January, 2012:

Komen outrage

In a shocking move Tuesday afternoon, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the country’s most famous breast cancer charity, pulled its grants for breast-cancer screenings from Planned Parenthood. Komen claims that their reason is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation from Congress, but as it’s well-understood on both the left and the right that the investigation, headed by Rep. Cliff Stearns, is a nuisance investigation that will almost surely turn up nothing, this excuse sounds lame indeed. The likelier explanation is the one offered by Planned Parenthood, that Komen caved under relentless pressure from anti-choice activists who oppose Planned Parenthood for offering abortions as well as low-cost contraception and STD prevention and treatment. In addition, Komen has a history of not playing nice with other women’s health organizations. Planned Parenthood has created an emergency fund to replace the Komen grants, to keep the breast-cancer screening service from being interrupted.

State Rep. Carol Alvarado is a lot nicer to them about this than I would have been. Far as I’m concerned, it’ll be a long time before I even think about giving another dime to them. Jezebel, TBogg, and Kos, among many others, have more.

Grand jury no-bills DA’s office

Jan 31st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

2 comments

Thus endeth one of the most fascinating local stories in recent memory.

A Harris County grand jury ended its session Tuesday, ending a months-long investigation into the district attorney’s office and the Houston Police Department’s DWI testing vehicles with a blistering report, but no indictments.

“There was no evidence of a crime,” said grand jury foreman Trisha Pollard.

Pollard signed off on a one-page report blasting the DA’s office for “unexpected resistance” and accusing the office of launching an investigation into the grand jurors, the special prosecutors and judges.

The grand jury also harshly criticized Rachel Palmer, a prosecutor who invoked her fifth amendment right to refuse to testify.

“The stain upon the HCDAO will remain regardless of any media statements issued or press conferences issued by anyone,” according to the statement.

That may be all they wrote, but something tells me we have not heard the last of this. Like Grits, I look forward to reading the jury’s report. Hair Balls has more.

UPDATE: Here’s the statement from DA Lykos about the grand jury’s decision. I am greatly intrigued by this bit at the end:

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has long been eager to share what we know with the public. Now that the grand jury’s proceedings have ended, we will be responding—vigorously.

In the days to come, our website—HarrisCountyDA.com—will feature a new section devoted to setting the record straight.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is confident that anyone willing to review the full set of facts, in an unbiased and fair-minded manner, will conclude we have acted responsibly and with integrity in every respect.

I’m sure I’ll be taking a close look at that. In the meantime, the grand jury’s statement is here.

January finance reports: Harris County state races

Jan 31st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

In addition to county candidates, my 2012 Democratic primary election page has information about state and federal candidates who will be on the ballot in Harris County. There are numerous contested primaries, and while I’m not tracking information about Republican races on that page, I thought it would be useful to check on the finance reports for all races of interest. Here’s the relevant data for candidates that have submitted reports, with my comments at the end. Candidates without a party affiliation listed are Democrats, and incumbents are noted as such.


Candidate      Office   Raised    Spent  Cash on hand
=====================================================
Nilsson         SBOE6    1,600      431         1,552
Jensen          SBOE6        0    1,088             0
Scott           SBOE6    1,010      362           647
Bahorich (R)    SBOE6      325      669        50,320

Cargill (R, I)  SBOE8   38,586   18,710        25,626
Ellis (R)       SBOE8    2,195    7,019         1,163

McCool (R)       SD11   10,047    8,515            31
Taylor (R)       SD11  329,124  154,172       169,778
Norman (R)       SD11    9,981    6,512        11,534

Huberty (R, I)  HD127   58,075   37,575        36,811
Jordan (R)      HD127    1,763      967             0

Davis (R,I)     HD129   20,475   45,286        62,852
Huls (R)        HD129    1,684    1,501           182

Allen (I)       HD131    5,565   14,542        18,764
Adams           HD131        0    4,697        59,572

Callegari (R,I) HD132    8,250   28,593       222,340
Brown (R)       HD132      975      779           195

Murphy (R,I)    HD133   72,015   38,365       182,682
Johnston (R)    HD133    6,244    6,015         6,244

Johnson         HD134    7,347        0         7,347
Davis (R, I)    HD134   83,035   61,807       102,570

Witt (R)        HD136    4,821   85,139        25,218
Schofield (R)   HD136   67,203   34,899        29,245
Holm (R)        HD136  142,997   98,594        44,402
DeAyala (R)     HD136  144,860   39,105       106,253

Smith           HD137    2,500      750         2,500
Madden          HD137   11,002      750        10,252
Wu              HD137   71,700      831        70,869
Winkler         HD137      850      750         1,378
Khan (R)        HD137   

Risner          HD144        0        0             0
Perez           HD144    1,300    2,569        14,547
Ybarra          HD144
Legner (R,I)    HD144   27,475   57,949        34,040

Miles (I)       HD146   15,900    2,750         6,800
Edwards         HD146        0        0         1,199

Coleman (I)     HD147  158,474  106,581       106,823
Hill            HD147

Riddle (R,I)    HD150   89,401   54,384       108,874
Wilson (R)      HD150    4,160    4,366           893

My notes:

– Donna Bahorich loaned herself $50,000, which is where her cash on hand figure comes from.

– Despite having the opportunity to support a “Senator McCool”, it seems clear that Republicans prefer State Rep. Larry Taylor in SD11.

– As noted before, Wanda Adams’ money comes from her Council campaign coffers. I will be interested to see who gives to her between now and the primary. Rep. Allen unsurprisingly has the support of her legislative colleagues, at least if a recent notice about a fundraiser for her is any indication.

– Given that HD134 is likely to be the highest profile legislative race in November regardless of what the next map looks like, I was curious how Rep. Sarah Davis’ efforts stacked up against her predecessors as they headed into their first re-election campaign. In 2008, Ellen Cohen reported $188K raised, $45K spent, and $203K on hand. None of Martha Wong’s 2004 included cash on hand information, so I can’t get an exact comparison with her. Her January 2004 report showed only $7K raised and $18K spent, but I doubt that indicates that she was cash-poor, as she was a generally strong fundraiser. Her July 2005 report is the first to include cash on hand, and she had $250K at that time. For January 2006 her numbers were $127K raised, $24K spent, and $349K on hand. All this is to say that Davis is not starting out in any better shape than either Cohen or Wong, at least financially.

– I have to say, that’s an impressive amount of fundraising in HD136, which currently does not exist in Harris County. As Greg noted, the one guy with no electoral experience had quite a strong showing, and Ann Witt’s burn rate is almost as impressive. Witt also has $100K in loans to herself outstanding.

– Not much action in HD137 so far. It’s the opposite of HD136 in the sense that it was originally obliterated by the Lege but restored by the court. My guess is that if it gets folded back into HD149, none of the Dems will remain in the race. Gene Wu’s money came primarily from himself ($50K) and a relative ($20K). MJ Khan had not filed a report at the time of this publication.

– Also not much action in HD144, which is currently a Dem-favorable district, but was originally made a stronger Republican district. Legler may be feeling the effect of the uncertainty, though he surely had plenty of time before the court got involved to raise a few bucks. Ybarra had not filed a report at publication time, and Risner reported no money raised or spent.

– Don’t be fooled by Rep. Borris Miles’ numbers. He’s perfectly capable of self-funding; he has $655K in loans to himself outstanding. This is Al Edwards’ first run as a non-incumbent in the post-Craddick era. Will his old buddies still support him?

– Ray Hill had not filed a report as of publication time. I don’t really expect him to get much financial support, but you never know.

That’s about all I’ve got. As the Trib had reported earlier, uncertainty over the map for 2012 has made fundraising more of a challenge for many candidates. We can see some of that here, but I daresay things will be clearer in the next reports, which would now be due in early March but presumably will get pushed back along with the primary date, if need be. On a related note, for a look at cash on hand among Senators, see Robert Miller.

More on disciplining deputies

Jan 31st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

Here’s another long Chron story about disciplinary statistics for Harris County Sheriff’s deputies. Reading through it, I felt like there was some context missing.

A Houston Chronicle review of disciplinary records indicates that from 2008 through 2010, more than 200 jail employees were disciplined for various offenses, some serious and others minor. Last year, the Sheriff’s Office disciplined 88 employees working in detention, including jailers, deputies and civilians.

Their offenses included excessive use of force, having sex with inmates, mistakenly releasing dangerous prisoners including suspected drug dealers, sleeping on the job, and even leaving their post to have a 90-minute-long domino game. One jailer destroyed mail sent to prisoners, and another ruined a picture of an inmate’s son by spraying it with cleaning solvent.

[…]

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, in a prepared statement, said his office “employs many dedicated and professional women and men. They are the rule rather than the exception.”

The U.S. Justice Department cited a “flawed” use of force policy in a June 2009 report, adding that “systemic deficiencies” in policies and training for jailers exposed inmates to harm. Investigators found a significant number of instances where jailers used force inappropriately – including hog-tying prisoners or using choke holds – and claimed jail commanders did not interview prisoners or take corrective action.

Garcia said training and the internal complaint process has been improved and that unjustified use of force incidents against prisoners are isolated, adding they have declined during his three years in office.

A review of disciplinary actions in 2011 indicate seven jailers were punished for using excessive force against inmates and another for not reporting using force on a prisoner, the same as seven cases that brought disciplinary action in 2010.

The Sheriff’s Office provided statistics indicating a decrease in the number of jailers assaulted by inmates, as well as a decline in use of force by jailers on prisoners and fewer fights between inmates. There were 130 assaults on jailers by inmates and 3,084 prisoners involved in fights with each other in the jail last year, Garcia said.

“Our policies and practices on staff use of force against inmates take into account that, as the figures indicate, the usually calm and orderly jail environment nevertheless can sometimes be a dangerous place for employees and inmates,” Garcia stated.

If this story seems familiar to you, it’s because the Chron wrote a very similar story on October 30, which I blogged about here. A sample from that story:

A Houston Chronicle review of Sheriff’s Office discipline reports from 2007 to August provides a sobering look into a department plagued by deputies, jailers and civilians accused of violating laws they are charged to enforce and breaking department policies more than 1,200 times in the past four-and-a-half years.

In all, Sheriff Adrian Garcia has fired 81 deputies and jailers from January 2009 through August, considerably more than the 36 employees let go by his predecessor, Tommy Thomas, during 2007 and 2008. Garcia, who took over the department in January 2009, has also suspended 273 employees without pay and given 414 written reprimands.

[…]

[Garcia] said he decided not to examine past disciplinary actions to identify and remove any “bad apples” he inherited when he took office in early 2009. Instead, he felt it was more important to triple his internal affairs unit to reduce a backlog of more than 160 internal affairs complaints pending against deputies when he took office.

The embedded chart was from that earlier story. Note that the data in that story goes back to 2007, and to 2008 in the newer story. What that means is that it’s hard to do an accurate comparison from one Sheriff to another. I don’t know if the data exists for earlier in the Tommy Thomas regime – if you go to the HCSO Internal Affairs page, you can see previous IAD reports, but again they only go as far back as 2007. What was it like before then? We have no idea as far as the numbers go, but I think we have a pretty good hunch nonetheless. Note that Garcia has stepped up IAD investigations to deal with a huge backlog of complaints, a decision for which he was attacked by Stave Radack, so in a sense the increase in disciplinary actions isn’t really on his watch. Note also that that 2009 Justice Department report was based on a visit from 2008, when Thomas was still in charge, and that at Garcia’s direction the use of force policies were changed to be more rigorous. Those facts were curiously unmentioned in the Sunday story. As Grits says, it’s great that this data is available and there are certainly stories to be written about it, but it’s important to remember what the data can’t tell us, because otherwise we’re getting an incomplete picture.

Meet the voter ID three judge panel

Jan 31st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

The only voter ID anyone should need

As you know, the state of Texas has filed a lawsuit in the DC District Federal Court – the same court that is hearing the preclearance lawsuit – to get the odious voter ID law precleared. Michael Li introduces us to the judges that will be hearing this case.

Texas’ suit over its voter ID law has been assigned to a familiar face, Judge Rosemary Collyer, who is one of three judges hearing Texas’ suit over preclearance of its redistricting maps.

In addition to Judge Collyer, Chief Judge David Sentelle of the D.C. Circuit, on Friday, appointed Circuit Judge David Tatel and District Judge Robert Wilkins to sit on the panel. (Order here)

Judge Tatel is a Clinton appointee, and Judge Wilkins is an Obama appointee. As Juanita notes, that’s about as favorable a draw as Dems could want. Yes, I know, this is all a warmup act for SCOTUS, but it’s still critically important to get a good ruling. I’m hopeful this trial will go as well as the other one seems to have gone.

Matagorda smog

Jan 31st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

I feel like there are some pieces missing in this discussion.

Matagorda County, 1920s map from the General Land Office

The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to add Matagorda County to the list of Texas’ smog violators because Gulf breezes that blow through the area send air pollution toward the sprawling metropolis.

Local leaders are pushing back, saying the dubious distinction would lead to stricter regulation of industry at a time when unemployment is at 11 percent in the county.

“We have two plants, and they are minute by Houston’s standards,” Matagorda County Judge Nate McDonald said. “We are not the problem, so do not throw us under the bus because we are in a two-county proximity.”

McDonald is asking other public officials in the region for support in his fight against the EPA. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, for one, said through a spokeswoman that the federal agency has not made a scientific case to add Matagorda County to the smog list.

The move signifies the first change in geography in the federal efforts to clean Houston’s air. The list long has included Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller counties.

[…]

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality says EPA data overstates Matagorda’s emissions. Also, federal regulators cannot directly link the pollution to bad air in Houston using models of wind paths, the state agency contends.

“There is nothing we have seen that shows these emissions are contributing to ozone in Houston,” said David Brymer, the TCEQ’s air quality director. “It is just a possibility.”

Carl Young, a scientist for the EPA’s Region 6, which includes Texas, said there is “no bright line” that ties Matagorda’s emissions to Houston’s dirty air, but the “weight of evidence” suggests a connection.

The TCEQ is sufficiently Perry-ized that I don’t trust it in these matters. However, it doesn’t sound like the EPA has (if you’ll pardon the expression) a smoking gun to point to. I doubt Mayor Parker would question the evidence if it were conclusive. So, I don’t know what to make of all this right now. There is an elephant in the room that the story doesn’t being up, though, and that’s the proposed White Stallion Coal Plant in Bay City, which was approved by the TCEQ but is still on hold and recently was unable to get a contract for water. There’s no question that it would have a negative effect on Houston’s air quality. I don’t know what if anything one may have to do with the other, but I’m a little surprised it wasn’t brought up in the story. Whatever the merits of including Matagorda County on the EPA smog list now, they’re surely greater if White Stallion gets built.

Interview with Zack Fertitta

Jan 30th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

2 comments

Zack Fertitta

We move on this week to the two top of the ticket races for Harris County, DA and Sheriff, starting today with Zack Fertitta, who is running for the Democratic nomination for District Attorney. Fertitta spent several years in the DA’s office as a prosecutor, and since then he has had his own practice as a criminal defense attorney, so he has seen the courtroom from both sides of the aisle. Though he has an opponent in this primary, the person he’s running against is a perennial candidate with a questionable history. The choice in this race is very clear.

I have been asked by a number of people to do interviews with Republican candidates for the primaries as well. Generally speaking, I don’t have the time or the inclination for that, but if there’s one office on the ballot this year for which I’d make an exception it’s District Attorney. I’m pleased to say that I have been able to line up interviews with both of the Republican candidates for this office as well, incumbent DA Pat Lykos and challenger Mike Anderson. Look for them to run in the near future. In the meantime, here’s my conversation with Zack Fertitta:

Download the MP3 file

You can find a list of all interviews for this cycle, plus other related information, on my 2012 Harris County Primary Elections page. You can also follow this blog by liking its Facebook page.

Non-filers in Harris County races

Jan 30th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

1 comment

As of today, the following candidates for county offices in Harris County have not filed campaign finance reports with the County Clerk:

Candidates for Sheriff

Charles Massey El (D)
Guy Clark (R, formerly D)
Daniel Lemkuil (R)

Candidates for HCDE

Jarvis Johnson (D)
Silvia Mintz (D)
Timothy Rose (R)
Tom Cruz (R)

Candidates for County Commissioner

Dave Wilson (“D”)
Chuck Maricle (R)

Candidates for Justice of the Peace

LaTonya Allen (D)
Tommy Ginn (R)

Candidates for Constable

Ruben Loreto (D)
Victor Archer (D)
Kenneth Perkins (D)
Rickey Spivey (D)
Edward Rios (R)

The last date that I saw a report filed was January 23. Obviously, some of these candidates are more serious than others. Massey El, Perkins, and Wilson are all perennials, with Wilson being a bad joke in addition. Clark is on at least his third run for Sheriff, this time as an R after running as a D in 2004 (he was the nominee) and 2008 (he, along with Charles Massey El, lost in the primary to Sheriff Adrian Garcia). Others should know better.

On free speech and reproductive rights

Jan 30th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

2 comments

I must say, I was a bit flummoxed by this story.

The City of Austin might repeal a 2-year-old ordinance requiring some facilities that counsel women with unplanned pregnancies to post signs saying they don’t offer abortions or contraceptive services.

The four Austin facilities affected by the ordinance sued the city last fall, saying the ordinance violates their constitutional rights.

City attorneys are urging the City Council to repeal the ordinance at Thursday’s council meeting “to avoid further litigation costs” and because similar laws have been struck down in other cities, according to a written summary of their recommendation.

Bill Spelman, the council member who led the charge to enact the ordinance, is proposing that the council revise, not repeal, it.

“This is a consumer awareness issue,” Spelman said in an email. “I still believe that it is important for women to have as much information about these businesses as possible, and I believe the changes I’m proposing will provide women information as well as satisfying the legal issues that have come up since (the council) passed the original ordinance” in April 2010 .

The ordinance requires pregnancy resource centers that don’t offer or refer clients to abortions or birth control to display entrance signs in English and Spanish noting the lack of those services.

So, it’s perfectly constitutional for the state to compel doctors to show a sonogram they don’t want to show to a patient who doesn’t want them to show it to them, but it’s a violation of free speech for the state to require a “clinic” that performs no medical services to clearly state that they perform no medical services? How is that even remotely consistent? I’ve been trying to come up with a righteous rant about this, but in the end I decided it was better just to point you to what Katherine Haenschen said; see also her report on Council’s actions. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go put a helmet on so my head doesn’t explode.

New school food coming

Jan 30th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

No more mystery meat.

School lunches, long saddled with an unhealthy reputation, are getting a makeover.

Instead of salt-doused fried foods, highly processed white bread and sugar-laden desserts, cafeteria trays will be carrying whole wheat pizza, leafy green and orange vegetables and fresh fruit.

The changes, announced Wednesday by first lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, mark the first major nutritional adjustment to the $11 billion school meal program in 15 years.

Under the new guidelines, which were directed by the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, schools must limit calories, trans fat and sodium, while serving students a wider variety of fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

[…]

The new rules, which will affect 32 million children, will be phased in over the next three years.

Many Houston-area school districts have already taken steps to raise nutritional standards, instituting changes that mirror many of the new USDA requirements.

In Houston ISD, for example, all milk is fat-free or low-fat, and more than half of grains served are whole grain, including pasta, sliced bread, homemade rolls, pizza crust and brownies.

Meals contain no trans fat, and dark green and orange vegetables are served three times a week, said district spokesman Jason Spencer.

Clear Creek, Spring and Alief are among the other local school districts that have also made the switch to all whole-grain items, fat-free or low-fat milk and more dark green and orange vegetables.

Olivia has been asking to get the school lunch more often as of late. I think that’s more because it’s what her friends do than anything else, but that’s okay. I suspect she won’t have any problems with the change, but as The Lunch Tray wrote last month, there can be quite a few bumps in the road in getting better food to school kids. Don’t be surprised if there are problems here and there. If you don’t mind a little profanity, there’s an interesting perspective on the issue of better-quality food and why it isn’t always embraced here. This is a process, one that will likely take some time to show results. Here’s more from The Lunch Tray and Obamafoodorama, and The Spork Report has some related food news from HISD.

Weekend link dump for January 29

Jan 29th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

To everything there is a season, and that season starts with pitchers and catchers.

“If you are a consumer of conservative media, you get constant reminders — every day, multiple times a day — that you absolutely must not believe anything you hear or read in any news outlet that is not explicitly conservative.”

Fans of soccer know that it’s boring. They like it that way.

Would “The Life Of Brian” be made today?

We just rode between the cars on the NYC subway.

This is why we need comprehensive, fact-based sex education.

The guy responsible for one of the greatest headlines ever is up for parole.

Freedom’s just another word for whining about being inconvenienced.

“Apple’s mind-bogglingly greedy and evil license agreement”

This is wrong on so many levels.

Some useful anti-social media tips.

Feel the fear and loathing the Republican establishment has for Newt.

I’m just wondering how, if this is true, it was his thigh that got injured. On second thought, I don’t want to know.

I believe those are crow tacos he’ll be eating.

Just go read The Slacktivist. I can’t say that often enough.

Fact checking should be about checking facts, don’t you think?

The conservative media cartel puts out a hit on Newt Gingrich. Pass the popcorn. Of course, they don’t anyone to blame but themselves for him.

The pill is now on sort of equal footing with Viagra.

RIP, Juan Epstein.

The climate change denial industry is getting back to basics.

About that “solution” for bike trail obstruction

Jan 29th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

1 comment

Me, last month:

Meanwhile, two weeks ago there was a story about TxDOT closing the White Oak Bayou Hike and Bike Trail between Ella and 34th streets while there is construction on the service road for 610 North at East TC Jester. The closure was scheduled for two years, without an alternate route that bicyclists thought was adequate. Fortunately, after meeting with bike activists, TxDOT made some changes to accommodate riders a little better. I’ve been meaning to get over there and take some pictures but just haven’t had the chance. Anyone here have experience with what’s going on at this location?

A reader named Andy wrote to me that he had had a close look at this area, and it’s not as you would expect based on that report. He sent me some of photos to illustrate, two of which I will show here. First, a view of the White Oak Trail from the north:

That looks pretty blocked to me

And a view from street level:

A view of the blocked trail from grade level

Andy writes:

I took photos of this mess on Monday (Jan 23) […] In short, the construction company working for TxDOT decided to bury the section of White Oak Trail which runs under 610 with the dirt they removed while leveling out other sections. They didn’t have to do this, but it was faster and cheaper than having to haul the dirt somewhere else. Other than the dirt, there is absolutely no construction going on there right now, and there were no construction vehicles there at all on Monday.

TxDOT and/or Karen Othon apparently has been claiming that the trail closure was for safety reasons, but this is simply nonsense. They could use a chainlink and plywood safety barricade over the trail just as other construction companies have used downtown to keep pedestrian access open, and limit total closure of this section of White Oak Trail to the same times that they close TC Jester (when doing overhead crane work, such as lifting and setting beams, the same as they did when rebuilding Ella’s 610 overpass). This however would be less convenient for the construction company, since it would be an additional cost and they would also need to find another place to pile the dirt they removed while leveling other areas.

While taking photos, I also witnessed no less than 20-25 people in about a 30 minute or so time span going around and over the dirt piled on the trail (I had to wait for many to get out of the frame so I could take photos). A number of hikers climbed right up and over the dirt (which is not safe at all for reasons which can be seen in the photos from the north end of the dirt pile), while other pedestrians and bicyclists used the sidewalk on the west side of TC Jester which runs parallel to White Oak Trail, and then crossed under 610, (which is just dirt and loose gravel). This route likely won’t remain an option once demolition and construction begins on the three existing bridges though. I also saw several people walk down the bayou embankment and follow the flat concrete basin to bypass the blocked trail and walk right under 610 (also not terribly safe, due to the steep incline).

Somehow TxDOT is going to have to come up with an option other than blocking White Oak Trail until late 2013 because people are clearly not going to stop traveling through the area.

And in a followup email, Andy writes:

When I was speaking with Tom Gall via email yesterday, he mentioned “My understanding is that the soil on the trail will serve as a platform for the piling cranes and isn’t just spare soil but we certainly need to keep an eye on them.” If that is what TxDOT has been claiming in the public meetings (they only claim they closed the trail for “safety reasons” on their website), then it would seem TxDOT’s contractor needs to use a crane with a longer boom and/or a different sort of jib. I can’t see the ~10ft width of the trail making all that much difference anyway when they bring in a large crane with a diesel-driven pile driver attachment (which is the type of pile driver they would most likely use if they are going to be installing prestressed concrete piles). I would actually be surprised if they located a crane that close to the bayou embankment because of the steep grade and danger of tipping the crane over too. There also appear to be stockpile markings on the soil that has been piled over the trail.

You can see in the photo of the north end of the trail just how dangerous they’ve made it with all that reinforcing mesh/wire sticking up out of the dirt. It was when I was taking photos from grade level (which was around 5:30pm) that I saw people heading north on the trail and climbing over and going through that mess. With all the people clearly unwilling to stop using the trail, if TxDOT and their contractor doesn’t come up with another solution, and soon, someone is very likely to end up hurt and then turn around and sue to city. With all the budget shortfalls, the last thing the city needs is another lawsuit.

Also, the retaining wall made of decorative concrete bricks is still in place. They just buried it under all that dirt. I would like to know what they’ve done with the metal safety railing they removed though. That railing was custom made and expensive…

My thanks to Andy for sending this along. It doesn’t sound like a good situation to me. I don’t know who needs to take this up with TxDOT, but they do respond when enough of a fuss is made. Let’s make that fuss for them, shall we?

SCOTUS declines to hear strip club tax case

Jan 29th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

The end of the road for this particular bit of litigation.

The U.S. Supreme Court will not take up the adult entertainment industry’s lawsuit against the state’s $5-per-patron strip club tax, justices decided Monday.

“Texas is now one step closer to a sustainable source of funding for rape crisis centers, and most importantly, for supporting sexual assault survivors in their recovery,” said Annette Burrhus Clay, executive director of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault.

That means the Texas Supreme Court’s ruling — that the fee does not violate the First Amendment — stands. But it doesn’t mean that the industry, years into its legal battle, can’t file yet another suit against other elements of the tax.

The story doesn’t go into what other grounds there may be for litigation, and I don’t care to think about it at this time. Here’s a reminder of the timeline in this case, which first got a ruling from a district court judge in 2008. As I recall, it took about a decade for all the lawsuits over the city of Houston’s SOB ordinance to be resolved. Check back in 2018 or so, I guess.

Job growth was good last year

Jan 29th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

More hopeful news for this year.

Jobs and job growth for the region (Source: Greater Houston Parnership)

Boosted by gains in energy, manufacturing and retail trade, the Houston area added 75,800 jobs during 2011, a 3 percent increase over the previous year, the Texas Workforce Commission reported Friday.

“The numbers are impressive,” said Barton Smith, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Houston.

Improvement appeared to begin at the end of the summer and has been broadening over a greater number of sectors.

“The improvement in energy is now spilling over to the rest of the economy,” Smith said.

You may be looking at that 75,800 figure and saying to yourself “Didn’t we just see some better numbers than that for 2011? What gives?” You’re right, we did. The difference is that the numbers reported in that earlier post were for the November 2010 to November 2011 period, while these here are December 2010 to December 2011. What accounts for the difference? Barton Smith suggests the November ’11 numbers were a bit wonky. Here’s another explanation:

Last year the Austin area — and Texas as a whole — showed modest job growth at an annual rate of about 2 percent. Texas added 204,500 jobs last year, while the Austin area added 16,100 jobs over the year .

However, the rate of net job growth was negligible for December and well below the annual rates for Texas and the Austin area.

Alan Miller, executive director of the regional arm for the state workforce commission, said he doubts the survey is capturing Austin’s growth accurately.

“Personally, I think our local economy is growing and adding more jobs than what is reflected,” he said.

For example, he said there have been numerous news reports of software firms expanding or relocating here, but the workforce commission’s report reflects zero job growth in the information sector.

“I can’t explain that,” Miller said.

The data are based on a survey of employers and are updated monthly as well annually. For that reason, the monthly data indicate directions for the economy, but economists tend to favor the annual, corrected numbers.

In other words, it’s also quite likely that the December ’11 numbers are not accurate, and will be significantly revised when the next report comes out in March. So don’t panic.

“If it slowed down, it slowed down from a 100-yard dash to a mile run,” added Patrick Jankowski, vice president of research for the Greater Houston Partnership. “Maybe we’re finding the pace we can sustain over the long run.”

Jankowski also noted that local job growth in 2011 was the sixth strongest of the past 21 years. Houston saw year-over-year growth in all but four sectors: transportation, warehousing and utilities; information (which includes media); arts, entertainment and recreation; and government.

Austin saw government employment shrinkage as well. Unlike some people, I expect more of that this year, though I fervently hope not as much as there was last year. The Trib has more.

Saturday video break: Kiss

Jan 28th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

Song #84 on the Popsode Top 100 Covers list is “Kiss”, originally by Prince and covered by the Art of Noise with Tom Jones. While I was able to find a Prince song video before, I regret to say that this time I struck out – every one I clicked on had the audio disabled. So you’ll just have to settle for the cover this week, which I must say is its own kind of awesome.

The Art of Noise and Tom Jones are individually two things I’ve never quite gotten, but put together they add up to more than their parts. I love the little commentary at the end, too, even if the announcer is speaking over the music, which I normally consider to be a cardinal sin. Weirdly enough given the artists involved, this isn’t that great a divergence from the original, though it clearly bears the Tom Jones stamp – with that voice, how could it not? I was going to make a joke about Martian heads exploding, but while Tom Jones was in the movie, it was apparently Slim Whitman music that saved the Earth. And to think, all these years I’d remembered it wrong. Oh, well.

Update on the redistricting settlement possibility

Jan 28th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

1 comment

Late Friday we heard about the possibility of a settlement agreement in the redistricting lawsuit in San Antonio, with the idea of coming up with an interim map in time to keep the primaries on April 6. Here’s an update on that from the Chron.

Under the arrangement outlined during the hearing, the parties would negotiate each of the challenged districts separately and the court would draw the boundaries for districts where an agreement could not be reached.

[Assistant Attorney General David] Mattax said they could announce agreements on some of the districts as soon as Sunday or Monday.

“If it’s possible to have a primary in April, why don’t we at least set that as a goal to do that?” asked Texas Republican Party Chairman Steve Munisteri, who said it is still in the “realm of possibility” to have an April primary.

He acknowledged that the court could give the state some flexibility in dealing with the MOVE Act, which requires ballots to be sent to troops and citizens abroad at least 45 days before an election.

The Justice Department objected to that request, so it’s no sure thing. In any event, the San Antonio court told both sides to get a move on if they want a chance to salvage the April primary date.

Is there an end in sight?

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia told an attorney for the state that the parties should try to agree “to as many districts as possible” by early next week “if you want to have an election in April.”

He also said the parties should agree to an election date in case the maps can’t be done in time for an April election.

Assistant Attorney General David Mattax said the state wants to have a unified primary, and they want to have it in April. He said the state hasn’t appropriated the money for extra elections. That’s a new position. In hearings last month about moving the primaries, the state didn’t take a position on whether the primaries should be split or not.

The judges are concerned about the timetable. Election administrators across the state have said they need 60 to 80 days after maps are completed to pull an election together. To hold an election on April 3, they’ve told the court that they need maps by the end of the month. “How are we supposed to get all of this done by the 1st?” asked an obviously frustrated [Judge Xavier] Rodriguez.

“It can’t be done,” Garza answered. He reads the Supreme Court’s recent decision to mean the worries of the state parties are “secondary” to the need to hold fair elections. The parties hold their state conventions in early June and must hold primaries in advance as part of their nominating process.

“Those are party issues,” Garza said, in response to a question from [Judge Jerry] Smith. “I’m not saying they’re not important … but they must take a back seat.”

[…]

Garcia said the lawyers should meet over the weekend to figure out what they can agree upon. “Monday or Tuesday, you tell us the districts you’ve agreed upon or you’ll tell us the date you’ve agreed upon if it’s not going to be April,” he said.

Judge Garcia later said basically that they either have a map by February 6 or they can kiss the April 3 primary good-bye.

Michael Li sums it all up.

Settlement discussions

The other big development of the day (maybe the biggest) was the emergence of serious discussions about a settlement on the maps, with intense negotiations expected to continue this weekend.

David Mattax, the state’s lawyer, explained that what the state was proposing was a deal on interim maps, not permanent maps.

Mattax said that under the deal he was trying to work out, if redistricting plaintiffs proposed maps in areas where the state agreed that there were legitimate issues of dispute, the state would not object. Mattax conceded, though, that other parties (such as Congressman Barton) might object. Mattax also recognized that complete agreement with redistricting plaintiffs might not be possible. But Mattax said he hoped to at least be able to narrow the issues for the court before February 6 in an effort to facilitate getting maps by mid-February.

If this sounds like a significant sea change from the state’s prior position, it certainly seems to be. And at least some reports are that Republicans are willing to make significant concessions.

_____

Drawing new maps

If the parties are not able to agree on interim maps, or substantially narrow issues, the court did not indicate when it expected to be able to complete maps.

However, the judges repeatedly raised questions about how they would be able to draw maps quickly in that instance, with Judge Rodriguez noting that they had even yet received the record and transcript from the D.C. case.

There also were questions about whether to wait for a ruling in the preclearance case from the D.C. court. In middle of the hearing, the court took a recess to call the D.C. court to discuss timing with Judge Collyer, though the judges were mum about what they learned.

While the state said it thought the court could move quickly, plaintiffs disagreed noting that the record in the D.C. case was different than in the case tried before the San Antonio court. They also said they thought the burden imposed by the Supreme Court’s ruling was more complicated than the state suggested. That position was supported, in part, by lawyers for Joe Barton who argued that the court would benefit from evidence about section 5 issues before making any significant changes to the map.

Emphasis mine. That sure sounds like a big effin’ deal to me. Obviously, the plaintiffs, whose interests are mostly but not entirely aligned, would have to come up with something – remember, there are three maps in dispute here – and there would have to be no objections from other intervenors such as Congressmen Barton and Canseco, but I would think the plaintiffs would have strong incentive to work something out. I’m very hopeful, that’s for sure. The other news of interest is that the previous court order that included things like a secondary filing deadline of February 1 has been suspended pending the outcome here. There will still be a second filing period, we just don’t know when it will be yet. Stay tuned.

You can drive 75

Jan 28th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

3 comments

Pedal to the metal, y’all.

Vroom vroom!

The Texas Transportation Commission approved 75 mph speed limits for nearly 1,500 miles of interstate in 60 counties.

The action follows a state law approved last year providing for the Texas Department of Transportation to see whether 70 mph speed limits safely can be raised to 75 mph, and to hike the speed as warranted.

Before passage of that law, higher speed limits were limited to rural counties and highways mostly in West Texas, according to TxDOT. Under the previous law, Texans could drive 75 mph on 1,445 miles of highway and 80 mph on other stretches.

You can see a full list of the affected highways here; click one of the PDF map links there, or look at the post above for a graphical guide. Note that this now includes I-10 from the Waller – Austin County Line all the way to Loop 410 in San Antonio and I-45 from the Montgomery – Walker County Line to the Navarro – Ellis County Line. Not that people weren’t already driving 75 out those ways, it’s just that now they won’t get ticketed for it. Well, once the new speed limit signs are up they won’t. The On The Move blog and Dallas Transportation have more. And because tradition demands it:

You’re always welcome in Texas, Sammy.

The CFPB and payday lending

Jan 28th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

This ought to be good.

Picking his first public fight with the banking industry, Washington’s top consumer cop, Richard Cordray, promised on Thursday that his examiners will scrutinize a handful of big banks that make high-cost loans. Inspection of major financial institutions will be part of a broader review of payday lenders, he said at a public hearing organized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Birmingham, Ala.

The move is significant in that Cordray made no distinction between established financial institutions, including Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, and less-respectable storefront and online payday lenders with names like EZ Money and AmeriCash Advance, widely criticized for making high-cost, short-term loans to the most desperate borrowers.

Although he was careful not to strike a directly confrontational tone, by specifically mentioning banks’ high-cost loans in his first major speech as the new CFPB chief, Cordray suggested that his agency doesn’t buy the bank industry line that its loans are not traditional payday products because they are structured differently.

Cordray did not single out any bank. But the listing of specific names of such payday lending programs in an examination guide released at the hearing — such as Fifth Third Bank’s “early access advance” — is likely to chill the blood of bank executives, whose companies make big profits off payday loans.

“We recognize the need for emergency credit,” Cordray said in a transcript of his opening remarks, provided in advance. “At the same time, it is important that these products actually help consumers, rather than harm them.”

I have a copy of his remarks beneath the fold. I note this story for two reasons. One, of course, is because I believe this sort of scrutiny is long overdue. While there is certainly a need for short-term emergency credit, you don’t have to do a lot of research on this topic to see that an awful lot of payday lending is designed to take advantage of people who are not very sophisticated about finances, most of whom are poor. It’s a huge transfer of wealth away from those who have the least, which is why many religious leaders and organizations are involved in this fight, to their credit. Often, churches are left to clean up the mess that this causes for their members. Putting a stop to the worst practices and arming people with the information they need to make better choices will make a big difference.

The other reason is that the state of Texas finally took action on payday lending last year, with those new laws taking effect this month. Stronger legislation than what eventually passed was championed by none other than Rep. Tom Craddick, who is no one’s idea of a business opponent. It’s too early to say what effect the state’s new laws will have, and it’s too early to say what direction the CFPB will take, but it’s not hard to imagine the feds being more aggressive than the state was. If so, how will the politics of that play out? There is clearly bipartisan support for more oversight on this industry. Will the federal versus state issue get in the way?

Anyway. The CFPB’s field guide for examiners is here, and there’s more on the CFPB website. Let’s remember what this is all about:

Traditional payday lenders say the high cost of their loans is justified because the risk of default is also high. At those lenders, where average annual interest rates on borrowing top 400 percent, customers leave behind a post-dated check for the amount borrowed, plus a fee.

Bank payday loans, also described as direct deposit advance products, work differently. Customers must have checking accounts and must have their pay or benefits check directly deposited into that account. When the check is deposited — the maximum loan term is 30 days; the maximum loan usually $500 — the bank pays itself what it is owed, plus the fee. If direct deposits are not sufficient to repay the loan within 35 days, the bank repays itself anyway, even if the repayment overdraws the customer’s account, triggering more fees.

For some borrowers, there are much cheaper forms of short-term credit. Members of State Employees’ Credit Union in North Carolina, for example, can take out a payday loan at 12 percent interest. Further, they are required to sock away 5 percent of what they borrow in a savings account. When that balance tops $500, they can borrow money for even less — just 5.5 percent.

Payday loans are still the most profitable loans the credit union makes, said Jim Blaine, president of the company. Blaine said that the credit union earns a 4 percent return on the average loan.

More than 110,000 members participate in the program, with as many as 90,000 taking loans on a recurring monthly basis. They have put away $23 million collectively through the mandatory savings program, according to the credit union’s data.

Blaine said he didn’t want to comment directly on bank payday lending, but noted, “It sometimes seems like our financial system is set up to penalize those who know the least and have the least.”

He added, “It appears to me that the system has gone beyond buyer beware to buyer be damned.”

Indeed it has. This is why the CFPB was created.

(more…)

Sierra Club sues over coal permits

Jan 28th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

Remember how four coal plants were granted permits to pollute more in December? You probably don’t, because it basically happened under cover of darkness. The Sierra Club found out about it and has filed a lawsuit to call a halt to it.

Martin Lake coal plant

The environmental group is appealing permit amendments approved Dec. 16 by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that allow increased emissions from the plants, in East and Central Texas, during periods of planned startup, shutdown and maintenance.

The issuance of the permits is “invalid, arbitrary and unreasonable,” according to the lawsuit filed in state District Court in Travis County.

The lawsuit comes as coal plants across the state apply for permit amendments for emissions produced during startup, shutdown and maintenance, which were not previously regulated, said Ilan Levin, an environmental attorney representing the Sierra Club.

Environment commission spokesman Terry Clawson said the agency has not received the lawsuit and will not comment on it, but he said the four permits questioned in the lawsuit were issued legally.

Coal plant operators were required to apply for the amendments to authorize increased emissions by Jan. 5, 2011 . The four plants involved in the suit, all owned by the state’s largest generator, Dallas-based Luminant Generation Co., applied for higher emission ceilings and were approved in December.

“We were surprised to find out that, really, just by trolling the agency’s website, that right before the holidays, the TCEQ had issued these permits to Luminant without any public notice or any sort of opportunity at all to file some formal comments,” Levin said.

I wish I could tell you more about this, but the Sierra Club webpage has no information on the suit, and I have been unable to get a copy of it for myself. So this is all I know for now. Texas Vox also wrote about this, but they don’t have anything more than the Statesman did.

Could there be a settlement in the redistricting lawsuit?

Jan 27th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

2 comments

Maybe.

A leading player in the state’s redistricting turmoil said this morning he’s hopeful that both sides are closing in on a settlement that will salvage Texas’ April 3 primary.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has been meeting with representatives of minority groups that sued the state last year to stop new political boundaries from taking effect on grounds the decade-long maps ignore profound population growth of minority Texans – mostly Hispanics.

“I am confident that the parties are working in good faith and have enough time to craft a compromise that will assure that the April primaries go on as scheduled,” said state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, chairman of the House Mexican American Legislative Caucus, which is one of the parties suing the state.

Caught off guard as he was preparing for a 1 p.m. court hearing in San Antonio before three federal judges refereering the redistricting fight, Martinez Fischer acknowledged that lawyers for his organization have been talking with Abbott and others in the case about a settlement. Martinez Fischer said he could not share details.

A spokesman for Abbott said the attorney general will hold off commenting until the court hearing.

A settlement here means a set of interim maps that everyone agrees on that would be used for this year. I presume this means the other litigation, both in San Antonio and DC, would then continue – this would basically put us back to where we were with the original interim map in that the 2012 elections could go forward as currently scheduled (or possibly with the primary moved back to April 17) and the “permanent” maps would be determined later by the courts. Here’s a full statement from Rep. Martinez-Fischer:

“Since the early days of the legislative session, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus had been asking for Republican law-makers to negotiate fair maps that reflect the growing diversity of the State of Texas. I am encouraged by the Attorney General’s efforts to now strive towards that goal, but I must say that the evidence presented at trial in San Antonio and in Washington, D.C. are compelling. Given that evidence, any hope to arrive at a consensus will require that proposed compromise maps reflect the diversity of Texas and ensure that 3.7 million minority Texans are not be swept under the rug for the sake of partisan politics. I have asked MALC Legal Counsel Jose Garza to work within these parameters and I am confident in his ability to be the voice of Texas’ Latino voters.”

Looks like the parties will be working on this over the weekend. Final arguments are set for Tuesday – testimony concluded yesterday – but it’s the need to get lines in place so all the county clerks can do their job that really matters. Having a settlement means not having to wait for the DC court’s ruling on preclearance and not having to wait for the San Antonio court to do its re-draw. See Michael Li’s Twitter feed for the blow-by-blow.

UPDATE: If this is true, it’s amazing.

The Texas state attorneys defending the state’s GOP-drawn redistricting plans from court challenges have reached out to settle litigation, according to sources in the state. The settlement would give minority groups and Democrats what they’ve been demanding from the start: more heavily minority, Democratic-leaning House seats.

The result would likely mean at least four more Texas Democrats in Congress as of next year, a good start on the 25 or so seats Democrats need to win to retake control of the House.

“They’re backed up against the wall and have to come to some agreement and it’ll be awfully favorable on our end,” said one of the plaintiffs in the case.
Another plaintiff agreed. “It’s clear they know they’re in a vulnerable position and that’s why they want to settle,” he said.

Any settlement would need to get the multiple minority group plaintiffs on board, and would create more majority-Hispanic and majority-African American congressional districts. Two of the plaintiffs predicted that an agreement will be reached early next week.

[…]

Any agreement would lead to a minimum of 13 Democratic-leaning seats, and possibly a fourteenth seat depending on how the districts in Fort Worth are drawn.

With conservative former Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas) running for a Galveston-area seat, Democrats could win as many as 14 or 15 seats in the state, up from the nine seats they currently hold. Republicans would hold 21 or 22 seats, down from the 23 they currently have.

Those 23 seats include two Democratic-leaning seats won by Republican Reps. Quico Canseco and Blake Farenthold in the 2010 Republican wave election. Farenthold would have a chance to run in the same Galveston district Lampson is likely to run in, while Canseco would have an uphill fight for reelection.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) is also likely to be spared a tough race — initial plans would have forced him to run in a Hispanic-majority seat, something Latino groups are looking to avoid.

If true, wow. Just, wow. Via Texas Redistricting.

Friday random ten: It’s a nice year for nine weddings

Jan 27th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

So I guess I’ve sort of settled on a theme for now, which is to do ten actually random songs, then ramble on about one or more of them. With that in mind:

1. White Wedding – Billy Idol
2. Me And Baby Brother – War
3. The Recruited Collier – Paisley Close
4. Dirty Life & Times – Warren Zevon
5. Timmy Clifford’s – Solas
6. Wild Mountain Thyme – Enter The Haggis
7. Wheels – CAKE
8. The Rose of Sharon – The Rogues
9. The Other Me – Joe Jackson
10. Big Rock Candy Mountain – Harry McClintock

One of the ways in which I know I’m getting old is that I don’t get invited to many weddings any more. This is because most of my peers, in particular school friends, are either already married or unlikely to ever get married at this point. In fact, last year Tiffany and I each separately attended what we figure will be the last weddings – well, the last first weddings, anyway – of our college friends. (As neither wedding was particularly kid-friendly, I went to one and she went to the other.) In addition, while we have a bunch of first cousins between us, all but a handful are currently hitched. So there may be a few more here and there, but the next wave won’t arrive till it’s time for our peers’ kids to get married. Now THAT will really make me feel old.

Here’s the list of US states to which I have traveled to attend at least wedding: Oregon, California, Montana, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas of course – I’ve been to weddings in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Galveston. In the year 1996, I attended nine weddings. It occurred to me last year that I was still in close contact with eight of those nine couples, and all of them were still together. I thought that was pretty cool.

I should note that technically, I didn’t travel to Nevada for a wedding. I was in Nevada for a different purpose (the old Comdex convention, if you remember that) when a wedding happened that I attended. No, not mine. Yes, there’s a story. I’ll tell it some other time.

Anyway. Paisley Close was a band that featured former Houston City Council candidate Amy Price on fiddle and vocals. “Big Rock Candy Mountain” is from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. And that’s all I’ve got for this week.

Perry’s (lack of) popularity

Jan 27th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

I have four things to say about this.

Gov. Rick Perry’s ill-fated presidential campaign left a sour taste with many Texans and damaged his standing with Republican voters, according to a new poll commissioned by the American-Statesman and other state newspapers.

Almost 1 in 3 Texas Republicans said Perry’s performance on the national stage dimmed their view of the governor, and 40 percent said he should not seek re-election in 2014, the survey found.

Across party lines, many blamed Perry’s fast-starting, fast-collapsing campaign — punctuated by misstatements and debate gaffes that became fodder for late-night comedians — for tarnishing the state’s image nationally.

“He clearly hurt himself with this run,” pollster Mickey Blum said. “He didn’t do himself any favors at home.”

The phone survey of 806 Texans, conducted from Saturday to Tuesday, found only 40 percent approved of Perry’s performance as governor — down 10 points from last year, and Perry’s lowest approval rating in 10 years of polling.

The drop left Perry with a lower approval rating than President Barack Obama’s 43 percent — in a state Obama lost by 11 percentage points in 2008 — though Perry did have a slim lead among registered voters, with 42 percent to Obama’s 41.

Perry’s failed presidential bid was at the heart of the decline, with 37 percent of Texas adults viewing the governor less favorably because of the campaign and 53 percent saying he should not seek another term, Blum said.

My thoughts:

– Though this story refers to some demographic subgroups within the sample, I have not been able to find crosstabs for the poll. This is the best I’ve found, which isn’t enough. I’d love to know what the partisan and ethnic/racial/gender breakdown of the numbers are, and how the registered voters voted (if they voted) in 2008 and 2010, but alas, I can’t tell. A question about how people would vote in 2012, including a hypothetical matchup between Perry and Obama like what PPP gave us, would have been nice, too. Oh, well. But let’s be honest, all that really matters, at least to him, is how Republican primary voters feel about him, and so far they still like him. He just doesn’t care about the rest.

– Perry’s popularity level doesn’t really matter right now. He’s not on the ballot and the Lege isn’t in session. There’s plenty of time for people to be distracted by other shiny objects before the next Lege is sworn in. If he’s still in the dumps in 2013, then we may have something. Anyone who is saying now what effect this will have in a year is pulling it from his or her nether regions.

– Even if Perry’s popularity levels are still low in 2013, I’ll believe that the Republicans in the Lege will be less deferential to him when I see it. It’s true that the Lege has thumbed its nose at Perry in the past, for a variety of reasons. It’s also true that they rolled over for him in 2011, and that they have never even tried to override a veto. It would be nice if the Lege asserted itself a bit against Perry, nicer still if they did so in the service of some piece of positive policy, but I for one don’t plan to hold my breath waiting for it.

– You still can’t beat something with nothing. Is Greg Abbott and his eleventy gazillion dollar campaign account going to primary him if Perry actually does run again? Will some other Republican try to move up if Abbott decides to stay put? Who will the Dems find to run against him? For all the carping some folks did about Bill White, he ran seven to ten points better than every other Dem on the ballot in 2010. If that race had been in 2008, White would be gearing up for re-election right now. Perry can be beaten in the general if he’s the nominee. Whether he can be taken in another GOP primary I couldn’t say. Until there’s a race between two people, who knows who can beat whom?

What do you think? The DMN, Texas on the Potomac, TM Daily Post, Jason Stanford, the Trib, and Burka have more.

Tough times for Texas parks

Jan 27th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

Between the drought and the budget cuts, Texas parks are hurting.

Image source: TPWD

Dry weather and depleted lakes and rivers from the prolonged drought mean fewer folks are visiting parks or buying hunting and fishing licenses, the head of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department told a legislative committee Tuesday.

If the drought persists, the department may have to temporarily shut down two of the state’s eight fish hatcheries. And some parks could close if the agency’s budget doesn’t improve, Parks and Wildlife Executive Director Carter Smith warned.

“State parks are in a particularly dire situation,” Smith told the House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee.

Revenue from park visits last year dropped $1.2 million from about $39 million the previous year, he said. The decline has continued during the first three months of the new budget year with $928,000 in lower revenue – or down 8.4 percent. Revenue from fishing licenses dropped about 30 percent, or $1.1 million and hunting license revenue declined 5 percent, or $976,000.

The TPWD gets a percentage of the revenues from the sale of sporting goods as well. As the story notes, State Rep. Lyle Larson (R, San Antonio) introduced a bill last session, which he says he will introduce again next year, that would direct all of that revenue to TPWD. That’s all fine and dandy, but as long as revenues dedicated to the TPWD can be hijacked for budget “balancing” purposes, the effect will be limited.

The state still lacks adequate funding to maintain state parks and has virtually no money to buy new park land. Texas ranks last in the country in both state park land and per-person funding for state parks.

“It’s distressing that we are at the bottom of the list. We ought to do better,” former Texas land commissioner and former assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior Bob Armstrong told the committee.

I’m a city boy. I don’t do outdoorsy stuff. What’s happening to the parks doesn’t affect me except to the extent that it reflects badly on all of us. I agree with former Commissioner Armstrong, we should do better than that. If you want to do something about that right now, the TPWD needs $4.6 million just to keep from having to close stuff down. Go make a donation online or when you renew your car’s registration. And don’t be like me: Go visit a park, they need all the visitors’ fees they can collect. At least the Lege lets them have that.

Tomball toll road

Jan 27th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

They want a toll road in Tomball, and they’re probably going to get it.

The Harris County Toll Road Authority is asking that it be allowed to look at State Highway 249, also known as Tomball Parkway, to see whether it would be make sense to build a toll road from Spring-Cypress Road about 10 miles north, to near Farm-to-Market 1774. Toll roads officials stress that the study is preliminary and no end point has been determined.

“You’ve got a populated area that’s growing that needs more mobility,” said Peter Key, executive director of the toll road authority. “We’re taking those first steps to try to find something that’s feasible.”

[…]

“The people out in Tomball really want that to occur,” said County Judge Ed Emmett, a former transportation consultant. “Everybody I talk to says it’s almost a no-brainer that it’s a financially good thing to do.”

John Fishero, a vice president at Lone Star College-Tomball and chairman of the 249 Coalition, a nascent group advocating for growth along the road from Beltway 8 to Navasota, agreed.

Morning radio traffic reports, Fishero said, often cite 45-minute drive times on 20-mile stretches of the North and Eastex freeways. The commute on 249, he said, often is pegged at 30 minutes for a stretch of road one fourth as long.

“They’re talking about Spring Cypress to Beltway 8, and that’s only about 6 miles,” Fishero said. “People are sitting there going nowhere. Getting the flow of traffic away from the stop lights and stop signs between Spring-Cypress and Magnolia will definitely help.”

I’m sure it will be better than it is now, but I wouldn’t bet on it being a long term solution. In fact, I’d bet it’s congested from the day it opens, whenever that is. Not really my concern, at least as long as it’s financed with revenues from the tolls on that road, but reading this story made me wonder about other options. There has been talk about commuter rail along the 249 corridor – see, for example this post by Tory Gattis from 2008 – but I haven’t heard much about it lately. Here’s a Chron story from 2009 in which the idea is floated to the local poobahs in Tomball.

John Fishero, the Greater Tomball Area Chamber’s mobility and transportation committee chairman, said the committee was formed to investigate the results of the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s “Regional Commuter Rail Connectivity Study,” which was released in summer 2008.

The study pinpointed five existing railroad corridors that could form the “baseline system” for a commuter rail network in the Houston-Galveston region: U.S. 290 (UPRR’s Eureka line), Texas 249 to Tomball (Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s Houston line), Texas 3 (UPRR’s Galveston line), South Fort Bend/FM 521 (BNSF’s Galveston/Popp corridor line), and the Texas 35 Tollway corridor to Pearland (near UPRR’s Mykawa line).

Fishero said several groups on the U.S. 290 corridor formed a coalition several years ago to lobby for commuter rail service from downtown to College Station. That group has the attention of Harris County and several other agencies that could help fund, implement and manage commuter rail projects, Fishero said.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said he would like to see commuter rail projects on the U.S. 290 and Texas 3 rail corridors in the next three years.

“Our concern is that we need to get our hat in the ring one way or another,” Fishero said. “If we want to get something done, we need to start working on funding for our own projects.”

Like I said, I haven’t heard much since. We’re still kicking around commuter rail on the corridors Judge Emmett mentioned, so like the toll road I presume this is still something for the future. My understanding from inquiring with Judge Emmett’s office about this is that it is still being actively considered, but there needs to be a way to tie it in with a transit center of some type on the northwest side so you are not just dumping off commuters with no way to get to wherever they’re going. This is the same basic concern that a commuter or passenger rail line along 290 would have, so when that issue gets resolved then there can be further progress made on a 249/Tomball line. And if we ever do get to that point, we could take it to the next step and extend the line out to College Station as a high speed rail link, as neoHouston documented. Just something else to think about as we go along. Houston Tomorrow has more.

Navy to join Big East

Jan 27th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

1 comment

Another new playmate for UH.

Navy has accepted an invitation to play football in the Big East, starting in 2015.

“Stability in the Big East was a very important aspect in our discussions with the commissioner,” Vice Admiral Michael Miller, superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, said during a teleconference. “What we see is a very bright future for the conference.”

Navy has been playing football as an independent since 1879, but academy officials said they believe that model will be too difficult to maintain as other powerful conferences grow. Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk said scheduling games late in the season, landing desirable television deals and securing bowl bids will become a problem in the near future.

“Opportunities to exist as independents into the future are clearly in jeopardy,” he said.

[…]

The Big East, hit by the departures of Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the ACC, and TCU and West Virginia to the Big 12, will add Boise State and San Diego State for football and SMU, Central Florida and Houston for all sports, starting in 2013.

[Big East Commissioner John] Marinatto would like to get the conference to 12 football-playing schools, which would allow it to play a conference championship game.

When West Virginia departs and the new members begin play, the conference will have 11 members with football programs.

It’s going to be an eventful couple of years in the Big East as schools come and go, perhaps sooner or later than expected. Former Big East member Temple seems like a likely fit for the 12th member they’re seeking, though you never know. As Big East blogger Andrea Adelson says, there are no guarantees.

Alford strikes again

Jan 26th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

2 comments

Wow.

Dr. John Alford

A key witness before a federal three-judge panel considering the Texas redistricting challenge appeared to make a major concession Wednesday to the case made last week by state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth.

The state’s expert witness, John Alford of Rice University, was on the stand to defend the districts drawn by the Texas Legislature for the Texas House, Texas Senate and U.S. House under the Voting Rights Act.

Alford surprised Davis’ attorney during questioning by agreeing that the reconfiguration of Davis’ District 10 into four parts hurt minority voters and turned back the clock on the ability of blacks and Hispanics to vote for a candidate they prefer.

Davis’ attorney, Gerry Hebert, asked Alford, “In 2008, black and Latino voters in District 10 demonstrated the ability to elect the candidate of their choice?”

Alford replied “yes” and that the candidate was Davis.

“Would you agree,” Hebert continued, “that under the state’s proposed plan that the ability of minority voters in District 10 to elect the preferred candidate was retrogressed?”

“Gerry,” Alford said, “I couldn’t agree with you more.”

“Retrogression” is at the heart of the case that Davis and others are making: that the Republican-dominated Legislature drew the lines of some districts in such a discriminatory way as to reduce the voting strength of minority communities.

Remember, Alford is a witness for the state, not for the defense. If this sounds familiar to you, it’s because Alford made a similarly damaging statement about the state’s case in the San Antonio trial. All I can say is that as far as I’m concerned, Prof. Alford can testify for the state any time he wants.

No action on red light camera settlement yet

Jan 26th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

10 comments

Going, going...

Houston City Council voted to wait two weeks before deciding whether or not to accept the settlement agreement with camera vendor ATS.

The City Council on Wednesday delayed approval of a $4.8 million settlement with its red-light camera vendor amid questions about the effect of an appeals court ruling that lets two Houston lawyers intervene in the lawsuit.

On Tuesday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that brothers Michael and Randy Kubosh should be allowed to join in the lawsuit.

Though the city and American Traffic Solutions plan to ask for the case to be dismissed if the settlement is approved by City Council, the Kuboshes said they want to keep the case alive to overturn a judge’s ruling that invalidated the November 2010 charter referendum they organized to ban the use of cameras in Houston. Their attorney also argued in a hearing after Wednesday’s council meeting that the Kuboshes should have standing in the contract dispute. U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes granted them a hearing on Feb. 6 to make their case.

Should the judge allow the Kuboshes to intervene in the contract dispute, City Attorney David Feldman said, he will not bring the settlement back to the council on Feb. 8 as planned.

“I’m not walking into quicksand,” Feldman said. The Kuboshes’ intervention could undermine any deal the city reaches with ATS, he said.

Feldman says that dismissing the suit would wipe away the ruling that invalidated the election; the Kuboshes disagree. They want it enshrined in the charter that cameras can’t be put up again without a popular vote. The city and ATS say that’s already the case, and besides, changes to state law enacted after the city installed its cameras would make re-installing them more onerous and expensive to do. I’m not a lawyer, I’ll let the courts sort all this out, but I do want to comment on this:

David Furlow, an attorney for the Kuboshes, said in an interview following Tuesday’s Council meeting, “The real issue is vindication of the people’s constitutionally protected right to vote.” In Furlow’s view, Hughes has ruled that a local ordinance trumps state constitutional rights. The people’s right to challenge an ordinance should last more than a month, Furlow said.

I don’t necessarily disagree with that. Seems to me the way to address the issue is with a charter amendment. Surely that’s preferable to taking your chances with a judge. Houston Politics has more.

Anyway. We’ll see what happens with the hearing in Judge Hughes’ court. In the meantime, since I brought up the question of how much money the city currently has in the escrow account that holds previously collected fines, I heard back on my inquiry to the Mayor’s office. According to them there is now about $3 million in that escrow account, meaning that the up front payment and most of the first year’s payment after that are covered. The city – presumably, an agent on their behalf – would take over collection duties from ATS. We’ll see how that goes.

Finally, in red light camera news elsewhere, League City residents will vote on whether or not to extend that city’s contract with a red light camera company. The contract runs through 2014, and a proposition about it will be “in the next special municipal election”, whenever that is. Red light opponents have a pretty good track record in these elections, and I’m sure they will be gunning for this one as well.

On taking AP tests

Jan 26th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

6 comments

You just knew this is what would happen

I guess I’m not clear on what the issue is here.

Since 2009, the number of AP exams taken by Houston Independent School District students has almost doubled. And last year the district reached its highest number of passing scores, marking a 36 percent increase from two years ago.

Still, most students perform poorly on the tests.

Roughly 70 percent of the 21,637 AP exams given in HISD last spring yielded failing scores. At Kashmere High School, students took 127 exams and passed none.

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier launched an aggressive effort two years ago to increase enrollment in AP courses, arguing that more students deserved exposure to college-level work, and to require that they take the related exams. As an incentive, Grier decided the district would pay the test fees. The district spent about $1 million on the fees over the last two years.

“I think it’s money very well spent,” Grier said. “Improving rigor is one of our goals.”

As it should be, and having more students take AP tests is a good way to measure and help achieve that. Going by the students’ comments in this story, the experience of taking the test was positive for them regardless of the result. I consider this a first step. If in a few years time the percentage of students passing AP tests hasn’t improved, then HISD will need to re-evaluate what it’s doing. For now, I say they’re going in the right direction.

New bike trail into downtown nearing completion

Jan 26th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

From Swamplot:

Heritage Corridor West bike trail

It looks like large portions of the 2.8-mile-long Heritage West Bikeway connecting Stude Park to UH-Downtown are close to completion, but the path along portions of the former UP railway won’t open until summer, according to the city. One important still-missing link: a pedestrian bridge over Little White Oak Bayou. Past the University, the 10-ft. wide trail will connect to the Heritage East Bikeway, which continues along White Oak Bayou to Lockwood.

The new western portion will hook up with the MKT hike-and-bike trail both at Stude Park and at Spring St., providing an alternate along-the-bayou path for bicyclists headed downtown from the Heights.

Go visit that Swamplot post for some pictures from the construction. Here’s a map of the MKT Trail for comparison. Both of them will get you from the Heights to downtown, specifically to UH Downtown, with the main difference being that Heritage West is entirely along the bayou and thus off the streets, while MKT goes alongside Spring Street and requires crossing intersections such as at Sawyer and Houston Avenue. MKT is the way to go if you have a destination before UH-D, Heritage is if you want the scenic route. There’s still some construction east of where the two meet up – see the note on the Houston Bikeways Facebook page – so watch out and stay off the trail where there’s still active construction. I know a lot of people who are excited about this, and I’m looking forward to taking Olivia on a ride out that way when it’s done. And when they finally connect MKT to West White Oak, you’ll be able to ride a hell of a long way without having to share space with an automobile. Michael Skelly has more.

UPDATE: Bill Shirley sent me the following picture of the bike trail construction this afternoon:

Making the trail

Way cool.

Texas blog roundup for the week of January 23

Jan 26th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

The Texas Progressive Alliance thanks the state of South Carolina for all the laughs as it brings you this week’s blog roundup.

(more…)

Interview with Reagan Flowers

Jan 25th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

4 comments

Reagan Flowers

Also running for Harris County Department of Education, Position 6, Precinct 1 is Reagan Flowers, who holds a PhD in Education Leadership from the Union Institute and University. She has been a science teacher, dean of students, and School Improvement Facilitator at different HISD campuses in her career, and today she runs an education support non-profit that she founded called CSTEM. Here’s what we talked about:

Download the MP3 file

You can find a list of all interviews for this cycle, plus other related information, on my 2012 Harris County Primary Elections page. You can also follow this blog by liking its Facebook page.

The Houston Not-Stros

Jan 25th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

6 comments

Oh, hell no.

Even more drastic changes could come next year, when the [Astros move] to the American League.

Possible transformations include new uniforms and logos, changes to the playing field and “Tal’s Hill” in center field, and even a re-evaluation of the name “Astros,” which the team has used for the last 47 years of a 50-year history.

“We’re taking a look at everything,” [new owner Jim] Crane said when asked about the potential name change. “We’re going to do a study on it. We’re going to study the information, both from our fans and from all sorts of marketing people. I’m not saying we’re going to change. We haven’t made a decision. If the change is going to come, it’s going to come next year.”

I assure you, this will not go over well. Many people are already upset at the forthcoming change to the American League. Save yourself the money on the study.

Yes, I know, the team changed its name once, from the Colt .45s to the Astros, back in 1965. That was a long time ago, and it was a three-year-old franchise updating its name to fit a brand new, first of its kind stadium. That team had no history to leave behind, and the move into the Astrodome made the name change make sense. There’s no parallel here. Besides, the other time a team changed leagues, the Milwaukee Brewers kept their name.

Geek that I am, I got to wondering how often teams changed names. Often, the name change was accompanied by a relocation – the Expos became the Nationals, the Senators became the Rangers (and an earlier version of the Senators became the Twins before that), the Pilots became the Mariners, and the Browns became the Orioles. For teams that remained in the same place, the name changes I could think of were:

The Tamps Bay Rays dropped the “Devil” from their name in 2008.

The Oakland Athletics became the Oakland A’s in 1970, but then reclaimed the “Athletics” name in 1981.

The Cincinnati Reds were briefly known as the “Redlegs” during the 1950s. Yes, this was a craven response to McCarthyism and the hysteria over Communism.

The Boston Braves, which had numerous other nicknames early on, were known as the Bees from 1935-39, before becoming the Braves again. They remained the Braves through relocations to Milwaukee and then Atlanta, as the Athletics kept their name after moving from Philadelphia to Kansas City and finally to Oakland.

In 1933, the Brooklyn franchise officially became the Dodgers after previously being known as the Grays, the Grooms, the Bridegrooms, the Superbas, and the Robins. Let me just say now that I will drop my own opposition to an Astros’ name change if Jim Crane agrees to call the team the Houston Superbas, if only because I would love to know what a Superbas team mascot might look like.

Go back further and there are more and more examples of name changes. Even the New York Yankees were once known as the Highlanders, a name that was supposedly hated by New York’s many newspapers because it was impossible to fit into a headline. There’s plenty of examples of name changes, but none that I can see for a longstanding franchise that isn’t going anywhere. I personally would prefer the Astros make history in other ways than that. Hair Balls, which focuses on the positive things that were said like lower ticket prices, cheaper beer, and the ability to bring your own food and beverage into the stadium, and Greg, who’s with me, have more.

Parker joins other mayors in push for marriage equality

Jan 25th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

2 comments

Good for her. Good for all of them.

On the right side of history

Houston Mayor Annise Parker seized the vanguard of a drive by 78 mayors Friday to win the equal rights of marriage for gay couples, donning a national leadership role that contrasts sharply with her low-key demeanor back home.

“This is an issue whose time has come,” Parker told the Houston Chronicle on Friday in Washington, where mayors from New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston and Tacoma, Wash., launched Mayors for the Freedom to Marry.

[…]

Despite personal support for awarding same-sex couples the legal rights of married heterosexual couples, Parker said it was not her role to fight for an amendment to the Texas Constitution to override the state’s defense of marriage act or to win a ballot referendum to overturn it.

Nor was it her role to push to overturn the city’s voter-approved charter amendment banning same-sex couple benefits for city workers.

Those changes “are going to have to be something that is important to the citizens of Texas and the citizens of Houston who want to step up,” said Parker. “It needs to come from the community.”

Not sure what is meant by “ballot referendum” here. We don’t have ballot referenda at the state level, we have votes on Constitutional amendments. And before it gets to that stage, it takes a two thirds vote in both chambers to put the amendment on the ballot. Which is why backers of the Double Secret Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment were pushing it, because then a future legislative majority in favor of marriage inequality would be insufficient to overturn it. Here in Houston, a charter amendment would be required to restore domestic partner benefits for city employees, since it was a charter amendment that forbade them in the first place.

As for the leadership question, the Mayor is right that ultimately it’s the will and the actions of the people that are going to make change happen. It doesn’t hurt to have people in leadership positions speak out and take what steps they can to move the people in the right direction, however. Mayors are people, too, after all. The more people speaking out about doing what’s right, the better. I mean, there’s no shortage of people speaking out about what’s wrong:

The latest effort builds upon a resolution unanimously adopted by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2009 supporting “marriage equality for same-sex couples, and the recognition and extension of full equal rights to such unions, including family and medical leave, tax equity, and insurance and retirement benefits, and opposes the enshrinement of discrimination in the federal or state constitutions.”

However, Dave Wilson, one of Parker’s mayoral opponents in November, was critical of the mayor’s appearance, saying, ” It’s totally uncalled for. She needs to be back here dealing with the issues rather than in Washington promoting her agenda.”

Hey, Dave, how about you take care of your own business and file that campaign finance report with the county that was due last week before you start telling other people what to do with their time? I mean, I know you’re only running for County Commissioner to screw with the Democrats, but that doesn’t excuse you from obeying the law.

Anyway. Texas on the Potomac has more, or you can go straight to the source and check out the bipartisan Mayors for the Freedom to Marry initiative, via BOR.

Anti-tax zealots plump for casinos

Jan 25th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

Comments are off for this post

Gambling yes!

Grover Norquist, the nation’s most prominent anti-tax crusader, wrote a letter last week to Texas legislators to call for expanded gambling.

“In light of the adverse economic impact that higher taxes would have, it is imperative that lawmakers consider all other options for balancing the state’s budget,” Norquist wrote. “There are a number of alternatives to raising taxes, the most preferable being an expansion of economic activity, and thus, the tax base. One way to do that would be to permit legitimate businesses to operate that are currently not allowed to do so. Research has found that permitting lawful and responsible gaming operations in Texas is one simple way to grow the Texas economy, thereby generating more tax revenue for the state.”

Representatives from groups that tried to pass gambling measures in the 2011 legislative session said they had nothing to do with the letter.

Gambling no!

The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s executive director, Arlene Wohlgemuth, and it director of fiscal policy, former state Rep. Talmadge Heflin, sought to counter a pro-gambling letter sent to state leaders last week from anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform.

[…]

“While we generally agree with our friends at ATR on tax and spending issues, when it comes to gambling, that is not the case. Their suggestion that gambling is a way ‘in which to rectify the anticipated budget imbalance’ is wrong,” Wohlgemuth and Heflin wrote.

The foundation’s preferred approach would lean more toward fiscal discipline as the state faces the likelihood of another budget shortfall ahead of the 2013 legislative session.

I’m generally agnostic to deeply ambivalent on the gambling question, but if those are my choices I say bring on the casinos and the racetrack slot machines. There are of course other choices, just not ones that these one-percenter chuckleheads are interested in. As we well know, we’ll need a better legislature for any other options to get traction.

Beyond that, I have no idea if any of this will make a difference or not. Neither argument is particularly original, so at this point it’s more a matter of which article of faith one subscribes to. The real question at this point is whether or not gambling will have a higher profile in 2013 than it did in 2011. My money’s on yes.

January, 2012:

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