You might have noticed, when you opened your metaphorical copy of the Texas Tribune this morning, that they’re hosting a discussion between myself and David Benzion on the merits of Houston Mayor and (by God we sure hope he’s a) candidate for Governor of Texas Bill White. You [...]
Today marks the start of early voting for all of the runoff elections, which include Houston, Bellaire, and HISD. Early voting schedule and locations can be found here; remember that EV locations outside of Houston city limits are mostly closed, as there’s no action out there. Early voting [...]
Well, this is a surprise.
State Rep. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown, confirmed today that he is dropping out of the race to succeed Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan. Ogden, who announced earlier this year that he was retiring from the Legislature, has changed course and decided to seek re-election.
Gattis was the heavy [...]
Among other things, the Thanksgiving season signals the arrival of year end lists – Top Ten this and that, Best Of, Worst Of, you name it. The local highlight is the Houston Press’ annual Turkey of the Year award, which has been made easier in recent times by the presence [...]
Just in case the fact that he’s Rick Perry isn’t enough, how about the fact that he’s objectively anti-microbrewery?
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, running for re-election in 2010, just got the endorsement of the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas. Therefore, that makes Perry the enemy of craft beer lovers in [...]
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas sales…
The real trick is to not be an idiot about things you don’t understand.
How To Teach Physics To Your Dog is now available.
Why don’t I ever go to estate sales like this?
How California got into the pickle [...]
And here’s the Chron story on the At Large #2 runoff, featuring Council Member Sue Lovell and Andrew Burks. Unlike Jones v. Christie, my opinion that CM Lovell will retain her seat is much more common. Burks does have a base of support in the African-American community, where [...]
The thought that struck me as I read this story about Bill White’s expected switch to the Governor’s race is that maybe he was right to have taken this particular route to where he is now. I mean, he’s generated a ton of excitement with this announcement, more [...]
We all know by now that Texas has had many problems with its administration of food stamps. Apparently, so have other states, according to a letter, signed by Kevin Concannon, the department’s undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, sent to state officials. Of interest to me is [...]
And here’s the Chron overview of the At Large #5 runoff between Council Member Jolanda Jones and former SBOE member Jack Christie. I’ve said before that I like CM Jones, and I plan to vote for her in the runoff. I believe she is the favorite to win in [...]
I was shocked to read that State Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon was diagnosed a few months ago with stage 4 lung cancer, but I am very glad to see that she has responded well to treatment of it.
“It just felt like I was laid out on the floor, and [...]
I have four things to say about this story, concerning Sealy-based SAE Systems and the $2.6 billion contract with the Defense Department to build Army trucks that it’s on the verge of losing after 17 years. We first heard about this in September; BAE Systems has been appealing [...]
Nice little bit of holiday cheer for Texas’ retired public employees this week.
Retired public employees discovered yesterday that they would not receive additional $500 checks this year. According to Senator Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, they shouldn’t hold their breath for more benefits next cycle either. “I don’t think we’ll be [...]
The legendary Bob Sheppard, the amazing longtime PA announcer at Yankee Stadium, has called it a career.
Bob Sheppard has no intentions of returning to his longtime job as the public-address announcer at Yankee Stadium, MLB.com reported yesterday.
Sheppard, 99, hasn’t worked a game since late in the 2007 season due [...]
In honor of the holiday weekend, ten songs about thanking and giving.
1. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again) – Sly and the Family Stone
2. Thank You Girl – John Hiatt
3. Thank You Friends – Big Star
4. Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is In Another Castle [...]
I give you the 1970s precursor to “The Office”, the wonderful and underrated “WKRP In Cincinnati” and their all-time classic Thanksgiving episode. Seriously, if you’ve never seen this, you really need to watch it all the way through. If you have seen it, you don’t require my encouragement for that:
While [...]
Now that we’re into the runoff season, it looks like the Chron will finally do a bit more in depth coverage of the races that are still unresolved. Yesterday, they ran this overview of District A and the remaining candidates Lane Lewis and Brenda Stardig.
Lewis, 42, a community college [...]
On Wednesday, Mayoral candidate Gene Locke released his tax returns, about two weeks after Annise Parker released hers. I’m not sure what took him so long, since apparently there’s nothing particularly remarkable about them, but that’s neither here nor there at this point. He released them, and good [...]
The state’s budget problems, which are caused to some degree by the economic slowdown, aren’t just problems for the state. They’re local problems as well, and the entities that have been hardest hit are those that had been given short shrift by the state long before the economy went [...]
Former State Rep. Rick Green is running for the State Supreme Court.
While in the House from 1998 to 2002, Green drew fire for using his Capitol office as the backdrop for a health supplement infomercial. He also came under scrutiny for successfully arguing before the parole board for early [...]
It’s not the name of the restaurant, it’s the name of the song:
I was hoping to find a video based on the original recording, but failed. Since I always manage to forget to turn on the radio in time to hear its annual airing, this will have to do. So [...]
…I give you Turbaconducken. Yes, it’s exactly what you think it is. If you click the link, you will either rush right out to buy several pounds of bacon, or you will become a vegetarian. If you’re already a vegetarian, for the love of God do not click the [...]
Have we all recovered from the trauma of this week’s Monday Night Football game? Good. Let’s take a minute and look at this Richard Justice column, whose basic thesis that Gary Kubiak and Rick Smith should be hearing the clock ticking is one with which I agree, but being [...]
This could have some broad implications.
After less than four months on the job, the new president of the University of Houston-Downtown has launched an agenda to reshape the school’s future.
First up: creating admission standards for a school that historically has accepted anyone with a high school diploma or GED.
William [...]
If you’re traveling this weekend, you’ll find the roads a bit more crowded than last year, but down from the norm.
Americans shaken by last year’s economic crash may be regaining enough confidence to hit the roads in higher numbers this Thanksgiving, according to AAA.
When a wobbly economy finally nose-dived [...]
One underappreciated aspect of this year’s election is that we may wind up with more than two new At Large City Council members. We started with two open seats, and with incumbents Sue Lovell and Jolanda Jones in runoffs, the possibility exists that we could have as many as four [...]
We already know that the next Legislative session will be a whole lot of no fun thanks to declining revenue estimates and our structural deficits. Here’s a further illustration of the problem.
The current state budget is financed with $12 billion of one-time money (add to the stimulus money [...]
Grits argues that the latest proposal to build a new processing center for the jail would result in a tax increase because of the need to hire more staff, which is not accounted for in the bonds. The Chron wonders what all the fuss is about. I’m [...]
The Houston actor best known locally as Pancho Claus still plans to make his annual holiday appearance in the Thanksgiving Day parade despite suffering a heart attack last week.
Richard Reyes, who has portrayed the zoot suit-wearing, lowrider-cruising Hispanic icon for 28 years, said he was [...]
Bill White isn’t officially a candidate for Governor yet, but he’s already picked up endorsements from State Sens. Kirk Watson and Eliot Shapleigh. I feel confident that many more such endorsements will follow, perhaps even before he commits to the race.
For now, at least, the other Democratic contenders [...]
In the runoff for HISD Trustee in District IX, incumbent Trustee Larry Marshall received the endorsement of the third and fourth-place finishers, George Davis and Michael Williams. I find that a little odd, since one presumes when they ran to unseat Marshall they thought a change was needed, but [...]
I don’t know what John Bradley’s goals are as the Chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. But if one of them is to dispel the notion that he’s Rick Perry’s stooge, who was installed for the purpose of covering the Governor’s ass on the Cameron Todd Willingham case, then [...]
The Texas Progressive Alliance would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Now please pass the gravy and the remote, and click on for this week’s blog highlights.
The Texas Cloverleaf clues you in on why you can’t breathe in Denton County — gas drillers!
By now, I’m sure you’ve heard the news that Tom Schieffer has dropped out of the Governor’s race, and that Bill White is considering switching over to it. I’ll add in a bunch of links later, but for now let me say two things. One, this is where I [...]
Via press release from the County Clerk’s office, some dates to mark on the calendar:
IMPORTANT DECEMBER 12, 2009 JOINT RUNOFF ELECTION DATES
First Day of Early Voting – Monday, November 30, 2009
Last Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail (received not Postmarked) – Friday, December 4, 2009
Last Day of [...]
Got a red light camera ticket that you haven’t paid? Want to get it taken care of but fear there may be consequences for having waited so long? Well, now’s your chance to do it, as HPD has announced a 60-day grace period, which began Friday, for those with [...]
State Sen. Florence Shapiro was the first Republican to declare her intent to run for the was-supposed-to-be-open Senate seat of Kay Bailey Hutchison. She’s now the first Republican to abandon that pursuit.
In the latest fallout from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s decision not to resign any time soon, [...]
Metro chair David Wolff would like to see the portion of the sales tax revenue that gets diverted from its coffers to Harris County and the smaller cities go back to Metro.
Wolff believes METRO can build significantly more if it has access to all of the 1 cent sales [...]
Have you started defrosting your turkey yet?
Avoid black luggage. My grandmother used to travel with a piece of puke-green Samsonite that had the letter K (for Kuffner) plastered on it in lime-green masking tape. No one would ever claim to have picked that off the carousel by “accident”.
As noted yesterday, the Chronicle endorsed Annise Parker for Mayor in the runoff election.
With city tax revenues eroded by the continuing recession, the next occupant of the office must be a prudent fiscal manager as well as a leader who can make hard decisions on spending priorities. That [...]
Sheriff Adrian Garcia wants to take another crack at building a new jail facility. As was the case in 2007, when a referendum to float bonds for a new jail was voted down, this too would be voted on by the public. Garcia recognizes he has work to do [...]
Want to meet the candidates who are in the December 12 runoff? Here’s your chance:
You are invited to attend …
2009 Runoff Candidate Meet and GreetDECEMBER 3, 2009 – 6:30 PM – The Upper Kirby Building
(details below)
CNU-Houston, Houston Tomorrow, Emerging Green Builders, and Citizens’ Transportation Coalition are proud to host [...]
Via Mike McGuff, the women of the Houston Fire Department have gotten in on the calendar-for-charity act, something their make colleagues have been doing for awhile. Here’s what it’s all about.
Our mission is to represent the diversity, strength, and femininity of the mothers, daughters, sisters, and [...]
Among the runoff elections, only one does not include a candidate that was endorsed by the Chron in the first round. That race is City Council At Large #1, and today the Chron made their choice for the runoff by endorsing Karen Derr.
[Derr] would bring to the position well-honed [...]
Shorter Burka: “KBH says in her new TV ad that she’s needed in the Senate. So why is she running for Governor?”
It’s a good question. And given that no one knows what KBH will do, it’s the reason why this keeps coming up.
Despite protestations to the contrary [...]
We already know why you should stay away from Steven Hotze. But Allen Blakemore is the Horace and Jasper to Hotze’s Cruella de Vil, and the same warning applies to him as well. But don’t take my word for it, listen to a dissatisfied customer of [...]
This is cool.
A deal between the city and Reliant has the electric retailer converting 10 of the city’s new Toyota Prius gasoline-electric hybrids into plug-in vehicles with greater fuel efficiency and the ability to recharge through a standard home power socket. Reliant is also installing 10 charging stations for [...]
Well, no. But they do seem to be levying bigger fines, so maybe their gums are a little harder.
By every measure, the agency is issuing more — and larger — fines, the records show.
“There’s been a shift to focus more on enforcement and compliance,” said the commission’s chairman, San [...]
“I thought we were bullied, personally,” Roy Morales told me this morning.
The conservative mayoral candidate was describing a lunch-time meeting he attended Wednesday with Gene Locke’s campaign manager, Christian Archer, at the offices of political consultant Allen Blakemore. The meeting was an effort on Archer’s part to secure [...]
So, I didn’t get around to the news about NASA finding water on the moon until after I’d published my Friday Random Ten for last week. But the great thing about Fridays is that there’s always another one coming. So here I present to you ten moon songs.
1. Bad [...]
Here’s the full polling data for that KHOU/KUHF poll. Of greatest interest to me is the bit where they note that they asked people whether they’d voted in the November election; about 75% of them said Yes. Given that turnout for this election was about 20%, I find [...]
And we have our first poll from a source other than one of the campaigns, but like those two before it, this one shows Annise Parker in the lead.
The poll consisted of 500 telephone interviews with registered Houston voters who consider themselves likely to vote in the [...]
The 2011 legislative session is going to be so much fun.
Sales tax revenues have taken double-digit dives for five months running; in each of those months, the state’s income from those taxes has been more than 10 percent lower than in the same month the year before. In a [...]
Maybe you are, and maybe you’re not.
Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.
The amendment, approved by the Texas [...]
I don’t follow high school sports at all, but this Chron story about a battle between the University Interscholastic League (UIL) and the Texas Association of Sports Officials (TASO), about who has control over the officials at high school athletic events, was fascinating to me. I don’t have any [...]
The following is a message from HCDP Chair Gerry Birnberg:
CANDIDATES – ALL CANDIDATES – STAY CLEAR OF HOTZE
Steven Hotze is a hatemonger.
For nearly twenty five years he has stoked the flames of bigotry in this community like no other local politico. In the mid-1980’s he masterminded the repeal of the City of Houston [...]
Conservative voters remain up for grabs in the Mayoral runoff, so both Annise Parker and Gene Locke were out at the Pachyderm Club on Tuesday looking to grab a few of them. I found this bit to be revealing:
Parker outlined her public safety initiative to allow any certified peace [...]
The Texas Lottery Commission is fixing to bring Powerball to Texas.
The commission unanimously voted to publish rules for the game for public comment. If the panel gives final approval to the rules early next year, the first Powerball ticket could be sold in Texas on Jan. 31.
Texas already [...]
I just have one thing to say about this:
Firing another shot in an endorsement war that is pitting prominent national and state Republicans against each other, gubernatorial candidate Kay Bailey Hutchison landed her most prominent backer to date Tuesday when former Vice President Dick Cheney formally placed his name [...]
Back in September, I noted a deal that the City of Houston was working on with a firm called NRG to build a solar plant that would supply some of the city’s power needs. This deal has apparently hit a snag because it is a 25-year deal.
The city [...]
Obama campaign guru David Plouffe comes for a visit and gives his hope-y vision for Texas as a swing state.
[Plouffe] says Texas could soon become a swing state and drastically alter the landscape of state and national politics.
To that end, Plouffe is urging candidates to use the Obama model [...]
It’s almost too depressing to read through this KHOU story about local bigot Dave Wilson and his pathetic attempt to affect the outcome of the Mayor’s race, but it needs to be done. Here’s what I have to say about it.
- Dave Wilson is a reprehensible, sorry excuse of [...]
What did you do to celebrate?
Nov. 18, 2009, has been officially declared Riemann Hypothesis Day to celebrate the 150th anniversary of one of the key unsolved problems in pure mathematics. Mathematical events are scheduled across the globe to celebrate this special occasion.
The conjecture deals with the distribution of the [...]
Farouk Shami will make his entry into the Democratic primary for Governor official tomorrow afternoon at his business’ headquarters in Houston; details are on his website. The Trib gives us a peek behind the curtain.
Shami, running as a Democrat, has lined up an experienced gang to run his [...]
Harvey Kronberg’s column this week looks at the long history of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison running, or not running, for Governor, and how she came to be in this particular will she or won’t she resign pickle. Nothing much new for those who have followed this closely, but [...]
The number of death sentences handed out by Texas juries has declined sharply in recent years, with the new life without parole (LWOP) sentence being one reason why.
While the debate over capital punishment rages anew in Texas, new inmates going to Death Row have hit a 35-year low [...]
State Rep. John Zerwas demonstrates that being a physician doesn’t make you qualified to talk about health care reform. His article is as embarrassingly idea-free as his national colleagues’ plan was. After the usual paean to tort “reform” and invective about government employees getting between you and [...]
We’ve seen Gene Locke’s poll, which showed him trailing Annise Parker by four points, 43-39. Now here’s a poll from Parker that puts her up by 13. The polling memo:
A recent Lake Research Partners survey of likely voters in Houston’s upcoming mayoral runoff shows that City Controller [...]
Annise Parker put out a strongly worded press release today that calls out Gene Locke for his work with the Andrews Kurth law firm, which has done a ton of business with the city, some of which was done by Locke, in recent years. I’ve put it beneath the [...]
Apparently, the downside of inciting a torch-and-pitchfork mob is that you can’t always control where they’ll maraud. Who knew?
Across Texas, at least five Tea Party activists have announced their candidacies for U.S. House and Senate seats.
“If you are going to have a throw-the-bums-out (mentality),” said Matt Angle, director of [...]
Harris County DA Pat Lykos went before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week to ask for money that would be used to help get a regional crime lab up and running.
Lykos testified Tuesday in support of the Innocence Protection Act and urged lawmakers to implement a pilot program of [...]
The Texas Progressive Alliance is starting to feel an odd craving for can-shaped servings of cranberry sauce as it brings you this week’s highlights from the blogs.
TXsharon continues to follow the abuses of Aruba Petroleum in a Barnett Shale backyard and Wednesday the Wise County Messenger picked up [...]
In the aftermath of the election, I had wondered whether candidates who didn’t make the runoff would be endorsing one of those who did. We all know about the Mayor’s race and the Controller’s race by now, but I was also curious about the HISD District I Trustee’s race, [...]
Moving away for the moment from ridiculous homophobic scare tactics in the Mayor’s race runoff to an issue of actual substance, we have the matter of the Dynamo Stadium deal and where the respective candidates stand on it.
[Annise] Parker supports the deal as structured by [Mayor Bill] White [...]
State Rep. Brian McCall (R, Plano), one of the Republicans that helped oust Tom Craddick as Speaker, will not run for re-election next year.
McCall, 51, said he is looking at other opportunities because it is time to try something new after 19 years in the House.
“When I took my [...]
Jason Embry ponders the landscape now that we know we’ll still have KBH to kick around through at least March.
[I]f Gov. Rick Perry appoints [Lt. Gov. David] Dewhurst to replace Hutchison, or if he wins a special election before November 2010, the state Republican Executive Committee can choose [...]
You may recall that the city had proposed selling the neighborhood recycling center on Center Street to the Admiral Linen business next door, and that this move was opposed by residents in the area. The city is still considering this possibility, and the residents are still opposing it.
Harold [...]
Maybe “citizen journalism” isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
I expect to be a Title IX dad, too. Probably starting next year.
Sometimes it’s okay for art to not be able to imitate life.
Bar brawls and beauty queens: Two things that don’t go together.
Want Windows 7 but [...]
The Chron editorializes today about the forthcoming hatemongering in the city election to be aimed at Annise Parker, and Gene Locke’s tepid response to being its intended beneficiary. And they fall just short of getting it right.
We’ve been here before. In 1997 a small-minded ballot initiative would [...]
Via email from Bill King, who gave me permission to reprint it, comes word of a post-election poll done by Team Locke. I had it queued up for yesterday, but in light of yesterday’s news, I put it off for a day. Here’s the full email:
Gene Locke’s campaign has [...]
For some more pleasant election-related news, I’m happy to note that my uncle Dan Kuffner was re-elected to the Dutchess County (New York) Legislature.
In District 7, Legislator Dan Kuffner, D-Hyde Park, beat Republican Yancy McArthur.
[...]
On Nov. 3, Kuffner led by only 44 votes. After 118 paper ballots were counted [...]
So while I was out watching Rice beat Tulane, the Gene Locke campaign released the following statement regarding the homophobic attack on Annise Parker.
“As I have previously stated, I reject any association with the style of campaigning that was the subject of an article in the Houston Chronicle [...]
I really thought that we’d make it through this election without there being any nasty anti-gay stuff. I guess I was naive to think so, because here it comes.
A cluster of socially conservative Houstonians is planning a campaign to discourage voters from choosing City Controller Annise Parker in the [...]
Don McLeroy is a wee bit concerned about losing one of his allies on the SBOE.
State Board of Education former Chair (and current member) Don McLeroy wasn’t too concerned about losing Democratic swing-vote Rick Agosto. At least not at first.
“The big impact will be if I depart,” McLeroy [...]
Ever wonder what it is that lobbyists do? Jim Grace and Luke Ledbetter, respectively a partner and an associate with Baker Botts LLP who do lobbying work for the firm, give us the scoop about how they go about their business and how to be successful at it. Some [...]
That sound you hear is me saying I told you so.
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is planning to hold onto her Senate seat until after Texas’ March gubernatorial primaries are over.
[...]
Campaign officials provided The Associated Press a copy of a speech Hutchison plans to give to Republican women in [...]
Apparently, there are a lot of songs – mostly, but not exclusively, folk songs – about someone named John.
1. John Barleycorn – SixMileBridge
2. John Doe #24 – Mary-Chapin Carpenter
3. John Henry – Bruce Springsteen
4. John Ryan’s Polka – Flying Fish Sailors
5. Johnny’s Room – Lager Rhythms
[...]
Former State Rep. and Harris County Democratic Party Chair Sue Schechter has announced her intent to run for the to-be-open Harris County Clerk position next year. Schechter was known to be interested in this position, and now she’s made it official. I’ve reprinted her press release beneath the [...]
This is long overdue.
Members of the Texas Senate’s Transportation Committee said Tuesday that an increase in the 20-cents-per-gallon state fuel tax may be necessary to overcome a drastic shortage of money for new roads.
“We are in the critical position in this state where we are growing and will need [...]
Back in June, we learned that County Attorney Vince Ryan was going after polluters that had been ignoring court orders to clean up their acts. You would think this would be a good thing to do – you know, enforcing the law while helping to make Harris County cleaner [...]
The West University Place City Council voted on Monday night to ban texting while driving.
Drivers who text behind the wheel in within the city’s limits have one week to stop before the council votes unanimously again to ban the practice.
[...]
The ban also applies to Web browsing and accessing sites [...]
A lawsuit on behalf of three Hispanic plaintiffs in Farmers Branch to force the creation of single-member City Council districts, which was filed last April and dismissed in November, will be appealed to the Supreme Court after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected their argument.
Valentine Reyes, [...]
I’m pretty much wrung out on precinct analysis for this election, but not everybody is. Go check out Greg’s place for Mayoral Maps By Order of Finish and A Path To Victory: A Tale of Three Neighborhoods. Each of those posts tell the story with maps and colors, [...]
Here comes that unemployment insurance tax hike we’ve all been waiting for.
Under state law, the state’s unemployment trust fund is supposed to stand at 1 percent of taxable wages, or about $860 million. The fund has been depleted in the wake of high jobless claims.
As a result, [...]
I’m sure it will come as no surprise to learn that Houston is not a good city for pedestrians, at least from a safety perspective.
Houston ranked eighth on a new list of the most dangerous urban areas for pedestrians.
And the hundreds of deaths and injuries to pedestrians can’t all [...]
