Monthly Archives: August 2020

Dan Patrick’s Confederate posturing

Whatever else you can say about Dan Patrick, he’s always on brand. n response to a letter by Democratic state senators urging the removal of Confederate monuments and symbols at the Texas Capitol, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick blamed Democrats on … Continue reading

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People, That's our Lege | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

A poll of the RRC race

Here you go: A new survey from nationally respected polling firm Global Strategy Group (GSG) shows that the combination of Chrysta Castañeda’s unique biography, her opponent Jim Wright’s potent negatives, and Donald Trump’s free-fall in Texas give Castañeda a clear … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Who knows what our positivity rate is?

From the We Still Suck At Data Department: As schools begin to reopen and Gov. Greg Abbott faces pressure to relax shutdown measures, it is impossible to determine where Texas stands on a COVID-19 metric that has guided the governor’s … Continue reading

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

No new judge for Paxton

Sorry, Kenny. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is still fighting five-year-old felony securities fraud charges, has failed in his bid to kick a Democratic Harris County judge off his ongoing criminal case. An administrative judge in Houston, Susan Brown, … Continue reading

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

Mike Floyd resigns from Pearland ISD

Sad to see him go, but he picked a good reason to exit. Losing a vote to nix a $300,000 contract with a controversial special needs facility was the beginning of the end for Mike Floyd’s tenure as a Pearland … Continue reading

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Further thoughts on the Dems defenestrating the Green candidates

But first, the Chron story about yesterday’s legal action. An appellate court on Wednesday blocked three Green Party candidates from the November ballot because they failed to pay candidate filing fees. The candidates are David Collins, who was running for … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Hollins asks for some slack on when mail ballots are received

From the inbox: On Wednesday, August 19, 2020, Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins sent a formal request to Governor Greg Abbott requesting that Governor Abbott extend the deadline by which county election administrators can receive mail ballots. The deadline for … Continue reading

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It’s still hard out here on bars and restaurants

I continue to worry about our once-thriving hospitality industry. Hundreds of Texas bars and restaurants are scrambling to change how they operate, maneuvering through loopholes that will allow them to reopen after being closed by Gov. Greg Abbott’s latest shutdown … Continue reading

Posted in Food, glorious food | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

No fans (at first) for the Texans

You’ll have to watch the Texans’ home opener on your teevee. Fans will not be allowed to attend the Texans’ home opener against Baltimore because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Texans play the Ravens on Sept. 20 at NRG Stadium … Continue reading

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What is the level of Latino support for Trump in Texas?

We have some contradictory evidence this week. First, from Texas Elects: President Trump leads presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, 48%-41%, among “all voters” and by a slightly smaller 49.5%-44% margin among voters who indicated they were “extremely likely to vote,” … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

More challenges to Green Party candidates

From Patrick Svitek: . @ChrystaForTexas, @wendydavis sue to remove their Green Party opponents from the ballot, saying they didn’t pay filing fees on time: http://search.txcourts.gov/SearchMedia.aspx?MediaVersionID=6f9426d1-7b86-4718-b99a-8356e5d806a6&coa=coa03&DT=Brief&MediaID=297d5426-ee45-4039-8bfc-dc8891686f76 The Green Party candidate in Davis’ race is @Wakely2020, who was the 2016 Democratic nominee … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Lawsuit filed to restore original Census deadline

Good. Citing the high stakes of a botched census, Harris County and two of its Democratic county commissioners have signed on to a federal lawsuit trying to block the Trump administration’s efforts to end counting for the 2020 census a … Continue reading

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Texas blog roundup for the week of August 17

The Texas Progressive Alliance stands with the postal workers of America as it brings you this week’s roundup.

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Some superintendents disagree about school opening delays

It takes all kinds. Superintendents leading 10 Houston-area school districts penned a letter this week opposing Harris County’s recommendations for reopening campuses, arguing that face-to-face instruction should resume earlier than health officials suggest. In their two-page letter, the superintendents say … Continue reading

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Postal service update

Just a reminder, destroying the US Postal Service has real effects on real people. Delays in mail sorting and processing are leaving Houston-area businesses, brides and voters wary of the coming months. Whether it’s essential medication, ballots or important letters … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020, National news | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Wait, you can’t cut that spending!

This is the sort of thing you come up with when you’re out of other ideas. Property tax revenue would be on the line for cities that choose to defund their police departments under a new legislative proposal pitched Tuesday … Continue reading

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

The economic effect of losing college football this fall

I have some sympathy, but I also have some skepticism. Texas’ five major conference football teams – Baylor University, Texas Christian University, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University and the University of Texas at Austin — are massive economic drivers … Continue reading

Posted in Other sports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The rooftop park at the downtown post office

Very cool. The company redeveloping downtown’s former post office property will open a rooftop venue early next year as part of a five-acre park and organic farm that will top the historic building at 401 Franklin St. Lovett Commercial said … Continue reading

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Green Party candidate for Supreme Court withdraws

It’s not an election without a bit of ballot drama. Charles Waterbury, the Green Party candidate for Texas Supreme Court chief justice, has dropped out of the race after an opponent questioned his eligibility to run. Waterbury’s withdrawal notice was … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Where are we again with the IPOB?

Are we moving forward, or are we standing still? A longtime member of Houston’s Independent Police Oversight Board has resigned, saying the organization’s structure prevents it from providing meaningful oversight of the Houston Police Department and should be disbanded. In … Continue reading

Posted in Crime and Punishment, Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

HISD also spending more money on mobile technology

Also good. Houston ISD officials anticipate receiving a chunk of the $32 million that Harris County leaders allocated this week for helping school districts buy sought-after computers and wireless Internet hotspots. HISD Chief Financial Officer Glenn Reed said early conversations … Continue reading

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How Nuro is doing in the pandemic

An interesting update on the little driverless grocery (and other things) delivery serives. As recently as last fall, Nuro appeared to be years away from widespread adoption. The company, which operated in Arizona and California, arrived in Houston in 2018 … Continue reading

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Please allow me to turn your attention to the Railroad Commissioner race for a moment

Because there’s a serious issue with one of the candidates, and this sort of thing never gets the attention it deserves. There is a glaring conflict of interest with Jim Wright, the Republican candidate running for Texas Railroad Commissioner, the … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Despite it all, voter registration keeps increasing

You love to see it. Not even the worst pandemic to hit Texas in a century was enough to stem the surge in voter registrations that has remade the state’s electorate over the past four years. Just since March, Texas … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Merging transit fare systems

There’s a frustratingly small amount of information in this story, but the basic idea, as best I understand it, is great. Federal transit officials will spend $14.8 million making sure Houston area transit riders can have more options for how … Continue reading

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Weekend link dump for August 16

“Wearing face masks that adequately cover the mouth and nose causes the error rate of some of the most widely used facial recognition algorithms to spike to between 5 percent and 50 percent, a study by the US National Institute … Continue reading

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More on mail ballots

Here’s a second story from the Trib on the attempted destruction of the Postal Service in the name of vote suppression by Donald Trump. “I think the goal of Donald Trump’s comments are to destabilize faith in voting systems and … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 59 Comments

And the nominees are…

Yesterday was the Harris County Democratic Party CEC meeting, at which the nominees for the two positions that needed them were filled. The easy one was the second one, where Teneshia Hudspeth was unanimously selected. The way this process works … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Introducing the George Floyd Act

Coming this spring to the Legislature. Black lawmakers at the Texas Legislature unveiled on Thursday the George Floyd Act, a sweeping police reform proposal that would ban chokeholds across the state and require law enforcement officers to intervene or render … Continue reading

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Time for another COVID roundup

Let’s start with some good news, which comes wrapped in a warning. The number of coronavirus patients crowding hospital wards in the Houston area is now in its sixth week of steady decline, a welcome reversal of the virus’ alarming … Continue reading

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Do not wait with your mail ballot

You have been warned. The U.S. Postal Service has warned Texas officials that some ballots cast by mail may not arrive in time to be counted for the November election thanks to certain state deadlines for mail-in ballots being incompatible … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Harris County to buy digital devices for students

An excellent use of CARES money. Harris County commissioners on Tuesday voted to spend up to $32 million in federal COVID-19 funds on providing hundreds of thousands of WiFi hotspots and devices to children in school districts across the county. … Continue reading

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

College sports roundup

Southland Conference postpones fall sports. After much deliberation, the Southland Conference has postponed league competition in all of its fall sports with the intent of playing a football season in the spring of 2021 due to concerns over COVID-19. The … Continue reading

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The Kamala effect

I assume you are all aware that California Sen. Kamala Harris is now the Democratic nominee for Vice President. I didn’t post about that on Wednesday because it was hardly news by the time I published, but there are things … Continue reading

Posted in The making of the President | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 27 Comments