Paxton minions hurl accusations at each other

Posted on June 27, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

What a nest of vipers the AG’s office must be.

Still a crook any way you look

Several former and current top aides of Attorney General Ken Paxton are trading explosive accusations in legal and administrative filings, the latest of which alleges that Paxton’s right-hand deputy obstructed justice and tampered with witnesses during his 2023 impeachment.

The public feud could become a distraction for Paxton just as he’s overcome a series of legal troubles, including the impeachment charges, which he was acquitted of by the Texas Senate, and as he launches his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in next year’s Republican primary.

The new allegations — detailed in a suit filed Wednesday in federal court in Austin by former Solicitor General Judd Stone and Chris Hilton, the former chief of the general litigation division — include claims that current First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster threatened to fire employees if they gave testimony during the impeachment proceedings that was unfavorable to Paxton. The claim has not previously been reported, and Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It’s not clear if the claims were ever raised to law enforcement; Webster has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.

The first lawsuit was filed last month by Jordan Eskew, a former executive assistant for Stone and Hilton, against the two men and their private law firm. Eskew accused Stone of sexual harassment on multiple occasions in 2023 when she had taken leave from Paxton’s office to work for Stone and Hilton as private attorneys representing Paxton in the impeachment trial. She also claimed Hilton failed to protect her and that the two created a hostile work environment.

A spokesperson for Stone and Hilton’s law firm has called Eskew’s suit “a complete fabrication” and said that it was pushed by Paxton’s top deputy, First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster, who has a “personal vendetta” against Stone and Hilton. Webster and Eskew are still working at the attorney general’s office.

This week, Stone and Hilton shot back with a suit of their own against Webster and other attorney general staffers, not including Eskew, and a bar complaint against Webster.

They claim Webster tried to damage their careers by lying about them and encouraging Eskew to file her sexual harassment suit.

Stone and Hilton also claimed in the filing to the State Bar of Texas that Webster tried to tamper with potential witnesses for Paxton’s impeachment proceedings by pressuring them to give favorable testimony or “to flee the state to evade being subpoenaed to disclose information harmful to Webster.” It does not specify which people were targeted.

Webster also demanded that Stone and Hilton “disclose confidential information” during the impeachment proceedings, which would have violated their professional obligation to Paxton, according to the bar complaint.

When they refused to share the information, the complaint alleges, Webster threatened retaliation against them and the firm.

The bar complaint also alleges Webster abused the power of his office by, in part, leveraging meetings with private citizens and lawyers to try to obtain future lucrative employment and harm his enemies.

The Bar’s law office will now review the complaint and decide within the next 30 days whether the allegations amount to professional misconduct, and if so, it will conduct an investigation.

See here for more on the Jordan Eskew lawsuit. The Trib story that piggybacked off of this Chron report says that “both sides go to great lengths to stress that Paxton was not involved in any of the alleged malfeasances”, but that’s not a great look for him, either. Like, what are you as the boss of all of these people doing if all of this stuff is happening on your watch without you having any idea about it? Other than preening in front of cameras, a skill at which I will readily admit he excels. I for one will not try to predict how news like this will be received by the seething hordes of Republican primary voters. Even with everyone involved in this story being a true believer and literal Paxton crony, it’s not clear to me that any of this will be heard, understood, or accepted by them. But I will be happy to see John Cornyn spend a few million bucks trying to rub their faces in it. Reform Austin has more.

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ACLU and other interest groups seek to intervene in Texas Dream Act lawsuit

Posted on June 27, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Good.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas, Texas Civil Rights Project, Democracy Forward, National Immigration Law Center, and the Dallas-based firm of Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann filed a motion to intervene today in ongoing federal court litigation — on behalf of La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), the Austin Community College District’s Board of Trustees (ACC), and college graduate student Oscar Silva — to defend the constitutionality of the Texas Dream Act against the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

On June 4, 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the State of Texas to block the Texas Dream Act, a 24-year-old in-state college tuition law. Just hours after the DOJ filed the lawsuit — and without time for impacted individuals to express their concerns with the action — Paxton entered into a consent judgment with the federal government.

In 2001, Governor Rick Perry signed the Texas Dream Act, a law passed with bipartisan support that guarantees access to in-state tuition and financial aid for persons (including non-citizens, permanent residents, and visa holders) who graduate from and complete at least three years in Texas high schools. Dreamers must sign an affidavit stating that they will apply to become permanent residents as soon as they have the legal path to do so. The Texas Dream Act honors that Dreamers are part of our communities, invested in Texas, and that, when students are able to pursue higher education, the State continues to thrive.

In 2021, just over 20,000 students signed in-state tuition affidavits, making up 1.5% of students enrolled at Texas public colleges and universities and related institutions. These students add significantly to the overall tax revenue of the state and to the funding that institutions receive. Immigrants who hold a bachelor’s degree make more than double the salary of immigrants who do not hold bachelor’s degrees, which equates to an added $2,151 more dollars in taxes per impacted person. The Dream Act has financially benefited Texas. Without the Act, it is estimated that the state’s economy will lose over $461 million annually.

The DOJ’s order, which was agreed to without proper process, creates sweeping uncertainty for impacted students and colleges and universities as well. As students prepare to attend school in the fall, the failure of neither the DOJ nor the attorney general to defend the Texas Dream Act threatens their ability to afford tuition – and suddenly threatens their dreams of pursuing higher education.

By moving to intervene, these groups and individuals hope to challenge this abusive litigation strategy and defend the Texas Dream Act, which has enabled a generation of Texans to grow their careers and become leaders in our communities.

See here for the background. A group of undocumented students have already filed a motion to intervene, so this is adding on to that effort. I have no idea when – or, honestly, even if – there will be a hearing on these motions. It’s clear to me that these are meritorious arguments, but considering the judge involved, that may not mean much. We’ll see.

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A look at the Tesla robotaxi rollout

Posted on June 26, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Because I have an unhealthy obsession with this cursed topic, here’s a brief roundup of news stories about how the first day of Tesla’s long-expected robotaxi rollout in Austin went.

First, you should know that only pro-Tesla influencers were invited to take a ride in one of these vehicles.

A group of social media influencers and Tesla investors were invited to participate in the Robotaxi trial, with many posting about their experiences online. Passengers were accompanied by a Tesla employee in the front passenger seat to oversee the ride and intervene if necessary.

Participants were able to request a ride in the app for a flat fee of $4.20 in a geofenced area between 6 a.m. to midnight, according to an X post of the early access invitation from Sawyer Merritt, a Tesla investor and enthusiast.

“As an Early Access rider, you will be among the first to use our new Robotaxi app and experience an autonomous ride within our geofenced area in Austin,” read the invitation.

Users said they were pleased with the Robotaxi service as they were dropped off at supermarkets, coffee shops, restaurants and other locations around Austin.

[…]

Musk has promised self-driving Teslas for nearly a decade with little to show.

Musk first announced Tesla’s aspirations in the autonomous vehicle industry in 2013, predicting Tesla would be building a self-driving car by 2016 with 90% of miles driven.

Over the next three years, the company would continue its promise to launch self-driving cars while making advancements in Autopilot and launching various car models.

In 2016, Tesla released a 4 minute video showing a Tesla driving itself to the sound of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black.” Musk promoted the demonstration on X, Twitter at the time, writing, “Tesla drives itself (no human input at all).” In 2023, Reuters reported the footage was staged with Musk’s knowledge.

Musk also promised that year, according to Business Insider, that a Tesla vehicle would be able to drive fully autonomously from Los Angeles to New York City by the end of 2017.

Over the next 7 years or so, Jalopnik reported, Musk would set deadlines for when Tesla expected to launch autonomous vehicles but when the time came would shift back the deadlines another year or so.

Gotta love the shade. This AP story gets into more of that.

Elon Musk promised in 2019 that driverless Tesla “robotaxis” would be on the road “next year,” but it didn’t happen. A year later, he promised to deliver them the next year, but that didn’t happen either.

Despite the empty pledges the promises kept coming. Last year in January, Musk said, “Next year for sure, we’ll have over a million robotaxis.”

Would you settle for 10 or 12?

Musk appears to be on the verge of making his robotaxi vision a reality with a test run of a small squad of self-driving cabs in Austin, Texas, that began Sunday. Reaching a million may take a year or more, however, although the billionaire should be able to expand the service this year if the Austin demo is a success.

The stakes couldn’t be higher, nor the challenges.

While Musk was making those “next year” promises, rival Waymo was busy deploying driverless taxis in Los Angeles, San Diego, Austin and other cities by using a different technology that allowed it to get to market faster. It just completed its 10 millionth paid ride.

[…]

The test is beginning modestly enough. Tesla is remotely monitoring the vehicles and putting a person in the passenger seat in case of trouble. The number of Teslas deployed will also be small — just 10 or 12 vehicles — and will only pick up passengers in a limited, geofenced area.

Musk has vowed that the service will quickly spread to other cities, eventually reaching hundreds of thousands if not a million vehicles next year.

Some Musk watchers on Wall Street are skeptical.

“How quickly can he expand the fleet?” asks Garrett Nelson, an analyst at CFRA. “We’re talking maybe a dozen vehicles initially. It’s very small.”

Morningstar’s Seth Goldstein says Musk is being classic Musk: Promising too much, too quickly.

“When anyone in Austin can download the app and use a robotaxi, that will be a success, but I don’t think that will happen until 2028,” he says. “Testing is going to take a while.”

Musk’s tendency to push up the stock high with a bit of hyperbole is well known among investors.

This Slate story goes even harder on the snark. I’ll leave it to you to read since the factual recitals are now familiar.

Not all of the reaction is negative – the stock market, for one, was pretty positive – and even I will have to admit that Musk’s many companies do achieve things. I’m just enjoying the side-eye he’s getting. And there were a couple of mishaps, nothing harmful but perhaps a reminder that for all of the bravado, Tesla and Musk are very much at the start of a still-long process.

Tesla finally has a robotaxi. Now comes the hard part.

The electric-vehicle maker deployed its first-ever driverless cabs in Austin, Texas, on Sunday in a small-scale test of carefully monitored Model Y vehicles. Next, the company faces the steep challenge of executing on CEO Elon Musk’s ambition to refine the software and upload it to millions of Teslas within a year or so.

Such a rapid expansion will prove extremely difficult, about a dozen industry analysts and autonomous-vehicle technology experts told Reuters. These observers expressed a range of views about Tesla’s prospects but all cautioned against assuming a light-speed robotaxi rollout.

Some pointed to advantages Tesla might exploit to overtake rivals including Alphabet’s Waymo and a host of Chinese auto and tech companies. Tesla has mass-manufacturing capacity, and it pioneered remote software updates it can use for self-driving upgrades. The automaker also does not use sensors such as radar and lidar like Waymo and most rivals; instead, it depends solely on cameras and artificial intelligence.

“A rollout could be really quick. If the software works, Tesla robotaxi could drive any road in the world,” said Seth Goldstein, a Morningstar senior equity analyst, while cautioning that Tesla is still “testing the product.”

In Austin, Tesla launched a choreographed experiment involving maybe a dozen cars, operating in limited geography, with safety monitors in the front passenger seat; remote “teleoperators”; plans to avoid bad weather; and hand-picked pro-Tesla influencers as passengers.

For years, Musk has said Tesla would soon operate its own autonomous ride-hailing service and also turn any Tesla, new or used, into a cash-generating robotaxi for its customers. That will be “orders of magnitude” more difficult than testing in Austin, said Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina law professor focused on autonomous-driving regulation.

“It’s like announcing that, ‘I’m going to Mars’ and then, you know, going to Cleveland,” Smith said.

Musk has said Tesla will reach Mars, in that metaphor, quite quickly: “I predict that there will be millions of Teslas operating fully autonomously in the second half of next year,” he said in April.

Musk and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. Tesla shares ended 8.2% higher at $348.68 on Monday on investor enthusiasm over the robotaxi launch.

Given Tesla’s AI-dependent approach, its challenge will be machine-training robotaxis to handle complex traffic “edge cases,” said Philip Koopman, a Carnegie Mellon University computer-engineering professor and autonomous-technology expert. That could take many years.

“Look, how long has it taken Waymo?” Koopman asked. “There’s no reason to believe Tesla will be any faster.”

It should be noted that Tesla is not only competing with Waymo. Have you heard of Zoox?

Amazon’s Zoox plans to enter the fray late this year with a custom-designed, van-like model loaded with sensors and cameras that it hopes will set it apart.

“We’re offering a unique experience for riders that we think they’ll prefer,” said cofounder and CTO Jesse Levinson, during a tour of the new Zoox robotaxi factory in Hayward, California, this week. “The ride quality, the carriage-style seating, the roomy interior–we think all of this is going to be what sets us apart.”

After 11 years of preparation and billions of investment dollars from Amazon, Zoox intends to launch its commercial robot ride service late this year in Las Vegas, with San Francisco, Austin, Miami, Los Angeles and Atlanta to follow. Rather than loading up existing vehicles with sensors and computers like Waymo has, Zoox’s plan from the outset has revolved around creating a robotaxi service with an electric model unlike any on the road.

There’s no steering wheel, pedals or external mirrors; it has sliding doors reminiscent of transit trains; and it’s designed as a bidirectional vehicle, with an identical front and rear. The Zoox robotaxi has a top speed of 75 miles per hour, though for now it won’t typically exceed 45 mph on urban and suburban runs. It’s also intended to operate for up to 16 hours per charge per day and remain in service for at least five years and 100,000 miles.

The combination of that long service life and ability to provide dozens of rides per day are key to creating a profitable business, even with a vehicle that costs much more than a conventional electric car, said CEO Aicha Evans. “We’re selling rides, not vehicles,” she said, declining to discuss the cost of producing the Zoox-mobile. “We want to offer the best experience at a competitive price.”

There’s a picture of a Zoox robotaxi in that story, and I have to say it looks weird, more like one of those Metro microtransit shuttles than something one would envision when one thinks of a “taxi”. But if Zoox is being backed by Amazon, you know they’ll have plenty of resources to make this go, and to manufacture a bunch of them. Don’t underestimate them.

One more look at the rollout:

Tellingly, the service is not open to the general public, nor is it completely “unsupervised,” as Elon Musk once promised. The vehicles will include Tesla-employed “safety monitors” in the front passenger seat who can react to a dangerous situation by hitting a kill switch. Other autonomous vehicle operators would place safety monitors in the driver or passenger seats, but typically only during the testing phase. Tesla is unique in its use of safety monitors during commercial service.

The rides are limited to a geofenced area of the city that has been thoroughly mapped by the company. And in some cases, Tesla is using chase cars and remote drivers as additional backup. (Some vehicles have been spotted without chase vehicles.)

The service is invite only at launch, according to Tesla’s website. A number of pro-Tesla influencers have received invites, which should raise questions about how unbiased these first critical reactions will be. Tesla hasn’t said when the service will be available to the general public.

The limited trial includes 10-20 Model Y vehicles with “Robotaxi” branding on the side. The fully autonomous Cybercab that was first revealed last year won’t be available until 2026 at the earliest. The service operates in a small, relatively safe area of Austin from 6AM to 12AM, avoiding bad weather, highways, airports, and complex intersections.

Despite those hours, the robotaxi service seems to have gotten off to a slow start. Several invitees had yet to receive the robotaxi app by 1PM ET on Sunday. Sawyer Merritt, who posts pro-Tesla content on X, said he saw 30 Waymo vehicles go by while waiting for Tesla’s robotaxi service to start. Musk posted at 1:12PM that the service would be available later that afternoon, adding that initial customers would pay a “flat fee” of $4.20 for rides — a weed joke with which Musk has a troubled history.

[…]

And then the rides began — and they appeared to be mostly uneventful. Several invitees livestreamed themselves summoning their first cars, interacting with the UI, and then arriving at their destination. Several videos lasted hours, as the invitees would conclude a trip and then hail another car immediately after. One tester, Bearded Tesla Guy, described the app’s interface as “basically Uber.” Many had some difficulty finding the pickup location of their waiting Tesla robotaxi.

“This is like Pokemon hunting,” one person on Herbert Ong’s livestream said, “but its robotaxi hunting.”

Once inside, the Tesla-employed safety monitor would ask the riders to show their robotaxi apps to prove their identities. Otherwise the safety monitors kept silent throughout the ride, despite riders trying to get them to talk. I’m assuming that Tesla will need to come up with some other way to identify their riders if they plan on removing the safety monitors from the passenger seat. Waymo, for example, asks customers to unlock their vehicle through the ridehail app.

There’s more, so read the rest. I’ll be very interested to see what the experience is like for the non-fanboys, when the service is rolled out to a wider audience and presumably a winder array of locations and options. In the meantime, there it is, after all this time.

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SCOTx rules for San Antonio in the Brackenridge Park religious liberties case

Posted on June 26, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Noted for the record.

The Texas Supreme Court has sided with the City of San Antonio in a dispute involving a Native American church that worships at Brackenridge Park.

The case centers on the Lipan- Apache Native American Church, who consider a portion of Brackenridge Park a sacred place. The city’s planned improvements to the area included removing trees and bird habitat. The city has halted work where the ceremonies are held.

It began with a bond issue San Antonio voters approved in 2017. The bond included funds to refurbish part of the park, including renovating the old pump house and the elimination of some trees.⁠

The trees are the nesting spaces of the large white cormorants in the Lambert Beach area, near the Brackenridge Conservancy’s headquarters building. Hundreds of the migratory birds nest there each year. The large, fetid mess they leave on the ground under them is considered a health hazard, particularly for children.⁠

In its ruling the Texas Supreme Court said the Texas Constitution’s provisions do not extend to governmental actions for the preservation and management of public lands.

Gary Perez, a member of the Lipan-Apache Native American Church, said that “We are going to continue to pray for the best to keep the trees there, our spiritual ecology, the trees, the birds. We’ll just continue to pray all the way through and hope that God will intervene and soften some hearts.”

See here for some background. This was a federal religious liberties case that was heard by the Fifth Circuit, which initially affirmed a ruling in favor of the city of San Antonio but granted a rehearing after the state amended its constitution in 2021 that the plaintiffs said had bearing on their claim. The Fifth Circuit granted the motion for a rehearing but first referred the case to SCOTx for a ruling on the state constitutional matter, which is typical in this kind of case. And now we have it, and we’ll see what happens next. As I said before, I didn’t really lean one way or the other, I just thought this was an interesting case and I wanted to see how it turned out. Now I have it.

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Texas blog roundup for the week of June 23

Posted on June 26, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance strongly opposes the illegal bombing of Iran as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Continue reading →

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Virts becomes first official Dem Senate candidate

Posted on June 25, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Surely not the last.

Terry Virts (Credit: REUTERS/Ivan Sekretarev/Pool)

Terry Virts, a former astronaut and International Space Station commander, announced Monday he is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas as a Democrat.

With his campaign launch, Virts became the first Democrat to join what is likely to be a crowded primary field vying for the seat currently held by Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.

In a video announcing his candidacy, Virts, 57, drew on his background as an astronaut while distancing himself from the Democratic establishment. “After every mission, we debrief, no excuses, just the truth,” he said. “After the 2024 election disaster, Washington Democratic leadership skipped the debrief.”

He went on to accuse national party leaders of clinging to “the same old bankrupt ideas that they, and not voters, should pick our candidates and that we should run the same old, tired playbook again, hoping for a different outcome.”

Virts, clad in an astronaut jumpsuit and describing himself as a “common-sense Democrat,” highlighted his background in the Air Force, noting that he joined the military at 17 and went on to fly combat missions over Iraq. After he retired from NASA, Virts became a public speaker, delivering lectures, appearing on podcasts, working as an executive coach and authoring several children’s books.

In the launch video, Virts painted the Republican Party as dishonest, adding, “Trump’s chaos must be stopped. The corruption is overwhelming.”

The former astronaut took a shot at Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has launched a Republican bid for the Senate. But he did not mention Cornyn, the incumbent GOP senator running for a fifth term and polling well behind Paxton.

Virts was one of the first candidates to make his possible entry known, back in April. He’s got a good profile and I like how he made his entry, but as we know the ability to fundraise is paramount. Declaring at this late-in-the-quarter date means we shouldn’t expect much in July, but we’ll be taking a close look in October. Welcome to the race Terry Virts. Enjoy the room you have for now, we expect there will be company. The Chron and the Current have more.

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Introducing Houston City College

Posted on June 25, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t hate it.

Houston Community College will be renamed Houston City College, holding onto the ‘HCC’ moniker yet marking a major shift for the 54-year-old institution as it seeks to provide broader educational opportunities.

The college system’s board of trustees approved the name change with a 6-3 vote at a Wednesday meeting. The decision came after almost a year of research, input and debate, including concerns over an estimated $2.8 million cost of rebranding.

The majority of trustees agreed that the name change would better reflect the college’s offerings, however. HCC graduated its first students this May with bachelor’s degrees in health care management and artificial intelligence and robotics, and college officials are exploring potential bachelor’s degrees in business management, networking and nursing. All three would need to be OKed by the board before going to state and accreditation officials for final approvals.

The new degrees — and the name change — don’t take away from HCC’s roots and its focus on workforce readiness, said Vice Chair and District IV Trustee Laolu Davies-Yemitan.

“There’s a persistent commitment to this college’s mission. This vote does not change that,” Davies-Yemitan said at the meeting. “To the Houston public, it’s essential to understand this is a further affirmation of hopefully what Houston Community College’s promise to this community has been and will be moving forward.”

Chancellor Margaret Ford Fisher was a leading voice in favor of the rebrand, viewing it as a responsibility to students with degrees that might not be reflected through the name “community college.” HCC also commissioned a survey where students and area employers said they viewed credentials as stronger from a “college” versus a community college.

Trustees chose Houston City College over the options Greater Houston College and Houston College. Dozens of junior colleges across Texas have changed their names in recent decades, including Lone Star College, which evolved from the North Harris Montgomery Community College District. Dallas Community College also became Dallas College in 2020.

[…]

[Trustee Monica] Flores Richart said that she would prefer the money goes to students that might struggle to afford college.

“There’s no push to do this right now,” she said. “To change the name for two baccalaureate programs before we even had the discussion about how we as a board want to expand or don’t want to expand the baccalaureate program just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

See here for the background. There’s certainly a good argument for not spending extra money on discretionary items at a time like now, when higher education and its funding sources are under attack from a malevolent federal government. I agree that this could have been delayed, but if the name change does help the school promote its new programs and add to its image, I’m okay with it. Ask me again after they’ve completed the rollout.

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Abbott vetoes THC bill and calls special session

Posted on June 24, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Waited till the last minute because he’s such a drama queen.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday vetoed a contentious state ban on THC products and shortly after called a special legislative session asking lawmakers to instead strictly regulate the substance.

The late-night action just minutes before the veto deadline keeps the Texas hemp industry alive for now, while spiking a top priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Senate Bill 3 would have banned consumable hemp products that contained any THC, including delta-8 and delta-9.

Abbott, who had remained quiet about the issue throughout the legislative session, rejected the measure amid immense political pressure from both sides of the aisle, including from conservatives activists typically supportive of Patrick’s priorities.

Soon after midnight, Abbott called lawmakers back to the Capitol for a special session beginning July 21 with consumable hemp regulation at the top of the agenda.

“Texas must enact a regulatory framework that protects public safety, aligns with federal law, has a fully funded enforcement structure and can take effect without delay,” Abbott said.

In a statement explaining his veto, Abbott argued that SB 3 would not have survived “valid constitutional challenges,” and that the bill’s total ban “puts federal and state law on a collision course,” noting that the 2018 federal Farm Bill legalized hemp products.

“Allowing Senate Bill 3 to become law — knowing that it faces a lengthy battle that will render it dead on arrival in court — would hinder rather than help us solve the public safety issues this bill seeks to contain,” Abbott said. “The current market is dangerously under-regulated, and children are paying the price. If Senate Bill 3 is swiftly enjoined by a court, our children will be no safer than if no law was passed, and the problems will only grow.”

Abbott urged lawmakers to consider an approach similar to the way alcohol is regulated, recommending potential rules including barring the sale and marketing of THC products to minors, requiring testing throughout the production and manufacturing process, allowing local governments to prohibit stores selling THC products and providing law enforcement with additional funding to enforce the restrictions.

Abbott’s veto — and his push for a regulatory approach — puts him directly at odds with Patrick, the powerful head of the Senate, who had called the THC ban among his “top five” bills during his 17 years in the Legislature and threatened in February to force a special session if he did not get his way.

Patrick excoriated the veto on social media Sunday, saying Abbott’s “late-night veto” would leave law enforcement and families whose loved ones have been harmed by high-potency products “feeling abandoned.”

“Throughout the legislative session, @GregAbbott_TX remained totally silent on Senate Bill 3, the bill that would have banned dangerous THC products in Texas,” Patrick said. “I feel especially bad for those who testified and poured their hearts out on their tragic losses.”

See here for the previous update, and here for other vetoes and the initial special session call. One of those vetoes is especially egregious:

Among the bills Abbott vetoed was House Bill 413, which would have ensured that no defendant could be held in custody before trial for longer than the punishment they would receive if convicted. That bill, which was co-authored by a bipartisan group of five lawmakers from around the state, passed the House 126-10 and the Senate 30-1.

When promoting the bill on KCEN news before its passage in May, co-author Rep. Pat Curry, R-Waco, said, “if there’s a penalty that requires two years in prison and you’ve spent two years waiting to go to trial, you need to be released.”

I’ve run out of adjectives to describe what a shitheel Abbott is. Feel free to supply some of your own in the comments. He can add to the call anytime and call more sessions as he sees fit, so what we have now is unlikely to be all of the business the Lege will be told to attend to. Whether or not that includes re-redistricting is a question we don’t yet know the answer to.

Right now, the THC situation is front and center. Dan Patrick is mad, and as I suggested before it’s not clear to me that there’s enough Republican support in the Senate to pass a House-like bill. Patrick controls the agenda in the Senate, and he could simply decide that there’s no bill acceptable to both him and Abbott that can or will make it through. The main uncertainty there is that the status quo is now what it was before, with the THC market being lightly regulated. Would Dan Patrick prefer to get over himself and push for a maximally restrictive regulatory structure, knowing that he would get opportunities for further tightening in subsequent sessions (assuming this all doesn’t lead to him being unelected), or does he embrace the chaos and use the next two year railing about how the legal market for THC products is bad and harmful and maybe the next time people will listen to him as they should have done all along? Hell if I know. Keep an eye on what he says leading up to July 21.

One more point to consider, this isn’t just about Abbott versus Patrick. Patrick as noted got his bill through the Senate, with his minions in full support. He got the House to switch to his bill, which caused its own rift after his temporarily broken promise on expanding the medical marijuana allowances. My point is that a lot of Republican legislators voted for the ban, some with full hearts while quite a few others did so against their inclinations. Whatever happens in the special session(s), they may well get challenged on that in the 2026 elections, both primary and general. It’s one thing to step out onto a limb and against your supporters’ preferences when you have the backing of your party leadership. It’s another to be hung out to dry, which is what Abbott’s veto did to them. So now even though many Republicans will get a chance to do what they wanted to do initially, they’ve got to be smarting about this. Abbott has more than one fence to mend, is what I’m saying. The Chron and The Barbed Wire have more.

UPDATE: Off to a great start.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Monday that he would not agree to Gov. Greg Abbott’s calls to regulate THC products — which he equated to legalizing marijuana in Texas — setting up an apparent impasse between the state’s two most powerful Republicans as lawmakers are set to return to Austin this summer.

Patrick, the biggest champion of outlawing hemp-derived THC products, said he believes Abbott put lawmakers in a box by vetoing the ban and urging them to treat the booming industry similarly to the way Texas handles alcohol.

“What Governor Abbott proposes is for us to legalize marijuana in Texas — by regulating it,” Patrick said during an at-times heated press conference at the Capitol on Monday.

“I’m not going to legalize marijuana in Texas,” Patrick said. “If people want to vote me out of office for that, so be it. Not going to do it.”

[…]

Patrick said he was caught off guard by Abbott’s move late Sunday night to veto the THC ban that was one of the lieutenant governor’s top priorities, claiming the governor had previously assured him he would sign the bill.

“We usually find common ground. But this veto, this late — after he told me he was going to sign it: ‘Your bill’s fine,’” Patrick said. “I didn’t start this. I did my work. We did our legal work. We talked to lawyers, we made sure this was constitutionally sound.”

A spokesman for the governor said Abbott “has always shared the Lieutenant Governor’s desire to ensure that THC products are not sold to our children and that the dangerous synthetic drugs that we have seen recently are banned.”

[…]

The lieutenant governor said Monday that he had worked with Abbott this session on the governor’s priority legislation establishing a cybersecurity hub in San Antonio, which Patrick said he did not initially support. But he said he asked Abbott for an argument for the bill and eventually came around.

“I took it home, I read it for the weekend, and I said, ‘I’m with you, you made your point’,” Patrick said.

Patrick said Abbott did not extend the same courtesy on his THC ban.

“Where was he on this bill?” Patrick said. “He could have talked to us at any time. The speaker, myself, members — he didn’t ever discuss this. And then to parachute in at the last moment over the will of the Senate and the House.”

“We will work through it, hopefully,” Patrick said. “But it’s not the state I want. I don’t want my kids, my grandkids, growing up in a state where everybody’s high.”

I’m fully on board with the voting him out of office part. Make it a double for Abbott, too. As for Abbott’s parachute-in-at-the-last-minute stuff, I mean, that’s been his MO for his entire time as Governor. This time it hit home for Patrick. No sympathy from me, of course. Let them fight. The Trib has more.

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Bobby Cole

Posted on June 24, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox, we have a Democrat running for Governor:

Bobby Cole

Democrat Bobby Cole today announces his candidacy for Governor of Texas. Born near Houston and raised in East Texas, Bobby understands what everyday Texans are going through, because he’s been in our shoes, worrying about rising costs and paying bills.

As a young man, Bobby realized that dairy farming wouldn’t pay his bills, but firefighting would allow him to earn a living and keep his dairy farm alive. It ended up being a lifelong mission that taught him about making life-or-death decisions. Now Bobby’s small business manages 300 head of cattle and raises more than a million chickens per year – all feeding American families in the process.

Bobby hasn’t run for office before, but felt compelled to step forward after Donald Trump was elected to office and Elon Musk used a hatchet on crucial government services that seniors, farmers, and veterans depend on. And here in Texas, Greg Abbott has let the state go up in flames, threatening families and the lives they’ve built.

A Democrat with heroes like LBJ and FDR, Bobby understands what is at stake in this election.

“Greg Abbott bows to Trump and ignores the biggest problems we face as Texans: out-of-control property taxes, government burrowing in our private lives, and policies driven by billionaires and bullies,” Cole said. “As a small business owner, I know what it feels like to be squeezed. As a firefighter, I learned how important every second is in an emergency. I’ve lived my values, and Texans should expect no less from their leaders.”

You can watch Bobby Cole’s introduction video here.

Bobby Cole is not your typical politician, but he is your typical Texan: Practical, with decades of hard work under his belt, he treats others with empathy and has a great sense of humor. He’ll fight for what he believes in. No matter who it pisses off.

Learn more about Bobby Cole’s campaign for Texas Governor at www.ColeForGovernor.com.

Here’s his intro on BlueSky. Fair to say he’s not the typical statewide Dem candidate; we’ll see what kind of reception he gets. For better or worse, being able to raise enough money to be able to get a message out is Job #1. You’ll never outraise Greg Abbott, but you do need to do enough for yourself. I continue to believe that the various lists of statewide hopefuls includes at least one person who will run for Governor. I’m just glad that the count is now greater than zero.

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Tesla launches its robotaxi service in Austin

Posted on June 23, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Not quite as they wanted, but it is going.

After driverless Tesla Model Ys were spotted traversing Austin, Texas streets on Sunday morning, CEO Elon Musk posted on his social platform X that Tesla’s “robotaxi launch” would start this afternoon with rides for a flat fee of $4.20.

A Reuters witness saw several Tesla “robotaxis” on Sunday morning in a popular area of the Texas capital called South Congress with no one in the driver’s seat but one person in the passenger seat.

Tesla planned to have front-seat riders acting as “safety monitors,” though it remained unclear how much control they would have over the vehicles. Videos of driverless Teslas have also been posted on social media but it was not known if the vehicles carried any passengers.

As the date of the planned robotaxi launch approached, Texas lawmakers moved to enact rules on autonomous vehicles in the state. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Friday signed legislation requiring a state permit to operate self-driving vehicles.

The law does not take effect until September 1, but the governor’s approval of it on Friday signals state officials from both parties want the driverless-vehicle industry to proceed cautiously. A group of Democratic state lawmakers earlier this week asked Tesla to delay its planned robotaxi trial because of the legislation.

[…]

In recent days, Tesla has sent invites to a select group of Tesla online influencers for a small and carefully monitored robotaxi trial, which the company has said would include 10 or 20 Model Y vehicles operated in a limited zone of Austin.

See here and here for the previous updates. KUT has more on the concerns that had been expressed by legislators, whi asked Tesla to delay their rollout until September 1 when the new law takes effect.

Brad Templeton at Forbes has an interesting view of these developments.

Tesla’s much-anticipated June 22 “no one in the vehicle” Robotaxi launch in Austin is not ready. Instead, Tesla has announced to its invite-only passengers that it will operate a limited service with Tesla employees on board the vehicle to maintain safety. Tesla will use an approach that was used in 2019 by Russian robotaxi company Yandex, putting the safety driver in the passenger’s seat rather than the driver’s seat. (Yandex’s robotaxi was divested from Russian and now is called AVRide.)

Having an employee on board, commonly called a safety driver, is the approach that every robocar company has used for testing, including testing of passenger operations. Most companies spend many years (Waymo spent a decade) testing with safety drivers, and once they are ready to take passengers, there are typically some number of years testing in that mode, though the path to removing the safety driver depends primarily on evaluation of the safety case for the vehicle, and less on the presence of passengers.

Tesla has put on some other restrictions—rides will be limited to 6 a.m. to midnight (the opposite of Cruise’s first operations, which were only at night) and riders come from an invite-only list (as was also the case for Waymo, and Cruise and others in their early days). Rides will be limited to a restricted service area (often mistakenly called a “geofence”) which avoids complex and difficult streets and intersections. Rides will be unavailable in inclement weather, which also can happen with other vehicles, though fairly rarely today. Tesla FSD is known to disable itself if rain obscures some of its cameras—only the front cameras have a rain wiper. The fleet will be small.

[…]

Almost all vehicles use a safety driver behind the wheel. Tesla’s will be in the passenger seat, in a situation similar to that used by driving instructors for student human drivers. While unconfirmed by Tesla, the employee in the passenger seat can grab the wheel and steer. Because stock Teslas have fully computer-controlled brake and acceleration, they might equip the driver with electronic pedals. Some reports have suggested they have a hand controller or other ways to command the vehicle to brake.

There is no value to putting the safety driver on the passenger’s side. It is no safer than being behind the wheel, and believed by most to be less safe because of the unusual geometry. It’s hard to come up with any reason other than just how it looks. Tesla can state the vehicles have “nobody in the driver’s seat” in order to attempt to impress the public. The driving school system works, so it’s not overtly dangerous, but in that case there’s an obvious reason for it that’s not optics.

That said, most robocar prototypes, including Tesla supervised FSD, are reasonably safe with capable safety drivers. A negligent and poorly managed safety driver in an Uber ATG test vehicle killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona when the safety driver completely ignored her job, but otherwise these systems have a good record. The combination of Tesla Autopilot and a supervising driver has a reasonable record. (The record is not nearly as good as some people think Tesla claims. Every quarter, Tesla publishes a deeply misleading report comparing the combination of Tesla Autopilot plus supervisor to the general crash rate, but they report airbag deployments for the Teslas mostly on freeways and compare it without general crash numbers on all roads for general drivers. This makes it seem Autopilot is many times safer than regular drivers when it’s actually similar, a serious and deceitful misrepresentation.)

As noted, Yandex, now AVRide, has used safety drivers in the passenger seat, and has done so in Austin—also speculated to be mostly for optics, though there are some legal jurisdictions where companies shave made this move because the law requires safety drivers and they hope to convey an aura of not needing them. This has also been the case in China. When Cruise did their first “driverless” demo ride in San Francisco, they had an employee in the passengers seat.

So Tesla has been ready to run with safety drivers for years. What’s tested here isn’t the safety of the cars, but all the complexity of handling passengers, including the surprising problems of good PuDo (Pick-up/Drop-off). Whether Teslas can operate a safe robotaxi with nobody onboard, particularly with their much more limited sensor hardware, remains to be seen.

[…]

The question for Tesla will be whether the use of safety drivers is a very temporary thing, done just because they weren’t quite ready but needed to meet the announced date, or a multi-year program as it has been for most teams. Tesla is famous for not meeting the forecast ship dates for its FSD system, so it’s not shocking that this pattern continues. The bigger question is whether they can do it at all. Tesla FSD 13, the version available to Tesla owners, isn’t even remotely close to robotaxi ready. If Tesla has made a version which is closer, through extra work, training and severe limitations of the problem space, it’s still a big accomplishment. This will be seen in the coming months. Two robocar teams had severe interactions with pedestrians, resulting in the end of both teams. Tesla knows they must not make mistakes.

So I dunno. I wouldn’t trust anything from Elmo, but you already knew that. We’ll have to see what the Austin population of robotaxi-curious people think – again, you know where I stand on that. KVUE has more.

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The Montrose texts

Posted on June 23, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

A look behind the curtain at what was happening with the Montrose TIRZ as the original plan for redoing Montrose Blvd got significantly changed by Mayor Whitmire.

For over a year, Montrose residents have fiercely debated redesign plans for their namesake boulevard, a battle that played out in meetings, neighborhood flyers and sidewalk protests.

But while the controversy unfolded in plain view, a different kind of influence quietly shaped the outcome behind closed doors, stripping the project of attributes that would have made the boulevard more friendly for bikers and pedestrians.

Dozens of text messages obtained through a public records request, and shared with the Houston Chronicle, suggest that the Montrose Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, a city board reshaped by Mayor John Whitmire, has been closely guided by Sue Lovell, a former City Council member and registered lobbyist for the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association.

The messages reveal that Lovell appeared to exert significant influence over internal board decisions and public messaging, particularly through her connection to newly appointed board chair Matt Brollier. Community members and former board officials now allege that Lovell’s behind-the-scenes involvement helped consolidate power and suppress dissent over a scaled-back version of the original Montrose Boulevard redesign.

In a written statement, Lovell said she is a 50-year Montrose resident, and said she met Brollier during her time as a City Council member, calling him her “friend and neighbor.”

“When asked, I have been happy to share my 50 years of experience and leadership in the Montrose community and three elected terms as a Houston City Council member and vice mayor pro tem,” Lovell said. “Like many other people in the Montrose community, I have felt free to express my displeasure about the way a board member voted.”

Lovell noted that she has “nothing but respect” for local organizers and leaders.

In a written statement provided through a spokesperson, Brollier said neither he nor the board has been pressured by any individual, including Lovell.

“Discussion and engagement come from any number of sources, including those who have recommendations and those who have different opinions on items,” Brollier said. “As as a board we take all of that into account when making our decisions. We work diligently to meet the established goals of the TIRZ.”

[…]

To many Montrose residents, the release of dozens of text messages between Brollier and Lovell confirmed what they long suspected: that decisions about the future of their neighborhood have been guided less by community input and more by behind-the-scenes political influence.

Beth Shook, a Montrose resident and civic association board member, said the texts reinforce the sense that the board is not engaging with residents in good faith. While she has interacted with both current and former board members, including Brollier, she believes the board, reshaped by Whitmire, was appointed with an agenda in mind.

“They are expected to fall in line with the mayor’s vision,” Shook said. “It’s clear that there are backroom discussions with a person who is not on the board and is not an elected official. It feels as though board members are negotiating the way to vote on plans like Montrose Boulevard, and the pressure isn’t coming from the community.”

She also pointed to a tone of hostility in the texts, particularly toward Montrose community organizations. Despite doubts about whether public pressure could shift the board’s direction, she said transparency remains critical.

“If neighbors can’t have their opinions heard by something like a neighborhood development board, then we really need to examine that,” Shook said. “This kind of influence could happen in other neighborhoods, too.”

See here for the previous update, and read the story for the texts, some of which are spicy. From my outside perspective, I think Beth Shook has it right. Outside of getting the cops and firefighters paid, nothing has animated the Mayor more than meddling in street projects that had been planned and in some cases executed by Mayor Turner. This is right in his wheelhouse, and this is how he operates. I know it’s a niche issue and unlikely to move voters, but maybe the next Mayor should make a campaign promise on putting some controls on how TIRZ members are appointed, to ensure that actual representation is the basis of those appointments. (And as long as I’m wishing for things, I’d also like a pony. Thanks you.)

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

Weekend link dump for June 22

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

“Here are four key ways Trump’s policies could undermine Obamacare enrollment and coverage.”

“Why Obama’s Immigration Enforcement Policy Was Better Than Trump’s“.

Take proper care of your hummingbird feeder or you risk doing more harm than good.

“I just got back from the Trump parade and I have to say it was legitimately the worst executed mass attendance event I’ve ever seen”.

“For tens of thousands of U.S. service members with undocumented family members, there’s no guaranteed protection from immigration raids.”

“Well, sorry. You aren’t going to be able to use that Walmart stablecoin at Amazon if you want the cheapest lawn chair. For that, you’ll need some Amazon stablecoin. Did you see Delta is running a super deep discount on trips to London? You’ll need the Delta stablecoin and the Delta app. You get the picture.”

“A document the Department of Health and Human Services sent to lawmakers to support Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to change U.S. policy on covid vaccines cites scientific studies that are unpublished or under dispute and mischaracterizes others.”

“For the first time in modern U.S. history, we are witnessing purely vindictive and retaliatory actions being taken against non-partisan civil servants who simply performed their jobs consistent with law and policy during prior time.”

RIP, Betsy Gay, child actor from the “Little Rascals” movies, and also an award-winning yodeler.

RIP, Norma Meras Swenson, co-author and editor of most editions of the groundbreaking feminist book on women’s health “Our Bodies, Ourselves”.

“The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) filed a lawsuit on behalf of 17 state domestic violence and sexual assault organizations on Monday, arguing that restrictions the Trump administration has placed on grants are illegal and conflict with requirements laid out in the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).”

“[Threads] is launching a tool that lets users hide spoilers in text or images, to encourage discussion of TV shows and films on the platform.”

“As near as I can tell, none of the mainstream press coverage notes that the [Trump Mobile] phone does not actually exist and barring some true miracle cannot, in fact, exist, certainly not in September 2025.” See The Verge for more.

“The American Bar Association, the typically nonpartisan and reserved professional voice of the legal trade, is suing nearly every top federal government official to fight what it calls President Donald Trump’s “deliberate policy designed to intimidate and coerce law firms and lawyers” that challenge his policies.”

RIP, Arthur Folasa “Afa” Ah Loo, Project Runway contestant who was tragically shot at the No Kings rally in Salt Lake City. See here and here for more.

“Trump’s immigration crackdown is burning through cash so quickly that the agency charged with arresting, detaining and removing unauthorized immigrants could run out of money next month.”

RIP, Nina Kuscsik, pioneering distance runner who was an early advocate for women to be allowed to run in the major marathons, and then became the first female champion in the New York and Boston marathons.

When Fairbanks, Alaska, is issuing heat advisories, that sure seems like a bad sign.

RIP, Anne Burrell, chef and host of Food Network’s Worst Cooks in America.

Mike Trout is a mensch.

“Trump can hardly be ‘anti-war’ since he’s not even anti-war within the United States. He’s already done his first military deployment – to Los Angeles. War is fundamentally about violence and aggression. That violence and aggression can be tethered to a necessary or righteous goal. But the thing itself is violence and aggression. And violence and aggression are the essence of MAGA politics.”

“After claiming for years that he does not have the money to pay even a small fraction of the $1.3 billion he owes Sandy Hook families who won a defamation case against him, Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is now facing allegations that he engaged in a “flurry” of fraudulent transfers of some $5 million in cash, cars and property to his family members.”

“Edmunds, who is 99 years old, has been making quilts since she was seven, when she first learned to sew on a pedal-powered treadle machine using scraps of fabric. But it wasn’t until 50 years ago, after reading a magazine article, that she learned how runaway enslaved people in the South used encoded messages in quilts to make their way north along the Underground Railroad.” As the story notes, this is not a universally accepted idea. But it’s fascinating to consider.

“If these thugs show up at your store, get on the PA and call a Code Adam. Station somebody at every exit. And, above all: If the would-be victim is located with an adult that is not their parent or guardian, employ all reasonable efforts to delay the departure of the adult without endangering staff or customer.”

RIP, Blake Farenthold, former Republican member of Congress from Corpus Christi.

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged | 1 Comment

No one knows what Greg Abbott will do, special session edition

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll probably know something by the end of the day today, but beyond that who knows.

Gov. Greg Abbott seemed to get everything he wanted out of the Texas Legislature this year.

“Without a doubt, this is the best session I’ve ever had,” Abbott said during an interview with me last week.

After all, he finally got the private school vouchers and the bail reform he has long advocated for through the Legislature. And more property tax cuts passed are on their way — the issue he forced lawmakers into two special sessions over back in 2023.

But that doesn’t mean he’s ruled out calling legislators back to Austin to tackle more issue, depending on when he is asked.

When I talked to him on June 11, he said he didn’t see any need for a special session.

But two days later during a speech in Houston for the Harris County Republican Party’s Lincoln Reagan Day Dinner, Abbott hinted a special session may be needed because the Legislature didn’t pass a ban on cities, counties and school districts hiring lobbyists with taxpayer money to represent them at the Capitol.

“All I can say is we may not be done yet,” Abbott said, raising an issue that has struggled to gain traction in the Texas House for several sessions now.

[…]

The taxpayer lobbying ban and redistricting are two potential reasons for a special. Plus, if Abbott were to veto Senate Bill 3, which would ban THC products in Texas starting in September, he could call lawmakers in to tailor the bill more narrowly. That issue has divided the GOP with THC users and retailers flooding Abbott’s office with demands that he veto SB 3.

Once more, with feeling: Greg Abbott will do what Greg Abbott thinks is best for Greg Abbott. There are no other considerations. He’s gonna do what he’s gonna do, and he’ll tell us when he’s ready to tell us. I personally think he likes being the center of attention every now and then. Not too often – he famously disappears when the Lege is in session, only popping up at the end to mumble something about vetoes – but once in awhile, when it suits him. Some people, you wonder what’s going on inside their heads, what makes them tick, why they do what they do. Greg Abbott’s interior monologue is I believe somewhere between a Denny’s menu and an episode of “Matlock”, the original edition. There’s nothing particularly interesting about it.

As to external factors, I don’t think anything is pointing clearly in one direction or the other. On redistricting, the Republican Congressional caucus sounds lukewarm for the most part, probably because they recognize that any attempt to stretch the map out could put some number of them at risk going forward. On the THC ban, in addition to poking Dan Patrick it’s not clear to me that there’s sufficient Republican support in the Senate to do an allow-but-restrict bill. They had that option in the regular session, and rejected it twice. There may well be an overall majority in the Senate for that approach, but a majority that is mostly Democrats will not be acceptable to Dan Patrick, so it may as well not exist. As for the bam on local governments paying for lobbyists, I mean they’re going to need to have something to do in 2027. I don’t see that being a big enough issue to make Republican legislators willing to spend a couple more weeks in Austin.

Again, though, this is about what Greg Abbott wants. Today is the deadline for signing or vetoing bills, so either SB3 becomes law (with or without Abbott’s autograph) or it gets canned. If he does veto it, then maybe that is the pretext for a special session. Or maybe not. Who the hell knows? Maybe by the end of the day today we’ll know something.

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Harris County gets a win in health funding lawsuit

Posted on June 22, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

More good lawsuit news.

A district judge restored about $20 million in public health funding to Harris County and a coalition of local governments after ruling in their favor in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee announced Tuesday.

Harris County was set to lose funding for disease surveillance, immunization outreach and community health worker programs. Cuts also jeopardized mobile vaccination clinics and the county’s capacity to track more than 80 infectious diseases, including measles, mpox, zika and tuberculosis.

The court ruled the department overstepped its authority by cutting $11 billion in total funding Congress had already appropriated and local governments had already begun to implement, a news release from Menefee read.

“This ruling is a win for Harris County residents and public health departments across the country,” Menefee wrote in the release. “The federal government cannot simply ignore Congress and pull the plug on essential services that communities rely on. Today’s decision ensures we can keep doing the work that protects our residents — from tracking disease outbreaks to providing vaccinations and supporting vulnerable families.”

See here and here for some background, and here for the full statement from the Harris County Attorney’s office. Harris County has also gotten refugee health grant funds back after filing a lawsuit, and signed onto an amicus brief over broader NIH cuts. I don’t know what the status of that last one is, but two out of three so far ain’t bad. Keep fighting.

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The Paxton opportunity

Posted on June 21, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

From Axios:

Still a crook any way you look

A new private GOP poll is showing Republicans facing a growing problem in the Texas Senate race, the third such survey in just a month.

Why it matters: Republicans haven’t lost a statewide race in Texas in more than three decades, but party officials concede they may need to spend millions to keep the seat this year.

  • “The problem is nobody with the necessary gravitas seems to be willing to state the obvious: this is shaping up to be a f***ing disaster,” a senior GOP Senate aide told Axios.

Zoom in: Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) trails state Attorney General Ken Paxton by 16 percentage points in a new survey conducted by veteran Republican pollster Chris Wilson. A copy was obtained by Axios.

  • But Paxton trails a generic Democrat by three percentage points in a general election matchup.
  • The establishment-aligned Cornyn performs far better than Paxton in a general election, leading a Democrat by seven percentage points.
  • The survey results are similar to recent surveys conducted by the GOP-aligned Senate Leadership Fund super PAC and the American Opportunity Alliance, a network of influential Republican donors.

Between the lines: Paxton was impeached by the state House of Representatives in 2023 on bribery and corruption charges but was later acquitted by the state Senate.

  • “If the goal is to maintain a GOP Senate majority and maximize Trump’s down-ballot coattails in Texas, Paxton’s nomination is a strategic liability,” Wilson, who has advised Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), said in a memo accompanying the poll.
  • “If Paxton wins the primary, the GOP is on a path to hand Democrats their best Senate opportunity in a generation,” Wilson added.

See here for more on that previous poll. Without seeing the data, it’s hard to say what the magnitude of the threat for Republicans is. As I said before, it’s a different situation if Paxton is underperforming Cornyn while the Dem level stays more or less the same than it is if some amount of Cornyn’s support is getting transferred to the Dem. We also don’t know how well an actual named Democrat – there are plenty to choose from at this point – would do compared to the idea of a Democrat. This is all suggestive and no doubt a big part of the reason why so many Dems are circling around this race, but there’s a vast distance between these two insider polls and a Dem victory in this race.

Also, too, and with all due respect to my Republican pals, I have no idea who this person with “the necessary gravitas” might be that could calmly and persuasively explain to the seething horde that is the Republican primary electorate why voting for Ken Paxton might not be a great idea for them. Like, seriously, this isn’t 2002 and the whole reason why there’s so much fear of what those crazy primary voters might do is exactly because Republicans have been taking a blowtorch to all forms of the establishment for decades. Allow me to put this in simpler terms:

You’re welcome.

(Here’s another article about who’s publicly musing about running for this or that. It name-checks outgoing San Antonion Mayor Ron Nirenberg but otherwise doesn’t have much in the way of new information.)

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Humble ISD names a replacement Trustee

Posted on June 21, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

In with the old.

The Humble ISD board unanimously appointed former trustee Ken Kirchhofer to fill a vacant board seat after an extended executive session Tuesday night.

Kirchhofer, who abstained from the vote, lost a reelection bid on May 3 after having served on the board of the northeastern Harris County school district since 2021.

While the board, with new members Elizabeth Shaw and Oscar Silva, unanimously approved Kirchhofer’s appointment, trustee Robert Scarfo said there would be a caveat that Kirchhofer could not run again for the seat in May 2027, the district’s next regularly scheduled board election.

Kirchhofer had run for re-election on May 3, but he was successfully challenged by Brittnai Brown who won the race by just over 4,000 votes, and Tracy Shannon, a third challenger, who ended up with about 40 more votes than Kirchhofer.

Despite Brown’s win, she was declared ineligible as a candidate shortly after the results were announced when Shannon filed a lawsuit challenging Brown’s voter registration records. After a review, the district found that Brown was ineligible because she did not register to vote with her new Humble ISD address 30 days before the deadline to file for local office. In a statement previously emailed to the Houston Chronicle, Brown said she had changed her voter registration a few hours before she submitted her application for a place on the ballot under the assumption that if she changed her voter registration online, it would be immediately valid. In reality, it takes 30 days for changes to voter registration to be reflected in the record.

Since the seat was declared vacant, Kirchhofer was chosen to remain on the board under the holdover position of the Texas Constitution, said Humble ISD spokesperson Jamie Mount.

Kirchhofer said in a statement Tuesday that he was humbled by the appointment, and said it reflected the board’s “confidence and trust” in his candidacy.

However Shannon said that the move was a “slap in the face.”

“Other candidates who ran for school board also hoped to apply for the appointment or run in a special election, including Scott Ford and Natalie Carter. I think the community deserved for these candidates to also have a shot at it,” Shannon said.

“Voters made it clear that there was a call for accountability in this district,” she continued, “It appears as though it is going to business as usual for Humble ISD, and this is not a good thing for our district.”

See here and here for the background. I don’t have a problem with the Board making this choice. At least you know he’s qualified for the role. I can understand Shannon’s being upset about it, but she also has an interest in the outcome. If I were to quibble with this, it would be to say that the appointment should only be through the end of the year, and there should be a November election to fill out the rest of the term for this position. That would allow both Tracy Shannon and Brittnai Brown to run again, with Brown now qualifying for the election. Maybe Humble ISD didn’t have the option of a short-term appointment, and maybe they just didn’t want to incur the expense of another election, I don’t know. But that to me would have been the fairest option.

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Abbott appoints Sen. Hancock as Comptroller

Posted on June 20, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

New guy alert.

Kelly Hancock

Republican state Sen. Kelly Hancock launched his campaign for state comptroller Thursday shortly after taking a senior position at the comptroller’s office.

His appointment as chief clerk to Comptroller Glenn Hegar paves the way for Hanock, a North Richland Hill Republican, to become interim comptroller after Hegar leaves his office in June. And it gives Hancock an edge in a growing Republican primary race next year.

“Kelly is a great fit to serve as the chief financial officer of Texas,” Hegar said in a statement, who is stepping down to become chancellor of the Texas A&M University System. “As a long-serving member of the Texas Legislature, he helped shape sound financial policy and authored the state’s conservative spending cap legislation”

Hegar added that Hancock is honest, trustworthy, and an “all-around good guy.”

Hancock, in a statement, cited his conservative bona fides on border security, noting he was one of the first Republican senators to call for ending in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants, which the state did earlier this month.

“For over a decade, I’ve fought for Texas taxpayers in the Legislature, cutting red tape, passing conservative budget reforms, and holding government accountable,” Hancock said in his campaign announcement. “As Comptroller, I’ll make sure your tax dollars are spent wisely, transparently, and responsibly.”

A quirk in state law prohibited Gov. Greg Abbott from directly appointing Hancock comptroller. Senators cannot be appointed to another position that requires Senate confirmation.

[…]

Entering the primary season as the interim will almost certainly give Hancock a leg up in a race that’s already getting crowded. Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick and former state Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas, are already in the race, and Huffines has been raking in endorsements — including one from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

Abbott was quick to endorse Hancock, in the process throwing an elbow at Huffines, who as a state senator lost his reelection bid to Democrat Nathan Johnson in 2018.

“I endorse Kelly Hancock because I want a candidate who will actually win the election, not someone who has already lost an election to a Democrat,” Abbott said in a statement.

See here for the background. In my eyes, anyone who would advocate for a harmful and destructive policy as the repeal of the state’s DREAM Act is automatically disqualified from the label of “all-around good guy”, but that’s the modern Republican Party for you. Hancock was one of two Senators to vote to convict Ken Paxton in the impeachment trial, so he does have that much going for him. He’s probably capable of basic addition and subtraction, and he’s not completely insane, so as far as that goes I’d take him over Don Huffines. But that’s like saying I’d take leprosy over being eaten by a school of piranha.

The Fort Worth Report adds an important detail.

Hancock, who represents Fort Worth, resigned from the Senate before he was sworn in as the chief clerk of the Texas Comptroller’s office on June 19. He will assume the role of acting comptroller July 1 when Glenn Hegar, a Republican elected to the statewide position in 2014, assumes his new role as chancellor of the Texas A&M University System.

“Kelly is a great fit to serve as the chief financial officer of Texas,” Hegar said in a statement.

Hancock’s ascension to comptroller came with a hitch: A 2002 attorney general’s opinion required Hancock resign from the Senate and briefly take a job in the agency before becoming interim comptroller after Hegar’s exit.

[…]

Hancock has been in the Senate since 2013 after serving as House member from 2006 to 2012.

He represents Senate District 9, which is fully enclosed within Tarrant County and encompasses more than 46% of the county’s population in the northern and western part of the county.

The district includes a large part of Fort Worth and eastern suburbs reaching to Hurst and Bedford.

His departure from the Senate could likely touch off a scramble of candidates to replace him, though only one has been prominently mentioned as a potential candidate: Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth.

“I am prayerfully considering a run for Senate upon a vacancy in SD9,” Schatzline told online news outlet The Texan.

If Schatzline runs for Hancock’s seat, it will create an opening for the Fort Worth Republican’s House seat in 2026.

I assumed Hancock had to resign for this, because you can’t hold two offices simultaneously. That should mean a special election in SD09 this November, possibly sooner if Abbott does decide to call a special session for re-redistricting. While SD09 was basically a 60-40 district in 2024, given the current environment it could make for an interesting race, certainly one that Dems should contest as fiercely as possible. Put a pin in that for later. Hancock’s term is up in 2026 anyway, so whatever else happens there will be an open Senate seat for someone to run for next year as well.

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Tarrant County plaintiffs amend their complaint

Posted on June 20, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

From the Lone Star Project:

Attorneys acting on behalf of an expanded list of citizen plaintiffs have amended claims against MAGA County Judge Tim O’Hare and Tarrant County Texas for the adoption of a mid-decade County Commissioners Precinct map that violates the Voting Rights Act and the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

O’Hare Confirms His Racism and Intentional Discrimination

The amended brief leads with damning evidence of intentional discrimination in remarks made by MAGA Republican Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare. On the day of the vote, in comments later aired by NBC affiliate KXAS TV, O’Hare reveals that race was top-of-mind. Quoted in Paragraph 1 on Page 1 of the brief, O’Hare says:

“The policies of Democrats continue to fail Black people over and over and over, but many of them keep voting them in. It’s time for people of all races to understand the Democrats are a lost party, they are a radical party, it’s time for them to get on board with us and we’ll welcome them with open arms.”

Pointing out O’Hare’s blunt assessment of race and political behavior, the amended brief states in Paragraph 2 on Page 2:

A government official casting the deciding vote in favor of a map that reduces from two to one the number of majority-minority districts cannot have as even one iota of his purpose the fact that “many of them”—referring to Black voters— choose different candidates than he would prefer. A political subdivision cannot redraw district boundaries along racial lines because the government official casting the deciding vote thinks that “[i]t’s time for people of all races” to start agreeing with his views. And a political subdivision cannot redraw district boundaries along racial lines because “[i]t’s time for them,” i.e., Black voters and voters of “all races,” “to get on board” with his policy views.

Over 150,000 Mostly Minority Citizens Disenfranchised

The amended brief further lays out in great detail how the shifting of over 300,000 citizens between commissioner precincts results in more than 150,000 being denied the right to vote at all in the 2026 county commissioner elections and forced to wait six full years to cast a county commissioner ballot. The number of Black and Hispanic citizens disenfranchised far outnumbers Anglos. The brief reads in Paragraph 7 on Pages 3 and 4:

Map 7 also disenfranchises over 150,000 people of voting age in Tarrant County who were next entitled to vote for a commissioner candidate in the November 2026 election by moving them from an even numbered precinct to an odd-numbered precinct. These voters are denied their right to vote in the 2026 election and their right to vote is abridged by forcing them to wait six years (from 2022 until 2028) to participate in the election of commissioners, who are elected to four-year terms. This disenfranchisement falls starkly along racial lines. Black voters and Latino voters are both disproportionately disenfranchised compared to Anglo voters, who are disproportionately unaffected. While Map 7 disenfranchises just 5% of Tarrant County’s Anglo adults, it disenfranchises 19% of the County’s Black adults and 12% of its Latino adults. Black adults are thus four times more likely than Anglo adults to be disenfranchised under Map 7 and Latino adults are over twice as likely to be disenfranchised as Anglo adults

Background

The redrawn Tarrant County Commissioners’ map was challenged by Tarrant County Texas citizens last week shortly after its passage. The map was adopted despite overwhelming objections of Tarrant County citizens who were forced to endure verbal abuse from O’Hare throughout the hearing and especially during the period of public comment. O’Hare cut off citizens mid-statement, routinely kicked them out of the building for exercising their right to free speech, and he ejected one person for just clapping.

Read the entire amended brief HERE and go to the Lone Star Project’s Tarrant County redistricting page for more background.

See here for the background. I will note, the claim about some voters being disenfranchised because they were moved from a precinct that had an election in the next year to one that would have it in the following two-year cycle was raised by plaintiffs against the Harris County Commissioners Court redraw and was largely disregarded by the Supreme Court in the mandamus that was filed to stop the plan from being enacted. This claim is a little different, partly because of the racial aspect, partly because it’s an off-year redo, and partly because of the six-year gap in voting that some people would endure. (*) Whether that will make any difference in court, I couldn’t say. For a fuller look back at the history of how we got here, see the Star-Telegram.

(*) I suppose this would have been the case in Harris as well – if you’d been in Precinct 4 and voted in 2018 and expected to vote in 2022 but had to wait until 2024 because you were moved into Precinct 3, or something like that. I don’t think this particular claim was raised in Harris, though – the story about the lawsuit cited a just-turned-18 plaintiff who expected to vote for Commissioner for the first time in 2022 but had to wait instead. Kinda sorta the same but not quite. Anyway, my point is I don’t think this particular claim was adjudicated in the Harris County lawsuit, so it’s at least something new to consider.

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Texas State appears to be headed for the PAC-12

Posted on June 20, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Wow.

Texas State is the heavy favorite, per ESPN sources, to be issued a formal Pac-12 invitation. The league is still engaged with other schools, per sources, but Texas State has clearly emerged at the forefront of that group.

On July 1, the buyout for Texas State to leave the Sun Belt for the 2026-27 season will rise from $5 million to $10 million. This is obviously a bigger motivator for Texas State than the Pac-12, but it’s seemingly a significant enough deadline to trigger action.

For the Pac-12 to bring in a new partner in a time of financial uncertainty for the league, it would make sense to offer Texas State prior to July 1. After all, the Pac-12 needs an eighth football member for 2026, so they have their own deadline looming.

In realignment, of course, nothing is official until it’s signed. And nothing is formal until it’s completed. So with Texas State and the Pac-12, sources said the best way to explain the courtship is that the league is currently exploring making an offer in the upcoming weeks.

Texas State has loomed for months as the favorite to join the league and was prominently discussed in the Pac-12’s virtual meeting earlier this week. It has been the league’s top target for months and is expected to have voting support, as the league’s presidents are enamored with a foothold in the state and [university President Kelly] Damphousse’s leadership.

Texas State is booming as a university with an enrollment of more than 40,000, and it boasts a lot of tenets of football potential, with a rich local talent base and a rising young coach, G.J. Kinne, at the helm.

The league’s presidents won’t vote on Texas State until they are ready for the process to unfold in rapid-fire succession. That’s expected to come before July 1. Texas State turned down a verbal offer from the Mountain West last fall, which athletic director Don Coryell called “preliminary discussions with an interested conference.”

Texas State, if the Pac-12 process unfolds as expected, would be the league’s ninth member overall and eighth football member. Part of the feeling of inevitability of the invitation is tied to necessity. The league needs to grow to eight football members in order to qualify as an FBS conference. (Gonzaga is the non-football member.) Internally at the Pac-12, Texas State has long been viewed as the best readily available option for that eighth spot.

The exit fee looms as a significant motivator, as Texas State would join to start the 2026 season.

See here, here, and here for some background. Gotta hand it to Oregon State and Washington State for making so much lemonade out of the mess they were handed. I don’t know whether the new PAC-12 will be considered to be a “major” conference anymore, but the fact that it still exists is nothing short of amazing.

CBS Sports adds on.

Texas State was a power at the Division II level before moving up to I-AA in the 1980s, winning a pair of national titles under legendary coach Jim Wacker. Dennis Franchione helped transition the Bobcats to the FBS level in 2012, and the program landed in a resurgent Sun Belt one year later. Until Kinne arrived in 2023, though, the program posted eight straight losing seasons and zero bowl appearances. In two years, Kinne has notched 16 wins and consecutive First Responder Bowl victories in the past two years.

So why is Texas State such a hot commodity in the realignment world? It has everything to do with being in the right place at the right time.

The college football landscape has shifted dramatically over the past five years, and no state has felt those changes more than Texas. The Longhorns’ departure for the SEC shook the state. If Texas State ultimately leaves the Sun Belt for the Pac-12, it will be the ninth out of 13 FBS teams in the state to change affiliations since 2021. The lower levels have been even more impacted, including Sam Houston’s ascension from FCS to the FBS level.

At this time, seven of the nine FBS conferences feature at least one team in the state of Texas. Three of the four Power Four leagues also boast a representative after the ACC added SMU last season. The only exceptions are Midwest-based conferences Big Ten and MAC.

The relationship between Texas and football goes without saying, and makes even the middle and lower class of FBS teams intriguing investments. The AAC was attracted by access to major markets when they added North Texas, Rice and UTSA. Recruiting inroads are also critical, and Texas is the greatest producer of football talent in the world.

But perhaps most important, Texas is one of the greatest growth markets in the country. Texas is adding more population than any state in the union, with much of it settling around Austin. That makes Texas State a major potential upside play as it continues to build its brand on the regional and national level.

They’ve come a long way in a short time, that’s for sure. I wish them good luck.

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Yes, make the Mayor report on cancelled projects

Posted on June 19, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I support this plan.

CM Julian Ramirez

As Houston City Council prepares to vote on a whopping $16.7 billion plan for city projects over the next five years, one council member is proposing a greater level of transparency from Mayor John Whitmire when it comes to his administration’s plans for projects in their districts.

At-Large Council Member Julian Ramirez put forward three amendments Tuesday to the city’s capital improvement plan that would require the mayor to give monthly reports to each individual council member on projects that were canceled, delayed, redesigned or altered in their district.

A second proposal would allow council members to object to the administration’s change within 10 days of the report if three or more council members opposed it. After an objection is filed, the item would then appear on a council agenda within two weeks for the council as a whole to decide its fate.

A third would allow public hearings to happen for the procurement of goods or services related to the creation or removal of a project, per a council member’s request.

The first two proposals were co-sponsored by Council Member Abbie Kamin, who represents neighborhoods like Montrose and the Heights.

Ramirez told the Houston Chronicle after Tuesday’s meeting the proposal came about after he heard complaints from council members about projects included on the capital improvement plan that either weren’t done or continuously pushed back. When projects are lost or changed, residents often look to their council member for an explanation, Ramirez explained.

Houston operates under a strong-mayor form a government where the mayor holds near-total control over the city’s legislative agenda.

“It’s really beyond the council members control, because it’s up to the administration to to take care of all that,” Ramirez said. “This is a way for council members to stay better informed and be better able to communicate with their residents and advocate for their residents.”

Ramirez said changes without notification probably happen no matter who is the mayor, and that he’s had good luck working with Whitmire.

“That said, with a strong mayor, form of government, it is possible for a mayor to to punish, to try to punish council member, if so inclined, by changing the CIP, withholding projects, what have you,” Ramirez said. “I haven’t seen that occur under this administration. I’m sure that it has happened under other mayors, and so I think council should have a little better way of dealing with that.”

Whitmire told the Chronicle following the council meeting that he had heard the proposed change for the first time Tuesday, and planned to meet with Ramirez to discuss the amendments further.

Three guesses as to why CM Kamin might be in on this action. While I agree with CM Ramirez that this sort of thing can (and almost certainly does) happen regardless of who is the Mayor, I’d say it’s been more noticeable with this Mayor. Be that as it may, I like this idea and I hope Council approves all three amendments.

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KP George switches parties

Posted on June 19, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Hilarious.

Judge KP George

Fort Bend County Judge KP George has made the switch from Democrat to Republican as he faces felony charges of money laundering.

George stated that he is joining the Republican Party because, “The Democratic Party has embraced a corrupt and radical ideology” and “its positions no longer reflect the values of Fort Bend County families, small businesses also hardworking residents.”

The Republican party, he said at a news conference Wednesday, is more aligned with his values of “faith, family and freedom.”

“I realized the Republican Party that champions these values,” he said. “I chose a side, and it turned out to be the wrong place, and I’m fixing that.”

George says that he plans to run for re-election in 2026 as a Republican.

[…]

George, the county’s top elected official, is accused of money laundering between $30,000 and $150,000 in the form of campaign finance fraud that took place between Jan. 12, 2019 and April 22, 2019. George took office as county judge on Jan. 1 of that year.

George was also accused last year of trying to injure the reputation of Trever Nehls, George’s Republican opponent in his 2022 re-election bid, by collaborating with his former chief of staff, Taral Patel to create fake profiles to attack Nehls and his supporters.

Patel in a plea deal with the district attorney’s office on April 15 admitted that he committed online misrepresentation with George in order to sway the election in George’s favor.

See here, here, and here for some background. I’ve maintained all along that like everyone else, George is innocent until proven guilty, and I’m not going to change that tune just because he’s changed his stripes. That said, I think I speak for basically all Democrats when I say that we’re glad to have all that baggage off the books. A guy with multiple felony indictments running into the arms of the Republican Party? On brand, that’s for sure. I had previously said he should seriously consider stepping down so he could concentrate on getting his life back in order. Not going to happen now, obviously. Good luck in that Republican primary, dude.

KUHF adds some details.

George’s party change gives Republicans a 3-2 majority on the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court at a time when they are considering redrawing voters precincts in the diverse, largely suburban county southwest of Houston.

At a news conference Wednesday, George said redistricting is a priority for him as well as lowering taxes and decreasing spending.

“Like President (Donald) Trump, I will stand up and fight against the radical leftists who seek to tear down the values we hold very close to our heart,” he said.

Several Democrats have announced that they’re running for George’s seat in 2026. A former Sugar Land city council member has announced a run as a Republican and a former GOP state lawmaker also is considering a bid for the office.

[…]

George’s former and current Republican political opponents condemned his change in party affiliation as a way to avoid taking responsibility for his actions.

“I was one of the people targeted in that smear campaign,” Trever Nehls, a Republican who ran for county judge in 2022, said in a statement while referencing the misrepresentation of identity charge against George. “I saw how low he was willing to go. This isn’t a shift in beliefs. It’s a calculated move to escape accountability.”

Former Sugar Land city council member Daniel Wong will face George in the Republican primary. Wong accused George of “running from his record.”

“The Republican Party stands for accountability, transparency and service,” Wong said in a statement. “It is not a refuge for career politicians looking to escape the consequences of their actions.”

Former state lawmaker Jacey Jetton, a Republican who’s also considering a bid for county judge, expressed similar sentiments.

“Trying to play the victim now is not a strategy Republican voters should fall for in a Republican primary,” he said. “And Fort Bend County voters are not going to reward this kind of behavior with another term.”

The re-redistricting threat, which Republicans never seem to get tired of, makes this all a little less funny. At least Tarrant County had the fig leaf of not having redrawn their precincts in 2021, when they were supposed to have done it. Whatever happens here happens, I can’t control it. With a bit of luck it can be held up in court long enough to be moot, if they do try to move forward. And boy, is that Republican primary going to be fun.

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What’s next for Ron Nirenberg?

Posted on June 19, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Hopefully something political.

Ron Nirenberg

In his last official address as mayor, Ron Nirenberg described how a global pandemic shook the one of the country’s most impoverished large cities into action on addressing poverty — and shaped his own approach to leadership for whatever comes next.

To a City Council chambers packed with friends and supporters on Monday, Nirenberg said the role has taught him much about guiding principles.

“In short, you bet the farm on the potential of the people,” he said.

[…]

Rumors have been swirling for months about what might come next for Nirenberg, who managed a radio station at Trinity University before running for public office.

He unseated an incumbent to become mayor, then took office with a distinctly apolitical approach to the nonpartisan role — steering the city away from ideas like defunding the police that made progressive leaders in Texas’ other urban centers less popular.

Near the end of his term, however, Nirenberg, now 48, went full Democrat, hitting the campaign trail for Vice President Kamala Harris, helping approve a controversial abortion travel fund and sharpening his criticism of state GOP leaders.

At the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce gala roughly a week ago Nirenberg joked that by the next time he addressed the group, it could be with a different political title — and he vowed to keep finding ways to serve the community.

But as far as formal plans after leaving office, so far he’s only announced a part-time teaching gig at Trinity University this fall.

Still, as Nirenberg prepares for a potential future in the hyper-polarized world of partisan politics, he continued leaning into his attacks on Republican policies coming out of the state and federal government in Monday’s speech.

“We continue to weather the state and national politicization of disease, gender, autonomy, and the simple freedom of choice,” Nirenberg said. “We deserve to live our lives how we want to live them — and until all are able to do so, the work must continue.”

I am rooting for soon-to-be-former Mayor Nirenberg to stay active in politics. He’d make a good statewide candidate if that’s something he’d want to do. Big city mayors should be a key component to our bench, and outside of San Antonio the pickings are pretty slim. He’s young enough to bide his time and pick an opportunity that he really likes, but I hope he’s got a big swing in him.

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Texas blog roundup for the week of June 16

Posted on June 19, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance stands with the people of Los Angeles and against the rule of kings as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Continue reading →

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The other redistricting matter

Posted on June 18, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a story from the Fort Worth Report on the redistricting trial going on in El Paso, with a focus on the effect in Tarrant County.

Federal judges in El Paso are reviewing a lawsuit that alleges Texas redistricting architects racially discriminated against minority voters in drastically reshaping a Tarrant County-based state Senate district.

Under the 2021 redistricting plan by the Legislature, state Senate District 10, which had been based largely in southern Tarrant County, was stretched across a half-dozen counties to the west and south, with a resulting demographic shift to higher numbers of both white and Republican residents.

Beverly Powell, a Democrat who represented Senate District 10 at the time, joined then-Tarrant County Commissioner Roy Brooks and other North Texas plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the plan and later withdrew from seeking reelection in the face of likely defeat.

Nearly four years later, the Senate District 10 case is part of a consolidated group of redistricting challenges being heard before a three-judge panel. Designating Gov. Greg Abbott as the chief defendant, at least six major plaintiff groups are contesting electoral maps on the grounds that they ignored surging Latino growth in the last decade and diluted the influence of Blacks and Hispanics at the ballot box.

The trial started May 21.

[…]

Matt Angle, Texas political analyst and founder of the Democrat-aligned Lone Star Project, said the Senate District 10 redistricting is “by far” a dominant issue in the El Paso trial as the “most egregious violation of the Voting Rights Act.”

The plan retained parts of Tarrant County and neighboring Parker County, but stretched much of Senate District 10 out of the populous Fort Worth-Dallas region to include all of Brown, Callahan, Johnson, Palo Pinto, Shackelford and Stephens counties.

“They cracked apart all the minority areas of that district and packed them into areas that were largely white areas,” Powell told the Fort Worth Report, using terms associated with redistricting tactics. “And it’s a sad shame that they completely — what’s the word I’m looking for? — annihilated the voice of minorities across Senate District 10.”

Powell, now a special assistant to Texas Wesleyan University President Emily Messer, spent one term in the Senate and moved to Fort Worth about three years ago with her banker husband, Charlie Powell. In 2018, she defeated Sen. Konni Burton, a Republican, for the Senate District 10 seat.

After the 2021 redistricting, Powell declared the reelection race as “unwinnable” and withdrew, giving an opening to former Fort Worth policeman and long-time state Rep. Phil King of Weatherford, who was unopposed as the only Republican in the 2022 general election.

See here, here, here, and here for some background on the SD10 part of this, and here for more on the ongoing trial, for which I’ve seen basically no news since it began. I’d forgotten that SD10 was still part of this, because once there was no temporary restraining order to prevent the new district from being used in the primary, it was already a loss from the Democratic perspective. Even with a win and an eventual opportunity to take SD10 back, the best case scenario is probably the 2028 election, meaning that it would have been illegally drawn for Republicans for nearly the entire decade. Pretty good deal for the lawbreakers, if indeed they are ruled to have broken the law. Needless to say, SCOTUS has done a lot to stack the odds in their favor.

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A “home rule school district” inside HISD?

Posted on June 18, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Today I Learned there is such a thing as a “home rule school district”, and some HISD parents want to form one.

A small West Houston group wants to create its own charter-governed district within the state’s largest school district, Houston ISD, as a way to return autonomy to the community.

The idea, spearheaded by about 20 people, would take advantage of a state law that allows for a “home-rule school district.” The group believes it would allow HISD’s Westside High School feeder pattern in the Energy Corridor to choose curriculum and learning methods outside of state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles’ mandates. They also said it would help area schools keep qualified teachers through “alternative, locally determined methods,” according to a June 8 statement from the West Houston Independence Movement.

The idea arises amid stringent reforms and classroom teaching methods enforced by Houston ISD’s state-appointed leadership. Such methods include the heavy use of timers in classrooms and district-determined curriculum with material generated by artificial intelligence. The district’s more than 270 schools have varying levels of autonomy to choose how instruction occurs.

Parents at West Briar Middle School, in the Westside feeder pattern, previously signed a petition to protest staff departures and culture at the school. That petition was followed by a protest in April.

Anna Heinzelmann, a Westside High School parent, said a home-rule school district would give the area more autonomy. They do not want to break away from HISD or change its boundaries, she said.

“Because we are pretty far from literally any other facilities in HISD. The next Sunrise Center (district-backed resource center) is about 20 to 30 minutes, depending where you are in the westside panhandle,” she said. “And we want more local control over staffing, funding, programming, facilities, so that maybe we can actually improve the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems and have that on during the day when most of them are breaking.”

State law indicates home-rule school districts have the powers of school districts and boards of trustees, including taxing authority.

The trustees would appoint a charter commission to frame a home-rule school district charter. This happens if the board receives a petition requesting the appointment of a charter commission signed by at least 5% of the registered voters of the district, or if at least two-thirds of the board adopt a resolution ordering that a charter commission be appointed. Fifteen residents would serve on the commission.

The proposed charter would be submitted to the Secretary of State, who will determine whether the proposed charter has a change in governance of the school district. If it does, the board of trustees will be notified, and the board will submit the proposed change to the U.S. Department of Justice or the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Following submission of the charter to the state education commissioner, the district’s board will order an election on the charter.

It is not clear how and if a home-rule school district charter could apply to a portion of the district and its potential effects on board representation and governance.

[…]

The home-rule school district law draws concerns even among takeover-opponents seeking more autonomy for schools.

Ruth Kravetz, with Community Voices for Public Education and a vocal opponent of the takeover, said she understands why west Houston parents are “rightfully concerned about the harm that the takeover is doing to the communities they live in.”

“I understand how people think this is an easy solution, but it solves the problem for a moment in time and then creates more problems,” she said. “It solves the problem for the individual, but not for the city as a whole… The takeover is harming kids. If they separate, it will still be harming kids. And all that happens is those who are most negatively impacted by the bad policies… there’ll be no change for them.”

As I said, I’d never heard of this before. The law was passed in 1995, when there was a lot of “education reform” stuff going on. The article doesn’t mention any existing home rule districts, though there has been some talk in the past about it in Dallas. I don’t know what the pros and cons might be, but philosophically I’m aligned with Ruth Kravetz here. I sympathize with the complaint these folks have about the Sunrise Centers – the previous wraparound services model was much better – but I’m getting uncomfortable “suburban flight” vibes from this. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe there’s more to this than meets the eye, but I’d need to be strongly persuaded otherwise. For now, pending significant new information, I’m deeply skeptical.

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Counties get temporary restraining order on prosecutor reporting requirements

Posted on June 18, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Good, but we’ll see how long it lasts.

Still a crook any way you look

A Travis County Judge temporarily blocked the enforcement of a new rule requiring prosecutors in counties with 400,000 or more residents to turn over data on active and closed criminal cases to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Paxton announced on March 31 that he would adopt a new rule requiring district and county attorneys to provide specific performance reports, and access to detailed report information upon request, according to a release by the attorney general.

Paxton said the rule is meant to “assist citizens in determining whether their local elected officials are inadequately prosecuting certain categories of crime, releasing dangerous criminals back into the community, engaging in selective prosecution, or otherwise failing to uphold their obligations.”

However, Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee called the ruling for the policy that took effect in April “nothing more than a power grab for the attorney.”

“Paxton is trying to intimidate locally elected prosecutors and use his office to score political points,” Menefee said in a written statement.

The ruling from the Travis County judge comes after a lawsuit filed by Menefee on behalf of Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, alongside several other Texas counties and district attorneys.

“We’re not going to let that happen in Harris County,” Menefee said.

See here for the background. There were two separate lawsuits, one filed by Dallas, Harris, and Bexar, and the other by El Paso and Travis. Not clear to me if this TRO applies to one or both; it may also be that the suits have been combined. The AG’s order would have taken effect on July 1 had this order not been issued. That is stayed pending the outcome of the lawsuit(s), modulo any appellate activity. Paxton normally contests rulings like these, so we’ll see where this goes from here.

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Beware of Flock

Posted on June 17, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

It started with this.

Flock, the automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company whose cameras are installed in more than 5,000 communities in the U.S., is building a product that will use people lookup tools, data brokers, and data breaches to “jump from LPR [license plate reader] to person,” allowing police to much more easily identify and track the movements of specific people around the country without a warrant or court order, according to internal Flock presentation slides, Slack chats, and meeting audio obtained by 404 Media.

The news turns Flock, already a controversial technology, into a much more invasive tool, potentially able to link a vehicle passing by a camera to its owner and then more people connected to them, through marriage or other association. The new product development has also led to Flock employees questioning the ethics of using hacked data as part of their surveillance product, according to the Slack chats. Flock told 404 Media the tool is already being used by some law enforcement agencies in an early access program.

The rest of that story is behind a paywall, but other media outlets have picked up on it and gone from there, starting with The Barbed Wire.

ICE does not have a contract with Flock, which 404 Media noted as an indication that the federal department is using local agencies as side-door access to the tool.

The data reveals that several law enforcement agencies in Texas have conducted searches of the Flock camera network for immigration-related purposes — underscoring the pervasive spread of mass surveillance technology and how local law enforcement agencies are quietly using it to support deportation efforts.

Another recent story from 404 Media punctuates the point and demonstrates that it’s not just a matter of immigration. The outlet reported that a sheriff in Johnson County ran a Flock search for a woman who they said self-administered an abortion, citing concerns from her family about her safety. Last summer, Attorney General Ken Paxton asked a judge to strike down a rule that protects the privacy of pregnant people who travel across state lines to get abortions. Several Texas counties also have tried to ban travel out of state for abortion, which is illegal in Texas. If such bans become law, there’s little to stop law enforcement agencies from using license plate readers to track and charge abortion seekers.

[…]

The Danville Flock Network Audit contains immigration related searches from Texas law enforcement agencies as far back as June 2024, including a total of 307 immigration related searches. Each search has a “reason” field, and all of the 307 searches related to immigration feature keywords in the reason field such as “immigration,” “ICE,” or “DHS.”

That data shows that at least five Texas law enforcement agencies have conducted at least 180 immigration related searches using Flock since January. The Texas law enforcement agencies that conducted immigration related searches in the Flock database and the number of searches they ran in 2025 are as follows: Dallas Police Department, 17; Houston Police Department, 109, Midland Police Department, 2; Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, 2; and the Texas Department of Public Safety, 50.

Prior to January 2025, the majority of those searches were related to Homeland Security Investigations, the primary investigative unit of the Department of Homeland Security. HSI has a broad criminal investigative mandate beyond immigration enforcement, meaning that such searches were likely not using Flock specifically for immigration enforcement. The Galveston County Sheriff’s Office only ran one Flock search in 2024 related to an HSI investigation. Out of the total of 91 searches from Texas law enforcement agencies in 2024, nearly 70% were for HSI related reasons.

Under the second Trump administration, that’s apparently changed. Since January, the majority of Texas law enforcement Flock database searches are for immigration related reasons. Out of 216 total lookups Texas law enforcement agencies made in 2025, more than 83% of them were listed for immigration related reasons such as “immigration,” “immigration enforcement,” “immigration status,” and “ICE+ERO” (ERO stands for Enforcement and Removal Operations, the arm of DHS responsible for immigration enforcement). With the exception of three Customs and Border Protection related searches, the remaining 17% of searches were related to HSI.

The data does not show exactly what information the searches turned up, or whether they resulted in or informed any actions by ICE. Some law enforcement agencies told 404 Media they are not engaging in immigration enforcement, despite the reason for the Flock lookup saying “immigration.” But that sort of denial is not an option for some of the agencies in Texas, whose reasons for the searches seem clear enough.

The Dallas Police Department made 17 Flock searches in 2025 with the reason “ICE+ERO” and one in 2024 with the reason “ICE+Suspect.” All of the Flock search requests the Texas Department of Public Safety made in 2025 were for “ICE Operation,” “ICE Support,” “Immigration Status,” “illegal immigration,” or simply “ICE.” Out of the 109 Flock search requests the Houston Police Department made in 2025, three list “immigration enforcement” as the reason, while the remainder simply list “immigration.” The Midland Police Department and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office both made two searches with the reason “immigration.”

Dallas recently expanded the number of Flock cameras in city limits. When reached for comment regarding 404 Media’s reporting and the data showing that the department searched the Flock database for “ICE+ERO,” a spokesperson told The Barbed Wire “It is not our practice to comment on other outlets’ reporting.” They did not respond to follow up questions.

After The Barbed Wire sent a follow up email asking if the Dallas Police Department would confirm or deny their use of Flock in cooperation with ICE immigration enforcement, the spokesperson wrote: “Per General Order 315.04, the Dallas Police Department does not enforce immigration laws.” No further explanation regarding the “ICE+ERO” searches in Flock was provided.

A Houston Police public information officer confirmed that the department has a contract with Flock, but would not comment on the data showing the agency conducted lookups in the Flock database for “immigration” and “immigration enforcement” reasons, and directed The Barbed Wire to file a public information request.

The Austin Chronicle reviewed the record in that city.

At multiple points during the pilot period of the Austin Police Department’s Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) program, one out of five searches conducted by officers of the vast license plate database were done without any clearly documented reason or justification, according to new data shared by Austin Police Department officials.

In an email sent by Assistant Chief Sheldon “Scott” Askew to multiple City Council aides late Monday evening that was obtained by the Chronicle, Askew reveals that in the second quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, more than 20% of searches did not have a case number attached nor a clear reason for the search listed in the resolution passed by Council three years ago when they re-authorized the ALPR program. In Q3 and Q4 of 2024, 11% and 16% of searches similarly lacked any clear justification.

The revelations come as Council considers a renewal of the program, which uses hundreds of cameras installed in fixed positions throughout the city and mounted on police vehicles to automatically snap photos of vehicle license plates. The license plate images are all stored in a database operated by Flock, one of the vendors the city has contracted with for the program, along with date, time, and location associated with each photo for a period of seven days to assist officers with specific types of criminal investigations.

APD did not respond to our request for comment before publication of this story, but at prior Council meetings, APD officials say that the program is a vital investigative tool, because it allows officers to quickly locate vehicles that were stolen or that may have been used in perpetration of a serious crime. At the same time, the tool is concerning to opponents, because all of the information in the database can be accessed by local law enforcement, with APD’s permission, but in some cases, state and federal law enforcement officials can require APD to turn over entries from the database.

The ALPR program has been fiercely opposed by criminal justice and technology groups who see the technology as a mass surveillance tool that could be exploited by federal law enforcement officials to help with immigration enforcement or other investigations that conflict with Austin values. Last week, 404 Media published a story showing how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has accessed ALPR databases in local jurisdictions across the nation to assist with deportations.

Council prohibited APD from using the technology in 2020 but renewed its use through a pilot in 2023 after adding guardrails intended to protect the privacy of Austin residents and limit the use of ALPRs outside of the investigation of crimes like vehicle theft, human trafficking, and other more serious crimes. The APD General Order written to outline proper use of the ALPR program states that any department personnel authorized to use the tool should receive annual training on the “appropriate use and collection of ALPR data” which should “emphasize the requirement to document the reason for the inquiry.”

The Chron has a long story that covers a lot of ground, including how many search requests provide meaningless reasons, including nonsense words, to obscure the object of the search, the relationship between HPD and ICE, and the rules that were written at the time of Flock’s adoption to provide guardrails that now look to be inadequate. You should read the whole thing, I’m just going to highlight the data the Chron found on HPD’s usage.

In Houston, police have access to as many as 88,000 different cameras run by local, state and federal law enforcement nationwide. In the city alone, officials said last year that 3,800 cameras were up and running.

Most of them are installed on private property, in the hopes of aiding police when crimes occur. Commercial property owners of some of Houston’s largest malls – including the Galleria and Memorial City Mall – have installed them at entrances and exits to parking lots and garages. Homeowners associations have added them to subdivision entrances.

Local community groups have also become clients of Flock, as have city departments other than the police. Houston Public Works has at least 72 cameras, while eight of the 11 district City Council members used their discretionary budgets for Flock systems as of 2022.

All Houston Housing Authority properties were outfitted with Flock cameras at vehicle entrances and exits in 2023, which at the time was cheered by city and federal officials as improving safety.

The intent, when officials expanded their use and signed agreements with Flock for more of the cameras in 2022, was a network to expand the reach of police investigations. Flock claimed on its website that year that it had captured data on over 1 billion vehicles nationwide.

Law enforcement experts across Harris County praised the promise of the Flock Safety cameras, saying they make a difference in solving crimes. The cameras have helped investigators solve some high-profile shootings across the Houston area, including the shooting of rapper BTB Savage.

The Flock system can also allow police to put in a description of the vehicle, and the cameras can decipher in great detail the color, make and model, as well as window decals and bumper stickers. So if police, say, are looking for a white Ford pickup or silver Nissan Altima with a bumper sticker, the cameras can assist.

In some areas plagued by persistent crime, they are making an important difference, officials said.

“I am a proponent of using technology to reduce crime wherever we can,” said Council Member Edward Pollard, who has deployed dozens of the cameras in southwest Houston neighborhoods. “Law enforcement should be given every available tool to aid them in every reasonable and relevant criminal investigation.”

Pollard said vehicle thefts in particular have been investigated and solved faster because of the cameras. Giving police a tool that lets them locate the vehicle in minutes, or see its path away from a crime scene, is crucial.

Thefts, burglaries and larceny were the most frequently cited crimes listed in the logs reviewed by the Chronicle. A reference to one or multiple of those crimes appeared in nearly 70,000 searches over the past year. References to robberies were also frequent, appearing nearly 21,000 times in the data. Nearly 300,000 more logs, however, provided no justification or only vague explanations as to the reason for each search.

HPD’s explanations for searches have grown more vague and infrequent as the agency’s use of the system has grown. HPD’s Flock camera searches have doubled from just over 6,600 on an average week last June to nearly 15,000 on the average week this May, a Chronicle analysis found. In the same timeframe, the share of searches listing a specific law enforcement purpose shrunk from about 44% to less than a third.

One outcome of this reporting has been that some cities are discontinuing, or at least reconsidering, their use of Flock.

Last week, The Barbed Wire delved into data first reported by 404 Media and found that at least five law enforcement agencies across Texas have conducted at least 180 immigration related searches using Flock, which provides license plate reader technology to thousands of communities across the nation.

That same week, Austin city manager T.C. Broadnax withdrew a vote to renew the city’s contract with Flock after community members and leaders urged the city to end the program during a city council work session that included Austin Police Department leaders.

“Austin should not be participating in Trump’s mass surveillance programs,” Councilman Mike Seigel told KUT Austin. “We have evidence that ICE is actively collaborating with Flock, and ICE essentially has side door access to Flock’s cameras and data sets and that data is being used to enforce ICE actions.”

A city audit of the program found that 75 million scans resulted in 165 arrests, 133 prosecutions and one missing person found. The audit did not find that information was being shared for immigration purposes, but recent data sent to council members showed that 10%-20% of license plate searches in the database did not include a clear reason or case number, in violation of rules laid out in a city ordinance.

“We are concerned about privacy and civil liberties and the increasing surveillance infrastructure that records our every movement and shares our social patterns with public and private actors,” Siegel told The Barbed Wire. “Whether you’re a union member on a picket line, a human rights advocate at a campus protest, an immigrant parent getting your kids from school, or a person seeking healthcare in another state, all of us have an interest in building real checks and balances for the tech surveillance complex.”

[…]

In San Marcos, the city council voted down a proposed expansion of Flock cameras in the city following a flurry of critical testimony from residents, civil rights advocates and city leaders.

Council Member Amanda Rodriguez, who voted against the proposal, expressed concerns regarding lacking transparency and safeguards, and noted that there have been no audits of how the San Marcos Police Department is using Flock data despite a 2022 policy mandating audits.

“We don’t even know how this technology is being used,” Rodriguez told CBS Austin. “And we’re being asked as a council to make an ill-informed decision to expand it.”

Rodriguez also said that the San Marcos Police Department currently shares Flock data with over 600 law enforcement agencies, including the Houston Police Department, which The Barbed Wire found has provided data to ICE.

San Marcos Police Chief Stan Standridge said that the department has never received a request from ICE, and that only police can access the data, but that didn’t assuage broader concerns from both citizens and council members regarding the vast data sharing that Flock facilitates between law enforcement agencies. There are 19 Flock cameras still operating in San Marcos.

“It’s not SMPD,” said San Marcos Mayor Jane Hughson, who voted against the expansion. “It’s about how our data is used by others.”

Community leaders in Dallas have also expressed concerns regarding the Dallas Police Department and sharing Flock data with ICE.

“If ICE wants to use Flock, then they can secure their own contract,” Brandon Friedman, a member of the Dallas Police Oversight Board, told The Barbed Wire. “The Dallas Police Department has enough on its plate and doesn’t need to be doing ICE’s job. As for the department’s use of Flock in general, I’m not convinced there are enough safeguards currently in place.”

Friedman continued: “Dallas residents want the police to solve serious crimes and Flock can facilitate that. But at what cost? You’re going to be living in a lightly regulated, or unregulated, surveillance state for the benefit of maybe solving a few crimes a year. I’m not convinced the citizens of Dallas want that.”

It’s clear that Flock has use in helping police solve crimes. That’s definitely something we want HPD to do a better job of. It’s also clear that without very strict and enforceable limits, this technology and the power it grants will be abused. Cities should be pushed to review and revise their agreements with Flock, but let’s not kid ourselves. The Legislature will be standing by to overrule local actions if that’s a thing Republicans want, and the prospect of being able to more effectively harass anyone seeking an abortion will be a powerful lure. We can’t just fight this at the local level.

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Recall Houston sets a petition timeline

Posted on June 17, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Okay.

Mayor John Whitmire

The group aiming to oust Mayor John Whitmire has set a timeline for its efforts to petition for a recall election.

Recall For Houston announced it is eyeing to begin collecting signatures in the fall.

In the meantime, the group will work to generate awareness and assemble volunteers as it moves forward on its mission to remove the mayor from office through a recall vote.

The group, made up of Houstonians, hopes to collect the 64,000 signatures needed to initiate a recall process.

The petition will require 63,000 signatures collected in a 30-day period.

See here, here, and here for some background. I don’t know why one paragraph says 64K signatures are needed while the next says it’s 63K, but either way I’d advise Recall Houston to aim for at least 90K, to allow for the inevitable errors and invalid sigs. A tall order no matter how you look at it. At least I’ll get a chance to look at their July finance report, so I can see if they’ve actually raised some money for this (I have seen basically no indications that they’ve been active lately; I’d more or less forgotten about them) or if they’ve got little more than a wish and a prayer.

One more thing, if they are really collecting signatures in the fall, I can’t see how this could be on the November ballot. And if it’s not in November, then what, next May? Now you’re in primary season and I guarantee it will be that much harder to get people to pay attention to this. Again, it would be nice if they put out a professional-looking document that explained all of the details of how this process works, what we can expect, and when we can expect it. I’d be less skeptical if I saw that kind of organization.

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San Antonio to start construction on its first BRT line

Posted on June 17, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Exciting times.

Work starts next month on VIA Metropolitan Transit’s biggest construction project to date — a system of corridors designed to get riders faster to their destination using dedicated bus lanes, prioritized traffic signals, and more frequent pickups and dropoffs.

VIA’s Rapid Green Line, the first corridor in VIA’s Advanced Rapid Transit system, is a north-south route that will take shape along San Pedro Avenue, from the San Antonio International Airport down to Steves Avenue near the historic missions.

City and VIA officials gathered Friday at Roosevelt Park for a ceremonial groundbreaking on the Green Line, also a key part of VIA’s Better Bus Plan.

That plan, guest speakers said, is an ongoing, multi-pronged, longterm effort to improve public transportation and support San Antonio’s growing population.

Making one of his final public appearances as the city’s top elected leader, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said developing VIA’s ART system is the result of years of complex and oft-times passionate discussions among VIA, local elected leaders and community members.

“I know most of you who have lived in San Antonio and observed the debates about transportation in San Antonio for generations never thought we would be at this moment, but here we are,” Nirenberg said.

“And in my final days as mayor of San Antonio, there is no place I would rather be than with you today, celebrating such a truly amazing project, and one that will impact and change the trajectory of our great city,” he added.

VIA officials said Green Line service will resemble a commuter rail, featuring several stations that will offer accessible platform boarding, multi-bus door loading, and ticketing kiosks.

Each bus on the Green Line, like today’s standard buses, will accommodate riders with bicycles, and passengers using mobility devices. But every bus will also have more doors through which more riders can board or depart quickly.

With Green Line service running 4 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily, a bus will be scheduled to arrive at each station every 10 minutes on weekdays, and every 15 minutes on weekends.

Development of VIA’s Green Line will involve: new buses, more than 10 new pedestrian crossings, 30-plus intersections with upgraded and synchronized signals, more than six miles of new or repaired sidewalks, and 100-plus new or replaced storm water drains with other drainage improvements.

According to VIA, Green Line construction will begin simultaneously near Roosevelt and Steves avenues and at U.S. 281 and Isom Road, with road work set for completion in late 2027, and service kicking off in early 2028.

Altogether, the Green Line is estimated to cost $480 million, and is partially funded by federal grants and a one-eighth cent sales tax that VIA will begin receiving in 2026.

VIA is slated to build a similar Rapid Silver Line, a west-east route linking critical stops between the West and East sides, with construction beginning in 2027.

See here and here for the background. I am insanely jealous. How nice it must be to live in a city that cares about mass transit and invests in it. How nice it must be to have a Mayor that cares about these things. I used to know what that was like. Not anymore.

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A few 2026 statewide candidate tidbits

Posted on June 16, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This Politico story is mostly a lot of chatter from Texas Dems who have many different opinions about what kind of candidates ought to be running statewide next year. I’m not interested in that, but there were some newsy bits about a few of those potential candidates, so here we go.

Still a crook any way you look

Democrats acknowledge they’d stand little chance of unseating Cornyn, who’s been a fixture in Texas politics for decades. But Paxton, a Trump loyalist who was impeached by the Republican-held Texas House (and acquitted in the impeachment trial) and faced a federal corruption investigation, has been a polarizing figure in the Texas GOP, and, Democrats hope, an opponent they could defeat.

“Democrats are foaming at the mouth about Ken Paxton,” said Katherine Fischer, deputy executive director of Texas Majority PAC, which works to elect Democrats statewide. “We’re seeing in local elections in Texas and across the country there is already a backlash against Trump and against MAGA. Ken Paxton is about as MAGA as you can get.”

First they need to find a viable Senate candidate.

After coming up short in previous cycles, many Texas Democrats are hesitant about supporting former Reps. Colin Allred and Beto O’Rourke, both of whom have signaled their interest in another bid. O’Rourke, who unsuccessfully ran statewide in 2018 and 2022, has been hosting packed town halls across the state. Allred, who lost to Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024 by about 8.5 percentage points, has said he was “seriously considering another run. Recent polling shows Allred maintaining popularity among Texas Democrats even as he trails in a potential head-to-head with Paxton or Cornyn.

“Well, [Allred and O’Rourke are] both talking about it, and I hope that they will resolve that one person’s running and not all,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett.

Allred’s failed campaign has left a bad taste among some Texans, especially progressives, who believe he did not run aggressively or do enough grassroots outreach. And while O’Rourke is still a favorite son in Texas Democratic circles, many of those supporters believe he will be haunted by his position against assault rifles in a gun-loving state.

[…]

Texas Democrats have talked up potential bids by state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic seminarian and frequently viral member who helped prosecute Paxton during his impeachment.

Talarico told POLITICO: “I’m having conversations about how I can best serve Texas, and that includes the Senate race. But in my training as a pastor, you learn the importance of listening and how hard it is to truly listen. With so much at stake for Texas, I’m trying to listen more than I talk right now.”

His potential candidacy is generating some interest from players who have run successful upstart campaigns. “It’s going to take a Democrat who can make the case against Washington D.C., the status quo, and the powers that to be to win a senate race in Texas,” said Andrew Mamo, a veteran of Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign who is informally advising Talarico. “James is one of the rare people in the party with the profile and most importantly the storytelling skills to get that done.”

State Sen. Nathan Johnson, a Dallas lawyer, is in the mix but he’s also eyeing a run for attorney general. Some party insiders privately worry a state lawmaker won’t bring the necessary firepower, saying they need to find a candidate with experience running statewide — or at least someone who represents Texas in Congress — due to the sheer amount of resources required to compete in the second-largest state.

Veasey and fellow Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro have both been talked up as potential candidates, though Veasey in an interview ruled out a run. A person close to Castro said he was actively looking at the race.

See here and here for some background. Who knows what “actively looking at the race” means for Rep. Castro, from whom we’ve heard that before. I’m not surprised that there’s some buzz around Talarico, as he’s the new kid on the block and an interesting possibility no matter how you look at him, but let’s see him raise some real money first. If Sen. Johnson is looking at Attorney General – he’s not on the ballot in 2026, so any statewide run for him is a free shot – then that could expand the ticket at a good time. We’ll just have to see what people decide. My guess is we’ll start seeing some real movement soon – the nice thing about declaring a candidacy now is that there would be no pressure to report anything of substance for the Q2 period. I’m still waiting for someone to say they’re thinking about challenging Abbott. The Downballot, where I found that link, has more.

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New public defender incoming

Posted on June 16, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Congrats all around.

For the first time in more than a decade, a new face will lead the Harris County Public Defender’s Office.

Commissioners appointed Judge Genesis Draper of Harris County Criminal Court at Law No. 12 to lead the public defender’s office as its chief public defender Thursday. Draper was most recently elected in 2022, and has overseen the 12th criminal court since she first took office in 2019. Her appointment takes effect in July, when she will officially replace Alex Bunin, who has held the position since it was created in November 2010.

“We were appointed to the bench around the same time, and we just immediately bonded. You are a warrior for justice. You’re a warrior for change,” Commissioner Lesley Briones said at Thursday’s Commissioners Court meeting. “You are a person of deep integrity, deep authenticity, and you have the experience of being a federal public defender, a criminal court at law judge, and the conviction that we need to take our public defender’s office to the next level so that we can take at least 50% of the cases.”

Bunin is set to retire in December, and will work with Draper in the meantime as the office transitions under her leadership, according to a Thursday news release. Commissioners are expected to appoint a replacement for Draper to preside over the 12th criminal court in the coming months.

“Justice depends on not just the law, but people being willing to defend it. I appreciate the opportunity to do so,” Draper said in a statement. “We are living through a defining moment, where principles of due process and equal protection are being tested. I’m honored and privileged to join this fight, and excited to join the incredible team at the Public Defender’s Office.”

Draper’s appointment came more than two years after Briones first requested the county look into expanding the PDO, which in recent months has become a major priority for commissioners as ballooning indigent defense costs burden Harris County’s expected $270 million budget gap.

Officials hope that by expanding the PDO, the office can take more cases previously assigned to private attorneys, who are often appointed in place of a public defender at a significantly higher cost to the county. A March analysis conducted by data analysis firm January Advisors found that around 85% of defendants who cannot afford an attorney are assigned a private attorney as opposed to a public defender.

I’m a longtime fan of the public defender’s office, which does a terrific job at a lower cost to the county than the old (and still way too prevalent) way of hiring private attorneys for indigent defendants. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Alex Bunin and Genesis Draper, they’re both good people. Bunin built a great department, and it’s in good hands going forward. Draper’s bench will be filled by another appointment from Commissioner’s Court, and that person will be on the ballot in 2026, which is when Draper’s term expires anyway. Congrats and good luck to all.

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LurkingHouston

Posted on June 16, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I can’t be too mad at this.

Maybe don’t trespass

The Astrodome hasn’t seen a crowd in over a decade—but it got some unexpected visitors this week when three 18-year-old urban explorers slipped inside the iconic, long-shuttered stadium, exposing the eerily dilapidated “Eighth Wonder of the World” in all its forgotten glory.

Three 18-year-old men were arrested for trespassing after sneaking into the closed Astrodome, according to Harris County Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen. The iconic stadium, unavailable to the public since 2009, has remained off-limits due to safety concerns and legal restrictions.

The three men now face criminal trespassing charges.

Constable Rosen warned of the dangers: “Sneaking into closed old historic buildings is dangerous. You are taking a risk for yourself and first responders, and it is against the law.”

Security guards spotted the individuals just after midnight and alerted authorities. The suspects were apprehended after they were seen running across a nearby parking lot and jumping a fence near Fannin and Holly Hall.

In a rare and haunting glimpse into the decaying stadium, the footage showcases the explorers (who use the name @lurkinghouston) navigating through the cavernous, dimly lit Astrodome. The grainy footage revealed dark, dusty corridors, crumbling walls, rusted beams, and echoes of the Dome’s former life as Houston’s sports and entertainment epicenter.

The Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation, which oversees the entire NRG Park complex—including the Astrodome—did not confirm or deny the break-in. However, in a statement to Houston Public Media, the organization made its position clear: “We strongly discourage anyone from attempting to enter NRG Park without a ticket to an event or a legitimate purpose,” a representative said. “Unauthorized entry is strictly prohibited and will result in prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.”

I get it, these guys could have hurt themselves and put first responders at risk rescuing them, which also would have cost the county money. They trespassed, and it’s fine that they got into trouble for it. But let’s please ease up on this “fullest extent of the law” stuff. They’re kids on an adventure, not hardened criminals. Give them some kind of deferred adjudication, where their records will be expunged if they stay out of trouble for however long, along with some community service. Maybe they can use that TikTok account to highlight some county projects or programs that could do with a boost, I don’t know. They don’t need to be punished, just made to understand that what they did wasn’t a good idea and shouldn’t be repeated.

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Weekend link dump for June 15

Posted on June 15, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

“In sum, if the choice is between keeping money in the federal Treasury and reimbursing low-income individuals for medical treatment, DOGE has decided the individuals don’t count. If the choice is between financial institutions’ profits and their low-income customers’ savings, the customers don’t count. And, predictably, individuals overburdened by energy costs don’t count either. It’s not that these Americans’ interests lost out in a fair comparison of policy choices—their interests were ignored altogether. That’s the DOGE philosophy.”

“The fact that DOGE employees are now full-time federal workers shows that while Musk may be gone, his legacy of making cuts that damage critical government functions like Social Security, weather forecasting, and medical research will live on.”

“It was another win for a well-organized lobbying campaign led by manufacturers of dark roofing materials.”

“Beyond all of our correct fears about Trump’s budding autocracy, this is in a very direct sense an attack on the sovereignty of the people of California.”

“Warner Bros. Discovery, grappling with declines in its overall business, said Monday it planned to divide the company into two publicly-traded entities, one devoted to streaming and content production and one devoted to traditional television.”

“But were our ancestors ever truly so enamoured with rigid gender norms? And if they were, when — and more importantly, why?”

“Fenway Franks and Moneyball – What a French sportswriter saw at his first Red Sox game”.

RIP, Sly Stone, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame frontman and visionary for Sly and the Family Stone, whose many hits include “Dance To The Music”, “Hot Fun in the Summertime”, and “Thank You (Fallettinme Be Mice Elf Again)”.

CONCACAF did Greenland dirty. Justice for Greenland, I say.

“But when it comes to government, Musk has been in the business of destruction (except when accepting lucrative contracts). Taking a wrecking ball to the One Big Beautiful Bill would dwarf his DOGE chainsaw antics. He can easily convince a sufficient number of Republicans that supporting the bill is political suicide.”

Wait, Henry Winkler wasn’t already in the TV Academy Hall of Fame? How was that possible?

“Musk’s Government Business Is Too Vital for Trump to Cancel. There’s Still a Way He Could Punish Him.”

“Domestic abusers could have easier path to getting gun rights back under Trump proposal”.

MLB has purchased a stake in Jomboy Media, which among other things produced the YouTube videos that helped expose the Astros’ trashcan-banging scheme.

RIP, Frederick Forsyth, bestselling novelist whose works include “Day of the Jackal” and “The Fourth Protocol”.

“It’s part of the broader pattern we can see across the horizon: Trump takes the policing and military powers of the United States and the national tax revenues (drawn disproportionately from the blue states) and uses it to make war on states he considers enemies.”

“Meet the woman who sparked Joni Ernst’s ‘we all are going to die’ outburst“. She’s now running for the state legislature in Iowa.

“I mean, what am I supposed to do with that? This is your system, run by the government. And you’re raiding me because your system is broken?”

“As the Trump administration moves to dismantle the Education Department, federal cuts may make it harder to catch criminals and help victims of identity theft.”

RIP, Brian Wilson co-founder and primary songwriter for The Beach Boys.

RIP, Chris Robinson, actor mostly known for the soap operas General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful, and for uttering the iconic line “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV” in a commercial for Vicks Formula 44 cough syrup.

“One of the most entertaining shows in recent years will be coming to an end. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been renewed for a fifth and final season, Paramount+ announced on Thursday, June 12, 2025. The good news is this comes well in advance. The third season hasn’t even premiered yet — it does on July 17.”

RIP, Harris Yulin, prolific and versatile Emmy-nominated actor who was in a ton of things; I remember him for a guest spot he did on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine but you’ll probably recognize him for something else.

RIP, Terry Louise Fisher, three-time Emmy-winning writer and producer who co-created L.A. Law.

RIP, Rep. Melissa Hortman, former Speaker of the Minnesota State House, and her husband Mark Hortman, who were killed in their home by a political assassin.

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged | Comments Off on Weekend link dump for June 15

No Kings

Posted on June 15, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Good stuff.

AP photo

Thousands of demonstrators crowded into streets, parks and plazas across the U.S. on Saturday to protest President Donald Trump, marching through downtowns and blaring anti-authoritarian chants mixed with support for protecting democracy and immigrant rights.

Governors across the U.S. urged calm and vowed no tolerance for violence, while some mobilized the National Guard ahead of marchers gathering in major downtowns and small towns. Through midday, confrontations were isolated.

Atlanta’s 5,000-capacity “No Kings” rally quickly reached its limit, with thousands more demonstrators gathered outside barriers to hear speakers in front of the state Capitol. Huge, boisterous crowds marched in New York, Denver, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles, some behind “no kings” banners.

In Minnesota, organizers canceled demonstrations as police worked to track down a suspect in the shootings of two Democratic legislators and their spouses. Meanwhile, ahead of an evening demonstration in Austin, Texas, law enforcement said it was investigating a credible threat against lawmakers.

Intermittent light rain fell as marchers gathered for the flagship rally in Philadelphia’s Love Park. They shouted “Whose streets? Our streets!” as they marched to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where they listened to speakers on the steps made famous in the movie “Rocky.”

“So what do you say, Philly?” Democratic U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland shouted to the crowd. “Are you ready to fight back? Do you want a gangster state or do you want free speech in America?”

Trump was in Washington for a military parade marking the Army’s 250th anniversary that coincides with the president’s birthday. There, a massive demonstration toured the city’s streets, led by a banner reading, “Trump must go now.”

I’m heartbroken by the murder of the Minnesota legislator and her husband, and I’m rooting for the other legislator and his wife to recover. At least they caught the shooter. Unfortunately, there was a ripple effect of that crime in Austin.

The Texas Department of Public Safety warned state lawmakers and legislative staffers Saturday of “credible threats” to legislators planning to attend an anti-Trump rally at the Capitol in Austin, hours after two Democratic Minnesota legislators and their spouses were shot earlier Saturday morning.

The DPS alert was sent out just before 1 p.m. Saturday, according to screenshots of emails obtained by The Texas Tribune, and a DPS spokesperson told the Tribune the Capitol was evacuated shortly after. The warning came hours before several Texas federal, state and city elected officials are scheduled to speak at a protest against President Donald Trump in downtown Austin at 5 p.m.

DPS’ notice did not specify the nature of the threats to lawmakers and the agency did not immediately provide more details to the Tribune on Saturday.

Later Saturday afternoon, Jeffrey Clemmons, communications director for state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, told the Tribune that DPS arrested “what was going to be a copycat person who was going to agitate the protest. I don’t have more details about exactly who that person was, or what the threats in particular were.”

[…]

In a separate email also sent to Texas lawmakers and Capitol staff, Texas House Administration Chair Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, said officials are taking “all necessary precautions.”

“I am in communication with our federal partners, and currently, it seems to be an isolated incident,” Geren said in the statement. “However, we’re always concerned about copycats and those who this attack might inspire.”

The good news is that turned out to be a nothing, and the Capitol was subsequently reopened.

There were many protests around the state. Here’s the Chron’s coverage of the Houston event – scroll down to see an excellent overhead video of the march, with some dogs-at-the-protest photos after that. Houston reported 15K in attendance, Sugar Land had 900, Conroe another 100 and sone jerks trying to mess with them. Lisa Gray wrote a great piece about how peaceful the protest was, which you should also read. There’s plenty of pictures around, and some judicial social media scrolling will find you plenty more. Threads has been a great source for individual reports, from people all around the state. Whatever they’ve done with the algorithm on that app, it’s especially good for days like Saturday.

I will close with the best and by far most Houston protest sign ever:

IYKYK. My hat is off to you, sir.

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