Our West Nile summer

Lots of rain = lots of mosquitoes.

Local health authorities worry the post-Beryl explosion of the blood-sucking insects could become more than a nuisance, raising the risk of infections of West Nile and other mosquito-borne illnesses.

At least 496 mosquito samples have tested positive for the West Nile virus across the county so far this year, according to Harris County Public Health figures. The department recorded 50 positive samples last year, and less than 400 in 2021 and 2022 combined.

As of Wednesday, seven human cases of West Nile have been confirmed since Beryl, said Dr. Max Vigilant, director of Harris County Public Health’s Mosquito and Vector Control. None had been recorded before the storm, he said.

West Nile virus is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the United States, according to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services. Roughly one in five infected people will develop mild flu-like symptoms. Perhaps one in 150 people will suffer a more severe case of West Nile, develop other illnesses, such as encephalitis, or suffer permanent brain damage.

“We too often forget that this part of the country has a particular vulnerability to mosquito-transmitted virus infections,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development. “With (Harris County Mosquito and Vector Control) getting lots of positive samples for West Nile, plus several positive human cases after Beryl in Harris County, you put all of that together, it could be a real problem.”

Mosquito populations typically boom after major rain events such as Beryl. That does not always mean mosquito-borne diseases increase in humans, however.

“West Nile virus is unpredictable,” Vigilant said. “Normally, what you see after a storm is that the number of diseased mosquitoes are less, because you get blow-out and you get wash-out. So, those mosquitoes that survive have to lay again, then hatch again.”

[…]

County data from this summer suggests the West Nile virus is spreading fast within the county’s mosquito population, at least.

The county’s first positive West Nile mosquito sample emerged in May; only 11 more samples tested positive that month. In June, however, 330 samples – around 25 percent of the total tested – came back positive.

So far this month, 174 samples had tested positive as of Wednesday, including 40 since Beryl hit the Houston area 16 days ago.

Positive samples have been collected in at least 165 of the county’s 260 operational areas, Vigilant said.

The usual precautions and remediations apply. Dump out any buckets or birdbaths or what have you around your yard that have standing water in them. Use DEET and wear sufficient clothing to protect against skeeter bites, especially at night. The county will do what it can to try to keep the bugs under control, but there’s only so much they can do.

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Lawsuit over San Marcos marijuana decriminalization ordinance tossed

For now.

Still a crook any way you look

A Hays County judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against the City of San Marcos in response to a proposition decriminalizing low-level marijuana possession.

Judge Sherri Tibbe dropped Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s suit against San Marcos on Monday. Paxton has already filed a motion to appeal the dismissal, according to the city.

Paxton filed the lawsuit against five Texas cities — Killeen, Denton, Elgin, Austin and San Marcos — back in January. In a press release, Paxton said he will “not stand idly by as cities run by pro-crime extremists deliberately violate Texas law and promote the use of illicit drugs that harm our communities.”

A Travis County judge dismissed the suit against the City of Austin in June.

[…]

When Prop A passed, San Marcos police stopped arresting and citing people found with small amounts of marijuana except in limited circumstances. But the department didn’t adopt a formal policy reflecting that, citing a Texas code that prohibits cities from implementing policies that prevent full enforcement of drug laws.

Texas State University police can still issue arrests and citations for any amount of marijuana in one’s possession, according to the university’s police department. That’s because the university can set its own rules separate from the city’s ordinances.

See here for more on the original lawsuits, and here for more on the dismissal of the Austin case. It’s not clear to me in either of these what the reasons were for the dismissal – it looks mostly like the judges didn’t think the suits had merit – so it’s not clear to me what their fate will be on appeal. I mean, the Supreme Court is gonna do what it’s gonna do when it gets to them, and the Lege could step in and clarify matters next year as well. So you can continue to smoke ’em if you got ’em in San Marcos, as long as you’re not on the Texas State campus and you realize that this may be a short-term situation. The city of Dallas appears poised to jump on this bandwagon as well, for however long the ride lasts.

UPDATE: The Trib published a story this morning about the San Marcos and Austin litigation as well as an update on where the other cities are. As to why the San Marcos lawsuit was dismissed, the Trib writes “Hays County district judge Sherri Tibbe dismissed Paxton’s lawsuit, upholding the argument that the state was not injured when San Marcos reduced arrests for misdemeanor marijuana possession and that it allowed for resources to be used for higher-priority public safety needs”.

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

More on Judge Kelli Johnson

Not great.

Judge Kelli Johnson

Top judicial leaders in Houston have effectively removed hundreds of pending cases from state district Judge Kelli Johnson and assigned them to other jurists in the wake of two recent DWI stops — one on June 25 that led to her arrest — and a judicial complaint filed by her court reporter.

The reassignment of her docket, detailed in an order filed Thursday, happened after the Democratic judge, who is seeking reelection in November, went to work at the criminal courthouse but failed to preside on the bench. The order, signed by Judge Latosha Lewis Payne, Harris County’s local administrative judge, and Judge Susan Brown, a governor-appointee for the Eleventh Administrative Judicial Region of Texas, comes in the wake of Johnson’s arrest on a misdemeanor driving while intoxicated charge.

The rare move to reassign cases strips the elected judge of her ability to preside over her docket without the State Commission on Judicial Conduct having to suspend her.

A statement from Amanda Cain, spokesperson for the Administrative Office of the District Courts, noted that Johnson remains the elected official over that court. The order is scheduled to last through Aug. 9.

Johnson did not address the docket change in a Wednesday night phone call from the courthouse but said she did not know about the judicial complaint.

In an unsolicited Facebook message to a Chronicle reporter in the early hours Wednesday, Johnson derided the decision to remove her docket and disparaged Brown as a “political hack.”

“I have more time this week since Susan f—ing Brown decided to take away MY dockets,” she wrote.

She also had choice words for another judge, Robert Johnson, who presides in the 177th District Court — also on the 19th floor. Johnson confirmed she sent the message in a followup call.

“He sucks by the way and f—ed with the wrong person — me,” Johnson wrote. “I just know he is a complete despicable and unconscionable a—.”

[…]

Gail Rolen, a court reporter who has worked for Johnson since 2017 and was a constant presence on high-profile trials, said she filed her complaint with the commission against the judge this month because of “a hostile work environment due to incidents related to the traffic stops” and other unprofessional behavior she witnessed. She said the unspecified behavior prompted her to take a leave of absence through the Family and Medical Leave Act.

“I had to file a judicial complaint in order to protect the integrity of the judicial system and the citizens who have voted for her as well as defendants in her court and their attorneys,” Rolen said.

She said the decision this week to assign visiting judges to Johnson’s court was “absolutely necessary and crucial.”

“It’s the least they can do right now until the judicial board is able to take action, if they do,” she continued.

See here and here for the background. I would like an explanation of why Judges Payne (an elected Democrat like Judge Johnson) and Brown decided to step in like this – I assume this is a “rare move” for a reason. Were the circumstances so extraordinary that they couldn’t wait for the State Commission on Judicial Conduct? Were there things they could do that the Commission could not? I am once again imploring the Chronicle to ask an attorney who is familiar with this sort of thing about it when writing a story that involves legal facts that may not be known to a general audience. If you are such an attorney, please leave a comment and enlighten us.

As spicy as the interpersonal conflict between these judges is, the complaint filed by court reporter Rolen feels like the bigger deal. Perhaps this was the catalyst for the local administrative action, I couldn’t say. I hope we learn more about the allegations she has raised, because whatever may be going on with Judge Johnson, I fully agree that the court’s business needs to be conducted in a professional manner. I don’t know what is going on here, but I would like very much for it to be resolved in a way that is fair to the Judge and to everyone associated with her courtroom. Click2Houston has more.

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More on Ken Paxton’s ethicslessness

Yes, that’s a word. It’s also a good description of the state of our Attorney General.

Still a crook any way you look

Three decades following its inception, the [Texas Ethics C]ommission is toothless. Compliance of Texas’ ethics laws is largely voluntary. That’s because the agency relies on the Texas attorney general to enforce payment of fines for violations.

And under Ken Paxton, who himself owes $11,000 in ethics fines, that has rarely happened.

A review by The Texas Tribune found that the number of politicians, lobbyists and political action committees that owe fines for breaking state campaign finance laws has exploded in recent years.

The Texas Ethics Commission issues the penalties for violations of state campaign finance laws, most often when entities fail to file required reports detailing their fundraising, spending or personal financial holdings. Those penalties could also be for infractions like spending campaign dollars on improper expenditures, failing to register as a lobbyist or using government resources to campaign.

Fines are the primary enforcement mechanism to ensure political actors follow the law. But when the fines go unpaid, the responsibility for forcing delinquent individuals and groups to pay up falls on the attorney general’s office, which can take them to court.

Since Paxton took office in 2015, the ethics commission has referred 2,500 unpaid fines to the attorney general for enforcement, the Tribune found. During that time, Paxton’s office has filed just 175 enforcement lawsuits, or 7% of the cases referred to it. Most occurred early in his tenure. After filing none in 2020 and 2021, the attorney general’s office brought 18 cases in 2022, 25 last year and just one so far in the first six months of 2024.

As enforcement has lagged, the number of delinquent candidates and elected officials has soared. In 2019, 327 filers owed $1.3 million in fines. Through June, 750 filers owed $3.6 million.

That trend is alarming in a state with few regulations in its political system, said Anthony Gutierrez of open government advocacy group Common Cause.

“Candidates are supposed to be telling Texans who they’re taking money from, what they’re spending money on,” Gutierrez said. “If any of that information is not being disclosed, it’s a big deal. It could be being kept secret for a reason.”

[…]

The appetite for reform in the Texas Legislature is unknown. Reps. Reggie Smith, R-Sherman, and John Bucy, D-Austin, who are chair and vice chair of the House election committee, did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, chair of the Senate state affairs committee.

Gutierrez said allowing the ethics commission to file lawsuits on its own would be “a huge step,” towards restoring accountability to the state’s campaign finance system. Allowing the commission more independence, rather than having to rely on an elected attorney general, would help separate the body from political influence.

“It feels like any system where there’s a politician who’s subject to the laws and is also subject to enforcing the laws is just a flawed system,” Gutierrez said. “The ethics commission, as it exists today, just doesn’t have the powers it needs to enforce the laws on the books.”

See here for some background. One of the wildest things about this is that quite a few of the bigger violators are Democrats. You would think that would be catnip to a partisan like Paxton, but he just doesn’t care. I suppose he believes that he and his oligarch overlords are better off with no enforcement, even if it means some of his enemies get away with it as well.

It must be noted that as much fun as it is to take potshots at Paxton, this is another one of those situations where the voters have to want to do something about it. Republicans have no incentive to change anything, and Democrats have bigger issues they’d like to put before the voters. It’s also not like “clean government” campaigns are generally successful. I think it can be a catalyst when the winds are already in your favor – see, for example, the Democratic Congressional wave of 2006, which was primarily driven by Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, and the failed effort to privatize Social Security, but which got a boost from the multiple Republican scandals that were constantly in the news. I don’t think this message carries much weight on its own. And even if it did, as noted there are plenty of Dems with bad records on this front. Paxton deserves most of the blame for his failures of oversight, but the message is more complicated than that.

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July 2024 campaign finance reports – State offices

PREVIOUSLY: Senate and Congress

For the first time in awhile that I can remember, there’s not really a state or statewide legislative race generating much interest in Harris County. The candidates and incumbents for the Court of Appeals benches have been very active and visible, but that’s a different vibe. I may check in on those races later, but for now I wanted to focus on the legislative races of interest, plus the Railroad Commissioner. Back in January, there were multiple contested primaries to watch for, but those were all in deep blue districts. For this roundup, I decided to go back to the list of potentially competitive State Rep districts that I compiled after the misery that was the Republican primary, to hopefully focus some attention and energy on the idea that if we win a few of these, we can probably stop Greg Abbott’s larcenous voucher scheme in its tracks. So let’s go down that list of candidates and see what they tell us.

Katherine Culbert, Railroad Commissioner
Rachel Mello, SD08
Molly Cook, SD15

Fred Medina, HD14
Daniel Lee, HD26
Jonathan Gracia, HD37
Jennifer Birkholz, HD52
Dawn Richardson, HD54

Tony Adams, HD61
Michelle Beckley, HD63
Detrick DeBurr, HD65
David Carstens, HD66
Makala Washington, HD67

Denise Wilkerson, HD94
Carlos Walker, HD97
Elizabeth Ginsberg, HD108
Averie Bishop, HD112
Kristian Carranza, HD118

Laurel Jordan Swift, HD121
Chase West, HD132
Stephanie Morales, HD138


Dist   Candidate     Raised       Spent       Loan     On Hand
==============================================================
RRC      Culbert      6,685       3,530      2,400           0

SD08       Mello      2,538       3,309      3,324         865
SD15        Cook    136,296     198,153          0      51,511

HD014     Medina      5,036       2,164          0       1,373
HD026        Lee      5,000           0      5,000       5,000
HD037     Gracia    122,375      11,823    243,600      95,486
HD052   Birkholz     38,397       4,616          0      26,223
HD054 Richardson     15,417      10,471          0       6,344
HD061      Adams      3,429         851          0           0
HD063    Beckley     47,547      22,803      2,000      24,098
HD065     DeBurr      4,631      10,572     12,000       6,059
HD066   Carstens      5,900       2,400      7,000       4,000
HD067 Washington      2,477       1,820        750         657
HD094  Wilkerson     37,962       8,623      9,938      25,845
HD097     Walker        993       3,800      1,050       4,251
HD108   Ginsberg    113,169      24,458          0      95,984
HD112     Bishop    191,470      71,800          0     106,140
HD118   Carranza    263,930      48,718          0     191,088
HD121      Swift    108,117      41,561     25,000      35,486
HD132       West     47,430       6,818          0      40,286
HD138    Morales

I included Sen. Molly Cook (and that sure feels nice to type) out of curiosity, to see what her account looked like after two elections in quick succession in May. Given that her reporting period barely covered five weeks, that’s a nice showing. One of her stated promises is that she will be a force on the November campaign trail, and her ability to raise money will help with that. As for Rachel Mello, she’s running against Sen. Angela Paxton. I really wish this could have been a higher-profile race. If anyone deserves that kind of scrutiny this cycle, it’s Angela Paxton.

As for the House races, I would have liked to see more candidates raising enough money to run viable campaigns. I don’t know how much responsibility for that falls on the donor class, the TDP, the local parties, the candidates themselves, the Presidential race sucking all the oxygen out of the room, or something else. I realize that a lot of these races are aspirational, but we’re never going to get anywhere if we’re not trying our hardest to extend our reach. And as we saw in 2018, if the environment turns out to be more favorable than you thought, the wave can reach farther than you thought, with a little bit of assistance.

On the plus side, the races that are the most reachable also have the best-funded candidates so far, and they’re all in reasonable shape. That includes the last two Republican districts in Dallas County, two districts in Bexar County, and the Cameron County district the Republicans flipped in 2022. Winning even a couple of these could be enough to turn back the voucher tide. A handful of others have semi-decent money, which could be developed into more, so there is some potential for aspiration. That said, Greg Abbott has many millions at his disposal, and what he wants is a pliant Legislature. This is make or break stuff.

I’m pleasantly surprised by Chase West in HD132, who has outperformed my expectations so far. I’m disappointed that Stephanie Morales, who is a repeat candidate, has not filed any reports this year. Maybe it’s a system issue, but that should not be happening. HD26 is one of the reach-ier districts on this list, but the Republicans ousted their incumbent for not being sufficiently worshipful of Ken Paxton, so not putting our best foot forward there feels like a lost opportunity to me. There are very few local races of interest in our area. We’ve done our best work over the last 20 or so years turning red areas purple. We need to keep at it. I hope this is more of a priority in 2026.

I’ll look at the county races next. Let me know if you have any questions.

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

On rooftop solar

There are a couple of things to consider as you read this.

Eli Hartman/The Texas Tribune

Texas ranks third in the country in electricity generation from small-scale solar, including rooftop solar, trailing California and Arizona, according to the Energy Information Administration. (The federal office defines small-scale solar as systems with capacity of less than 1 megawatt.)

On a per-capita basis, however, Texas ranks 20th, which indicates that there is a lot of room to grow. How much room is difficult to say, but a good way to frame it is that the state’s generation from small-scale solar last year was equivalent to about 1% of the total from large power plants.

The state has the technical potential to cover more than 30% of its electricity consumption with rooftop solar, according to a 2018 paper from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. I’m cautious in citing this figure because the underlying data is more than a decade old, and because technical potential is usually a lot more than markets or consumer preferences will bear. An official at the lab tells me researchers there are working on an update to this research, which may be available next year.

In recent years, Texas has increased its electricity generation from small-scale solar at a rapid pace. In 2023, the state generated 4,337 gigawatt-hours from this category, an increase of 45% from the prior year, according to EIA. Of the 10 states with the most generation from small-scale solar last year, only Florida had more percentage growth, with 47%.

Some of the main drivers of rooftop solar in Texas have been a desire to reduce exposure to rising utility costs and concerns about reliability of the grid, said Ryan Barnett, senior vice president of policy and market development for Palmetto, a North Carolina-based climate tech company whose products include solar and battery storage.

[…]

Another key variable is that the costs of solar and storage have mostly been flat while utility costs continue to rise. A solar system may cost about $20,000, but the savings on electricity bills will cover the costs in less than seven years, according to EnergySage.

We got rooftop solar panels installed last year, just before summertime. The $20K cost estimate given here is in line with what we spent, and we definitely saved money on our electric bill from the beginning. It saved us quite a bit, given how monstrous last summer was and how much we had to run the air conditioning. But be very careful when reading that EnergySage article, because the savings on our electric bill was more like fifty percent, not the whole thing. That’s partly because the sun doesn’t shine all the time, of course, but that wasn’t a big issue. The big issue was that with temperatures only dropping into the low 80s at night, we’re still heavily using the A/C (easily the biggest part of our electric bill) when the sun isn’t shining. Look at how much your electric bill is daytime use versus nighttime use before you start zeroing out your monthly payments. It’s not going to be what you think.

Also, in a little bit of irony, the mature oak tree we have in our front yard, which has for years provided cooling shade for our west-facing house, is now slightly reducing the maximum capacity of our solar panels, because they’re partly in the shade in the afternoon. I mean, what are you gonna do?

What we could do in order to further reduce our nighttime cost is install backup batteries. Even with the inconvenient shade we have on our rooftop, we generate more electricity than we need during the day. You’ll hear about how with rooftop solar, you can sell that excess energy back to the grid via a process called net metering, and thus save yourself even more money. That only works if your utility uses net metering. As you can see from the map farther down in that last link, that depends on what utility you have in Texas. And sure enough, CenterPoint does not offer net metering. You can’t sell your excess energy back to them, they won’t take it.

That means our next best option is battery backup, to store that excess electricity for later use. That could be used overnight, to reduce our electric bill further, and it could be used during a prolonged power outage, which was definitely something we thought about when doing this installation. The main issue there is it significantly increases the up-front cost, which led us to defer that for a year. We are unfortunately still working through the details on that, which means that we couldn’t take advantage of this setup for either the derecho or Beryl, but it’s what we’re aiming for in the future. I regret to add that by far the best battery option for us was the Tesla product, which doesn’t make us happy but is what it is. You’ll want to do some research on that before you proceed.

There are other options to consider. We have owned some Yeti Goal Zero batteries for a couple of years, and the combination of having them and being able to recharge them elsewhere (mostly, my mother-in-law’s house) while we were powerless meant that we kept the fridge in the house and the freezer in the garage sufficiently cool during each of those outages. There are portable solar panel chargers one can use in conjunction with these batteries as well, although that presents some challenges because everything gets hot, and the batteries are harder to handle and slower to charge when they’re hot. But they were definitely better than nothing. And as noted before, electric vehicles can also help provide emergency power.

That’s a different use case from just reducing your electric bill, but both are things you can do with rooftop solar and some kind of battery storage. Your utility, if you’re not a CenterPoint customer, might make this easier for you. There’s a big up front investment, but the return is clear. It’s worth looking into.

UPDATE: To clarify, while CenterPoint doesn’t do net metering, you can get buy back credits from your electric retailer. They compete on that point, so check to see what makes sense for you.

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Third complaint over Ted Cruz’s podcast payments

Three strikes and…well, nothing really. They’re just complaints and even if they’re found to be meritorious we’re a long way away from anything happening. But since I’m following this story, I’ll keep on it.

I hear Cancun is nice

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, remains under scrutiny over a financial relationship between his podcast and iHeartMedia and whether the company is aiding his reelection campaign, as alleged in complaints filed with the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics, including a new one submitted as recently as last week.

Arguing that the financial arrangement violates federal law, at least three ethics complaints have been lodged against Cruz over a syndication deal with the San Antonio-based audio media company that publishes the senator’s podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz.” Though a Cruz spokesperson has said the senator does not gain financially on the deal, the company has contributed $787,000 to a political action committee backing Cruz’s Senate reelection campaign against Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Collin Allred of Dallas.

Michael Tijerina, a Collin County Democratic Party precinct chair, in a July 14 complaint filed with the Ethics Committee, accuses Cruz of violating federal law and Senate ethics rules by flouting earned income limits, a ban on receiving payments for appearances or speaking engagements, and financial disclosure requirements.

“Senator Cruz claims to volunteer his time to appear on the podcast,” that complaint Tijerina says. “However, Senator Cruz seems to be receiving a ‘thing of value’ for his appearances — namely hundreds of thousands of funds to a super PAC supporting his re-election campaign.”

In a previous complaint filed by the Campaign Legal Center and End Citizens United, the groups similarly pointed to the syndication deal as a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act as iHeartMedia had made roughly $630,000 in payments to the super PAC, which then reported the payments as “digital revenue” or “digital income,” as opposed to campaign contributions.

[…]

The prior complaint filed with the Ethics Committee pointed to specific legislation related to the Federal Communications Commission — for which iHeartMedia lobbied — that was introduced in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, a panel on which Cruz serves.

The media conglomerate has said previously that the money in question is “associated with ad sales,” directing further questions to the Truth and Courage PAC. At the time of the original complaint, a spokesperson for Cruz said the senator does not receive a financial benefit from his podcast being housed on the platform, likening the partnership to that of appearing on a cable or network news show.

Cruz’s office did not respond to an American-Statesman request for comment on the relationship with iHeartMedia or payments to the Truth and Courage PAC.

In making a renewed request to the Ethics Committee, Tijerina is asking for both an investigation into the financial situation brought about by the podcast and “appropriate remedial action” against Cruz for possible improper conduct.

“Ted Cruz has a long record of putting himself ahead of Texans and his podcast is just the latest example,” Tijerina said in a statement. “If Cruz is breaking Senate rules or federal election law by funneling money to his super PAC, we deserve to know.”

See here and here for the background. It’s not really clear to me how this complaint differs from the earlier ones. It’s also not clear to me what if anything we might expect the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to do – as the story notes, the last time they issued disciplinary sanctions was 2007, and I think we can all agree that politics today is nothing like politics then. Nonetheless, I’m committed to this bit, so now you have the latest. The Current has more.

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Weekend link dump for July 28

“Polling shows that two-thirds of Americans support term limits for Supreme Court justices. The same goes for judicial ethics reforms. The commissioners pointed out, as we all know, that “the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are the only members of the federal judiciary who are not covered by a code of conduct.” Most sane businesses are covered by a code of conduct! Judges and justices across the world are constrained by ethics rules that would preclude them from accepting millions of dollars in donor gifts, failing to disclose them, then lying about it. But not our highest court in the land.”

“Since watching that video last week, I’ve taken to trash-talking Perseus-Pisces as our rival supercluster.”

“But Giuliani lacked the organizational skills, not to mention the cash, to execute such a maneuver. At this point, he’ll be lucky to escape from bankruptcy without getting sanctioned.”

“‘Goldmine’ collection of wheat from 100 years ago may help feed the world“.

“Throughout those proceedings, Plaquemines Parish leaders had a paid ally on their side: the judge’s husband, U.S. Sen.-turned-lobbyist David Vitter.” You remember ol’ Dave, right?

“I’ve heard talking heads and the Twitterati and many fellow Democrats comment that one reason the Dem debate is so damaging is that we appear fractured and fractious and that the GOP is united in support of their candidate. There seems to be a little cult of personality envy out there folks and if you have ever felt a twinge of it, I urge you to take a cold shower and get over it.”

It’s Nick Castellanos’ world. We are just living in it.

Please leave Chappell Roan alone.

“The point is that beneath this seeming appetite to let politics run its course in all its ferality is something quite different: It’s a kind of disdain for actual voters and how actual politics works – not always pretty, mixed with peoples overweening ambitions, their intense loves and fears, and all the rest.”

RIP, Bernice Johnson Reagon, original member of the Freedom Singers and founder of the women’s a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock.

“If Billy Graham would have been born in 1975 instead of 1918, I don’t think he would have been as successful, because he hit his peak right as the baby boom was taking off and America was really hungry for religion.”

“The results of the biggest study on guaranteed income programs are finally in”.

“Suddenly Trump Looks Older and More Deranged”.

Excellent news. The Internet is slightly less rancid now.

RIP, Felix Fraga, longtime community activist and former Houston City Council member.

RIP, Abdul “Duke” Fakir, co-founder and last surviving member of the Four Tops.

“The Federal Trade Commission is launching an investigation into so-called surveillance pricing, seeking more information about how artificial intelligence is used to change pricing rapidly based on data about customer behavior and characteristics.”

RIP, Gene Peterson, longtime radio voice of the Houston Rockets. What a pleasure he was to listen to.

“Conservatives sometimes say confusing things. I’m here to help with a short, and sadly incomplete, primer on conserva-speak.”

I didn’t have People magazine delivering more incisive Presidential race reporting than some of the national dailies on my 2024 bingo card, but here we are.

And speaking of things none of us had on the bingo card: “The Canadian women’s soccer team assistant coach and an analyst have been kicked out of the Olympic squad after Team New Zealand said it had its training session disrupted by a drone flown by a staff member of its Group A opponents, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) said Wednesday.”

“Southwest Airlines is shifting to assigned seats for the first time in its history, a change that will allow the low-fare carrier to charge a premium for some of the seats on its planes.”

“How it is going for JD Vance in one screenshot”.

RIP, John Mayall, singer and guitarist known as the “Godfather of British blues”.

“This rapid about-face is more than just a change of heart; it’s a textbook example of the intellectual dishonesty that plagues much of our political commentary.”

“We will neither cease nor desist.”

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The potential candidates so far for CD18

The Chron lists a few, but I can and will tell you there are others.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

The campaign to replace the late U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in Congress is playing out behind the scenes, with potential candidates calling precinct chairs and gauging interest ahead of an early August selection.

[…]

Here’s a running list of who’s running, who may be interested, and who is not.

Mayor Sylvester Turner
Turner, who left City Hall in January due to term limits, said Tuesday he is giving a run “serious consideration,” suggesting the unique circumstances of this race are the only thing that could pull him out of retirement.

On Wednesday, Turner said he wants to keep the focus next week on celebrating Jackson Lee’s life.

“For these reasons, and out of immense respect for her family and all those who loved her, I will hold any announcement about my intentions until Friday, August 2,” Turner said.

Turner’s entry, if he decides to run, could lead other candidates to opt against a run. He served as Houston’s mayor from 2016 through 2023, after serving for decades as a member of the Texas House.

Amanda Edwards
Edwards, a former City Council member and Senate candidate, launched a campaign for Jackson Lee’s seat after the congresswoman entered the mayoral field. When Jackson Lee lost that race and pivoted back to Congress, Edwards stayed in to challenge her.

Jackson Lee won, 60% to 37%.

“While my interest in serving this community remains unchanged, I want to honor and respect the sensitive timing of Congresswoman Jackson Lee’s passing, and I would prefer to discuss this at a later time,” she said late Tuesday.

State Rep. Jarvis Johnson
Johnson, a state representative who lost a bid to take Mayor John Whitmire’s former seat in the Texas Senate, announced he will pursue the nomination on Tuesday.

“In light of her recent passing, we approach this announcement with utmost care and reverence for her legacy,” Johnson said. “Given the tight timeline — Democratic party decisions looming within a month — we must continue meeting the people’s needs.”

Dwight Boykins
Boykins, a former City Council member and mayoral candidate, confirmed he was interested in the seat but would hold off on an announcement out of respect for Jackson Lee.

“I think it’s inappropriate to be campaigning for her seat before she is buried, so I’m not going to do it,” Boykins said. “I owe her the respect to at least let her be laid to rest before I officially make any announcement.”

Bishop James Dixon II
Dixon II, the pastor at The Community of Faith Church, said he is “thinking about it very seriously and praying about it even more seriously.”

Dixon II, who is president of Houston’s chapter of the NAACP, has been a player in local politics but has never run for office before.

He also chairs the board of the Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation, the branch of county government that oversees the county-owned NRG Park.

State Rep. Jolanda Jones
Jones represents a Texas House district that overlaps with part of Jackson Lee’s district, and her name has surfaced as a potential candidate.

Jones did not respond to a request for comment.

City Council Member Letitia Plummer
Plummer is said to be exploring a run, though she also has not confirmed her interest publicly.

“We must take the time to honor her legacy and grieve her passing. In respect for her memory, I will refrain from discussing any potential interest in her vacant seat until after her funeral,” Plummer said.

Plummer won election to a second term as an at-large council member at City Hall last November, and she previously ran for the District 22 seat in Congress. She lost a Democratic primary election to Sri Kulkarni in 2018.

State law usually requires city officials to resign their seats if they want to run for another post, unless they are in the last year of their elected term. It does not appear that law extends to party contests like this one.

An opinion from then-Attorney General John Cornyn in 2000 concluded “a person who merely seeks a political party’s executive committee’s nomination to be the party’s candidate in a general election… does not trigger” the automatic resignation provision of the Texas Constitution.

It is possible Plummer or any other City Council member only would need to resign if she secured the nomination, though there is some uncertainty about a candidate’s comments. If Plummer or another City Council member made more general comments about running for the seat beyond pursuing this nomination, it still could trigger the law.

Most of these names appeared in my previous post, though since then a couple of people have publicly spoken about their potential interest. I appreciate the work done here to clarify the “resign to run” situation. Now that I see this in print, I seem to recall the same opinion being mentioned in 2016 when then-CM Boykins expressed interest in the Commissioners Court Precinct 1 seat.

Anyway. I can tell you that as of Saturday I have received phone calls from five of the people mentioned: Mayor Turner, Amanda Edwards, Rep. Johnson, Rep. Jones, and CM Plummer. Nobody told me anything that hasn’t been published in this story or elsewhere. I have not heard from Bishop Dixon or former CM Boykins. I have also received a call from an elected official not named in the story who may or may not become a candidate, and I got an email from a person unfamiliar to me who announced their candidacy. I will remind you, and that person if they read this, that anyone who wants to be a candidate must have a precinct chair nominate them during the meeting first. So we’ll see about that. I have not yet heard that a date/time/place has been set for the meeting, but I expect that will come out soon. I will let you know when I know more.

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CenterPoint gets its first grilling

I’m sure there will be more of this to come. But we need action, not just talk.

Seen at I-10 and Sawyer

Texas utility regulators grilled CenterPoint Energy executives Thursday over their performance in the days following Hurricane Beryl, when millions of Houston-area residents lost power, as the utility’s leaders repeatedly apologized and acknowledged the company’s shortcomings in its preparations and response.

At a regularly scheduled meeting of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, Commissioner Jimmy Glotfelty said the storm should be a wake-up call to CenterPoint and every other utility in the state.

“Whether it be a wildfire … or a big storm or a derecho, I don’t care what it is, you all know your system the best, but you’ll have to do better. The customers deserve better, and we all are giving you a return that expects better,” Glotfelty said.

CenterPoint can recover its operating and maintenance expenses through electricity rates approved by the PUC and passed onto consumers. It can also recover the costs of capital investments and earn a 9.4% rate of return if those expenditures are approved by the commission.

CenterPoint CEO Jason Wells said the company was committed to reearning the trust of the Houston area.

“I take personal accountability on areas where we fell short of our customers’ expectations,” Wells said. “Most importantly, I want to apologize. While we cannot erase the frustrations and difficulties so many of our customers endured, I, my entire leadership team, will not make excuses. We will improve and act with a sense of urgency.”

The hurricane came ashore in Matagorda on July 8, a Monday, and knocked out power in the Houston area to a record 2.26 million CenterPoint customers. Power was restored to about half of those customers within four days, still leaving hundreds of thousands of Houstonians without power as temperatures hovered in the mid-to-high 90s.

On Thursday, Wells promised to improve communications with customers, replace approximately 1,000 wooden power poles with composite poles and lease more small mobile generators on a short-term basis. As of July 16, CenterPoint had nearly doubled its vegetation management workforce, Wells said. CenterPoint will also hire for a new position in the company’s executive team who will make improvements to “every aspect” of emergency response, he said.

Some of the comments Wells made to the PUC echo his comments to the Chronicle on July 11, when he said, “I think we could do a better job of communicating expectations with our customers, and I personally own that.”

[…]

Alyssia Oshodi, CenterPoint’s director of corporate communications, said after the meeting that the company planned to roll out a new cloud-based outage tracker Aug. 1 that would show outages at the neighborhood level. The company planned to roll out a further improved tracker in the first quarter of 2025 that will show whether a particular household’s meter is on or off, she said.

Glotfelty said CenterPoint should consider bringing in-house some of the work currently done by vegetation management and lineworker contractors if it’s economic to do so. He said CenterPoint must also better coordinate its requests for mutual assistance crews from other utilities and how it prestages those crews.

“There are a lot of things that went wrong here, and a lot of things that you all need to fix,” Glotfelty said.

I’ve said all this before, but it bears repeating and emphasizing: We need specific items for CenterPoint to do and not do, we need them codified into laws and regulations, we need sufficient oversight to ensure they are being followed, and we need enforcement mechanisms that work. Sorry for dropping a buzzword on you, but someone needs to introduce Jason Wells to the concept of SMART goals, because “improve communications with customers” is meaningless drivel. Tell me exactly what you aim to achieve, how you intend to do it, and by when. And then make sure the Lege and the PUC write it all down and hold you to account for it. Anything less is a waste of time. The Trib has more, and you should also read this Chron story about how the city of Houston’s Office of Emergency Management had to roll their own power outage map on the fly after CenterPoint’s crapped out. Either we generate laws and regulations to make a repeat of that situation unlikely in the extreme or we’re doing it wrong.

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More on the I-10 project and “No Higher No Wider”

This story is primarily about the effect of the proposed I-10 widening/elevating would have on the Cottage Grove neighborhood, which was previously split in two by the highway’s construction in 1968. That’s all worth reading, but I’m focusing on a smaller part of the story.

Almost six decades later, the Texas Department of Transportation has plans once again for I-10. This time, the project would be to expand the freeway from Voss Road to Interstate 45. The project would extend existing managed lanes into downtown while adding drainage improvements under the freeway. That takes the form of two options: widen the freeway or elevate the managed lanes.

Neither, according to residents, is a good option.

Instead, a grass-roots movement called “No Higher, No Wider” has proposed an alternative that would widen the freeway at its current grade and create managed lanes in the existing right-of-way of I-10.

The main feature of the community-driven design is a structural cap, a cover that would go over the existing below-grade sections of the freeway on which development could occur. The idea is to link the two sides of Cottage Grove for the first time in nearly 60 years with pedestrian infrastructure.

While most of Cottage Grove lies north of I-10, few know the neighborhood extends south of the highway. In fact, few residents of that area even know they are in Cottage Grove.

[…]

According to Grady Mapes, director of TxDOT’s District Comprehensive Development Agreements program, public comments generally deal with one specific issue or technical part of the project.

Technical suggestions are easy to evaluate, as TxDOT operates under a set of standards it can weigh against outside ideas and proposals. Those standards deal with such things as stopping sight distances and other technical evaluations of the road.

“We don’t often have comments in a large group that come in that just say we just don’t like the project,” Mapes said.

A Houston Landing review of public feedback from more than 250 residents showed the vast majority of comments were in opposition to the I-10 project.

“It’s an evaluation of the purpose and need at that point is really what it becomes,” Mapes said.

For the I-10 Inner Katy Managed Lanes project, the purpose for the project is to reduce congestion, improve mobility, and enhance drainage on I-10. Many commenters say widening the freeway likely would not do much to alleviate congestion.

Instead, the project would bring more noise and air pollution, while also cutting into the neighborhood’s park. It also may displace more than 80 homes and businesses. Residents called out the potential for damaging neighborhood property values and overall quality of life as lasting impacts without seeing real benefits from the project.

“Going back to 2021, we presented alternatives to TxDOT,” [Drew Wiley, infrastructure committee chair for the Cottage Grove Civic Association] said. “We were like, ‘Look, this is too much. You guys, you’re just using your old playbook, you’re just widening. You’re adding more lanes, like this isn’t what this area needs.’”

Other commenters wanted to see an emphasis on green spaces and pedestrian mobility. The overall resistance to the same freeway solutions led to the formation of “No Higher, No Wider I-10” and pushes from neighborhoods like Cottage Grove and the West End.

The structural cap solution is not sure to alleviate the concerns of residents, according to Mapes.

“Sometimes they have outcomes that people maybe didn’t think of when they presented the concept,” Mapes said, suggesting that some ideas could require additional right-of-way on the freeway.

See here for the previous entry, in which I first encountered No Higher No Wider I-10. I mean, I’m glad that TxDOT is taking steps to accommodate the construction of the Inner Katy Line, even as we have no reason to trust anything Metro says right now. I would just like for them, this one time, to really care about the people and the neighborhoods that will be disrupted by what they’re doing. I can’t say I have much faith that they will, but I applaud the No Higher No Wider folks for trying.

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Lawsuit over self-induced abortion charges can proceed

Good.

A Texas woman who was jailed and charged with murder after self-managing an abortion in 2022 can move forward with her lawsuit against the local sheriff and prosecutors over the case that drew national outrage before the charges were quickly dropped, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Drew B. Tipton denied a motion by prosecutors and the sheriff to dismiss the lawsuit during a hearing in the border city of McAllen. Lizelle Gonzalez, who spent two nights in jail on the murder charges and is seeking $1 million in damages in the lawsuit, did not attend the hearing.

Texas has one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans and outlaws the procedure with limited exceptions. Under Texas law, women seeking an abortion are exempt from criminal charges, however.

Starr County District Attorney Gocha Ramirez and other defendants have argued their positions provide them immunity from civil lawsuits.

Rick Navarro, an attorney for the defense, argued that it was “at worst a negligence case” during the hearing. Ramirez has previously told The Associated Press that he “made a mistake” in bringing charges.

Tipton asked Gonzalez’s attorneys whether they could prove the prosecutors knew of the exception.

“What we intend to show is that negligence doesn’t explain this oversight. It is the role and function of prosecutors to be aware of the elements of the statutes that they are charging,” said David Donatti, an attorney with the ACLU of Texas who is representing Gonzalez.

See here, here, and here for some background. Texas Public Radio adds some details.

Starr County District Attorney Gocha A. Ramirez and Assistant District Attorney Alexandria Lynn Barrera filed motions to dismiss the lawsuit in May, citing the legal principle “immunity doctrine.”

The immunity doctrine provides protections to public officials from legal repercussions, but with some exceptions for violations of civil rights.

In the case of Ramirez and Barrera, attorneys for Gonzales said they intend to show that “prosecutorial immunity” cannot be granted in this case, since the allegations fall outside of the county officials’ work as prosecutors.

On Wednesday, a federal judge agreed that discovery was necessary in any case that alleged wrongdoing that wasn’t protected by immunity.

Gonzalez’s attorney’s still must provide proof for their allegations and show intent on the part of Starr County officials.

Lauren Johnson, director of the Abortion Criminal Defense Initiative at the American Civil Liberties Union, represents Gonzalez. She said the ACLU is ready to address the legal claims to immunity raised by Starr County officials in order to continue with the case.

“We’ll be doing some discovery on the question of the immunity claims that the defendants have raised as to the DA’s and prosecutor’s claim that they are not liable,” Johnson said. “Our goal is to continue this fight to the point of trial.”

The lawsuit, which seeks $1 million in damages, claims that officials misrepresented facts to a grand jury and conspired to maliciously prosecute without probable cause.

Garza said outside of federal court that the legal team has information they intend to make admissible in court to prove intent.

“We do have a good faith basis for every allegation that we’ve made, and we anticipate that this limited discovery will get us there,” Garza said.

Sounds pretty clear to me. I presume the judge (a Trump appointee, by the way) can revisit the matter of dismissal if the plaintiffs don’t show sufficient evidence of malice or some other cause to get past the immunity shield. The fact that anyone even passingly familiar with the state’s fanatical anti-abortion laws should be aware that they exempt the mother from criminal charges is a good place to start with the claim that this wasn’t a case of simple incompetence, but I assume the bar is higher than that. I’m eager to see what they have. MyRGV has more.

(Side note, the plaintiff’s name was Lizelle Herrera at the time of her arrest; it’s Lizelle Gonzalez now. Just FYI in case there was some confusion.)

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Mayor Whitmire names a new fire chief

Fired or retired, depends on the source.

Sam Peña is out as Houston’s Fire Chief, Mayor John Whitmire said Friday.

The news was first reported by KPRC.

“(Peña) plans to retire,” Mayor John Whitmire told the TV station. “I thank him for his service. He has served us during some difficult times. I said during the campaign my department heads will have six months to prove themselves and I think it’s time to make a change. I think we can do better, in fact, we will do better.”

Peña told the TV station he had no conversations with Whitmire about the retirement. He could not be reached for comment Friday morning.

Peña, who has led the department since 2016, will be replaced by Tom Muñoz, who currently leads both the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Public Safety and Homeland Security office.

“Chief Muñoz is a strong leader dedicated to preparing and protecting Houstonians for emergencies,” Whitmire wrote in a Friday news release. “I believe he is the best emergency management coordinator in the country. He is experienced, knowledgeable, and widely respected. I have worked alongside him during the flooding in Kingwood, the derecho, Hurricane Beryl, and the winter freeze. I am confident that Chief Muñoz is the best person to lead the City’s fire department at this time.”

Muñoz called Whitmire a “no-nonsense leader who has supported our firefighters since day one.”

“I am committed to taking care of the residents of Houston, which must begin with taking care of the men and women of the Houston Fire Department,” Muñoz wrote in a Friday news release. “The work we do today will have a lasting impact for years to come, and I know that with this administration, we can improve the safety of all residents and future generations.”

The Houston Landing reported it as a firing. I’m sure the story will be gotten straight at some point. Either way, it is the Mayor’s prerogative to install the department heads they want, and the writing was on the wall regarding Chief Peña given the union’s dislike of him. New Chief Muñoz seems like a strong candidate and I’m sure he’ll do a good job. I wish him the best in the new gig, and I wish former Chief Peña all the best with whatever comes next. For more on the new chief see here, and for the reaction to the exit of the former chief see here.

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Memorial service information for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

From the Chronicle.

Monday: Jackson Lee will lie in state from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Houston City Hall, making the late congresswoman the second person to receive this honor. The first was Dr. Michael DeBakey, a heart surgeon, who died in 2008. Jackson Lee’s family will be at City Hall for a brief ceremony with Mayor John Whitmire and City Council members.

Tuesday: A viewing and remembrance event at God’s Grace Community Church, 9944 W. Montgomery Rd., Houston, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Wednesday: A viewing event at Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, 3826 Wheeler Ave., Houston, from 11 a.m. to 3p.m., and a community farewell and appreciation service, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Thursday: A celebration of life service at Fallbrook Church, 12512 Walters Rd, Houston, at 11 a.m.

All events will be live-streamed, according to the announcement.

I hope all events are well attended.

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There’s a coordinated statewide campaign? We can do that?

Who knew?

Colin Allred

U.S. Rep. Colin Allred and the Texas Democratic Party are launching a coordinated campaign to consolidate resources for races up and down the ticket, the party and Allred campaign announced Wednesday morning.

The initiative, dubbed “Texas Offense,” will allow candidates down the ballot to share data and information resources, letting different Democratic candidates better coordinate as they knock on doors, call voters and engage in other campaign activities. It’s the party’s first coordinated campaign of its kind focusing on the grassroots in over 20 years. Allred is running to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

“Throughout my football career at Baylor and the NFL, I’ve always played defense. But now, along with Texans from all across our state, we are fully on offense to beat Ted Cruz,” Allred said in a statement. “I am a fourth-generation Texan, and no matter what Ted Cruz says, this election is about giving 30 million Texans a Senator who will do the job for all of us. Our grassroots campaign of Texans is ready to win because we cannot afford six more years of Ted Cruz.”

“Texas Democrats are fired up and ready to beat Ted Cruz,” said Gilberto Hinojosa, chair of the Texas Democratic Party. “This is a historic partnership that will help galvanize grassroots excitement for Congressman Allred across our state. One conversation at a time, with Texans talking to Texans – we are going to send Ted Cruz packing.”

Having a coordinated campaign prevents duplicating outreach efforts by different Democratic candidates to the same audiences, said Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project.

“In Texas, that’s important because you got such a large diverse state,” Angle said. “You’ve got giant urban centers as well as significant suburban areas, and then you’ve got the rural parts of the state. And so having a framework for people who are coordinating to work efficiently is really important.”

The coordinated campaign does not allow candidates to share money across the board. Candidates for state office face restrictions in sharing financial resources with federal candidates.

Allred will officially unveil the initiative at a Houston rally on Sunday — 100 days before Election Day. Former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Amanda Zurawski, an Austin woman who sued Texas over its abortion restrictions and has since become a Democratic campaigner, will both be present.

[…]

The Democratic consolidation differs from past Democratic statewide campaigns, which were largely solo operations.

“Some candidates have done a better job than others in celebrating and bringing down ballot candidates along and uplifting them alongside what they are doing,” former state Sen. Wendy Davis, who led a widely watched but unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2014, said in an interview. Praising Allred, she added: “I feel like this coordinated effort is a true reflection of how he functions. He is a former football player. He is a team player to his core.”

Some Democratic campaigns for U.S. House have coordinated in the past. U.S. Rep. Martin Frost, a North Texas Democrat, coordinated with other candidates to turn out the Democratic vote in the 1990s, Angle said. But Angle said it was not on a statewide scale.

It’s always seemed like whatever the top-ticket statewide campaign was in a given year, they did their thing, and the next top-ticket statewide campaign that came along did their thing, with each one starting from scratch. Some were better than others at working with downballot candidates, as Wendy Davis says, but there was never any consistency and no continuity. Whatever happens this year, I hope at the end of it we have something to build on for the next election. I don’t know why it’s taken so long to get to this point, but better late that never.

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Another Paxton attempt to harass a migrant shelter halted by a judge

How much do you have to hate migrants to keep doing this?

A crook any way you look

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton cannot depose the leader of a McAllen migrant shelter, a Hidalgo County judge ruled Wednesday.

District Judge Bobby Flores’ decision shuts down attempts to compel the executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley to submit to questioning on the shelter’s operations.

An attorney for Catholic Charities, William Powell, said he hoped the ruling put an end to the attorney general’s investigation into the organization’s work.

“We would hope that at this point they’ve realized that Catholic Charities complies with the law in all the work they do,” Powell said.

In a statement after the ruling, executive director of Catholic Charities, Sister Norma Pimentel, said the organization would “always strive to fulfill its legal obligations” while continuing its mission.

The attorney general’s office did not respond to a request for an interview.

The attorney general’s office filed a petition to depose Catholic Charities last month, saying it was investigating whether the organization is illegally harboring migrants or illegally encouraging them to enter or remain in the country.

Catholic Charities, a nonprofit that provides food, shelter and other basic necessities to asylum seekers, people experiencing homelessness and others in need, said it has not violated any laws and the attorney general’s office has not presented any evidence to the contrary.

[…]

Catholic Charities argued that the attorney general’s office failed to show that there would be any benefit to the deposition.

“The petition represents a fishing expedition into a pond where no one has even seen a fish,” attorneys for Catholic Charities wrote in their response to the attorney general’s petition.

The attorney general’s office initially requested documents from Catholic Charities in April. Over the course of a few months, Catholic Charities turned over more than 100 pages of documents regarding how it hires and trains staff as well as its rules and procedures for admitting migrants, including required documentation, its process for applying for federal funds, and its relationship and communication with federal, state and local law enforcement.

The organization also submitted a sworn statement from Pimentel, its executive director, in which she responded to questions on operations, funding and communication with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The attorney general’s office, however, said the documents did not shed “meaningful light” into their operations and that Pimentel’s statement was non-responsive and evasive.

The parallels with Annunciation House are obvious. It is my sincere hope that Paxton is alienating some Catholic voters, but it’s too soon to tell about that. I first heard about this case when Paxton appealed the Annunciation House ruling to SCOTx. I don’t know any more about it than what I’m reading in the current stories, but you can count on Paxton to be maximally dickish and dishonest about this. This raises the stakes for the appeal on the Annunciation House case. He’s not going to stop until he’s forced to.

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Council approves Prop A rules

Finally.

On Wednesday, [Houston City Council] approved, in a 13-2 vote, a set of rules offering members two mechanisms to push forward their policy proposals.

Under the new rules, members can still directly request the administration place their proposals on the City Council agenda. Alternatively, they can go through a newly created Proposition A Committee and ask for an initial review before the item heads to the full council for consideration.

The committee pathway has in the past few months generated strong pushback from several council members, who said the additional step would create unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles and violate the spirit of the ballot measure.

“I don’t think the Prop A Committee is necessary because we have all these other committees that if something wanted to get referred to a committee, there’s a mechanism for that,” said Council Member Edward Pollard, who voted against the rules Wednesday.

He said a proposal he spearheaded sat in the committee for about three months because meetings were postponed due to weather or not enough members showed up to meet a quorum requirement.

[Mayor John] Whitmire said the committee structure would offer a chance for council members and department officials to workshop more complex proposals and for the public to offer input.

“Yes, three members can bring anything to council under Prop A,” the mayor said Wednesday. “But the financial consequences, the impact on one district versus another district need to be heard in a committee.”

To ease members’ concerns that their proposals might languish in the committee, Council Member Amy Peck on Wednesday successfully pushed through a change to the proposed rules before they were passed.

Per Peck’s amendment, if fewer than nine members show up to a Proposition A committee meeting, resulting in a lack of a quorum, the proposal can be resubmitted directly to the full council for a vote.

See here and here for the previous updates. I’m fine with this setup, it seems reasonable to me and tries to comply with the will of the voters. I’m curious if there will be a burst of pent-up Prop A activity now that this process has finally been determined and approved, or if there just wasn’t all that much demand (at this time, at least) for Council-pushed agenda items. We should learn soon enough. Houston Landing has more.

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Dispatches from Dallas, July 26 edition

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 Texans who are probably not going to be the VP candidate; the Dallas County Juvenile Justice Department blows up; the Star-Telegram has some questions for Tim O’Hare; the fire at politically-significant First Baptist Church; last fall’s Dallas County data breach; shenanigans at Fair Park claim its leader finally; what’s going on at Fort Worth ISD; NBC tells all about the would-be book-banners in Granbury; the vile folks at VDARE are about to go out of business thanks to the New York State Attorney General; another historical souvenir in an odd place thanks to Harlan Crow; the previous works by the architects designing the expansion of the Dallas Museum of Art; and zoo babies, even if they are scaly rather than fuzzy. And more.

This week’s post was brought to you by the music of Glass Animals, who are coming to town in September. I don’t have tickets yet but we’re considering it, hence the listening spree.

Let’s get right into it:

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Former Chief Finner says city is trying to bury HPD dropped cases issue

Explosive stuff, with a strong pushback from the Mayor.

Ever since Troy Finner suddenly retired in May, he has kept a low profile.

The former Houston police chief has declined to speak with most members of the media and, aside from a small retirement celebration, rarely appeared in public. Meanwhile, a massive internal investigation continues into the department’s suspension of more than 200,000 cases – a scandal Finner first went public with earlier this year that eventually led to his ouster.

But now, as city leadership prepares to name Finner’s permanent replacement, the 34-year veteran of HPD said he feels compelled to speak.

In a series of exclusive interviews with the Chronicle, Finner said he’s concerned that the city and police department are trying to bury the full details of a disturbing truth he aimed to expose: That the police department in the nation’s fourth-largest city had for almost a decade been routinely shelving investigations into serious criminal activity by labeling them with the code “Suspended – Lack of Personnel,” or “SL.”

“This failure is gonna come back and bite us,” Finner said. “And that’s what I was trying to prevent.”

When Finner was still chief, he pledged to confront the issue head-on. He launched a sprawling internal probe in February and released bi-weekly updates about its progress to the public. He also committed to releasing a full report of the department’s findings, at one point indicating that could happen in early May 2024, shortly before he left.

Finner is worried the department won’t keep those promises now that he’s gone. Updates have dried up, he pointed out. The commander of HPD’s internal affairs department has been reassigned to another division. And the report has yet to come out.

“Agencies all across the country are watching us,” he said. “This is our opportunity to do something and lead the way. So I’m proud to take the blows. But tell the whole story.”

In a brief interview Monday, Mayor John Whitmire rejected Finner’s concerns and insisted that the report would be released soon, though he did not commit to a firm date.

“It’s coming,” he said. “It will be comprehensive.”

The police department did not respond to requests for comment.

Ray Hunt, executive director of the Houston Police Officers’ Union, said he was disappointed Finner had chosen to speak out about the investigation before it was complete. He agreed with concerns that the department has reassigned its internal affairs commander, but otherwise said that Finner is wrong.

“Anyone who believes this is being swept under the rug, I think they’re mistaken,” he said. “HPOU will not allow that to happen, and I’m confident the mayor won’t allow that to happen.”

See here for the last update, in May, when the Mayor’s committee on the dropped cases issued its report to him and City Council. I assume this is the report Chief Finner is referring to, as it has not yet been made public. Be that as it may, whether by coincidence or not the Mayor soon gave a release date for the report.

Mayor John Whitmire said Wednesday that he planned to bring the final, comprehensive report on the Houston Police Department’s suspended cases scandal to city council next week.

In a prepared statement, Whitmire said he looked forward to presenting the report at Wednesday’s council meeting. His comments are the latest firm date the mayor has set for the report, which will provide details about the 264,000 cases suspended since 2016 using an internal code citing a lack of personnel.

The statement came hours after a Chronicle report detailing former Chief Troy Finner’s concerns that without a public discussion, the department might never grapple with the severity of the problem.

“Chief Finner’s comments don’t deserve a response because he knows the facts don’t support his statements,” Whitmire said. “I can’t say what motivated him to make such allegations, but I’m personally disappointed he has.”

Whitmire has pushed back the planned release of the report several times since Finner’s retirement.

OK then. I look forward to seeing the report and what it recommends. I’ll hold off on further comment for now.

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Class action lawsuit #3 filed against CenterPoint

Once, twice, three times a Beryl-related class action lawsuit related to CenterPoint’s failure to get the power back in a timely fashion.

Seen at I-10 and Sawyer

A firm representing 19 medical professionals and other business owners in Harris County filed a class action claim Monday against CenterPoint Energy, alleging the company’s response to Hurricane Beryl cost them millions of dollars.

The suit, the third class action brought against CenterPoint in the past week, was filed on behalf of beauty, health and wellness businesses in Harris County. The plaintiffs are suing for damages in excess of $100,000,000.

Representing the case are husband and wife duo Erica Rose and Charles Sanders of the personal injury practice Rose Sanders PLLC. Rose said they are not charging for their services, and have filed the case in the interest of bringing change to the Houston energy market.

“This is something I’m very passionate about,” Rose said Tuesday. “We’re not charging out clients anything up front. Many of the businesses we’re representing are run by women and other minorities and CenterPoint’s response to Beryl has left them in a pretty tough spot financially.”

At least three doctors and dentists are named as part of the suit. They argued CenterPoint’s failure to promptly restore service resulted in the loss of sensitive medical equipment and supplies. Property loss and other damages, the suit claimed, disproportionately impacted minority and women-owned businesses.

“This disruption likely will cause permanent irreparable harm to some of Houston’s most influential, devoted and successful business owners,” the plaintiffs’ original petition stated. “It had a disproportionate impact on doctors in the Asian community as well as other minority business owners and female doctors.”

The suit also claimed CenterPoint’s restoration efforts were hampered by logistical failures and mismanagement. The plaintiffs alleged company executives failed in their duty to adequately communicate with employees, and that a lack of clear guidance left many linemen waiting for hours or even days before they could begin repairs.

[…]

Rose and Sanders said they’ve been in communication with prominent Houston attorney and former mayoral candidate Tony Buzbee, who filed a similar case last week. Buzbee, who is representing restaurant owners impacted by the blackout, has worked informally with Sanders and Rose to direct clients to whichever case suits their business better, Rose said.

Another case was brought by Michael Fertitta, son of Rockets owner and Landry’s CEO Tilman Fertitta, representing Houston residents.

“Tony’s only doing restaurants, we’re focused more broadly on a larger class of businesses,” Rose said. “We send him any restaurants that contact us and he, likewise, reaches out if anyone contacts him that would be a better fit for our case.”

See here and here for the background. It’s nice that Rose and Sanders are working with Buzbee to make sure the right clients get to the right lawyers. Wouldn’t want to confuse things. What’s not so nice is that for the third straight article, not a single frickin’ lawyer or law professor is consulted to answer the basic questions about why these lawsuits are being filed as class action, what has to happen for them to be certified as class action (and what happens if they aren’t), what if any precedent exists for this type of lawsuit against a utility, and what the odds of success may be. We’re left to ponder it all for ourselves. On the plus side, we are told more of these lawsuits are coming, so there will be more opportunities to address those basic questions. Or not.

Posted in Hurricane Katrina, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Could Montgomery County replace CenterPoint?

We’ll see. I’m very skeptical, but I consider this to be an interesting test case of the proposition that CenterPoint’s service area could be reduced.

After Beryl wiped out power in the [Creekside Park] neighborhood and the county, officials within The Woodlands Township’s board of directors and Montgomery County are pushing to have Entergy Texas take over CenterPoint’s service area in The Woodlands.

Entergy Texas was not immediately available for comment.

Up to 75 percent of Montgomery County residents lost power during Beryl. And while both Entergy and CenterPoint both took more than a week to restore power to residents, Entergy had more consistent and accurate communication, The Woodlands Township board director Brad Bailey said.

“It’s not always what you want to hear, but Entergy is very good at saying, ‘We’re going to be out there between the hours of such and such, but we can’t give you a timeline that we’re going to be putting up,'” Bailey said. “The first time (CenterPoint) showed up in Creekside just to do eyes on what they’re dealing with was (July 12) at 5 p.m.”

CenterPoint had 75,000 outages in the county July 11 as Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough began pushing for more accurate updates from the electricity provider.

“Of 12 counties in their power grid, in all but two days, (Montgomery County was) the lowest in activations but the fourth largest in their power grid,” Keough said. “Our ability to communicate with Entergy was much greater (than CenterPoint,)…it was the hardest thing in the world to get to a decision maker.”

Keough said that he has begun working with legislators to see if portions of CenterPoint’s service area, including Sterling Ridge in Montgomery County and Creekside Park in Harris County, could eventually be serviced by Entergy.

“Your voice of wanting to do something in terms of breaking away from CenterPoint is a topic that is of discussion…but it is no small task,” Keough said. “If I had it my way….we’d want all of Montgomery County going over to (Entergy,)” Keough said.

Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to consider reducing CenterPoint’s service territory in greater Houston after Beryl “to make it smaller so maybe they can do a better job of managing it.” But the likelihood of the state diminishing CenterPoint’s territory is low, given the complexity of the undertaking, said Alison Silverstein, an independent consultant who previously worked as a senior adviser for both the PUC and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

See here for some background. Despite the reference to an expert in these matters, we still have no clear idea of what would actually need to happen for CenterPoint to be swapped out in some locations. How would it work? What are the obstacles – legal, regulatory, logistical, physical – that would need to be overcome? How long might it take? Why is an expert being name-checked if that expert is not quoted? I have no idea. As such, and until some evidence is given to the contrary, I see this all as empty threats.

And as a reminder and for what it’s worth, Entergy was the hated utility that failed to do its job and caused a lot of harm as a result back in the 90s. That was a long time ago and needn’t be a reflection on the company today, but it is a reminder that yesterday’s goat can be tomorrow’s hero. That they did a creditable job communicating about their outages is a good reason to look at them favorably, but that at least is something that even CenterPoint ought to be able to fix.

Posted in Hurricane Katrina | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Texas blog roundup for the week of July 22

The Texas Progressive Alliance mourns the passing of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Continue reading

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We are starting to hear some names in CD18

The first potential candidate to publicly acknowledge an interest in CD18 is former Mayor Sylvester Turner.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

Former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has confirmed with KHOU 11 News anchor Len Cannon that he is “seriously considering” a run for Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee’s seat after it was left vacant when she died Friday.

Jackson Lee died at the age of 74 after battling pancreatic cancer.

Turner told Cannon that only the passing of his friend at this critical junction in the election cycle would cause him to come out of retirement. He said that with all that’s happening at the national level, he believes the 18th Congressional seat needs stability and continuity.

Turner told KHOU 11 that he would make a decision in the coming days.

Turner, 69, served as mayor of Houston from Jan. 1, 2016, to Jan. 1, 2024. Prior to that, he served as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1989 to 2016.

He also had his own battle with cancer back in 2022, which he underwent treatment for.

See here for some background. An earlier story on Click2Houston mentioned another name:

“Those are big shoes to fill. I don’t think anyone can fill the shoes of the great Sheila Jackson Lee,” said State Representative Jarvis Johnson. Johnson confirmed his candidacy during a phone call on Monday afternoon with KPRC 2 Investigates Mario Diaz, adding, “Everybody else is going to play footsie; that is the difference with me.”

Johnson emphasized that the 18th District has had a “fighter” representing them in Washington D.C. for nearly thirty years, and he plans to continue that legacy.

As for why he’s running, Johnson said, “These are consequential times. This is one of the most important races in the country. Districts like the 18th have to excite the new generation of voters. I hope to invigorate the youth movement. I want to engage this district because I want to get more people to the polls to help the presidential race.”

Who else is in the mix? Democratic sources have confirmed that several well-known names are considering their options.

Former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is reportedly looking to make a run, with one source stating, “It’s a done deal.”

Thanks to Campos for that link. Given how vindictive Mayor Whitmire has been to his predecessor for the sin of having endorsed SJL in the Mayoral runoff, it would be pretty funny if Turner won this election. Not saying that’s what should happen or what will happen, just that I got a chuckle out of the thought.

I’m aware of some other names out there, but at this point it’s all speculation. As a precinct chair in CD18 and having gone though this before in 2016 for Commissioners Court, I will note that while anyone can say they’re running for the now-open Democratic nomination for CD18, one has to be nominated by one of the precinct chairs during the selection meeting in order to be considered. I’m sure both Mayor Turner and Rep. Johnson will be able to get a Chair to do that, I’m just noting this for the record. There were a couple of people in 2016 who said they were running for Commissioners Court Precinct 1 but did not get nominated by a Chair.

Couple other points to note. We precinct chairs had a call on Monday night to talk about the process. There will be a candidate forum – details to come – organized by Melanie Miles on August 10. We ought to get a reasonably clear idea of who is interested in this at that event, though I will note that some potential candidates, mostly current Houston City Council members, would be subject to “resign to run” if they announced themselves as candidates then. They might wait until the actual nomination meeting if they’re fully invested in pursuing this.

As to when that meeting will be, that is still to be determined. It will have to be before the DNC in Chicago because several precinct chairs will be travelling there. The most likely time for the nomination meeting is August 11-16, somewhere in there. I’ll let you know when I know.

UPDATE: More names from the Chron.

State Reps. Jolanda Jones and Jarvis Johnson are among the current elected officials that serve in districts overlapping with the late congresswoman’s district. Johnson announced Tuesday his bid for Jackson Lee’s seat.

“In light of her recent passing, we approach this announcement with utmost care and reverence for her legacy,” Johnson said. “Given the tight timeline — Democratic party decisions looming within a month — we must continue meeting the people’s needs.”

Bishop James Dixon, a longtime friend of Jackson Lee’s family whose church held a prayer vigil for the late congresswoman before her passing, told the Chronicle on Tuesday that many in his community have encouraged him to run for the seat. He said he is humbled by the possibility of continuing Jackson Lee’s legacy in the district and that he is “thinking about it very seriously and praying about it even more seriously.”

Former Houston City Councilmember Dwight Boykins, a district resident and friend of the late congresswoman, also confirmed his interest in the race on Tuesday. He said, however, that he does not yet wish to make an official announcement out of respect for Jackson Lee and her family.

“I think it’s inappropriate to be campaigning for her seat before she is buried, so I’m not going to do it,” Boykins said. “I owe her the respect to at least let her be laid to rest before I officially make any announcement.”

Edwards is among the other candidates potentially interested in the seat. She did not respond to requests for comment on whether she plans to re-enter the race.

Note that this doesn’t say that Rep. Jones is running, just that she’s a potential candidate. Also still in the “potential candidate” group is Amanda Edwards, and I have to say I’m a little surprised that we haven’t heard from her yet. It’s still early, but as noted above the timeline for this is very short.

UPDATE: “The meeting likely will take place Aug. 15 or 17, [HCDP Chair Mike] Doyle said, per the Houston Landing. No new names in that article.

UPDATE: The Trib weighs in, and brings a new name.

Among the declared and potential Democratic candidates are former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, state Rep. Jarvis Johnson and Houston Councilwoman Letitia Plummer. It was not immediately clear whether Amanda Edwards, who finished second in the district’s original primary last year, would seek the seat again.

[…]

Edwards, a former intern in Jackson Lee’s office, has not said whether she intends to seek the nomination.

Plummer, who holds an at-large seat on Houston’s city council, said she was interested in a bid but would wait for legal advice on whether the city’s policy of requiring council members to resign before seeking other offices would apply to the unusual nomination process in the House race. Resigning her seat without securing the nomination would be difficult, Plummer said, but added that this race is an “opportunity that will probably never come again.”

“Sheila Jackson Lee delivered, and you have to find an advocate and also have the relationships to deliver,” Plummer said. “Whoever takes that seat has to be able to know have to drive dollars from the federal government down to the city and the county.”

Now that her name is in print elsewhere, I will say that I had CM Plummer in mind when I mentioned candidates who might not want to be overt about their interest until the last minute. We’ll see what happens with her from here.

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Women affected by the abortion ban banding together

This story is equal parts heartwarming and rage-inducing.

One morning last spring, Hollie Cunningham’s father was drinking coffee and watching “Good Morning America” on his patio when he saw Austin Dennard, a Dallas-area OB-GYN, on the screen.

Through tears, Dennard described the devastation of having learned her pregnancy wasn’t viable. Then, she recounted the struggle of leaving Texas for an abortion the state wouldn’t allow.

It sounded all too familiar — it was the same situation Cunningham had faced just months earlier. Her father encouraged her to reach out to Dennard, and within hours, the two were on the phone, commiserating and sharing their stories.

In the two years since the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion protections and Texas began banning the procedure in nearly all instances, dozens of women have come forward to share their stories about being denied care in the face of dangerous pregnancies. Many, like Dennard, have joined litigation against the state, claiming the exceptions built into its abortion restrictions are too vague for physicians to intervene.

But they have also found each other, building connections around an increasingly shared trauma. Dennard and Cunningham, now close friends, for instance, are part of a group text with other women – most of them plaintiffs in the lawsuit Dennard is part of – where they share their challenges and advice, recommend medical specialists and discuss their grief and coping mechanisms.

“They are probably my biggest support group,” said Cunningham, 37, of the Dallas area. “Just connecting with others who had similar experiences reduces my feelings of isolation, and they are the only ones that truly know what it feels like mentally, physically, emotionally to go through what I did.”

Dr. Bhavik Kumar, medical director for primary and transgender care at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast in Houston, occasionally travels to perform abortions in states where it’s legal.

Kumar said in the last couple years he has seen on a more regular basis that patients are connecting with each other and opening up more in waiting rooms. He overhears that they’ll ask each other things like how far along they are or how far they had to travel to be there.

“The fact that folks sort of have to rely on each other to build this community and support one another, it’s unfortunate, but there’s also some beauty in that,” Kumar said. “While this is not the scenario we would have chosen for one another, it is something that I see happening in a way that wouldn’t have happened otherwise, especially on this scale.”

Read the rest. Dr. Dennard is a plaintiff in the Zurawski litigation; the story didn’t specify that and it got me to wondering if there were some other lawsuits that I had missed. If there are, I’m still missing them. Anyway, I’m glad these women have each other. I wish the reasons why they know each other were different, but here we are. I’m sadly certain their ranks will grow. I’m going to stop now before my head explodes.

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MLB to Austin?

It could happen.

[W]ith expansion teams on the horizon, the MLB believes that Austin is one of a few cities that has the potential to host a team. Exactly when the league may expand is a question that hasn’t been answered, but there are plenty of reasons why Texas could be in line for another professional baseball team.

[…]

Central Texas, specifically Austin, has been one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. With a city population closing in on one million and San Antonio an hour away, placing a team in the right spot could capture the fandoms of two cities starved for pro sports.

While the Rangers’ Triple AAA affiliate, the Round Rock Express, is in the north, Austin is one of the largest markets in the U.S. without an NFL, NBA, MLB, or NHL team. The Texas Longhorns and Austin FC dominate most of the area’s sports fans, but the long offseason of college football and the reach of the MLB compared to the MLS mean that there are still plenty of untapped markets in the city.

The Austin Baseball Commission, a new site that’s hoping to gain momentum in the MLB movement, cites Austin’s economic strength as another key advantage for the city. Also, the Austin Bats would have to be the name of the team, right? It makes too much sense.

Thus far, it seems that Nashville, Tennessee, Portland, Oregon and Salt Lake City, Utah would be the three cities with the most credible case for expansion over Austin, according to the Austin Baseball Commission.

Each of those cities has proven that they have the capability to support a pro sports team from the NHL or NBA, giving it a distinct advantage over Austin. Also, a team in Central Texas would still have to compete for national attention with the Rangers and Astros.

The Austin Baseball Commission website goes into more detail on the case for Austin, in case you’re curious. We’ve discussed the case for San Antonio, which is sometimes paired with Austin as an expansion co-location, the case for Salt Lake City, and the case for a second D/FW team. This seems like the most definitive statement I’ve seen that Austin is a real candidate for a team, and the first I’ve heard of an organization behind the effort. Doesn’t mean they’ll succeed, but it’s at least a credible showing. I’m sure there’s more in this Austin Business Journal story, which I found via Monday’s Hey Austin newsletter, but it’s paywalled, so this is what I’ve got.

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July 2024 campaign finance reports – Senate and Congress

I know there’s been a real firehose of news lately, but it’s July and that means it’s time to review campaign finance reports. This list will be a little smaller than the previous one as again there are fewer races of interest now. The April 2024 reports, where we could again combine the Senate and Congressional candidates, are here. The January reports for Senate are here, the October 2023 reports are here, the July 2023 reports here, and the April 2023 reports are here. The January reports for Congress are here, and the October 2023 reports are here. The earlier reports had both Senate and Congress, as the fields were small enough then to do them together.

Colin Allred – Senate

Sandeep Srivastava – CD03
John Love – CD06
Michelle Vallejo – CD15
Sheila Jackson Lee – CD18
Amanda Edwards – CD18
Kristin Hook – CD21
Sam Eppler – CD24
Melissa McDonough – CD38


Dist  Name             Raised      Spent    Loans    On Hand
============================================================
Sen   Allred       38,433,747 27,983,265        0 10,450,482

03    Srivastava      308,779    290,585  543,233     21,786
06    Love             93,405     84,082        0      9,976
15    Vallejo       1,341,298    671,740  100,000    682,275
18    Jackson Lee     546,872    893,651    4,906     22,130
18    Edwards       1,626,347  1,626,205        0        142
21    Hook            279,387     61,938    2,170    217,449
24    Eppler          707,569    499,476        0    208,093
38    McDonough       143,310    130,374  107,415     14,716

Colin Allred keeps on raising a ton of money, and stays ahead of Beto’s pace from 2018. He also keeps on spending money, which keeps his cash on hand total stationary. Indeed, though he outraised Ted Cruz again, Cruz now has more cash on hand. Not a big deal, certainly not as long as he can keep this up, but noted for the record.

I’ve taken Rep. Lizzie Fletcher and Pervez Agwan from CD07 and Michelle Johnson from CD32 off the report, as there’s not much of interest in those spots anymore. As noted in April, Agwan was still raising money to retire his debt. He succeeded, raising and spending over $1.7 million for the result he achieved. Also as noted in April, he’s disappeared from the scene. It is what it is.

I had thought that I could also retire CD18 from this list, but the death of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee re-casts the spotlight here. As I said before, I don’t want to speculate about who might be interested in being the new candidate in CD18, but for obvious reasons Amanda Edwards will be in the conversation. The precinct chair process for picking a new nominee isn’t exactly expensive, but if one wants to publicize one’s candidacy, even to such a limited audience, it takes resources. Edwards doesn’t have any cash remaining in her Congressional account, so she doesn’t have that advantage going in, if indeed she intends to enter. I feel icky talking about all this now, but this process will move quickly once it gets started, so for better or worse here we are.

As for Rep. Jackson Lee, the remaining cash in her account will need to be reimbursed, spent on some limited items, donated to charity, or contributed to other campaigns or PACs within a couple of years.

There’s a new name among the other candidates, Dr. Kristin Hook, who is running against the odious toadstool Chip Roy in CD21. This district is not particularly competitive thanks to the 2021 redistricting, but Dr. Hook (and let’s face it, that’s a Grade A name) has raised a more than respectable amount of money, and that gets her on the list. I wish her all the best in her endeavor.

Beyond that, Michelle Vallejo and Sam Eppler are doing what you’d want them to be doing in the two biggest target districts, while Sandeep Srivastava barely collected $15K this past quarter. We need to figure out a better way to ensure candidates in even these marginally viable districts can get the resources they need, and also make sure we’re finding and supporting the candidates who can help make that happen for themselves. That’s an exercise for another time. I’ll have more of these reports soon.

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Another Tuesday Beryl roundup

Hurricane Beryl killed at least 22 people in the Houston area. More than half were heat-related deaths.

Hurricane Beryl claimed at least 22 lives in the Houston area. Recent additions to the list include 11 people who died from hyperthermia, or overheating, after sitting without power for days in homes pummeled by a feverish Texas summer. At the height of the outages, CenterPoint, Houston’s main power distributor, had over 2.26 million customers with no electricity. When Cox died three days after the storm hit, over a million were still waiting on a fix.

Beryl’s official death toll will likely continue to climb, but experts said the final number is expected to have major gaps, especially among those found dead in powerless buildings with triple-digit temperatures.

“The count of people dying from heat-related illness is underestimated,” said Dr. Sadeer Al-Kindi, a cardiologist at Houston Methodist who has researched environmental health.

“Especially when people pass away at home. Even if you do an autopsy, there are no specific characteristics that you would find on an autopsy that would link to heat,” he said.

Instead, high temperatures cause victims’ organs to fail faster, and medical examiners often list a person’s cause of death as the liver failure, kidney failure or heart attack they can see, rather than the hyperthermia they cannot. Though Houston officials have kept tabs on Beryl losses, any “natural deaths” not filed as heat-triggered remain uncounted.

[…]

Data from heatstroke patients who have been treated since Hurricane Beryl offer a sense of proportion that death counts could be missing. In the days after the storm, the Houston Health Department tracked heat-related visits to area medical providers and saw that they ballooned to almost 3½ times the previous week’s tally.

Even before Beryl marked Houston’s second days-long power outage this year — a straight-line storm, or derecho, was the first culprit, in May — Texas’ heat death counts were on the rise. Data from the Department of State Health Services shows that at least 362 Texans died from the heat in 2023, the third record-breaking tally in as many years.

“We’re in this new climate right now. And all we know is it’s getting more unpredictable, more chaotic and hotter,” said Jeff Goodell, Austin-based author of “The Heat Will Kill You First.” Goodell said he thinks we’ll never know the full number of lives Beryl took because the heat death tallies we have now in the state are “the vaguest kind of guesses.”

I feel like we encountered a similar issue following the 2021 winter freeze, but that comparison wasn’t explored in this story. For obvious reasons, this is going to be a bigger problem going forward. Both the city and the county, as well as numerous private organizations, had cooling centers for people who needed them, but those people needed to know about them and be able to get to them. I don’t know what a good solution for this is, but surely making this part of the grid more resilient is on the menu, to reduce the number of people affected and the length of time power is out.

‘We were better prepared than ever’: John Whitmire defends Houston preparations for Hurricane Beryl.

Mayor John Whitmire and leaders of various first responder departments pushed back against claims the City of Houston was unprepared for Hurricane Beryl, which hit the city nearly two weeks ago as a Category 1 storm and left millions without power.

Whitmire said he called Sunday’s news conference at the Office of Emergency Management building to address what he said were comments by Council Member Edward Pollard that lives could’ve been saved if the city had been better prepared. Whitmire said the comments were made in news stories honoring Russell Richardson, a civilian employee of the Houston Police Department who was found dead in a car submerged in floodwaters near City Hall.

“I don’t know if Councilman Pollard got us confused with CenterPoint and their preparation,” Whitmire said, referencing CenterPoint Energy, the Houston-area electric utility under fire for the widespread power outages. “We were better prepared than ever, and to claim otherwise, it’s either dishonest or misinformed or both.”

Mary Benton, chief of communications for the mayor’s office, said after the news conference that Whitmire was referencing an ABC13 news story remembering Richardson. It included a clip of Pollard saying: “We were not fully mobilized. We were having our officers come in on the day of the storm, on the morning of the storm, putting those lives at risk.”

Pollard said his comments in the ABC13 story weren’t in response to questions about Richardson’s death but rather about city preparations. In an email statement, Pollard said his heartfelt condolences go out to Richardson’s family. Pollard said he hasn’t cast blame on any individual and has the “utmost respect” for first responders.

“It is deeply disheartening to see our city resort to a press conference aimed at smearing me politically. My comments were solely focused on the logistics of mobilizing our officers a day earlier to ensure their safety and readiness before Hurricane Beryl hit,” Pollard said.

Honestly, I have no particular complaint with the city’s response to Beryl. I agree that CenterPoint was the big problem. The Mayor has said he plans to hold them accountable. It’s not clear to me what he has the power to do, but I look forward to seeing what he has in mind.

Not directly related to Beryl, but on the subject of excessive heat and the danger it represents, there’s this: A federal utility assistance program favors cold-weather states, giving less money to hot places like Texas.

Air conditioning is increasingly necessary to keep homes at safe temperatures during the summer — especially in states like Texas, where temperatures can exceed 100 degrees for weeks on end. That creates dangerous situations as electric bills overwhelm low-income households’ budgets.

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is the federal government’s answer to that, helping people keep the heat on in winter and the AC running in the summer.

But the program’s funding formula favors cold-weather climates. Advocates and researchers say that funding for LIHEAP, administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, should be increased to address the impacts of climate change and better reflect the need in hot states like Texas, Florida and Arizona.

LIHEAP, which also provides funding for weatherization to make homes more energy efficient and crisis assistance for households at imminent risk of being disconnected, was first conceived to address the rising cost of fuel oil for heating coming out of the energy crisis in the 1970s and early 1980s. Today, the program covers only 7.6% of low-income residents’ total heating and cooling costs in Texas, compared to nearly 23% of total costs in a northern state like Minnesota, according to an analysis by Grace Jensen at Georgetown University.

A Duke University study found that only 5% of program funds were used for cooling assistance nationwide between 2001 and 2019. Half went to heating.

“You have a program that was stamped in time during a crisis 40 years ago that hasn’t been revisited in this current moment of climate change and extreme heat,” said Diana Hernandez, a sociologist at Columbia University who studies energy insecurity in low-income communities. “It’s really to the detriment of people that endure extreme temperatures but don’t have the safety net to support them through those hard times.”

LIHEAP, launched in 1981, at first distributed money in part based on how often a state experienced cold weather. That changed several years later after senators urged Congress to rethink the calculation.

Even so, distribution of funds still disadvantages hot states because it averages cold and hot days over a 30-year period, which doesn’t reflect how quickly the planet is warming now.

“The rules haven’t caught up with the change in temperature,” said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association.

Many states provide supplemental funding to help close the gaps. Others, like Texas, do not. “The lack of federal funding is amplified,” Wolfe said.

Of course we don’t. I don’t know how much of this could help in power outage situations, but plenty of folks need assistance in normal times too, even more so with temperatures rising. Congress and the Legislature need to get on this.

After Beryl, Houstonians rush to rescue injured and abandoned wildlife left by the storm.

Almost immediately after Beryl tore through Houston, leaving a path of torn-up trees and battered homes and more than 2 million homes and businesses without power, the Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals faced a day-long line of Houstonians with injured wildlife at its center just north of Memorial Park. The storm had knocked hundreds of baby birds from their nests, separated week-old opossums from their mothers and destroyed the habitat of many others.

Normally, the intake at the SPCA is about 40 to 50 animals a day. A day after the day after the storm, that figure surpassed 700. By week’s end, some 1,800 animals had come through the doors.

More than a week later, [Brooke Yahney, director of wildlife at the Houston SPCA] and others still are caring for hundreds of animals.

“We were moving so fast,” Yahney said. “It was hard to really think about it, but we’d take an animal in, triage to see what it needed, settle it down and then repeat.”

Extreme weather, such Hurricane Beryl, can have an immense impact on wildlife in the Houston area, according to the National Wildlife Federation. Hurricanes destroy coastal and green habitats, displace wildlife and increase human and animal conflict.

Usually, wildlife is able to bounce back from drought, flooding or storms. However, as hurricanes and other extreme weather events become more intense or frequent due to climate change, increased habitat destruction and displacement could leave wildlife struggling to rebound.

The intake level is back to normal now, thankfully. There are some nice animal pictures in the story if you want to see them.

Finally, do you wonder if your neighborhood is unlucky with power outages? Well, this story with maps about the problem areas that CenterPoint has will either ease your worries or send you into a state of rage. Click carefully. My neighborhood is fine, but there’s a significant swath of the Heights that isn’t. See for yourself.

Posted in Hurricane Katrina | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Brace yourselves for the 2028 RNC in Houston

Just a reminder, this is looming in our future.

Houston isn’t taking any chances.

As host of the next Republican National Convention in 2028, the city has dispatched teams to Milwaukee this week to get a handle on how to prepare for the crush of visitors, intense security and traffic that comes with hosting what is the biggest political gathering for the GOP in the nation.

Since Friday, officials from the city have been taking note of the security logistics and overall operations to try and see what is working and what they might have to do differently when the convention comes to Texas, bringing with it 50,000 visitors and an estimated $200 million economic impact.

“It’s an invaluable amount of time we are able to spend so we can assure 2028 the best convention that the Republicans have ever hosted,” said Michael Heckman of Houston First Corporation, city’s destination marketing organization.

While Houston has plenty of experience hosting big conventions and sporting events, the intense security measures over a week make hosting a national convention a different challenge.

Wisconsin County Executive David Crowley said about 4 square miles of downtown Milwaukee has been completely blocked off to residents. Military grade barriers and law enforcement-manned checkpoints strictly control all access in and out of the downtown.

“Making sure that this is secure is probably the biggest logistical thing you have to deal with,” Crowley said.

See here for the previous entry. My advice remains the same, avoid at all costs. I feel bad for the shops and restaurants that will be inside the security perimeter, as they will get hosed by that restriction, but I feel worse for the rest of us.

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston, The making of the President | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

President Biden drops out of 2024 race

I think we all were expecting this to happen at some point. It was still quite the jolt to see the first breaking news alert on a Sunday afternoon. Lots of people had their weekends cut short. One of my first reactions was a generalized plea to the universe to live in a slightly less consequential time. I don’t think I’m going to get that wish.

Anyway. You can read all you want about this elsewhere. I join President Biden in endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor on the ballot, and hopefully for the next four years. If we’re going to do this, let’s get it done.

And because I’m sure you’re wondering about this:

The Texas election code states that the Texas Secretary of State can certify a political party’s replacement nominee for president or vice president if the original nominee withdraws, dies or is declared ineligible by the 74th day before the presidential election day, which is Aug. 23 this year, if the party’s state chair submits the replacement nominee no later than 5 p.m. of the 71st day before the election day, which is Aug. 26.

This means if Biden drops out of the presidential race against Donald Trump, the Democratic Party could select a new nominee during its national convention Aug. 19-22 just in time for the nominee to appear on the Texas ballot.

A timely article, that one. I’m happy to be part of the process to pick a nominee in CD18, but that’s way above my pay grade. Let’s get this done and get back to focusing on the main issue, which is beating that other guy. We all have our work to do to make that happen.

Posted in Election 2024, The making of the President | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

What happens now in CD18

The Chron is already raising the question.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

Under state law, the Harris County Democratic Party’s executive committee will have until Aug. 26 to nominate a candidate to run in the Nov. 5 general election.

If the committee does not choose a candidate in time, then the Texas Democratic Party would have two days, or until Aug. 28, to make the choice.

Chad Dunn, a lawyer for the Texas Democratic Party, said state party rules advise that, if possible, there should be at least 10 days from the creation of the vacancy before a meeting is called.

County executive committees will sometimes create an informal filing period, or they may create a survey for candidates to fill out, or they may notice the meeting and ask the candidates to show up in person and make their pitch in front of the committee, Dunn said.

The relevant law is here. It’s the same as it was when then-Commissioner El Franco Lee died in 2016, with the Democratic precinct chairs in Precinct 1 – a group that includes me – picking a new nominee for the office, as he had been up for election that year. Given that, I expect it will be more or less the same this time around, with the precinct chairs of CD18 – again, a group that includes me – convening sometime between now and August 26 to name a nominee for November.

I don’t care to speculate beyond that at this time. I’m sure there are plenty of people who will be interested in being that nominee, and I’m equally sure it won’t be long before the first announcement of such interest appears in my mailbox. I’ll let you know when that happens and as we proceed.

As the story notes, there should also be a special election to fill out the remainder of Rep. Jackson Lee’s term. Greg Abbott has the discretion to call that election and set the date for it. I don’t know when that might be – it could be in September, it could be on Election Day. Assuming we have a nominee for November, that person ought to be the clear frontrunner, but strange things can happen. The Trib has more.

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Behold the US High Speed Rail map

May I live long enough to see this happen.

The U.S. High Speed Rail Association (USHSR) published a map outlining its proposal for a new 17,000-mile national high-speed rail network across the United States, which it claims will “cut our carbon footprint by epic proportions.”

Under the plan, which the USHSR proposes to build in four stages, it would be possible to travel between Seattle, Washington; San Diego, California; Miami, Florida; and Boston, Massachusetts, entirely on 220-mile-per-hour high-speed rail lines.

The past few years have seen a renaissance in high-speed rail interest across the United States, following decades of little activity. A number of lines are either proposed or under construction. Integrated high-speed rail networks already exist across much of Western Europe, Japan, and China, which, according to Statista, had a 25,000-mile-long network in 2021.

The first stage of the new network proposed by the USHSR would see construction focused around seven regions, including lines connecting Dallas to San Antonio and Houston, Chicago to Minneapolis and Detroit, and New York City to Washington, D.C.

This stage includes the completion of the California High-Speed Rail, a line already under construction that is intended to run between San Francisco and Los Angeles. It also proposes a line linking Las Vegas, Nevada, to Los Angeles, similar to a line currently being built that will connect Las Vegas to southern California.

Also incorporated into this stage are plans to build a new high-speed rail line connecting Houston and Dallas in Texas, which President Biden endorsed in principle in April but has yet to receive full approval. Planning is also underway on a high-speed rail line linking Dallas to Fort Worth, though details remain vague at this stage.

The second stage of the USHSR’s plan would extend the lines built in the first stage, with the northeast corridor line going all the way up to Boston and Charlotte, North Carolina. The Texas line would be extended to the east and north via New Orleans and Nashville, linking up with the network built in the first stage around Chicago.

[…]

Speaking to Newsweek about the plan, Andy Kunz, CEO of the USHSR, said: “The Obama-Biden Administration set a goal of giving 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail within 25 years. Such nationwide access remains our goal.”

The last mention I have of the U.S. High Speed Rail Association is back in 2015. There was a lot of train-based optimism in the early days of the Obama presidency, then there was the 2010 election and pretty much everything came to a screeching halt. I can only imagine where things might be if we had started building some of this stuff 15 years ago, but if I go too far down that rabbit hole I will also start thinking about the Universities line and what could have been here, and I don’t need that kind of black cloud today. Suffice it to say that if the USHSR comes anywhere close to that 25-year goal, it will be a miracle and a wonderful accomplishment.

Two additional notes: One, while there’s a Dallas-San Antonio line proposed for Phase 1 of this project, I’m not aware of any serious effort to make it happen as yet. The idea gets noted in the occasional story, but if there’s an actual entity working on it, it has escaped my notice. And two, building a line from Houston to New Orleans makes at least as much sense as Houston to Dallas. Too far to drive comfortably, yet a hassle to fly, whereas a train ride at that speed would make a day trip very doable. If I’m gonna dream about this stuff, I’ll put that on the list.

On a related note, if we are going to try to build some high speed rail, let’s do it right.

In that context, the NYU researchers argue, now is the time to adopt some best practices. For example: Washington should make sure that all American high-speed rail projects are designed with the same standards and equipment, rather than letting each state or company reinvent the rolling stock. With compatible trains, tracks, and wiring, these nascent projects may one day connect to form a national network. States may be laboratories of democracy, but they do not need to be laboratories of high-speed rail technology.

Otherwise we’ll end up repeating the mistake of railroads in the American South, which in 1886 had to move all their tracks three inches closer together to be linked with the more developed northern network. A more modern-day debacle along those lines is CalTrain, which pursued a signaling system at great expense that was incompatible with the future California High-Speed Rail project, which may one day connect San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Standardization has another benefit. Currently, it’s hard for railroads to buy things like trains in the U.S., since the market is too small to support domestic suppliers. The nation’s various high-speed projects could catalyze a domestic industry by all buying the same stuff.

For that to happen, explains Eric Goldwyn, one of the report’s authors, Washington must take the lead on planning American high-speed rail. No other country has built this infrastructure without a coordinated, national approach that can impose standards, supply funding, and concentrate expertise. “We don’t need more maps. That is not our problem,” Goldwyn says. “What we need is someone who has the power to translate map into steel and concrete—a five- and 10-year plan with funding and someone saying what’s happening.”

National leadership could do other things, too, like spearhead workforce development and university programs to deepen the talent pool for HSR development and operations, and forge connections with companies. Who among us had the chance to take High-Speed Rail Engineering in college?

With a bank of rail experts in Washington and universities churning out grads with relevant skills, individual projects could reduce their reliance on consultants and do more work in-house. (This was also a recommendation of a previous Transit Costs Project study about local mass transit.) To take a related example, for the price of one consultant contract to study whether to put trash in garbage bins or not, you could hire 10 in-house experts for four years to create a culture of trash expertise at the heart of local government.

Finally, the report suggests, the U.S. should reform the way big infrastructure projects get planned and permitted—also a hot topic at the moment for transmission lines, solar farms, and wind farms. Most rail projects in the U.S., for example, spend most of their planning phase trying to overcome federal environmental review, rather than paying attention to non-environmental planning basics like relocating underground utilities and buying land. This winds up costing them later, when they need to study everything all over again, and in some cases change plans entirely.

Similarly, fear of litigation can force infrastructure planners to submit more than a dozen detailed routes for some sections in order to show that they have studied all possible alternatives. Imagine the time and expense of doing that for a home improvement project. Now imagine doing it for 300 miles of trains running at 220 miles per hour.

This is the cited report. There’s only one way to get this stuff, and that’s an all-Democratic federal government. (Well, that and federal court reform too, which again as long as I’m dreaming I may as well include.) The 2024 election is about a lot of important things. This is not high on the list of them. But it’s there, and this is how we get it. Take it from there.

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

Weekend link dump for July 21

“Utah’s Republican Governor Spencer Cox has said he won’t vote for Donald Trump in November”.

“Why Abortion Bans Keep Getting Passed, Even Though They’re Unpopular”.

Softball will once again be an Olympic sport in 2028, when the Games are in Los Angeles. The softball games, however, will be in Oklahoma City.

Here’s another story about the abandoned hippos of former Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, the havoc they have been wreaking, and the increasingly desperate attempts to control their population.

RIP, Jacoby Jones, former wide receiver for three NFL teams including the Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens, with whom he won a Super Bowl.

RIP, Ken Hoffman, longtime Houston culture and food writer and radio personality. His “Drive-Thru Gourmet” reviews of fast food offerings were always fun to read. There’s no one in the local media landscape like him. He will be missed.

RIP, James B. Sikking, actor best known for Hill Street Blues and Doogie Howser, MD.

“But Murray lived in an era of Jim Crow and legalized ethnic terror, and “Mother Maria” lived in Nazi-occupied France. If they could find the courage to live and act in hope, rejecting violence and despair, then perhaps so can we.”

“Alec Baldwin Trial Ends On ‘Technicality’ Also Known As ‘Basic Constitutional Rights‘”.

“The Teamsters are sending a shot across the bow, warning that they remain “far apart” in talks with the studios with less than three weeks to go before their contract expires.”

On the plus side, IATSE has ratified a new three-year deal.

“If you can’t take in this nonsense and say, nope, I’m going to head straight to Milwaukee and make the case against this dangerous degenerate, then you just need to resign or get out of the way and make room for someone who can. No complaining, no whining. Act.”

RIP, Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, former NBA player and WNBA coach, father of Kobe Bryant.

That Ingrid Andress National Anthem was pretty wretched, wasn’t it? Didn’t start out all that bad, but I couldn’t listen to it all the way through. Too much secondary embarrassment on her behalf. Anyway, that led me to this list of great National Anthem performances. The 1943 Duke Ellington one was a treat – I loved the snappy tempo (it came in at under a minute!) and the arrangement. I just can’t believe there’s no recordings of Grover Washington doing one of his legendary renditions.

RIP, Bob Newhart, legendary comedian and actor whose classic The Button Down Mind of Bob Newhart album was recorded right here in Houston, at the now-defunct Tidelands club.

Also, Lou Dobbs has died.

“A new proposal to start the women’s [college] basketball season days earlier than the men’s season could amplify the growing spotlight on the women’s game.”

“Vance was one of only eight Republican senators willing to go this hard for menstrual surveillance by state law enforcement agencies. The other 20 signatories are members of the House and a quick review of the names shows they are mostly hardcore Freedom Caucus types. But think about it: even in the House GOP caucus, they could only get 20 people to sign this thing. That’s how extreme it is. But JD Vance signed.”

RIP, Abner Haynes, AFL MVP running back for the Dallas Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, and others. He also overcame an infamous coin toss error in the 1962 AFL Championship Game.

Happy third anniversary to Nowhere Bookshop.

“One emerging theory by investigators, based in part on the timing and subjects of his online searches, is that the shooter was looking to carry out a mass shooting and that the Trump event’s proximity and timing offered the most ready opportunity.”

Congratulations to Brittney and Cherelle Griner on the birth of their son.

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged | 1 Comment

RIP, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

Very sad news.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a towering political figure in Houston for decades and one of the longest-serving members in Congress, died Friday. She was 74.

Earlier this year, Jackson Lee had announced that she’d been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She had been in remission for over a decade from breast cancer.

Often a gusty public speaker with a driving work ethic, Jackson Lee appeared at countless community meetings, funerals and official and unofficial events in her district each week. But she had curtailed public appearances in recent weeks and looked frail at the few recent events she attended.

“Today, with incredible grief for our loss yet deep gratitude for the life she shared with us, we announce the passing of United States Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of the 18th Congressional District of Texas,” her family wrote in a statement. “A fierce champion of the people, she was affectionately and simply known as ‘Congresswoman’ by her constituents in recognition of her near-ubiquitous presence and service to their daily lives for more than 30 years.”

Jackson Lee was waging a reelection battle in the Democratic stronghold where she was first elected in 1994, cementing her status as a relentless campaigner who logged commanding back-to-back wins.

She became known as a fierce advocate for women and people of color, her House floor speeches and her zeal to use the media to get her message out. Hardly a week went by in which she wasn’t on a local TV station or stepping to the microphone at any number of events or news conferences.

Most recently, she’d lent her support to a federal version of the CROWN Act, aimed at ending discrimination based on hairstyles favored by people of color.

Jackson Lee gained a reputation as a demanding boss who sometimes could be tough on staff, brought to light most recently after a recording of a politically damaging exchange with a low-level staffer surfaced during her unsuccessful mayoral campaign last year.

After her mayoral loss to state Sen. John Whitmire, Jackson Lee changed course and announced she’d run for her congressional seat again. She was poised to secure a 15th term in office this fall after achieving a decisive victory in the March primary against upstart challenger Amanda Edwards.

Former Mayor Sylvester Turner said Friday night that what made Jackson Lee “truly exceptional” was “her uncanny ability to be everywhere, working every day for those who needed a champion.”

“Even if you disagreed with her politics, you had to respect her work ethic,” Turner said. “We can honestly say Sheila Jackson Lee left it all on the field.”

There’s a ton of coverage on this, and I’ll link to some at the end of this post. There are many tributes to Rep. Jackson Lee on social media as well, and most of the ones I’ve seen on Facebook include a photo of her with the person posting about her. That’s who Rep. Jackson Lee was, she was of the district, and she was there for the people she represented. I was running errands yesterday with Audrey, who brought up Rep. Jackson Lee’s death. I told her that she had been my Representative in Congress for almost 30 years, that she worked tirelessly for the district and her constituents, and that it was a little disconcerting for me to think about not having her as my Representative any more.

One of the criticisms you hear sometimes about long-term elected officials – “career politicians”, said with a snarl of contempt – is that they lost touch with the people that elected them. That was the exact opposite of the case with Sheila Jackson Lee. I’ve talked to a lot of people about her and what might happen after we got the news of her cancer diagnosis, and the thing everyone said in our conversations was that she was always there. Community meetings, school events, political rallies and parades and protests and celebrations, funerals and disaster recovery efforts, she was there. Here’s a couple of Twitter posts to illustrate:

Those are all reporters, not political allies. There’s so much more that could be said, and I hope we get a good and proper biography of her in the near future. Speaking as a longtime constituent, she was one of a kind and will truly be missed. Rest in peace, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. Here’s additional coverage from the Chron, and the Associated Press, the Trib, Houston Landing, Reform Austin, and the Press have more.

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

No more “CenterPointLe$$”

We’ll always have the memes.

No longer seen at I-10 and Sawyer

Drivers passing by the I-10 West freeway will no longer see the “CenterPointLe$$” graffiti tag.

Friday morning, city workers removed the words aimed at the utility company’s response to Beryl — a hurricane that left more than 2 million customers without power last Monday. Mayor John Whitmire’s office did not immediate respond to request for comment.

By midday Friday, CenterPoint Energy’s outage map showed less than 4,000 customers without power, restoring about 99% of its consumers’ power.

Not a word about why it was removed? I mean sure, it was graffiti, in particular graffiti in a dangerous-to-reach place, and the city is correct to want to discourage people from mimicking that (though that didn’t seem to stop the “Be Someone” tag). But did they have to rush? I guess the point was made, and now we move on. Whoever did the original artwork, I salute you.

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston, Hurricane Katrina | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on No more “CenterPointLe$$”