Monthly Archives: March 2010

Fixing school finance, the neverending story

Work on dealing with the state’s revenue shortfall and what it will mean for the schools is already underway. Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, co-chair of the 15-member panel, acknowledged that the funding system is in trouble and needs … Continue reading

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

NFL passes new overtime rule

Good. The National Football League owners have approved a change in overtime, starting with the playoffs following the 2010 season, that will modify the sudden-death format and prevent a team from winning a game with a field goal on the … Continue reading

Posted in Other sports | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Get those Census forms in

C’mon people. We can do better than this. A week after most Americans received their 2010 Census forms, return rates in many urban areas such as Houston and Harris County are lagging behind those in rural communities, the Census Bureau … Continue reading

Posted in National news | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Selling Lakewood

We’ve known for awhile that one way the city will try to bridge its revenue gap is by selling some properties. Among those in the For Sale pile is the building formerly known as the Summit, now occupied by Lakewood … Continue reading

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Where the population is moving to

Call it the Sunbelt Slowdown. Census estimates released Tuesday capture the impact of the housing downturn and economic recession, including the critical period after the financial meltdown in late 2008, on the nation’s counties and metropolitan areas. The population figures … Continue reading

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A fine whine from the SBOE

Apparently, some of the wingnut members of our State Board of Education got their widdle feelings hurt by some of the coverage of their most recent hijinks, in particular about their amendment to remove Thomas Jefferson from the world history … Continue reading

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Geothermal energy

Interesting read about the town of Klamath Falls, Oregon, where they take advantage of an unusual feature to keep things warm. A combination of hot rocks and water like those that created Yellowstone’s geysers have been tapped by the city … Continue reading

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Skinner gets reprieve from SCOTUS

Good. The U.S. Supreme Court today stayed the execution of capital killer Henry Skinner one hour before he was to be put to death for the 1993 murders of his Pampa girlfriend and her two adult sons. The court halted … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Miles wins recount, Edwards sues

Mary Benton has the release from the Borris Miles campaign: Borris Miles’ victory in the March 2010 Democratic Primary for State House District 146 has been confirmed by an official recount. The recount, conducted today by the Harris County Democratic … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2010 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Dynamo Stadium deal finally struck

Took ’em long enough. The city of Houston and Harris County have struck a potential deal on a new stadium for the Houston Dynamo and Texas Southern University’s football team, agreeing to jointly pay for $20 million in infrastructure upgrades … Continue reading

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The tasks before the new Metro board

The new Metro board has its work cut out for it. Gilbert Garcia, the financial analyst nominated by Mayor Annise Parker Thursday as Metro’s new board chairman, said the controversies won’t prevent him and his colleagues from proceeding diligently with … Continue reading

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

It’s the “I am rubber, you are glue” election

The Chron notes that some of the charges that the two gubernatorial campaigns will lob at each other could easily be lobbed right back at themselves. Perry slammed White for not ruling out new taxes, pointing to 2003, when state … Continue reading

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Electronic textbook update

Last year, the Lege passed a law that allowed school districts to provide electronic textbooks instead of the traditional kind as a way to save money. The bidding process to provide these texts is now going on. With Texas budgeted … Continue reading

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Abbott’s health care lawsuit

The Trib has a copy of the lawsuit that AG Greg Abbott and a dozen of his buddies have filed against the health care reform bill that was signed into law today. You may be wondering, as I have been, … Continue reading

Posted in National news | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The Alabama Staples?

Swamplot brings an update on the Alabama Theater, where the now-closed BookStop was. It looks like the former Alabama Theater — known since the early eighties as the Alabama Bookstop, and since last fall as that big vacant space for … Continue reading

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Time for KBH to kick the can down the road again

The Senate is on the verge of passing the fixes to the health care reform bill that the House ratified on Sunday, but that’s not important right now. What really matters is that this means Senator Hutchison has a deadline … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2010 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The freakout

A month ago, Jonathan Chait saw the gathering momentum for getting health care reform passed, and observed “The conservative freakout is going to be something to behold.” And indeed so far it has been. Katherine Haenschen and Bob Moser did … Continue reading

Posted in National news | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Don’t be like Arizona

I don’t have a whole lot of hope for the 2011 legislative session and the budget that it will produce. But at least we won’t do anything quite this stupid. Arizona on Thursday became the first state to eliminate its … Continue reading

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Counting same-sex couples

The 2010 Census will provide some long overdue new information. The federal government and the state of Texas won’t recognize Noel Freeman’s eight-year relationship with another man as marriage, but the 2010 U.S. census will. For the first time, the … Continue reading

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Texas blog roundup for the week of March 22

The Texas Progressive Alliance’s weekly blog roundup will reach 32 million more Americans regardless of their pre-existing conditions. Click on for more.

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Hank Skinner

We’re all familiar with the Todd Willingham case and the possibility that he was an innocent man, but there’s another inmate scheduled for execution this week in which similar questions about innocence have been raised. The seven-member Texas Board of … Continue reading

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HISD disciplinary data

Last week, I noted some differences of fact between HISD Superintendent Terry Grier and HFT President Gayle Fallon over the cost and use of alternate school CEP, which Grier wants to dump. Fallon left a comment in that post, and … Continue reading

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

San Antonio to introduce tiered water rates

Good for them. The San Antonio Water System presented a proposed rate structure to the City Council on Wednesday that would penalize high-volume users while rewarding those who use less. “This is designed to change behavior,” said Doug Evanson, SAWS … Continue reading

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

We’re not likely to have a Speaker’s race

Jason Embry makes the case that the start of the next legislative session will be much calmer than the previous one, and it’s hard to argue. Republican Joe Straus finished his first session as speaker of the Texas House well-positioned … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2010 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

TxDOT to give a little more focus to rail

So says Transportation Commission Chair Deirdre Delisi. “Really since the creation of the Texas Department of Transportation, roads were seen as the only solution and we’re learning very quickly that we can’t keep up with enough of the road demand,” … Continue reading

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Health care reform passes

Finally. By a razor thin margin of 219-212, the House of Representatives tonight passed far-reaching legislation that will lead to near-universal health care coverage in the United States — a goal that has eluded Presidents and Congresses for a century. … Continue reading

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Weekend link dump for March 21

“Equinox” is a mighty high-scoring word in Scrabble. All is forgiven, Dennis. I take back (most of) the nasty things I’ve said about you. So where did you go for Saint Patrick’s Day? Reform the tax code. Fifty years of … Continue reading

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The effect of health care reform on Texas

Here’s an email from the Legislative Study Group, via State Rep. Garnet Coleman, who has been a constant source of health care reform updates: LSG Policy Update: CBO Estimates of Impact of Healthcare Reform to Texas With the United States … Continue reading

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Pearland Presidential heads in peril

Oh, noes!! A struggling national economy and tight credit market have taken their toll on the proposed WaterLights District in Pearland, which announced Wednesday that Amegy Bank has posted the property for foreclosure. Plans for the mixed-used project at Texas … Continue reading

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

What do you do with a problem like Rick Green?

If former State Rep. Rick Green wins his primary runoff against Fort Worth family court judge Debra Lehrmann for the Supreme Court Place 3 nomination, he will join Railroad Commission nominee David Porter as a second underqualified Republican candidate on … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2010 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The bridge formerly known as Tolerance

Remember Tolerance Bridge? That was the bridge that was supposed to connect pedestrian and bike trails along Allen Parkway with those on Memorial Drive near Montrose Boulevard. Unfortunately, no one liked the name, so the Houston Arts Alliance was sent … Continue reading

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Saturday video break: Rube Goldberg edition

In case I’m not the last person on earth to discover OK Go and their ridiculously awesome Rube Goldberg video of their song “This Too Shall Pass”: That reminded me somewhat of the canonical Mentos and Diet Coke video, but … Continue reading

Posted in Music | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Perry’s border shenanigans

It’s an election year, and that means it’s time once again for Rick Perry to pay attention to Texas’ border communities, by which I mean “grandstand about drug violence”. I recommend you read these BOR posts for a sense of … Continue reading

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The question not asked

Lisa Falkenberg has a chat with Lloyd Kelley. Kelley, the attorney whose lawsuit against the county unearthed embarrassing e-mails that brought down former District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal a couple of years ago, is at it again, with his latest public … Continue reading

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