Daily Archives: March 11, 2005

Why they voted the way they did

Posted on March 11, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Interesting article on how State Reps Mark Strama and Todd Baxter, both of whom were elected by miniscule margins in November, arrived at their votes on HB2. Baxter, the Republican representative for District 48 in northwestern Travis County, fresh from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Comments Off on Why they voted the way they did

“In Birmingham they love the Governor”

Posted on March 11, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Actually, it’s the Senate Finance Committee that’s showing the love. A Senate panel quietly approved a raise of more than 30 percent for the governor and other statewide elected officials Thursday, saying that those officials don’t make enough for the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 1 Comment

Hey, guys, what say we reform the franchise tax?

Posted on March 11, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Turns out that the payroll tax floated in HB3 isn’t so popular. Who knew? Trying to build more support for a controversial $10.8 billion tax trade-off, House leaders worked Thursday to revise a business payroll levy to also give companies … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Comments Off on Hey, guys, what say we reform the franchise tax?

Don’t mess with large statues

Posted on March 11, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

That’s Houston sculptor David Adickes, he of Giant Presidential Heads fame, standing in front of his statue The Virtuoso, which is in the parking lot of the Lyric Center downtown. He’s wearing that Groucho getup to protest the deliberate painting … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 2 Comments

Aguirre firing upheld

Posted on March 11, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

An arbitrator has ruled against former HPD Captain Mark Aguirre, who was fired by the city for his role in the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup. Thursday’s decision came six months after Aguirre testified that he was wrongfully fired in January 2003 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in K-Mart Kiddie Roundup | 2 Comments

Michael Williams blog

Posted on March 11, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Via Byron, I see that Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams blog. Well, sort of, as Byron says, since the index page is a set of links to individual entries rather than a set of the entries themselves. His links page does … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on Michael Williams blog

The 1159 Words You Can’t Say On An Official NFL Replica Jersey

Posted on March 11, 2005 by Charles Kuffner

Via Crooked Timber and Hit and Run comes the official list of banned words from the back of replica NFL jerseys (warning: NSFW). This list came to light after a customer was originally prohibited from getting the name “Gay” on … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 3 Comments