Monthly Archives: July 2007

Houston: Greener than you think

Posted on July 26, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

After an instant-replay review, it turns out the city of Houston has more green space than you might have thought. Or that it might have thought, for that matter. A report released Monday by the Trust for Public Land shows … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Comments Off on Houston: Greener than you think

Capitol Annex interviews Joe Jaworski

Posted on July 26, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Vince gives us a three-part interview with Senate District 11 candidate (and strong fundraiser) Joe Jaworski. This race represents a not-too-common opportunity for a pickup in the Senate, which would give the Democrats a little breathing room. Part I: Joe … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2008 | 6 Comments

“He pulled a Mackey”

Posted on July 26, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

It almost makes me feel sorry for John Mackey to see people use his name to describe other CEOs acting as sock puppets. Not quite, but almost. Thanks to Tom for the link. Continue reading →

Posted in Bidness | Comments Off on “He pulled a Mackey”

Get yer HOT lanes here

Posted on July 26, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

We know this is coming for I-10, and now Metro is talking about converting HOV lanes to HOT in other corridors. The Metropolitan Transit Authority is proposing to convert its High Occupancy Vehicle lanes to High Occupancy-Toll lanes, where buses … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 1 Comment

But what will I read in the checkout lines?

Posted on July 25, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Horrors! Publisher American Media Inc. said on Tuesday it will stop printing the Weekly World News, which for 28 years gleefully chronicled the exploits of alien babies, animal-human hybrids and dead celebrities. The company said in a brief statement it … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other punditry | Comments Off on But what will I read in the checkout lines?

S-CHIP: The Republican cookie crumbles

Posted on July 25, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Yesterday, I posted about the brewing battle over S-CHIP funding between Congress and the President. I suggested that maybe just this once, it might be a good idea to try to lobby our two Senators about this, since CHIP has … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Comments Off on S-CHIP: The Republican cookie crumbles

Infernal Bridegroom shuts down

Posted on July 25, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

This is a shame. Infernal Bridegroom Productions, Houston’s foremost avant-garde theater company, has ceased operations because of “insurmountable financial difficulties.” The news was made public late Tuesday in an e-mail released by IBP board president Chet Farmer. The company’s own … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Comments Off on Infernal Bridegroom shuts down

More on the state school abuse scandal

Posted on July 25, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s today’s Chron story about the horrible abuse of mentally retarded residents of the state schools. Just one observation for today: Texas spends about $110,000 annually on each of the mentally retarded residents of its state schools, but entry-level workers … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 1 Comment

Biggio calls it a career

Posted on July 25, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Astros legend Craig Biggio announced his retirement for the end of the season before yesterday’s game with the Dodgers, then added a little flourish during the game. They stood throughout Minute Maid Park in the sixth inning Tuesday night, focused … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball | 3 Comments

Take action on S-CHIP

Posted on July 25, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s an important message from the CPPP: Take Action: Texas’ CHIP Funding in Jeopardy at the Federal Level The 2007 Texas legislative session saw important health care victories for Texas children through the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Now it’s up … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Comments Off on Take action on S-CHIP

Four-day school weeks?

Posted on July 25, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ll bet the kids in Lancaster are rooting for this. The Lancaster school district has asked the Texas Education Agency for clearance to implement a four-day schedule for the upcoming school year. The … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 1 Comment

Fake fundraising

Posted on July 25, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Last week, a fellow named Quico Canseco, who hopes to be the Republican candidate in CD23 against Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, sent out a press release saying he’d raised the eye-popping total of $566,000 for the last quarter (see The Walker … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2008 | Comments Off on Fake fundraising

More on the 290 widening

Posted on July 25, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Whether you made it to any of the public comment meetings for the US290 widening or not, you can always go to Intermodality to see Christof’s analysis of the project. If you thought the Katy Freeway expansion was big, wait … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 1 Comment

My cousin, the hero

Posted on July 24, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Just received this link from my cousin Lori about her son (my first cousin once removed) Eric Wuensch. It’s a video clip from the local Fox news in Austin, about how Eric and two of his buddies pulled a drowning … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 1 Comment

Have you been Comcasted yet?

Posted on July 24, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

The switch is going on, and they say it’s going smoothly. Which I suppose they would, but that doesn’t mean they’re wrong. About 75 percent of Comcast’s Internet and e-mail customers in the Houston area have been switched from the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | 2 Comments

Prosecute or not?

Posted on July 24, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

The Humane Society is applying pressure to the Justice Department in an effort to get them to prosecute Dan Duncan. Duncan testified before a grand jury in Houston last week about the hunting trip in which he killed a moose … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Around the world | Comments Off on Prosecute or not?

The next TYC scandal

Posted on July 24, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Remember the Lubbock State School, and the extreme problems there that eventually led to a Justice Department investigation? Sadly, those problems are far more widespread than just one troublesome facility. Abuse, neglect and humiliation are a stark reality for hundreds … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Comments Off on The next TYC scandal

Rove sneaks in to give Cornyn a hand

Posted on July 24, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Why is it so important to stop John Cornyn? Among many other reasons, it’s the company he keeps. HARLINGEN — The first to arrive was a woman delivering a flower arrangement about 2 p.m. Friday. About a half hour later, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2008 | Comments Off on Rove sneaks in to give Cornyn a hand

Pilot needle exchange program gets underway in San Antonio

Posted on July 24, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

I haven’t written before about the first-ever-in-Texas needle exchange program that was authorized for San Antonio. It made it through the Lege via a back door, after a bipartisan bill was blocked in the House. I’ll leave you to read … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Comments Off on Pilot needle exchange program gets underway in San Antonio

Are you wanted by the police?

Posted on July 24, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

According to State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, the odds are one-in-ten that the answer is Yes. Surprised? Wait till you see why so many people are on the lam: A couple of weeks ago, the local paper printed names of El … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Comments Off on Are you wanted by the police?

Last public comment event for US290 widening today

Posted on July 24, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

If you want to give some feedback on the planned US290 expansion that’s looming on the horizon, this is your last chance for this stage of the project. The last of three public comment sessions on plans to expand traffic … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 1 Comment

Texas blog roundup for the week of July 23

Posted on July 23, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Time for another Teaxs progressive blog roundup. Vince did the honors this week, and he’s got quite a collection of good reading for you. Click the More link to see the selections, and check them out. Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on Texas blog roundup for the week of July 23

What their bumper stickers say about them

Posted on July 23, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

I love the fact that I live in a country where this sort of thing is considered to be worthy of space in a major news weekly. Election season is taking over the front page, the evening news, and–sticker by … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The making of the President | 2 Comments

RIP, Heather Burcham

Posted on July 23, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Heather Burcham, who was a leader in the effort to make the HPV vaccine mandatory this past spring, has died of cervical cancer. She was 31 years old. Burcham was misdiagnosed by a half dozen doctors over a five year … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Comments Off on RIP, Heather Burcham

Who’s your PAC?

Posted on July 23, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

One from the weekend I didn’t get to, another entry in the “Let’s play with the new searchable online campaign finance disclosure forms for city candidates” files. About one in 10 campaign contributions to elected city officials this year came … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Comments Off on Who’s your PAC?

Talk radio changes coming

Posted on July 23, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Every once in awhile, I see a spike in search engine referrals to this site for the same thing. Sometimes it just means that Google has reindexed, and I’ve become the #1 result for a particular search (“Diane Zamora” is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Music | 1 Comment

Preservation, then and now

Posted on July 23, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

This story gives some idea of how far the idea of historic preservation has come in Houston over the last decade or so. A year ago, Houston’s small but passionate preservation community was galvanized by warnings that the River Oaks … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 3 Comments

Cigarette sales down for now

Posted on July 23, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

The effect of the dollar-a-pack increase in the cigarette tax has been more or less as expected, but it’s still early to say what trends may exist. The state sold about 484,000 tax stamps, which must be affixed to every … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | Comments Off on Cigarette sales down for now

Spoiler shields still up

Posted on July 23, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

I figure by now that about half the US population has read the last Harry Potter book. As we like the British editions, we’re waiting on our copy’s arrival from Amazon UK (according to an email I got yesterday, it … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Books | 1 Comment

Nick Lampson In The House

Posted on July 22, 2007 by admin

I had a wonderful time last night at a house party for Nick Lampson in Clear Lake. He looks great and is clearly back at full energy, working hard in Congress and meeting with constituents around the district. He’s received … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Comments Off on Nick Lampson In The House

Texas portion of border fence construction to begin next year

Posted on July 22, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Despite earlier reports about construction beginning by September, the Texas portion of the border fence will not get underway until 2008. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, in an interview with the Houston Chronicle this week, said he expects some work … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | 1 Comment

RIP-to-be, Lisa Moore

Posted on July 22, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

If you read the comic strip Funky Winkerbean, you were probably already pretty sure of this, but here’s the confirmation anyway: The character of Lisa Moore is going to die of her breast cancer. Despite e-mails from readers asking him … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Society and cultcha | 1 Comment

More briefs filed for Speaker ruling from Abbott

Posted on July 22, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

You may recall that last month, House Speaker wannabee Rep. Jim Keffer asked AG Greg Abbott for an opinion on the matter of whether or not House Speaker Tom Craddick has absolute power to recognize or not a motion from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Comments Off on More briefs filed for Speaker ruling from Abbott

Dog lovers weigh in on Vick

Posted on July 21, 2007 by Charles Kuffner

Speaking of Michael Vick, the folks in town for the 30th annual Reliant Park World Series of Dog Shows let him have it. Former University of Houston football player Chris Tucker, a longtime dog trainer, called Vick “an idiot.” “What … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 2 Comments