Tag Archives: Texas

Harris County passes backup power rule for nursing homes

Posted on January 13, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Assisted living facilities and nursing homes in the unincorporated areas of Harris County now are required to install backup power generators to keep heating and cooling systems operational during electrical outages, making the county among the first in Texas … Continue reading →

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Comet alums unite in support of Fertitta’s WNBA bid

Posted on January 13, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

They’re getting the band back together. Cynthia Cooper did not get closure when the Houston Comets folded. One minute, she was a star player on Houston’s four-time championship-winning WNBA team. The next minute, her phone was blowing up with texts … Continue reading →

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Where the Lege might go next on abortion

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

There’s always further to go. Last legislative session was the quietest in decades for abortion. After successfully banning nearly all abortions, Republicans were wary about continuing to push an issue that is widely unpopular with voters. This session, coming off … Continue reading →

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

Tesla seeks permit for robotaxi service in Austin

Posted on January 12, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Who wants this? Tesla is in early talks with the authorities in the city of Austin, Texas, about its autonomous vehicle technology, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. A Tesla employee has been in touch with the city’s autonomous vehicle task … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues TikTok

Posted on January 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Feels like this is about to be moot, but here we are. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday sued TikTok for the second time in recent months, accusing the social media company of violating deceptive trade law by downplaying … Continue reading →

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More lawsuits involving Tony Buzbee

Posted on January 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

He sure stays busy. Houston attorney Tony Buzbee is once again suing Jay Z’s Roc Nation, alleging that the entertainment company and others encouraged one of his former clients to sue The Buzbee Law Firm in exchange for lucrative gain. … Continue reading →

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Republican State Rep accuses state GOP Chair of ethics violations

Posted on January 10, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Oh, my. A Republican Texas House member is calling for the state party chair to be investigated, alleging that he illegally threatened and intimidated lawmakers who are not supporting the party’s preferred candidate for House speaker. In a complaint filed to the … Continue reading →

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Dispatches from Dallas, January 10 edition

Posted on January 10, 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 a short week for several reasons: first, we’re still recovering from the short week last … Continue reading →

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Who wants to sell Houston’s water to West Texas?

Posted on January 9, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I have questions. Gov. Greg Abbott is said to be exploring a plan to buy water from Houston and send it to West Texas — a potentially contentious idea that comes as he has teased “totally transformative” measures in the … Continue reading →

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Houston and Harris County to get Beryl relief funds

Posted on January 9, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Good news. The Biden administration announced Tuesday that Houston and Harris County will receive a combined $382 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to assist in recovery from May’s flooding in Kingwood and Hurricane Beryl in July. Houston will receive … Continue reading →

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Possibly the last time I will write about Kim Ogg

Posted on January 8, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Congrats on the new gig. Former Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg has been hired in a new position within the county. On Sunday, it was confirmed that Ogg had been hired as a senior policy advisor for Harris County … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Abbott appoints a bunch of judges

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

It’s good to be the king. Justice Jimmy Blacklock, a conservative ally of Gov. Greg Abbott, has been named the new chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court. He replaces Nathan Hecht, the court’s longest serving justice, who stepped down … Continue reading →

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Arlington wants in on flying taxis

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Every time I come across a story about flying taxis, I learn something new. [Arlington] Mayor Jim Ross announced with dramatic flair during his State of the City address in October that the city will take commercial transit to the skies by 2026. … Continue reading →

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Water cremation

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This is fascinating, and also something I knew nothing about. An illegal cremation method got a medical center in North Texas a cease-and-desist letter from the Texas Funeral Service Commission and its body donation program under internal review in November. … Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math, The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Precinct analysis 2024: Railroad Commissioner

Posted on January 6, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

PREVIOUSLY: President Senate Dist Craddick Culbert Lib Grn ========================================= CD02 99,112 65,117 3,921 3,996 CD07 66,167 95,853 3,751 5,025 CD08 71,653 66,412 3,176 5,058 CD09 31,772 90,778 2,260 4,700 CD18 61,743 139,540 5,594 8,483 CD22 16,983 10,714 706 758 CD29 … Continue reading →

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Yolanda Saldivar seeks parole

Posted on January 5, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Not sure how I feel about this, other than it’s another reminder of how old we all are. Yolanda Saldívar, the woman found guilty of killing the late Tejano icon Selena Quintanilla-Perez, has applied for parole for 2025. The New … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Whitmire’s first year

Posted on January 3, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has a story about how Mayor Whitmire’s first year has gone, and I’ll get to that shortly, but first I want to look at this story, about his efforts to get help from the state government for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

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 … Continue reading →

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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. 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 … Continue reading →

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Reps. Hunt and Jackson cleared in ethics probe

Posted on January 2, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Welp. 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 … Continue reading →

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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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Precinct analysis: Senate 2024

Posted on December 31, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

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

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

Precinct analysis: President 2024

Posted on December 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

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

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Late to the party

Posted on December 30, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

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

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

Charles Johnson elected Mayor of Baytown

Posted on December 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

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

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 … Continue reading →

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The YouTube judge

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

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

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Paxton sues NCAA over trans athletes

Posted on December 26, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

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

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San Antonio gets more funds for its first BRT line

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

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

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On Rep. Kay Granger

Posted on December 23, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

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

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

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

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

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

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Harris County adopts plan for court translators

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

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

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Lawsuit filed over SpaceX pollution

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

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

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Dispatches from Dallas, December 21 edition

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

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

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