Monthly Archives: October 2013

Hall’s tax troubles, again

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This isn’t new news, but it’s getting a lot more play now. Top mayoral challenger Ben Hall agreed to pay the IRS more than $680,000 in back taxes and penalties earlier this year, court documents show. On Jan. 16, less … Continue reading →

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Justice Department files another voter ID lawsuit

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

In North Carolina this time. The Justice Department filed suit against North Carolina on Monday, charging that the Tar Heel State’s new law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls violates the Voting Rights Act by discriminating against … Continue reading →

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Interview with City Controller Ronald Green

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

We move now from the Houston City Council races to the executive offices, beginning with two-term City Controller Ronald Green. Like his predecessor in the office, Mayor Annise Parker, Green served three terms as an At Large City Council member … Continue reading →

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The race is also on in SD10

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Now that Sen. Wendy Davis will abandon her re-election in SD10 to run for Governor, Democrats need to find a candidate that might be able to hold her seat. The Republican field is already crowded with four candidates in the … Continue reading →

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Ike floodgate update

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Call it Ike Dike 2.0 if you want. Five years after Hurricane Ike devastated the upper Texas coast, a group of Houston scientists presented details Tuesday about a proposed gate to protect the Houston Ship Channel and much of the … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: A change for Controller

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron endorses Bill Frazer to be Houston Controller. At a time of looming pension obligations, we need someone who isn’t there to make friends, but to make sure that our house is in order. Bill Frazer is the man … Continue reading →

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Weekend link dump for October 6

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

How did I manage to reach this point in my life without knowing what a TOOTBLAN is? An interactive map of possibly inhabitable planets in the Milky Way Galaxy. I’m sorry to hear that “Hoarders” was canceled, but I am … Continue reading →

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Have you gotten your text from the Ben Hall campaign?

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Ben Hall campaign sent out this press release on Tuesday: The Ben Hall for Mayor campaign has launched a new initiative to reach Houston voters and communicate with them on a platform where they already spend a lot of … Continue reading →

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On affordable housing in Houston

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting. More Houstonians are spending a higher percentage of their incomes on housing, a new study from Rice University’s Shell Center for Sustainability shows. The report’s key finding revealed that half of Houston’s City Council districts do not meet the … Continue reading →

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Yeah, that’s still not Bigfoot

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

You can’t fool the SciGuy, y’all. Bigfoot is smarter than humans. Bigfoot roams from the Arctic to the equator. Bigfoot has a sixth sense. And most importantly, Bigfoot is very, very, very, very real. That was the message Tuesday from … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Robinson in D

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron makes a somewhat surprising choice in District D. An open seat in Houston City Council District D has drawn an even dozen aspirants to succeed the term-limited Wanda Adams. In both quality and number, this field speaks well … Continue reading →

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Saturday video break: Born To Run

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Still spinning tunes for Wendy Davis: She’s not the Wendy of the song, of course, which is just as well, what with the whole dying tonight in the streets thing. Still, the point here is to get fired up, and … Continue reading →

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Now we’re waiting on Leticia

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve got Wendy. Now she needs some backup. As such, all eyes are now on Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, the candidate everyone wants for Lite Guv. Before state Sen. Wendy Davis was finished announcing her gubernatorial campaign, state Sen. … Continue reading →

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Whitmire weighs in on Harris jail population

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

State Sen. John Whitmire has pushed back on some of the explanations given for the recent uptick in the Harris County jail population, beginning with the claim that it’s due to state jails taking longer than usual to pick up … Continue reading →

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Chan challenges Campbell in SD25

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

An awful candidate against an awful incumbent. Two months after stirring national controversy by condemning homosexuality, Councilwoman Elisa Chan has decided to leave the council to run for the Texas Senate in 2014, challenging District 25 state Sen. Donna Campbell … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: HISD

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Clearly, this is an early endorsements year for the Chronicle, as they follow up their HCC recommendations with their endorsements in the contested HISD Trustee races. District 1: Anna Eastman, the board president, has been a thoughtful leader and a … Continue reading →

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Friday random ten: Run, Wendy, run!

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

For Wendy Davis. You know what I’m talking about. 1. Born To Run – Bruce Springsteen 2. I’m Running – Yes 3. Keep On Runnin’ – Journey 4. (Making The Run To) Gladewater – Michelle Shocked 5. On The Run … Continue reading →

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Interview with Wanda Adams

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, longtime District IX Trustee Larry Marshall decided not to run for re-election this year. Three candidates are running to succeed him, one of whom is term-limited City Council Member Wanda Adams. Adams is serving her third term … Continue reading →

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HISD race overviews

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron takes a look at the three contested HISD races. The District 9 race in south Houston sees the return of W. Clyde Lemon, an attorney who held the seat for two years until Marshall ousted him in the … Continue reading →

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More on Kim Ogg

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the full Chron story about Kim Ogg’s declaration that she will run for Harris County DA as a Democrat in 2014. “I have the varied experience in policy, in prevention and in prosecution that I think gives me a … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: HCC Trustee

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron makes its recommendations in the HCC Trustee races, though they manage to get the district wrong in one of them. We recommend the following candidates for election to the nine-member HCC board: District 1: This northside district, redrawn … Continue reading →

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She’s in

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Fired up and ready to go! From the inbox: Sen. Wendy Davis today announced her intention to become the next Governor of Texas to a capacity crowd of supporters at the Wylie G. Thomas Coliseum near Fort Worth, where Davis … Continue reading →

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Interview with Anne Sung

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Challenging Harvin Moore in HISD district VII is Anne Sung. Sung would be somewhat of a rarity among trustees in that she has actual classroom teaching experience – seven years in the Rio Grande Valley with Teach For America, as … Continue reading →

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Why the Affordable Care Act will make a real difference to many people

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This is what it’s all about. The following was written by a good friend of mine, who has been eagerly awaiting October 1 and the opening of the insurance exchanges. I asked him to write about his experience with getting … Continue reading →

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Lyceum poll: Abbott over Davis, 29-21

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Make of this what you will. Republican Greg Abbott is leading Democrat Wendy Davis by 8 points in a hypothetical matchup for Texas governor, but it’s a statistical dead heat among women, according to a Texas Lyceum Poll of registered … Continue reading →

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Texas blog roundup for the week of September 30

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance is ready to stand with Wendy as it brings you this week’s roundup.

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An awful lot of people tried to sign up for insurance exchanges on Tuesday

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

That’s a very good thing, even if technical difficulties prevented many of them from completing the job. On the first day of sign-ups for President Barack Obama’s health care reform, a wave of consumers across the nation, including many Texans, … Continue reading →

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Interview with Harvin Moore

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Harvin Moore has been the HISD Trustee in District 7 since 2003. A former national bank examiner for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Moore is now the senior vice president for finance and operations at a local aerospace company. … Continue reading →

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Enroll SA

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

San Antonio leads the way. San Antonio city officials and the area’s largest nonprofit health plan have launched separate websites to help residents understand the federally run health insurance marketplace opening Tuesday. The Affordable Care Act requires most people to … Continue reading →

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Southwest breaks ground at Hobby

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Get ready to dodge construction at Hobby Airport. The 280,000-square-foot expansion is scheduled for completion before the end of 2015, with short-hop international flights to cities in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America to begin by 2016. This … Continue reading →

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Ashby lawsuit to proceed

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I’ll be darned. A judge has declined to dismiss a key piece of a lawsuit against the developers of 1717 Bissonnet, a proposed 21-story residential building widely referred to as the Ashby high-rise. The developers were denied a request that … Continue reading →

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Interview with Hugo Mojica

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Opposing Anna Eastman in HISD District I is Hugo Mojica. The Executive Director of the Greater Northside Chamber of Commerce, Mojica is a longtime community activist, serving on numerous volunteer groups for Davis High School and on Parents for Public … Continue reading →

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Early To Rise referendum probably would have passed

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

For what it’s worth. It’s one of those questions we always ask ourselves in love, life and politics: What if? In this case, what if the Early to Rise campaign had gotten its one penny tax increase for early education … Continue reading →

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The water campaign begins

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The most high profile constitutional amendment now has a campaign behind it. Supporters are laying the groundwork for an aggressive effort to educate voters and drown out opposition with roughly one month before early voting starts. A coalition of political … Continue reading →

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