Monthly Archives: December 2024

Precinct analysis: Senate 2024

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

PREVIOUSLY: President The US Senate race between Colin Allred and Ted Cruz was easily the best Democratic result, the race most like 2020, with Allred winning by over 11 points and 175K votes. The precinct numbers reflect this margin of … Continue reading →

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HCC International

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I have questions. Houston may be its home, but leaders of the city’s community college have their sights set on the entire globe. In the fall 2025 semester, Houston Community College administrators will launch their new “Global Online College,” hoping … Continue reading →

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Precinct analysis: President 2024

Posted on December 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I know you’ve been waiting for this, and now here it is, the 2024 precinct data for Harris County. We’ll start at the top, with the Presidential race. Dist Trump Harris Lib Grn ========================================= CD02 101,141 73,399 1,112 1,027 CD07 … Continue reading →

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Late to the party

Posted on December 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I’m kind of fascinated by this. On election day last month, 29-year-old Shannah Becker from Pasadena showed up at a polling location to cast her ballot, but was turned away. Although she had submitted her voter registration application in early … Continue reading →

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Weekend link dump for December 29

Posted on December 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Kylie Kelce > Joe Rogan. See here as well. “Quite simply, we want to find the birthplace of the solar wind.” “If You’re Pregnant, Here’s What You Should Know About the Medical Procedures That Could Save Your Life”. “Reasonable people … Continue reading →

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Charles Johnson elected Mayor of Baytown

Posted on December 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

There were a handful of runoff elections following the November 5…whatever you want to call it. This was the most consequential of the local races. Charles Johnson, who served as District 3 city councilman from 2017 until 2023, has come … Continue reading →

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Elon Musk has been busy making Austin dirtier

Posted on December 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Some good reporting from the Wall Street Journal. Elon Musk made big promises to Wall Street about Tesla’s new Model Y SUV in 2022, and the company was ramping up its production in Austin, Texas, when environmental problems threatened to … Continue reading →

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HCDE declines to censure Eric Dick

Posted on December 28, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Puzzling. The Harris County Department of Education board of trustees reversed course on censuring trustee Eric Dick Wednesday, one month after voting to propose a censure in the wake of a grievance hearing about his unpaid ethics fines. The board … Continue reading →

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Be careful what Christmas music you listen to

Posted on December 28, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

There’s a lot of AI crap out there. AI slop has consumed Facebook, is running Wikipedia editors ragged, is rapidly destroying Google search, probably put an extra finger on the scales of election influence, is confusing and annoying crafters, steals endlessly from authors, is on … Continue reading →

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The YouTube judge

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Very interesting. Defendants accused of low-level crimes could soon be handed cautionary fliers warning what they say and do in Harris County Judge David Fleischer’s courtroom may live on social media. This is because Fleischer, a two-term Democrat jurist, shares … Continue reading →

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Time for the annual Christmas tree recycling post

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

It’s the most wonderful post-Christmas Day post of the year. The City of Houston’s Solid Waste Management Department (SWMD) and Houston Parks and Recreation Department invite residents to recycle their live Christmas trees and contribute to a greener holiday season. … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues NCAA over trans athletes

Posted on December 26, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Never not on brand. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday he sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association, accusing the organization of misleading college sports fans by allowing transgender women to participate in events marketed as women’s competitions. Paxton said … Continue reading →

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Recycle those Christmas lights

Posted on December 26, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Public service announcement: Houston’s Solid Waste Management Department has asked residents to recycle their discarded holiday lights in a very particular way. Instead of leaving them in a recycling bin, they are asked to bring them to either the Westpark … Continue reading →

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Say goodbye to 2024, Mel Torme

Posted on December 25, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good riddance, too, but we’ll put that aside for today only. Here again I present to you my favorite Christmas story, which Mark Evanier has taken to rerunning, with a reminder to not just flat out reprint it and claim … Continue reading →

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Christmas Eve video break: Revisiting my manifesto

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I often have occasion to revisit something I wrote years ago on this site, and I’m happy to say that more often than not, the archived post still holds up. I say that because I just re-read my Christmas music … Continue reading →

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San Antonio gets more funds for its first BRT line

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good for them. If only we had the same inclinations. San Antonio and Bexar County landed a $268 million federal grant to fund more than half the cost of the VIA Green Line, the Alamo City’s first-ever Advanced Rapid Transit … Continue reading →

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Replacing NRG Arena

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Someone’s gotta pay for it. If NRG Arena were a car, it would be totaled. A 2019 assessment commissioned by the county found the arena, where the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo holds its horse show and auctions every March, … Continue reading →

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Texas blog roundup for the week of December 23

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance wishes a Merry Christmas to all who celebrate as it brings you this week’s roundup.

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On Rep. Kay Granger

Posted on December 23, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

On Saturday I was perusing Bluesky, and posts like this were all over the place: US Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, hasn’t voted since July. The Dallas Express reports that it found her in a “memory care and assisted living home” … Continue reading →

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HISD to add metal detectors at all high schools

Posted on December 23, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Inevitable, I suppose. Ridiculous, but inevitable. Houston ISD will introduce new weapons detection systems to its high school campuses in the spring semester after experiencing an uptick in confiscated weapons in the 2024-25 school year. More than 10 guns have … Continue reading →

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Weekend link dump for December 22

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

“We are all passengers on the NFL’s journey. Private equity is too. It just gets to sit in better seats.” “Put simply, we don’t have anywhere near enough pardons: both at the federal and the state level.” “Our antivaccine friends … Continue reading →

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CenterPoint finds a use for those useless-to-us generators

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

San Antonio, here they come. A plan is in the works to partially relieve Houston-area ratepayers of CenterPoint Energy’s $800 million lease of controversial generators that have sat mostly unused during power outages. The bulk of the lease includes 15 large generators, … Continue reading →

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Who is all this Enron performance art for?

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I have no idea. The company that recently resurrected Enron’s fallen brand announced Friday it would host a “town hall” to address residents’ concerns after its CEO was allegedly targeted in a pie attack in New York. Despite the Chronicle’s … Continue reading →

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Harris County adopts plan for court translators

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good start, now needs follow through. Harris County’s district and county courts unveiled an updated plan Wednesday for expanding interpreter services for those navigating the court system, but said they will need millions in additional funding to sustain the effort. … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed over SpaceX pollution

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

So many lawsuits, so little time. Rio Grande Valley groups are suing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, accusing the agency of bypassing state regulations by allowing SpaceX to temporarily discharge industrial water at its South Texas launch site without … Continue reading →

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Dispatches from Dallas, December 21 edition

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This is a weekly feature produced by my friend Ginger. Let us know what you think. This week, in news from Dallas-Fort Worth, we have another grab bag: the Lege; the Bum Steers from north Texas; updates on the disastrous … Continue reading →

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The coming push to require proof of citizenship to register to vote

Posted on December 20, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This is a complete non-problem, but “solving” things that aren’t problems and in doing so creating real problems that then need to be solved is very on brand for Republicans. Republicans are making a big push for legislation requiring Texans … Continue reading →

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Expanding Metro’s micro-transit

Posted on December 20, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Okay fine, but show me the numbers. Metro will expand on-demand rides of its micro-transit to include services in Second Ward, Third Ward and downtown Houston through a partnership with the city of Houston and Evolve Houston. The expansion comes after … Continue reading →

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IAH Terminal E to be named for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Fitting. City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved a resolution to rename a terminal at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in honor of the late U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. The late congresswoman, who died in July from pancreatic cancer after representing … Continue reading →

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Now Buzbee sues Roc Nation

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Back and forth, back and forth. Prominent Houston attorney Tony Buzbee has filed a lawsuit against Jay-Z’s entertainment company Roc Nation and several attorneys who represent the American rapper for allegedly conspiring with and paying former clients to sue the Buzbee … Continue reading →

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Texas blog roundup for the week of December 16

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance would like some hot chocolate to go with this week’s blog roundup.

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There was some good news from Odessa last month

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good to hear. When Craig Stoker pulled the flyer out of the mailbox, he chuckled. It was a political mailer, one of many deployed this fall in Odessa, the West Texas city in the heart of the oil-rich Permian Basin. … Continue reading →

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Somehow, the Boca Chica land swap is off

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I only found out about this now because this story, dated November 14, was either never on the Houston Chronicle homepage or was missed by me when it was, until it was on Page One of the December 16 print … Continue reading →

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The Dustin Burrows dilemma

Posted on December 17, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I have four things to say about this. Five years ago, Rep. Dustin Burrows’ reputation sustained a major blow among his House colleagues. The Lubbock Republican resigned as chair of the House GOP Caucus after it was revealed that he … Continue reading →

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