Monthly Archives: November 2020

Texas Central once more gets to deal with the Lege

They’re both farther along, and not as far along, as they might like heading into this session. Less than two months before the Texas Legislature begins its next session, the yearslong battle over a controversial high-speed rail project is expected … Continue reading

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Counties of interest, part two: Around the Metroplex

Part 1 – Counties around Harris Dallas and Tarrant Counties are two big squares right next to each other, so I’m combining them into one post. County Romney Obama Trump Clinton Trump Biden Shift ========================================================================= Collin 196,888 101,415 201,014 140,624 … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Please stop with the straight ticket voting anecdotes

Either bring me some real data or leave these just so stories alone. Judging from Donald Trump’s unpopularity in Dallas County, Morgan Meyer and Angie Chen Button should have been doomed this November. Meyer and Button are the only two … Continue reading

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

Greg Abbott has no interest in fighting COVID

It is what it is at this point. On June 26, Texas was reporting 5,102 people had been hospitalized due to the coronavirus, breaking a new record for the state. The positivity rate — the portion of tests that come … Continue reading

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Texas blog roundup for the week of November 16

The Texas Progressive Alliance has submitted its claim for Dan Patrick’s million dollars as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Counties of interest, part one: Around Harris

There’s been so much focus in the past couple of years about the suburbs and how their traditional voting patterns have changed. I wanted to use the election results we have to take a closer look at what that means. … Continue reading

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

More on the Lathan non-hiring

Some sharp criticism from local leaders about the HISD Board’s decision not to hire interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan permanently. About 20 of Houston’s leading Black elected officials, clergy and racial justice advocates called Tuesday for Houston ISD’s school board to … Continue reading

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The poll workers’ stories

Some good news. With a record 2,431,457 registered voters on the rolls in Harris County, there were several reasons poll workers expected a huge turnout and they got it, but not on Election Day. Two judges working two of the … Continue reading

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So the FBI is indeed investigating Ken Paxton

Sources say so. The FBI is investigating allegations that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton broke the law in using his office to benefit a wealthy donor, according to two people with knowledge of the probe. Federal agents are looking into … Continue reading

Posted in Scandalized! | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

A closer look at county races, Part 2

Part One is here. As before, this is about taking a closer look at the counties where Democrats made gains from 2016. Collin County: Our reach may have exceeded our grasp, but it’s important to note that progress was made. … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on A closer look at county races, Part 2

Who’s concerned about the state’s coronavirus spike?

Not Greg Abbott, or Dan Patrick, or Ken Paxton, that’s for sure. The Oregon governor is calling it a “freeze.” In New Mexico, it’s a “reset.” Across the country, state elected officials are frantically rolling back their reopening plans to … Continue reading

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Coronavirus and college sports update

What life is like for Texas’ college football teams. In the world of COVID-19-era college football, Sunday is a day not for resting but for testing. Each Sunday this fall brings a new set of checklists and guideposts that players … Continue reading

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A closer look at county races, Part 1

In this series of entries, I’m going to take a trip through the local election results pages on some counties of interest, to get a closer look at how they went this year and how that compares to 2016. We … Continue reading

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

A bill to ban no-knock warrants

Probably won’t go anywhere, but well worth the effort. A bill pre-filed this week by state Rep. Gene Wu would ban no-knock warrants across Texas, marking the first major legislative response to last year’s botched drug raid that led to the deaths of … Continue reading

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

Who cares how much it will cost to build the Ike Dike?

Imagine how much it will cost to recover from a catastrophic hurricane whose storm surge could have been mitigated by the Ike Dike. You know, like that hurricane from earlier this year that would have done exactly that had it … Continue reading

Posted in Hurricane Katrina | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Weekend link dump for November 15

As a reward for making it through these past few weeks, please enjoy this amazing aerial photo of the Astrodome, from its early days. “After four years of a president who couldn’t abide pets, dogs will once again cavort on … Continue reading

Posted in Books | Tagged | 1 Comment

The “blue spine” and the rural counties

Point: For the third consecutive election cycle, Democrats saw their advantage over Republicans grow in the 21 counties along Interstate 35, allowing them to further chip into the Republican dominance that has lasted for nearly three decades. The result was … Continue reading

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

The life and times of Ken Paxton

This long Trib story is basically a biography of Ken Paxton, with a focus on his ethical and legal travails since 2014. Most of what’s in here you already know, but if you need a refresher or you know someone … Continue reading

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

Harris County posts updated election results

From Twitter: . That won’t affect most races, and it probably does not affect any Harris-County specific races. But if provisional ballots are like that statewide, it could affect larger, close elections. I’m particularly watching Chief Justice for the 14th … Continue reading

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

Paxton sued by four whistleblowers

Start popping the corn. Despite his role as the state’s top law enforcement officer, Attorney General Ken Paxton “believes he is above the very law” he is supposed to uphold, several whistleblowers say in a new lawsuit seeking damages after … Continue reading

Posted in Scandalized! | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

HISD Board declines to hire Lathan permanently

A national search will be conducted, with still-interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan encouraged to apply. Houston ISD trustees voted Thursday against committing to Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan as the district’s long-term leader, opting instead to launch a national search before filling … Continue reading

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

There’s a raft of pro-pot bills that have been filed so far

And one formidable obstacle to them all, in the form of Lt. Gov. Dan “One Million Dollars!” Patrick. Texas lawmakers set a record with over 60 marijuana-related bills in 2019 — and this year, they’ve already introduced 11 measures that … Continue reading

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Harris County reaches bike trail deal with CenterPoint

Nice. Biking between bayous in Harris County is closer to reality, now that local leaders and the monopoly that manages local power lines have inked a deal. Harris County officials Tuesday approved an agreement between the county and CenterPoint Energy … Continue reading

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The state of the county 2020

Mostly, COVID is bad and we’re not getting much help, and we’re also not allowed to do the things we know we need to do. Other than that… The worsening COVID-19 pandemic in Texas, which this week became the first … Continue reading

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Felony bail reform lawsuit moves forward

Pending the next appeal, anyway. A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the case challenging Harris County’s felony bail system should proceed to trial. Nineteen felony judges represented by state Attorney General Ken Paxton immediately gave notice they planned to appeal … Continue reading

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A bad streak

Twenty years. Geez. For 20 years, Texans have been dying to get somewhere, and there is little sign they will stop anytime soon. Saturday marks 20 years of at least one death a day on Texas roads, a grim milestone … Continue reading

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

More on the Luhnow lawsuit

Because I now have the brain space to think about stuff like this again. While baseball fans and courtroom voyeurs might long for a public legal showdown between Astros owner Jim Crane and former general manager Jeff Luhnow, attorneys say … Continue reading

Posted in Baseball, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

So how did my simple projection work out?

Remember this? I divided the counties up by how much their voter rolls had grown or shrunk since 2012, then used the 2016 turnout levels and 2018 results to project final numbers for the Presidential election in 2020. Now that … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020, The making of the President | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

We’re number one (million)!

One million COVID cases in Texas. Hooray? Texas’ grim distinction as the national leader in terms of COVID-19 infections came as little surprise to some local medical experts, who blamed politicians for conflicting messages about the virus and warned the … Continue reading

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

By the way, we’re still counting votes here in Texas

In case you were wondering. Harris County is still counting ballots, too, just like counties all across Texas. We’re not focused on that right now, because Texas went to President Donald Trump on election night. But more than 100 people … Continue reading

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Texas blog roundup for the week of November 9

The Texas Progressive Alliance congratulates President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as it brings you this week’s roundup.

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More early data from State Rep districts

From Derek Ryan on Twitter: . President Trump won House District 74, a Democrat-held district in West Texas along the border, with 53.1%. He also won House District 31, a Democrat-held district in South Texas with 56.2%. — Derek Ryan … Continue reading

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

HISD to consider hiring Lathan permanently

Interesting. Houston ISD trustees are scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to name Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan as the lone finalist to lead the district, an unanticipated development amid ongoing litigation over the state’s effort to oust HISD’s elected board … Continue reading

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

For a million bucks, I’ll tell you where to find Bigfoot

That’s about as likely to happen as this is. As GOP lawyers and leaders frantically search for proof of fraud to back allegations of election irregularities, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick offered to pay tipsters at least $25,000 for information leading … Continue reading

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