Dispatches from Dallas, January 3 edition

Posted on January 3, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This is a weekly feature produced by my friend Ginger. Let us know what you think.

This week, in news from Dallas-Fort Worth, we have the tail end of 2024 and looks forward into 2025. In addition to the big Kay Granger story that wasn’t at all what you initially heard, there are: updates on bills filed in the Legislature; the Texas convicts whose sentences were commuted by President Biden; the Dallas City Manager search (sigh); yet another death at the Tarrant County Jail; the Dallas County Juvenile Board picks a a new leader in secret; churches and the politics of building new facilities in Fort Worth and Fairview; and local star St. Vincent played my neighborhood taqueria and I missed it! And more.

This week’s post was brought to you by more of NPR Music’s 124 Best Songs of 2024. I realize at my age, I’m not hip to what the kids like, but there’s sure a lot of music I’ve never heard. And it’s not just the move from guitar rock to hip-hop and rap; it’s also the move to foreign-language music, particularly, but not just, Spanish. I have a lot to investigate in 2025.

Let’s start with the biggest story of the last two weeks: the kerfuffle about Kay Granger, who ended her term as a Congresswoman with the end of the year. Our host hit the high points, but of course it’s gotten a lot more coverage in the Metroplex. The gist is Granger, who now suffers from early-stage dementia, stopped voting in late July (note that Congress has been in recess most of the fall to campaign for the November election) and has moved into a ritzy senior residence in Fort Worth, which the Express incorrectly alleged was a dementia care unit. Granger had already withdrawn from the primary before it took place in March–you may remember the last-minute entry and the reshuffle of several local primaries as folks dropped one to move to a new one that was suddenly open–and resigned from the Appropriations Committee, but she was still able to make it to DC as late as November, when she was honored for her work in Congress. See the Star-Telegram; the Dallas Morning News; Axios; the Fort Worth Report; and the Texas Tribune. Some of these were linked in our host’s post; I add them here for completeness.

All of the early stories spring from the Dallas Express, which, as our host notes, has been covered by the Texas Observer here. More recently, we’ve looked at this article about the Express and its owner, Monty Bennett, who’s behind Props S, T, U, the three really terrible charter amendments on the city ballot here in Dallas. (S and U passed; T failed.) My initial speculations on why the Express was going after Granger were all wrong, but I did find out while chasing the tail of this issue that Chris Putnam, the editor of the Dallas Express (mentioned in this D Magazine post about the HERO campaign because I won’t link to the Dallas Express on principle) ran against Granger in the 2020 Republican primary as documented on Ballotpedia (scroll down). Given the tendency of the Express to gin up trouble for its perceived enemies, I’m not surprised to see a potential grudge in the mix.

There’s been local pushback in Fort Worth on the story. One of Fort Worth’s city council members wrote a valedictory farewell for Granger. There’s also a piece on her impact on the city over her decades in Congress. And her successor, who is being sworn in on January 3, so probably as you read this post, also, unsurprisingly, had hugely complimentary things to say. And, as this recent CBS story notes, because she was still officially in Congress, her office could continue to help constituents. But the real story here is, as the Dallas Observer notes, a lot of our Texas representatives are OLD, and the same is true nationwide. And this is on both sides of the aisle: Lloyd Doggett, who was my representative my last few years in Austin, is only a few months younger than Donald Trump and I’ve wondered whether he was going to leave Congress by retiring or by being carried out. Obviously it’s too late to consider this for 2024, but it’s something people ought to consider for the next election cycle. Doggett and Trump are at the upper end of the Boomers and Granger is either at the tippy top of the Boomers or the very bottom of the Silent Generation; folks in that age group need to retire. I personally think they’re going to be pushed out by millennials and not my generation (X) for demographic reasons. I also think it’s going to take a while to happen if the kids do it at all, but I look forward to them coming in and hopefully bringing some fresh perspectives.

In other news:

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The Kansas experience with requiring proof of citizenship to vote

Posted on January 2, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Also not good.

Still the only voter ID anyone should need

Republicans made claims about illegal voting by noncitizens a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign messaging and plan to push legislation in the new Congress requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Yet there’s one place with a GOP supermajority where linking voting to citizenship appears to be a nonstarter: Kansas.

That’s because the state has been there, done that, and all but a few Republicans would prefer not to go there again. Kansas imposed a proof-of-citizenship requirement over a decade ago that grew into one of the biggest political fiascos in the state in recent memory.

The law, passed by the state Legislature in 2011 and implemented two years later, ended up blocking the voter registrations of more than 31,000 U.S. citizens who were otherwise eligible to vote. That was 12% of everyone seeking to register in Kansas for the first time. Federal courts ultimately declared the law an unconstitutional burden on voting rights, and it hasn’t been enforced since 2018.

Kansas provides a cautionary tale about how pursuing an election concern that in fact is extremely rare risks disenfranchising a far greater number of people who are legally entitled to vote. The state’s top elections official, Secretary of State Scott Schwab, championed the idea as a legislator and now says states and the federal government shouldn’t touch it.

“Kansas did that 10 years ago,” said Schwab, a Republican. “It didn’t work out so well.”

Steven Fish, a 45-year-old warehouse worker in eastern Kansas, said he understands the motivation behind the law. In his thinking, the state was like a store owner who fears getting robbed and installs locks. But in 2014, after the birth of his now 11-year-old son inspired him to be “a little more responsible” and follow politics, he didn’t have an acceptable copy of his birth certificate to get registered to vote in Kansas.

“The locks didn’t work,” said Fish, one of nine Kansas residents who sued the state over the law. “You caught a bunch of people who didn’t do anything wrong.”

[…]

Initially, the Kansas requirement’s impacts seemed to fall most heavily on politically unaffiliated and young voters. As of fall 2013, 57% of the voters blocked from registering were unaffiliated and 40% were under 30.

But Fish was in his mid-30s, and six of the nine residents who sued over the Kansas law were 35 or older. Three even produced citizenship documents and still didn’t get registered, according to court documents.

“There wasn’t a single one of us that was actually an illegal or had misinterpreted or misrepresented any information or had done anything wrong,” Fish said.

He was supposed to produce his birth certificate when he sought to register in 2014 while renewing his Kansas driver’s license at an office in a strip mall in Lawrence. A clerk wouldn’t accept the copy Fish had of his birth certificate. He still doesn’t know where to find the original, having been born on an Air Force base in Illinois that closed in the 1990s.

Several of the people joining Fish in the lawsuit were veterans, all born in the U.S., and Fish said he was stunned that they could be prevented from registering.

Liz Azore, a senior adviser to the nonpartisan Voting Rights Lab, said millions of Americans haven’t traveled outside the U.S. and don’t have passports that might act as proof of citizenship, or don’t have ready access to their birth certificates.

She and other voting rights advocates are skeptical that there are administrative fixes that will make a proof-of-citizenship law run more smoothly today than it did in Kansas a decade ago.

“It’s going to cover a lot of people from all walks of life,” Avore said. “It’s going to be disenfranchising large swaths of the country.”

See here for the experience of a similar law in Arizona, which is still in operation but had many problems and expenses with its implementation. I doubt either of these situations will dissuade or even give pause to the Texas Legislature as it advances bills to do the same thing in the coming session, but it’s good to know what has happened elsewhere so we can prepare for it. I think it’s likely that Republicans will try to structure the law in such a way that it minimizes harm to their target demographics, but there’s a chance that a combination of paranoia and confidence about their current position of dominance that they won’t worry about it too much. Again, my point here is to help us understand the history so we can be better informed for the fight ahead of us.

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Reps. Hunt and Jackson cleared in ethics probe

Posted on January 2, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Welp.

Rep. Wesley Hunt

The House Ethics Committee on Monday cleared two Texas Republican congressmen — Wesley Hunt of Houston and Ronny Jackson of Amarillo — for violating campaign finance law by allegedly spending campaign money for personal use.

In a statement, the committee said it unanimously decided to close the investigations, including ones against two other representatives for the same accusations. The committee said in several investigations it resolved Monday, there was evidence that the member’s campaigns did not fully comply with campaign finance standards, as well as reporting or recordkeeping requirements for campaign spending.

“However, there was no evidence that any member intentionally misused campaign funds for their personal benefit,” the committee said in a statement.

The investigation began in March when the Office of Congressional Ethics, a nonpartisan group of professional staffers, sent campaign finance reports from the two representatives to the committee for investigation. They were accused of using campaign funds for private club memberships. Jackson spent nearly $12,000 since 2020 on membership at the Amarillo Club, and Hunt spent over $74,000 between April 2022 and January 2024 at the Post Oak Hotel, including membership fees at its exclusive Oak Room club.

[…]

The ethics committee also said the existing law and guidance from the Federal Election Commission is “often ambiguous” and provides gray areas of spending. The committee updated guidance on personal use of campaign funds and related recordkeeping requirements. In the statement, the committee said it provided relevant members with a copy of the updated guidance, as well as specific findings and recommendations for their campaign activity.

See here for the background. I did not expect much to come of this, and so as such I am not disappointed. I do think there are some gray areas of campaign finance law and regulation, and thus places where one could plausibly and in good faith interpret the rules to mean different things, and I can believe that’s what happened here. There’s nothing stopping Congress from clarifying those laws, or compelling the FEC to better define its rules, so perhaps Reps. Hunt and Jackson can use this experience to do something positive. Yeah, I know, and I’d like a pony, too. Whatever. Point is, this sort of thing doesn’t have to happen, we – and by “we” I mean “Congress”, mostly the Republicans in Congress who like that the rules are chaotic and ambiguous – allow it to be this way. If the members who have been on the business end of this don’t feel the need to do something about it, maybe the voters can be persuaded to elect someone who does. The Chron has more.

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Texas blog roundup for the week of December 30

Posted on January 2, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance says good riddance to 2024 and casts a wary eye at the year ahead as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Continue reading →

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Welcome to 2025, like it or not

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s leave 2024 behind on a proper note:

25 years ago tonight…never forget

[image or embed]

— Jay Lee (@jaylee.bsky.social) December 31, 2024 at 1:37 PM

I remember 12/31/99 quite well. While I never feared Y2K, I do recall thinking at some point in the day that it was already the year 2000 in Australia, and there was no evidence of computer chaos, so let’s just relax and enjoy the New Year celebration.

My sense of trepidation is much higher for this year, and I would never tell anyone they should relax, but I will gently suggest that we do make a point of finding joy and happiness and fulfillment this year, as we normally would do. Life is short. I’m still a year away from turning 60 and yet I’ve lost count of the number of people in my graduating classes who have left us. One member of my core college friend group died in February of 2020. We gathered in San Antonio to mourn and celebrate her life, and very shortly thereafter realized how lucky we were to have been able to do that. My wife and I will be empty nesters by the end of this summer – you better believe I’m going to enjoy the time I still have with Daughter #2. I still have my parents. I refuse to lose sight of these things.

I have no idea what is coming this year. Lots of bad things are queued up, but reality has a way of surprising and confounding us sometimes. The future isn’t known until it happens, and until then there’s often ways to affect it, even just a little. This list of predictions contains a few that I’d love to see happen, a few I’d absolutely prefer to avoid, and a few I’m not sure how to evaluate. Let’s try to approach this year prepared for some of the worst to happen, but also for some of the good. We can do this. Happy New Year, and thank you as always for hanging out here.

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SCOTx lets Brent Webster off the hook

Posted on January 1, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Gotta love a pre-holiday news dump.

The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday ended a professional misconduct case against a top aide to Attorney General Ken Paxton for his role in challenging the 2020 election results, previewing a likely outcome for a similar case against Paxton.

In a 7-2 decision, the court dismissed a complaint against First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster that was filed nearly four years ago by a committee of the State Bar of Texas. The committee initiated separate complaints against Webster and Paxton over their legal efforts to challenge the election results in four key battleground states won by Joe Biden.

Paxton’s election lawsuit, which was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court for a lack of standing, made false claims and raised doubts about the election, the bar committee alleged.

The state bar, of which Paxton and Webster are members, prohibits lawyers from “engag[ing] in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation” in its professional conduct guidelines. Justices on the state supreme court, however, questioned during oral arguments whether the committee was basing its complaint on politics, not misconduct.

The all-Republican court’s ruling on Tuesday, authored by Justice Evan Young, describes the commission’s complaint as a “collateral attack” and reverses lower court rulings that had sided with the bar. The U.S. Supreme Court, not the state bar, had ultimate authority to address concerns with private or public attorneys in Texas, the justices argued.

See here for the previous update, here for the majority’s decision, and here for the dissent. KUT has a few words about the latter.

Justices Jeff Boyd and Debra Lehrmann dissented, saying the majority opinion reflected a “disdain and distrust” for the State Bar’s commission and its ability to discipline lawyers. Luckily, they added, the decision applies just to this case.

“Unfortunately, it does not reduce the damage it causes to the separation-of-powers doctrine,” Boyd wrote.

I’ll have a few more words to add in a minute, but first let me take a moment to salute Justice Lehrmann, who has been on quite a roll with high-profile dissents lately (she did miss one enormous opportunity, to her discredit, but we have to take what we can get). On the subject of that dissent, written by Justice Boyd, I’ll just give you the first paragraph, which tells you what you need to know.

This disciplinary proceeding against Texas attorney Brent Webster could easily fail for many reasons. But the constitutional separation of powers is not one of them. This doctrine prohibits the legislative, executive, and judicial “departments” from exercising “any power properly attached to either of the others.” TEX. CONST. art. II § 1.2 It does not separate powers that exist within a single department or restrict the means by which a department may exercise a power it properly possesses.3 Perhaps some other legal doctrine could prohibit the judicial branch from doing “collaterally” that which it can indisputably do “directly” (to use the Court’s new-found terminology), but the separation of powers between the branches does not. If (as the Court concedes) the judicial branch has inherent power to discipline an executive-branch attorney for engaging in professional misconduct, it may—consistent with the separation-of-powers doctrine—discipline that attorney through any lawful exercise of that power. The Court’s freshly minted direct/collateral distinction is unheard of in separation-of-powers jurisprudence. It lacks both legal support and logical sense. I must respectfully dissent.

My gut reaction on reading the Chron story and its quote from the majority opinion was that this was a bunch of baloney, made up by a Court in search of a reason to support its predetermined outcome. I see nothing in the dissent to suggest I’m off base on that. The Ken Paxton disciplinary case is still out there, and for obvious reasons I’m even more pessimistic about its future. Some people are just above accountability, that’s all there is to it. Happy effing New Year. The Trib has more.

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Precinct analysis: Senate 2024

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

PREVIOUSLY:

President

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


Dist      Cruz   Allred      Lib
================================
CD02    95,297   76,547    4,302
CD07    60,642  111,240    4,184
CD08    67,688   77,264    4,500
CD09    30,612  100,204    3,309
CD18    57,733  158,630    6,010
CD22    16,180   12,878      809
CD29    50,652   97,814    4,851
CD36    89,929   65,039    4,342
CD38   197,294  142,168    8,500
							
SBOE4  135,984  343,561   13,206
SBOE6  304,295  300,535   16,008
SBOE7    1,684    5,008      159
SBOE8  224,064  192,680   11,434
							
SD04    72,809   56,096    3,339
SD06    66,684  121,768    6,095
SD07   201,517  158,019    9,861
SD11    75,542   50,924    3,461
SD13    35,866  137,819    4,519
SD15   112,446  214,583    8,210
SD17    73,548   72,071    3,578
SD18    27,615   30,504    1,744
							
HD126   44,604   34,116    2,140
HD127   50,398   40,809    2,242
HD128   43,805   22,386    1,729
HD129   48,514   37,488    2,377
HD130   59,084   32,757    2,403
HD131    9,941   34,639    1,215
HD132   49,462   41,997    2,493
HD133   39,664   36,955    1,765
HD134   36,260   64,967    1,982
HD135   26,189   36,543    2,067
HD137   10,970   18,233      852
HD138   38,205   35,522    1,960
HD139   16,401   43,009    1,586
HD140   10,071   18,872    1,062
HD141    7,930   30,191    1,135
HD142   14,174   37,790    1,371
HD143   13,787   22,981    1,198
HD144   18,328   21,547    1,332
HD145   17,646   41,896    1,833
HD146   11,668   44,215    1,291
HD147   13,771   51,296    1,649
HD148   21,596   30,292    1,507
HD149   19,089   27,879    1,492
HD150   44,470   35,404    2,126
				
CC1     94,091  278,886    9,200
CC2    137,490  154,671    8,948
CC3    280,901  219,016   12,927
CC4    153,545  189,211    9,732
				
JP1     80,651  167,084    6,385
JP2     33,631   44,047    2,357
JP3     51,675   64,133    3,056
JP4    220,469  194,564   10,989
JP5    190,700  214,396   11,279
JP6      7,925   24,025    1,139
JP7     17,783   90,705    2,610
JP8     63,193   42,830    2,992
				
HISD   135,874  325,086   11,680
Else   530,153  516,698   29,127

Dist	Cruz%	Allred%	    Lib%
================================
CD02    54.10%   43.45%    2.44%
CD07    34.44%   63.17%    2.38%
CD08    45.28%   51.69%    3.01%
CD09    22.82%   74.70%    2.47%
CD18    25.96%   71.33%    2.70%
CD22    54.17%   43.11%    2.71%
CD29    33.03%   63.79%    3.16%
CD36    56.44%   40.82%    2.73%
CD38    56.69%   40.85%    2.44%
			
SBOE4   27.59%   69.71%    2.68%
SBOE6   49.01%   48.40%    2.58%
SBOE7   24.58%   73.09%    2.32%
SBOE8   52.32%   44.99%    2.67%
			
SD04    55.05%   42.41%    2.52%
SD06    34.27%   62.58%    3.13%
SD07    54.54%   42.77%    2.67%
SD11    58.13%   39.19%    2.66%
SD13    20.12%   77.33%    2.54%
SD15    33.54%   64.00%    2.45%
SD17    49.29%   48.30%    2.40%
SD18    46.12%   50.95%    2.91%
			
HD126   55.16%   42.19%    2.65%
HD127   53.93%   43.67%    2.40%
HD128   64.49%   32.96%    2.55%
HD129   54.88%   42.41%    2.69%
HD130   62.68%   34.75%    2.55%
HD131   21.71%   75.64%    2.65%
HD132   52.64%   44.70%    2.65%
HD133   50.59%   47.14%    2.25%
HD134   35.13%   62.94%    1.92%
HD135   40.41%   56.38%    3.19%
HD137   36.49%   60.65%    2.83%
HD138   50.47%   46.93%    2.59%
HD139   26.88%   70.50%    2.60%
HD140   33.56%   62.89%    3.54%
HD141   20.20%   76.90%    2.89%
HD142   26.57%   70.84%    2.57%
HD143   36.31%   60.52%    3.16%
HD144	44.48%   52.29%    3.23%
HD145   28.75%   68.26%    2.99%
HD146   20.40%   77.32%    2.26%
HD147   20.64%   76.88%    2.47%
HD148   40.44%   56.72%    2.82%
HD149   39.38%   57.52%    3.08%
HD150   54.22%   43.17%    2.59%
			
CC1     24.62%   72.96%    2.41%
CC2     45.65%   51.36%    2.97%
CC3     54.77%   42.70%    2.52%
CC4     43.55%   53.67%    2.76%
			
JP1     31.73%   65.74%    2.51%
JP2     42.01%   55.02%    2.94%
JP3     43.47%   53.95%    2.57%
JP4     51.74%   45.66%    2.58%
JP5     45.79%   51.48%    2.71%
JP6     23.95%   72.60%    3.44%
JP7     16.00%   81.63%    2.35%
JP8     57.95%   39.28%    2.74%
			
HISD    28.74%   68.77%    2.47%
Else    49.26%   48.01%    2.71%

As noted before, there were two write-in candidates, who combined for 296 total votes, for less than 0.02% of the vote. This is why the percentages don’t quite add up to 100.

Those percentages look a lot better here, with comfortable if not dominant wins in HD144 and CC2. Indeed, if this were the norm across the board, we’d be talking about pickup opportunities in HDs 132, 133, and 138, and dreaming about a couple of other possibilities down the road.

But this wasn’t the norm. No other countywide or statewide candidate won by as many as 100K votes this time around – indeed, multiple judicial candidates didn’t win or carry Harris County this year – while only three candidates in 2020 failed to top the 100K margin of victory. We’ve covered that, I’m not going to get into it again here (though I will talk more about it going forward), but it is worth asking why Allred so outperformed everyone else. What was his secret?

There are two obvious possibilities. One is that people liked Colin Allred and responded well to his campaign. The other is that people disliked Ted Cruz and responded negatively to his campaign. It’s really not any more complicated than that.

Just because it’s a simple question doesn’t mean there’s an easy answer. If the main factor is Ted Cruz’s loathesomeness – let’s face it, plenty of the people who vote for Ted Cruz don’t like him – that doesn’t help us much going forward. He’s not scheduled to be on the ballot again until 2030, unless he runs for President in 2028 (I really don’t want to think about that), and he’s just one guy in one race. While there were plenty of Republicans who didn’t vote for Ted Cruz, they still mostly if not entirely voted Republican otherwise. How does that help us?

Well, Cruz is not the only Republican for whom some number of Republicans won’t vote. That was very true for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 – indeed, as I have said on multiple occasions, you can’t explain the Democratic flips of CDs 07 and 32 and House districts like HD134 without there being a whole lot of Republicans who stopped voting Republican at all because of Donald Trump. There was still a little of that this year, though not nearly as much and what was there was offset by some Democrats flipping as well. Ken Paxton, Dan Patrick, and Sid Miller in both 2018 and 2022, and Greg Abbott in 2022, all ran behind other Republicans. Some of that gets overlooked, especially in 2022, because of the overall Republican margins, but the fact that there were crossovers remains. If and when we get into a better environment, one more like 2018 or 2020, that may be much more consequential.

And maybe this is obvious, but the difference between a Ken Paxton and a Glenn Hegar or a Christi Craddick is one of style and tone more than substance. On pretty much all of the big issues, there’s no difference between any of their positions. It’s just that Paxton and Patrick et al are louder and prouder and more up front and obnoxious about it. My point here is that there’s nothing stopping us from trying to tie the more normie Republicans to their more out there and less liked brethren. It’s a basic campaign tactic, but one that tends to get put aside in favor of more positive and issue-oriented ads. Nothing wrong with that in the abstract, but it feels to me like we’re out of balance in the mix of positive ads versus negative and attack ads, which do work despite voter protestation that they don’t like them. I don’t think we do nearly enough of this.

We should also not lose sight of the ways in which Colin Allred might have been successful in moving voters to his side. I’m sure his campaign has plenty of data about what of their tactics and strategies worked and what did not. The TDP has done “autopsies” of past elections before, but it’s not clear to me that we’ve ever really talked to losing-but-overperforming candidates like Allred to ask them what they did that distinguished themselves. Surely there something to be learned from that.

In particular, it would be nice to zoom in a bit on those closer-than-expected State House districts and see what made some number of Republicans there vote for at least one Democrat. I agree, it’s more likely than not that it was about Ted Cruz. But maybe not in total or for all voters. And for crying out loud, how can it hurt to try? We’ve got a lot of work to do here. Let’s not dismiss any potentially viable avenues prematurely.

Anyway, that’s what I have to say about this race. I’ve got more in the works. Let me know what you think.

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HCC International

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I have questions.

Houston may be its home, but leaders of the city’s community college have their sights set on the entire globe.

In the fall 2025 semester, Houston Community College administrators will launch their new “Global Online College,” hoping to entice more international students to take classes virtually from their home countries.

HCC Chancellor Margaret Ford Fisher and other college leaders say they mainly hope it expands HCC’s brand across the globe, attracting more students to their roughly 60 fully online programs. They’ve also touted the move as a way to boost tuition revenue and meet a growing demand for online classes post-pandemic.

“Imagine the value for our students,” Ford Fisher said in front of roughly 900 attendees during her November State of the College speech. “An associate or baccalaureate degree at a community college price. … While we focus on our community, we must think more broadly and expand our reach much further.”

Still, uncertainty surrounds the ambitious plan. In response to questions from the Landing, college leaders did not detail the demand for such programs, how HCC will measure success of the initiative or whether the college will increase staffing ahead of the launch. HCC Online College President Jerome Drain said “there are no goals that I’ve set” for a number of students to enroll.

[…]

HCC drew roughly 3,500 international students in 2023, the most recent year with available data. Students came from roughly 130 countries, with the largest shares from Vietnam, Nigeria, India and China.

But attending Houston’s community colleges virtually from abroad doesn’t seem to be a popular option — at least for now.

Drain didn’t provide an exact percentage of how many students attended HCC virtually while living overseas in the fall 2024 semester. At neighboring Lone Star College, international students comprise just 1 percent of the online college’s enrollment, said Laura Bettencourt, interim president of Lone Star’s online campus. Lone Star College is the largest community college system in Texas.

This is all very blue-sky at the moment, so there’s no indication about who this is for, how many people might use it, how it will benefit HCC and its mission, and so on. Oh, and no cost estimate as yet, too. I can see a case for this – surely, having more online options would benefit current and future students who might have need of them – but beyond that it’s just not clear what this is about. On the plus side, at least now I have a clear question to ask HCC candidates and incumbents about when I do the very limited round of interviews on tap for 2025. Assuming there are contested HCC races to be had this year, of course. We’ll see if this goes anywhere, but in the meantime I’d really like for the Board of Trustees to ask a whole lot of questions about this.

Posted in School days | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Precinct analysis: President 2024

Posted on December 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I know you’ve been waiting for this, and now here it is, the 2024 precinct data for Harris County. We’ll start at the top, with the Presidential race.


Dist     Trump   Harris      Lib      Grn
=========================================
CD02   101,141   73,399    1,112    1,027
CD07    64,912  107,843    1,304    2,409 
CD08    74,503   72,990      872    2,104
CD09    34,807   98,435      700    1,192
CD18    65,672  154,657    1,370    1,818
CD22    17,265   12,134      218      382
CD29    61,054   92,821      721    1,096
CD36    96,291   61,494      946    1,463
CD38   207,050  134,998    2,484    3,626
								
SBOE4  156,315  333,525    2,652    4,197
SBOE6  323,580  287,004    4,467    6,807
SBOE7    1,907    4,901       35       44
SBOE8  240,893  183,341    2,573    4,069
								
SD04    77,379   53,764      803      740
SD06    79,118  115,748      977    1,427
SD07   214,518  149,459    2,388    4,288
SD11    80,390   48,049      795    1,237
SD13    41,326  135,852      887    1,669
SD15   122,588  207,855    2,418    3,093
SD17    77,097   69,258    1,106    1,832
SD18    30,279   28,786      353      831
								
HD126   47,139   32,436      510    1,017
HD127   53,316   39,288      583      457
HD128   46,960   20,817      346      238
HD129   51,343   35,661      582    1,098
HD130   62,583   30,561      615      746
HD131   11,732   33,982      209      359
HD132   52,744   39,625      648    1,230
HD133   41,018   35,523      610      992
HD134   37,235   63,272      895    1,238
HD135   29,444   34,545      385      943
HD137   12,173   17,605      165      454
HD138   40,490   34,014      543      776
HD139   18,545   41,960      354      521
HD140   12,554   17,762      128      183
HD141    9,583   29,578      159      278
HD142   16,425   36,709      265      316
HD143   16,443   21,747      154      239
HD144   21,279   20,063      212      323
HD145   20,209   40,418      533      532
HD146   12,844   43,675      328      522
HD147   15,749   50,150      381      664
HD148   24,177   28,843      351      463
HD149   21,481   26,741      222      809
HD150   47,229   33,796      549      719
								
CC1    104,664  272,796    2,431    3,414
CC2    154,001  146,258    1,623    2,457
CC3    297,453  208,610    3,395    4,646
CC4    166,577  181,107    2,278    4,600
								
JP1     88,363  161,860    2,011    2,318
JP2     38,454   41,483      375      755
JP3     57,172   61,550      556      540
JP4    235,442  185,842    2,650    3,687
JP5    205,376  204,871    2,688    5,537
JP6      9,903   23,143      190      335
JP7     20,445   89,638      553      992
JP8     67,540   40,384      704      953
								
HISD   149,076  317,057    3,219    4,663
Else   573,619  491,714    6,508   10,454

Dist    Trump%  Harris%     Lib%     Grn%
=========================================
CD02    57.21%   41.52%    0.63%    0.58%
CD07    36.75%   61.05%    0.74%    1.36%
CD08    49.48%   48.47%    0.58%    1.40%
CD09    25.73%   72.78%    0.52%    0.88%
CD18    29.36%   69.13%    0.61%    0.81%
CD22    57.49%   40.41%    0.73%    1.27%
CD29    39.19%   59.58%    0.46%    0.70%
CD36    60.08%   38.37%    0.59%    0.91%
CD38    59.43%   38.75%    0.71%    1.04%
				
SBOE4   31.45%   67.10%    0.53%    0.84%
SBOE6   51.99%   46.12%    0.72%    1.09%
SBOE7   27.66%   71.09%    0.51%    0.64%
SBOE8   55.87%   42.52%    0.60%    0.94%
				
SD04    58.29%   40.50%    0.60%    0.56%
SD06    40.08%   58.64%    0.49%    0.72%
SD07    57.84%   40.29%    0.64%    1.16%
SD11    61.58%   36.81%    0.61%    0.95%
SD13    22.97%   75.52%    0.49%    0.93%
SD15    36.46%   61.81%    0.72%    0.92%
SD17    51.60%   46.35%    0.74%    1.23%
SD18    50.23%   47.75%    0.59%    1.38%
				
HD126   58.08%   39.97%    0.63%    1.25%
HD127   56.90%   41.93%    0.62%    0.49%
HD128   68.67%   30.44%    0.51%    0.35%
HD129   57.86%   40.18%    0.66%    1.24%
HD130   66.18%   32.32%    0.65%    0.79%
HD131   25.33%   73.37%    0.45%    0.78%
HD132   55.93%   42.01%    0.69%    1.30%
HD133   52.45%   45.42%    0.78%    1.27%
HD134   36.24%   61.58%    0.87%    1.20%
HD135   45.04%   52.84%    0.59%    1.44%
HD137   39.99%   57.84%    0.54%    1.49%
HD138   53.35%   44.81%    0.72%    1.02%
HD139   30.19%   68.31%    0.58%    0.85%
HD140   40.97%   57.97%    0.42%    0.60%
HD141   24.19%   74.65%    0.40%    0.70%
HD142   30.56%   68.30%    0.49%    0.59%
HD143   42.58%   56.32%    0.40%    0.62%
HD144   50.79%   47.89%    0.51%    0.77%
HD145   32.73%   65.45%    0.86%    0.86%
HD146   22.36%   76.05%    0.57%    0.91%
HD147   23.50%   74.82%    0.57%    0.99%
HD148   44.87%   53.53%    0.65%    0.86%
HD149   43.60%   54.27%    0.45%    1.64%
HD150   57.36%   41.04%    0.67%    0.87%
   			
CC1     27.28%   71.10%    0.63%    0.89%
CC2     50.57%   48.03%    0.53%    0.81%
CC3     57.82%   40.55%    0.66%    0.90%
CC4     46.94%   51.04%    0.64%    1.30%
				
JP1     34.68%   63.53%    0.79%    0.91%
JP2     47.41%   51.14%    0.46%    0.93%
JP3     47.69%   51.34%    0.46%    0.45%
JP4     55.03%   43.43%    0.62%    0.86%
JP5     49.04%   48.92%    0.64%    1.32%
JP6     29.46%   68.85%    0.57%    1.00%
JP7     18.30%   80.22%    0.49%    0.89%
JP8     61.60%   36.83%    0.64%    0.87%
				
HISD    31.42%   66.82%    0.68%    0.98%
Else    52.97%   45.40%    0.60%    0.97%

Yes, that’s a lot of numbers, I know. You want the full picture or not? I may boil this down to just the HDs and Commissioner Court precincts at some point or I may not, we’ll see. Just scan the numbers as you see fit and then read the analysis. I promise I will try to point out the highlights.

A couple of notes before we begin. For the Presidential and Senate races there were also write-in candidates, who collected 1,174 votes in the former and 296 votes in the latter. That works out to about 0.06% of the total Presidential vote and less than 0.02% of the Senate vote. As such, to make my life easier, I just skipped them all in the analysis. But if you noticed that the percentages here and in the next article don’t quite add up to 100, that’s the reason why.

Please note also that in general, Congressional, SBOE, and State Senate districts cover multiple counties. Indeed, only CDs 18, 29, and 38, and SDs 06 and 15 are entirely within Harris County. Prior to the last round of redistricting, that also included CDs 02 and 07, SBOE6, and SD07, but now CD07 also includes some of Fort Bend, while the rest reach into Montgomery. The numbers here just represent the Harris County portion of the district, which if you’re not careful can provide a very distorted picture of the district’s partisanship. Neither CD08 nor SD18 are remotely competitive, despite what the numbers above may appear to say. Please keep that in mind.

All right, let’s talk about the two items that should have leaped out at you: HD144 and County Commissioner Precinct 2. Obviously, it is Very Not Good that Trump carried them, and we’ll dig into that now and in future pieces. Rep. Mary Ann Perez was unopposed, as she had been in 2022. She received 26,000 votes, well more than either Presidential candidate, but that is always true of unopposed contenders. She first won HD144 in 2012, after it had been redrawn to be a little bluer, reflecting the trend it had undergone the decade before when it was Republican-held. She lost in a squeaker to a non-entity in the bloodbath that was 2014, then reclaimed it by 20 points in 2016. She won by 22 points in 2018, by 13 points in 2020, and hasn’t faced an opponent since.

That’s obviously going to change in 2026. I’m sure the results this year set off red alerts on the Republican side, and I hope for her as well. I have no idea what she’s thinking – there’s basically nothing election-related on her official Facebook page since then, and I’m not on any mailing list she uses. Far as I can tell, she acted like a typical unopposed candidate this year, which is to say she took it easy and wasn’t much of a presence on the campaign trail. She didn’t have to be, so why not? Well, for this reason – not taking care of business in your own back yard can lead to things going in ways you didn’t anticipate and wouldn’t like. Whatever her experience was these past couple of cycles, it won’t be in 2026 unless the Republicans commit political malpractice and fail to take advantage of an obvious opportunity. Which to be fair they might – complacency is always an attractive option – but I would advise Rep. Perez to not count on that.

I don’t mean to pick on Rep. Perez, because while her situation is more urgent she’s hardly the only elected official in Harris County, or anywhere Democrats still hold that office, who didn’t do much of anything to help themselves and their colleagues this past November. As I’ve said before, this is a situation we can’t tolerate any more. My mantra going forward is that the candidates and officeholders have to want this at least as much as the rest of us do. If they don’t, it’s on us to find someone who does and get them elected instead. There are lots of ways that an elected official can be an engaged presence in a campaign – field work, raising and spending money on campaign activities, social media, hiring and supporting people who will do good work on their behalf, etc. We should be looking for more of these things from our elected officials, starting right now, as we pick up the pieces and move on.

Again, it’s not just Rep. Perez – you can look at the numbers above and add in the names of other Reps who should expect a bumpier ride in two years. Some of them are already pretty active – Reps. Penny Morales Shaw, Jon Rosenthal, and Gene Wu, to name three for whom the Presidential numbers were less robust than they might have liked, can just keep doing what they’ve been doing. Others, some of whom might also face more of a challenge next time than they’re used to, should be looking in the mirror and giving serious thought to what their to-do list needs to be. Will any of that help in 2026 and beyond? Obviously, to some extent we’re captive to the national environment, but I trust no one is content with the idea of going down without a fight. Whatever we face from here, we damn well better face it with all of us fully engaged.

As for CC2, which has overlap with HD144, at least we know that Commissioner Garcia had a hard fight in both 2018 and 2022, so he’s in better shape for what is to come. He will also have plenty of opportunities to show his value directly to the voters, which helps. He’ll also have loads of money, and based on past history we would expect him to use it. So while the numbers in CC2 look worse, I’m less worried about him at this time. But the same message and concepts apply.

One last item to note, I was able to sort out the results from precincts within HISD and those that are not, and I’ll include that for future posts as well. The point was to make it clear that the results of the bond referendum, however you personally voted on it or felt about it, were driven overwhelmingly by Democratic voters. If Mike Miles and the appointed Board want to try again and get a different result, those are the voters whose concerns and issues they need to address.

There’s plenty more than can be said, and I’ll be talking about it in coming posts. If you have any questions or if there are any particulars you’d like to me to address, leave a comment and let me know. Thanks very much.

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

Late to the party

Posted on December 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I’m kind of fascinated by this.

Still the only voter ID anyone should need

On election day last month, 29-year-old Shannah Becker from Pasadena showed up at a polling location to cast her ballot, but was turned away.

Although she had submitted her voter registration application in early October, she mailed it in late, one day past the Oct. 7 deadline.

“I definitely felt very disappointed,” Becker said. “And I asked if there was anything else I could do to be able to vote still and they just said, ‘Unfortunately not.’ I feel like a lot of people didn’t really realize the deadline until it was too close, or even past.”

Becker was among the 21,026 Harris County residents who registered after the deadline, making them ineligible to vote in the Nov. 5 presidential election. According to the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector’s office, 3,701 of those registrations were recorded on Election Day.

Had they been able to cast ballots, those newly registered voters could have affected the results of 13 countywide races in which the winning margin was under 21,000 votes.

The impact to the countywide turnout rate, however, would not have been as large: overall Harris County turnout would have increased by less than a percentage point if all of those registrants had been able to vote.

Texas is one of 10 states that has a voter registration deadline of 30 days before an election. In 23 states, including California and Wyoming, residents can register and vote on the same day. Twenty of those states allow residents to register on Election Day.

[…]

“A huge chunk of voter suppression in Texas happens before anybody ever reaches the ballot box because our voter registration systems are so out of date and terrible,” said Emily French, policy director at Common Cause Texas, a nonprofit that supports online voter registration, election day registration, automatic registration and pre-registration for 17-year-olds.

French said each year since 2018, she has had to break the news to a person that they could not vote in the upcoming election because they registered past the 30-day deadline.

“The only reason that that 30-day deadline makes any sense is to give counties time to input the data and physically type in all the voter registrations,” French said. “We did that to ourselves by having paper voter registration instead of online voter registration.”

I regularly see stories during the year about how many new voters have registered since whatever previous date. I don’t think I’d ever seen reporting on how many people registered after the 30-days-before-Election-Day deadline, so kudos to the Houston Landing for that. I feel bad for people like Shannah Becker who perhaps could have known better but definitely deserved better. We do make it needlessly hard to register, and it does dampen turnout as a result. As with so many other things, that’s not going to change as long as the current regime is in power, so we have to work with what we’ve got.

Ms. Becker’s registration will be good through the end of 2025, so she can vote in next year’s Pasadena elections and the whiny sore loser judicial election do-over (appeal pending) if she wants. If she moves, she’ll need to update her registration if she wants to vote in the 2026 gubernatorial race. I hope someone makes sure she knows this, so she won’t miss out the next time.

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Weekend link dump for December 29

Posted on December 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Kylie Kelce > Joe Rogan. See here as well.

“Quite simply, we want to find the birthplace of the solar wind.”

“If You’re Pregnant, Here’s What You Should Know About the Medical Procedures That Could Save Your Life”.

“Reasonable people can disagree on reforms, but one improvement is obvious: The United States deserves a sports betting industry that does not get any of its funding via credit cards. The major card companies could see to that. Assuming they won’t, lawmakers should.”

“A Scandalous Reason Meat Prices Have Skyrocketed”.

“From ‘Survivor’ to ‘Love Is Blind,’ Here’s How Much You Can Make From Starring on These Reality Shows”. Spoiler alert: For some of them, the answer is not a damn penny. No wonder the networks and streamers love these things, they’re dirt cheap to make.

“Here are two powerful examples of how the media shapes misleading vibes about crime for those who rarely experience it.”

“Former Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican who briefly stood to become President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, was found by congressional ethics investigators to have paid numerous women — including a 17-year-old girl — for sex, and to have purchased and used illegal drugs, including from his Capitol Hill office, according to a final draft of a comprehensive investigative report obtained by CBS News.” That’s the guy that Trump wanted to be Attorney General. He wouldn’t have been confirmed, but I bet he’d have gotten majority Republican support. See here for more.

“Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”

On enemies lists, then and now.

“[T]he first-round games’ lack of competitiveness is less a commentary on the playoff than on the sport it represents. College football is a sport of dud games, all the time, at all levels. That is why the good games are so memorable. If your barometer for a good postseason setup is how many close games it produces, you will have to give up and become a fan of another sport.”

“Here Are All of the Allegations Against Justin Baldoni From Blake Lively’s Complaint”.

RIP, Burt, the giant crocodile featured in 1986’s Crocodile Dundee. He was thought to be over 90 years old.

“Protracted GOP speaker fight could complicate Electoral College count”.

“How to protect yourself from AI scams this holiday season”.

“Rather, here’s three examples that fit the holy trinity of slur replacement in one of the most popular Christmas songs of all time.”

“If you missed Beyoncé’s halftime performance during the Christmas Day game between the Texans and the Ravens — or you just want to watch it multiple times over — well, you’re getting an extra Christmas gift this year. Netflix will release the show as its own special.”

RIP, Hudson Meek, young actor best known for Baby Driver and the MacGyver reboot.

“Dozens of rare animals including tigers, lions and cheetahs are dying as bird flu infiltrates zoos, with potentially “grave implications” for endangered species, researchers have warned.”

“Any way you slice it, it doesn’t look like H-1b workers hurt the native-born, even when they seem to be in direct competition”.

RIP, Greg Gumbel, longtime CBS Sports anchor and commentator.

RIP, Olivia Hussey, actor best known for the 1968 Romeo and Juliet film.

RIP, Osamu Suzuki, former Chair of Suzuki Motor.

RIP, Warren Upton, oldest living survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the last remaining survivor of the USS Utah.

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged | Comments Off on Weekend link dump for December 29

Charles Johnson elected Mayor of Baytown

Posted on December 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

There were a handful of runoff elections following the November 5…whatever you want to call it. This was the most consequential of the local races.

Charles Johnson

Charles Johnson, who served as District 3 city councilman from 2017 until 2023, has come back to win the top seat in Baytown and will become its next mayor as well as its first-ever Black mayor.

The total combined number of votes from both Harris and Chambers Counties, including early and Election Day votes, show Johnson with 1,230 votes. The combined total shows Capetillo with 1,024 votes.

With 41 of 42 voting centers reporting in Harris County, Johnson has 1,153 votes to incumbent Mayor Brandon Capetillo’s 946, according to www.harrisvotes.org.

The mayoral election is a joint endeavor between Harris and Chambers Counties.

I was told at the recent HCDP County Executive Committee meeting that Johnson is a Democrat, which would be an extra bit of accomplishment in this Republican area. I can’t confirm that from any of the websurfing I’ve done, but that’s what I was told. I’ve been wanting to post about this since the runoff, to see if there would be something else written about the race and Mayor-elect Johnson besides this extremely limited recap, but there’s just been nothing. The most interesting result I get via news search is this NPR story from 2017 following Johnson’s first election to Baytown City Council, in which he was given some advice for being a Council member by a more experienced politician. I know Baytown is small and we’re all paying attention to a million other things, but still. Anyway, congratulations to Mayor-elect Johnson. In addition to everything else, he beat an incumbent Mayor, which those who aren’t too fond of their current Mayor might find inspiring.

Posted in Election 2024 | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Elon Musk has been busy making Austin dirtier

Posted on December 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Some good reporting from the Wall Street Journal.

Elon Musk made big promises to Wall Street about Tesla’s new Model Y SUV in 2022, and the company was ramping up its production in Austin, Texas, when environmental problems threatened to derail his plans.

The door to the plant’s giant casting furnace, which melts metal to be molded into the Model Y’s parts, wouldn’t shut, spewing toxins into the air and raising temperatures for workers on the floor to as high as 100 degrees. Hazardous wastewater from production—containing paint, oil and other chemicals—was also flowing untreated into the city’s sewer, in violation of state guidelines.

Tesla left the costly problems largely unaddressed during the critical ramp-up. As a result, the company’s 10 million-plus square foot plant—among the largest car factories in the world—dumped toxic pollutants into the environment near Austin for months.

This account of the Austin plant’s environmental problems, which haven’t been reported previously, comes from emails between Texas regulators and the company obtained by The Wall Street Journal in response to public-records requests, as well as interviews with former employees and other documents, including a memo sent by a whistleblower to the Environmental Protection Agency.

A Journal investigation shows that Tesla bosses were aware of the problems but sometimes chose short-term fixes to avoid slowing production. Former employees said they feared they might lose their job if they drew attention internally to potential environmental hazards, because senior managers didn’t consider such issues to be mission critical. As head of the company, Musk set the tone, these people said, pushing employees to move fast and complaining frequently in public statements that unnecessary regulations are strangling the U.S.

The world’s richest man now has an even bigger megaphone. Musk, who aligned himself closely with President-elect Donald Trump during his campaign, was named Nov. 12 as co-head of a new Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE.” Musk has said he thinks he can chop “at least $2 trillion” from the federal budget, including by cutting government jobs at regulatory agencies. How that will play out for the EPA is unclear, but some people who have worked with him for years expect that Musk will attempt to curb environmental regulations—including those that affect his companies.

[…]

Complying with environmental rules isn’t usually the top priority for Tesla management, people familiar with the company’s officials said. Tesla brought to the auto industry a Silicon Valley ethos to move fast and break things, and Musk views regulations as a hindrance to innovation because they slow down the work, the people said.

At the factory in Austin, managers sometimes ignored workers who raised warnings about environmental issues, former employees say. Some employees feared they would be fired if they slowed down production.

One environmental-compliance staffer in the Austin plant claimed that “Tesla repeatedly asked me to lie to the government so that they could operate without paying for proper environmental controls,” according to a 2024 memo from the employee to the EPA that was reviewed by the Journal.

That’s from Thanksgiving week, but as we know Eldon is always in the news, so such minor concerns like “time” needn’t bother us. There’s more to this, so read the rest. The TL;dr is:

1. Across all of his companies, Elmore doesn’t give a shit about complying with environmental laws and regulations, and now he’s in a position to weaken those protections for the benefit of his companies.

2. It’s hard for me to see at this point who can hold this asshole accountable for anything. But at least given the current H1B visa kerfuffle, maybe he can be distracted by his own messes. For what that’s worth.

3. Don’t buy a Tesla. There are plenty of other EV options out there.

Hope that helps.

Posted in Bidness | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

HCDE declines to censure Eric Dick

Posted on December 28, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Puzzling.

Eric Dick

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

The board voted unanimously, with trustee Erica Davis absent, to avoid a censure of the prominent Houston attorney citing that the move “best protects the department and its resources, and is in the best interests of HCDE.”

Despite abandoning the censure, the resolution acknowledged that the board believes that Dick “may have violated” the board’s ethics code by racking up $40,000 in unpaid fines to the Texas Ethics Commission during unsuccessful bids for other local offices.

Board president Amy Flores Hinojosa did not immediately respond to a request for comment about why the board abandoned its censure.

[…]

Dick acknowledged during the meeting that his “actions may have led to negative publicity of HCDE, reputational harm, embarrassment for the department and its Board of Trustees and an expenditure of HCDE resources.”

Dick also said that he would make a $40,000 donation to the educational foundation of Harris County Department of Education “to be used for the CASE debates program for future lawyers.”

The program, called The Center for Afterschool, Summer and Enrichment (CASE) for kids, is part of HCDE’s services for students who may not participate in a sport or music but still want to have somewhere to go after school to engage in hobbies or clubs. The debate program is a free for “inner-city youth” which provides training and coaches for debaters, according to a news release about the after-school program.

Dick did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether he would pay the $40,000 fines, but he has previously said that he would fight the fines as they represented a systemic problem with the ethics commission. More than $1.5 million in fines are due to the ethics commission and have been sent to the Attorney General for collection, according to state records.

Harris County resident and retired NASA software engineer John Cobarruvias initially filed complaints against the Dick with the ethics commission after the 2019 and 2022 violations, one of more than 60 complaints Cobarruvias said he has filed in the last 15 or so years. He also filed the grievance against Dick in July with the HCDE.

When reached for comment Wednesday, Cobarruvias said he was upset by the board’s “disturbing” decision not to censure Dick while accepting a $40,000 donation from him to the HCDE debate program.

“In lieu of a censure, the Harris County Department of Education accepted a $40,000 donation,” Cobarruvias said. “But he still owes the taxpayers and the Ethics Commission $40,000.”

See here for the background; this story was from the week before Christmas, so I’m catching up here. I do share John Cobarruvias’ (*) frustration at the HCDE’s action here, especially given their utter lack of an explanation for said action. I mean, come on, y’all at least owe us that much. On the other hand, it’s not like a censure was going to have any material effect – Dick was just re-elected to another six-year term, and the number of people who might change their vote in 2030 based on him being censured versus whatever this was can almost certainly be counted on one hand, with fingers to spare. It’s not on the HCDE to get Dick to pay his fines to the TEC – unpaid fine collection is Ken Paxton’s job, one he could not care less about – but at least that contribution to CASE would be nice, if he ever does make it. (How do you think Mattress Mack would bet on that proposition?) Really, at this point I’d just like someone to explain why the Board did what it did. Even a self-serving reason is better than no reason.

(*) Cobarruvias is a long-time Democratic activist and was for years a blogging colleague of mine. I haven’t seen him in a few years, but I know him well, so I’m noting that here.

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Be careful what Christmas music you listen to

Posted on December 28, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

There’s a lot of AI crap out there.

AI slop has consumed Facebook, is running Wikipedia editors ragged, is rapidly destroying Google search, probably put an extra finger on the scales of election influence, is confusing and annoying crafters, steals endlessly from authors, is on its way to demolish YouTube comment sections, and will probably end up in a movie theater near you sooner than you think. But if you’re streaming Christmas music today, did something seem a little off to you? If so, there’s a very good chance you’ve been listening to AI-generated carol-slop.

As spotted by video game developer Karbonic, YouTube compilation videos are sneaking AI generated songs into their mixes. The example they posted, “Best of 1950s to 1970s Christmas Carols ~ vintage christmas songs that will melt your heart 🎅🎄⛄❄️,” has more than five million views and more than 2,000 comments. A ton of the comments appear to be engagement-farming bots, saying things like “I’m looking forward to Christmas 2024, is anyone else like me?” but many seem human. “It takes me back to my childhood and I realize how wonderful life was before worries about money and so many futile things that dont matter,” one person wrote. Another commented, “Missing  memories of my youth. But, grateful for the blessings in my life. Merry Christmas and God bless you.❤”

If I put this on in the background while doing something else, I might not think anything of it. But there are points in the one hour 18 minute video that give it away as AI: “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” around the 36:55 mark, is the lyrics of that song but the melody of “Silent Night.” If you compare it to an actual recording of Nat King Cole singing “O Little Town,” the difference is even more obvious. Once you start noticing the warped tunes, they’re hard to un-hear. “Oh Holy Night” is listed in the video as being by “Nei Diamond,” who as far as I can tell doesn’t exist, or is a typo of Neil Diamond, who is definitely not the singer in the song on this compilation. “The First Noel,” attributed here to Nat King Cole, is either an undiscovered recording where Nat and the choir run some really wild riffs, or is AI.

[…]

A quick search around the internet to see if anyone else has encountered other holiday-flavored AI slop turned up a recent Reddit thread where people were complaining about seemingly fabricated Spotify artists haunting retail workers during an already agonizing season. They list Dean Snowfield, North Star Notesmiths, Sleighbelle, Frosty Nights, The Humbugs, Snowdrift Sleighs, and Daniel & The Holly Jollies as artists on Spotify that have snuck into Christmas playlists but have little to no trace of a career outside of the streaming platform. Some of them, like several of Dean Snowfield’s songs, sound like midi mixes with a stilted voice singing the lyrics. These artists make it onto huge, popular playlists like “Old Christmas Music” alongside real songs. It’s honestly hard to tell whether these artists are AI-generated or just mass produced. But their Spotify artist bios often have the same exact text, or follow this pattern:

“Dean Snowfield are songwriters, artists, and musicians who have combined forces to release holiday themed cover songs on their independent record label, distributed by Warner Music’s ADA. In November and December, their ‘A Nostalgic Noel’ sampler managed to generate over 8,000,000 streams across Spotify and Apple Music. As a collective of artists, Sleighbelle have a great deal of respect for the original songwriters and producers who created these beloved holiday classics, and ask that you support them by streaming their original versions. Without songwriters like Edward Polo, George Wyle, Huge Martin, and Ralph Blane, we wouldn’t have this music to interpret and cover. Thanks for listening to our labor of love, and make sure to follow us on our socials. – Dean Snowfield”

They didn’t just appear this year: Third Bridge Creative, a music creative agency, noticed these artists dwelling in the uncanny valley last Christmas, too. “Is it a coincidence that each of their top songs match up with the respective iconic Christmas hits? Why would I ‘immerse [my]self in the enchanting world of Christmas music with Dean Snowfield’s’ low-key creepy Nostalgic Noel when I can put on The Dean Martin Christmas Album instead?,” they wrote.

You get the idea. Basically, know what your sources are, beware of the algorithms, listen closely, and maybe complain at a store or restaurant if you hear something that sounds like AI. The sad fact is that this is an upward trend, but you can at least try not to contribute to it. Make your own playlists, with real artists you can vouch for, and help real musicians get paid, however little that may be from the streamers.

Posted in Music | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Be careful what Christmas music you listen to

The YouTube judge

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Very interesting.

Judge David Fleischer

Defendants accused of low-level crimes could soon be handed cautionary fliers warning what they say and do in Harris County Judge David Fleischer’s courtroom may live on social media.

This is because Fleischer, a two-term Democrat jurist, shares his misdemeanor proceedings live on YouTube every time he takes the bench, typically garnering an average 1,700 viewers daily. He said he began streaming during the pandemic to ensure access to the courts when Houstonians were encouraged to stay home.

The videos often highlight Fleischer’s penchant for over-the-top banter in his County Criminal Court at Law No. 5, sometimes calling out defendants for inappropriate attire or criticizing them for failing to adhere to his orders. In some clips, he emphasizes finding no probable cause on cases lacking legal basis for an arrest. Just this year, he made that finding on at least 75 cases, according to county records.

In one recent instance, Fleischer threatened to “spank” a first-time defendant with jail time for wearing shorts in the courtroom.

“If you come in here and try to play this game again I will put you over my knee like a little child and I’m going to spank you,” the judge said. “But I will do it with a ton of jail time.”

To Fleischer’s surprise and to the dismay of some defense lawyers, his account became a hit, gaining nearly 22,000 subscribers but also inspiring viral clips from others taking his footage for their own use. He considers the attention positive, however, and the reason why he’s still doing it four years later.

[…]

Despite his good intentions, some have said Fleischer’s videos — and his behavior — can be damaging for people in the criminal justice system.

Mark Bennett, another attorney, takes issue with Fleischer’s on-camera conduct, not his use of a live stream.

“I think if it were simply a recording of a judge acting like a judge in court, that it probably wouldn’t be a problem,” he said. “But he’s playing to the cameras and he’s treating people without dignity and respect and it’s a problem.”

But once on YouTube, Fleischer has no control over what happens next. Bennett noted the hundreds of videos that have been created using his courtroom feed to the detriment of defendants. The videos on other accounts use Fleischer’s likeness, often cherry-picking lively moments from court and garnering hundreds of comments.

“If the judge behaved with dignity and respect, there wouldn’t be this stuff for these people to latch onto and show,” he said. “There wouldn’t be all these opportunities for people to republish videos and make money off of it.”

Fleischer doesn’t make money off the videos, he said, but he understands the criticism. He defended the video feed of court goings-on as a way to improve transparency and steer others from hurting themselves or others.

“They see the consequences of behavior and that’s the goal,” he said. “Everybody sees and understands there are consequences for criminality.”

Concerns about Flesicher’s videos pushed the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association earlier this month to sign off on printing cards for attorneys to warn their clients about the live stream.

Conceptually, I think this is fine. Cameras have been allowed in courtrooms for a long time, and while there have always been concerns about participants (especially judges) playing to them, I think there’s a lot of value in people being able to see for themselves how courtrooms operate, what everyone does, what to expect, that sort of thing. Even the higher-end crime and courtroom dramas on TV take tons of artistic license, so a bracing taste of the real thing would do us all some good.

That said, there should be some official and enforceable rules for how this is done and what the bounds of acceptable behavior are for the judges and the lawyers. I believe the rules (if they don’t already exist, or if they’re not clearly applicable from earlier rules) would come from the Supreme Court, with the enforcement power belonging to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, but I would support there being a commission to study this in more detail and recommending legislation to clarify and codify it all. The story doesn’t say whether Judge Fleischer is unique in his actions here, but even if he is I have to imagine others will eventually follow in some form.

I also approve of the HCCLA taking action to pre-emptively notify clients about this courtroom. I would say that defendants should be able to opt out of being on camera, or even request that their case be reassigned, with the idea that an updated set of rules would spell out exactly what everyone’s rights and responsibilities are. There should also be some guidance on data retention, in that someone’s courtroom video from a sufficiently long time ago should be removed from public view, so that people whose matters have been resolved can resume their lives without this following them around forever. The educational value of these videos should not come at any individual’s cost.

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Time for the annual Christmas tree recycling post

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

It’s the most wonderful post-Christmas Day post of the year.

The City of Houston’s Solid Waste Management Department (SWMD) and Houston Parks and Recreation Department invite residents to recycle their live Christmas trees and contribute to a greener holiday season. By participating, you can help reduce landfill waste while creating valuable mulch and other landscaping materials.

From Wednesday, December 26, 2024, through Friday, January 24, 2025, SWMD will operate 22 convenient tree recycling drop-off locations throughout Houston. A detailed list of sites is attached for reference. Additionally, live trees can be recycled through the city’s curbside tree waste collection program.

To prepare a tree for recycling:
– Remove all lights, ornaments, tinsel, wire, nails, and stands.
– Ensure the tree is not flocked, painted, or artificial, as these cannot be recycled.

SAVE THE DATE: 34th Annual Treecycling Event
Celebrate sustainability with City officials, Reliant Energy, Living Earth, and the Houston Parks & Recreation Department as we give the City Tree a second life as mulch for parks and green spaces.

Date: Tuesday, January 7, 2025
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: City Hall Reflection Pool

The press release includes a link to this Google map of those 22 locations, which include stalwarts like Westpark and North Main, two locations in Memorial Park, and a few outside the city in places like Richmond, the Woodlands, and New Caney. There’s someplace that close enough to you, so find it and haul that tree over when it’s time. And as an extra added bonus, here’s where to dispose of your tree in San Antonio. You’re welcome.

On a side note, when I searched my archives for previous “Christmas tree” posts, I found this story from 2018 about Amazon getting into the Christmas tree delivery business and how this was a potential threat to Christmas tree farms. That service still exists, but with one exception from 2019, all of the stories I found in a Google News search on the topic were from the debut year. So if it’s had some measurable effect on the previous business model, it’s not been enough for it to be newsworthy, for whatever that’s worth.

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Paxton sues NCAA over trans athletes

Posted on December 26, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Never not on brand.

Still a crook any way you look

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday he sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association, accusing the organization of misleading college sports fans by allowing transgender women to participate in events marketed as women’s competitions.

Paxton said the NCAA violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by deceiving fans who want to support sporting events that only include athletes whose female sex was assigned at birth.

Paxton also accused the NCAA of misleading consumers by not identifying which athletes are transgender, and of “jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of women” by allowing transgender athletes to participate in its sporting events.

“Radical ‘gender theory’ has no place in college sports,” Paxton said in a news release Sunday.

Paxton wants the court to limit the participation of trans athletes in NCAA competitions taking place in Texas or involving Texas teams, or to stop the organization from labeling events as women’s sports if they include transgender women.

In a statement, the NCAA did not address the lawsuit’s allegations but said they would continue to support women’s sports.

“The Association and its members will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports and ensure fair competition in all NCAA championships,” said NCAA communications director Michelle Brutlag Hosick in a statement.

For all the obvious reasons it’s hard to feel any optimism about this, but I will note two things. One is that putting this out the Sunday before Christmas is hardly the way to get attention. For an attention whore the magnitude of Ken Paxton, that’s a very curious choice. Similarly, there’s no link to a copy of the court filing, which Paxton usually provides. As I’ve noted before, a lot of his lawsuits are, legally speaking, piles of junk that would be laughed out of any non-Kacsmaryk courtroom. Not that this stops him, he is an expert at picking his venues, but this oversight is once again curious given his usual proclivities. Does that mean anything for the likelihood of this action’s success, or the message that he’s trying to send? Probably not – I’m grasping at straws and I know it. But this is my reaction to this weirdly timed and lightly supported story.

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

Recycle those Christmas lights

Posted on December 26, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Public service announcement:

Houston’s Solid Waste Management Department has asked residents to recycle their discarded holiday lights in a very particular way. Instead of leaving them in a recycling bin, they are asked to bring them to either the Westpark Recycling Center or the Environmental Service Center so that they can be properly recycled.

Another tip from the department for the holidays is to flatten all cardboard boxes and gift boxes before putting them in the recycling bin.

The Westpark Recycling Center is located at 5900 Westpark and is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There are two locations for the Environmental Service Center. The north location is at 5614 Neches St. and the south location is at 11500 S. Post Oak Rd.

The south location is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and also the second Saturday of the month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The north location is open the second Thursday of the month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

As with pumpkins and Christmas trees, please do your part to handle holiday waste responsibly. For your reward, I bring you this:

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate.

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

Say goodbye to 2024, Mel Torme

Posted on December 25, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good riddance, too, but we’ll put that aside for today only. Here again I present to you my favorite Christmas story, which Mark Evanier has taken to rerunning, with a reminder to not just flat out reprint it and claim it as your own. I would never. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah (which happens to begin today), and have a good Wednesday, as appropriate. I thank you for being here, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

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Christmas Eve video break: Revisiting my manifesto

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I often have occasion to revisit something I wrote years ago on this site, and I’m happy to say that more often than not, the archived post still holds up. I say that because I just re-read my Christmas music manifesto from 2022, and I stand by all of it.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in a weird mood this holiday season. On the one hand, from Thanksgiving on, I’ve leaned heavily into all the things I love about the season, including and especially the time I’ve spent with my family and friends. The comfort, the familiarity, the sense of community, the shared experiences – I love those things every year, but this year even more so. It’s the dread of what is to come next that has both given all that more meaning, and created an uncomfortable edge to it all. We need a little Christmas more than ever this year, because we’ve got some real shit coming at us.

I played all the videos in that post – am I right about “Pat-a-Pan” or what? – and this lyric from “Good King Wenceslas” stood out:

“Therefore, Christian men, be sure
Wealth or rank possessing
Ye who now will bless the poor
Shall yourselves find blessing”

I would object less to a “Christian” takeover of our government if there were anything remotely Christ-like about the “Christians” in question. These people make the Pharisees and the Philistines look like Moses and the crew that fled Egypt.

Anyway. Let’s brighten things up a bit, shall we? Tis the season and all that. Postmodern Jukebox never misses:

It’s not just their impeccable musicianship, it’s their showmanship. We were out of town when they came through Houston recently, and I am more determined than ever to see them live at some other time.

The rendition of “Fairytale of New York” that was performed at Shane MacGowan’s funeral makes me want to cry and dance at the same time.

I don’t know who the members of that band were, but God bless them, every one.

We should all hold space in our hearts for Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, with one of the greatest villain songs of all time:

Razzleberry dressing is nice and all, but how do you top that?

Coverville did its 20th annual Christmas cover story last week, and it’s a banger, with a lyrically correct version of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, done by PMJ. “Oi To The World” and the Ronnie James Dio version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” are standouts as well.

All right, all right, it is Christmas Eve, and we have certain ritualistic obligations to meet. So here you go:

I love that as much now as ever. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

Posted in Music | Tagged , | 1 Comment

San Antonio gets more funds for its first BRT line

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good for them. If only we had the same inclinations.

San Antonio and Bexar County landed a $268 million federal grant to fund more than half the cost of the VIA Green Line, the Alamo City’s first-ever Advanced Rapid Transit program, local leaders said Wednesday.

The 10.5-mile bus route will start at San Antonio International Airport before traveling down San Pedro Avenue. The line then will snake through downtown and Southtown before ending at VIA’s Brooks Transit Center.

[…]

The federal grant will fund 56% of the Green Line’s total $480 million price tag. Another $153.7 million will come from local bonds, while the remaining $56.8 million will be allocated from existing funds.

[…]

Despite its promise of speedier public transport, the project has sparked fears from small-business owners about a pending construction nightmare, the Current previously reported. Some business owners concerned over the line said they’re still recovering from construction delays downtown and along the St. Mary’s Strip,

Even so, Bexar County Judge Peter Sakai said the city and county will work with small businesses to ensure that the project doesn’t hinder foot traffic.

“I’m expecting us to incorporate all those small businesses, or any businesses, up and down that North-South line of the city to see how we can improve our community — not just for the bus riders but for the businesses that are along that route,” Sakai said.

If all goes as planned, construction on the Green Line will begin late next year and wrap up in mid-2025, according to local officials. The route is expected to be fully operational by 2027.

In addition to the rapid bus line, the project will include replacement of 151 storm drains, 13 new signalized pedestrian crossings and 7.3 miles of new and repaired sidewalks. Nearly 40 traffic lights along the route also will be upgraded and synchronized.

See here for the background. The San Antonio Report gets into the neighborhood aspects of this.

San Antonio City Council unanimously approved new zoning rules and a policy framework Thursday that are aimed at transit-oriented development (TOD). The rules are meant to encourage bus ridership, area walkability and density along mass transit corridors in the city — which are planned but not yet built.

“Ultimately, where we are going with TOD is in an effort to rein in sprawl that makes our city less desirable, more expensive and less sustainable,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg said after the vote. The goal is “to tie our transportation system planning with our land use and make it so that you don’t have to have a car to get where you need to go in the city.”

Much of the policy framework, developed over the course of more than a year by a task force and committee, is aimed at removing barriers for more residential, commercial and mixed-use development surrounding mass transit routes, which VIA Metropolitan Transit calls “advanced rapid transit” or ART. (It’s more commonly known as “bus rapid transit.”)

Other sections are aimed at mitigating the impacts development may have on neighborhoods, such as increased property values and gentrification.

[…]

The now-$480 million ART Green Line will be a faster and more frequent bus route from the airport that will run through downtown to the missions. VIA also has plans to build the east-west Silver Line in 2027, which could run from North Gen. McMullen Drive on the West Side along West Commerce Street and East Houston Street to the Frost Bank Center on the East Side.

The zoning rules and map approved Thursday will apply to areas surrounding the Green Line, slated for completion in 2027. Lots that are currently zoned for single-family use within the urban core are ineligible for TOD zoning.

Another process is underway to customize the boundaries and parameters for the Silver Line, which is scheduled to break ground in 2029.

While VIA’s Green Line and the city’s TOD policy are separate, independent initiatives, the organizations have been collaborating for years to align them.

[…]

TOD and bus rapid transit are key elements of the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan adopted by City Council in 2016. TOD is part of the city’s affordable housing policy adopted in 2018, as well as the implementation plan in 2021. The city’s climate action plan also prioritizes TOD.

Like the housing policy, the city will ultimately adopt an implementation plan for TOD, which will be developed by the city next year.

Sure is nice to have a plan. The aforementioned Silver Line would run through downtown, which makes a lot of sense; the Frost Bank Center is where the Spurs play. I’m not jealous about any of this, I’m just gazing wistfully in their direction.

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

Replacing NRG Arena

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Someone’s gotta pay for it.

If NRG Arena were a car, it would be totaled.

A 2019 assessment commissioned by the county found the arena, where the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo holds its horse show and auctions every March, was beyond its lifespan.

The electrical system was “failing due to the age of the equipment,” the assessment said. Many of the seating areas lacked handrails needed to meet “life safety or building codes.” And the 1970s-era facility fails to satisfy basic accessibility standards, greeting every visitor with a “set of stairs to climb to get to the seating bowl.”

It recommended $11.6 million in improvements it said were “absolutely necessary to keep the building functional (e.g. life safety),” but its final determination was clear: The arena should be replaced in no more than seven years.

“It was bad enough that, to make it semi-competitive and fix all of the obsolete systems in it, it was cheaper to build a new one,” said John Blount, who said he ordered the assessment as Harris County’s lead engineer before retiring in 2021. “We had a big discussion about whether we should just tear it down and start over again.”

Five years later, little progress has been made on building NRG Arena’s replacement, and the plan for a new facility is one central question in negotiations as officials from the Rodeo, Houston Texans and Harris County work to iron out a new lease agreement for NRG Park. The current lease expires in 2032.

“There’s no question, as we go through these lease negotiations, that it’s extremely important to the Rodeo that we get that replaced,” said Chris Boleman, the Rodeo’s president.

While the need for a new arena is undisputed, it’s less clear who will foot the bill.

The Rodeo built the current arena in 1974 and later donated it to Harris County, which owns the land. Under the county’s current lease with the Rodeo and Texans at NRG Park, it is the county’s responsibility to maintain facilities in “first-class” condition, a standard the arena currently does not meet.

That puts the county on the hook for the facilities, but some former county officials have winced at the idea of subsidizing a new arena for the Rodeo, a nonprofit organization that generated $192 million in annual revenue and had $309 million in assets, as of its last publicly available tax filing in 2022.

That’s a part of a larger issue.

NRG Park, home to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and the Houston Texans, requires nearly $2 billion in repairs and maintenance, some of which is overdue, over the next 30 years to continue operating, according to a new assessment prepared for the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp. Questions remain as to who will pay for it.

The $2 billion price tag for upkeep is more than triple what a similar report called for in 2019.

The most costly upgrades to the facility would include $105 million for security systems, video, audio, other technology.

The new report comes as lease negotiations begin between Harris County, the Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The current lease expires in 2032.

Representatives for NRG and the Houston Texans did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Many basic repairs and maintenance on the stadium have been deferred, said Chris Boleman, CEO of the Rodeo, but upgrades are needed on the horizon.

There’s more, some of which was in the earlier story, so read the rest. Note that this is $2 billion over 30 years, which is to say about $67 million per year. Still a lot, but it’s not like anyone needs to pony up the whole thing right now. Given the current lifecycle for most arenas these days, it’s not clear to me that NRG Park will still be a thing 30 years from now. We may be talking about its replacement well before then, like in 2032 when the lease expires.

For the first item, something will give eventually. I do expect the Rodeo and the Texans to kick in some amount towards a new NRG Arena. Maybe there’s a better way for all to handle this sort of thing in the future. Again, the expiration of the lease will provide a catalyst.

Posted in Other sports | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Texas blog roundup for the week of December 23

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

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

Continue reading →

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On Rep. Kay Granger

Posted on December 23, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

On Saturday I was perusing Bluesky, and posts like this were all over the place:

US Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, hasn’t voted since July. The Dallas Express reports that it found her in a “memory care and assisted living home” after she was “found wandering lost and confused in her” old neighborhood. She is 81 and a sitting congresswoman.

dallasexpress.com/tarrant/excl…

[image or embed]

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur.bsky.social) December 21, 2024 at 7:04 PM

One might note a couple of things about this. The story comes from a wingnut “news” site that probably none of us had heard of before this encounter. It contains multiple unsourced or uncorroborated allegations. Just a month ago, Rep. Granger was in DC being publicly feted for her career, which anyone with any experience with dementia can tell you is absolutely not something that a person in memory care who is a risk to wander off could handle. It’s true that she hadn’t cast a vote in Congress in several months, and there’s a story that should have been reported about that. This was not that story, it was a hit piece filled with reckless speculation.

And after at least 24 hours of that story being shared all over the Internet – a Google news search on Saturday for her name was filled with identical versions of the story from equally dubious sources – there was finally a story from a more reputable outlet about the situation.

Retiring U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, has missed votes in Congress since the summer and her son said she has been “having some dementia issues late in the year.”

The last time the 81-year-old congresswoman cast a vote on the House floor was the morning of July 24.

In a statement from her office, Rep. Granger expressed gratitude for the public’s concern and said that since early September, her health issues have made frequent travel to Washington, D.C., “both difficult and unpredictable.”

“As many of my family, friends, and colleagues have known, I have been navigating some unforeseen health challenges over the past year,” the statement said.

She added she was able to return to Washington in November to hold meetings and oversee the closure of her office.

From South Carolina, Brandon Granger, 52, told The Dallas Morning News Sunday morning, “It’s been a hard year,” adding it has been a surprise how quickly it progressed.

Brandon said his mother is living at Tradition Senior Living in Fort Worth, but she is not in a memory care facility, as some media reports have stated. He said that while the facility has a memory care community on the same property, Rep. Granger resides in the independent living facility.

On its website, Tradition Senior Living says it offers “resort-style living with ultra-inclusive services” on “approximately six acres along the Trinity River with miles of walking trails.” Brandon said she made the move because she wanted to be in a more active community of other older people.

“There’s nothing wrong with someone wanting to live in a community with other folks their age,” he said. “She’s in a building with a lot of other folks her age that are super active that she really loves. She has exercise classes, she gets to be around people all the time, it’s wonderful for her for this point in life.”

Tradition Senior Living said it was not able to confirm the residency status of any individual when reached by phone Sunday morning.

After the publication of the DMN story, a bunch of more mainstream outlets jumped in, though some still largely parroted the original hit piece. I’ll credit Axios doing some good followup reporting and approaching the underlying issues about the advanced age of some members of Congress and the lack of transparency about Rep. Granger’s absence with a fair amount of seriousness. All I can say is that I’ve never felt the adage about a lie getting halfway around the world before the truth can get its shoes on more acutely.

There’s still a lot we don’t know here, and frankly some of it we’ll probably never know, and some of that is fine and appropriate. I don’t have the energy to litigate this in detail, but having had personal experience with dementia in loved ones, it is fully credible to me that Rep. Granger’s situation went from one where she was mostly in control to one where she just couldn’t operate as she had done before quickly an unexpectedly. I’m happy to have a larger conversation about how old Congress is and how hard it is for younger candidates to get elected and younger members to advance. I’m just angry that this conversation, such as it is, was started by a nasty hit piece that was full of reckless speculation, all of which was swallowed whole by far too many people. That’s what really sucks here, as far as I’m concerned.

UPDATE: For those that want to know more about the Dallas Express and sites like it, the Texas Observer has done you that service. I think what most offended me about this whole saga is that there were actual journalists like Sahil Kapur doing the sharing without first asking themselves if the source they were boosting was a credible one.

Posted in National news | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

HISD to add metal detectors at all high schools

Posted on December 23, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Inevitable, I suppose. Ridiculous, but inevitable.

Houston ISD will introduce new weapons detection systems to its high school campuses in the spring semester after experiencing an uptick in confiscated weapons in the 2024-25 school year.

More than 10 guns have been confiscated from HISD schools since the start of the school year, putting the district on track to outpace previous years, interim police chief Shamara Garner said. While the district did not disclose the number of metal detectors that would be installed, Garner said HISD will implement one lane for every 600 students enrolled.

“I need not say much about the uptick of weapons discovered on our campuses and the climate within our nation,” Garner said. “Our number one most important priority is the safety of our students.”

Students can walk through the portable OpenGate systems without removing their bags, although they must hand laptops and other devices to nearby staff. If the light at the top of the system turns red, students will then be searched by staff members for further inspection. Two employees will staff each lane, and HISD police will provide assistance if a threat is detected but will not assist in staffing.

Houston ISD and other districts across the country experienced an influx of school threats following the Sept. 4 Georgia high school shooting and the current social media environment, experts told the Houston Chronicle in September.

FBI Houston received 66 school-related threats to life in September, up from 13 that month both in 2023 and in 2022. HISD, the state’s largest district, said Sept. 23 seven student arrests were made in connection to hoax threats. Several HISD schools have experienced lockdowns this school year due to weapons detected on campus, stabbings and other threats.

Garner said the district was in “active discussions” on purchasing metal detectors in September, an idea echoed days later by state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles in a virtual parent town hall.

I get it, and I’m not going to argue against it. This is the world we live in, and even if we could get the kind of gun control laws we deserve in place tomorrow, the culture isn’t going to change any time soon. These will be fully rolled out to all district high schools by the end of the spring semester – I’ll have to ask Audrey what she sees at her school – and that will come with a restriction to one point of entry for students at each school. It is what it is.

Not mentioned anywhere in the story – the cost, and how much of any of it will be picked up by the state. Note that just installing the machines isn’t the end of it – they will need to be maintained and eventually replaced, they will need people who have been trained in their use to operate them, and so on. It would be nice to know how much this will cost us, now and going forward.

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Weekend link dump for December 22

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

“We are all passengers on the NFL’s journey. Private equity is too. It just gets to sit in better seats.”

“Put simply, we don’t have anywhere near enough pardons: both at the federal and the state level.”

“Our antivaccine friends appear energized for some reason. Doesn’t take much to figure out why. I anticipate a rough few years ahead.”

“Whooping cough cases skyrocket in Michigan, as vaccinations decline”.

“This, I think, is what has befallen America. This is a disease of affluence, not poverty. This isn’t a story of a working class that is being pinched. It’s the story of a working class that is doing better than any comparable working class ever has and a professional class who are angry about that. Who feel that this newfound security means they no longer show proper deference to their social betters.”

“Sarah Michelle Gellar Has Come Around To The Idea Of A ‘Buffy’ Offshoot”.

“The roots of Hegseth’s version of Christianity are worth a look as he heads into confirmation hearings before the U.S. Senate in January 2025.”

RIP, Reef, one of the white tigers at Houston’s Downtown Aquarium.

RIP, Kelly, a 44-year-old orangutan who spent decades at the Houston Zoo.

“Because what we have here is a stunted, misleading, misconception of what does and does not constitute “politics” — one that leaves out any consideration of 90% of the political formation and political discipling that occurs in congregations.”

“Beyond covering legal expenses and giving people the confidence they won’t be bankrupted by Trump these are really pro-wrestling-derived public spectacles and performance art aimed at telegraphing power and demoralizing enemies. So much of our politics in the Trump era amounts to this. We’ve seen this. We know this if we’re paying attention. And Trump’s opponents need to learn to speak in that language. Otherwise it’s a professional wrestling grudge match, a taunt-fest with only one side taunting.”

Oh, my God, no. Just, no.

RIP, Jim Tunney, longtime NFL referee who officiated some of the league’s most memorable games.

“More people are turning to IVF to have children than ever before. But new research, out last month, finds that the success of in vitro fertilization — a delicate process that works less than half the time — could be affected by air pollution.”

“Legal sports betting revenue in the US has gone from $430 million in 2018 to $11.04 billion last year, i.e., more than a 25-fold increase in five years. Note that revenue means total bets minus total payouts, so that $11.04 billion is the net loss to legal sports gamblers in America last year. Given the growth curve, I’d be surprised if that figure was less than $15 billion in 2024, which would mean that Americans legally wagered something like $150 billion on sports this year!”

“Trump’s nominations represent an unprecedented triple assault on constitutional appointment norms: First, many are unqualified or hostile to their agencies’ missions. Second, rather than making a few controversial picks, Trump has flooded the zone, nominating an entire slate of problematic candidates that burdens the Senate’s capacity for proper vetting. And third, Trump has signaled willingness to circumvent the confirmation process through legally dubious tactics such as forced Senate adjournment. Together, these moves threaten to transform the appointments process from a constitutional safeguard into a vehicle for installing loyalists regardless of competence.”

“How to Lose a Fortune with Just One Bad Click“. One critical takeaway: Google will never call you to tell you that there’s a problem with your account. If you get such a call, it’s a scam. In general, for calls like that, hang up, look up, and call back.

“In 2024, TV shows that took on abortion largely failed to depict the many barriers to abortion access or reflect the real-life demographics of abortion patients — and in some cases, reinforced misleading tropes, according to a new report about abortion representation on television.”

“Four Ways to Unbend the Media’s Knee”.

“A scientific journal on Tuesday retracted the March 2020 study that introduced the world to hydroxychloroquine early in the COVID-19 pandemic – and confirmed that the attention was undeserved from the start.”

“The world’s largest hornet, an invasive breed dubbed the “murder hornet” for its dangerous sting and ability to slaughter a honey bee hive in a matter of hours, has been declared eradicated in the US, five years after being spotted for the first time in Washington state near the Canadian border.”

“Trump has sewn himself into a sack with Elon Musk, a few billion dollars, a cat and a snake and had the sack tossed into the Tiber. That’s the story here. And it will go on for a while.”

“Netflix and FIFA have agreed a deal for the streaming giant to have exclusive United States broadcasting rights to the next two FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments, global football’s governing body confirmed on Friday.” I’d really prefer they be on ESPN or one of the networks, but no one asked me.

1-800-CHAT-GPT. No, seriously.

RIP, Rickey Henderson, MLB Hall of Famer, all time leader in stolen bases, and honestly just a damn legend. As Bill James once said, if you cut Rickey in half, you’d have two Hall of Famers. There will be tons written about Rickey, as well there should. Here‘s a good starting point.

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged | 2 Comments

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

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

San Antonio, here they come.

No longer seen at I-10 and Sawyer

A plan is in the works to partially relieve Houston-area ratepayers of CenterPoint Energy’s $800 million lease of controversial generators that have sat mostly unused during power outages.

The bulk of the lease includes 15 large generators, each big enough to power roughly 30,000 homes. These generators have been under public scrutiny since July, when a Houston Chronicle investigation revealed CenterPoint has never deployed them to restore outages, including in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, because they take days to move and aren’t suited for use after storms damage neighborhood-level power lines and poles.

According to a proposal under evaluation by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s power grid operator, the 15 generators could be sent to CPS Energy, San Antonio’s electric utility, to mitigate a power supply crunch in that region.

While the generators are in San Antonio, CenterPoint would receive no revenue or profit from ERCOT for their use. CenterPoint would also not charge Houston-area customers for any costs incurred while the generators are in San Antonio, which would reduce customer bills starting in spring 2025.

ERCOT’s board will vote on the plan at its next meeting in February. If approved, the generators would be moved to San Antonio in the spring and stay with CPS Energy for approximately two years, or until additional power lines are built to relieve the region’s power shortfalls.

Even after CPS Energy is done with the generators around 2027, CenterPoint wouldn’t charge its Houston-area customers for any future use of the generators until its lease is up in 2029, according to a statement from the Houston utility. CenterPoint said it plans to “market the units for other purposes” and mentioned that there is significant demand for such generators as artificial intelligence drives a massive build-out of data centers desperate for electricity.

[…]

If the proposal is approved, CenterPoint’s generators would replace the need for CPS Energy to continue operating two natural gas power plants at its Braunig complex past their planned March retirement. Maintaining operations at these two power plants is expected to cost $56 million, which would be paid by utility customers across the state.

ERCOT has already ordered CPS Energy to keep the largest of the three Braunig power plants open at a cost of $34 million. Additional power supply is needed in the San Antonio region because there isn’t enough power line capacity to move plentiful electricity generated by wind farms in South Texas to power-hungry cities further north, according to ERCOT.

Without the Braunig units, which are located north of the bottleneck, or CenterPoint’s generators, those power lines could become overloaded, which could in a worst-case scenario lead to outages. Overloaded power lines in South Texas were a major trigger of a grid emergency in September 2023, the first to occur since the infamous outages of the February 2021 freeze.

Chad Seely, ERCOT’s general counsel, told the PUC at its Thursday meeting that ERCOT is still assessing how much it would cost to use CenterPoint’s generators to mitigate San Antonio’s power shortfalls instead of the Braunig units. ERCOT plans to issue on Friday a request for companies to submit other solutions to see if a more cost-effective alternative emerges, he said.

“The market (would be) competing against what we believe is a better, more reliable solution that is probably less costly than the Braunig units,” Seely said, referring to the proposal to use CenterPoint’s generators, which would still be paid for by utility customers across the state.

If it means that we in Houston don’t get charged any more for these things, then it’s all fine by me. It would be nice if the state made some investment in more and better transmission lines to take advantage of all that wind energy that could be used instead, but that’s a different issue. If you want to know more about CenterPoint and the many issues and proposals surrounding it, you should listen to my interview with Sandie Haverlah of the Texas Consumer Association, in which she answered a bunch of questions about those things.

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Who is all this Enron performance art for?

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I have no idea.

The company that recently resurrected Enron’s fallen brand announced Friday it would host a “town hall” to address residents’ concerns after its CEO was allegedly targeted in a pie attack in New York.

Despite the Chronicle’s best efforts, nailing down the details of Enron’s supposed town hall proved an elusive task. The company did not respond to multiple requests for more information, and never publicly shared an address or time for the event. All Enron shared in terms of specifics was that it would be hosted “near Enron’s original headquarters.”

Efforts to RSVP to the town hall within minutes of the event being announced on social media were met with an automated response claiming it was full.

The company initially claimed the town hall was scheduled for Monday, but later shared pictures of a $50,000 check generously made to the “Citizens of Houston” dated Sunday.

It’s unclear who the beneficiaries of the check were intended to be, but the Chronicle was unable to verify any Houston resident receiving a payout as of Thursday evening. Enron did not respond to a request for clarification.

See here and here for the background. The story goes on from there, and I commend Chron reporter John Novax IV for his persistence and ability to keep a straight face. But look, phony checks aside, someone is providing the money to pay for this joke. I can’t tell who their audience is, or at least who they might think it is, let alone what they’re actually planning to do with them. I was going to go on a lengthy diatribe about this, but the Chron’s Gwen Howerton beat me to it.

What, exactly, is the joke here? They bought the trademark for $275 because it was a radioactive brand name. The countdown on its website promising more was sure to invite the curiosity of media outlets who, for some reason, cover it as if it’s a serious company. A brazenly fake pie-in-the-face stunt only furthered speculation. The “company” held a “town hall” in “Houston” with “Houstonians” where a $50 million check was made out to the “Citizens of Houston.” As of this writing, another countdown on the website promises even more in 18 days. Conveniently, the only thing on the website that’s clear is the very real and very overpriced merch that you can buy. The “company” has also applied for a wider patent to sell everything from Enron-branded beer to crypto.

Sure, perhaps it’s a bit funny that Enron would come back in an era of brazen corporate fraud. But again, how can you satirize a moment that is already beyond parody? One where people willingly participate in memecoin scams or AI hoaxes, where elderly dementia patients unwittingly donate their life savings to politicians and “sustainable” car companies dump wastewater into municipal sewer systems?

Just as Zombie Enron is not a real company and shouldn’t be treated as such, it isn’t particularly good or interesting parody, either. It’s also not particularly funny. Don’t just take it from me; former Enron employees aren’t laughing. What it is, then, is just another stunt built to capture your attention and your hard-earned cash. In an era where attention is a commodity, I am begging you to not give the Enron guys any more of it. Their 15 minutes of fame have long expired.

I’ll probably continue to pay attention just because I want to see how this ends. You should feel free to tap out. Oh, and because I can’t help myself, the check in question was for fifty thousand and not fifty million, but if you look at the picture, you can see where that bit of confusion may have arisen. I’ll stop now.

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Harris County adopts plan for court translators

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Good start, now needs follow through.

Harris County’s district and county courts unveiled an updated plan Wednesday for expanding interpreter services for those navigating the court system, but said they will need millions in additional funding to sustain the effort.

The revamped plan calls for increasing the number of available interpreters, training judges and staff around language access and posting the availability of interpreters online and in the courthouse. The plan also calls for additional notice and signs about individuals’ rights to interpreter services.

The announcement comes three months after Harris County Commissioners Court bolstered the courts’ funding by $725,000 to help increase the number of publicly-funded courtroom interpreters in district and county civil courts.

The county long has provided free interpreters to people navigating the criminal courthouse, but does not always offer the same to those involved in civil cases.

Some lawyers say the denial of publicly-funded interpreters in local civil courts has become so routine they rarely bother to submit requests.

The cost of interpreters can run to hundreds of dollars per hearing, which advocates say can create an unnecessary barrier for lower-income non-English-speaking residents trying to understand and participate in their own court proceedings.

Even with the additional funding from the county, District Judge Latosha Lewis Payne, who also serves as the local administrative judge for Harris County’s state district courts, said there is no way the courts can “adequately and timely” provide interpreters with current staffing levels.

“We will definitely need funding in order to make sure that this plan is successful,” she said.

See here for the background, and read the rest for more. As the story notes, some 145 languages are spoken in Harris County, so this is a significant issue that will require a steady and sizeable funding source. Ideally, there would be some kind of state or federal grant to help with that – this is, at some level, a human rights issue, and that’s not something that should be left up to a local government to guarantee – but for obvious reasons one shouldn’t expect much there. We’ll see what plan the county develops.

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Lawsuit filed over SpaceX pollution

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

So many lawsuits, so little time.

Rio Grande Valley groups are suing the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, accusing the agency of bypassing state regulations by allowing SpaceX to temporarily discharge industrial water at its South Texas launch site without a proper permit.

The groups — the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, along with the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, and Save RGV — filed the lawsuit Monday after the agency decided last month to allow SpaceX to continue its operations for 300 days or until the company obtained the appropriate permit.

It is the latest in a string of lawsuits filed by environmental groups aimed at curbing the possible environmental impacts of SpaceX’s operations at Boca Chica on the southern tip of Texas.

Earlier this year, TCEQ cited SpaceX for discharging water into nearby waterways after it was used to protect the launchpad from heat damage during Starship launches four times this year.

SpaceX did not admit to any violation but agreed to pay a $3,750 penalty. Part of the penalty was deferred until SpaceX obtains the proper permit and on the condition that future water discharges meet pollution restrictions.

The environmental groups say that allowing SpaceX to continue is a violation of permitting requirements and that TCEQ is acting outside of its authority.

“The Clean Water Act requires the TCEQ to follow certain procedural and technical requirements when issuing discharge permits meant to protect public participation and ensure compliance with Texas surface water quality standards,” Lauren Ice, the attorney for the three Rio Grande Valley organizations, said in a statement.

“By bypassing these requirements, the Commission has put the Boca Chica environment at risk of degradation,” Ice said.

I mean, a $3750 fine might not be enough to deter me, and I’m worth [checks bank statement] a lot less than Elbow Musk. What are we doing here?

Other lawsuits filed by the same group of plaintiffs include one against the FAA over approval of expanded rocket launch operations, another against the FAA for failing to properly analyze the environmental impacts of the first Starship launch before issuing a revised license for its second launch, and one to stop the Boca Chica land swap, which is now moot. I see no reason to think these will slow down any time soon.

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Dispatches from Dallas, December 21 edition

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This is a weekly feature produced by my friend Ginger. Let us know what you think.

This week, in news from Dallas-Fort Worth, we have another grab bag: the Lege; the Bum Steers from north Texas; updates on the disastrous search for Dallas’ new City Manager; a Prop S suit that has nothing to do with Monty Bennett; Fort Worth political news; news from Denton, Princeton, and other suburbs; school district news, especially around demographic changes; how the North Texas Toll Authority is suing for unpaid tolls; the Washington Post’s long interactive on the former police chief in Maypearl and his history of abusing kids until he was caught; local history and arts news; and a sad story about a local pup with a happy ending.

This week’s post was brought to you by a Spotify playlist called “Christmas Music You Won’t Hate”, which is mostly jazzy takes on Christmas classics featuring names like Vince Guaraldi, Dave Brubeck, and Booker T & the MGs. As a confirmed holiday hater, I found it surprisingly pleasant.

As we move into the holiday season, the news gets quieter. Let’s dive into another short week:

  • I said I wasn’t going to get into David Cook (R-Mansfield) and his race for Speaker but Texas Monthly did me a solid and wrote it up for me. That was last week so it’s already out of date, but it’s a nice summary of the circular firing squad going on among Texas Republicans.
  • Lone Star Left has some bad climate bills and I specifically note HB553, by our own Jared Patterson, which is all about hating on renewable energy. May it die in committee.
  • Collin County’s favorite, Ken Paxton, is not Texas Monthly’s favorite. He’s only the runner-up. But the actual Bum Steer is also from our part of the state: Jerry Jones. I don’t even care about the Cowboys but I agree with this choice.
  • The City of Dallas is still looking for a City Manager, a job that nobody in their right mind would want. City Council can’t get their ducks in a row or even a quorum of members to show up to talk about it. KERA and D Magazine have more on that. Meanwhile the Dallas Morning News reports that two of the original semifinalists have withdrawn from consideration and it sounds like the chaotic process is part of the problem, or at least the part they’re willing to talk about.
  • The DMN is also doing a series about downtown Dallas in 2025 if that’s your thing. They also have an editorial suggesting reforming parking minimums in the city instead of getting rid of them.
  • We knew Prop S was going to cause a wave of lawsuits, but this one isn’t Monty Bennett and his minions: the Neighborhood Coalition of Dallas is going to sue if the City doesn’t get rid of all the termed-out members of boards and commissions. All those folks are under the same term limits as the City Council and Mayor: four consecutive two-year terms. Some folks are still in place long past their limits and others, it’s impossible to tell from looking online. That is something of a silver lining to the Prop S thundercloud.
  • Fort Worth City Council is having a moment about Council member Chris Nettles having called Mayor Mattie Parker and a couple of other council members racist back in 2022. An activist released a video of the incident, and related it to some kind of election interference around Marc Veasey’s (CD-33) seat. Nettles is one of the Council members who thinks the fix was in on the selection of Jay Chapa as Fort Worth City Council. Read about it all in the Star-Telegram and the DMN.
  • Fort Worth, like Dallas, has a short-term rental ordinance being fought by a lawsuit from the STR owners. The case had a hearing on December 19 and the Fort Worth Report has the details.
  • You may recall that Dallas County had some issues with their electronic pollbooks during the November election. The County is ready to give ES&S, their vendor, the heave-ho if they can’t get their software updated and certified in time. We have a city election coming up in May, so the timeline is already tight. More from KERA and the DMN.
  • Dallas County is about to pay $1.65 million to female jailers in a discrimination suit. This was in response to a sherriff’s office policy that gave full weekends off to male jailers but not to women. Apparently the Fifth Court of Appeals overturned a bad precedent that limited the kinds of discrimination cases plaintiffs could bring, too, so there’s a double reason for celebration.
  • Two items about the Tarrant County Appraisal District. First, unofficial results from the November election are out and we have a list of the incoming members of the board. Second, they’re quitting the state association of appraisal districts because the association disagrees with the district about how long the appraisal cycle should be. Most districts reappraise every year; Tarrant County, as you may recall, wants to go to every other year, which may not be legal.
  • Denton just put a controversial nominee on its library board for the next two years. You don’t know Ellen Quinn Sullivan, but you probably have heard of her son Michael Quinn Sullivan of Empower Texans and other Farris/Wilks projects. Council members and the mayor who voted for her said social chatter about her beliefs wasn’t substantiated and she won’t be a book banner.
  • The mayoral runoff in Princeton is over and the challenger, who says the city isn’t managing growth properly, beat out the incumbent. Two members of the council also lost to challengers. You may remember Princeton as the suburb that put a six-month moratorium on residential development back in September so the city could upgrade its infrastructure. The Dallas Observer has more about that and what will happen next in Princeton.
  • Drones, drones everywhere, and north Texas is no exception. White Settlement, west of Fort Worth, has been seeing them which is a problem because the area near the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth is a no-fly zone. Oops. Meanwhile, in case you needed to know, it’s illegal under federal law to shoot down drones, and it’s illegal in the state of Texas to fly them over private property for surveillance reasons, unless you’re a cop working on reasonable suspicion of a crime, of course.
  • Here’s one way to solve underfunding and declining enrollment: Frisco ISD is planning to accept out-of-district transfers to fill 900 places in K-7 grades next year instead of closing schools.
  • Texas Monthly hits the same question for Prosper ISD: what happens when the growth stops and when all the shiny facilities that are bringing families in are no longer new? I recommend this one if you’re interested in suburban sprawl and development issues.
  • And here’s a DMN editorial on the declining enrollment problem and what needs to be done to deal with it. They include increases in state funding; good luck with that.
  • Bonham ISD, which is northeast of Dallas near the Oklahoma border, is facing a civil rights complaint from former students and staff about racism against Black and Latino students and discrimination against students with disabilities. I wish I could say I had confidence this would go somewhere, but with the change of administration, I don’t.
  • There was a big interactive expose in the Washington Post this week on Kevin Coffey, who was the police chief in Maypearl until he was ousted in 2015 for sexually abusing a teenaged girl. He was sentenced to 40 years. Maypearl is spitting distance from Scarborough Faire, the north Texas Renaissance festival I’ve been attending for about three decades, and I’d heard nothing about this case. It’s one of those shocking but not surprising stories.
  • Fort Worth PD fired an officer for slamming a 60-year activist who was videoing an arrest he was making to the ground back in June. Unsurprisingly, the police union is demanding arbitration and wants to see the officer reinstated.
  • An update on the Robert Roberson case: the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is under instructions from Attorney General Ken Paxton to route all communication with Roberson through him. The gist of it is that Roberson may not appear before the House Criminal Jurisprudence committee because of Paxton’s interference. More details from the Texas Tribune.
  • Remember the days when Harris County DA Johnny Holmes sent all those cases to the death chamber? These days Tarrant County is the hanging capital of the state. There were six death penalty convictions in Texas in 2024 and three of them were in Tarrant County.
  • This week I learned that Dallas-area houses cost four times the median income of the area and that prices here continue to outstrip incomes, as they do nationwide. Also I learned that the city of Dallas could be short up to 76,000 affordable homes over the next decade.
  • In related news I also learned that the Metroplex has 8.3 million residents, with growth concentrated in northern suburbs like Prosper and Princeton.
  • The Dallas Observer has a report on the extremes of north Texas weather in 2024: highs, lows, wind, rain, hail, and a non-weather bonus earthquake.
  • Here’s an interesting story about the North Texas Toll Authority: it’s started filing suits against busi>ness toll scofflaws in the state’s district courts. On the one hand, flagrant long-term toll scofflaws are awful. On the other hand, some of the charges are unproven, as in they may not be owed by the folks the NTTA is suing, and the court allows the NTTA to tack on legal fees. In addition it turns out one of the district judges whose court gets a lot of these suits was a partner in the law firm the NTTA is using. This article is part of the DMN’s investigation into the local toll authority and is worth your time if ride these roads.
  • Despite state and local initiatives to improve road safety in Dallas, traffic fatalities this year are slightly higher than they were in 2023 and we’re not quite done yet.
  • The Mavericks have a new CEO: Rick Welts, a Hall of Fame NBA executive with the Golden State Warriors. I note this because he was hired by the Adelson folks, and one of Welts’ resume points is his development of a new arena, like the casino arena that the Adelsons want to build.
  • KERA has a ten-minute video about the history of Fair Park as the center of racial politics in Dallas. If you want to know about local civil rights icon Juanita Craft and the desegregation of the State Fair, this should be your video. It’s in my to-watch list.
  • The Dallas Observer sent a bartender to The Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek to check out one of their $75 cocktails. Too rich for my blood but I’m glad they’re worth it to someone.
  • The former Dallas Black Dance Theater dancers, who got their settlement last week, held a benefit this week. It was originally planned to shore up finances after the dancers were fired, but now it serves as a capstone to the whole saga.
  • James Turrell has completed the Skyspace installation at Keith House in Fort Worth. It’s on my list.
  • In February, an interactive exhibit about the Titanic will open in Dallas. Or rather re-open, since apparently it was at Fair Park in 2000. This time it’s at Pepper Square in the northern part of town, the better to attract all those northern suburban families.
  • Last but not least, let’s have a sad story with a happy ending: Twiggy, a two-year old dog, came to the Humane Society of North Texas flea-ridden, sick with worms, and sick with a respiratory infection in early November. When they got that under control, they figured out Twiggy had been shot in the face by someone! The sweet girl is recovering from surgery now and should be ready for her Christmas miracle of a forever home soon.
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The coming push to require proof of citizenship to register to vote

Posted on December 20, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This is a complete non-problem, but “solving” things that aren’t problems and in doing so creating real problems that then need to be solved is very on brand for Republicans.

Still the only voter ID anyone should need

Republicans are making a big push for legislation requiring Texans to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote, and key lawmakers are signaling that they’ll make it a priority next year.

The push is part of a national effort by the GOP and conservative allies who assert that such legislation is needed to stop noncitizens from illegally casting ballots, even though such cases are already very rare.

Texas Republican lawmakers have filed at least five bills so far ahead of the legislative session opening in January. It’s too early to tell which ones could get traction when the session starts. Some of the bills appear to be modeled after federal legislation considered earlier this year by the U.S. Congress, where the measure passed the House but stalled in the Senate. At least one calls for placing a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot next year for voters to consider. Others mirror a law adopted 20 years ago in Arizona, the only state that currently enforces a proof of citizenship requirement for voters.

Because of conflicts between Arizona’s law and federal voting rights laws, Arizona maintains a split voter roll, with a small percentage of residents who haven’t provided proof of citizenship and are allowed to cast ballots only in federal elections. The makeup of the “federal only” list shows how certain demographic groups — including Native voters and young people — are at greater risk of being disenfranchised over citizenship documentation requirements, a Votebeat analysis has found.

If Texas were to adopt a similar system, experts say, it could also potentially disenfranchise citizens, because research has found that millions of Americans — for various reasons — do not have access to documents that prove their citizenship.

And, as in Arizona, such a law could impose new administrative burdens for election officials who would need additional training and resources in order to comply.

“This will be something that affects you if you’re young, if you’re old, if you’re Republican, if you’re Democrat, it really doesn’t matter,” said Jasleen Singh, legal counsel for the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, a voting rights nonprofit that has studied the potential effects of requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. State lawmakers are putting “millions of people at risk of not being able to meet those requirements,” Singh said.

The story outlines the different bills that have been filed and the experience that Arizona has had with this kind of law, which is a big administrative burden to local officials and took years to implement correctly because it’s such a disruption to the system. As this law is almost certainly going to be aimed at new registrants, you and I wouldn’t have to do anything. Unless we move to another county, and then have to re-register. Do you have your passport on hand? There are some other docs that would be acceptable, but that too is one of the complexities of this law. It’s also just a matter of time before someone’s identity is stolen because their passport or passport number got mislaid or mishandled. Won’t that be fun? This is a priority for Republicans because their lord and master told them it was, so get ready for this to happen.

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Expanding Metro’s micro-transit

Posted on December 20, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Okay fine, but show me the numbers.

Metro will expand on-demand rides of its micro-transit to include services in Second Ward, Third Ward and downtown Houston through a partnership with the city of Houston and Evolve Houston.

The expansion comes after transit officials approved increasing its commitment to shuttles in Houston neighborhoods. The deal with the Houston nonprofit, approved by transit officials in June, increased to more than $1 million for operations of Evolve’s free ride program from August to the end of January.

[…]

“Integrating micro-transit into METRO’s public transit system demonstrates a commitment to finding innovative solutions that meet our customers where they are,” Metro Board Chair Elizabeth Gonzalez Brock said in a statement.

The service features small electric vehicles designed for short-distance routes. It offers eco-friendly transportation options where distance, weather, hazardous crossing and mobility challenges may have kept residents from reaching bus and rail services. It also utilizes the Ride Circuit app to track systems, view the maps and check operating hours, the release reads.

“Microtransit is a proven solution to get more people where they need to go safely and efficiently,” Houston mayor John Whitmire said in a statement. “Connected communities are safer communities and bringing microtransit to Houston builds on my promise for smart, fiscally sound infrastructure growth.”

The shuttles operate within a designated zone to connect riders to destinations such as Metro transit centers, bus stops, rail stations, grocery stores and medical facilities, according to the release.

See here and here for the background. The main thing that sticks out to me about this story is that it has no numbers other than the dollar figure being invested. The stated purpose of this partnership was to increase ridership. It’s been almost six months now, so do we have any data to suggest that such an increase, even a modest one, has occurred? If so, tout the success, and if not please tell me what you think is happening. Are there any goals for this expansion? Or are we just taking Mayor Whitmire and Chair Brock’s word for it?

I don’t think I’m asking for much here. I do think this idea has merit, but especially given everything that has been cancelled against the will of the voters by Metro because the numbers supposedly didn’t justify them, we deserve to know how well this one little expansion of services is doing. I will also note that downtown is included in this RYDE expansion, and as someone who has worked downtown in the past, we used to have various free circulating trolleys, and downtown was the original location for BCycle. Why do we think this will be a better and more used and useful service than either of them? Again, all I’m asking for is the numbers. CultureMap has more.

UPDATE: This is a great summary.

Nick Arcos, director of communications at LINK Houston, a group advocating for a robust transportation network in Houston, told Chron they haven’t been able to analyze ridership data or parse through demographics using the service because it’s not a fully integrated METRO product yet. He thinks microtransit can play a role in Houston’s transit system, but doesn’t believe it to be a “catch-all-solution.”

“Microtransit can play an important role in addressing gaps like the last mile problem, but we should be careful to address it as a catch-all-solution,” Arcos said.

“It can help that college student get from one side of campus to the other, but there are other options that could be used instead, like funding towards repairing or building new sidewalks so that the first mile and last mile isn’t as hazardous of a trip,” he added.

Arcos has taken a ride in the shuttle and says its app, which is separate from METRO’s current family of mobile applications, is easy to use for technology-natives and sighted users. He estimates he waited about 30 seconds for a shuttle to pick him up and take him to his destination. However, he worries the vehicles’ lack of air conditioning and heat could hamper ridership.

Evolve is working on adding climate control to vehicles and is already starting to test it across a couple of vehicles that Brown described as a “2.0 version” of the original vehicles. That version would service downtown and have a bigger battery capacity to expand hours of operation.

“There needs to be a balance in the levels of how they are choosing to conduct METRO services,” Arcos said “They previously had METRO Curb to Curb before this Evolve partnership happened and that’s a very similar experience where you’re able to find out and schedule a ride from your home to a transit center so that you’re able to connect to the larger bus system…

“We do believe it’s important, especially for senior citizens or those unable to afford a car, but they need to be addressing the entire problem, which is building connected sidewalks and making sure their bus stops are accessible,” Arcos added.

Give us the numbers!

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