has already passed in the House, becomes law. Money will still be drawn from jobs training to fund this account for the Governor's projects. The House leadership has ruled that no proposed amendments to CSHB 1 can draw from this account to address underfunded state priorities.

Texas Emerging Technology Fund: The Governor has requested and was appropriated $100 million for the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. CSHB 1 estimates that 16 companies will be subsidized with this money. A wiser investment would be to use this money for public and higher education - a proven investment for economic growth in Texas.

Office of the State-Federal Relations: In this coming biennium, the OSFR will be receiving $1,918,452. This is money used to fund private lobbyists in Washington, D.C.

Office of the Attorney General: Child Support Enforcement received a $10 million cut in funding since the last budget biennium due to a loss in federal dollars. The amount appropriated is less than the amount requested by the AG and the amount recommended by the LBB. While Child Support Enforcement received less funding, the Attorney General's travel fund received a boost. In comparison to the 2006-2007 budget, the Attorney General's travel fund has increased by $1,665,666 while funding for child support enforcement has dropped.

Historical Commission: Funding for the Historical Commission has tripled since last biennium. $84,488,222 has been appropriated for the coming biennium to preserve courthouses throughout the state. While preserving our historical landmarks is important, CSHB 1 places more emphasis on courthouse preservation, instead of providing health care and a solid education for our children.

Today the House will take up the Committee Substitute for House Bill 1 (CSHB1), which is the state budget bill. I'm sure I'll have plenty to link to and talk about later today, but for now, here's two items regarding this budget that you might not see elsewhere. First, from Capitol Inside, some early responses from the Democrats:

On the eve of the House floor debate on a $150 billion two-year state spending plan, Democratic leaders said they have no plans to offer a full floor substitute like they did in the school finance battle in special session two years ago. But the Democrats indicated that they'd be giving their colleagues substantial opportunity to shift funds to items they see as higher priorities within the parameters of a Calendars Committee rule that prohibits the bill's bottom line from growing beyond the total amount approved by the Appropriations Committee.

State Rep. Pete Gallego, an Alpine Democrat who chairs the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, said House Bill 1 in its current form would leave TYC spending at 2003 despite a sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the juvenile corrections agency and sent shock waves through the Texas Capitol.

State Rep. Ana Hernandez of Houston accused Republican budget-writers of essentially ignoring the explosive situation at the youth commission at a time when it's quickly become the biggest crisis facing the state. Hernandez called the proposed spending on TYC "inexcusable" and "unconscionable."

The spending bill that's being sponsored by State Rep. Warren Chisum, a Pampa Republican in his first year as the Appropriations Committee chairman, would leave fewer Texas children with Medicaid and CHIP benefits instead of boosting the number of kids who have health coverage, State Rep. Garnet Coleman of Houston asserted. Coleman said health and human services spending in 2008 and 2009 would be about the same as it had been in the last budget that the Legislature approved when Democrats still controlled the lower chamber in 2001.

Coleman said that Republicans had found a way to spend a record amount of money without getting more in return than the state had received in exchange for the funds that it had been spending before deep cuts were enacted in the face of a record deficit in 2003.

According to State Rep. Abel Herrero of Corpus Christi, the House will be debating a state budget with $8.5 billion more available but out of reach despite a need for more funds for essential services. Republicans are putting some of a current surplus in reserve for property tax cuts while proposing to keep more than $4 billion in the rainy day fund.

Chisum and other members of the leadership team have been reluctant to earmark all of the funds that are available in anticipation of an upcoming federal court ruling in Medicaid suit that could cost the state billions of dollars.

Writing a budget is the only task the Texas Legislature is required to accomplish each session. Spending priorities are typically debated side by side to allow members to make a more informed decision on how to appropriate state funds. The General Appropriations Act, HB 1, is intended to lay out how state dollars will be allocated for the next two years.

It became evident at the beginning of this session that tax cuts were the top priority. The first order of business was the passage of SCR 20 and HB 2, ensuring that the constitutionally imposed spending cap was lifted for the sole purpose of providing property tax cuts. To fund this priority, $8.1 billion from the Property Tax Relief Fund and $6.1 billion in General Revenue was spent. Before a budget was able to be reviewed by the full House, $14.2 billion was eliminated from the budget - funds that otherwise could have been allocated for important budget priorities - such as improving our public schools, providing health care coverage to Texas families, making college affordable, reforming TYC, maintaining our state parks and properly funding the state's transportation needs. After the rush to pass out the property tax cuts, HB 2 has yet to be taken up in the Senate Finance committee.

This year, as state agencies were submitting budget requests for the coming biennium, they were instructed to limit their funding requests to 90% of their 2006-2007 budget. Items not able to be included in this "base budget" could be listed as exceptional items, in hopes of receiving additional funding to cover these expenses. A partial reinstatement of this initial 10% reduction was appropriated to some agencies, and could be misinterpreted by some as an increase in funding to that agency. Agencies were required to work up to meet their priorities - first by fighting to reach funding levels from last biennium, then fighting to maintain services with the growth of the state, and finally fighting for improvements to those services.

There is $8.5 billion in unspent GR left on the table that full House is unable to access - $4.3 billion in the Rainy Day Fund, $4.2 billion in unappropriated funds. Today's budget debate is the only chance for the House to vote to fund the state's priorities. After the bill leaves this chamber, conference committee members will ultimately decide the funding levels in the budget and House members will be only be allowed a straight up or down vote on the conference committee report.

Typically, all of the state's spending for the upcoming biennium is done in the General Appropriations Act. This session, three separate appropriation bills have been introduced to account for spending in the 2008-2009 biennium. It is important to take into account all three of these bills when evaluating the state's spending priorities.

-The main budget document, CSHB 1, appropriates $150.1 billion in All Funds, including $72.5 billion in General Revenue. This is an increase of $5.4 billion in All Funds and $4.7 billion in General Revenue from the current biennium's budget.

-HB 2 spends $14.2 billion on property tax cuts, including $6.1 billion in GR.

-The Supplemental Appropriations Bill, CSHB 15, spends $224.4 million in funding for fiscal year 2008-2009, leaving $40 million in funds vetoed by the Governor unappropriated.

All told, the state is spending $164.5 billion for the coming biennium, leaving $9 billion unspent and leaving the state's priorities fighting to keep up with growth.

Not surprisingly, the two voter ID bills passed out of committee yesterday on a party line vote. It will, I presume, also be passed by the House on a straight party line vote as well. The only question at this point is what Senate rules Lt. Gov. Dewhurst will discard or ignore in order to push it through that chamber. The Republicans want this, and they will move heaven and earth to get it.

I thought the case of Royal Masset's mother might give some of this bad idea's proponents pause, but so far it hasn't. I'm just amazed at how little concern there is for the likelihood that American citizens will be denied their right to vote by measures like these, all in the name of...well, I couldn't honestly tell you. I'm confident that by and large the people who are cheerleading for these bills would be the first ones on board the Outrage Express if we were talking about someone being denied the right to practice their religion, or to buy a firearm. I genuinely don't understand the blitheness with which voting rights are treated.

Maybe I could understand this a bit better if there were actual evidence of a real problem. Maybe if the voter ID proponents could cite actual cases of fraudulent votes being knowingly cast by noncitizens or other ineligible voters, I could see the need for this. But all we ever get is fearmongering. I have to ask, if this really is such a widespread problem, why aren't the Tina Benkisers and Leo Bermans of the world banging on Greg Abbott's door, demanding that he Do Something about it? Over a year ago, Abbott made big noises about busting vote fraud cases, but all of them had to do with mail-in ballots, and most of them involved violations of a 2003 law that made it illegal to possess another person's absentee ballot, a law that is being challenged in court. If Greg Abbott can't provide cases to back up the allegations made by pro-voter ID people, then what evidence is there?

And this isn't just happening in Texas. Two of the US Attorneys fired in the Purgegate scandal were fired precisely because they had the temerity to conclude that allegations of voter fraud in their states were bogus. This isn't a solution to a problem, it's a political strategy cloaked in part by anti-immigration sentiment. It's reprehensible.

Stace has more. All I can say at this point is that I hope Sen. Ellis wins his staredown contest with Dewhurst.

UPDATE: Oh, and Texas also took a step towards ratifying the 24th Amendment, which outlawed the poll tax, yesterday. Please fill in your own snark.

UPDATE: More debunking of the "voter fraud" myth.

Ray Jones has cleared the first hurdle in appealing his case to the state Supreme Court. The Court has agreed to hear his appeal, and has requested a reply from the city by 3 PM on Wednesday, April 4. We'll see how quickly they act once they get it. Stay tuned.

Just a reminder that tonight at 7 PM on the campus of Rice University, State Rep. Ellen Cohen will be hosting a town hall meeting on education. Details are here. One of the presenters is former State Sen. and Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff, who was in the news over the weekend for his call to change how we do testing in the schools. Check it out.

As we know, the folks at the King Ranch are hot about wind farms. They are now taking their beef to the Lege.

King Ranch Inc., the agricultural holding company that owns the South Texas ranch and other properties, is backing legislation that could choke off the boom in Texas wind energy by requiring new state regulations of wind turbines.

The state does not require permits in most cases for wind farms, which consist of hundreds of enormous turbines that generate electricity.

That would change under House Bill 2794, sponsored by Rep. Robert Puente, D-San Antonio. The bill would require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to establish a permit process to take into account the environmental consequences of wind turbines and whether the noise they create -- or just the fact they're part of a once-unspoiled view -- interferes with the property rights of nearby landowners.

King Ranch has been fighting a proposed coastal wind project in Kenedy County, just east of its ranch, that would place 267 turbines along the Gulf's Laguna Madre.

"People need to take a deep breath and think a little," Jack Hunt, CEO of King Ranch Inc., said about the Texas wind rush. "It's a frenzy."

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said opponents of wind energy won't succeed in the Legislature, either.

"The bill is dead because no one wants to pass it," said Patterson, who has leased state land for big offshore wind projects to generate more revenue for public education. "This is the King Ranch versus the rest of Texas."

Patterson also said that the TCEQ does not want the responsibility that Puente's bill would require them to take. Looking at the bill, the checklist for certification is pretty broadly defined, with sure-to-cause-litigation items like considering if "the facility will be located in close proximity to property of an adjacent property owner". I can't say I blame them for not wanting to touch that.

Most wind projects get federal and state tax breaks; a federal tax subsidy on production runs through 2008. In addition, Texas wind farms are receiving local school tax breaks totaling about $25 million a year, according to figures from the state comptroller.

Hunt, the King Ranch CEO, said wind turbines are sprouting across Texas without examination of their impact on the environment or nearby property owners.

"No one is looking at the longer-term impact and the value of the entire area" where turbines are placed, Hunt said.

Of course, wind farms of the type that Hunt objects to are a relatively new phenomenon, so "longer-term impact" is kind of a chameleon - they just haven't been around long enough to say for sure. On the other hand, coal plants have been around for a long time, and we know what kind of an impact they have. Let's keep some perspective here.

One other point - though the story doesn't explicitly mention this, Patterson told me that one of the points Hunt uses against the wind farms is the aforementioned subsidies. He then noted that the King Ranch is the beneficiary of many such subsidies itself, as are most energy-related projects. There's an inconsistency in attacking wind farms for having them.

FPL Group, a Juno Beach, Fla.-based utility, won the Abilene case. At the time, FPL officials said the 11-1 verdict should send a message to other landowners thinking of suing.

Jurors could consider only whether turbine noise interfered with landowners' enjoyment of their property.

Dale Rankin, one of the Abilene plaintiffs who owns a ranch and a chemical company in nearby Tuscola, said he's about one mile away from a stretch of hundreds of turbines. He compares it to living "next to an airport where the jets are running their engines all the time."

Patterson said the idea of siting requirements for wind turbines "is not completely outside the realm of good public policy" and is worth studying.

"But this bill isn't about being reasonable," he said.

I need to do some more research on wind farms. My general impression of them is favorable - certainly, given a choice between more wind turbines and more coal-fired plants, it's a no-brainer. Interestingly, this Salon article suggests that in addition to being greener, wind farms can produce energy more cheaply than coal plants if given a level playing field on which to compete. The more I read, the more I'm convinced that we need to be doing more with wind energy. B and B has further thoughts.

I wish I could say I'm surprised by this, but I'm not.

Texas' new business tax may bring in $500 million to $900 million less per year than originally projected, the state comptroller said in a draft letter to lawmakers that was obtained Tuesday by the Houston Chronicle.

When the business tax expansion was approved last year as part of a school finance package, it was expected to bring in about $3.4 billion extra per year to help subsidize local school property tax relief.

"There could be some room for concern," said Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, House Appropriations Committee chairman, who added that Comptroller Susan Combs may increase her overall revenue estimate.

"We know that we're going to get some additional tax revenue, so we're going to have enough money probably to cover it," Chisum said. "The overall revenue estimate is not lowered and ... very well could be raised by that much."

Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, said he expects lawmakers will "have more than enough to cover what we need to do. We just need to go through this bump in the road here to get us where we want to go."

Sorry. Couldn't help myself. There's no plans here, but hopes a-plenty. Given that the plan for the property tax cut going forward was to hope like heck that the business tax did better than expected, in some sense this is no change from the status quo.

Combs' letter states, "As guarded as these less-than-definitive results may appear, they must be balanced against the overall fiscal condition of the Texas economy, which is still generating revenues above expectations so far this fiscal year."

She said her estimate of revenue available for general-purpose spending remains unchanged at $82.5 billion, providing $14.3 billion in new revenue over and above revenues earmarked for specific purposes, including local tax relief.

The new business tax law required 3,404 entities to submit a report this year providing information on their expected tax liability under the new tax, which starts next year. Reports were submitted covering only about 2,500 of them and, Keffer said, "a lot of those that were filled out were filled out wrong."

Combs has said previously there are no consequences in the law for "having guessed everything totally wrong."

Jay Kimbrough has been named conservator of the Texas Youth Commission, nearly a month after the Lege urged Governor Perry to name someone to that post.

Mr. Kimbrough took the reins with ease, vowing to force all superintendents and many high-level agency officials to reapply for their jobs. He said TYC Executive Director Ed Owens would report to him.

"This provides me with the authority to take immediate action and I will," Mr. Kimbrough said. "I am the conservator; I am the person who drives the ship at that agency."

The deal, announced by Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, and House Speaker Tom Craddick, has the support of the key lawmakers with oversight over the TYC.

"We're going to fix an agency that's broken," Mr. Perry said.

These lawmakers have been crafting a broad bill to overhaul the juvenile justice agency - legislation they're now designing to include the commissioner and advisory board provision.

The compromise weaves together the governor's proposal to appoint a commissioner over the agency and lawmakers' concerns that as special master, Mr. Kimbrough didn't have constitutional authority to investigate and reform the agency.

"This is a giant step in reforming the TYC," said Sen. John Whitmire, the Houston Democrat who chairs the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. "It also demonstrates we're all on the same team."

After a month of foot dragging, I am pleased that Governor Perry finally understands the need to appoint a Conservator over TYC. Unfortunately, the Governor still does not recognize that the Conservator must be independent and autonomous. Perry's decision to appoint his long time friend and insider, Jay Kimbrough, provides the public with a clear understanding that the Governor has no interest in really getting to the bottom of what really went wrong at TYC and who allowed it to happen.

The victims of these horrible crimes deserve someone who has absolutely no ties to any of the players in the TYC scandal. The public needs to be able to trust the integrity of the investigation, and there should be no appearance of cover-up or inside dealing.

Mr. Kimbrough was a senior administrator at the Governor's office when TYC issues were being disclosed to that very office. Mr. Kimbrough was also a senior administrator with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) when that office was made aware of sex abuse at TYC.

Mr. Kimbrough not only is the ultimate inside player, he has been richly rewarded for his close ties to Governor Perry, something that would lead the public to believe that any wrongdoing in the Governor's or Attorney General's offices would not be top priorities for Kimbrough to investigate. Mr. Kimbrough has been paid almost $800,000 by the State of Texas just since 2002. Kimbrough was being paid by the Governor when Perry's office first learned of the Ranger investigation. Kimbrough was with the Governor when his office learned that prosecutions were not moving forward. Kimbrough was with the OAG when that office, through one of Kimbrough's subordinates, learned of the Ranger's report. In short, Kimbrough's employment has followed almost the same path as the revelations. For him now to be charged to investigate who knew what and when is directly in conflict with the independence a conservator and TYC need.

I would urge the Governor to do what has been asked of him for the last month--appoint an independent and qualified conservator so there will be full public confidence in the results of the TYC investigations.

Elsewhere, the Observer blog has two posts on the joint TYC hearings, which got a little testy at times - see the comments in this Grits post for more on that. Grits also discusses the new no-felon policy for TYC, whose predecessor I discussed before here.

It's probably too late to do anything about it, and the committee agenda is somewhat suspiciously free of any mention of it, but I'm told that two voter ID bills, HBs 218 and 626 are up for a committee vote today. According to BOR, there's three votes for, three votes against, and one vote apparently undecided on each of these. The holdout is Republican freshman Rep. Kirk English of Grand Prairie. If you want to give him a call and tell him to just say No, BOR has the contact info. If you need to be reminded why these bills are bad, just remember the case of Royal Masset's mother. We'll see what happens in committee.

Ray Jones, whose effort to get on the ballot for the May 12 City Council special election was denied by the 14th Court of Appeals last week, has taken his efforts to the State Supreme Court. His writ of mandamus and petition for emergency relief are here for your perusal, in Word format:

Mandamus

Petition for emergency relief

I'm no more impressed with these arguments than I was with the previous ones, and I do not expect them to carry the day for Jones. It won't help him with this election, but the solution he needs is a legislative one, and it's one I'd support if he chooses to pursue it. We'll see if the Supremes are as swift in rendering judgment as the Appeals Court was.

Earlier this month, a bill was filed in the House to close a loophole in which state officials did not have to disclose the value of a gift they received. That bill is pending in committee, but now a similar measure has passed out of the Senate by a unanimous vote, which hopefully will give its House counterpart a little momentum. The bill is SB558 by Sen. Rodney Ellis. Let's hope it gets heard in the House.

Are you ready for another downtown tower?

Betting on the continued strength of downtown's office market, Trammell Crow Co. is planning to build a tower on the eastern end of downtown near the convention center and Discovery Green, a 12-acre park under development.

The building, to be known as Discovery Tower, is designed to be 31 stories tall, including 630,000 square feet and 10 levels of parking. But the developer, which doesn't have a tenant for the building, said it could grow to 1.2 million square feet, depending on demand.

With strong commercial occupancy rates in the Central Business District, "We don't feel it's necessary to sign someone up first," said Aaron Thielhorn, a principal of Dallas-based Trammell Crow, which plans a formal announcement today.

"But wait," I hear you cry. "Isn't that an awful lot of office space being constructed downtown?" Well, yes, but apparently it's needed.

The vacancy rate for the best downtown office buildings is 9 percent, and the availability of large blocks of space has dwindled, according to real estate brokers.

That's led other developers to plan new buildings as well.

Brookfield Properties of New York, which owns a number of downtown buildings, including the Allen Center complex, is working on plans for a new downtown tower, but it's taking a more conservative approach. It would like to have at least 50 percent of the building's space leased before starting construction, Executive Vice President Paul Layne said.

Fort Worth-based Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. also said it will announce a building this year that will be attached to its existing Houston Center complex.

"We are actually very far along on our plans," said John Goff, vice chairman and CEO, adding that Crescent has land holdings that would allow it to develop up to 2 million square feet in two buildings.

Goff said Crescent would start a building on a speculative basis -- or without first signing up a tenant -- but "we're confident when we make a firm announcement we're going to have some occupancy in tow."

And Hines also is preparing for the development of a downtown building, but it won't announce anything until plans are complete.

"It's broadly known in the real estate community that downtown Houston is running out of space, and leasing rates are increasing monthly," said Mark Cover, executive vice president of Houston-based Hines. "With the continued growth in commodity-based businesses, we believe the near-term outlook is very bright for the office market in Houston."

I don't know if you've been following the controversy over Major League Baseball's deal with DirecTV for exclusive rights to their Extra Innings package - suffice it to say that my parents, who live in a north-facing condo that provides cable as part of its maintenance fees, are beside themselves at the prospect of being cut off from a regular fix of Yankee games (Mom chided me on the phone on Sunday for not having blogged about this yet) - but as things stand right now there's dwindling hope for a stay of execution if not a better deal for all fans.

Sen. John Kerry urged Major League Baseball on today to hold off on a deal to put the sport's Extra Innings package of out-of-market games exclusively on DirecTV. A top baseball official declined to agree, with opening day less than a week away.

Kerry, D-Mass., made the push at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on behalf of subscribers to cable TV and EchoStar's Dish Network who had received the package previously.

[...]

At today's hearing, Rob Jacobson, president and CEO of iN Demand, owned by affiliates of the companies that own Time Warner, Comcast and Cox cable systems, offered to carry the package on the same terms that DirecTV is, while putting off the issue of The Baseball Channel until it is launched.

"This would ensure that for the next two years at least, all baseball fans would have access to the Extra Innings package," he said. "If we're unable to reach an agreement when the channel launches, we'd give baseball the right to cancel the Extra Innings deal. We think this is a fair compromise."

Kerry, often playing the role of mediator, got behind the effort.

"What's the matter with that?" he asked Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer.

"We believe that DirecTV has the right to begin to help us build the channel," DuPuy answered, adding that the cable industry had nine months to negotiate a deal.

Kerry pressed the issue, suggesting that the status quo be kept in place while the sides tried to work out a deal.

DuPuy wouldn't agree to that, although he said, "Our door remains open" for a resolution.

BP's Maury Brown, who's done a lot of heavy lifting on this topic, is not particularly optimistic of a favorable resolution for fans like my folks. Mom and Dad are exploring other options, none of which are as good as what they've had up till now, but which may have to do. Stuff like this from MLB doesn't help:

DuPuy said fans who have gotten the out-of-town games on other providers will still have the option of receiving them this year: by switching to DirecTV or subscribing to MLB.TV to watch the games on the Internet.

"This is not a matter of fans being unable to view Major League Baseball's out-of-market games," he said. "It is a matter of not being able to watch those games on a particular system."

The city-within-San Antonio of Balcones Heights, which installed red light cameras back in January, have now fully enabled those cameras, and have begun mailing citations to violators as of this past Sunday. The Express News has more on this:

The owner of the light-blue Geo, which ran a red light on Fredericksburg Road last week and buzzed within inches of a man walking across the street, has been warned.

So was the owner of the reddish Dodge sedan, which blew through a red light two nights later, going 59 mph. By the way, the posted speed limit on Fredericksburg Road is 40 mph.

In all, 469 warning letters were sent to owners of vehicles that busted red lights at four intersections in Balcones Heights over the first 27 days of a monthlong test of a new red-light camera system.

But on Sunday, at one minute after midnight, the warnings will cease. American Traffic Solutions of Phoenix, working with Balcones Heights police, will start mailing tickets demanding $148 for each violation.

The cameras were installed on Fredericksburg Road at Hillcrest Drive, Crossroads Boulevard and Balcones Heights Road and at the intersection of Babcock and Hillcrest.

American Traffic Solutions will use license plate numbers to find and mail tickets to the owners and pursue unpaid charges through civil courts.

Those cited have to prove they weren't driving -- by producing a name, stolen vehicle report or bill of sale -- or pay up or face getting reported to a credit agency. They also can appeal.

If you were not driving the vehicle when the violation was committed, you may submit a DECLARATION OF NONLIABILITY. This form may be downloaded from www.ViolationInfo.com or obtained from the Court. The form must be completed in its entirety and hand-delivered by the person to the Court prior to the Notice due date. This form CANNOT be mailed.

American Traffic Solutions, which manages to collect 70 percent of fines levied in more than 100 cities, will get a $40 cut for each ticket in Balcones Heights. Based on violations there so far, and collection rates, the company could reap up to $177,000 a year and the city $479,000.

One of my biggest roadblocks for voting to approve the proposal has always been the fact that the ticket issued is a civil violation and not a criminal offense. In other words since Balcones Heights police officers or any other peace officer don't write the citation, there is no mechanism in place to insure that the red-light runner pay the fine for the infraction.

When a certified peace officer issues a traffic violation, failure to pay may result in arrest, suspension of driver's license and may affect the driver's ability to retain insurance at a reasonable cost. None of that applies to the civil citation.

I would point out that there is no real due process to appeal the violation to a judge since it goes before a hearing officer to rule on guilt or innocence.

Since they base the citation on video tape of the automobile's license plate and not the driver of the vehicle, there is no reliable way to determine accurately who was driving the automobile.

The owner of the vehicle is the one ticketed. He or she receives a summons from ATS, headquartered in Arizona. ATS is also the vendor who installed the video equipment.

According to the five-year contract between the City and the vendor, ATS is responsible to process the citations, collect the traffic fines, and once the fine is paid, send the City a portion of the fine for the infraction. ATS retain $40 for each ticket collected since they own the video cameras.

Statistics coming out of Houston and other cities that are using the Red Light Cameras reveal that violators are not paying the fines. In Houston in the first four months of citations that should have netted $14 million dollars, less than 15 percent of those cited have paid the fine. What is wrong with this picture?

James McMahon, a 30-year Army veteran and former New York cop, isn't convinced. While sitting at the Jim's counter, white hair poking out of his Aircorps cap, he frowned, swung his arm out and jabbed his thumb downward.

"I try to avoid it," he said. "A lot of people do. They don't want to come through Balcones because of those lights."

One las thing: Apparently, Michael Kubosh is taking his show on the road.

Kubosh is traveling Texas to have himself photographed and ticketed running red lights in all cities that have cameras, and then his attorney brother is filing lawsuits against those cities. Kubosh says Balcones Heights is definitely on his hit list. No word on how much defending this lawsuit will cost the suburb.

Burka revisits the subject of the Frew v. Hawkins class action lawsuit over Medicaid and the state's obligations for same, which I last mentioned here. April 9 is fast approaching, and you should expect several shoes to drop once this one is announced.

Meanwhile, there are multiple Medicaid-related bills set to come up in the Lege this week. The CPPP takes a look at them and offers six things Medicaid reform should not do. Check it out.

The plan by TYC Special Master Jay Kimbrough to review the sentences of youth offenders who had their sentences extended by TYC authorities to see who might now be locked up for purposes of retaliation or intimidation has run into opposition from an unexpected (to me, anyway) source.

Next week, a panel that will include representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, among others, is expected to begin examining the procedures by which many of the system's 4,600 offenders had their punishments lengthened at TYC.

A retired judge yet to be named will make the panel's recommendations for release. Ed Owens, TYC's newly appointed acting executive director, will make the final decisions.

"I think ultimately we're talking about a fourth of those in custody, maybe more, who may be eligible for release," said Rep. Jerry Madden, the Plano Republican who chairs the House Corrections Committee.

[...]

Some lawmakers fretted that dangerous offenders may be let go in the rush to reform TYC.

"The last time we started releasing people early, we ended up with Kenneth Allen McDuff," said Rep. Jim Dunnam, the Waco Democrat who serves on the Corrections Committee, referring to a Texas murderer who was paroled and went on to kill at least three more women before being recaptured, convicted and executed.

In other news, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst has noticed the unusally high number of deaths at the Lubbock State School. Better late than never, I suppose. Elsewhere on related topics:

Vince reports on the case of a Paris, Texas 14 year old named Shaquanda Cotton, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for pushing a hall monitor at her school. Yes, it's as ridiculous as it sounds.

Scott Henson blogs about Ed Owens facing the joint TYC committee. He's also still skeptical of Kimbrough, and he's got some more links to check out.

Finally, the Chron blog says that the new and improved TYC will get more money to do its job better. Hopefully, that will come with some real oversight attached to it.

More news on Rep. Nick Lampson's recovery from bypass surgery.

Lampson's doctors said the congressman was doing well, even though the blockage was in the worst possible place, the trunk of the coronary artery. Without the surgery, which was performed Sunday, Lampson would have been at risk of a fatal heart attack soon, they said.

"Barring the unforeseen, we expect him to bounce back," said Dr. Billy Cohn, one of Lampson's surgeons. "Every patient recovers different, but he should be fine -- his heart's strong, the grafts are working."

Lampson could not be reached for comment Monday, but his wife, Susan, said he was doing "beautifully."

"He's back to his old self," she said. "I could tell because he was politicking with all the nurses already."

Awesome!

[O]n February 6th, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the administration intended to nominate (and have the Senate confirm) replacements for all the ousted prosecutors. But as the emails make clear, Alberto Gonzales' chief of staff Kyle Sampson was advising the use of the AG's newfound power to appoint replacements indefinitely -- without the trouble of Senate confirmation.

The Justice Department, remember, has said that Sampson was a conspiracy unto himself, and that he failed to inform McNulty of his machinations before McNulty misled Congress. Sampson, on the other hand, says many other Department officials knew, including those involved in preparing McNulty to testify.

The emails show that Sampson wasn't shy about the scheme. He discussed it freely with members of the White House counsel office, including Harriet Miers. In October of 2006, he forwarded one of these discussions to Michael Elston, McNulty's chief of staff.

But wait... if McNulty's right hand knew, how could McNulty himself not know? Your answer:

"Either Elston did not scroll down on his BlackBerry to read the last section [of the e-mail] or it made no impression on him, because he knew that it did not reflect the department's plan for replacing the U.S. attorneys who would be asked to resign," says spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.

There you go: the contemporary version of "I do not recall."

Though I should note that there's an even better dodge available. On the assumption that the underlying email system is Exchange/Outlook, you could claim that you have an Inbox rule that automatically filed the email in question into a personal folders file (PST). In that case, if the email in question was large enough to have only been partially received by your BlackBerry, you wouldn't be able to request the rest of it because the BB server can't access your PST file. It can only process a "More" request for email that still exists on the Exchange server.

Of course, you'd have to make sure you have such an Inbox rule in place if push came to shove. But if you did, then the whole world could see that little red X that appears next to an email on a BlackBerry for which full information is not available. And you can't beat that for plausible deniability.

Sen. Patrick has a film crew following him around, Kinky Friedman-style. This has not endeared him to his colleagues.

"Do you have a live microphone on you?" Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, asked the freshman lawmaker.

Patrick assured Carona and other colleagues that he was not wearing any microphone -- "live, dead or otherwise."

What about the Senate lounge? Carona wondered. Might the film crew follow Patrick into the off-limits lounge?

Absolutely not, Patrick answered: "We don't even allow our relatives into the Senate lounge."

Who else wants to see this footage?

[W]ith the cameras rolling, Patrick surprised his colleagues by trying to insert the heart of a bill he submitted and is pending in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee in a bill by fellow freshman, Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy. Hegar's bill confines itself to allowing nurse practitioners and physicians' assistants in rural areas to issue parking permits in the absence of a doctor for the disabled.

Patrick's amendment, which would have expanded the medical authority for assistants and practioners, brought Sen. Jane Nelson, the chairman of Health and Human Services, to her feet.

After a flurry of points of order and senatorial huddling, Patrick withdrew his amendment. Nelson, R-Lewisville and Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, took turns speaking privately with Patrick after the Senate passed Hegar's bill. It remains to be seen whether or not the film crew recognized this as the Senate particularly mannered version of woodshedding the outspoken freshman Senator from Houston.

From the Ideas Whose Time Have Come Department: the Forever Stamp.

The forever stamp goes on sale April 12 at 41 cents. The rate for first-class postage rises to 41 cents May 14.

The stamp, which will carry the word "Forever" instead of a price, will remain valid for sending a letter, no matter how much rates go up in the future.

That will eliminate the annoyance of buying one- and two-cent stamps to make up the new rate when prices rise, and folks who want to hedge against inflation could lay in a supply of the stamps for long-term use.

The following is a press release from the Laura Recovery Center for missing children:

Justice For Laura - Candlelight Vigil
Tuesday, April 3 - Stevenson Park, Friendswood

FRIENDSWOOD, TX - The Laura Recovery Center is announcing a public candlelight vigil, seeking Justice for Laura, at 7:00 PM. on Tuesday, April 3, 2007 at Stevenson Park in Friendswood, Texas. The vigil marks the tenth anniversary of 12-year old Laura Kate Smither's abduction and murder.

During the vigil, Laura's parents Bob and Gay Smither, joined by Friendswood Police Chief Bob Weiners and Laura's priest Rev. Robert Wareing, will call for justice and the resolution of Laura's ten year-old case.

The evening will be include prayers, the distribution of remembrance bracelets, and the lighting of candles which have come to symbolize "lighting the way home" for missing children throughout the nation.

Laura Smither disappeared on April 3, 1997 when she went for a run. When she didn't return, the police were called and a massive community search began which eventually included over six thousand volunteers and a battalion of U. S. Marines. After 17 days Laura's remains were found on April 20, 1997, 14 miles from her home in a Pasadena, Texas retention pond.

Laura's disappearance remains an open and active ongoing investigation, however charges have never been filed by the authorities. The Smither Family is calling for JUSTICE FOR LAURA and asking for the person responsible for this crime to do the right thing and come forward. For information on Justice for Laura - Candlelight Vigil call the Laura Recovery Center at 281-482-LRCF (5723) or visit www.LRCF.org.

A $10,000 reward is offered by the Carole Sunde Foundation and Crimestoppers for information about this case. Conditions apply.

The Laura Recovery Center - for missing children - is a non-profit 501 (c)3 organization that was founded in Laura Smither's memory. The Center focuses on the Education, Search, and Prevention in the area of missing children and has offered free abduction prevention programs to over 135,000 children throughout the greater Houston area, worked with over 1,100 families with missing loved ones, and organized more than 75 community searches for abducted children.

I met Bob Smither last year when I interviewed him as a candidate for CD22. Turns out that his sister Pam Covington is good friends with my mother-in-law, which is something that I hadn't realized till that day. They do good work at the Laura Recovery Center, and as the tenth anniversary of Laura's abduction approaches, I hope you'll take a moment to take a look at what they do and see if there's a way that you might be willing and able to help them. Thanks very much.

Local TV weatherman Ed Brandon has announced his retirement next month. In the process, he gave a lengthy interview about his career to his KTRK colleague Mike McGuff. (Another colleague from KTRK, Laurence Simon, adds his memories of Brandon.) Brandon is a dying species on the air - the weatherman who isn't a meteorologist. I'll be honest, I'm not sure what difference it makes if the person reading the forecast and waving at the green screen has a degree or not - frankly, for my money, the local stations spend too much time on weather as it is, and I suspect the trend towards "professional" weathercasters is a factor in that. I'd just as soon see the whole thing de-emphasized a bit, since (let's face it) most times there's not that much to report anyway. But that's just me, and I get a little cranky about things like this. Be that as it may, the interview is a good read, and the local landscape is always a little less colorful when someone like Brandon hangs it up. Best wishes to you, Ed, in whatever you do from here.

The Chron gives us an update and overview of the state and regulation of tubing in New Braunfels as the recreation season begins. Nothing much new here if you've been following this news all along (last update here), but there was one interesting tidbit:

Still, [New Braunfels City Council member Ken] Valentine, who said he went along with the eased limits in a bid to show council unity, has many foes who insist he went too far.

"It's really heartbreaking to see what the river nannies are trying to push down everyone's throats. They have made New Braunfels the laughing stock of the state," said one commentator on an anti-Valentine blog.

In any event, it'll be interesting to see how the season goes. I hope there will be an end-of-summer review - who knows, maybe this has all been a tempest in a seven-quart cooler. We'll just have to wait and see.

From the office of Rep. Nick Lampson:

On Sunday, March 25, Congressman Nick Lampson (D-Stafford) received coronary artery bypass surgery to treat blockages of the arteries on the surface of his heart. The surgery was performed by Dr. O.H. "Bud" Frazier and Dr. William E. Cohn of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in the Texas Medical Center in Houston. The procedure was recommended after a checkup at the National Naval Medical Center this past Friday detected irregularities, and Congressman Lampson returned to Texas for treatment.

"On recommendation of physicians at the Texas Medical Center, the National Naval Medical Center and the U.S. Capitol, Congressman Lampson had quadruple bypass surgery Sunday morning," spokesman Bobby Zafarnia said. "He'll remain under observation in the hospital for the next several days, and should be released within the week. The physicians have indicated that the surgery proceeded well, and that Congressman Lampson will make a full recovery. Though this was a serious procedure, Congressman Lampson has his family with him, his spirits are high, and he looks forward to returning to his office and serving his constituents as quickly as possible. "

Congressman Lampson's recovery period will keep him in Houston for approximately 3 to 4 weeks, and the U.S. House of Representatives leadership has been notified of his temporary absence. A press conference will be held today at the Denton Cooley Auditorium at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital with the Congressman's wife Susan Lampson, Dr. William Cohn, and Dr. Reynolds Delgado to answer questions regarding the procedure.

The House tried to pass some Texas Youth Commission reforms last week but ran into some technical difficulties (I'm trying to put a nice face on it here). Tomorrow, the Senate will take a crack at it.

The first wide-ranging legislation meant to fix reported physical and sexual abuse problems at TYC is expected to emerge Tuesday from the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

That bill, by Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, has been more than a year in the making -- growing out of a 2004 riot at the Evins Regional Juvenile Center -- and had its progress delayed by the infighting that erupted with the latest scandal.

"We need to fix the problem, period," Hinojosa said. "The finger-pointing just slows down the process."

I've been critical of special master Jay Kimbrough, who is currently heading up the investigation into TYC, but credit where it's due:

Kimbrough unveiled a plan along with the Texas office of the American Civil Liberties Union to review the sentences of youth offenders who had their sentences extended by TYC authorities. Kimbrough wants to find out if students have been kept in the system for purposes of retaliation or intimidation.

"This doesn't take legislation. This just takes people sitting down, recognizing there's a problem and working together," Kimbrough said.

Back in January, I noted that the Old Sixth Ward had put a series of videos up on YouTube that talked about the need to preserve their historic neighborhood. I'm pleased to report that they won an award for this. The following is an email from Larissa Lindsay, which she sent to Mayor White and other city officials:

Good Morning Mayor White, and Councilmembers Garcia, Brown, and Lovell,

We have good news! As part of Texas Historic Commission's Annual Conference, Preservation Texas honors organizations and individuals with awards to be presented at their annual dinner (this year on Friday, April 13 in 2007). The Old Sixth Ward Neighborhood Association received word that we will be receiving the "Heritage Education Award" for our YouTube.com videos (and the Mayor's response) which brought about awareness of our special place in Houston to a broad sweep of the community. The award letter is attached. A group of us are travelling to Austin to attend the dinner, we'd love for you to join us!

Statewide preservation officials have been taking notice of what a difference the current Houston City Council is when it relates to preserving Houston's past, and thus, the history of the great State of Texas. You should be proud of the compliments, they are well deserved. I think it is important that we are creating a sense of place in Houston. We had many people move to Houston in the 70s and 80s, they now have children who have come of age and are seeking their own history. I hope we as a public are able to fulfill that goal.

With sincerest appreciation,

Larissa

Gotta love Jeff Van Gundy. The man is not afraid to speak his mind.

Weeks before accusations could begin that teams were tanking games to improve their chances of landing either of the season's celebrated college prodigies, Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, Van Gundy offered a solution. Make the entire first round a lottery. One through 30. Put every name in a hat and let luck determine the draft order.

[...]

"I think every team should have an equal chance at winning the lottery, from the best team all the way down," Van Gundy said. "I don't want to accuse anyone of anything. I would say to take away any possible conflict of interest, everyone should have an equal chance at the top pick all the way down. That way there would be absolutely no question by anybody about anything.

"If it's better for the game, they should do it. I never quite understood why losing is rewarded, other than (for) parity."

That doesn't mean I don't think there's merit to Van Gundy's suggestion. There shouldn't be any incentive for a team to finish lower in the standings than it otherwise might. You don't get this as much in football as in basketball for the simple reason that there's far fewer NBA draft prospects that can have a big impact on a team's fortunes than there are NFL draftees. The NFL draft is much deeper, is much more likely to produce star quality players in lower rounds (the NBA draft only has two rounds anyway), and doesn't feature a consensus #1 pick as often (see "Williams, Mario", for example). The difference between, say, the #s 1 and 5 picks, or the #s 1 and 10 picks is generally less stark in the NFL draft than the NBA.

(Major League Baseball does a reverse-order-of-finish draft, too, but with compensation picks for lost free agents thrown in. Interestingly, recent work by the boys at the Baseball Prospectus show that there's a real advantage to having the #1 pick in the MLB draft. Far as I know, there's never been any suggestion of teams tanking to gain that advantage, however. Make of that what you will.)

Anyway, if draft order will be a complete crapshoot, then I think whatever temptations there may be for a team to call it a season early will disappear. At the very least, the dividing line between playoff team/lottery team would be erased with the Van Gundy Plan, and that's the main point in its favor. For that reason, I can't endorse the Feigen Variation:

Van Gundy's solution is extreme -- and beyond anything the NBA will consider. But if teams abuse the system, the system should be changed.

It is a weighted lottery now, with the worst teams having the best chance, but not a great chance of winning the lottery. As much as the league might like reviving its weakest teams, it also should not reward those that disrespected the game and its customers.

It's seems clear that winning should be good, losing bad. Benefiting from losing is a problem that could be solved without going as far as Van Gundy suggested. Making the lottery a true lottery would do it.

Let them pick the top 14 in the draft randomly. Then no one would feel compelled to lose.

Former TxDOT Commissioner and current State Sen. Robert Nichols explains his shift in thinking on toll roads. Basically, he does not favor the no-compete clauses, which he did not think would be a part of the deal for the Trans Texas Corridor.

When the Transportation Commission announced the proposed corridor along I-35 in 2004, both Cintra-Zachary, the company chosen to build the system, and the Transportation Commission publicly stated there would be no "no-compete" clause in the contract.

Fast-forward a few years later and reality is like a cold glass of water in the face. With few exceptions, the Cintra contract contains a noncompete clause stating no alternative roads can be built within miles of either side of the toll road for 50 years without paying penalties. Many similar contracts are being negotiated that would give private companies exclusive rights to many-mile wide areas of land in Texas' highest growth areas.

Put simply, the state is enacting a policy that forces Texans to drive on a toll road with very few alternatives. In high-growth areas, the private toll operator would be free to increase tolls as demand for the road increases. New road construction by the state would be penalized, thereby setting up a classic monopoly, agreed to by the state, forcing Texans to pay ever-increasing tolls. There should be incentives to relieve congestion, not penalties.

[...]

I filed Senate Bill 1267 to place a two-year moratorium on private equity toll projects. Toll roads can be built in the interim by the local authority or TXDOT; however, the government may not contract with a private company to operate toll roads until the Legislature ensures adequate protections are in place.

Still, Nichols' position is much more honest than that of his op-ed page counterpart, who loses credibility early on:

There is so much misinformation being spewed in the halls of Austin that years of Texas' work and billions in private capital for much-needed highway projects could be lost as state lawmakers push a two-year moratorium on public-private partnerships.

[...]

The Texas Department of Transportation is short $86 billion it needs to meet its congestion reduction goals as the state Texas adds another 13 million residents over the next two decades.

Honestly, I just don't get the reluctance to at least talk about the gas tax. Raising it by the 12 cents recommended by the TTI as a way of paying for all of TxDOT's real future needs just won't have that big an impact on most people - you'd have to use over 40 gallons of gas a week to be charged an extra $5 a week in gas taxes. It will hit businesses harder, and it will be a sizeable burden on school districts, but these things can be addressed. We can't get anywhere on this if we don't at least talk about all of the possibilities. People have come to realize that the all-toll-road, all-the-time solution is deeply flawed. It's time to take the next step and figure out a better way forward.

Amen to this.

The father of the state's public school accountability system says it's time to scrap the way schools get rated and substitute something better.

"We think it's become cumbersome. Nobody can understand it," says retired Republican Sen. Bill Ratliff of Mount Pleasant.

Ratliff travels around the state these days beating the drum for public education, telling audiences that Texas needs a universal pre-kindergarten program, full-day kindergarten and smaller classroom sizes.

All of that will cost money, but the former interim lieutenant governor says it's the best investment Texans can make for their future.

"If the public is behind it, then the Legislature will be more inclined to put the money where we need it to be," said Ratliff, who heads up a new group of pro-education business leaders called Raise Your Hand.

When he chaired the Senate Education Committee in the mid-1990s, Ratliff helped create the accountability system that rated Texas schools on a scale from exemplary to unacceptable.

"Fifteen years later, we think it's time to just wipe the slate clean, start over and produce an accountability system that is understandable, simple enough for parents and taxpayers to understand," Ratliff said.

"For one thing, it needs to be consistent with the federal law. You don't need a situation where you can be exemplary in Texas and be failing under No Child Left Behind. That's crazy."

Please, refrain from making any hot air jokes. This is a good thing that's happening.

Lawmakers this session have filed more bills to assess the effects global warming will have on the state and to curb the pollution causing it than at any other time in legislative history, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis.

A dozen measures, all but one carried solely by Democrats, specifically address the issue of global warming.

The bills range from studying how a predicted rise in the Earth's temperature will affect the state and its water resources, to requiring industrial plants to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases believed to be causing the warming trend.

"We have reached a real tipping point in the public's understanding of the issue and the scientific consensus. I don't think there is any question now that it has reached Texas," said Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, one of 10 lawmakers with legislation.

While even the sponsors say most of the bills have little to no chance of passage, the move is still significant because it signals that Texas -- the country's largest source of heat-trapping gases -- has officially joined the global warming policy debate.

"More states are getting involved, including some states that a year or two ago we didn't think would be involved in this issue," said Barry Rabe, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan.

Christof reminds me of the Metro town hall meetings that will take place tonight and tomorrow night to discuss various aspects of the Universities line. More details are here for these meetings, which Metro says are "to receive your input on potential environmental impacts these alternatives would have on your neighborhood." That doesn't mean you can't bring up other topics, and Christof has a few suggestions along those lines. As always, if you attend one or both of these, please leave a comment or drop me a note and let me know what you thought of it.

Interesting article on how the Reliant Stadium crew and associated others are studying what other Final Four sites have done in preparation for Houston's turn as host in 2011 (we get regionals next year and 2010 as warm-up acts). Just a couple of points to highlight:

The Bayou City last hosted a Final Four in 1971 at the Astrodome. UH has served as NCAA Tournament hosts at Hofheinz Pavilion (1971, 1973 and 1985) and The Summit (1980, 1983 and 1986), and the span of years between stints is reason for pause. The scope of the event has changed dramatically over the last 20 years, so a sizable Houston contingent made the trip to observe how San Antonio handled the challenge.

"The Final Four is arguably the second-largest sporting event in the country behind the Super Bowl, and it is no small task," [Reliant Park president Shea] Guinn said.

So. Anybody else hoping to score tickets to the 2008 South Regional here? I think I've got Tiffany on board with that, but it may just be the afterglow of her Hoyas making it to the Final Four. Check back with me in a few months and we'll see if this is still in the cards.

Pasa-git-down-Dena isn't what you think it is any more, at least not if your impression of it is taken from Urban Cowboy.

Pasadena, ever the chameleon, is undergoing its most profound shift to date as the old Anglo culture gives way to a new and growing Hispanic majority.

Though the trend started decades ago, Hispanics' majority status was first recorded in the 2000 Census. Mostly new immigrant families with children, they are filling the schools, propelling the economy and transforming the landscape.

[...]

Now nearly 60 percent Hispanic, Pasadena was chosen as the pilot site for H-E-B's pioneering Mi Tienda, a supermarket directly aimed at Spanish speakers. The old Elks Lodge has become El Palacio Real for quinceaneras and other galas.

The Denver-based Cinema Latina chain's first theater in Texas offers up U.S. blockbusters dubbed or subtitled in Spanish and chili on the popcorn. The local Wal-Mart has made room for an in-store health care clinic called Mi Acceso Soludable, or My Healthy Access.

St. Pius Catholic Church rubs shoulders with Templo Apostolico and other immigrant-favored evangelical congregations.

'Sort of like an incubator'

"Our area looks like what the rest of Texas someday will look like," says Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, whose district includes Pasadena.

"We're sort of like an incubator. What works for us today in our area will work in the rest of Texas in the future."

There's one place where the changing face of Pasadena has not caught up with the established reality:

Hispanics, however, haven't similarly penetrated the body politic.

Garcia has represented Pasadena on Commissioners Court since January 2003. But for decades, the Precinct 2 office was held by Jim Fonteno and, before him, John Ray Harrison, who was quintessential "old Pasadena." His daughter, Nikki Harrison Caffee, is Garcia's Pasadena liaison.

Mayor John Manlove, who was adopted as a baby by white parents, is half-Hispanic. But the City Council always has been all white and mainly male.

"You will see that changing. There really haven't been any viable Hispanic candidates, but there will be. It's just a matter of time," Manlove says.

"If there is any group that has a real hold on the American dream, it's Hispanics. They see the value of family; they have a strong work ethnic; and they really are the hardest workers around. Most of our area has embraced the change."

I point this out not just to make snarky comments but also to note that Pasadena is represented in the State House by one Robert Talton, who (let's face it) is not exactly an accurate reflection of the new Pasadena. Far as I'm concerned, he's a Talmadge Heflin waiting to happen. It's a matter of finding the right candidate and giving that person sufficient support. I see no reason why that can't happen in 2008.

Houston Bloggers Pub is an aggregator of Houston blogs that in its words "becomes a virtual pub to listen in on the social, political, recreational, and spiritual views of the area." They've just started up here (they already exist in several other cities, including Austin), and had the good taste to include this blog in their collections. If you think your site should be a part of theirs, drop and email to admin@bloggerspub.com. Check it out.

Chip Rosenthal, who was one of the leading fighters against the anti-municipal wireless provisions of last session's telecom bill, writes about two proposals in the Lege to mandate that the state use an XML-based, open, non-proprietary format for its documents. This is a very reasonable idea, and given that basically all commercial software nowadays has this capability, one that shouldn't cause any heartburn. Chip has the details and the links to the relevant bills, which will get committee hearings this Tuesday the 26th. Check it out.

Poor Tom. Poor, poor Tom.

As Tom DeLay pursues a return to the public stage, he's meeting resistance from an unexpected source: conservatives who say that he betrayed the movement as a congressional leader.

Four board members of the American Conservative Union, one of the oldest and best established voices of the conservative movement, resigned recently when DeLay was brought onto the board.

DeLay's roles in ramping up government spending and establishing a system of raising money through close dealings with lobbyists were cited by resigning members as their motive for moving on.

"He was part of a congressional leadership that oversaw a massive expansion of the government, which conservatives opposed," said Robert Luddy, a North Carolina businessman among the board members who resigned. "It is one thing to call yourself a conservative, but you have to act on it."

The sentiment was echoed by political strategist Marc Rotterman, another board defector.

"Conservatives looked to Tom DeLay to cut government not grow it. He was complicit in the largest expansion of government in recent times."

[...]

Two other ACU board members, former Texas Republican Party Chairman Tom Pauken and Virginia public relations executive Craig Shirley affirmed that they also quit the board over DeLay's arrival.

"I just think we need to break loose from what was happening with the Republican Party in the post-Reagan era," said Pauken, citing a number of concerns including the scandal involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

[ACU Chair David] Keene said DeLay had proposed an effort under which he'd raise $1 million for a grassroots lobbying effort, which DeLay would then run. But that idea was shelved when Keene and DeLay failed to agree on some of the details of how it would operate, Keene said.

A reader named Mike Caddell sent me a couple of great aerial photos that he took of the construction going on downtown of Discovery Green Park and One Park Place. They're a little big to display here, so I'll just link to them:

Discovery Green photo

One Park Place photo

You can see more pictures of the Discovery Green construction here, and a great diagram of how these sites and Houston Pavilions all fit in with other area landmarks here. Thanks, Mike!

Christof writes about his daily bus commute and how the experience compares to the light rail. I had some experience with each this week thanks to a car in the shop. I was dropped off at and picked up from downtown on Wednesday, taking the train to and from my job; on Thursday I had an all-day meeting downtown and was dropped off in the morning, then took the #40 bus home.

And man, is the train a more pleasant experience. It's quieter, it's smoother (I get motion sickness if I try to read on a bus, but not on the train), it lacks the smell of exhaust fumes, and it's a more predictable duration, both in terms of wait time and trip time. There's just no comparison. I'll say this for my driver on Thursday - he got me home in a relative hurry. Made for a lot of hard accelerating and braking - I spent most of the trip holding on, lest I get thrown from my seat - but at least I wasn't muttering under my breath about how long it was taking.

Buses serve a useful and necessary purpose, but for in-city, non-express transport, given a choice there is no choice. The train is better, hands down.

Good.

A federal judge in Philadelphia struck down a 1998 law Thursday that made it a crime for Web sites to allow children to gain access to material deemed "harmful."

The ruling is the second major setback in federal efforts to control Internet pornography. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a similar law in 1997.

Senior Judge Lowell Reed Jr. of the U.S. District Court ruled that the law was ineffective, overly broad and at odds with free speech. Reed added that there were less restrictive methods, such as software filters, that parents could use to control their children's Internet use.

Reed wrote that he was blocking the law out of concern that "perhaps we do the minors of this country harm if First Amendment protections, which they will with age inherit fully, are chipped away in the name of their protection."

The law, the 1998 Child Online Protection Act, never took effect because of an injunction that was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2004.

Meant to link to this story about the Texas Democratic Party town hall meeting in Laredo, but didn't get to it till now. The real story isn't so much what was said and done, but that it happened and that the people involved were happy with it. The TDP has ignored the Rio Grande Valley for a long time, and anyone who can read election results can see that it's not the Democratic stronghold it once was. There's no reason that can't be reversed, and since the Democrats aren't going to win anything statewide without a strong showing in the Valley, the need to invest here is crystal clear. Let's keep this going.

Vince is reporting that Alfonso Royal, the aide to Governor Perry who knew about what was happening at Pyote in March of 2005, was supposed to become the head of the TYC later this year. I'm guessing that's not going to happen now.

Meanwhile, the Texas Observer noted the strange comment about deleted emails as I did, and dug up the official state policy for email retention:

(1) Administrative Correspondence, 1.1.007 - Incoming/outgoing and internal correspondence, in any format, pertaining to the formulation, planning, implementation, interpretation, modification, or redefinition of the programs, services, or projects of an agency and the administrative regulations, policies and procedures that govern them. Subject to Archival review. Retention: 3 years.
(2) General Correspondence, 1.1.008 - Non-administrative incoming/outgoing and internal correspondence, in any media, pertaining to or arising from the routine operations of the policies, programs, services, or projects of an agency. Retention: 1 year.

Bear in mind too that even if Rick Perry deleted all correspondence with Alfonso Royal, in apparent violation of the aforementioned policy, can he say for sure that Royal and anyone else who might have been cc'ed did so as well? Did Perry and Royal delete their Sent Items, or the archive.pst file that Outlook loves to create on a regular basis? Email is a lot more persistent than you might think.

Bottom line: An open records request here, especially one that specifies all the possible places a "deleted" email could be lurking, might yield some very interesting results.

Nothing to do with Pyote, just more bad news from somewhere else in this wretched system.

The superintendent of the Texas Youth Commission's Marlin intake center was arrested this morning for allegedly fibbing to Texas Rangers investigating sexual-assault reports at the high-security lockup.

Authorities said Jerome Parsee, 53, was taken into custody at his office about 10:30 a.m. on a Class B misdemeanor charge of making a false report. He was to be booked into a local jail and was expected to be released on bond, according to officials.

According to Youth Commission special master Jay Kimbrough, Parsee allegedly told Rangers that he knew of no sexual-assault reports having been logged at the Marlin Orientation and Assessment Center, the first stop for all new arrivals to the Youth Commission lockups. Rangers subsequently found numerous cases, according to investigators.

UPDATE: More from Grits and Harvey Kronberg, who reports that one effect of all this may be a steep decline in the TYC inmate population.

Marty Hajovsky has been beating the drum all week for the Woodland Heights Home Tour, for which you can still order tickets online through 11 PM tonight. If you aren't sure about going on the tour this year, let me give you one good reason: to see the incredible renaissance of 205 Bayland, which was the home of the Woodland Heights developer a hundred years ago and which had fallen into terrible disrepair as an assisted living center. That's preservation, baby. Check it out.

Patricia Kilday Hart, on March 5:

When Sen. Juan Hinojosa held hearings last summer about a riot at a TYC facility in the Rio Grande Valley, he learned enough about the agency's operations to recognize "a recipe for disaster."

Guards were being hired off the street with little education or training. Kids from ages 10 to 21 were mixed on the same dorm. At night, the inmate/guard ratio was as high to 25 to 1, with open bay dormitories offering little security.

Maybe that's why, when he received a Texas Ranger report outlining allegations of sexual abuse at the TYC's Pyote facility, he acted immediately (instead of ignoring the report, like TYC management, or the midlevel staffer in Gov. Rick Perry's office, who sat on it for a year).

In "Cuckoo's Nest Revisited," which I posted yesterday, I wrote that Rick Perry's office had a copy of the Texas Rangers report on the TYC abuse allegations for over a year and did nothing. My source was Senator Juan Hinojosa, who held hearings about the TYC scandal. Today, following a conversation with a Perry staffer who said that Perry does not have either the Rangers report or the TYC internal report, I spoke with Hinojosa, who said while Perry's office knew of the investigation, he cannot verify that the governor's office ever received an actual copy of either report.

An aide to the governor received detailed investigative reports alleging a sex scandal at a West Texas youth lockup days before the November election, documents show, but Gov. Rick Perry has said he learned only last month, from news reports, about the abuse at the Texas Youth Commission facility.

Interviews and documents confirm that one of Perry's aides, Alfonso Royal, was forwarded graphic investigative reports about sexual abuse at the West Texas State School from Texas Ranger Sgt. Brian Burzynski on Oct. 30 or 31, 2006. The documents also indicate that Royal knew in October, just days before Perry was re-elected, about a West Texas district attorney's lack of action in the case.

Perry's press secretaries had previously denied that Royal -- a budget and policy analyst who oversees the Youth Commission among other agencies -- had a copy of the reports. "To this day, we have not seen a copy of that report," Perry spokesman Robert Black said Tuesday. "If someone can prove we did, bring them forward."

After being provided with a copy of what Royal had been sent by a legislative staffer, Black and Ted Royer, Perry's deputy press secretary, changed their story.

"That's what he saw," Black said.

Royal did not keep a copy of the report, Royer said. And the governor's office routinely deletes its e-mail after seven days, Black and Royer say.

Criminy, it's been 20 years since the PROFS emails Ollie North "deleted" came back from the tapes to nail his sorry ass. Is there really a government official who still believes that when you delete an email, it's gone forever? Nobody could be that ignorant, right?

At issue is: Did the governor's office act quickly enough and forcefully enough on information it had received?

Black said Royal did not sit on the information. He said Royal read the reports and immediately started trying to push Ward County District Attorney Randall Reynolds to prosecute the case. Reynolds had declined to file charges for more than a year.

Asked by Texas Monthly editor Evan Smith this month about when he found out about the case, Perry said: "We knew about this probably about the same time you did, when we read it" in The Dallas Morning News.

Black explained: "The governor was speaking personally. . . . That's when he found out about it."

However, I continue to be puzzled by Perry's press office insisting that the guv does not have the actual report. If Perry's office no longer has the report, it's because someone on the staff deleted it from computer files. And if the governor has not yet read the report, it does not exactly reflect well on his leadership.

On a related matter, why is Perry crony Jay Kimbrough leading the TYC investigation when it was supposed to be the Rangers' task? Even worse, Kimbrough has a conflict of interest. If the Governor is trying to look like someone who wants to get at the truth here, he's doing a really poor job of it.

Well, I enjoyed my experimental playlist, and will certainly put a fair amount of it higher up in the rotation for the future, but all good things must come to an end, and I've still got a bunch of CDs to go. On to the next playlist, where the following songs came up on first play:

1. Nil Por Mi Punados Del Oro - The Mollys. A truly eclectic mix of Irish and Mexican folk music, done in a rollicking and lively style. Sadly, as noted on their cofounder's homepage, they disbanded in 2003. You had to hear them to believe them, and I'm just glad I got to see them live at the Mucky Duck as often as I did.

2. Callin' In Sick - Weird Al Yankovic. Surely by now you must have pegged me as a Weird Al fan, right?

3. I Can't Tame Wild Women - Hot Club of Cowtown. Another great band that has since split up, this Western Swing trio's motto was "In Bob Wills We Trust". I can't argue with that.

4. The Girlfriend of the Whirling Dervish - from the soundtrack to "For the Boys". A little-known movie about a couple of USO-tour performers, its soundtrack is one half 1940s swing, one half Bette Midler schmaltz. This is from the good half.

5. Harbor - Vienna Teng. Another Priscilla song, and while it's made-for-Sunny 99 stuff, I'll freely admit that Teng has a gorgeous voice, and that makes up for it.

6. How Far To The Water - Eddie From Ohio. I've worn a groove in half of my EFO CDs and largely not played the others, partly because the two double live CDs that I do play have a good sampling of the material on these disks. Time to get myself more familiar with the back catalog.

7. Pico de Gallo - Trout Fishing In America. Come on, people, sing it with me!

Pico de gallo
You ought to give it a try, oh
Even if you're from Ohio
It'll get you by, oh
Don't get it in your eye, oh
Unless you want to cry, oh
So come on, don't be shy, oh
Have some pico de gallo!

8. Let's Spend The Night Together - Muddy Waters. I have two Muddy Waters CDs, one an acoustic folk blues disc, the other called "Electric Mud". Both were purchased in a futile attempt to get the version of "Mannish Boy" that I recall from the movie "Risky Business". No, it never occurred to me to just buy the soundtrack. All things considered, I'd say this approach worked out better anyway.

9. St. Louis Blues March - Glenn Miller. Here's the secret to making a kid a Glenn Miller fan for life: Hand him a saxophone in middle school, and point him in the direction of the jazz band. This is a rare song among Miller's canonical works that I've not personally played in one form or another.

10. Flight of the Passing Fancy - Squirrel Nut Zippers. For some reason, the opening riff of this song sounds like a mashup of "Sing Sing Sing" and "Beer Barrell Polka" to me. And I consider that a feature, not a bug.

As always, feel free to mock my musical quirks in the comments.

The idea of Sen. John Cornyn on an ethics committee is ludicrous on its face, since Cornyn has shown no willingness or ability to use any criteria besides partisan considerations for making a decision. Asking him to judge Sen. Pete Dominici's actions regarding the US Attorney purge adds an extra layer of ridiculousness, given the public statements Cornyn has made so far. I've got a press release from TDP Chair Boyd Richie beneath the fold, which catalogs some of Cornyn's greatest hits on this issue and calls on him to recuse himself from the committee. I'd settle for him spending an hour or so reading the TPM coverage.

Click on for more.

Today, Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie called on Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn (TX) to recuse himself from the Senate Ethics Committee investigation into Republican Senator Pete Domenici (NM) over potential ethics violations in the firing of former U.S. attorney David Iglesias, citing Cornyn's repeated public statements prejudging the matter.

"John Cornyn has publicly positioned himself as an apologist for the Bush Administration's firing of eight U.S. attorneys, showing a clear inability to fairly judge one of his own Republican colleagues on this matter," said Texas Democratic Party Chair Boyd Richie. "Cornyn had a choice to make - fulfill his role of impartiality on the Ethics Committee or serve as a partisan hack explaining away every aspect of the scandal. Unfortunately, his decision to publicly defend the firings disqualifies him from handling any related ethics violations being considered by the Committee."

On March 5, the Committee on Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed an ethics complaint against Domenici, charging him with violating Senate rules by contacting then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias about a pending corruption investigation. (Read the CREW press release here: http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=208) As the ranking Republican member of the Senate Ethics Committee, Cornyn is charged with helping investigate that complaint and ultimately in deciding on any sanctions against Domenici.

Despite his obligation to impartially judge Domenici's actions in the U.S. attorney scandal, Cornyn has repeatedly prejudged the facts of the scandal in his public statements, claiming the firings were completely appropriate and calling the investigation into them a political witch hunt:

• Cornyn Said He Didn't See What the "Hubub" Is About, Only Mistakes Were in Communication of Firings. In response to the firings of eight US Attorneys by the Bush administration, Cornyn said, "I don't see what the hubbub is about relieving eight U.S. attorneys of their job. That's within the right of every president. I think, if there have been mistakes made -- and I think there have been -- it's in the way that the rationale has been communicated, both to the Senate Judiciary Committee and to members of Congress." [CQ Transcriptions, 3/20/07]


• Cornyn said There Was No Evidence U.S. Attorneys Fired for "Inappropriate Reasons" - the Heart of the Charge Against Domenici. "George, when someone serves at the pleasure of the president, I don't know how you separate that entirely from politics. But I don't believe there's any evidence that indicates that these individuals were relieved of their responsibilities for any inappropriate reason," Cornyn said on ABC's This Week. [ABC News, This Week, 3/18/07]


• Cornyn said Charge of Inappropriateness in U.S. Attorney Firings "Does Not Stack Up." Speaking on the Senate floor, Cornyn said, "This President has replaced eight U.S. attorneys whom he himself appointed, and that, for some reason, is supposed to be all about politics, all about dirty pool. Well, it just does not stack up." [Congressional Record, pg S3332, 3/20/07]


• Cornyn Said Senate Investigation Was a "Political Witch Hunt." During an interview with ABC's This Week, Cornyn claimed efforts to investigate the US Attorney firings were "basically a political witch hunt." Cornyn said, "Well George, I'll join Senator Leahy in getting to the facts and following the facts where they may lead but when we cross this line into basically a political witch hunt led by the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee." [ABC News, This Week, 3/18/07]

In addition to contacting Iglesias about ongoing investigations in New Mexico, Domenici contacted the Department of Justice on four occasions to complain about Iglesias and even took his complaints directly to President Bush. Recently released Justice Department emails report that Domenici's office was "happy as a clam" when informed that Iglesias was fired, as he had urged.

"John Cornyn is talking out of both sides of his mouth. He cannot claim Iglesias' firing was appropriate, then turn around and promise to fairly judge whether a fellow Republican Senator was inappropriately involved," Richie added. "Cornyn has made clear his position on these firings and should immediately recuse himself from the Ethics Committee investigation of Senator Domenici's role in the scandal."

I haven't made up my mind about this yet.

In another rebuff to Gov. Rick Perry, the Texas House passed a proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday for an automatic special session during which lawmakers could attempt to override gubernatorial vetoes.

"I want to be part of the game," said Rep. Gary Elkins, R-Houston, author of House Joint Resolution 59.

The resolution easily received the needed two-thirds vote, passing 109-29. A similar measure in the Senate is co-sponsored by 26 out of the 31 senators.

Last week the House passed a bill to revoke Perry's executive order requiring middle school girls to get an HPV vaccine.

Rep. David Swinford, R-Dumas, was one of the few to oppose the veto measure.

"I know a lot of people would like to spit in the governor's eye," Swinford said. "I hope you enjoy doing that."

He called the proposal a "sham" that upsets the constitutional balance of powers between the legislative and executive branches. He said Texas has been well-served by the existing system.

"This is the separation of powers the way the founders of our state intended," Swinford said.

[...]

The postsession veto is one of the few strong powers afforded the Texas governor. Perry has liberally exercised his veto power, using it to kill dozens of bills and eliminate $2 billion from state budgets since 2001.

He vetoed 83 bills in 2001 and in 2005 eliminated the entire education budget in an effort to force lawmakers to change the school finance system.

The governor has 10 days to sign or veto bills that arrive on his desk during a legislative session. However, for the vast majority of bills passed in the final week of the session, the governor has 20 days to review the legislation.

At that point, lawmakers have no recourse and must wait until the next biennial session to try again to pass the bills.

It takes a vote of two-thirds of the House and Senate to override a veto. That has not happened since 1979.

My argument against the expansion of the governor's power is that the current constitutional balance of executive and legislative power seems just about right. What is the necessity for changing it? One answer might be that Perry would veto any attempt to rein in his use of executive orders, and the Legislature could do nothing about it.

But of course the Legislature can do something about it. It can speed up its glacial pace. All lawmakers have to do is get bills to the governor more than ten days before sine die. If he doesn't act within that period, the bills automatically become law. If he does act, the Legislature has a chance to override a veto. Is it really necessary for the Senate to go home for the weekend on Wednesdays, or is it Tuesdays? It's not really necessary to take up the first hour to an hour and a half of every session passing resolutions honoring the new president of the Kiwanis Club in Gun Barrel City. Speakers could name committees earlier, so that they might actually begin work before mid-February.

It comes down to this: The governorship is supposed to be a weak office. One of the governor's few powers is the power to veto bills. Elkins' proposal would make the office even weaker: The override sessions would be feeding frenzies by aggrieved members cutting deals with other aggrieved members to override vetoes. There are a lot of things that are broke in state government, but this isn't one of them. Don't fix it.

Sure, the Lege could and maybe should work faster, but that's far from a panacea. Too much legislation (cf HB3588, a/k/a the Trans Texas Corridor bill) gets passed without sufficient examination already. I'm leery of forcing them to pick up the pace.

Still, this is one of the few real powers the Governor is supposed to have, and restricting that as a response to the current occupant's obsession with grabbing power elsewhere strikes me as inappropriate. I'll have to think about this one if it does make it to the ballot in November.

Via Houstonist, here's an update on a story regarding some condo development in the Heights.

Heights residents, upset about a possible new condominium development on vacant land near East Fifth and Frasier streets, aim to petition the city of Houston to broker a deal with the developer and join with the city to raise the money or find a donor to purchase the property so the land can be retained as a green space.

Residents contend the project, Viewpoint at the Heights, would cause traffic and flooding problems, and threaten the urban bird and wildlife habitat.

The claim is dismissed by Inner Loop Condos' representatives, who say they are doing their best to improve the area and work with residents.

Viewpoint would be built on 1.26 acres of land that is part of the original John Austin land grant purchased by the Allen Brothers.

The site is bounded by White Oak Drive on the north, Studemont on the east, I-10 on the south and Oxford Street on the west, and identified as Threlkeld Reserve in the Houston/Harris County Key Map.

The land is surrounded by a ravine and includes once used railroad tracks that are to be developed as part of the city's rails-to-trails bike network.

The final plan for Viewpoint is yet to be determined, said project director Andre Julien of Inner Loop Condos, because they are waiting to find out whether the Texas Department of Transportation will grant an easement to gain access to the property from Frasier Street.

Inner Loop Condos has two plans for building entrances: from only Fifth Street or from both Fifth and Frasier streets.

If there are two entrances, Inner Loop Condos would build a one-story garage with four stories of about 75 condo units above it.

If there is only one entrance, the building would have a two-story garage with six stories of 80 to 84 condo units above it. Units will be priced from $170,000 to $400,000.

Julien said he is hopeful to break ground on the project in early 2008 and finish in early 2009.

"The best solution would probably be to have access on both sides because I know the neighborhood is very sensitive," Julien said. "They think there will be a big impact on traffic, which we don't believe because the traffic study says there won't be an impact.

"But if we can divide it into two access roads it would be better for (the neighbors). For us it would be more expensive, but we don't want to be against the neighbors. We want to work with them."

There's another consideration as well:

The residents have found allies in the Houston Audubon Society and Bayou Preservation Association, both of which have sent letters to Mayor Bill White.

The Houston Audubon Society's letter, sent to White on Feb. 27 and signed by society president Stennie Meadours, said its board toured the land on Feb. 18 and found it to be an "excellent birding experience," and that one resident has identified 56 bird species on the property.

The Bayou Preservation Association's letter, sent on March 14 and signed by association president J. Tynan Kelly, raised issues about flooding the development could cause.

"Frasier and Fifth streets in the Houston Heights are bordered by an urban ecosystem that consists of undeveloped green space and a ravine that functions as a natural artery of the White Oak Bayou," Kelly wrote. "This natural ravine meets the Environmental Protection Agency's best management practices by serving as a non-structural technique designed to temporarily store stormwater runoff and overflow from the White Oak Bayou to mitigate flooding and reduce pollution.

" ... Allowing Inner Loop Condos to develop this natural green space will ultimately destroy an already existing wetland mitigation area of significant value and purpose to the surrounding area."

There are still more considerations, like a proposed hike and bike trail through that area. The developer says he can include that in the design, and that he's doing everything he can to mitigate the neighbors' concerns. They're obviously not satisfied, and some aspects of this plan, such as the sheer height of the building, can't be smoothed over. It's hard to see a middle ground here, so the question is who's going to win. Whatever ultimately does happen, my sympathies are with the current residents.

You know, after all the outrage and demonization of the accused offenders at the Pyote TYC facility, it would be...the word "bizarre" comes to mind...if the Attorney General were ultimately unable to get any indictments against them. After one day of testimony before the grand jury, that's where things stand.

A West Texas grand jury heard evidence on Wednesday in the sexual abuse case against two former administrators of a state juvenile detention facility but didn't return any indictments or issue any subpoenas.

The jury investigating allegations of long-term abuse at the Texas Youth Commission's West Texas State School in Pyote will reconvene on April 10.

Earlier Wednesday, a Texas Rangers captain said he expected the Attorney General's Office to seek subpoenas and court orders but not an indictment. A spokesman for Attorney General Greg Abbott said he could not comment on the proceedings.

The Attorney General's office was mum on the matter, and outside AG sources still close to the case said they were in the dark. No one wanted to speculate whether the alleged victims, kids who may want to put their TYC experience behind them, were refusing to testify.

In any event, maybe Don Clemmer, deputy attorney general for the criminal justice division, knew something when he told lawmakers earlier this month that his office would wait until the beginning of May to present evidence to a grand jury. Lawmakers were furious, demanding that Clemmer explain why action couldn't be taken sooner. That was March 8. On March 9, an attorney with the AG's office revealed that a grand jury would hear evidence the week of March 19, weeks earlier.

Maybe the AG's office needed more time to present their case. If it had been me sitting in Clemmer's seat that day, I'd have preferred eating needles to telling lawmakers that. Not with the present fury and finger-pointing surrounding the TYC sex scandal.

Meanwhile, there were shenanigans galore as "vote machine malfunctions" and a suspicious point of order sent a corrections bill that would have given local DAs more leeway in working with the AG's office on TYC cases back to committee. It's a little hard to summarize, so let me point you to Burka, Brooks, Brooks again, and especially Vince for more.

On another front, Patricia Kilday Hart brings up the sorry story of the Lubbock State School, where State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh has asked the Senate Health and Human Services Committee to investigate 17 deaths in the last 18 months. I blogged about this in December, after the DOJ issued a scathing report that apparently hasn't been followed up on yet.

Finally, RG Ratcliffe and Vince have more on the story of what Governor Perry knew about Pyote and when he knew it. According to Ratcliffe:

In April 2004, former TYC Inspector General Randal Chance wrote a book called Raped by the State, outlining abuse allegations in TYC -- especially at the West Texas State School.

Chance sent an email to Perry's office complaining that TYC employees were threatening him over his self-published book.

Chance's e-mail was forwarded to TYC by Perry criminal justice advisor Janna Burleson and copied to press secretary Kathy Walt and the general counsel's office.

An e-mail from TYC Chief of Staff Joy Anderson to the governor's office said the book was an "angry, rambling, racist, sexist attack against the agency'' and "offered little detail that would enable us to investigate further.'' Burleson wrote back: "No need to respond to him (Chance).''

Even if the book was the ramblings of a disgruntled former employee, the email exchange shows neither TYC executives nor the governor's office tried to investigate whether there was any subtance to what Chance was saying.

Chance said when he did not hear back from the governor, "I assumed they did not take it seriously.''

Well, this is a surprise.

The chairman of the Senate's transportation panel, despite being one of more than 125 legislators co-sponsoring legislation to shelve private toll road contracts for two years, said Wednesday he won't give the measure a vote in his committee.

"I don't intend to move it," said Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee. Carona has repeatedly criticized Texas Department of Transportation policy and officials in recent months and is among 25 Senate co-sponsors of SB 1267, the moratorium bill by state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville.

Carona is trying to work out a large compromise transportation bill with toll policy supporters and has struck a more conciliatory tone in recent days. Carona aide Steven Polunsky said that although Carona thinks that some sort of controls on private toll road contracts are in order, a two-year freeze might remove the only option available to get some badly needed road projects done.

Carona and his committee, which includes Nichols, spent most of Wednesday afternoon listening to -- and sometimes debating with -- local elected officials from the Dallas-Fort Worth area concerned that a moratorium on such toll road arrangements might delay by several years road work nearly ready to begin.

"To put a moratorium on these projects is like a stake in the heart for many of us," said Tarrant County Commissioner Gary Fickes. "We feel we're going to be very, very damaged."

My very best wishes to Elizabeth Edwards as she continues her battle against cancer. I agree with Kos - in a fairer world, she'd be a Senator or something similar. Regardless, she's a fighter and a huge asset to her husband and his aspirations, and I join many others today in hoping for the best for her and her family. Fellow cancer survivor Jane Hamsher has more.

Missed this when I was finishing up this earlier post about Ray Jones: The 14th Court of Appeals has spoken, and it has said No to Jones.

Justices Richard Edelman, Charles Seymore and Leslie Brock Yates rejected his argument that the city unfairly denied his application because he left a section of the notarized document blank.

Jones has contended that a member of Mayor White's staff told him his application was complete on the day of the filing deadline. But that employee disagreed in a sworn affidavit attached to Jones' petition [PDF]. The appeals court doesn't resolve fact questions, so the justices decided the dispute could only be decide by a "hearing on the merits."

Again, none of this is to say that Jones doesn't have a point from a fairness perspective. I don't see him getting relief through the courts for that, however.

The story may have been on yesterday's front page (obviously, a slow news day), but nobody cared. Seems only fitting to me.

One point to make:

The verdict is out on whether he can remain a power broker, particularly with his felony charges of campaign money-laundering in Texas still unresolved. Many House Republicans appeared relieved when DeLay was replaced as majority leader by Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, touted as less polarizing and more inclusive than his combative predecessor.

"I don't think he's going to have nearly as much luck creating a position for himself within the Republican Party," said Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson. "The Republican Party, I think, now believes it needs new faces, that the party ... sees no merit whatsoever in reminding people that Tom DeLay was one of their major figures in the last decade."

But University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato offered a different view.

"That's Washington," he said. "They all come back sooner or later."

DeLay, Sabato said, "is still very well regarded by many conservative activists. They think that he was gotten by the prosecutor in Texas and by all the enemies he built up."

Needless to say, I'll be happy to be proven wrong about that. The more prominent and visible Tom DeLay is, the better it is for the good guys. Honestly, all he needs is a mustache to twirl and a damsel to tie to some railroad tracks.

For more, see Cragg Hines, who read DeLay's underperforming as well as underwhelming book so you don't have to, and Think Progress for a lesson in reading comprehension, DeLay-style.

UPDATE: Okay, Jack is in on this, too. Some things can only be resisted for so long.

From the office of State Rep. Ellen Cohen:

On Thursday, March 29th from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm, State Representative Ellen Cohen will host her second town hall meeting at Rice University. The topic of discussion will be "From Kindergarten to College: Education in Texas."

"We all, regardless of party, know how important the issue of education is to our district," Rep. Cohen stated. "This evening should be a great opportunity for parents, students, and everyone concerned about education in Texas to come together."

The presenters include former Lieutenant Governor Bill Ratliff, Chair of "Raise Your Hand." This bi-partisan group of business and community leaders is dedicated to a multi-year effort that advocates for our children's future. Gov. Ratliff has been named one of Texas' best legislators by Texas Monthly magazine a record six times. For more information on this organization, visit www.raiseyourhandtexas.org. "I am profoundly grateful to Gov. Ratliff, and look forward to hearing his presentation," said Cohen

The second presenters include students from Lamar and Bellaire High Schools to discuss the facts and figures behind tuition deregulation. These students and their parents are the most affected group facing the increasing cost of higher education. "Their perspective will show the individual cost of higher costs for higher ed," said Cohen.

The location for the forum is at Rice University, Farnsworth Pavilion, Ley Student Center. Parking is available in the Central Campus Garage Enter campus at Gate #20 (Rice Blvd. at Wilton). Campus Map Available at www.rice.edu/maps.

Maybe it's just an immutable law of nature that there must be a special session every year that Rick Perry is Governor. I don't see him having a whole lot of enthusiasm for this, however.

The scuttlebutt in the Capitol hallways is that members of the Legislature are talking about wanting a special session for transportation. The idea is that if they are going to severely restrict the Texas Department of Transportation's ability to raise money through toll roads, they'd better find other revenue for roads. And if they're going to do that, and if it involves raising taxes, better to do it in a single-issue environment where the public could be made to understand their decisions.

One possibility being floated: a constitutional amendment on the gas tax issue. Right now, the Texas Constitution requires that 25 percent of gas taxes go to public education. The public might be asked to waive that requirement, either on the full 20 cents in place right now (which would equate to an instant 5-cent increase, but require making up about $750 million a year from other revenue sources for schools) or on the incremental amount raised by indexing the tax to inflation.

Matt Stiles has the latest response (PDF) in the Ray Jones/City of Houston dustup. I've already said what I think about this, and I'm not seeing anything to change my mind. I will say that Jones' attorney Richard Leach has a (to my non-lawyerly eyes) refreshingly casual approach to the legalistic mumbo-jumbo aspect of mandamuses. It's almost blogger-like in tone, really. Whether a judge will appreciate his stylings or not is another story, of course.

Charles "father of Woody" Harrelson, probably the best-known contract killer of the late 20th Century, has died in prison.

Charles Harrelson, 69, was found unresponsive in his cell on March 15 and apparently died of natural causes, said Felicia Ponce, a Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman in Washington.

Ponce did not know the exact cause of death. Fremont County Coroner Dorothy Twellman did not immediately return a call.

Charles Harrelson was convicted of murder in the May 29, 1979, slaying of U.S. District Judge John Wood Jr. outside his San Antonio, Texas, home. Prosecutors said a drug dealer hired him to kill Wood because he did not want the judge to preside at his upcoming trial.

Charles Harrelson denied the killing, saying he was in Dallas, 270 miles away, at the time.

Wood, known as "Maximum John" for the sentences he gave in drug cases, was the first federal judge to be killed in the 20th century.

Charles Harrelson was transferred to Supermax, the highest-security federal prison, after attempting to break out of an Atlanta federal prison in 1995. Other inmates at Supermax, about 90 miles south of Denver, include Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols and Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph.

By killing Wood, Charles Harrelson triggered what FBI spokesman Art Werge later called "the largest manhunt ever to focus on El Paso."

Wood was the first federal judge assassinated in the 20th century and Werge said it was the FBI's largest manhunt prior to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

"When this happened, the Chagras were jet-setting to Las Vegas," Werge said in 2003. "One of their lawyers is the (current) mayor of Las Vegas. They were high rollers."

Jamiel Chagra was acquitted of most charges in Wood's death but was found guilty of obstructing the investigation into the slaying and sentenced to 10 years in prison. He also pleaded guilty in a failed 1978 assassination attempt on Assistant U.S. Attorney James Kerr of San Antonio and was sentenced to life in prison.

Although federal officials had said he wouldn't be eligible for parole until 2009, Chagra was free by 2003 after assisting prosecutors in other cases and entering the witness protection program.

Another family member involved in the Wood case was Chagra's third wife, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Chagra was found guilty of delivering a payment of $250,000 to Charles Harrelson and sentenced to 30 years in prison. In 1997 she died in prison of ovarian cancer.

Joe Chagra, Jimmy's younger brother, served six years of a ten-year sentence on conspiracy charges. He died in 1996 in a traffic accident.

An older brother, Lee Chagra, was a well-known criminal defense attorney in El Paso who was murdered during a robbery at his legal office on North Mesa in 1978.

Every time the Lege meets, they have one task on their must-do list, and that's pass a budget. They could do nothing else (and there are times when that would be a good idea), but they have to do this. Meet this biennium's version, for better or worse.

House budget-writers today recommended a $150.1 billion, two-year state budget to cover everything from education and prisons to health care for the needy.

The bill represents a 3.8 percent increase in state and federal funds over current spending, with much of the new money going to education and health and human services. Money also is set aside for border security, and there's an increase for prison alternatives.

Approved 24-2 by the Appropriations Committee, it is slated for full House debate next week. The Senate then will pass its version of the measure, and negotiators will work out differences.

The bill's tally doesn't include $14.2 billion in state money required to subsidize local school property tax relief over the next two years, which is handled in separate legislation.

But Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, House Appropriations Committee chairman, said the action shows the cut in property tax rates remains lawmakers top priority.

Democratic Reps. Alma Allen and Rick Noriega of Houston voted against the measure.

[...]

Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, abstained. Turner, who is speaker pro tem, said he can't keep supporting the GOP House leadership on such votes unless he's assured he gets support for programs important to his constituents.

Turner said a prime example is the expansion he's pushing for CHIP, a program that covers children in families who don't qualify for Medicare but can't afford private insurance.

Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon, D-San Antonio, voted for the measure even though she said she has concerns over issues including whether CHIP will be funded. She said she did so because Chisum gave his word that he is committed to the expansion.

That will be important when the House and Senate negotiate differences in their budgets to come up with a final spending plan.

"It's a trust factor at this point," McClendon said. "I'm a person of my word, and I believe when some gives their word to me, I have to respect that."

There's nothing I can say here that I haven't already said, over and over again. If this is the straw that finally breaks Turner's and McClendon's backs, better late than never. Just don't expect me to be too mature to refrain from saying "I told you so".

Back in January, I wrote the following about any attempt by the Lege to eliminate the office of Harris County Treasurer now that it was being held by Orlando Sanchez:

I have my doubts that any progress will be made towards eliminating the Treasurer's office. It would have been an uphill climb even with Richard Garcia in there, since it would have needed a 2/3 majority in both chambers and would have run into stiff opposition from other counties' treasurers, who consider Harris to be a bulkhead of sorts. I have a hard time seeing the Lege eliminating this position when the person who currently fills it, who must still have some friends in power, wants to keep it around.

Harris County Treasurer Orlando Sanchez likely will keep his job for at least a couple of years more despite the desires of other county leaders to abolish a post they say is unnecessary.

Eliminating the treasurer's office would require legislation as well as voter approval, and lawmakers on both sides of the issue say the effort has little or no momentum in this year's legislative session.

[...]

[Said] County Judge Ed Emmett, a former state representative. "I made some calls. Everybody said that bill [to eliminate the office] isn't going anywhere," he said. "It's a lot easier to kill a bill than it is to pass one."

Emmett said he has no strong opinion on the issue. "But I wouldn't go out of my way to eliminate the office," he said.

[...]

Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, carried a similar bill on behalf of Fort Bend County last session. It had the unanimous support of Commissioners Court, yet it went nowhere in Austin.

He said eliminating a county elective office is difficult even if county leaders are united, and Harris County's aren't.

"I made it clear to Commissioner Radack that I'd like to see commissioner support, plus popular support. I'm waiting for popular support."

Janek said has received calls only from people asking him not to abolish the position.

And you'll never guess who is standing in opposition to this effort to reduce the size of local government:

"My concern about the issue is, it wasn't an issue when Jack Cato was campaigning. It only became one when Orlando got the job," said Sen. Dan Patrick, a Houston Republican who opposes abolishing the office.

You may recall that the Lone Star Times stayed true to its values and endorsed Garcia over Sanchez precisely because they support the abolition of the office. I'd love to know what they think of Sen. Patrick's stance on the matter, but alas, as of this posting they have not commented on it. I'll check back later to see if that has changed.

One more thing: In that same post, I also said this, based on the assumption that we'd have a Treasurer for the foreseeable future:

Go ahead, Orlando. Show me just what useful function the County Treasurer can perform. And I don't mean the employees of the office, all of whom would still be employed elsewhere if you were to vanish in a puff of smoke. Show me what you, as the elected official who can make news and (so you say) influence policy, can do. I'll stipulate that Jack Cato was not about making waves or nipping at the County Commissioners' heels. You say that's what this job is about and that that's what you'll do, and I say go for it. I'm going to do an archive search of the Chronicle in a year's time, and we'll see just what you've been up to.

One of the many questions regarding the Texas Youth Commission scandal is about what Governor Perry knew and when he knew it. The Chron advances that story today.

Gov. Rick Perry's staff knew as early as June 2005 that two administrators at a Texas Youth Commission facility were not being prosecuted on allegations of sexually abusing youths in their custody, according to records obtained Tuesday by the Houston Chronicle.

Perry's aides have said that TYC notified them of the initial investigation in February 2005, and that they thought the case was being pursued by prosecutors until they were told otherwise in October 2006 by an aide to state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston.

[...]

Perry and other state leaders have expressed outrage that a Ward County prosecutor allowed sexual abuse allegations against two West Texas State School administrators to languish for two years without prosecution.

But an e-mail obtained under the open records act shows a TYC administrator told a Perry criminal justice staff member in June 2005 that the case was not under prosecution.

In a June 13, 2005, e-mail, Perry staff member Alfonso Royal asked TYC Chief of Staff Joy Anderson: "What is going on in the West Texas investigation?"

Anderson replied 18 minutes later: "Both the assistant superintendent and the principal resigned in lieu of termination. We aren't aware of any pending criminal charges."

Perry spokesman Ted Royer said Tuesday that in June 2005 no one in the governor's office would have believed the prosecutor would sit on the case for 18 more months.

"From the communication we received, there was no reason to believe that due process was not moving forward as it should have," Royer said.

Royal did not check back with TYC again on the investigation.

Again, the real problem here is one of indifference. Royal could very easily have asked followup questions like "Do we expect any charges to be filed? If so, when? If not, why not?" Maybe that's easy for me to say, and maybe things are clearer in hindsight, but what's also clear is the pattern of inaction. Everywhere you look, from the Attorney General's office to the Governor's office, every time someone had the chance to really check and see what was going on, the path of least resistance was taken instead. In the end, it was one person asking questions who got things rolling. The reason that didn't happen sooner is because no one else had bothered.

Speaking of the Attorney General, he is finally taking this case to a grand jury.

In a West Texas courtroom today, 12 grand jurors will consider whether two top administrators of a state juvenile detention center routinely molested boys in their care -- allegations that shocked lawmakers and prompted a systemwide investigation.

Ward County District Clerk Patricia Oyerbides anticipates "a circus" of news media types and ordinary citizens to assemble outside the second-floor courtroom as the jury begins hearing evidence against Ray Brookins, a former assistant superintendent at the West Texas State School, and John Paul Hernandez, the facility's former principal.

[...]

Now, the Texas Ranger who pursued the case despite a lack of support from local, state and federal authorities, Sgt. Brian Burzynski, will tell jurors what he believed happened inside the tall metal fence of the 52-acre West Texas State School between 2003 and 2005.

In his investigative report, Burzynski said TYC staffers, incarcerated youth and log books indicated the two administrators summoned youthful offenders from classrooms and dormitory beds to their offices where they abused them.

Burzynski noted in his 2005 report, that one youth reported being abused by one of the men "so many times" that he "lost count."

Sometimes the man would use security to summon the boy in the morning, sometimes he'd wait until after lights out at 9 p.m., plying the youth with pornographic movies in his office, Burzynski's report states.

"Everyone knew what was going on," another youth told Burzynski at the time, adding that he was not molested.

Another youth who told the Ranger he was regularly abused in an empty classroom said one of the men once came bearing a cake from Wal-Mart and an offer to help him obtain financial aid for college in exchange for sex.

Grits reports that the Urban Affairs Committee will be holding a hearing on Rep. Carl Isett's HB985, which bans red light cameras, including their possible use for catching speeders, later today (see the schedule here). Scott's feelings on these things are much stronger than mine, so check out his related links for more of his thoughts on the matter. I'd prefer to see the approach taken by Sen. John Carona taken if any action must be, but we'll see what happens.

One of the themes of the TYC scandal is that for whatever the reason, the local prosecutor never bothered to take the evidence from Texas Ranger Brian Burzynski and charge the alleged wrongdoers with crimes. It turns out that this lack of action was par for the course for that District Attorney.

The prosecutor who took no action on the graphic Texas Rangers report on alleged sexual abuse at a West Texas juvenile prison for almost two years declined to prosecute nearly all felony cases that came before him in that time, according to an Associated Press review of state court filings.

State legislators have accused Randall W. Reynolds, who first won election as prosecutor for Ward, Reeves and Loving counties in 1996, of ignoring a lengthy Texas Ranger report that he received in March 2005 outlining allegations of abuse by two top administrators at the West Texas State School in Pyote, a small Ward County oil town.

[...]

According to statewide court filings from 2005 and 2006 analyzed by The Associated Press, Reynolds declined to prosecute more than 90 percent of the 128 felony cases filed in Ward County and 83 percent of the 210 cases in Reeves County between 2005 and 2006. Only one case was filed in Loving County, the state's least populous with only 67 residents.

Reynolds' rates rank among the highest in the state among counties that reported at least one felony from 2005 to 2006. Statewide, only about 18 percent of cases were not prosecuted in that time.

Judge Bob Parks, who presides over all of Reynolds' cases, generally dismisses at Reynolds' request, said Parks's court administrator, who asked not to be identified.

During the same time, Reynolds won guilty pleas or convictions in about 21 percent of cases in Reeves, Ward and Loving counties. Statewide, prosecutors won convictions in more than 55 percent of felony cases.

Ward County Attorney Kevin Acker, who handles misdemeanor and juvenile prosecutions, said he offered to help Reynolds and his two investigators with the TYC investigation but Reynolds didn't respond.

And after certifying two juveniles as adults in a TYC-related assault case, he offered Reynolds a list of witnesses to help prove that the two defendants used a broom handle to sexually assault another inmate.

A grand jury didn't issue an indictment, Acker said.

"I had 10 witnesses and I've never been able to figure out if any of them were called," Acker said. He's still trying to get the case to trial.

Reeves County Sheriff Arnulfo Gomez said felony cases his 10 deputies pass off to Reynolds often seem to vanish.

"We take cases and then we never hear anything again," Gomez said.

Acker said he has seen numerous felony cases end up in his office, refiled as misdemeanors after Reynolds didn't take on the cases.

Gomez said his deputies sometimes file cases as misdemeanors in Reeves County to improve the chances that a defendant will go to court. He has also started requiring someone in Reynolds' office to sign a receipt each time a case is dropped off to ensure that deputies cannot be accused of failing to turn in cases, Gomez said.

Have you ever been dinged for a late fee by a utility company even though you mailed your bill in on time? Utility companies in Texas, unlike (say) the IRS, are not required to use the postmark of the bill you've mailed as the payment date. They can "process" your payment internally, and if it takes them till past the due date to do that, well, that's just too bad for you.

Which is why Rep. Hubert Vo has filed HB478, which would require utilities to respect the postmark date:

A payment for retail utility services that is mailed to the retail utility provider using the United States Postal Service is considered made on the date the envelope or cover is postmarked by the postal service

HB 478 creates a standard rule so that there can be no dispute as to whether a bill was paid in a timely manner. This bill amends the Texas Utility Code to require utility companies to use the postmark date on the payment envelope as the date of payment..... as opposed to the date the payment is posted.

It is important to note that the current system provides no safeguard for the consumer. Utility companies may have a payment processing system that takes several days to post payments. If we require a date by which payments must be made, then we must have a uniform rule concerning the posting of those payments. Otherwise, the consumer is the only party who has a rule to follow. As it is now, the customer is at the mercy of the utility company posting procedures...... with no way of proving they made their payment on time.

HB 478 will decrease the potential for billing disputes. Both the customers and providers will have a clear rule to follow. If the consumers follow the rules and mail their payments on time, they will no longer face the possibility of being penalized....period.

The late fees, of course. They add up - $70 million a year is what I've heard - and they're basically free money for the utilities. Nobody can justify this (by all means, feel free to come up with a rationale if you think there could be one), but you can be sure the utilities are loathe to give it up. So rather than have a potentially embarrassing vote on some members' records, the lobbyists (who were reportedly there, on behalf of TXU, at the meeting yesterday) have used those two weeks to try and get the bill killed quietly, which is the usual method for handling such situations. And so here we are.

Speaking on a different legislative matter, Grits sums up the process:

Folks at the capitol are used to the committee process happening more or less beyond scrutiny. Hearings are frequently dog and pony shows where the press and the public is presented with an image pols want to present, but the real heavy lifting on the details of legislation all happens before the hearing, or in cases where a bill is disputed, behind the scenes after the hearing is over.

Lobbyists track bills closely. When committee agendas are posted they go through the bills to see what they care about and begin to prepare for the hearing by lobbying members, lining up speakers, preparing written testimony. The important work they do happens before the members meet, but typically the public isn't even aware of the issue until a hearing occurs.

I want to highlight a comment from this story about the removal of an iconic Maxwell House sign from the East End plant where the coffee was ground (here are the before and after pictures so you can see what's changed) because I think it gets to the heart of what preservation is all about.

While acknowledging that the sign wasn't folk art, Susanne Theis, executive director of the Orange Show for Visionary Art, asserted that it was "always a friendly presence."

"You smelled the coffee, you'd see the coffee cup drip," said Theis, who lives near the plant. "It meant that this was our neighborhood, and our neighborhood was different."

That wouldn't have helped in this case, as it was more a question of intellectual property, but the principle remains. Icons have value and should be treated as such. Otherwise, they're just things that can be disposed of at will. How that's done is up to us.

Over at Kuff's World, I've got a look at the city's response (PDF) to Ray Jones' lawsuit regarding his exclusion from the ballot for the City Council special election. Bottom line: I think the city has the better of the argument. See for yourself.

Meanwhile, Matt Stiles writes about the kerfuffle Stace caused when he posted two videos on YouTube of Roy Morales answering questions at a Minuteman rally in Houston in 2005. You can watch the videos and draw your own conclusions, but I'll say this: In the interview that Morales did with me, he never said anything remotely like what he said in that first clip, even though one of my questions was about HPD's policies regarding checking immigration status. I even nudged him a little on it, and he went on a tangent regarding bulletproof glass in police cars instead. Whether this represents a genuine moderation of Morales' position, or pandering to the audience he perceives me to have, is for you to decide.

According to Corridor Watch, there are now veto-proof majorities in both chambers for the toll road moratorium bill. It still has to make it through committee, which will present some interesting options for toll-loving Chair Mike Krusee, and it needs to be passed quickly so there's time for a legislative override of Governor Perry's expected veto, but the picture is clear: The Lege wants to put the brakes on. Will the will of the super-majority be followed or thwarted? Stay tuned and find out. Thanks to Eye on Williamson, who has followed this all very closely, for the heads up.

The TYC board may have resigned on Friday, but that may not mean anything just yet:

Mark Brown, a lawyer with the Texas Legislative Council, told state lawmakers today that despite their resignation letters, the Texas Youth Commission governing board can't quit.

Brown said the resignation letters the board gave Gov. Rick Perry last Friday may signal their intent to leave the board, but he said they actually serve until Perry names their successors and those people are "qualified" to serve.

During a legislative session, "qualified" means confirmed by the Senate.

Brown said the board's status as quit or serving may not matter because they passed a resolution giving all of their authority to acting Executive Director Ed Owens.

"They passed the gavel," Brown said.

Whatever the case with the board, that won't stop other people from quitting.

Deputy Executive Director Linda Reyes and General Counsel Neil Nichols resigned their positions, said agency spokesman Jim Hurley. Reyes had been at TYC for 18 years, and Nichols had been there for 33 years.

Reyes has been in charge of the resocialization program for youth in the agency's custody.

Nichols was the agency lawyer who helped negotiate a settlement in 1988 to the Morales v. Turman federal lawsuit. The TYC had been under a federal court order for fourteen years amid allegations of abuse and neglect of students in the system's custody.

Nichols also has been instrumental in drafting juvenile justice legislation since 1995.

But both were senior executives at the commission during the past three years when high staff turnovers began occurring and there were renewed allegations of staff on youth physical and sexual assault. Legislators have accused the agency's executive staff of ignoring problems as they developed.

"These people were part of the executive leadership of this agency when all the stories that were reported were taking place," Hurley said. "We need a new direction at this agency. We need a new culture. We need a new attitude."

On a side note, Perry's special master for TYC gets a glowing profile in the Chron. I'm sure Jay Kimbrough is all that and a bag of chips, but it might have been nice to hear from someone who isn't necessarily convinced that one of the Governor's political operatives is the right person to clean house in an objective let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may fashion.

UPDATE: Missed this earlier: the first major lawsuit related to this scandal has now been filed. Thanks to Vince for the catch.

After coming to the floor yesterday, the bill to (mostly) restore CHIP funding was sent back to the drawing board to try again.

A missing word in a bill analysis derailed debate Monday on a bill to cover more youngsters under the Children's Health Insurance Program.

A sharp-eyed Rep. Robert Talton, R-Pasadena, noticed the error in the analysis of House Bill 109 -- the word "family" was missing -- and raised it shortly after the bill was brought up for discussion. As a result, the bill will be sent back to the House Human Services Committee for another vote.

The bill's author, Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, said he thinks the committee will quickly move to pass the bill and send it to the House. He predicted it will pass in the House despite opposition from some Republicans who don't want to expand the program, which provides insurance for families who earn too much for Medicaid but can't afford private health insurance.

"We'll be back even stronger and work even harder," he said, citing bipartisan support.

The bit that really interested me in this story is right here:

Talton said he would be happy if the bill never came back out of committee, which passed it earlier this month, 8-1.

"I believe in limited government. I think people ought to pay for (health insurance) themselves," he said.

So thanks, Bob. Thanks for the reminder that while alliances matter, values matter more. I appreciate it.

It's been six weeks since I last checked in on the Robinson Warehouse, and to say the least things look a little different now.

As you can tell, there's not a whole lot more of this to see, but I've got two more pictures anyway, from different perspectives. What is clear is that the site is bigger than it was when the warehouse was standing. It stretches to the north past where the loading dock on that side was. What's not clear is when construction will begin, or why the grass was planted before construction began. For now, it's just a big, empty lot, one where you'd never have guessed what used to be there. When something changes, I'll be back to take more pictures.

From Team Noriega:

Please join us at our headquarters opening party this Saturday, March 24th from 4 pm to 7 pm for food, drinks and fun! Pick up a yard sign and bumper sticker while you are there and find out about volunteer opportunities.

We are located at 7401 Gulf Freeway (map). Take the Park Place exit and head north on the access road. We are in a yellow, two-story building with Melissa Noriega signs out front!

My first reaction upon reading this article about jerks in the workplace is how fortunate I've been in my professional life. I've never had a bad boss, going all the way back to my student days. There's not a one I can think of that I wouldn't work for again. Heck, I've never even had a problem with a grandboss or a great-grandboss. Yes, I know how lucky that makes me.

Reading through the Q&A with Workplace Jerk expert Robert Sutton, I was struck by the following:

Q: First, let's define who we're talking about. You define work jerks as people who pick on those beneath them and leave others feeling belittled and sapped of energy. What are some other signs?

A: To me, the main sign of someone who's a certified jerk is someone who leaves a trail of people feeling demeaned and de-energized. It tends to be more often associated with power dynamics -- they kiss-up to those above them and kick down those beneath them. About a third of the time, bullying is peer on peer.

So. Are you a jerk? Take the quiz and find out. More here and on Sutton's blog.

Rad Sallee's column yesterday was of great interest to me.

Developer Ed Wulfe and Citizens for Public Transportation, which he chairs, played a key role in winning voter approval of Metro's long-term transit plan in 2003.

Since that tough campaign and razor-thin victory, the organization has been largely dormant, but that's about to change, Wulfe said last week.

The group has reactivated and is soliciting contributions to two political action committees that will support pro-transit candidates. CPT will probably play a role in this fall's elections, he said.

"We want to support those people who carry the flag in Washington, particularly to ensure that Houston is in the forefront in getting our share of transit dollars," Wulfe said. One of the PACs focuses on federal elections and the other on state and local ones.

2008, on the other hand...

Wulfe -- not to be confused with Metro board chairman David Wolff -- said reviving the committee was his idea, not Metro's.

Its resurrection could be viewed in part as a shot across the bow of U.S. Rep. John Culberson, who serves on a House subcommittee that decides transit funding and who opposes having any part of the planned University light rail line on Richmond.

Although Metro has praised Culberson for his support of various transit projects, it intends to put rails on Richmond at least as far west as Greenway Plaza, where Wulfe has his offices.

"I'm reluctant to single out John Culberson," Wulfe said. But he added, "We want our representatives in Washington to be fully behind a comprehensive system."

I was no longer living in New York by the time the fights over whether or not gay organizations would be allowed to participate in the Saint Patrick's Day Parade started breaking out. (The best summary of the whole sorry saga is Rob Carlson's song "God Loves The Irish", of which you can hear a brief sample here.) I hadn't heard much about this in recent years, so I wasn't aware that not only was this issue still unsettled, but that the head of the Order of Hibernians, who oversee the parade, has proven himself to be a pigheaded jerk in other related matters as well. Julia has the story, which as a part-Irish former New Yorker whose grandfather was a proud member of the FDNY makes me angry and embarrassed. Read it and weep.

Today the committee substitute for HB 109, also known as the CHIP restoration bill gets brought to the House floor. You already know what I think about this, so I'm just going to tell you what the Legislative Study Group thinks. Click on for their evaluation of the bill, both its good and not-so-good points.

In 1999, the 76th Legislature pased SB 445, creating the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), designed for working families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid yet are unable to afford private insurance for their children. After its implementation in April 2000, the Texas CHIP program became one of the best in the country and by May 2003 had enrolled 513,742 children. Since 78th Legislature's implementation of HB 2292 and its bureaucratic roadblocks in 2003 the state caseload had dropped to a low of 291,530. Current levels are at 325,479 as of February 2007. Texas is home to nearly 1.4 million uninsured children. Two thirds of these children are at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level and eligible for either Children's Medicaid or CHIP. The impact of uninsured children is felt by physicians, local emergency rooms, clinics and state taxpayers.

While CSHB 109 has repealed many unneeded provisions, this bill fails to restore CHIP enrollement to pre-2003 levels. The fiscal note for this bill states that 102,224 additional children will be enrolled by fiscal year 2009. This is still 86,039 short of the 513,742 level before HB 2292.

An assets test is not required by federal law and Texas is one of only two states with this stipulation. While CSHB 109 modifies the assets test applied in the state, continuation of its practice does not further the state's goal of ensuring health care access to eligible Texas children. HB 2292 instructed the Health and Human Services Commission to adopt rules to implement an assets test and income verification. However, CSHB 109 permanently places the assets test and income verification in state statute whereas currently they are flexibles rules adopted by the commission. Including this in the bill locks these provisions into statute leaving no flexibility for the commission to change provisions by rule in the future.

CSHB 109 changes the income language from gross income to net income. This will allow the applicant to make certain deductions for child care and child support payments made to other households. This bill also creates a community outreach and education campaign which will provide information relating to the availability of health benefits for eligible children. This is a positive aspect of the bill. The eligibility standards in CSHB 109 increase the allowable family assets from $5,000 to $10,000. This bill also makes exemption for vehicles, the first for up to $18,000 and the second up to $7,500. Currently vehicle exemptions are $15,000 for the first and $4,650 for the second.

This bill restores the twelve months of continuous coverage. The previous six months of coverage was proven to be administratively unfeasible and a barrier to providing health coverage to Texas children. Twelve months of uninterrupted healthcare access ensures a healthier Texas and greater fiscal responsibility by the state. Shortening the period of health coverage for children enrolled in CHIP increases administrative costs to the state and interrupts continuity of care for Texas children. The final provision of CSHB 109 eliminates the 90 day wait period for health coverage which was an added barrier to enrollment.

The Chron editorializes on the matter of disqualified candidates for the Council special election. I basically agree with their conclusion:

[K]nocking qualified hopefuls out of a race over minor technicalities is neither in the interests of the democratic process nor the spirit, if not the letter, of the law.

Having said that, I have to ask: Didn't Jones' notary (and Darryn Call's, for that matter) notice the blanks that needed filling on this form? I've used a notary before (my mother-in-law happens to be one, though I used someone else's services for this), and in each case I was specifically instructed to fill in all the applicable blanks before I affixed my to-be-notarized signature. I realize that anyone can be a notary, but you'd think that this sort of thing would be habitual and instinctive for them. How is it that the same stupid mistake was made by two different notary publics? I'm a little boggled by that.

My interview with City Council special election candidate Noel Freeman is now up on Kuff's World. I wasn't sure what to make of him going in, but I came away favorably impressed. Give it a listen and see what you think.

Previously:

Melissa Noriega - Interview

Andy Neill - Interview

Roy Morales - Interview

David Goldberg - Interview

Back in January, we heard that the venerable Arabia Shrine Center on Braeswood near Kirby was on the block. According to Nancy Sarnoff, a deal is in the works.

The 144,632-square-foot facility that's hosted arts galas, roller derbies and other fundraisers was appraised at $3.5 million in 2006, according to Harris County tax records.

John McDonald, an official with the Shrine center, wouldn't discuss the sale of the nearly six-acre site because he said it is still pending.

The property sits along the bayou near the Medical Center, Bellaire and Reliant Park.

Increasing land values have made these properties expensive to hold, considering taxes and other expenses.

The appraised value of the Masonic lodge, for example, went from $907,990 in 2003 to $1.5 million last year.

Creech, of Stan Creech Properties, said the Shriners property could sell for upwards of $45 a square foot, or $11.4 million based on increasing values in the inner city.

I'll be sorry to see the old place go, as it's just another piece of Houston history that's headed for the trash bin. I'm curious as to what the buyer has in mind for the space, assuming they're not going to just flip it like the Stables buyer wants to do. If you're going to tear something down, I think the least you can do is be quick about replacing it. We'll see.

For your amusement, one blogger's opinion of the 25 Worst NCAA D-I College Mascots. I might have skipped over this, but she picked Rice's Sammy the Owl (warning: that link will be blocked by any corporate net.nanny worth its salt) at #21, so it's worth a look. Contains naughty language, so don't click if that sort of thing bothers you, but you'll miss out on some funny stuff if it does. Thanks to Grungy for the tip.

As you know, the Great Texas Warrant Roundup is now over. How'd they do?

More than $383,000 in fines was collected in Houston during a recent statewide warrant sweep, clearing 1,444 outstanding municipal court cases, Police Chief Harold Hurtt said last week.

The official statewide tally of cases cleared and fines collected still is under way, but officials in Angleton, Cleveland and Missouri City were able to provide their statistics.

More than 67 outstanding warrants were cleared in Angleton, bringing in about $6,000 in uncollected fees and fines, said municipal court clerk Natalie Cardenas.

In Cleveland, Officer Zach Harkness said 50 warrants were cleared, bringing in about $5,000. Only two people were actually arrested there, Harkness said.

Missouri City Court Administrator Cathy Haney said 81 warrants were cleared, bringing in $22,721.50.

I have three things to say about this:

The state would funnel millions more federal dollars into promoting healthy marriages among low-income Texans under a proposal pushed by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, and others.

Chisum put a provision in the state budget being developed by the panel that would direct up to $4.8 million more annually from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant into a healthy marriages initiative.

[...]

Chisum and other backers say the effort addresses problems that cause marriages to break up, which thrusts single parents into poverty.

"If we don't start addressing these problems on the front end, we'll never be able to fund the back end," Chisum said. "That's the biggest issue we have out there, is not having a family unit. ... Hopefully we'll have a whole lot of surplus TANF funds if we get this done (because) we won't have single mothers out there with kids, which is what the TANF money is for."

Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, voiced concern that the initiative drains money from other programs. "People who have these problems could be going to see their minister," she said. "It just doesn't seem like the best use of state funds."

Advocates for the poor noted that women may eschew marriage for economic reasons, since they may lose Medicaid for their children if their household income rises slightly.

Rep. Robert Puente, a San Antonio Democrat and member of the mostly-Republican House leadership, said the state should fill gaps in basic services such as health care for needy citizens before venturing further.

"To designate this amount of money for something as nebulous as healthy marriages I don't think it's money well spent," Puente said. "It's incumbent on us as a state to fund these basic social services for our citizens. If we're successful at that, let's look at Warren Chisum's proposals."

But Rep. Betty Brown, a Terrell Republican on the Appropriations panel, said there are young people whose lives "could be made so much better by a stable, two-parent family relationship."

That's all I got.

There's not a whole lot more in this Clay Robison piece on the halfway mark of the 80th Lege than we'd already gotten from Paul Burka, but there is one thing worth highlighting:

[S]everal of Gov. Perry's priorities are in deep trouble, even among fellow Republicans, and the governor didn't help his cause by leaving last week on an eight-day economic development trip to the Middle East.

[...]

Spokesman Robert Black said Perry didn't leave the country to seek refuge from his detractors.

"Even during the critical 140 days of a legislative session, a governor has other duties and responsibilities that require attention," he said.

But that hasn't impressed the governor's detractors.

"He (Perry) has made some bad political moves," said Talton, noting that some of the strongest opposition to the cervical cancer vaccine and the Trans-Texas Corridor has come from conservative Republicans.

"When the relationship is on the rocks, it isn't the best time to leave," added Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio.

Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, said Perry's problems stem largely from the fact that he was re-elected in November with only 39 percent of the vote in a five-candidate field.

"I think that's what you're seeing. The support for him is not strong," he said.

I have finally drunk the Kool-Aid and gotten myself set up on Facebook - see my profile here. Those of you who are looking for a sign than social networking is dead should probably write down today's date, just in case. The rest of you, please feel free to friend me.

(An iPod and a Facebook page, both after turning 40. Is this what a 21st century midlife crisis looks like? Just as well if so, I've never cared much for sports cars.)

Missed this on Friday: Mayor White met with a bunch of the other mayors in the area, following their complaints about his air-cleanup plan.

"It's a really big day in the region," White said after the closed-door summit with the mayors of Pasadena, La Porte, Deer Park, Baytown, Morgans Point and Galena Park. Precinct 2 Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia also attended.

White's push for regional action in the past has proved unsuccessful.

In 2005, in response to evidence that concentrations of carcinogenic chemicals in Houston neighborhoods exceeded levels considered safe, White unveiled a clean-air plan that covered a broad area.

The lack of response to that proposal, by companies, the state and other officials, in part led the city to pursue strategies to clean up its air alone.

Following the two-hour session, Pasadena Mayor John Manlove announced a consensus had been reached on a three-prong agreement with the main plank being formation of a regional task force. This group, which is supposed to be formed within a week, will come up with a plan based on scientific data that would result in cleaner air, better health and economic growth.

When asked how this would affect his plan to negotiate voluntary reductions of carcinogenic benzene emissions at seven area plants, White said: "We have a draft plan and want the task force to take a look at it. We want them to review and make suggestions."

Good grief.

Word that Minyard Food Stores is considering moving a Hispanic-oriented Carnival supermarket into an empty building in the center of town has further roiled a city that has been debating whether to impose local measures to curb illegal immigration.

A new divide has formed, largely along ethnic lines, over whether the new store should be a traditional market or one aimed at Hispanic customers.

"It would be great if we could get a store in there that caters to all kinds of people, not just a Korean grocery or a Hispanic grocery," said Tom Bohmier, a leader of Support Farmers Branch, a group that backs a ban on renting apartments to illegal immigrants that will go before voters this spring.

Elizabeth Villafranca, head of the Farmers Branch chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said opposition to a Carnival by Anglo residents shows "they aren't just against illegal immigrants. They're against minorities and poor people living in their city."

A Carnival store would be ideal in a city that is 40 percent Hispanic, said Villafranca, who owns a Mexican restaurant across the street from the potential location.

[...]

"We already have an American store, a Kroger. It makes sense to add a Carnival," Villafranca said. A traditional supermarket at that location closed last spring, leaving the city of 27,000 residents with one major food store.

We did not got to the parade downtown today, but that's OK. We went to the Saint Patrick's Day parade at Olivia's preschool yesterday.

So Happy Saint Patrick's Day, everybody! A couple of years ago, I wrote a few thoughts about the day and the concept that Everyone Is Irish On Saint Patrick's Day. Looking at the crowd yesterday, it was clear everyone bought into that. Rereading what I wrote from four years ago, I'd have to say as a 3/8ths Irishman that it's a good thing. What do you think?

Meet Ed Owens.

Ed Owens effectively became the Texas Youth Commission czar Friday, vested with total power to rebuild an agency in administrative disarray and unable to guarantee the safety of youth in its custody.

Owens, the TYC's acting executive director, was given unfettered decision-making authority by the agency's governing board moments before its six members resigned.

As Owens took control of the scandal-ridden juvenile corrections system, he laid out a two-page plan outlining 24 areas where he wanted to overhaul the agency to improve staff and youth safety as well as rehabilitation services for the incarcerated youth.

"When you talk about changing a culture, that takes some time," he said, but added, "It's time for action."

Owens promised to establish systems to standardize staff training and to have central office staff review all allegations of abuse and neglect rather than leaving the primary job up to personnel in the individual institutions.

There also will be routine criminal background checks on staff.

Owens also promised an administrative shake-up in the Austin headquarters if that became necessary to break an entrenched bureaucracy that has resisted change.

He said he will surround himself with professionals who are "decisive" and take initiative.

Shifting oversight from a larger board to one person appointed by the governor - any person, any governor - is a bad idea. Boards aren't useless if the Governor doesn't appoint useless board members.

[...]

I don't think he should be granted autocratic power. Here's the case why:

1. So far Owens has shown a tendency to cover up rather than honestly discuss TYC's problems with the Legislature.

2. More investigation needs to be done to discover whether Owens covered up sex abuse allegations at his last job.

3. An imperious management style won't encourage communication to let management identify and prevent problems.

The Texas Senate had wanted the TYC governing board replaced with a conservatorship, but Gov. Rick Perry has said he wanted a single commissioner reporting to the governor.

Legislative leaders have opposed the single commissioner idea, but with the board's recommendations Perry has gotten what he wanted at least temporarily.

While a governing board is subject to Senate review, Owens will be less accountable to the Legislature than to Perry. An internal e-mail from the governor's office shows that Owens already is taking direction from Perry's staff.

The e-mail obtained by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News shows that when Owens was appointed as acting executive director on March 1, he was told to contact Perry's press secretary "regarding talking points for tomorrow."

Will San Antonio ever get another major sports team? Right now, it's looking like the answer is No.

The prospects for San Antonio landing a second major-league professional sports franchise in the near future are so dim, local officials say, they have essentially abandoned the idea.

Michael Sculley, the county's consultant on the matter, said recent conversations with NFL and Major League Baseball executives indicate little interest in San Antonio as a relocation or expansion target. As a result, Sculley said he plans to advise county commissioners to drop the idea of using revenue from a proposed venue tax extension to fund pursuit of another team.

Sculley said commissioners should instead focus on proposals to use the tax to finance San Antonio River improvements and construction of a performing arts center and a youth sports complex.

"I'm trying to convince them, saying, 'You guys can become heroes in the public eye by not wasting money on a potential professional team,'" Sculley said in an interview at his Alamodome office.

"It's hard for me to fathom as a newcomer here why (San Antonio) has struggled with this for so long," Sculley said of the city's quest to land a second franchise. "As a newcomer, I'm going, 'Don't you think you've fought that battle long enough?'"

Juanita points to this review of Tom DeLay's new book, which judging from the excerpts should be subtitled something like "All Republicans Stink But Me". For no particular reason, I'm reminded of something Tommy Lasorda said when his former player Jay Johnstone became an author: "He wrote a book? With what, shaving cream? A fire extinguisher?"

Far as I'm concerned, that's the appropriate demeanor to take when speaking of DeLay and his effort to sanitize his history. But if you want a more substantive take, I recommend Greg in TX22, with a followup here. Me, I'll stick with the derision.

Former Major League Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn has passed away at the age of 80. To say the least, he was Commissioner during interesting times.

In 1976, he voided the attempt by [Charlie] Finley's Oakland Athletics to sell Vida Blue, Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers for a combined price of $3.5 million, saying the deals weren't in the best interests of baseball.

He fined [Ray] Kroc, the San Diego Padres' owner, $100,000 in 1979 for saying he wanted to sign Joe Morgan of the Reds and Graig Nettles of the Yankees.

During Kuhn's years as commissioner, attendance in the major leagues grew from 23 million in 1968 to 44.6 million in 1982. In 1983, baseball signed a $1.2 billion television contract that would earn each team $7 million a year for six seasons, then an astonishing sum.

It was clear by now that baseball was transforming itself from a sport to a business, with revenue rising from $163 million in 1975 to $624 million in 1984.

"You can't be commissioner for 14 years and not change, for better or for worse. I hope I've changed for the better," he said. "I'm more philosophical about our problems. Initially, I used to become more upset. Now, I take problems for granted as being part of the office."

While business boomed on his watch, players wanted their cut.

[Curt] Flood sued to gain free agency, but lost his U.S. Supreme Court case in 1972. In 1975, the union finally ended the reserve clause, which bound players to their teams forever, winning an arbitration case filed on behalf of Dave McNally and Andy Messersmith. Baseball hasn't been the same since.

"He was in a difficult, untenable position in that whole period," said [Marvin] Miller, who remembered Kuhn for his humor. "My own guess is that if he had had his druthers, he would have moved to modify the whole reserve system sometime before the Messersmith case arose."

How long has it been since you've heard me on the radio spouting off about things like the Lege and Senate speculation? Well, that's too long, as they say. You can fix that tonight, as I'll be on the air with Sean-Paul at 8 PM Central time. No Daylight Savings Time-related excuses will be accepted. Listen to the livestream here, or call in at (512) 599-5555 or (toll free) 800-299-KTSA to ask me embarrassing questions. See you tonight!

Lt. Gov. Dewhurst, in response to threatssuggestions from fellow Republicans about getting a voter ID bill through the Senate, says:

Dewhurst said he can't understand "how anyone could be opposed to ensuring that American citizens vote in our elections."

He expects both House and Senate to approve legislation "to ensure that we maximize the number of voters which is in all of our best interest - but that we limit our elections to American citizens."

"I can't imagine who could possibly be against that concept," Dewhurst said.

I was a big fan of voter ID until the federal government declared my mother dead. The reason I've not been heavily involved in the political arena for the last three years is because I've been taking care of my 91 year old mother who is a complete invalid but is very much alive.

I found there was no way of proving her alive. Invalid 91 year olds do not have driver's licenses, passports, employment badges & etc. Since I'm taking care of her in my home she has no bills with her name and address. I can't even get her a birth certificate since she lacks the ID necessary for a notary to verify. Under HB 979 My mother, who is a registered voter in Austin, cannot vote in Texas. Anyone who says all legal voters under this bill can vote doesn't know what they are talking about. And anyone who says that a lack of IDs won't discriminate against otherwise legal minority voters is lying.

I found this bit in Kristin Mack's column from today to be amusing.

Reps. Debbie Riddle and Robert Talton and Sen. Dan Patrick, all Houston-area Republicans, want to do away with the city's "sanctuary city" policy. They hope to give police officers authority to enforce federal immigration laws and allow them to inquire about the immigration status of anyone "under arrest or detained on other grounds if the officer has a reasonable suspicion" that the person has violated immigration laws.

(*) Patrick is now registered to vote in Harris County, which he needed to do to run for his Senate seat, with an apartment out on Memorial Drive listed as his address. I don't know if it's in Houston proper or not, but I do know that he pays property taxes on a residence in Montgomery County.

City Council hopeful Ray Jones speaks out about his attempt to get on the ballot for the City Council special election.

He contends that city officials denied his notarized application because he left an oath section blank while other candidates with mistakes on their forms were approved.

In a petition to the 14th Court of Appeals on Thursday, Jones' attorney, Richard Leach, also suggested that his client's advocacy on behalf of the disabled in conflict with the city may have played a role.

His daughter, Kristen Jones, who is disabled, recently won a federal court case against Mayor Bill White and the city in which the judge required that dozens of curbs be fixed or rebuilt to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Jones also said he has appeared before the council and other groups to complain about White's policies on mobility and parking.

"It appears that, if you're favorable to the city, then the city will allow you to run," Leach said. "If the city doesn't like you, as in the case of Ray Jones, then it doesn't allow you to run."

One section of Leach's petition, filed with a request to stop the election until the matter is decided, uses stronger language: "Why does Mayor White hate Ray Jones?"

Jones' attorney also raises concerns about the amount of time Jones was given to correct his error. He said the City Charter allows candidates until midnight, not 5 p.m., to file applications. That provision, however, is superseded by the Texas Election Code, which requires the earlier time.

COUNCIL MEMBER, DISTRICT C

Candidate        Votes    Pct

=============================

JUDY SIVERSON    1,543   6.24

MARK LEE         4,553  18.40

GEORGE HITTNER   4,912  19.86

ANNE CLUTTERBUCK 4,954  20.03

BRIAN CWEREN     3,509  14.18

HERMAN LITT      4,317  17.45

RAY JONES          950   3.84

Be that as it may, Jones has emailed me to say that the 14th Court of Appeals has demanded a response from the city by Monday at 2 PM. We'll see what happens next.

Have I mentioned that the TYC scandal is not going away? It's still expanding in scope.

A South Texas juvenile corrections facility run by the Texas Youth Commission is so "chaotic and dangerous" that it violates the constitutional rights of the youth incarcerated there, the U.S. Justice Department told state officials Thursday.

Youth-on-youth assaults at the Evins Regional Juvenile Center in Edinburg are five times the national average, the report said, and in one instance last year a corrections officer tried to subdue an unruly youth by pushing his eyes "back into his face."

A 14-page letter from Justice officials to Gov. Rick Perry detailed repeated patterns of violence that injured both youths and corrections officers at Evins. The report said the facility is poorly designed, insufficiently staffed and has corrections officers who are poorly trained.

The letter said if the problems are not fixed within 49 days, the department's Civil Rights Division may file suit against Texas to bring the facility into compliance.

This doesn't surprise anyone, right?

House budget writers, in order to find nearly $78 million more in state funds for the proposed CHIP expansion, whittled proposed increases in other social services, including mental-health care and breast and cervical cancer screening.

Their recommendations wouldn't mean a cut in current spending but would scale back their expansion bad enough to those who say the state already falls short of helping its needy citizens.

"You don't take from one vulnerable population in order to meet the needs of another vulnerable population," said Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, who is pushing the CHIP expansion but this week voted against taking the money from other social services to pay for it.

[...]

Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, the Appropriations Committee member seeking to balance competing needs in the social services budget, said the decisions are difficult. The committee can allocate about $1 billion in new state money for such programs, Gattis said, on top of the $1.7 billion proposed state increase for health and human services already in the starting-point base budget.

Despite billions in new revenue, much is spoken for to pay for items including a cut in local school property tax rates.

"We're going to treat this just like a family ... budget. You have a finite number of dollars. If you fund one thing, that means you don't fund something else," Gattis said. "We're not just going to go out and say, 'We need more money' and grab more money from the taxpayers of Texas."

And on that note, here's Rep. Garnet Coleman explaining how the money is being spent.

One more thing:

Turner said, "I have been around here long enough to know we will fund what we want. What we view as a priority, we will fund. ... When taking care of our children becomes a priority, we will fund that as well."

In case you haven't seen the Texas Monthly interview with Governor Perry, which has in some ways already been overtaken by current events, even if it's only a week old. All things considered, it's probably just as well that Perry picked this week to go globetrotting.

And just so we're clear:

Since you brought it up, there's an awful lot of speculation about you and the 2008 Republican presidential ticket. Are you prepared to say today that you would foreclose on the possibility of running for vice president?

Yes, I am. Not interested. If John McCain asked me, I'd say, "I'm sorry, Senator. I respect you. I love you ..." Mayor [Rudy] Giuliani: "You're a great guy ..." Mitt [Romney]: "You're a fine governor ... but you need to find somebody who has a passion to be your vice president. I don't."

What would the world be like if that asteroid of 65 million years ago had missed? Here's one possible scenario. Nothing like a little alternative paleontology for a Friday morning, right? Feel free to make whatever dinosaur jokes you can't help but make in the comments. Link via Ezra.

A small amount of sanity has been restored in New Braunfels, where it was sorely needed.

The City Council settled on new river rules Wednesday night, easing some of the proposed restrictions on tubers that were contained in the ordinances.

While still restricting the size of coolers that tourists can bring on the Comal and Guadalupe rivers, the council agreed to increase the maximum to a 16-quart ice chest. The earlier version, which was adopted, but then reconsidered, called for 7-quart coolers that could hold only six 12-ounce cans.

"It's a reasonable compromise," Councilman Pat Wiggins said.

First, the council rejected a motion to allow 48-quart ice chests on a 5-2 vote, with Councilwomen Sonja Munoz-Gill and Gale Pospisil backing the larger coolers.

"If we were to endorse that size cooler, we would be doing zero to address litter, zero to address drunkenness and zero to address safety," Councilwoman Kathleen Krueger said. "The problem is not going away until someone steps up to the plate."

Pospisil and Munoz-Gill focused on practical matters about how the 16-quart cooler would work.

It doesn't fit snugly in a tube, so it would be more likely to fall out. The most popular type, made by Playmate, opens in a manner that would be awkward to work while stored in a floating tube. And they asked how police would handle people floating into the city limits from the county with larger coolers on the Guadalupe River.

Others said the 16-quart cooler is too large to make a difference in reducing litter and alcohol problems.

Mayor Bruce Boyer agreed the 16-quart ice chest might not be ideal.

"That may be cutting the baby in half, but it is a start," he said.

The council also eased the restrictions in a second river ordinance, removing the requirement that children under age 8 wear life jackets, allowing tubers on the Comal to bring a second tube for their cooler and increasing the allowable size of floatation devices so anything that will fit down the tube chute is OK.

"I do strongly believe it is a personal parental right and obligation," Pospisil said of the proposal to make children wear life jackets. "I am also concerned about putting extra burdens on our police officers."

Boyer said he thinks the committee should take a break until after the summer to see how the new rules work before taking any more action.

"We need a rest," Boyer said. "This issue has been very divisive and let's get the community to calm down a bit, and after Labor Day see what's going on."

Galveston County Judge Susan Criss and her blog get a nice shoutout in the Chron today.

When Criss started the blog "As The Island Floats" in January she began it with warnings that she would not discuss cases before her. She also stressed that what she blogs cannot be taken to indicate how she might rule.

Criss, like Posner before her, started her adventure by filling in for another blogger. For Criss, it is was on the Austin-based Texas political blog "Grits for Breakfast." Posner said he posted on the "Lessig Blog" of a California law professor who once clerked for him.

Both judges said they simply obey the same rules they would speaking in any other forum.

"You can't just run your mouth so much that you'd be recused all over the place," Criss said.

Understandably, the few judges who write blogs tend to be jurists who write a lot anyway.

Criss, a journalism major in college, has written about her experiences for years.

"It's not for everybody. There's a lot of work, you have to keep up. But if I were not writing this I'd be sending it out in emails," said Criss, currently overseeing litigation over the deadly explosion at the Texas City BP plant.

So why might even more jurists take up the keyboard and blog?

As the Posner blog began: "Blogging is ... a fresh and striking exemplification of Friedrich Hayek's thesis that knowledge is widely distributed among people and that the challenge to society is to create mechanisms for pooling that knowledge."

Or as Criss explained: "To write about life and justice."

Here's the letter (PDF) that Sen. Ellis and others sent to Lt. Gov. Dewhurst regarding voter ID bills. Nothing new information-wise, but as you can see it was signed by all 11 Democratic Senators. It's nice to see such unity on a vital matter like this.

There's also the ominous possibility that it won't matter.

Dewhurst, who presides over the Texas Senate, supports the photo ID requirement, spokesman Mike Wintemute said, and expects the Senate to advance a proposal to Gov. Rick Perry.

The comments surfaced after Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said Wednesday that 10 fellow Senate Democrats have committed to joining him in blocking Senate debate on the photo ID mandate, which opponents call an intimidation tool likely to suppress minority voting. The mandate is opposed by the Texas Democratic Party, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Common Cause of Texas.

Eleven "no" votes would be enough to prevent debate under the Senate's tradition of requiring a two-thirds margin of the 31-member body to bring up proposals, although Dewhurst can bypass the tradition.

Wintemute cautioned against counting Senate votes prematurely: "It's too early in the process to be making assurances about where any senator is."

[...]

Rep. Leo Berman of Tyler, chairman of the House Committee on Elections, predicted the House will send the Senate a proposal requiring voters to present a photo ID before voting and also requiring residents to prove their U.S. citizenship before registering to vote.

If Dewhurst wants the identification requirement to pass into law, Berman said, he can suspend the two-thirds' tradition or "twist a few arms."

"What happens over there (in the Senate) is the lieutenant governor's problem," Berman said. Dewhurst, he said, "needs that passed; he wants that passed."

To address a point that came up in the comments of my previous post:

Texas is among 17 states requiring identification but not necessarily a photo ID. Voters may present a voter registration card or a driver's license, Department of Public Safety identification card, birth certificate, passport or official mail sent to the person by name by a governmental agency.

Now, Inside the Texas Capitol says that in the event such a bill passes, the Department of Justice would be conducting a review to see if it would infringe on the voting rights of minorities. Normally, I'd say that's good news, but given how the fix is in, I wouldn't hold my breath in anticipation of a rescue. This needs to be killed, now and in the future, until sanity and a better Lege reign.

Previously, Matt Stiles reported on why some candidates who had filed to be in the May 12 City Council special election were disallowed on the ballot. Short answer: they failed to fill out a portion of the ballot application in which they swear an oath to "support and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States and the State of Texas". It was signed and notarized, but the blanks for their name, the county name, the name of the office they're filing for, and the name of their notary were all blank. (See here (PDF) for an illustration.) Today, Stiles reports that candidates in the past have been allowed on the ballot despite this omission, including some who went on to win election.

City lawyers recently disqualified several candidates seeking to replace Shelley Sekula-Gibbs on the City Council because they forgot to complete required sections of the forms.

Yet since 2001, they have approved similarly flawed applications filed by more than two dozen other candidates, including four current or former council members, according to an analysis of the records obtained by the Houston Chronicle.

[...]

"There is a double standard at the city in the application process," said Ray Jones Jr., one of three candidates whose attempts to get on the May ballot were rejected. He didn't complete a section of the form in which candidates swear that they meet the requirements for the office. "To me, turning down an application on a technicality is grossly unfair."

Of the other two rejected candidates, Darryn Call also didn't complete the written oath. The other, Greg Locke, was denied space on the ballot because he, like [former Council Member Shelley] Sekula-Gibbs, didn't list a voter-registration number.

Such errors, city officials say, are the fault of candidates, who ultimately are responsible to file completed applications.

City Attorney Arturo Michel said Wednesday that there isn't a double standard for approving applications. He said employees who approved flawed ballot applications in the past missed the errors or simply misinterpreted the law.

"The answer is that it's more vigorously enforced (now)," Michel said. "We have a more experienced person looking at that."

What I'm getting at is that I think the rule should be inclined towards allowing people on the ballot rather than rejecting them. In this case, the oath was as noted signed and notarized. You don't need the blanks filled in to know who made that oath, because you can see the signature beneath it. I can understand the case for strict enforcement, but I don't really see the value that's being added.

But we'll see what the court has to say. Meanwhile, you can see more about Stiles' nifty reporting work here. Like I said, stay tuned.

UPDATE: Here are Jones' documents:

Writ of Mandamus
Motion for temporary injunction

Both are Word docs - they were sent to me as Word Perfect docs, but I don't have Word Perfect so I converted them. Enjoy.

Good news.

Sen. Rodney Ellis has a letter signed by 11 senators saying that they won't vote to bring up a bill that would require a picture ID and proof of citizenship to vote or register to vote - which basically kills the bill.

Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, decried the proposals as attempts at "voter intimidation." Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, said the measures amount to "going after Granny and the disabled," along with people of color.

Supporters of the measures have said more security is needed at the ballot box. Opponents say that's not been proven and more requirements will further drive down voter participation.

Bills pending in the House Elections Committee are HB101, HB218 and HB626.

Ellis released a letter to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst signed by 11 senators who say they'll vote against considering such legislation.

Ellis' press release is here. Given all that we know about the Great Prosecutor Purge and its close ties to voting rights matters, I want to highlight this excerpt from it:

The attempt to weaken voting rights is now a national movement. Twenty five states have either enacted or attempted to pass legislation that would require photo ID to be eligible to vote despite no documented evidence that a voter has voted in any state using false identification.

In late 2005, the Washington Post reported that career attorneys in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division recommended that the federal government reject the state of Georgia's plan to require voters to provide photo identification, but were overridden by political appointees within the department. According to the report, career officials found that the Georgia Voter ID plan would weaken African Americans right to vote. Last month, a U.S. District Court judge blocked implementation of the Georgia Voter ID plan, comparing the law to the poll tax.

"There is overwhelming evidence that the voter ID plan is a solution in search of a problem," said Ellis. "Supporters of this effort continue to throw charges, anecdotal evidence and rhetoric around, but cannot point to one single case of voter impersonation. Those of us opposed, however can cite case after case of voter intimidation and suppression. The same concerns we raised here in Texas were echoed by career justice department officials."

One last thing:

A handful of legislators stood beside Ellis at the podium, including two members of the committee that heard the bills. Rep. Lon Burnam, a Fort Worth Democrat, called the proposal a "21st Century poll tax," while Rep. Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas) said he'd checked up on claims of voter impersonation (when a voter misrepresents themselves at a polling place) that were raised in committee by the bills' authors, and found no evidence such a problem existed. When he asked the Secretary of State's office about voter impersonation in the last five years, Anchia said he was told they had not received a single complaint.

The statewide effort to ban smoking in restaurants, which began in the Senate, has now come to the House.

A House committee public hearing on a statewide smoking ban was a virtual replay of arguments made on the local level as cities throughout the state have considered making restaurants and bars smoke-free.

"This is not about whether Texans should smoke, that is an individual decision. We are working to protect employees in the state of Texas," said Rep. Myra Crownover, R-Denton, who is sponsoring the bill. "It has been debated, cussed and discussed. But it's a worldwide movement that is catching on."

While the Texas Restaurant Association supports the ban, several small business and pro-business groups are opposing it.

Smoking bans are a reckless expansion of government and set a dangerous precedent, according to Peggy Venable, director of Americans for Prosperity Texas, a group that supports lower taxes and less government.

The ban should be rejected, Venable said, because it violates business owners' property rights and denies consumers the right to choose.

"What's next? Banning chewing gum because it can cause tooth decay or outlawing chocolate because it can cause obesity?" she asked. "It's an overreach. Smoking may be unhealthy behavior, but it's legal."

Putting it in more concrete terms:

When M.D. Anderson went smoke free in 1989, it was a "bold move, now it's just common sense," said Charles LeMaistre, former president of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The Texas Medical Center went smoke free last year.

"Spending one hour in a smoking restaurant is the equivalent of smoking a cigarette," he said, to illustrate the effects of secondhand smoke. "Spending two hours in a smoking bar is the equivalent of smoking four cigarettes."

This at least is on point:

The Amusement and Music Operators of Texas also argued that the ban would be devastating to small businesses. The organization represents more than 200 small businesses that rely on coin-operated equipment including pool tables and juke boxes.

"I know from personal experience that a smoking ban has consequences," said Jake Plaia, the group's board president. "Within months of the enactment of the Beaumont smoking ban, my revenue dropped by 30 percent."

This DMN article is about the qualms that District Attorneys have about "Jessica's Law", but it also very neatly captures the weird logic being employed by some of that law's supporters.

Mr. Dewhurst said that while the state should be sensitive to district attorneys' views, he believes that the bill would be a deterrent to those who might prey on children.

"It's to send a message to child molesters: Don't do this; don't do it in Texas, for heaven's sake," Mr. Dewhurst said.

Attorney General Greg Abbott also urged that the proposal be passed and dismissed concerns raised by some that if child molesters realize they could get the same punishment for killing the victim or letting them go, that it could be an inducement to commit murder.

"Frankly, I think that such claims are ludicrous. I don't know about you, but I cannot recall a time when a sex offender, having committed a crime, pulls out the code of criminal procedure or the penal code to try to figure out what likely is going to happen," Mr. Abbott said.

"Baloney!" says Greg Abbott. Criminals don't pay attention to such trivia, and they certainly don't base their actions on what the criminal code says. This would make for an interesting debate, if Dewhurst and Abbott were on opposite sides of the issue. Oddly enough, they're both arguing in favor of Jessica's Law. Talk about a win-win situation!

Of course, as the District Attorneys and victims' right advocates keep saying, the problem is not with how the penalties for sexaully assaulting children will affect the criminals' behavior, but how it will affect the victims' behavior. It's easy and painless to demagogue about strangers on streetcorners, but the reality is that a child is most at risk for sexual assault from someone he or she knows. A child that has been assaulted by a family member is already going to be reluctant to pursue charges. If doing so means that family member may end up on the wrong end of a needle, he or she will be even more reluctant to come forward and ultimately to testify. That as much as anything is why people object to the death penalty provision in this law. It's not only not helpful, it's potentially very hurtful.

But hey, what are such considerations when you can be Tuff On Crime?

[Abbott] also said that there is a possibility that courts would declare the statute unconstitutional because it extends capital punishment in a case where no one was killed. But he vowed to defend it before the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.

Noted for future reference.

Voters defeated a ballot measure Tuesday that would have lowered city taxes more than 3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

Voters cast 1,656 ballots against and 1,241 for the proposal to decrease city property taxes from 45.624 cents to 42.397 cents.

The reduction would have saved the owner of a home valued at $100,000 about $32 annually in taxes.

City commissioners scheduled the election after the Texas City Property Rollback Committee submitted a petition in December with 2,500 signatures. The committee was formed by taxpayers angered by a 17 percent tax increase approved by commissioners in September.

State law allows a petition for a special election on a tax rollback anytime a tax increase exceeds 8 percent.

The ballot measure would have allowed a $1.6 million refund in 2006 taxes.

Good riddance.

The entire Texas Youth Commission board will resign on Friday after approving a rehabilitation plan for the agency, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry said today.

The rehabilitation plan is to be presented by Ed Owens, the acting executive director, said Perry spokesman Ted Royer.

Earlier today, the Senate voted 30-0 to oust the board. Lawmakers have been trying to force out the six sitting board members, saying they failed to provide proper oversight as widespread reports began surfacing that incarcerated juveniles were being sexually and physically abused by staff.

The bill passed by the Senate now goes to the House, where it appears to have overwhelming support.

How bad does the Great Prosecutor Purge have to be for the Bush Administration for this to happen?

The controversy swirling around Attorney General Alberto Gonzales over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys intensified Tuesday, with Senate Republicans offering only a qualified defense in the face of calls by some Democrats that he resign.

Even Texas Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison -- typically full-throated defenders of the Bush administration -- expressed concern that Gonzales and the Justice Department had mishandled explanations to Congress about the White House's involvement in the prosecutors' firing last December.

"Appearances are troubling," Cornyn said. "I think the executive branch owes it to Congress to be forthcoming when Congress asks for information, and this has not been handled well."

Next up on the interview list is Bellaire High School senior David Goldberg, who was a lot more polished and sure of himself than I was when I was his age. It's all over at Kuff's World. I've got at least two more interviews to go after this, so stay tuned.

Previously:

Melissa Noriega - Interview

Andy Neill - Interview
Roy Morales - Interview

From my inbox, the following is from VoteRescue:

VoteRescue in Austin, Texas is proud to announce the submission yesterday of HB 3894 by Texas Rep. Lon Burnam of Tarrant County, which calls for hand-counted paper ballots, and the elimination of electronic voting systems for our elections in Texas. The exception would be ballot marking machines such as Automark. Our founder, Karen Renick, had a major hand in crafting this bill.

Vote-PADS or Equalivote systems, both non-electronic voting systems, will be recommended for use with the disabled community to fulfill the Help American Vote Act mandate.

What does H.B. 3894, the Texas Hand-counted Paper Ballot Bill of 2007, do?

1. Repeals the use of any electronic "voting system" from the Texas State Election Code and leaves hand-counted paper ballots as the only voting method allowed by code in Texas.

2. Permits any interested citizen to observe the counting of Election Day and Early Voting ballots.

3. Makes the citizens of Texas the first to know the precinct results by instructing the precinct presiding judge to post them on the front door of the precinct's polling place.

4. Makes it a felony to remove, tear, deface or in any way alter the posted precinct results for 24 hours after they are publicly posted on the polling place door.

5. Permits a video recording device to record an unobstructed view of the ballots and ballot boxes from the time the polls open for voting until the final precinct totals are posted on the front door of the precinct's polling place. The video records are stored with the original paper ballots.

6. Reduces the maximum number of registered voters per precinct from 5,000 to 2,000.

7. Allows county election commissions to consider implementing alternate hand-counted paper ballot voting materials and methods to reduce counting times.

What could overvotes yield, anyway? If a ballot is marked for two candidates, it's irretrievably spoiled, right? True, some people--including Bush lawyers seeking to discredit an "undervote-only" recount--raised the possibility that some overvotes might be salvageable if, say, voters actually wrote "I want Bush" on their ballots. But this possibility seemed almost theoretical. "There's nothing in the record that suggests there are such votes," Gore attorney David Boies asserted confidently when asked about the possibility in oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court.

We now know how wildly off-base Boies was.

We know because in Lake County the Sentinel examined 3,114 overvotes. And one-fifth of them contained exactly the "write-in mistake" that Boies had dismissed as nonexistent. More perversely, the majority (376) of these ballots were clear votes for ... Boies' client, Gore. "In each case, an oval next to his name was filled in with a pencil and the voter mistakenly filled in another oval next to a spot reserved for write-in candidates, writing in Gore's name or running mate Joe Lieberman's there as well," the Sentinel reports. Some 246 ballots contained the same Write-In Mistake, except that the voter both marked and wrote in "Bush." But, all told, Gore would have gained 130 votes in this one measly little county had its overvotes been manually tallied.

But at a more fundamental level, I refuse to accept the notion that electronic voting machines, especially ones that output a paper ballot, cannot be made to be sufficiently secure. Go back and read my interview with Dan Wallach. We know what we need to do, we just need to do it. If we can trust ATMs, we should be able to trust EVMs. It's a crime that we can't trust what we have right now, but this is not an intractable problem.

Further, to expand on the point about spoiled ballots, I believe electronic machines can and will present a better user experience. One clear advantage that the eSlate machines have over paper and pencil is that once I've made all my selections, I get to see a screen that shows me every choice I've made, plus every race in which I've declined to make a choice. It's trivially easy to see if I've goofed by picking the wrong person or skipping a name I meant to vote for. I don't believe it would be this easy to detect a mis-filled bubble on a paper ballot - it certainly would not be as quick - and I fear that the people tasked with counting hundreds or thousands of paper ballots would make mistakes, too. Improving the technology we have, and improving the processes that we have to implement and use that technology, is the answer, not abandoning it altogether.

Be that as it may, whatever you think of this, the Elections Committee is meeting today from 2 to 4 PM in room E2.028, though I don't see this bill on the hearing notice. For more information, visit VoteRescue.org.

As I pledged last month, I gave blood yesterday - we had a corporate blood drive, so I didn't even have to leave my building. Actually, I did a double red blood cell donation, which uses a technique called apheresis, which they were pushing. It takes a little longer - I was hooked up for about 45 minutes - and it feels a little funky when they're putting the fluid back in, but beyond that it was fine. And I came home with a big green bandage wrapped around my arm, which as predicted fascinated Olivia endlessly.

This was my second experience with apheresis - I was asked to donate platelets once, after being informed that I was CMV negative. That was an unpleasant affair. (Those of you who are needle-phobic should stop reading RIGHT NOW.) The phlebotomist had a hard time finding my vein, and after much feeling around, missed it when he stuck me. I had a nice purple bruise for several days afterwards, and felt sufficiently queasy during the fluid-replenishment part of the procedure (they do warn you that this is a possible side effect) that I made them stop. That put me off apheresis - indeed, it put me off donating at all - for awhile. I'm glad to report that this time was much better. I still prefer the old-fashioned give-a-pint donation, as it takes less time, but I could be persuaded to do this again. It's twice the bang for your buck, so there's a lot to be said for it.

So. Not to nag or anything, but if I can do it, you can do it. Please give blood. Thank you very much.

You have probably heard that the upcoming ruling by Judge William Wayne Justice in the lawsuit that will require Texas to meet its Medicaid obligations (the case is Frew v. Hawkins) might cost Texas up to $5 billion per year. (See the end of this Burka post for more.)

Well, the CPPP thinks that's scaremongering. From their analysis of the numbers (PDF):

• To put the potential cost in context, the cost of serving all the children in Texas Medicaid is less than $5 billion (All Funds) per year, of which the state's share is less than $2 billion. Even a very ambitious and aggressive remediation order by the court, while it could require significant spending, would not plausibly double the cost of Texas children's Medicaid.


• Improving availability of doctors for children's services would not require rate changes for services to adults, or for every category of Texas Medicaid services. To illustrate, HHSC estimates that bringing all hospital and doctors' fees up to actual cost would require about $1.5 billion [General Revenue] for the 2-year budget, but 70% of that spending or more would be for adults, and thus not required by Frew.


• In short, while compliance with whatever corrective action plan the court ultimately requires will undoubtedly require significant new state spending, nothing supports projections of multiple billions in annual costs.

Congratulations to Mayor White.

Mayor Bill White and a Louisiana school superintendent won the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award on Monday for their actions in response to the Hurricane Katrina crisis in August 2005.

White and Doris Voitier, superintendent of schools in St. Bernard Parish, La., "took extraordinary risks and exemplified the best in political leadership to meet the needs of communities affected by Hurricane Katrina," said a statement from the JFK Library Foundation, which sponsors the awards.

"Mayor White's quick actions evacuating thousands of families displaced by hurricanes Katrina and Rita most certainly helped to save lives," the foundation's president, Caroline Kennedy, said.

[...]

White and Voitier will receive the award in Boston on May 21 from Caroline Kennedy, the late president's daughter, and U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, his brother.

The statement said White, as mayor, "marshaled the resources and good will of his city to provide refuge and essential services to hundreds of thousands of people who fled the Gulf Coast after hurricanes Katrina and Rita."

He also "led a community-wide effort that included diverting convention and event business to open the region's convention center and public facilities to tens of thousands of evacuees," it said.

"When the federal emergency response faltered in the days and weeks following the crisis, White mobilized more than 100,000 Houstonians in the public, private, business and faith-based communities to help evacuees rebuild their lives with independence and dignity.

"Houston offered innovative programs to provide more than 100,000 evacuees with long-term housing, job placement services and public education," the statement said.

I'd say "rest in peace", but that's an overbid.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission today said its ending by "mutual agreement" a trouble-plagued contract with a private company to determine eligibility for social services and oversee enrollment.

The contract with the Texas Access Alliance, led by Bermuda-based Accenture LLP, will end by Nov. 1, said Health and Human Services Commissioner Albert Hawkins.

The privatization effort has been beset by complaints of delays in enrollment and problems getting applications processed.

The state just recently had drastically scaled back its contract with Accenture to operate call centers that determine needy Texans eligibility for benefits, cutting its $899 million contract by $356 million and ending it two years early.

But in the end, the two sides couldn't agree on a price for the company to stay involved.

As the contract winds down, the state will assess whether management for various services would be best overseen by the state or private contractors, said commission spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman.

"Our goal hasn't changed," Hawkins said. "We want to make it easier for Texans to apply for services by modernizing technology and letting citizens choose how they want to submit an application whether thats in person or by phone, mail, fax or Internet."

UPDATE: Vince has more.

Yesterday, after AG Greg Abbott issued an opinion regarding Governor Perry's HPV vaccine executive order, I was a little puzzled by what it all meant. I'm still a little confused today.

Attorney General Greg Abbott has informally told two top lawmakers that Gov. Rick Perry exceeded his authority in ordering middle-school girls to be vaccinated against cervical cancer.

The message was delivered behind closed doors last week to two lawmakers who had asked for Abbott's advice. Those legislators -- Sen. Jane Nelson and Rep. Jim Keffer -- issued a statement Monday making the issue public.

[...]

Nelson, chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, and Keffer, chairman of House Ways and Means, were determined to get the message out.

"The attorney general met with both of us, and he answered questions we had regarding the executive order," the lawmakers said in a joint statement. "It appears that (the executive order) is, in effect, an advisory order and does not carry the weight of law. The Health and Human Services Commissioner is not required to follow the order."

But what's the deal with this "informal" opinion? What'd Abbott do, write it on a cocktail napkin?

Abbott avoided having to make a formal, written ruling when Keffer, R-Eastland, and Nelson, R-Lewisville, quietly rescinded a Feb. 7 request for a formal written opinion. The following day they sent a brief letter to Abbott saying their "intention was to seek guidance from your office in the form of an informal response."

Of course, had he done that, he'd have opened a bigger can of worms:

Perry has not been challenged on other executive orders, such as his 2005 directive to the Texas Education Agency requiring school districts to use 65 percent of their budgets for classroom instruction. While that order was unpopular with school administrators, many Republican legislators were supportive.

"The difference here was that he stepped on the toes of people in power," said [Scott McCown, a former state district judge and assistant attorney general].

UPDATE: The House has passed HB1098, which would overturn Perry's order.

There continues to be an awful lot going on with the Texas Youth Commission and what we've learned about what was and was not done about the allegations of sexual assault against its teenage inmates. Here's a few links to keep you up to speed.

New Evidence of Altered Documents in TYC Coverup, from the Texas Observer.

A disciplinary report confirming misconduct by former West Texas State School Assistant Superintendent Ray Brookins was altered with the apparent approval of Texas Youth Commission Inspector General Ray Worsham shortly after Brookins was given a promotion, documents obtained by the Observer show.

TYC abuse cases sat collecting 'dust,' lawmaker says

A state lawmaker said Monday that the Texas Youth Commission's system for investigating abuse allegations and referring them to authorities is so inadequate that most of the cases have ended up in the records rooms of local police departments "to gather dust."

TYC says it has referred 6,600 cases of abuse and neglect to law enforcement agencies. The cases were initially investigated by civilian personnel with no law enforcement background, who then faxed notices to the records division of local police departments that the cases could not be confirmed and were closed.

Most of the cases languished in those records rooms, with no notice of their existence being given to local police investigators or district attorneys, according to 15 prosecutors who appeared before the House Corrections Committee on Monday.

Committee Chairman Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, said TYC's system for investigating allegations of abuse and referring them to law enforcement agencies is inadequate because the agency does not use commissioned law enforcement officers "who know enough to make a case and collect evidence."

Madden said there is no way of knowing whether the thousands of cases that TYC investigated and declared closed were adequately investigated. And he said no outside investigator considered the cases because TYC sent them directly to police records departments where they were going to "gather dust."

We can start by admitting that the Texas Legislature had a hand in creating a system that essentially didn't give these kids a chance to begin with and then locked them up, threw away the key, and didn't look back.

For that, legislators need to hear from their constituents. The public can help to ensure that we don't have another generation of victims by demanding that legislators act in the best interest of the state and not the ideological sectors that currently dominate Texas politics. Call on legislators to take responsibility for the role they have had in creating a system that allows children and teens to have to endure this kind of abuse. You can do this by checking your legislators' voting records and then calling, emailing, and/or writing them with your concerns. Ask them why they voted to continually take funds away from an already underfunded and overwhelmed Juvenile Probation Commission that is supposed to provide services to keep youth out of TYC facilities. Ask them why the Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs (DAEPs) that are supposed to serve as institutions that help students that are not suitable for regular schools due to behavioral problems have virtually no state requirements or accountability and have essentially become conduits to TYC. Anyone that has ever visited or worked with one of these DAEPs can attest to the fact that these institutions lack sufficient funding, staffing, and services to even begin to facilitate a change for the better in the students they are responsible for.

Finally, Vince Leibowitz has read through the minutes of some TYC board meetings, and found that their lack of initiative goes back to at least 2004 as well. Check 'em out.

Whether you believe that Mayor White is meddling in other cities' affairs or taking necessary action to compensate for failings elsewhere, it should be clear that the state needs to do its job of enforcing environmenal laws. Towards that end, there is a joint legislative attempt to give the TCEQ the tools it needs to do that job properly. Reps. Scott Hochberg, Ellen Cohen, Senfronia Thompson, Ana Hernandez, and Hubert Vo have filed HBs 2722, 2475, 2890, 440, 2363, and 1740 to get the job done. From their press release:

These bills increase the range of options available to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to improve and protect Texas air. Action is needed this session to address the concerns of people from all across Houston to improve our region's air.

The Air Pollution Watch List (APWL) is a list maintained by the Toxicology Section of the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality. The APWL identifies areas of the state where heightened Commission scrutiny of air pollution is warranted. There are currently 22 areas across Texas identified on the APWL, 9 of which are in or around the greater Houston area.

[...]

This legislation clarifies that Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has the authority to control air pollution as necessary to address adverse effects related to toxic air pollution. These proposals put forward various actions for TCEQ to take to reduce ambient levels of toxic contaminants, and create greater access to information of "toxic air" spots to both the Texas Legislature and the public.

Matt Stiles answers the question why not all of the candidates who had filed for the special City Council election made it to the final ballot. He also clears up the Roy Morales mystery and gives an update on Ray Jones along the way. Check it out.

Speaking of Morales, Hal actually listened to my interview with him, and finds a few things worth discussing in more detail. Thanks, Hal!

This sounds like a good idea.

Responding to traffic hot spots by motor scooter, compact car and bucket truck, the city's long-awaited Mobility Response Team will hit the streets in July to guide traffic safely past accidents and broken stoplights.

The team, which Mayor Bill White outlined last May, will include 24 civilian mobility service officers dispatched from the Houston TranStar control center and working from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., under police supervision.

"There's no substitute for a human being who is trained, with judgment, being on the site to direct that traffic," White said in explaining the plan last week to the City Council.

"We need to have civilians properly trained and in uniform doing that so we don't have to take police officers off the beat," he said.

Wearing khaki uniforms and lime-green vests, the mobility team will stay mostly on city streets, leaving hazardous freeway scenes to the Houston Police Department's motorcycle patrol, said Lt. Jeff Rosenthal, who will oversee the team along with three police sergeants.

I've said before that one of the underappreciated aspects of the light rail line is that it makes it easier to be a carless visitor staying in a downtown hotel. That's all well and good, but a lot of visitors to Houston stay in the Galleria area, and they're not currently served by rail. That will be rectified soon, and while what will be built will be good for those folks, it could be even better. Christof explains how to maximize the impact of the Uptown line by connecting it more directly to downtown and points in between. Check it out.

I'm trying to make sense of this, but the more I read, the more confused I'm becoming.

Gov. Rick Perry exceeded his authority in ordering middle-school girls receive a new vaccine against cervical cancer, Attorney General Greg Abbott has told lawmakers.

Sen. Jane Nelson said today that Abbott met with her and Rep. Jim Keffer last week and told them that Health and Human Services Commissioner Albert Hawkins does not have to follow Perry's order. Hawkins, however, has legal authority on his own to add the vaccine to the list of shots required for school.

"It appears that (the executive order) is, in effect, an advisory order and does not carry the weight of law," said Nelson and Keffer in a joint statement.

In an interview, Nelson added that Abbott said he could not predict what the courts might say about Perry's authority because the issue has never been litigated.

[...]

The House takes up a bill Tuesday to overturn Perry's order and prevent Hawkins from adding the HPV vaccine as a school requirement. A similar bill is pending in the Senate.

"We know now what authority the commissioner has regarding immunizations, and laws can change or define that authority," said Nelson.

But then there's this.

"It doesn't sound like it" needs to be overturned, Nelson said of the executive order. "I think it's viewed like more of a suggestion to the agency director."

Nelson and Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, had asked Abbott for an opinion on the constitutionality of Perry's order. Nelson said Abbott told them that the governor cannot, through an executive order, require an agency to do something that it is not already authorized to do. State health officials are authorized by the Legislature to decide which vaccines are required.

Maybe this is all just a little confusion resulting from the short period of time since Abbott issued his informal opinion. I'll check the writeups tomorrow to see if it's any clearer to me. Meanwhile, we'll see if HB1098 goes forward or not tomorrow. Stay tuned.

I nearly choked on my lunch today when I saw the Chron not only address the grievous shortcomings of Brad Ausmus as an offensive player, but try to make up for it by the use of Catcher ERA as a measure of how good he really is for those who know where to look. "Catcher ERA", for those who are unfamiliar, is the combined earned run average for the innings that each pitcher throws while a given receiver is behind the plate. And at first glance for Ausmus, it looks pretty good:

Since the start of 2001, the Astros have a 3.75 ERA when Ausmus is behind the plate. The team ERA with anybody else catching: 4.66. Ausmus, in other words, connects with pitchers of all sizes, shapes and persuasions.

Except for one nagging little doubt that can be best expressed by reading the next paragraph:

He helped coax a 38-18 record and 2.40 ERA out of the emotional Clemens the past three seasons. Roy Oswalt has fashioned a 98-47 record since reaching the majors in 2001 with a demeanor so stoic, Ausmus says, "You wouldn't be able to tell if Roy was in the middle of Game 7 of the World Series or watching Archie Bunker on TV."

Thanks to the magic of Retrosheet, I can tell you that catchers other than Brad Ausmus (mostly Eric Munson) caught 127.1 of Wandy Rodriguez's 135.2 innings, and that Rodriguez's ERA was 5.86 for that time. (For the remaining 217.2 non-Ausmus innings, other hurlers had a 4.55 ERA.) Of course you're going to look good by this metric if you're catching Roy Oswalt and Roger Clemens while everybody else gets Wandy Rodriguez. Cliff Johnson and Mitch Melusky would look good, too.

I don't have the time to be completely obsessive about this, but I can tell you that it's the same basic scenario in 2005, too - Ausmus caught exactly one game that Wandy Rodriguez started. That's a smaller fraction of the non-Ausmus innings - about 120 of the 377 - but again, Wandy's ERA was in the 5.50 range for those innings. Bottom line is the same: Ausmus gets the wheat, the rest get the chaff.

I don't mean to pick on either Wandy Rodriguez or Brad Ausmus here, but the point I'm making is simply that for this statistic - for any statistic - to mean something, it has to be an accurate measure of something. The question is not "How much better does the Astros staff do with Ausmus catching", but "How much better does each individual pitcher do with Ausmus catching". That's why Catcher ERA is such a shaky metric - the relative sample sizes (i.e., Clemens with Ausmus versus Clemens without Ausmus) are too small to be meaningful. And as we see, aggregating to compensate for that has other issues. It may well be that the Stros throwers do better with Brad Ausmus as their batterymate. All I'm saying is that you can't tell that from the information given in this story.

I've got another interview with a City Council candidate up at Kuff's World. Today it's Roy Morales, and I've got three more in the pipeline after him. I may or may not talk to everybody, but I'll get to most of them, and I think together they'll represent the vast majority of the eventual votes cast. Check it out.

Previously:

Melissa Noriega - Interview
Andy Neill - Interview

By the time you read this, Rep. Ron Paul will most likely have made the announcement that he is running for President.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, a fierce critic of the Iraq war, formally will declare his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination Monday when he appears as a guest on a C-SPAN call-in program.

Paul, R-Lake Jackson, created a presidential exploratory committee in January, allowing him to begin collecting money on behalf of his bid.

Kent Snyder, the chairman of that committee, said Saturday that Paul is scheduled to be a guest on Washington Journal on Monday morning and will make his announcement then.

We're almost halfway through the 80th Lege, and I agree with Burka that it's been a bizarre session. We've had the Speaker's race, the four-fifths rule non-suspension, the shenanigans to bypass the constitutional spending limit, the TYC and Jessica's Law and the HPV fight, and we still haven't really gotten into the grind, where bills are debated or killed on a daily basis. There's also been a sort of eerie quiet in between some of these battles, which just adds an extra element of surrealism. Some day we're going to look back on this and wonder what the hell happened.

And the worst part is that the upcoming ruling on Medicaid coverage that's sure to blow a hole in the budget, and in a worst case scenario may lead to 2003-style cuts in social services so that the cursed property tax reductions can still be paid for. Read Burka's analysis and get ready to crawl under your desk. Once again, it's gonna get ugly.

For some odd reason, I'd always had it in my mind that John Belushi suffered his fatal overdose in 1983, so I was a bit surprised to learn that it's been 25 years since his death. For a guy who really only made two movies that anyone ever saw, he had quite an impact on the landscape. I don't know too many people of my generation who aren't familiar with "Animal House" and "The Blues Brothers", and I can attest from my continuing association with the Rice MOB that these flicks still resonate. You have to wonder what might have happened if he'd managed to get control of his habit before it killed him.

One scenario for that:

[John] Landis saw the dire results. In 1978's Animal House, Belushi was a disciplined and collaborative actor who took the "crazed, wild character" of frat boy Bluto and made him lovable, said the director.

"By the time of The Blues Brothers (1980), he had a very bad drug problem," Landis said, and it started undermining his work. His last project was 1981's Neighbors with Aykroyd; he was set to make Ghostbusters, which filmed after his death with Bill Murray replacing him.

What might a clean Belushi have gone on to do? His career could have paralleled that of Murray, his former Saturday Night Live co-star who traveled from Caddyshack to a 2004 Oscar nomination for his poignant performance in Lost in Translation.

"I think John had a depth to his talent that would have allowed him to reinvent himself," [Lorne] Michaels said.

Landis agrees. "He could have done anything."

It's certainly possible that Belushi could have had Murray's career arc. I've never seen "Neighbors" or "Continental Divide", but I dimly recall some critical buzz from the time that was positive about Belushi's portrayals. Of course, it's also possible that he could have emulated another out-of-control funnyman who managed to conquer his drug demons - Robin Williams. Maybe today, Belushi would be making movies like "Patch Adams" and "RV", and we'd all have forgotten why we once loved him. Like I say, you never know.

For sure, it would have been better if Belushi had had the chance to experience a full career. His death was a tragic waste, and I still remember how shocked I was when I heard the news, even if all these years later I'm a bit fuzzy on the exact date. Whatever the case, let me just say, rest in peace, John Belushi.

The great Scofflaw Roundup that we heard about last month is now over.

Houston was among 153 cities that participated in the so-called "Great Texas Warrant Round-up," which began March 3 and ended Saturday at midnight. The joint effort was aimed at clearing an estimated 1 million outstanding municipal warrants statewide.

The final tally of people arrested and fines paid will be disclosed later this week. On Saturday, Houston police and municipal court officials did not have preliminary figures.

Presiding Municipal Court Judge Bertha A. Mejia said, however, that the courts were "very, very busy" during the roundup.

"Some of them are paying off their fines, and some ask to be seen by a judge, and they are asking for time to pay."

You may have heard this story by now.

Presidential advisor Karl Rove and at least one other member of the White House political team were urged by the New Mexico Republican party chairman to fire the state's U.S. attorney because of dissatisfaction in part with his failure to indict Democrats in a voter fraud investigation in the battleground election state.

In an interview Saturday with McClatchy Newspapers, Allen Weh, the party chairman, said he complained in 2005 about then-U.S. Attorney David Iglesias to a White House liaison who worked for Rove and asked that he be removed. Weh said he followed up with Rove personally in late 2006 during a visit to the White House.

"Is anything ever going to happen to that guy?" Weh said he asked Rove at a White House holiday event that month.

"He's gone," Rove said, according to Weh.

"I probably said something close to 'Hallelujah,'" said Weh.

But consider this. If the Bush Administration is that willing to go after its political enemies isn't it logical to think it would go to the same lengths to help its allies? Here's a blast from the past:

Justice Department lawyers concluded that the landmark Texas congressional redistricting plan spearheaded by Rep. Tom DeLay (R) violated the Voting Rights Act, according to a previously undisclosed memo obtained by The Washington Post. But senior officials overruled them and approved the plan.

The memo, unanimously endorsed by six lawyers and two analysts in the department's voting section, said the redistricting plan illegally diluted black and Hispanic voting power in two congressional districts. It also said the plan eliminated several other districts in which minorities had a substantial, though not necessarily decisive, influence in elections.

[...]

Mark Posner, a longtime Justice Department lawyer who now teaches law at American University, said it was "highly unusual" for political appointees to overrule a unanimous finding such as the one in the Texas case.

"In this kind of situation, where everybody agrees at least on the staff level . . . that is a very, very strong case," Posner said. "The fact that everybody agreed that there were reductions in minority voting strength, and that they were significant, raises a lot of questions as to why it was" approved, he said.

Yesterday, I speculated about the reasons why the TYC had a policy in place to allow for people with felony convictions or felony charges pending against them to be hired. In today's story on the roots of the TYC crisis, I see that my reasoning was correct:

Ever since the Bush-era TYC expansion began, staffing has been a major problem at TYC facilities.

Pete Alfaro, who was appointed to the TYC board by Bush and made chairman by Perry, said the remote locations chosen by the Legislature for TYC facilities was a major factor.

He said low pay and facility location have attracted some sexual predators and otherwise unfit people and that high turnover has made employee screening difficult.

"If you get a bad apple, that bad apple, like in this West Texas case, can really mess things up," Alfaro said.

[...]

The annual salary for a juvenile corrections officer ranges from $22,445 to $33,279 a year with no overtime. TYC reports that until a corrections officer has been with the system for almost two years, that individual could make "similar wages with much less stress" in either the retail or food-service industries.

Though the push to get more teenage offenders into state-run facilities began under then-Governor Bush, which is what this story is about, things got even worse thanks to that gift that keeps on giving, the 2003 budget cuts.

The Legislature ordered TYC to start closing contract-care facilities and move more youths into state-run facilities without regard to the fact that the state facilities already had trouble maintaining their staffs. The number of youths in state-run facilities grew by 500 in a single year.

Staffing ratios dropped from 1 corrections officer for every 15 students to 1-to-24. The confirmed cases of staff-on-youth abuse grew from 459 in 2003 to more than 980 two years later.

Meanwhile, Grits brings up yet another tawdry aspect of this saga:

So you're Texas Governor Rick Perry. The Texas Youth Commission is in the middle of a sex scandal that your advisers are telling you is only going to get worse. What do you do?

I'll tell you what Governor Perry did: He appointed a man to run the agency for whom the state last year paid to settle allegations in a civil suit that he (and others) ignored sexual harassment complaints from subordinates at his old employer, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Holy Mother of God, who is advising the Governor on TYC?

If you live near some part of the Universities light rail line, heads up: There are public meetings coming up to get input regarding environmental issues. Details as follows:

West side area:

Between West Alabama, Main Street (Wheeler Station), Bissonnet and Savoy (Hillcroft Transit Center)

What: Open House
Date: Monday, Mar. 26
Time: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Location: Renaissance Hotel at Greenway Plaza
Address: 6 Greenway Plaza

What: Open House and Planning Workshop
Date: Monday, Mar. 26
Time: 6 - 8 p.m.
Location: Renaissance Hotel at Greenway Plaza
Address: 6 Greenway Plaza East

East side area:

Between Eastwood Transit Center, Dumble, Rosedale and Main Street (Wheeler Station)

What: Open House
Date: Tuesday, Mar. 27
Time: 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Location: Hilton Hotel at University of Houston
Address: 4800 Calhoun Rd.

What: Open House and Planning Workshop
Date: Tuesday, Mar. 27
Time: 6 - 8 p.m.
Location: Hilton Hotel at University of Houston
Address: 4800 Calhoun Rd.

Parking will be available in the parking garages at both hotels.

For additional information, please contact Sylvia Medina at (713) 739-4004 or by email to: sm14@ridemetro.org.

These meetings are being held in wheelchair-accessible locations. Persons requiring translation or other special communication accommodations should contact METRO Community Outreach at 713-739-4018 at least 72 hours prior to the meeting. Every reasonable effort will be made to accommodate these needs.

Remember this?

Residents on both sides of the debate surrounding the project and possible street closure say they believe some of the biggest issues are traffic and parking, but Houston Deputy Director of Public Works Andy Icken says it shouldn't be a problem.

"Not to say the traffic in Rice Village isn't a difficult situation for people to navigate," but, he said, Sonoma and the closing of Bolsover should not make it worse.

"The analysis we have done would say there is no substantial impact by that development on traffic in the area with the closing of the street," Icken said. "While the facility looks large, these studies said there is no measurable change on traffic in the area."

[...]

Bill Faloon, a Southampton resident who lives in the 1800 block of Albans and works in the 2400 block of Times, said he is opposed to the street closure. He is concerned with the increased traffic and the parking problem he believes the project will create.

"We have nothing against Appelt or Lamesa or improving the Village," Faloon said. "What we have a problem with is improving the Village at our expense and purchasing a street we can't afford to put a value on.

"You have 10 streets in the Village and several years ago we lost Amherst," Faloon said. "Now we want to do it again and lose another 10 percent."

[...]

"The developer has said on record numerous times that they will build this project with or without the closure of Bolsover," he said.

"I am not against progress, I am not against developers building whatever they want to build within the city code without taking our street," Faloon said.

"The biggest problem in the Village is navigable streets and thoroughfares," he said. "You can have all the parking in the world, but if you can't get to it what good is the parking?"

I'm agnostic on the question of Bolsover. In the grand scheme of things, it's not going to make much difference. But until there's a viable non-automotive solution for getting to and from the Rice Village area, the rest of this discussion is in angels-dancing-on-a-pinhead territory. Fix that, and the rest will be much easier to deal with.

Via Eye on Williamson cites the Taylor Daily Press quoting notoriously tuff-on-crime Williamson County DA John Bradley as follows regarding HB8, aka "Jessica's Law":

"There are some bills known as 'Jessica's Law' that tend to focus on increasing punishment that, though they have good intention, focus it on the wrong place," Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley said in a previous interview. "The question we need to address is what assistance do children need, not should we increase punishment. Texas already has some of the toughest punishments for sexually based crimes in the country. By increasing the punishment, the numbers of abuse cases aren't likely to really change."

Bradley said legislators should take a more holistic approach to the problem of sex crimes by making it easier for children to testify against an accused offender.

"(Senate Bill) 78 does the best job of addressing child abuse across the board," he said. "It establishes a new crime focused on continuous sexual abuse. Often times in the courtroom, children are asked to recall a specific incident - the time it happened, where it happened and any minute detail. For some children, that isn't always possible. This bill would allow sexual abuse to be looked at over time and not that one specific instance."

In addition, Bradley said, Jessica's Law implies it is fairly easy to catch and punish sex offenders.

"... The legislature and certainly the lieutenant governor think it's quite simple to catch these criminals but in reality it is quite the opposite," he said. "If a jury finds sex offenders guilty of a crime, they have no problem sending them away for a long time. We need to spend more time on capture ... rather than punishment."

• Mandatory minimum sentencing may backfire and result in fewer convictions of sex offenders.


• Global Position Satellite (GPS) tracking of sexual offenders may make us feel good, but will not make us safer.


• Residency restrictions will make communities less safe.

Remember to set your clocks forward tonight, as Daylight Savings Time makes its early arrival this year. Be sure to check all of those electronic devices that normally handle the change on their own, too - like your computer, your BlackBerry, and your TiVo - because they may not be expecting it. And enjoy the extra daylight in the evening. I sure do.

I suppose given all that's gone on with the TYC, we should consider this a small victory and move on.

The Texas Youth Commission, reeling from a systemwide sex abuse scandal, is stopping a hiring practice that allowed convicted felons to work among troubled juveniles as long as one of two top officials approved it.

[...]

The hiring policy reads, in part: "If the conviction or pending criminal charge in question is a capital offense or a felony of any kind, the Human Resources Management Director must obtain specific authorization from the Executive Director or the Deputy Executive Director before the candidate can be hired, rehired, reinstated, promoted or competitively transferred."

The agency granted 210 hiring "exceptions" among 1,751 total hires since May 2006 when it began keeping track.

Since criminal records are destroyed once an applicant is hired, it is not known how many felons were among those granted waivers or what their crimes were.

TYC spokesman Jim Hurley said the agency was "starting over and rechecking everybody," and should know the criminal backgrounds of its employees by next week. Hurley also acknowledged that the agency rarely, if ever, fingerprinted any of its employees.

The hiring policy was adopted in November 2001 and approved again last May. Those giving their approval include the agency's former executive director, the current deputy executive director and the current general counsel.

Having said that, if your hiring policy has specific guidelines for those who have been charged with capital offenses, you might want to consider tightening things up a bit. Given all that went on at Pyote, approval from the Executive Director is not sufficient oversight.

And clearly, this is no time for nuance. This policy needs to be suspended indefinitely. But it would be worth asking why it existed in the first place, and has been in place for six years. My best guess: They couldn't find enough applicants to fill all their openings otherwise. When nearly one out of eight hires is the result of this policy, it seems clear that they were a bit on the desperate side. I'd say this is another compelling argument for moving these facilities away from remote rural areas and into the bigger cities, where the job applicant pool should be significantly larger.

Meanwhile, further evidence that the Attorney General's office was part of the problem.

A state assistant attorney general received a report a year ago that graphically detailed the sexual abuse of inmates at a youth prison but declined to pursue the case because of jurisdictional concerns, according to e-mails obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

Attorney general spokesman Jerry Strickland said the lawyer, Will Tatum, should have forwarded the report to his supervisors before responding to the February 2006 e-mail, but he didn't follow agency procedures.

[...]

Texas Ranger Brian Burzynski, who sent the e-mail, told lawmakers this week that he had pursued the case since 2005 but could not get federal, state or local officials to prosecute. State Attorney General Greg Abbott has since opened an investigation.

Two days after Burzynski sent the e-mail, Tatum correctly told him that the Ward County district attorney would have to ask Abbott's office for help on the case, Strickland said.

"However, knowing the seriousness of the allegations contained in that e-mail, action would have been taken by the attorney general's office, and this agency would have actively engaged in the matter in any way possible," he added.

On the other hand, maybe Officer Burzynski should have taken matters into his own hands and made arrests anyway. Grits explains the reasoning, and also notes that there's plenty of cuplability to go around.

I suppose this isn't a surprise.

Mayor Bill White has significantly scaled back a controversial plan to make Houston the first place in Texas with health standards for hazardous air pollutants, according to a draft circulated this week.

The latest version of the proposed nuisance ordinance covers fewer pollutants and facilities, and postpones setting thresholds at concentrations considered safe until 2012.

The changes, according to the mayor's office, improve the proposal by targeting the pollutants that pose the most risk and giving industry time to achieve the goals.

"The approach we have taken this time is different from where we started and responds to justifiable concerns," said Elena Marks, the mayor's health policy director, at a meeting of City Council's Environmental & Public Health Committee on Wednesday. "Right now, the standard we hope to achieve is impossible. Passing an ordinance nobody can meet from Day One is not a good idea."

The shift comes as White -- one of the most aggressive Houston mayors in history on air pollution -- has drawn criticism in recent weeks from industry leaders, state regulators and east Harris County politicians concerned he is overstepping his authority.

Neither the federal nor state government has established standards for hazardous air pollutants. If the proposal is passed, it would enable the city to cite facilities outside its borders that contribute to risky concentrations of pollution inside Houston. Fines would range from $500 to $2,000 each day the ordinance was violated.

These facilities already are regulated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, which has said that a local ordinance would conflict with state law.

And today there's a new threat to the Mayor's plan.

[Two] bills, sponsored by Rep. Wayne Smith, R-Baytown, and Sen. Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, would make it illegal for any municipality to enact an ordinance that could be used beyond its borders. The legislation specifically bars a municipality from using a nuisance ordinance to crack down on air pollution from elsewhere.

"We wouldn't be doing this ... if the city of Houston wasn't trying to impose its regulations and ordinances on other surrounding cities and counties," Jackson said.

The West U Examiner has a short profile of some of the candidates for the City Council special election; as it happens, these are the five candidates whom I've interviewed so far. (As a reminder, my interview with Melissa Noriega is here and my interview with Andy Neill is here.) The other three will be run on Kuff's World shortly, starting with Roy Morales on Monday. The one thing that really caught my eye in the story was this, about Noel Freeman:

Freeman said Houston's leadership needs to take a more proactive approach to planning for growth, although he did not necessarily advocate zoning, which has long been anathema to the city's pro-growth culture.

Beyond that, I've spoken with David Goldberg, I've scheduled a talk with Ivan Mayers, and I need to get off my butt and track down Tom Nixon. After that, we'll see. While every article one reads about the race includes a statement about how unlikely it will be for someone to get a majority of the vote in such a crowded field, it's also the case that some of these people will be lucky to break one percent - Anthony Dutrow got 0.97% of the vote for Mayor in 2005 (PDF), which was a vast improvement on his showing in 2003 (PDF). My time is more valuable than that. I haven't made a final decision yet, but let's just say I'm not terribly motivated to speak to some of these folks. If that makes me a tool of the establishment, then so be it.

Do you miss having Tom DeLay to kick around? Well, if you do, chin up. As reported by John Fund, he's baaaaaack.

Despite his antipathy toward liberals, Mr. DeLay joked that he's happy to work with them. He told me he is about to sign on with CNN as a commentator. "I may be their only conservative on air, but someone has to do it."

UPDATE: Or maybe not.

Tom DeLay is not joining CNN, a network spokesperson tells TVNewser.

In today's WSJ, John Fund said DeLay "was about to sign on with CNN as a commentator..."

Previously, we heard the following from Rep. Sylvester Turner:

Rep. Sylvester Turner told reporters this morning that the House Appropriations Committee will add money to the budget later today to fully restore cuts to the Children's Health Insurance Program.

The Human Services Committee voted 8-1 to allow children to be covered for a year at a time, rather than re-qualifying every six months; eliminate a 90-day waiting period for uninsured children; and make it easier to meet income requirements.

"The compromise that we have struck is fiscally sound and is in the best interest of our kids," said Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston. He said the revamp of House Bill 109 was crafted with Rep. John Davis, R-Houston, and Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs, Human Services chairman.

Davis earlier had offered his own proposal to ease lingering CHIP cutbacks made during a $10 billion revenue shortfall in 2003. The revamp reflects elements of his bill, including retaining, but easing, the assets test rather than eliminating it. The new test would allow families to own cars with more value and have more cash.

Criticism of the bill also came from the Democratic side, with Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, saying the assets test should be eliminated and that lawmakers should address red tape that has cost eligible children coverage.

"This bill looks good on the surface, but in operation, it still denies our children access to health coverage," Coleman said. "This is not a policy compromise, it's political cover."

[...]

Barbara Best, Texas executive director of Children's Defense Fund, said she would like to see the assets test eliminated, but she's pleased overall.

"All in all, this is a very good bill that will cover more children," she said. "We're pleased with the bipartisan support in the House, and now we need to work on the Senate."

The problem, of course, is that what we've got now is likely not what we'll ultimately get.

The lone "no" vote on the committee came from Rep. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, who said he cares about children but thinks it's bad policy to go to a 12-month enrollment period.

The same point has been cited by two Senate leaders, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, Finance Committee chairman. Gov. Rick Perry also supports six-month eligibility, although his spokeswoman said he would look at the bill if it arrives at his desk.

Ogden reiterated his concern Thursday about Texas looking at expanding CHIP when it isn't legally required to do so, while it faces big costs for services it must provide, including Medicaid. He said that "is not a prudent way to budget."

Turner said, "With all due respect to the senator, he proposes to have needy populations fighting against one another" for program funding. He noted that providing preventive health care saves money in the long run.

Basically, the Turner bill as is passes muster. The Turner bill with the six month requirement reinstated does not. It's nice that Rep. Turner has a chit to cash with Speaker Craddick to get his bill through the House. Does he have enough juice to stare down Ogden and Dewhurst? That's what will matter.

Though I will say, I like Turner's suggestion here:

If state lawmakers aren't willing to pass such legislation, Turner said there should be a moratorium on campaign ads featuring children.

"If this is a policy we're going to take, stop runnning campaign ads about our children. Stop doing the campaign ads if, when we get to Austin, we act as if they do not exist. If it's good enough for us to run on, it's good enough for us to fund," he said.

In case you think that the TYC scandal is as bad as it's going to get, think again.

Eighteen-year-old Erik Rodriguez was fighting off an assault from another inmate at the state juvenile prison in Corsicana when three other boys rushed into his dorm room.

They held his arms and legs, he said, while one of the inmates "kicked me on the side of my jaw about 20 times." When they finished, he said, "blood poured out of my face like a fountain."

While Mr. Rodriguez absorbed the blows, the two guards for his dorm at the Corsicana Residential Treatment Center were elsewhere. They later were fired for neglect.

The teen's mother said that the Texas Youth Commission assured her that its high-security facility for juveniles with mental or emotional problems would provide her son the best care it had to offer. "I was told that all the boys would be supervised 24-7," Alice Smith said. "As long as they did what they're supposed to do, they would be safe."

What happened at Corsicana is not an isolated incident. Texas Rangers, who were dispatched across the state this week to investigate sexual misconduct at TYC prisons, will also learn of widespread physical abuse.

Records obtained by The Dallas Morning News under the Texas Public Information Act include accounts of guards striking handcuffed inmates, encouraging inmates to fight one another and standing idle while beatings occurred. In one case, a guard threatened to throw a handcuffed inmate off a roof.

"Every day that the ... investigation moves forward, it shines more light on the numerous failures throughout the TYC system," said Ted Royer, spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry. "We suspect there are vast numbers of cases of potential criminal activity that have not been reported and that no one has been accountable for."

The stuff is really starting to hit the fan in the Texas Youth Commission scandal.

A Texas Ranger who investigated allegations of sexual abuse at a Texas Youth Commission school told lawmakers Thursday he saw "kids with fear in their eyes" who felt "trapped" in a system that wouldn't help them.

"I'm here today because I've got a promise to keep," Brian Burzynski told a joint legislative committee looking into the unfolding sex abuse scandal at state youth facilities.

"When I interviewed the victims in this case, I saw kids with fear in their eyes, kids who knew they were trapped in an institution within a system that would not respond to their cries for help.

"Perhaps their families failed them, TYC definitely failed them. I promised each one of those victims that I would not fail them."

After recounting how he broke the sex abuse case at the West Texas State School in Pyote, the 37-year-old Fort Stockton resident received a standing ovation from lawmakers and members of the public.

"We've got one great Ranger here today," said Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, who chairs the House Corrections Committee.

Two weeks after the sex abuse scandal broke, the Joint Committee on the Operation and Management of the Texas Youth Commission passed a no-confidence vote against Gov. Rick Perry's board appointees, and several committee members pointedly requested them to resign en masse.

"I think you should do the state and the people of Texas a favor and get out of the way," said Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, who chairs the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Perry waded in with a pointed prepared statement of his own.

"The governor believes that every member of the TYC board must be willing to devote their full time and attention to correcting the problems at the youth commission. Any member who is not willing to do that should resign immediately," the statement read in part.

"Any crimes committed by TYC personnel, staff or administration will be uncovered, investigated and prosecuted."

And the case for a clean sweep is pretty compelling. There's a clear disconnect between what the board members are saying and what the facts on the ground are.

Lawmakers are trying to determine who knew that inmates had accused top officials of molesting them, when they knew about it and why they didn't stop the abuse and expose it.

Members of the board said they didn't know about many of the allegations and that they didn't have time in their meetings to categorically address reports of abuse.

"I've never been involved in anything where you had to follow up on a case that was done by a Texas Ranger or by a police department or was turned over to a district attorney," said board Chairman Donald Bethel. "We didn't know anything about that."

[...]

Recent talks about the agency's budget brought attention to Burzynski's investigation.

An internal investigation confirmed Burzynski's findings and said top officials knew of the abuse but did nothing to stop it.

Bethel insisted that the board did the best they could with the information that had been made available to them.

"I don't think anyone else would have done different than what this board did," Bethel said, under pointed questioning from lawmakers.

"You don't think this could have been done better?" Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, shouted angrily.

The panel of lawmakers grew increasingly incensed as the board said they believed the case had been concluded when two suspects resigned.

"Do you not have a responsibility to see how your agency responds to the matter? What safeguards have been put in place to protect the children?" asked Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat who leads the committee.

Whitmire later asked each board member to resign.

Each of the five board members professed their desire to help the state's children.

Board member Gogi Dickson said she would not resign because "I believe in helping the children of Texas and my background prepares me to look at different issues, look at all sides."

One of the most aggravating thing about this whole scandal is that so far nobody has been arrested for anything related to the molestation charges. As we know, the two top officials at the Pyote facility, who have both been accused of sexually assaulting the teenage inmates, were allowed to resign, and the local District Attorney, who had jurisdiction, did nothing to follow up. What's worse is that no one who could have put pressure on him to take action did so. Back to the Chron:

Don Clemmer, deputy attorney general for criminal justice, also came under fire.

When the local district attorney in the West Texas case failed to pursue criminal charges, the Rangers called his office in early 2005 for help. He told them he couldn't do anything unless Ward County District Attorney Randall "Randy" Reynolds asked him to help.

That led lawmakers to inquire if Clemmer ever called the district attorney to see if he needed help. He said he had not.

It's been a rough session for the Trans Texas Corridor, hasn't it? I've not followed all the ins and outs - Eye on Williamson has been an excellent source, as has Burka - but the general picture is clear, and if you've been reading around you've probably come across the phrase "buyer's remorse" more than once.

The latest bad news for Corridor fans is the support that an effort to impose a moratorium has gained this week.

Dozens of state representatives have signed on to the bill that would place a moratorium on any public-private contracts such as the one for Highway 121. The winning bidder, Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte SA, agreed to pay $2.1 billion in upfront money and $700 million over the life of the 50-year contract for the rights to operate the Highway 121 toll road in Collin and Denton counties.

The moratorium bill's House sponsor, Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, said a state auditor's critical assessment of toll road financing - coupled with the Highway 121 contract's upfront payment and generous profit margin - has led many lawmakers to question if Texas drivers are being sold down the road.

"I don't think it's too much to ask to take two years to look at contracts that will govern our grandkids 50 years from now," she said.

The bill is aimed at "alarming contracts" being signed for toll roads, lawmakers said. It would eliminate noncompete clauses that could prevent the state from building new roads or maintaining existing ones near a new toll road. It also would put some limits on tolls to ensure they remain reasonable.

Under the proposal, a private company could not collect revenue from or operate a tollway. Nor could a toll project entity such as the North Texas Tollway Authority sell a toll road to a private interest.

In the Senate, at least 25 of the 31 senators have signed onto the bill that is being carried by Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville. Before winning election last year, Mr. Nichols served on the Texas Transportation Commission - the five-member board appointed by Gov. Rick Perry that oversees highway policy in the state.

"When a former commissioner of the Texas Department of Transportation and head of the subcommittee on the Trans-Texas Corridor introduces this kind of legislation, it makes a very huge statement that we need to slow down," said Ms. Kolkhorst.

More from Burka and Kilday Hart, and a reaction from Cintra Zachry, in which they almost sound relieved. Which distinguishes them from the Governor's office - as Houtopia notes, they're as defiant as ever on this. Finally, McBlogger thinks the Lege should go farther, and he joins Eye on Williamson in taking apart a disingenuous pro-toll editorial. Check 'em out.

Remember Rick Perry's grand plan to fund cancer research? It's now one step closer to reality.

With the ambitious goal of finding a cancer cure, lawmakers filed legislation Wednesday that would invest up to $300 million a year to fund a wide range of cancer research initiatives in Texas.

Gov. Rick Perry, joined by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, called the proposal a "landmark investment in a collaborative research effort that can put Texas on the leading edge of developing new therapies for cancer treatment."

[...]

Texas voters would have to approve a November ballot measure that would allow the state to borrow against bonds to fund the Cancer Research Institute of Texas. In his budget proposal, Perry had proposed using proceeds from selling the state lottery to a private company.

The bill sponsors are Sen. Jane Nelson and Rep. Jim Keffer. For what it's worth, Keffer is not a sponsor of Rep. Beverly Woolley's stem cell bill. I don't know where he and Sen. Nelson stand on this issue, but I hope their commitment to science and to really put Texas "on the leading edge" carries over to that effort as well.

The proposed temporary ban on demolition in the Old Sixth Ward has been implemented.

The Houston City Council on Wednesday approved a six-month ban on demolitions of historical buildings in the Old Sixth Ward neighborhood west of downtown.

Even though it's temporary, it doubles an existing waiting period on demolitions that still applies in other neighborhoods, and is among the most restrictive measures the city ever has adopted regarding privately owned historical structures.

Councilwomen Addie Wiseman and Anne Clutterbuck cast the only votes against the measure, which passed without discussion.

Clutterbuck said later that she supports historic preservation but thinks any new protection measure should apply citywide.Wiseman could not be reached for comment.

The measure exempts buildings in the Old Sixth Ward Historic District from a provision in the city's preservation ordinance that allows owners to alter or tear down historical structures after a 90-day waiting period, even if the city's Archaeological and Historical Commission disapproves.

Is it time for the Biennial Push For Expanded Legalized Gambling again? Yes, I suppose it is.

Sens. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and John Carona, R-Dallas, on today will tout a proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize resort casinos in Texas and allow video lottery terminals -- VLTs, or slot machines -- at existing racetracks.

An estimated $3.5 billion to $4 billion would be generated annually, with plans for $1 billion of that to be dedicated to TEXAS Grants and other higher education financial aid programs, according to Ellis' office.

Ellis and Carona will discuss details of Senate Joint Resolution 45 and Senate Bill 1359 at a news conference today. The proposed amendment would require approval of two-thirds of the Legislature before going on a statewide ballot for consideration.

Although the number of casinos could change, the proposal would allow seven in urban areas, two on islands in the Gulf and three whose location would be determined by a new Texas Gaming Commission. It would allow VLTs at eight racetracks, five horse tracks and three dog tracks.

Disregard everything you read before. The lineup for the May 12 City Council special election is well and truly set. Well, maybe again.

Retired Air Force officer Roy Morales will be a candidate in a special City Council election May 12, city officials said Wednesday, correcting their earlier report that Morales was disqualified.

Greg Locke and Darryn Call, who were listed as candidates after Tuesday's filing deadline, were disqualified Wednesday after officials examined their paperwork.

Another candidate whose application was rejected, Ray Jones Jr., said the city "erred" over a technicality. He said he plans to challenge the decision.

Patrick Trahan, a spokesman for Mayor Bill White, said Morales was listed as disqualified when a staffer confused the candidates in response to Chronicle questions about who had filed.

"A mistake was made," he said. Compounding the confusion, he said, was that Morales' application contained a minor error, but it wasn't substantive enough for city lawyers to reject his candidacy.

Pending a subsequent reinstatement of Ray Jones, the lineup is as follows:

• Kendall Baker, a supervisor in the city's 311 Service Helpline call center


• Anthony Dutrow, a meatpacker and perennial candidate


• Noel Freeman, a city public works employee


• David Goldberg, a high school student


• Ivan Mayers, a former energy executive who now serves as consultant to several nonprofit groups


• Alfred Molison, co-chair of the Harris County Green Party and an employee of the Social Security Administration


• Roy Morales


• Andy Neill, a consultant involved in the Houston Downtown Alliance's emerging leaders committee


• Tom Nixon, lawyer and former Houston police officer who gained notoriety last year after his firing over criticisms of HPD's vehicle-chase policy


• Melissa Noriega, a Houston school official and wife of state Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston


• Sara Owen-Gemoets, a retired United Methodist minister.

The Houston GLBT Political Caucus has made its tough choice and given its endorsement to Melissa Noriega.

With two openly gay candidates, Noel Freeman and Ivan Mayers, running, the decision to endorse Noriega was not an easy one, but the caucus has not compromised its commitment to advancing equality for GLBT people in Houston. After some thorough discussion, there was clear consensus on two things:

First, we can all be very proud of Noel Freeman and Ivan Mayers. Their courage is inspiring, and the GLBT community applauds them for running as openly gay men.

The Houston GLBT Political Caucus enthusiastically looks forward to Melissa Noriega's tenure on city council, and we will be working diligently on her behalf right through May 12th, election day.

On "pro-life day" at the Lege, Rep. Beverly Woolley has filed a bill that will get her a little crosswise with the Republican base.

Woolley, R-Houston, filed legislation to protect embryonic stem cell research and already has support from 64 House members.

Elsewhere in the Capitol, "pro life and respect life directors" of Texas' archdioceses fanned through the building, asking lawmakers to abolish abortion and to oppose any bill that allows embryonic stem cell research.

Woolley says her bill would ban human cloning and the sale of human eggs while providing oversight for stem cell research.

"Stem cell research is pro-life. It embodies the hope we find in scripture - that we may see in our own lifetimes the lame made to walk and the sick healed," said the Rev. Frank Goldsmith, pastor of Koening Lane Christian Church in Austin.

However, opponents of embryonic stem cells consider supporters to be "misguided."

"We need to continue to dialogue with them. We don't see them as enemies but as potential converts," said Peter Monod, director for the Office of Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

Rep. Woolley's bill sends a clear message that public health policy should be based on science and hope, not division and politics. It would establish a responsible, ethical policy that encourages promising stem cell research and removes unnecessary obstacles. This is good for Texas and for all of our families looking to the wonders of modern medicine for hope.

I have just spoken to Roy Morales, and his campaign confirmed to me that he will in fact be on the ballot for the May special election, despite earlier published reports. It wasn't clear what the problem was - it sounded to me like a misunderstanding, but there weren't a lot of details available, so I can't really say what it was all about. But he'll be on the ballot, so it's a baker's dozen for May. I'll have an interview with Morales published on Monday, so check back for that.

I've got a post regarding the field of candidates for the May 12 City Council special election up at Kuff's World. Couple of points to add here, starting with this:

"Looking at the field, you have to say Melissa Noriega is the front-runner," said Joe Householder, who works for the Austin-based political consulting firm Public Strategies Inc., and has clients in Houston politics.

"She has been campaigning for a seat for a while, she has the most extensive political network and she can tap the network her husband has in place. She has the leg up."

Noriega was endorsed by the Harris County AFL-CIO Council last week. She also is supported by several Democratic elected officials, including City Council members Carol Alvarado, Adrian Garcia and Sue Lovell, and state representatives Alma Allen, Garnet Coleman, Jessica Farrar, Ana Hernandez, Borris Miles and Senfronia Thompson.

As such, this is the kind of race where endorsements will matter, because what they will serve to do is to remind people that they need to get out and vote in the first place. One group that will be issuing its endorsement later today is the Houston GLBT Political Caucus. They have a tough choice, but the good kind of tough choice.

For the first time in caucus history, two openly gay men, Noel Freeman and Ivan Mayers, are seeking the caucus's support. Melissa Noriega and Andy Neill also screened with the caucus. Everyone on the screening committee agrees that the caucus has a very difficult decision to make, but this is a difficult decision we're happy to have; it's one we've been waiting for.

Our organization has been committed to recruiting openly GLBT candidates for a long time, so we can't help but be extremely proud of Noel Freeman and Ivan Mayers. Both men have distinguished themselves by being courageously honest within discriminatory cultures. Noel Freeman was the first openly gay member of Texas A&M's Corps of Cadets. Ivan Mayers worked for many years as an executive at Exxon Mobile.

Though we are extremely excited about the candidacy of these two gay men, it should not be assumed that the caucus will endorse either of them, simply because they are homosexuals. As an interim state legislator, civic activist and educator, Melissa Noriega has proven herself to be an extremely effective leader. During her interview, Noriega was passionate about building coalitions. She's obviously eager to learn about GLBT issues, and, in many ways, She's uniquely qualified to help our community reach out to the greater population of Houston.

We certainly face a difficult decision. We have a historic opportunity, not just because we have two homosexuals seeking our endorsement. Our city is at the threshold of significant progress, and every city election has the potential to bring us closer to equal citizenship.

The GLBT political caucus is not a mere fan club for elected officials. We don't vainly seek election victories. We are compelled to by specific policy goals. We are driven by the prospect of equality. Of course we want more GLBT elected officials, but, even more than that, we want nondiscrimination mandated by our government. We want marriage equality, with recognition and security for our loving families. We want equal rights, and the Caucus will endorse and work for the candidate that can best accelerate the realization of these goals.

Mayor White's plan to take action against some area polluters has caused some noses to get out of joint.

The mayors of LaPorte, Baytown, Pasadena and Deer Park say White has no business invading their turf and feel snubbed because they weren't consulted prior to the plan's unveiling three weeks ago.

"Mayor White is over Houston," LaPorte Mayor Alton Porter said. "He's not the mayor over all Harris County."

The mayors also say White's plan could hurt their cities' economy. They contend cars -- more than industry -- are responsible for creating the benzene problem.

To hash out any differences, Pasadena Mayor John Manlove has organized a closed-door summit meeting March 15 for White and the mayors of 13 cities in the Houston port region. State and county pollution regulators and industry representatives will also be included.

"We want to all sit down in one room and put everything on the table," Manlove said.

But Porter is not sure he will attend.

"I think it's a little late to be engaging the effective parties now," he said.

Deer Park Mayor Wayne Riddle said he probably will attend but he also feels sidestepped: "If it's a regional effort, they should have invited all the area mayors for discussions in the beginning."

White's staff says the benzene-reduction plan has been presented only as a "starting point" and that White is looking for feedback.

"Mayor White has been talking about reducing pollution for two years," said Paulette Wolfson, an assistant city attorney for Houston. " But in the past, cities have wanted to know exactly how he plans to do it before they comment. That is why we developed this specific plan and now asking for comment. It seems that we're damned if we do and damned if we don't."

Second, this is not an either/or choice between chemical plants and cars. We can reduce emissions from both sources. Indeed, we have to.

Third, Mayor White isn't ignoring the problem of auto emissions. In his State of the City speech, White called for a 5% cut in Houston's consumption of motor fuels in the next five years, which among other things would reduce those emissions.

I'm sorry that these mayors felt left out, but honestly, where were they all along? Mayor White has talked about air quality since his first campaign, and started talking specifics about stuff like benzene last June. This didn't come out of nowhere. Did none of them take any action on their own initiative?

One more thing:

[T]he east Harris County mayors fear that industry may soon grow weary of regulatory controls and decide to relocate.

"This plan could drive them away if it gets too expensive," Manlove said.

Several chambers of commerce in east Harris County, such as Baytown, have passed resolutions stating White's plan could have a "devastating" impact on the area's big employers.

But [Karl Pepple, an environmental expert for the city of Houston] notes dirty air can also hinder job growth, pointing to the Toyota manufacturing plant that was recently built in San Antonio instead of Houston. Pepple said Toyota officials cited Houston's poor air quality as a key reason.

These guys are welcome to join the conversation if they want. But it's time to act.

Two notes from today's story about the beginning of the Ed Era:

Commissioners Court voted 4-1 to appoint Emmett. Commissioner Sylvia Garcia cast the only "no" vote, saying she preferred a caretaker who wouldn't seek election to the office. She later changed her vote to make the appointment unanimous.

In a related matter Tuesday, state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, filed a bill that would require a county to hold an election more quickly when a member of a Commissioners Court resigns or dies.

Under state law, those vacancies don't go to voters until the next even-year election.

Patrick's bill would require an election to be held at the next "uniform" election date. Had such a law been in effect, a special election to fill Eckels' post would have been May 12.

Patrick assailed Eckels for leaving office so soon after his re-election and for recommending Emmett over better-known Republicans. "If the will of the voters is supplanted by the will of an elected official," Patrick said, "then we should allow the voters to make their voice heard as soon as practical."

According to the Texas Observer blog, there's some good news for CHIP in the near future:

Rep. Sylvester Turner told reporters this morning that the House Appropriations Committee will add money to the budget later today to fully restore cuts to the Children's Health Inrurance Program. Turner spoke at a press conference convened by the Texas IAF Network. Interfaith leaders from all over the state have traveled to the Capitol today to advocate in favor of CHIP and against strict immigration bills.

[...]

The scuttlebutt at the Capitol has it that Turner's bill to restore CHIP was one of the legislative goodies the Craddick Democrats received for their decisive support of Speaker Tom Craddick's reelection.

I confess that my cynical side wonders just how much credit these gentlemen should receive if their measures don't make it all the way to the Governor's signature. Of particular concern is CHIP, where as we know there is far less sentiment for reform in the Senate. One could easily formulate a conspiracy theory in which Craddick agreed to go along with full-bore CHIP restoration, knowing fully well that it would be killed or at least scaled back by David Dewhurst's gubernatorial aspirations. I'll still take half a loaf - and getting full funding plus a return to 2003 asset testing would be more than half, even if the 6 month renewal requirement remains - but I'll also wonder if the fix was in from the beginning. I hate to be so distrustful, but I think I have ample reason for being so. Stay tuned.

I'm sure you're well aware by now that Scooter Libby was convicted on four of the five counts against him - one count of obstruction, two counts of perjury and one count of lying to the FBI; he was acquitted on a second count of lying to the FBI - so I'm just noting this for the record. Go visit Firedoglake (if it's back up) for full-on, wall-to-wall coverage from bloggers who were there for the trial.

Also just noting for the record, since I'm sure we'll be hearing different things soon: What some people said about Libby before the trial, and what some people said about perjury the last time it was major national news.

Just some linkage to give you a feel for how the passage of HB8 was perceived.

Grits for Breakfast says the delay made the final bill worse.

Vince thinks HB8 was heavily flawed due to the death penalty provisions. He also has reactions from two legislators who voted "No", Reps. Ellen Cohen and Trey Martinez-Fischer.

The Texas Observer thinks that the hardliners will be very happy with HB8, assuming it withstands judicial scrutiny.

Inside the Texas Capitol thinks that the law is well-intentioned but will make it tougher for children to speak up.

Dig Deeper Texas wonders what it means to be "pro-life" any more.

BOR salutes the members who voted No, and has journal entries from Reps. Garnet Coleman, Borris Miles, and Eddie Rodriguez, plus a comment from Helen Giddings.

Karen Brooks gives some behind-the-scenes flavor.

Finally, Paul Burka, who considers himself a strong proponent of the death penalty, explains what exactly is wrong with this bill:

Yesterday the floor substitute added a new capital offense: Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Young Child or Children. This occurs if someone commits an offense more than once in a period of 90 days or more, or commits more than one offense. The language in the substitute says that a jury is not required to reach unanimous agreement on which day the offenses occurred or on which specific offenses were committed. In other words, if Juror A thinks that the offenses were aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault, and Juror B thinks they were aggravated sexual assault and burglary with the intent to commit sexual assault, that's OK, give him the needle anyway; and if Juror C thinks that the offenses were committed on Wednesday and Saturday and Juror D think it was Monday and Thursday, that's OK too. Does anybody really think that the Supreme Court is going to buy that a jury doesn't have to be unanimous in a death penalty case?

The Alamo is getting a facelift.

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, who have safeguarded the shrine since 1902, are preparing the Alamo's first master plan for upgrades since 1979. DRT officials said they can mitigate the destructive forces of nature and man if they can raise large sums for preservation. They also want to enhance visitors' experience at the hallowed site.
Their plans, due out in May, will call for fresh analyses of the corrosive influences on the shrine. Costly steps may be required to slow the flaking of limestone that dissolves architectural details and historic graffiti from the Alamo facade, officials said.

The Alamo still bears the scars of the 1836 siege in which 189 defenders were defeated by Mexican forces, a rout that spurred the cries of "Remember the Alamo!" at the decisive Battle of San Jacinto near Houston. Chunks of stone are missing due to cannon blasts, bullets and natural crumbling, but even though the flaws could be fixed, the DRT won't do that, Alamo Director David Stewart said.

"People want to see the church pretty much as it was, with the signs of history on the front of it," Stewart said. "The Historical Commission is very adamant about that, also," he said. Even so, there are discussions about restoring part of the Alamo's interior that were reworked in the 1850s, Oaks said.

Congratulations to Ed Emmett on his selection as Harris County Judge.

Commissioners Court, including outoing County Judge Robert Eckels, unanimously tapped Emmett for the job that includes presiding over the county's governing body.

On Monday night, [outgoing Judge Robert] Eckels took heat during a meeting of the county Republican Executive Committee at the Houston Community College campus on the West Loop, where party leaders criticized Eckels for leaving so soon after he was re-elected, and for backing Emmett over better-known incumbent officials with proven countywide electability.

"Don't dump our party in the grease," said state Sen. Dan Patrick, a talk-radio host and a leader of the local party's most conservative wing. "Don't leave us with someone no one knows."

Emmett, 57, will have to run in 2008 to complete Eckels' four-year term, and Democrats are hungry for county inroads after seeing their Dallas counterparts recapture county government last November.

"Robert Eckels has been a fine public servant," Patrick said. "But voters did not intend for someone to run for office and step down two months later for their own personal gain."

I have confessed on this space before to having been a Stevens and Pruett fan from the good old days of 101 KLOL. I still think the decline and fall of that station can be traced to the breakup of their longstanding morning duo. I've moved on, and maybe I wouldn't find them as amusing today as I did when I was a shallow twentysomething single guy - and Lord knows I wouldn't let Olivia listen to them as we drive to preschool - but I do miss them from the scene.

Well, thanks to the magic of the Internet, you can hear these guys again. According to an email I received yesterday, they appeared as guests on the Internet radio station DXS Radio. Quoting from the email:

Their [last] Wednesday on-air "talk fest" was a hilarious, 45-minute trip down memory lane. They talked about being partners since the early seventies, the insanity behind the scenes at the Stevens & Pruett Show, the glory days of KLOL and of course, how commercial radio has changed over the past five years or so.

Governor Perry took his sweet time in reacting to the problems with the Texas Youth Commission, but at least now the Lege can act quickly to try and fix some of those problems.

Law enforcement officers would be stationed at Texas Youth Commission facilities to investigate abuse allegations and prevent employees from covering them up under legislation the governor put on the fast track today.

The proposal calls for establishing an inspector general's office at the troubled agency, where investigations showing employees molested young inmates went unheeded for years.

A companion bill would expand the jurisdiction of a Texas Department of Criminal Justice special prosecution unit to help take the inspector general's cases to court.

Republican Rep. Jerry Madden of Richardson, the chairman of the House corrections committee, said the proposals would make it easier to bring abusers to justice.

"TYC's history has proven to us that non-commissioned personnel are not getting the job done," Madden said. "TYC needs their own police force. There are real crimes being committed on their property."

[...]

Madden's bill follows Perry's request that the agency create an inspector general's office.

Under the proposal, licensed peace officers would replace civilian investigators at each facility. They would report to a chief inspector general, who would report to the agency's board.

Rep. Rene Oliveira, a Democrat from Brownsville, said that means board members could stymie the work of investigators if they didn't like what was found.

"We're just running the risk of leaving things as is and not sending the proper message," Oliveira said, adding that he believes all the board members should be forced to resign.

But John Moriarty, the inspector general for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said law enforcement officers are bound to keep pushing investigations if they know crimes occurred.

House Bill 914 would establish the inspector general's office and require that its agents be sworn law enforcement officers. The office's chief would report to the board that oversees the youth commission, not the agency's day-to-day director.

House Bill 427 would establish a special unit to work with local prosecutors in areas where TYC facilities are located to bring charges in response to credible allegations of wrongdoing by either employees or inmates within the facilities.

None of 13 confirmed sexual assaults last year by Texas Youth Commission staff on youngsters in their care were prosecuted, according to alarming statistics released Monday by state lawmakers.

In addition, over the past six years, TYC officials reported 6,652 abuse and neglect cases to law enforcement officials, including 39 sexual assaults. In all, authorities declined involvement in 6,634 of the cases - all but 18.

House Corrections Committee Chairman Jerry Madden, in laying out the numbers, said something had to be done to "quickly improve the safety of the staff and youth at TYC."

In other action, the House added an amendment to a child sexual assault bill that would make it a second-degree felony for state officials to not report or to cover up the exploitation of children by other state officials.

The amendment by Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, was tacked on to "Jessica's Laws," which aim harsh punishment for child sex offenders, including the death penalty.

"We need to protect Jessica whether she was taken out of her home or a TYC facility," Mr. Dunnam said.

Finally, there were more accusations about who didn't do what yesterday:

An audiotape of a March 2005 hearing shows TYC's former executive director notifying Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, and members of his committee that the agency was investigating reports of juveniles being sexually abused by staff members at the West Texas State School in Pyote.

"I would like to mention one other situation," the former executive director, Dwight Harris, said as he wrapped up testimony on the problems plaguing another juvenile facility. "We have sent you information regarding this. This is our West Texas facility. I want to go into the specifics, but I really can't. There is an ongoing investigation there about sexual impropriety between staff and youth."

There was no reaction from Whitmire nor any of the other committee members present.

Whitmire said Monday he had no independent recollection of Harris' testimony. Asked if he followed up with Harris, Whitmire said no.

"He was going to get with us. He never did," Whitmire said, adding later: "The ball was in his court. We get letters every day of allegations we refer to the agencies and the Rangers report was the first time that we knew of any of the particulars and we saw that three weeks ago."

Via Vince, State Rep. Todd Smith (R, Euless) has filed HB225, which could aptly be called the "Bill Ceverha Bill" because it would finally clean up that nasty and confusing little loophole in which a briefcase full of cash given to a state official could be disclosed simply as "briefcase". The relevant text:

(d) For a gift of cash or a cash equivalent such as negotiable instrument or gift certificate that is reported in accordance with Section 572.023(b)(7), the individual filing the statement shall include in the description of the gift a statement of the value of the gift.

Fascinating article about the decision by Wal-Mart in Seguin to close its fabric department, and the outraged reaction that has drawn from the local sewing and knitting aficionados who have no other place nearby to go to get their supplies. I think this encapsulates the issue:

In places like Seguin, a South Texas town of about 25,000 and a shopping hub for surrounding communities, Wal-Mart is the only game in town for fabric, seam binding, dress patterns, lace and other sewing supplies.

Independent stores closed down when they couldn't compete with Wal-Mart, and if Wal-Mart follows suit, shoppers would be forced to drive 30 to 60 miles to San Antonio or other towns for sewing needs.

[...]

Critics say cutting fabric departments in urban areas might be good business, but in rural areas, sewing, quilting and knitting remain part of everyday life.

"For a lot of people, it's their hobby. It's what Wal-Mart is just taking away from them," said Ursula Alexander, a 15-year-old Seguin High School freshman who uses Wal-Mart supplies to design purses, sew curtains or help make theater costumes.

She's working on her own letter to Wal-Mart.

Many, like quilter Janet Welsch, believe, "If they've come in and run out the locals, they have a moral obligation to continue serving."

[...]

Some see a silver-lining in Wal-Mart's departure from the fabric biz.

"In an open market, if Wal-Mart exits, then somebody else ought to be able to come in and take care of it," said Mark Alpert, marketing professor at the University of Texas' McCombs School of Business.

"In a way, there's an irony here. The same people who criticize Wal-Mart for driving out small business are now saying, 'Darn it, now you've got to keep providing this stuff.' It's actually an opportunity for small business."

The reason Wal-Mart was able to put whatever little guys existed beforehand out of business is what makes this venture much riskier for anybody else. Wal-Mart can afford tiny margins because of their volume. They can also afford for a fabric department to be a relative dog, performance-wise, because it's an infinitesimal piece of their overall revenue stream. A fabric department may not even need to be profitable for them to justify its existence, if the folks who come there to shop for those items stick around to make other purchases as well. Needless to say, a small business doesn't have this kind of luxury.

None of this, of course, requires Wal-Mart to take any particular action. You can talk about "moral obligations", but if they think they'll maximize shareholder value by dumping fabrics, that's as far as that discussion will go. The fabric fans have done what they can to make their voices heard, and I hope that one way or another they get a positive resolution.

I don't know that I have enough information after reading this article about wrong way drivers on freeways to know if the proposed solution of "wrong way driving detectors" on exit ramps will make a difference or not. It's an infrequent problem and the technology involved is expensive, but the result of such a collision is so often deadly that almost any positive effect will be worthwhile. But it'll only be rolled out on about half the exit ramps of the Westpark Tollway, so who knows if there'll even be a chance for them to come into play. And on and on. So who knows?

I did, however, get one really useful piece of information out of this article:

"The frustrating thing, from a safety engineering standpoint, is that so many impaired drivers have been going the wrong way for a long distance and have passed all sorts of things that would tell them they are going in the wrong direction," [Scott Cooner, who has researched wrong-way crashes for the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University,] said.

Many, he said, will move over to what is -- to them -- the right-hand lane in an attempt to drive safely. This puts them in position to collide with fast-lane traffic.

"Late at night, I don't drive in the left lane of the freeway for that reason, and a lot of police departments have that as standard operating procedure," he said.

As noted by Karen Brooks, the amended HB8 is being debated on the floor. Here's a summary of the changes, as provided to me:

HB 8 FLOOR AMENDMENT SUMMARY:

• The proposed amendment creates a new offense, "Continuous Sexual Abuse of Young Child or Children", which has been previously described in Representative Madden's HB 436.


• Continuous sexual abuse means that the perpetrator committed a sex act more than once against a child or children younger than 14 over a period of 90 days, which would indicate this is a habitual sex offender.


• This language creates a NEW offense, rather than tying in multiple convictions of existing offenses. This is to address concerns that individual, innocuous acts of certain offenses, such as indecency, would not be punishable by the death penalty or life without parole.


• There is a so-called "Romeo and Juliet" clause in the bill that allows for a defense if the actor was not more than five years older than the victim and the act was consensual.


• This is to address concerns that a 17 year old senior in high school would not be risking prosecution for sleeping with his 13 year old freshman girlfriend under this act, although this would still be punishable under existing law. (It should be noted that 17 year olds are not eligible for the death penalty under ANY circumstances, whether this bill is in effect or not, as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2005 decision in Roper v. Simms.)


• A first conviction of this new crime would carry a 25 year minimum sentence, and parole would still be an option after at least that amount of time. This is intended to address concerns that removing the possibility of parole removes incentives to seek treatment while incarcerated. The original language in HB 8 that prevented parole on a first offense has been removed.


• A second conviction of this new crime would be punishable as a capital offense.


• There are several safeguards in the bill to protect the state's existing death penalty, as well as the sentences imposed on offenders, in the event that the U.S. Supreme Court rules against the expansion of the penalty set forward by HB 8.


• The bill retains the language regarding the extension of the statute of limitations for sex offenses, but language related to the GPS monitoring of sex offenders has been removed.

UPDATE: It passed.

I find it interesting that of the three people the Chron cites as leaving elected office prior to the end of their term to become a lobbyist, none of them did so anywhere near the start of those terms as Robert Eckels has. Both Supreme Court justices left two or more years into their terms, and Rep. Gerard Torres dropped out after winning the Democratic primary, which left his seat empty (during a non-legislative session year) until a November special election. In other words, there's really not an analogous case here.

I'll say again, the issue is not that Eckels chose to leave, it's that he did so in a manner that just about maximizes the anti-democratic effect of his departure. He could have resigned - or hell, just announced that he was dropping out of the race and finished the remainder of his term as a lame duck - prior to late August of last year so that an election to replace him could have taken place immediately. Instead, we get nearly two full years of an appointed successor who will then get to run for "re-election" whose selection committee includes Eckels himself. There's nothing about this that indicates the slightest concern for the process, and that's just obnoxious.

On a side note, it's interesting to see that Jared Woodfill's temper tantrum and the registration of EdEmmett.com (which one presumes is not for the purpose of starting a blog) occurred more or less simultaneously. Way to throw your weight around, Jared!

I've got Interview #2 in my series of conversations with City Council candidates, with Andy Neill, posted up at Kuff's World. As always, please let me know what you think. The RSS feed for my Kuff's World podcasts is here. My previous interview, with Melissa Noriega, is here.

Coming up in the Lege: As we know, discussion of HB8, the so-called "Jessica's Law", was tabled last week, to be picked up again today. According to Vince, a floor substitute that deals with some of the objections about the bill's application of the death penalty will be brought forward in its place. He has a large PDF with the revisions.

Also on tap for today is a hearing by the House Local Government Ways and Means Committee to discuss HB1552, Rep. Mike Villarreal's proposal to require sales price to be included on any deed filed in the state. This would be a step towards more equitable taxation, since many high-end and commercial properties are grossly underappraised. I don't know if the Republicans will have the stomach for this, but we'll see.

Fascinating article about an ambitious plan to extend and update the San Antonio River system with more parks and other development.

The study by TXP Inc. was commissioned by the San Antonio River Foundation, which will use it to bolster a campaign to raise an additional $50 million from the private sector to fund public art and other amenities for a 13-mile linear park along the San Antonio River.

The report suggested the completed park, running from the Witte Museum to Mission Espada, would add $12.5 million annually to the area's tax base, increase property values adjacent to the open space along the river, and create close to 10,000 permanent jobs.

"What struck me about the project is that it's very consistent with where San Antonio development needs to be," said Jon Hockenyos, managing director of TXP, an Austin-based consulting firm. "San Antonio has had great success recruiting companies, but now it needs to focus on attracting and retaining people, and this project does that."

[...]

The report, which calls its revenue estimates conservative, assumes the city would see continued strong economic growth over the next decade, given the 36,400 jobs that have been added to the area since 1994, creating "tremendous demand" for new types of housing and entertainment options.

Much of the new development along the river would mix open space with residential, retail, office and entertainment development.

Tourism, too, should be enhanced by a river that could be navigable from the museums to the missions. Recent tourism research notes that visitor levels within the main River Walk area are beginning to get overcrowded, so expanding river destinations for visitors would be crucial to the continued success of the region's top tourism draw.

Sonny Collins, the river foundation's president, compared the improvements project with Chicago's Millennium Park, which has seen the value of surrounding land increase $1.4 billion, with increased tourism expected to bring in another $2.6 billion over the next decade.

That success will allow Chicago to pay off $285 million in bonds it issued to help pay for the park three to five years early, Collins said.

"The numbers are mind-boggling," he said. "We'd love to think we could emulate that."

A lot of good things have happened recently on the preservation front. From the Old Sixth Ward to help for bungalows to tax waivers for historic buildings, there's been a lot of progress made. Unfortunately, things aren't looking so good for the place whose imminent jeopardy galvanized a lot of support for these efforts in the first place: the River Oaks Theater. Miya has the bad news.

I'll make an increasingly rare trip to the theater to see this.

After appearing in a string of thrillers and superhero flicks, it looks like Halle Berry is itching to get back to where she was after winning a best actress Oscar for her role in Monster's Ball. Though it's been sitting in a vault for some time now, Lionsgate is finally ready to move forward on Tulia with Berry attached to star. Essentially a courtroom drama, Tulia is based on real-life events surrounding the arrests of 46 black men during a Texas drug bust -- a sting operation where, in the end, no money, drugs or illegal weapons were found. However, the men were convicted solely on the testimony of one crooked cop.

Berry will play the lead attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense; a group that immediately got involved and helped to ultimately free the wrongly accused. Based on the Nate Blakeslee's book Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town, Carl Franklin (Out of Time) is in talks to direct while Karen Croner penned the script.

We've had a visit from Barack Obama, and now it's time for John Edwards to pay a visit to the Lone Star State. I expect to have more details later, but for now here's what I know:

WHAT: A rally with John Edwards.

WHEN: This Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at 4:30 pm

WHERE: Sunset Station Depot
1174 E. Commerce St.
San Antonio, TX 78205

It'll be interesting to see, given the recent attention that the Edwards campaign has received from Republican operative Ann Coulter, how this event is covered. Will this all have blown over by then, or will the Texas media just be catching up to it and decide to ask a few questions about her? Stay tuned.

There's a lot of good things that go along with the growth and increased densification of Houston's inner core. Without going into a list, the short answer is that without growth, you get stagnation and decay. It's a positive that people want to live in Houston, inside the Loop, instead of in some far-flung new suburban development.

But it's also important to remember that this growth comes with a price, and I don't just mean unwanted property tax increases resulting from a boom in land values. A lot of the areas where this growth is occurring - places like Montrose and the Heights - don't really have the infrastructure to handle a lot of new residents and their cars. Parking, and driving through these often narrow streets with cars parked on both sides, is a huge issue.

I think I've mentioned that I used to live on a little one-block stretch of Van Buren, just east of Montrose and next to West Dallas. When my then-roommate and I moved into the house there in 1993, there were two other houses, both on our side of the street, and a little warehouse that had been converted into lofts. Both eastern corners of Van Buren were empty lots, and the northwest corner was a normally empty parking lot that had been used for overflow from the American General building.

Well, before I moved to the Heights in 1997, the southeastern corner was converted into townhomes. Both remaining corners have since been built up in the same fashion. A couple of years back, I cut through Van Buren and was amazed to see that the east side of the street was now a no-parking zone, presumably to allow for traffic to flow through at all. Were I still living there, I would not be able to park in front of my own house, on this itty bitty, inconsequential but overbuilt side road. That in a nutshell is the downside of density to me.

This, as much as any architectural concerns, is what the save-the-bungalow types are fighting for, or perhaps fighting against. There's neither an incentive nor a requirement for the developers to do anything to mitigate these or other concerns, such as drainage. Nobody is looking at the big picture.

It's almost laughable sometimes. Look at this story about the recent boom in mixed-use development, something which is also generally a good thing but which also has its downside, and see the absurdity of it all:

It is possible that the other proposed projects will be built, and that it's purely a local supply-and-demand function, according to Michael Beyard, senior retail fellow at the Urban Land Institute.

However, there is a danger of overbuilding in Houston, because it's so easy to enter the market, he said: "You don't know who your competition is going to be, whereas in older cities, it's a long, drawn-out process to get a building permit."

All I've got here is a little free-floating worry. Like a team with too much talent at one position, I'd rather have this problem than the opposite one. At least we're talking about the issues, and bringing some attention to the problems. I suppose it's the best we can do.

It's been a little while since the last update on the effort by microbrewers to reform Texas' Alcoholic Beverages Code, but I'm pleased to report that there is some action. From the press release:

Friends of Texas Microbreweries, a coalition of Texas craft breweries and beer lovers, is calling a bill filed in the Texas legislature a historic step to help small businesses. The Texas Microbrewery Free Trade Bill, filed today by Representative Jessica Farrar (D - Houston), would allow small Texas breweries to sell limited quantities directly to patrons.

The Texas Alcohol and Beverage Code requires microbreweries to sell only to distributors and retailers. These outdated constraints put Texas craft breweries at a severe financial disadvantage. In fact, 14 of the state's 19 microbreweries have failed in recent years. The Texas Microbrewery Free Trade Bill would allow small breweries to make on-premise sales to patrons of no more than 5,000 barrels of ale and malt liquor annually. Microbreweries in many other states, especially those that are distributed in Texas, are allowed retail sales at their breweries.

"Texas should be celebrating the small business breweries that add to the color and flavor of our communities, but instead we are stacking the deck against our state's microbreweries," said Representative Farrar. "Texas microbreweries should be governed by common sense regulations that cultivate small businesses rather than unreasonably constrain them."

The Texas Microbrewery Free Trade Bill benefits microbreweries, patrons and retailers.

* By selling directly to patrons, microbreweries can achieve profit margins that make their operations financially viable, which encourages more microbreweries to start up.
* Customers are more likely to remember visiting a Texas microbrewery if they are allowed to purchase a six pack during their visit to bring home.
* Retailers can enjoy increased demand for Texas microbreweries, which typically command higher prices and higher profit margins than mass-produced beers.

Texas wineries have thrived financially after Texas voters approved doing away with a similar prohibition on limited direct sales a few years ago.

"We want what any small business would want: the freedom to sell our products to people who come to us and want to buy," said Brock Wagner, founder of Saint Arnold Brewing Company in Houston, the oldest craft brewery in Texas. "We encourage Texas beer lovers to contact their lawmakers and encourage them to support this bill."

In addition to Houston-based Saint Arnold Brewing Company, every other Texas microbrewery is backing the initiative, including Independence Brewing and Live Oak Brewing Company in Austin, Rahr & Sons Brewing Company in Fort Worth, and Real Ale Brewery in Blanco.

Sorry I missed this event on Friday.

The University of Texas School of Law will host a symposium on Friday, March 2, about the 2003 Congressional redistricting in Texas, which is also the focus of a new book by adjunct law professor Steve Bickerstaff.

Published this month by The University of Texas Press, Lines in the Sand: Congressional Redistricting in Texas and the Downfall of Tom DeLay is a comprehensive look at the efforts by Republican lawmakers in 2003--led by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay--to gerrymander Texas's 32 Congressional districts. The book also provides insights into the 2002 campaign activities that made the redistricting possible, and the civil and criminal court proceedings that followed.

The day-long symposium at the Law School's Eidman Courtroom--which is free and open to the public--features the book and the issues it raises, bringing together Bickerstaff with key players and observers in the Texas redistricting case, as well as a number of election law experts from across the nation.

What was a tad surprising was the lawyers' agreement that Texas should reform the current system by putting a "low cap" on campaign contributions. The cap should be accompanied by a removal of the state's ban on corporate cash, they added. "It's not intuitively clear to me why it's okay for certain homebuilders and other individuals who are immensely wealthy to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to single candidates, but a corporation can't give a thousand dollars," said J.D. Pauerstein, referring to Bob Perry, election ATM of the rightwing. Pauerstein, who says that he's tired of being hit up for contributions, hopes that the limits would be small across the board.

If this and this weren't enough for you about last week's town hall meeting by Rep. Culberson that was mostly about the Universities line, there's this, from the This Week section.

Doug Childers, chair of RichmondRail.org, said he was pleased with the turnout.

"Culberson has said repeatedly there is no support in the neighborhoods for the Richmond option," Childers said. "The real point is to let him know he's dead wrong."

[...]

Bruce Butler, who lives on Milford Street a few blocks from Richmond, said he does not support the Southwest Freeway option because it would attract fewer riders and would require elevated tracks.

"We don't want a line running above one of Houston's crown jewels," Butler said. "Small businesses can recover from the construction, but no one can recover from an elevated rail that would cause sight and sound pollution."

[...]

Childers said support for RichmondRail.org is growing. Thousands have signed online petitions, and about 1,000 residents are signed up on the organization's e-mail list serve.

"Culberson talks like the only people who matter are the businesses on Richmond," said Jonathan Paull, one of the directors of RichmondRail.org. "What about the hundreds of people who live near Richmond who want clean, safe transportation?"

I didn't get around to Rick Casey's column on John Davis and his CHIP flip yesterday, but that's okay, because the people you really need to read on it are Muse and Coby, both of whom had been taking a long, close look at Davis's strange campaign finance reports months ago. Check 'em out.

I've been hearing about rumors of an Autry Court renovation for so long that it's a little hard to believe that it's actually going to happen. Today the last game will be played at the old place, and when it reopens in the fall of 2008 it'll be completely different. Family obligations have prevented me from attending any games this year - I have not made it to a whole lot of them since Olivia arrived - and though I'm sad at not being able to help give it a sendoff, the thought of someday being able to take my girls to see games at the new venue is exciting. In the meantime, I wonder how many different "home courts" the Owls will have next season. It'll suck for the duration, but it'll be worth it. Go Rice!

Looks like the winner of the "Who Wants To Be Harris County Judge?" competition at the Tuesday Commissioners' Court meeting will be former State Rep. and complete unknown Ed Emmett.

While some in the Republican grass roots have pushed for a better-known figure with more established conservative credentials, all four county commissioners said Friday they anticipate that Emmett will be named county judge at the panel's Tuesday meeting.

Eckels, who has a vote on his successor, strongly hinted that he would support Emmett, saying he would recommend a person acceptable to commissioners.

"He will be able to bridge the personal and philosophical differences on the court," Eckels said. "He clearly already has -- he has four of the (court members) saying they like him."

Republicans Jerry Eversole and Steve Radack said they will vote for Emmett. Democrat El Franco Lee, who served in the state House with Emmett and speaks well of him, said he won't cast a symbolic partisan vote against him if he has the support of the Commissioners Court GOP majority -- Eckels, Eversole and Radack.

Democrat Sylvia Garcia likely will cast the lone vote against Emmett, who intends to run in the 2008 election to complete Eckels' term. She said he impressed her during a meeting, but she opposes voting for a person who intends to seek election to the office.

The appointee should be "a caretaker," rather than someone who will run with the advantage of incumbency, she said.

Emmett could face Bacarisse, among others, in what's expected to be a spirited GOP primary a year from now. A "draft Charles Bacarisse" Web site already is supporting his candidacy.

One last thing:

Garcia asked the county attorney's office to research whether Eckels should get to vote on his successor after he submits a letter of resignation.

"It goes against common sense," she said.

County Attorney Mike Stafford said under the state constitution, office holders can resign and create a vacancy, but they become "holdovers" who continue to serve until their successors assume office. As a holdover, Eckels has voting privileges -- he's still the county judge, Stafford said.

You have to give Rick Perry credit for consistency. In good times and in bad, whether he's in trouble or he's in clover, his first instinct is always the same: Appoint a crony to do whatever needs to be done.

Under pressure from the Legislature to put the troubled Texas Youth Commission into conservatorship, Gov. Rick Perry on Friday instead named one of his aides as a special master to oversee an investigation of the agency.

[...]

Perry named his former Deputy Chief of Staff Jay Kimbrough, who has had his own controversial past, as the special master to head an investigation into whether TYC administrators covered up allegations that staff members had sexually abused youthful offenders incarcerated in agency facilities.

The Legislative Audit Committee, made up of the Legislature's leadership, had wanted Perry to either name a conservator for the agency or direct state Auditor John Keel to develop a rehabilitation plan for it.

Perry rejected the conservatorship, but authorized Keel to begin his review of the agency along with new acting Executive Director Ed Owens.

Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, questioned whether Kimbrough was the right man for the job.

"The goal should be to get someone who is truly independent ... to give us an investigative report with unquestioned integrity," Dunnam said.

Kimbrough in 2003 headed the manhunt for Democratic House members when they went to Ardmore, Okla., to break a quorum during debate on congressional redistricting legislation.

Two side notes: Travis County DA Ronnie Earle will open an investigation into the allegations that were reported on Friday, and several legislators are trying to force Perry's hand.

• State Rep. Jim Dunnam, D-Waco, filed a bill mandating the agency be placed in conservatorship, arguing that the rehabilitation plan was akin to sending accountants to investigate sexual abuse. Dunnam said he intended to press for a vote Monday by the full House on his bill, which garnered quick support Friday from several dozen members before Perry announced his plan.


• Rep. Tommy Merritt, R-Longview, Dunnam and other lawmakers called for the immediate assignment of Texas Rangers to each Youth Commission facility to ensure that children are protected from abuse and that coercion of potential witnesses in the investigation does not occur, and to protect agency records from destruction. Black said Perry is confident his Friday orders will accomplish the same goal.


• Concerned that a cover-up might be under way, as officials moved to protect themselves from the widening criminal investigation, House Speaker Pro Tem Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, demanded in a letter that the Youth Commission ensure that all records be kept intact. "Any reports I receive indicating that the staff at the Texas Youth Commission are removing or destroying documents will be dealt with immediately," Turner stated in his letter to Owens, who was named Thursday to temporarily run the agency. Within hours, a confidential e-mail from Deputy Executive Director Linda Reyes ordered all Youth Commission employees to "please refrain from any document shredding until further notice."


• Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, on Friday named 14 lawmakers, seven from each chamber, to a special investigating committee. Staff aides were poised to begin subpoenaing officials and documents as early as Monday, in time for Capitol hearings later in the week.

The rapid-fire actions came as political haggling about a resolution threatened to delay an official response.

Participants in the meetings said Perry was adamant that he wanted leeway to solve the problem -- not through a conservatorship. He remained upset by a Wednesday vote for conservatorship by the Senate, just after he had fired the Youth Commission board chairman and recommended Owens be hired to replace Youth Commission employee Neil Nichols as the acting agency head.

Why, Lord, why? Why dost thou smite thy humble servant so? What did my favorite childhood cartoon ever do to deserve such a fate? If you'll excuse me for a minute, I'm going to go gnash my teeth and rend my garments.

The on again, off again move to redraw Houston's City Council districts while adding in two new ones is off again.

Mayor Bill White has decided against adding two single-member districts to the City Council, delaying a move that some believe would offer Houston's growing population more focused representation.

White had largely abandoned the idea last summer. But new city estimates put the population at 2,231,335, a figure that could trigger a charter provision requiring new council districts when the city's population exceeds 2.1 million.

The city's legal department, however, advised White last month that those estimates didn't meet the "stringent standard" in federal law for using noncensus data in redistricting, according to a two-page memo obtained by the Houston Chronicle.

"The 10-year census figures have a presumption of correctness, and that's a hard burden to overcome," White said this week. "If somebody challenged our redistricting, they would prevail under federal law."

He said new seats will be "virtually certain" after the 2010 Census.

[...]

"Part of the requirement for redistricting is that you know the details down to the census-tract level -- the precinct level -- and we don't have numbers of that detail. So I don't believe it's warranted under the City Charter," White said.

But former Councilman Carroll Robinson said the charter provision, which resulted from the settlement of a voting-rights lawsuit in the 1970s, clearly gives the city leeway to use other data.

"The city discriminated in the past. To remedy that past discrimination, they put together a single-member district plan with room for growth in the future," he said. "You can use the best available data, and it's not just the census."

If there's some way to prepare for the 2010 Census so that we can be reasonably sure of having new districts ready for the 2011 election, then I think waiting makes sense. If not, then I think we ought to conduct a more detailed study as Council Member Green suggests. Maybe we can make it work and maybe we can't, but we ought to try.

I have not paid close attention to the Texas Youth Commission scandal. I need to get myself up to speed on it, so here's what I'm going to be reading:

The Texas Observer story that got the ball rolling, written by the same gentleman (Nate Blakeslee) who broke the Tulia story.

The scandal expands from the West Texas State School in Pyote to the Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Facility in Brownwood.

Details have been sanitized to cover someone's ass.

What did the Governor know, and when did he know it?

Gov. Rick Perry's staff learned last fall of a Texas Rangers investigation into allegations of sexual abuse in 2005 at a West Texas state juvenile facility, but the governor took no major action to reform the Texas Youth Commission until after the report became public last week.

[...]

Legislative committees held hearings last year in which former TYC employees and the parents of youth offenders testified that there was widespread physical and sexual abuse of those incarcerated in the system.

But Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Sens. John Whitmire, D-Houston, and Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said they didn't find out until last week about the Texas Rangers' report on the possible sexual assault of boys by TYC administrators at the West Texas State School in Pyote.

They said there appeared to be a cover-up by high-ranking TYC officials.

"Two or three years ago a Ranger report went to the Youth Commission, and we're just finding out about it in the Legislature in the last few days," Dewhurst said. "Who was on the distribution? That Texas Ranger report, did it just go to the Youth Commission or did it go to other offices?"

Perry spokesman Ted Royer said the governor, the lieutenant governor and speaker were notified of the original investigation in 2005, but he said the results were given only to TYC.

Whatever Governor Perry has or has not done as yet, it isn't enough.

There will be more to come, I'm sure.

We are officially in the very last days of Robert Eckels' tenure as Harris County Judge.

County Judge Robert Eckels will formally resign Tuesday and Commissioners Court may select his replacement, according to an agenda released today.

[...]

The agenda item is the first formal indication of when that will take place, although the court's regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday was considered a probable time.

The agenda item said the Commissioners Court will consider "transmittal by the county judge of a letter of resignation and discussion and possible action on a replacement."

Why eleven? Because I miscounted. It's Friday, what do you want from my life? Here's ten eleven more songs from my experimental playlist:

1. "Graffiti Limbo" - Michelle Shocked. Another bargain bin find. Shocked was a Kerrville Folk Festival legend and was quite popular among the Rice crowd I hung out with circa 1990. I'm not sure why I never played this CD much - it's pretty good.

2. "The Moment" - Michael Clem. The bass player for fave band Eddie From Ohio (I got this at an EFO show; I have all their CDs so I branched out), Clem's solo project showcases his wry humor. One of many CDs in this playlist that benefit from being in shuffle mode - Clem's music is mostly low-key, so it gets a little dull after awhile.

3. "Bearing Straight" - Bering Strait. The only group whose CD I bought after seeing them featured on a "60 Minutes" segment. They're a country/western band from Russia, but if you didn't know where they came from, you wouldn't be able to tell if you heard them on the radio. This is a bouncy instrumental that changes musical styles a few times.

4. "Pallin' With Al" - Squirrel Nut Zippers. I have two SNZ CDs (actually three, but I'm not counting their Christmas CD for this purpose), "Hell" and "Perennial Favorites", from which this song emanates. I've nearly worn a groove in "Hell" (or would if CD lasers worked that way), but have largely ignored "Favorites". I recall being disappointed by it the last time I gave it a listen, and now I'm not sure why. I may have to play it straight through again to see if I still feel that way.

5. "Love The One You're With" - the Tufts Beelzebubs. Don't know what it is about this song - hated by some, yet apparently loved by a capella groups (local vocals the Lager Rhythms also do this one). As Janie Bob, formerly of The Bobs, once said, when you run a song through the a capella machine, you never know what you're going to get. I think the 'Bubs version of George Michael's "Faith" is their best example of this, but that didn't come up in this segment, so I'm blogging the one I'm with.

6. "I Got Mine" - Nevada Newman. Newman is the lead guitarist for the Asylum Street Spankers. He didn't sing at all for the first year or two that he was with the band, so it's a little weird to see him put out a solo CD. But he's got a decent enough voice, and a Spankeresque sense of humor, so it's all good.

7. "Million Reason" - Ezra Charles and The Works. Ezra Charles is one of the longest standing fixtures on the Houston live music scene - I think I first laid ears on his jazzy, horn-infused blues at a party on the Rice campus in 1988. Like Lou Ann Barton, he's better live, and benefits from being in a mix.

8. "When It All Comes Down" - Guy Forsyth. Another Spanker, a founding member in his case, and one of the best voices in blues music. Need I mention that I bought both of the Forsyth CDs that I own at Spankers shows?

9. "One Night" - The Presidents. Kids, believe it or not, many years ago in this town there was a commercial radio station that actually did something to support local artists. It was called Z-107, the original classic rock station in Houston, and its afternoon drive time DJ was the lovely and talented Donna McKenzie, who birthed and hosted a syndicated show called Made In Texas. This song comes from a CD called "Z-107.5 Made In Texas 1992", and it was my first exposure to such staples of the scene as Miss Molly and Trish & Darin. Ah, memories.

10. "Cocktail Weiners" - Rachel Davis. She opened for Eddie From Ohio awhile back. As with the Spankers, I can't attend an EFO show without buying something. I'm usually more annoyed by than enamored with opening acts, but she won me over with her great voice. The CD's on the mellow/acoustic side, but it fits in well with this particular mix.

11. "Stay" - Carolyn Wonderland and the Imperial Monkeys. She's Austin-based now, but Carolyn came from Houston, and I bought this CD after seeing her do a free performance at the late, lamented Cactus Music on Shepherd. Why I haven't played it more often is something I can't adequately explain.

I've really enjoyed re-acquainting myself with this stuff, but I've still got CDs to rip, and I think it's getting to be time to do another playlist. As always, feel free to mock my musical taste in the comments.

You folks in The Woodlands can rest easy. You will not be assimilated. Well, maybe.

Senate Bill 1012 would amend the state's Local Government Code to allow cities and special districts to enter into regional participation agreements in which the parties would share the cost of mutually beneficial regional projects, including roads and parks.

[State Sen. Tommy] Williams, of The Woodlands, and Houston Mayor Bill White crafted such an agreement last December to give The Woodlands residents an opportunity to form its own governance without the cloud of possible annexation.

The bill spells out who can enter such agreements, how they should be set up and what regional projects can be funded under the deals. It also allows for deferral of annexation.

''We spent several days going over this, and we feel comfortable it is a good first draft," Williams said from his Austin office. ''I think it will be well received. I'm very optimistic."

Under the proposal, Houston would release The Woodlands from its extraterritorial jurisdiction -- a distinction in state law that would allow annexation. That would allow the community of more than 85,000 residents to decide after 2014 whether to incorporate or choose another form of local self-governance.

In return, The Woodlands would give an initial $16 million to pay for certain regional projects. The money would come from existing local funding sources to be determined. It would not come from increases in municipal utility district fees or property tax increases.

The projects include $3 million for improvements to Lake Houston Park, much of which is in Montgomery County and a $5 million contribution to a planned project that would extend the Hardy Toll Road closer to downtown.

The agreement also calls for The Woodlands to expand the boundaries of its existing special taxing district (the Town Center Improvement District), which currently supports the mall and surrounding retail, to include all of The Woodlands within Montgomery County and Houston's future boundaries.

Via Houstonist, I see that City Council has officially approved the contract with Earthlink to build the citywide WiFi network. The measure passed almost, but not quite, unanimously.

The one holdout was Councilmember Addie Wiseman, who told the mayor she's received no answers to her questions about how much money the city may be expected to pay out for the network in the future.

"In the term sheet it was very clearly stated that the city would invest a minimum of $500,000 annually on this. Now this is a minimum that the term sheet identifies. The term sheet does not identify a maximum and that is a concern that I have."

The mayor responded with an explanation that no maximum was set because council will have to approve those expenditures every year when the budget is up for vote. Now that the terms have been approved, council will still have to vote on an ordinance to actually implement the contract.

Meanwhile, Dwight explains why cellular companies hate municipal WiFi efforts. I do in fact know that my cellphone can connect to the Internet. I also know that it ain't necessarily cheap for me to do so, and given a choice I'd rather pay for my laptop to have the experience. Which is hopefully what I'll get to do by early 2009.

Following up on an action item first raised in August, there is now a proposal to grant a full property tax waiver to buildings identified as historic as a means of helping to preserve them.

The new tax incentive, which excludes single-family residences but could affect dozens of other buildings in and around the city's core, is among several proposals that could foster preservation and maintenance of historically significant structures, officials say.

The plans also call for a reduction in the percentage of neighborhood support required to designate a historic district, and other revisions to city rules that the City Council will consider soon.

While preservationists might prefer a tougher law banning any demolition of historic landmarks, the compromise could be more palatable to developers and property rights advocates who argue the city shouldn't dictate how owners manage their structures.

"I think it's extremely significant," said Barrie Scardino, the executive director of the American Institute of Architects' Houston chapter.

In addition to the specific policy changes, Scardino said, the tax abatements and other measures will send a message that the city is serious about preserving its history.

City Controller Annise Parker, who headed a committee that worked on historic preservation when she served on the council, said the omission of residences is a serious weakness in the proposal.

"The residential properties are under tremendous assault from new development," Parker said.

Buildings that meet the criteria would be eligible for a full, permanent exemption from city property taxes, and officials said the city will ask Harris County to provide a tax exemption as well. Owners would have to refund any tax savings if they altered the building's facade.

[...]

It wasn't clear Wednesday whether county officials might go along with the tax idea.

County Commissioner Steve Radack said the county relies so heavily on property taxes for revenue that it rarely, if ever, can grant 100 percent exemptions.

"Unlike the city, the county doesn't have the luxury of bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars a year on a sales tax," Radack said.

The county has in the past offered temporary and limited tax incentives for historic structures.

You'd think that if John Davis could figure out that CHIP enrollment needs to be done on an annual basis as it was before its 2003 disembowelment that anyone could figure it out, but you would be wrong.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said they don't like the idea of lengthening the enrollment period for the Children's Health Insurance Program from six months to one year.

[...]

"We want children who are eligible for CHIP to be on CHIP," Dewhurst said, adding that he is willing to ease some of the restrictions imposed four year ago.

But lengthening the enrollment period could be a problem, he added.

"The problem with the 12 months is you're putting children on CHIP that technically aren't eligible," because of changing family finances, he said.

"I think a lot of people, as I travel around the state, say, 'What's so hard about filling out one number on an application every six months?' "

The argument for biannual enrollments are shortsighted, illogical, and pennywise. So what if a few kids get a couple extra months of eligibility? I guarantee that will cost a lot less than the emergency room visits for kids who lost eligibility to red tape cost the counties. Prove me wrong about that and I'll back off. I bet you can't.

Turns out that CHIP isn't the only thing that Texas has been penurious about, to its ultimate detriment:

The fate of the CHIP expansion also may be affected by an unrelated federal lawsuit over Medicaid that is expected to dump additional health care expenses on the state this spring.

The Medicaid suit could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars if, as expected, U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice forces Texas to finally comply with an 11-year-old agreement to expand health care to thousands of other low-income children.

"I'm told a decision will be coming out in April, and I'm trying to ascertain what the effect of this type of decision will be fiscally on the state of Texas," Dewhurst said.

Sen. Bob Deuell, R-Green-ville, said he has heard estimates as high as $5 billion a year if Justice grants all of the requests by the plaintiffs' attorney in the class action case known as Frew v. Albert Hawkins, Health and Human Services Commissioner.

Texas lost its latest effort to avoid compliance when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a state appeal in January of the Frew case. Justice has scheduled an April 9 hearing and is expected to order the state to improve funding for children's Medicaid.

The debate over HB8, the so-called "Jessica's Law", has been put off until Monday.

Lawmakers put the brakes on fast-moving legislation that would allow for death sentences for repeat child sex offenders Wednesday, as key Republicans crossed the aisle and asked for four more days to consider a measure on the books in only five other states.

Their decision came over the objections of Rep. Debbie Riddle, the Tomball Republican who filed the House's version of the "Jessica's Laws" that have been embraced elsewhere.

"I want those who prey on our children to serve their full sentences," Ms. Riddle said. "And I want those who would do it repeatedly to be removed from our society, either through life in prison or their own execution."

But in the 131-10 vote to delay the bill, her colleagues indicated they still aren't comfortable with the measure - saying they have legal and constitutional questions that they hope to have answered by Monday.

"The last thing I want to do is kill this bill," said Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo. But "we're talking about people, some of whom may be innocent, being exposed to execution by all of this. We've got to be very careful about what we're doing.

The Observer
Burka
Vince and Vince again - you want liveblogging, he's your man.
Grits and Grits again, on how HB8 should be amended.

Kos notes Sen. Cornyn's typically poor approval numbers, then goes on to tease us:

Several names have bandied about by Texas Democrats, including turncoat Henry Cuellar (who I'd love to see crushed in a primary, his House seat going to a real Democrat). But there's a name I haven't seen publicly, but whispered on the ground.

I won't reveal confidences at this time (no need to paint a bulls eye on his/her back this early out), but if this candidate runs, we'd have a genuine people-powered candidate in the Lone Star State. In fact, of all potential candidates I've seen so far this cycle, this person excites me most of all.

Bill White

Everyone agrees that White would be a formidable statewide candidate. I just don't think it'll be in 2008. As was the case with speculation over him running for Governor in 2006, he'd have to file for the primary before he was sworn in for his next term in office as Mayor. I believe Mayor White has a to-do list in mind for his tenure as Mayor, and I don't believe he intends to leave before he has a chance to finish it. If he's running statewide some day, I say it's in 2010 for Governor.

Jim Turner, Ron Kirk, John Sharp

All three are commonly cited as possibilities, mostly to fill out the list since there's no evidence any of them really has an eye on this prize. All would be fine fundraisers, but none strikes me as a Kos "people-powered" candidate.

Barbara Radnofsky

Kos paid no attention to her in 2006 (hers was an extreme longshot race, so that's not surprising), and I don't see him getting excited about her this time, either. If it were up to me, I'd want to see BAR run for a judgeship, either on the Supreme Court or the CCA.

Henry Cuellar

Obviously not who Kos has in mind, though I believe he'd make a strong candidate, and that those of us (myself included) who dislike what he's done as Congressman would have to make peace with that.

Nick Lampson

Rumors about Lampson looking at Cornyn's seat began before last November. I've no reason to believe they're true. The prospect of Lampson trying to move up might be exciting to Kos, but he's practical enough to know that this would mean kissing CD22 goodbye. The same is true for Chet Edwards, about whom I've heard no speculation and who would also have some bad votes to dampen any of Kos' enthusiasm further.

Kirk Watson

He's someone Kos would like, he's got a statewide run under his belt, he can fundraise well, and he wouldn't have to abandon his State Senate seat for this race, since he would not otherwise be on the ballot in 2008. Put him down as a possibility.

Pete Gallego, Rick Noriega

Two more candidates Kos would like. Neither starts out with much money in the bank, so if it's one of them, expect to see some action as soon as the House adjourns sine die. Noriega may have his dance card full this year if Melissa Noriega wins the May special election and has to run another competitive campaign in November.

Richard Morrison

Now we're talking Kos-styled "people power". Except that Morrison apparently has his eye on the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court, and he stumped for Noriega in the comments.

Thinking about Morrison, and what Kos means when he says "people powered", got me wondering about another person, one who would meet that definition and about whom there has been no public speculation. With that in mind, consider:

John Courage

Courage ran a spirited campaign that had the legs cut out from underneath it when the Supremes forced CD21 to be redrawn. He still gave it the old college try, and he's still got a network in place. This is pure guessing on my part, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this is who Kos has in mind.

Obviously, I may be overlooking some other possibilities. Feel free to add on in the comments.

UPDATE: There were two people mentioned in the comments to Kos' post that I think are worth adding to the discussion:

Lloyd Doggett

Doggett would get progressives fired up, his Congressional seat would be easy to defend if it opened up, and he's got plenty of money to start out. Of course, the reason he has plenty of money is that he didn't need to spend it on his own cobalt-blue district last year, and he declined to share any of his boodle with other, less well off but more competitive, candidates. I guarantee that Kos will remember that (or will be forcefully reminded of it), so that throws a wet blanket over Doggett.

Paul Hobby

Hobby came within a whisker of beating Carole Keeton Rylander (not yet Strayhorn) for Comptroller in 1998; he was the nearest Dem to a victory that year. He's got a recognizable name and no obvious baggage I can think of. He's also been out of the spotlight since 1998, and has no grassroots following that I can think of, either.

Anybody else?

UPDATE: Stace throws State Rep. Richard Raymond into the mix. Raymond also has a statewide run under his belt, and one could certainly interpret what he's done so far this session (as Stace points out) as a stereotypical "move to the middle" maneuver. As with most of the other candidates, I'm not sure about the "people powered" part, and he had a bit of a stumble in 2006 when after his abortive primary challenge to Henry Cuellar he almost lost his House seat, which had drawn other contenders in his presumed absence who then refused to go away when he came back.

Lio speaks for me.

Richard J. "Rick" Noriega. Well, sort of. Go click and you'll see what I mean.

He's being a good sport about it (see comments). And a good entrepreneur, too. You have to like that. And as a reminder, you can poke fun at him about it in person tonight.

Did you know that destruction of DNA evidence can and often is a part of plea bargains? That would be one way of heading off those pesky Innocence Project folks. Hey, if all you want is a result that will stand forever, that will do it. Grits has a great discussion on the topic, along with some indignant responses from DAs.

One interesting aspect of this is that Dallas County, where breath-of-fresh-air DA Craig Watkins has been busy working to release unjustly convicted inmates, is fairly obsessive about saving evidence from its cases, but the justification of this is more quirk of history than anything else. The wheels of irony may grind slow, but they too grind pretty finely. Eye on Williamson has more.