A pair of CD18 polls

Posted on September 15, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I am just passing these along out of curiosity. Special election polling is very tricky since you just don’t know what the electorate will look like. These are internal campaign polls, which are always inherently suspect. Nobody is particularly visible in the campaign yet, at least not in the spaces I inhabit. Take the following with however much salt you deem appropriate.

From Rep. Jolanda Jones:

Rep. Jolanda Jones

State Representative Jolanda Jones, the leading candidate in the November 4 special election to replace Congressman Sylvester Turner in Texas’ historic 18th Congressional District, released a new poll today that shows Jones in first place.

The poll, conducted by BluePrint polling on Monday and Tuesday of this week, shows Jones with a solid lead, followed by Republican Maria Montiel:

25.3% Democrat Jolanda Jones

18.9% Republican Maria Montiel

13.9% Democrat Christian Menefee

9.7% Democrat Amanda Edwards

3.5% Democrat Isaiah Martin

2.0% Independent George Foreman IV

1.9% Someone else

24.9% Undecided

Jones said: “No one will fight harder than I to stop Republicans from taking away our social security, our public schools, our health care, our constitutional rights, and more. I’ve proven I can stand up to Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, the FBI and the Texas Rangers. I am grateful that voters are seeing what it looks like when Democrats fight back.”

A copy of the polling memo is here. The email with this poll hit my inbox on Thursday. As noted, no comments from me on either of these.

From Christian Menefee:

Christian Menefee

A new poll conducted by Lake Research Polling shows Christian Menefee maintaining his position at the top of the field in the upcoming special election for Texas’s 18th Congressional District, tied for first place with Jolanda Jones at 22% each. This reinforces what multiple polls have consistently shown – Menefee remains a frontrunner in a competitive race that will be decided by which campaign can most effectively reach voters in the compressed special election timeline.

“Our polling has consistently shown us ahead throughout this race, and it confirms that voters want a proven fighter with the experience to deliver results from day one,” said Menefee. “We know we have a winning message and incredible grassroots support across this district, along with endorsements from 17 different labor unions, along with groups like the Oak Forest Democrats, Greater Heights Democrats, Tejano Democrats, and the Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus. What’s clear is that this special election will come down to which campaign can reach every voter in the next few weeks, and I’m committed to working as hard as possible to earn every vote.”

The poll shows Menefee with a +29 point net favorability rating, leading all candidates and significantly outpacing Jones’s +22 point rating. When voters heard positive information about the leading candidates, Menefee took first place solidly outside the margin of error, demonstrating the power of his record standing up to Donald Trump, defending communities, and delivering results. Amanda Edwards polled at 15%, trailing both frontrunners outside the margin of error.

“This poll confirms what we’ve known all along – when voters hear about our record, they know I’m the fighter they want in Congress,” Menefee added. “But I’m not taking any vote for granted. I’ll keep working every single day to reach as many voters as possible because that’s how we win this race and deliver for the people of this district.”

A copy of that poll’s memo is here. It reached me on Friday. I’m sure it won’t be the last poll I hear about.

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Some uses of police overtime are more sensible than others

Posted on September 15, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this.

As thousands of protesters gathered at Houston City Hall earlier this year during the No Kings protest against President Donald Trump’s multimillion-dollar military parade, Houston police leaders spent more than $102,000 on police overtime to ensure there were enough officers on hand to maintain peace.

So if police spent more than $100,000 for an planned, nationally coordinated protest featuring up to 15,000 protesters and around 204 officers, what do they do when an estimated 500,000 people come to Houston for the world’s premier soccer tournament? Police leaders’ spending and planning for a comparatively moderate-sized event like the protest in June, shown through an open records request, provides insight into the size and scope of planning for major events, like the FIFA World Cup and the Republican National Convention and another No Kings protest due to descend on the city in the coming months and years.

Houston police’s overtime costs reached a new high of $74 million this fiscal year, which ran from May 2024 to April 2025. That’s up 26% from the previous fiscal year and eclipses the city’s police overtime budget of about $45 million.

Other agency initiatives, such as traffic enforcement, have been major drivers for the steady uptick in overtime spending, an issue experts say will only get worse in coming years.

[…]

Whereas the No Kings protest drew thousands of people in front of city hall, events like the World Cup and the RNC can attract tens to hundreds of thousands more. The 2024 Republican convention in Milwaukee, for instance, brought 50,000 people to the city and the police department spent more than $1.6 million in overtime staffing the event. More than 74,000 people attended the last NCAA Final Four in Houston.

Officials with the Houston Police Department declined to answer follow-up questions about the agency’s overtime spending on major events, instead urging the Chronicle to file open records requests for any additional information. Mayor John Whitmire’s office did not respond to requests for comment about how the city is planning to budget for future overtime.

But at least one retired supervisor at the agency said the bill from the No Kings event was not atypical. Gregory Fremin, a retired captain from the Houston Police Department, said major events cost the agency lots of overtime funding, with presidential visits being among the most expensive.

1. We could, perhaps, spend less on police presence for the various anti-Trump rallies that will continue to occur, as they by now have a pretty long history of being peaceful. Unless, of course, the point is to keep the protesters safe from violent counter-protesters. I do support that.

2. I don’t know what the mechanisms are for cities to get some form of reimbursement for the law enforcement and related expenses they incur when hosting a major event like the World Cup. I suppose all that is wrapped up in the bid the cities make for hosting them, and if they don’t cover that in some way it’s on them. That said, I have to think that the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority and any other committee involved in the planning and execution of this event should have some plan to at least defray these costs. A lot of rich folks are going to be paying a lot of money to watch these games. Make good use of that.

3. Whatever the case with the first two points, we really need to get our police overtime costs under control. We spend plenty on HPD to begin with, and we don’t have that kind of slack in the city budget.

UPDATE: From Jeremy Wallace:

Up: FIFA World Cup.

With Dallas and Houston hosting a combined 16 matches in next year’s world soccer showcase, police in both communities are going to be pressed to their limits to provide security. But they won’t be completely on their own. Under a big spending bill passed by Congress this summer, there is a provision that will include $625 million for FIFA World Cup security costs around the nation. The White House has made clear the money is aimed at helping all 11 host cities in the U.S. cover police overtime and other security equipment for the World Cup. Reporter Matt DeGrood looked at how Houston has already been struggling with big police overtime costs for other events.

Good to know. Just as long as it’s not subject to “recission”.

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A brief gondola check-in

Posted on September 15, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

California dreamin’.

Courtesy city of Anaheim, via the LA Times

Internal emails, contracts, and PowerPoint presentations obtained by The Anaheim Investigator through the public records act reveal city planners are exploring the option of constructing an aerial gondola system to connect the Platinum Triangle with the Anaheim Resort in preparation for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

The proposed gondola system, which a recent estimate suggests will cost up to $125.7 million, would be built by Swyft Cities, a crowdfunded high-tech startup based in northern California, and begin at a station near the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center, a transit hub located close to the Honda Center and Angel Stadium.

While the final route has yet to be decided, there seems to be interest in an alignment running east-west along Katella Avenue featuring six stops. At Harbor Boulevard, the line would split into two branches, each ending near the eastern entrances of Disneyland, California Adventure theme parks and the Anaheim Convention Center.

[…]

Last December, Swyft Cities shared a PowerPoint presentation indicating that their gondola system—comprising of a fleet of around 35 “pods”—could be implemented at an estimated cost of roughly $33 to $37 million. This equated to just under $11 million per mile, subject to variation based on final design and alignment considerations.

“This proposal is substantially cheaper than ATN’s BRT proposal,” noted one city planner, making reference to $70 million the Anaheim Transportation Network is planning to invest in a bus rapid transit system and associated mobility hubs to accommodate the expected influx of tourists during the 2028 Summer Olympics.

But by July, their estimate had changed drastically. In another PowerPoint presentation Swyft Cities submitted that same month–of which the City of Anaheim paid them a $20,000 consulting fee to produce–they reported the gondola system would now cost $125.7 million, or $33 million per mile. It is not known why these numbers tripled.

As of today, no source of funds has been identified to pay for this system. However, one slide included in the July PowerPoint presentation says that financing could come from public-private partnerships, grants, and the California Infrastructure & Economic Development Bank, a public entity owned and operated by the state.

It should be mentioned that Anaheim isn’t the only local city looking at aerial gondolas. The San Francisco Chronicle reported the City of Irvine is working closely with Swyft Cities on developing one that will ferry visitors around the Great Park, a recreational area being built on land previously occupied by a Marine Corps Air Station.

Emails reveal city planners here reached out to their Irvine counterparts to learn more about it. “I wanted to check in to see if you have cost estimates or any other useful information to share in your due diligence on Swyft Cities,” wrote Rudy Emami, public works director, in a March 11th message to Sean Crumby, who held a similar job in that town.

While “key stakeholders” like OCVibe have quietly expressed enthusiasm for the gondola system, its implementation is not a foregone conclusion. Because Swyft Cities has never delivered a fully operational system, there are concerns about its ability to fulfill its promises–putting taxpayer money at risk of significant cost overruns and system failure.

See here, here, and here for previous gondola blogging. As of last October, when we heard about Swyft Cities’ conversation with Sugar Land, the time frame for getting something built was “one to two years”. I’m waiting to see if there are any updates on that. This would aim to be ready for the 2028 Olympics, so that’s less than three years to have something in place, so probably at most two and a half years to finish it. Either we’ll start seeing these things pop up in various locations – a Google news search for “Whoosh gondola” found some similar stories for other cities in recent months – or it will end up another clever flash in the pan. I’d rooting for the former – I will absolutely visit Sugar Land to take a ride on one of these things – but we’ll see. The LA Times and Urbanize LA have more.

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Weekend link dump for September 14

Posted on September 14, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

“We’re not just talking about soap and water here. The best way to be clean online is to turn your daily wash into an endless assembly line of products that you can show off as part of a collection.”

“This is the first thing we are told about worship and prayer and and praise and sacrifice. That seems important. But it also seems confusing.”

Sorry, Staten Island. Trump doesn’t care about you, either.

“GOP Cries Censorship Over Spam Filters That Work”.

“LinkedIn is trying to help put a stop to recruitment scams by requiring anyone with a recruitment-related job title to verify their place of employment.”

“Underscoring how common the practice is, ProPublica found that at least three of Trump’s Cabinet members call multiple homes their primary residences on mortgages.”

“[DOGE] could have worked to modernize Social Security’s legacy software, the current and former staffers say. They could have tried to streamline the stupefying volume of documentation that many Social Security beneficiaries have to provide. They could have built search tools to help staff navigate the agency’s 60,000 pages of policies. (New hires often need at least three years to master the nuances of even one type of case.) They could have done something about wait times for disability claims and appeals, which often take over a year. They did none of these things.”

“On marketplaces like Etsy, where women-owned small businesses have been able to flourish, sellers are now managing tariffs as high as 50 percent on goods from countries like India, a major source market for jewelry and apparel manufacturers. Stress and anxiety are running high.”

RIP, AMY Martin, former Harris County criminal court judge.

“Kennedy is a threat to the well-being of the American citizenry. That’s why House Democrats should move to impeach him.”

Three cheers for Kent Broussard, living his marching band dream.

“Not to be too naive about the freakin’ NFL being profit-motivated, but commercials on RedZone are a betrayal. They’re a betrayal not just of general customer–business dynamics in media but of RedZone’s specific value proposition to its customers.”

“A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a $83.3 million jury award against President Donald Trump for defaming magazine writer E. Jean Carroll in 2019.”

“A lot of you owe Sabrina Carpenter an apology for how you reacted to the ‘Man’s Best Friend’ cover”.

“A House committee Monday released a trove of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein that included a lewd note President Donald Trump is alleged to have sent as part of a collection of messages for the late convicted sex offender’s 50th birthday more than two decades ago.”

“Scientists have discovered a previously unknown quasi-moon that’s been shadowing Earth’s orbit for decades, undetected, and will likely remain there for a few decades more. The quasi-moon, named 2025 PN7, is one of around seven quasi-satellites that share Earth’s orbit around the Sun.” I did not know there was such a thing as a “quasi-moon”, which is not the same as a “mini-moon”, another thing that I did not know was a thing before reading this story. We have lots of songs about the moon, now I need someone to write me a song about a quasi-moon.

And speaking of things that I did not know were a thing…Congratulations, I guess?

“And this is what we’ve all got to think about and understand, because right now we have a government intent on doing many, many things no legitimate government can or should ever have permission to do. Our job — our responsibility — is to deny them that permission in every way we can.”

“Not only is it false to say Tylenol causes autism, it’s really dangerous. If people are hesitant to take Tylenol in pregnancy, it’s really concerning.”

RIP, Polly Holliday, actor best known for the TV show Alice.

“The 68-page lawsuit is an eye-popping indictment of the [FBI] by people who occupied some of its most senior and sensitive positions for years. The complaint claims Trump loyalists executed brazen political vendettas, lacked basic understanding of FBI management, were beholden to the whims of White House aides such as Stephen Miller and intentionally stoked fear among the workforce.”

“The verdict of the last 24 hours is pretty bad. You have Patel personally screwing up news about a potential suspect in custody, the kind of thing that might be a career-killer for any other agent in normal times. We’re so rightly shocked by the murder itself and so accustomed to the daily cavalcade of Trump administration nonsense that we’re inured to just how crazy a goof this was. When the Bureau first posted pictures of the new person of interest, I’m told, the email to contact with information was broken. No single goof tells us the state of the Bureau, but everything that has happened over the last 24 hours suggests the FBI is wrecked about as badly as you’d have imagined. The lawsuit fleshes out the backstory — the last 24 hours illustrates the results. We’re likely to see many more examples.”

“The Many Ways in Which the September 2 Caribbean Strike was Unlawful … and the Grave Line the Military Has Crossed”.

“As temperatures get higher, people tend to increase their added sugar consumption.”

RIP, Rick Davies, founder, keyboardist, and singer for the band Supertramp.

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged | 1 Comment

A brief note about another poll

Posted on September 14, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

From Texas Public Opinion Research:

Hey y’all, welcome back! In today’s TPOR installment, we’re diving into the findings from our latest poll on the 2026 Senate race—tracking voter preferences in a hypothetical Democratic primary, and examining the state of play in the Republican primary between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton. We’re also breaking down some fascinating data on general election preferences amongst voters in Texas.

Key Findings

  • Democratic Senate Primary: Former US Rep. Beto O’Rourke (27%) and US Rep. Jasmine Crockett (26%) lead a hypothetical Democratic primary, followed by former US Rep. Colin Allred (13%), State Representative James Talarico (7%), and US Rep. Joaquin Castro (4%). Eighteen percent of Democrats are undecided.
  • Republican Senate Primary: In a head-to-head matchup, US Sen. John Cornyn receives 32% support among Republicans, compared to 26% for State Attorney General Ken Paxton. Twenty-nine percent of Republicans are undecided, while 9% of GOP voters say that they would not vote in that race.
  • General Election Preferences: In a generic US Senate ballot, Republicans lead Democrats 48% to 43%; Republicans also hold similar, slight leads on generic ballots for Governor (49%–43%) and Attorney General (47%–44%).

The rest of the post expands on these three points, so I’ll leave it to you to read more as you see fit. I’m not a big fan of including undeclared candidates in a poll except in limited situations, like “potential challenger versus incumbent”. Most of the time these kind of polls largely recapitulate name ID. This poll does the interesting thing of comparing each Dem’s name ID number to their support in the hypothetical multi-way candidacy, which is a dimension I haven’t seen used before. Jasmine Crockett has made good use of her more-visible profile so far, at least among Dems. For that insight alone, I appreciate this poll. I also think James Talarico will become a lot better known, at least among Dem primary voters, pretty quickly.

There have been enough polls showing Cornyn improving his position against Paxton to make me think there’s been some movement in that race. Cornyn has been on the air – well, a national Republican PAC on behalf of Cornyn – mostly on football games where it’s hard for people like me to escape the ads, and I’m sure that has helped. Paxton, who probably doesn’t have the same amount of resources on his side yet, has not been able to counter yet. On the assumption that he will be advertising in the near-ish future, we’ll see what effect that may have.

Generic R-versus-D polls are also of questionable value, since actual races have actual candidates who bring pluses and minuses to those races, but they do tell us something. What this one says, not too surprisingly, is that the environment at this time is better for Dems than 2024 was. It would be nice to have a direct comparison to 2018, but we’re not going to get that. Next best will be other polls doing the same thing, so we can at least compare across them. By the time we get to the point of knowing who the candidates are, this won’t much matter anymore.

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Some reactions to the THC executive order

Posted on September 14, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron is not impressed.

By issuing an executive order banning THC products for minors, Gov. Greg Abbott ensured nobody would be fully satisfied.

When crafting legislation, that’s often a good thing. Compromise, by definition, means both sides don’t get everything they want. When Abbott vetoed a proposed ban on recreational marijuana, we joined scores of Texans in hoping it would lead to a grand bargain between the hemp lobby and prohibitionists that regulated weed much like we do alcohol.

But when a second special session ended without a bill regulating THC, Abbott decided to do it himself. The result is an imperfect regulatory framework that leaves plenty of open-ended questions, including whether this order is even legal. The last thing Texas needs is a descent into D.C.-style rule by executive order.

The good news is Abbott listened to some of our suggestions for treating weed like we do alcohol.

[…]

Things get murky in terms of where these retail shops can operate and the type of THC products they’re permitted to sell.

Abbott’s order also instructed the DSHS, TABC, and other agencies to prohibit stores within 1,000 feet of schools, churches, playgrounds, homeless shelters and treatment facilities. How broadly will state agencies define these boundaries? Will, for instance, any public space where children congregate count as a playground? Well-written legislation could have defined that term.

The order further instructs the agencies to create a system where cities and counties can hold “local option elections” that can ban certain retailers and possibly specific THC products. The TABC currently allows local governments to petition for elections to “decide the types of alcoholic beverages that can be sold in their communities.” It’s easy to imagine plenty of counties in Texas opting to go completely “dry” on selling hemp.

And if you’re looking for smokable flower hemp, you might be out of luck. Abbott’s order requires DSHS to test products for delta-9 THC as well as THCA. Delta-9 is what’s often sold by retailers, the psychoactive compound in cannabis that gets you high. THCA is the natural chemical precursor to delta-9, but becomes psychoactive when “heated.” That could, in effect, ban smokable flower products. Abbott told reporters in July he wanted to ensure hemp-based products “do not exceed three milligrams of THC content,” but his order stops short of determining a legal dosage for these compounds, leaving that in the hands of DSHS and TABC.

There’s also a question of paying for all of this. Abbott directs DSHS and TABC to identify “sources of funding” for enforcing these new regulations, either from existing revenue or potentially new fees. Whether state agencies can unilaterally create new taxes will, presumably, come up if this order is challenged in court. Again, these are the sorts of determinations that the Texas Constitution places in the hands of elected lawmakers in the Texas Capitol, not anonymous Austin bureaucrats.

See here for the background. I largely agree with their take, though I’m not as worried about the executive overreach since Abbott mostly just gave direction to the agencies that would already have a say in this. I agree that legislation would be the much better route to go here, but given the makeup of the Legislature right now, that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

And the reason for that is mostly one person, who is not named in the Chron editorial.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is furious that Gov. Greg Abbott won’t go full prohibition on THC, unloading a 2,000-word tirade Friday that makes D.A.R.E. pamphlets look subtle. But don’t worry — Patrick insists this is not “a personal fight with the governor,” just a “disagreement on extremely important policy.”

Yep, just a completely normal, not-at-all-personal rant accusing Abbott of greenlighting what he essentially described as dangerous, brain-melting “irreversible damage” to children’s brains… via gummies.

For background, Abbott this week issued an executive order banning THC sales to minors, directing state agencies to tighten enforcement, and setting the stage for a regulatory framework. Basically: Card kids at the counter, slap some labels on gummies, and let agencies figure out the rest.

“The governor mentions in his executive order that he wants people 21 and over to ‘enjoy’ THC,” Patrick wrote, in his tirade. “For most people who buy these products, ‘enjoy’ means getting high. If they are not getting high, why are they buying any THC product?”

Patrick has called THC products a “poison in our public” and wants nothing less than a scorched-earth ban. In his release, he accused the governor of giving the THC industry the “state seal of approval” and warned that kids will still be gobbling mislabeled Delta-8 sold at shops conveniently near schools — despite the fact that many retailers in the state already prohibited sales to minors and check identification for that express purpose. Patrick, however, also cited undercover cops in Dallas who claimed smoke shop clerks warn customers the products could literally kill them.

Patrick rattled off all the ways Abbott’s order supposedly fails: no ban on Delta-8 or Delta-10 THC products, no ban on smokables, no limit on potencies, no restriction on location.

“We have age limits on alcohol and cigarettes, but we know that does not stop kids from getting them either,” said Patrick, with no evidence. “The difference here is that one highly potent THC product can cause irreversible damage to a young person’s mind forever.”

I mean, one way forward on this is for someone else to be Lite Guv in 2027. That’s not enough, because the Senate is full of Patrick minions, who will surely carry his torch going forward, but it’s a good start. Maybe some of those Republicans who claim to be pro-weed can start finding primary opponents for the likes of Charles Perry and so forth. We Dems will be happy to take out Patrick next year (you’ll need to help us with that), but some of those Senate districts are gonna have to be on you.

One group is happy and they know it.

Hemp industry stakeholders let out a sigh of relief, hopeful that there’s no third special session, and the impassioned efforts of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will take a hiatus until the next Legislative Regular Session at the earliest.

“It feels good,” Hayden Meek, owner of Delta 8 Denton, said. “We got beat down a lot along the way. But we also had our victories along the way. And overall, it feels like a win.”

Meek had worried about potentially having to shutter in the event of a blanket THC ban, a reality for thousands of Texans working in the industry that Patrick would have gutted had he been given the chance.

The executive order bans the sale of THC products to minors, mandates ID checking for sales, introduces stricter labeling requirements, and imposes stiffer fees for businesses.

“These are the kinds of accountability checks that are so necessary in this industry, which has exploded in the last few years,” said Heather Fazio, director of the Texas Cannabis Policy Center. “I love to see Texans being able to enjoy cannabis products without fear of being arrested and licensed, regulated businesses operating and selling high-quality products. I think that’s what we see for the most part.”

The best way for y’all to keep feeling that euphoria you’re now experiencing is to make sure Dan Patrick is not presiding over the Senate in 2027. Hemp retailers and cannabis lobbyists have a lot riding on that. What are you going to do about it? If you sit on your hands and we’re facing down another ban in a year and a half, don’t come crying to me.

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Say “no” to AI music

Posted on September 14, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Ugh.

When pop groups and rock bands practice or perform, they rely on their guitars, keyboards and drumsticks to make music. Oliver McCann, a British AI music creator who goes by the stage name imoliver, fires up his chatbot.

McCann’s songs span a range of genres, from indie-pop to electro-soul to country-rap. There’s just one crucial difference between McCann and traditional musicians.

“I have no musical talent at all,” he said. “I can’t sing, I can’t play instruments, and I have no musical background at all.”

McCann, 37, who has a background as a visual designer, started experimenting with AI to see if it could boost his creativity and “bring some of my lyrics to life.” Last month, he signed with independent record label Hallwood Media after one of his tracks racked up 3 million streams, in what’s billed as the first time a music label has inked a contract with an AI music creator.

McCann is an example of how ChatGPT-style AI song generation tools like Suno and Udio have spawned a wave of synthetic music. A movement most notably highlighted by a fictitious group, Velvet Sundown, that went viral even though all its songs, lyrics and album art were created by AI.

It fueled debate about AI’s role in music while raising fears about “AI slop” — automatically generated low quality mass produced content. It also cast a spotlight on AI song generators that are democratizing song making but threaten to disrupt the music industry.

Experts say generative AI is set to transform the music world. However, there are scant details, so far, on how it’s impacting the $29.6 billion global recorded music market, which includes about $20 billion from streaming.

The most reliable figures come from music streaming service Deezer, which estimates that 18% of songs uploaded to its platform every day are purely AI generated, though they only account for a tiny amount of total streams, hinting that few people are actually listening. Other, bigger streaming platforms like Spotify haven’t released any figures on AI music.

[…]

Some users say the debate is just a rehash of old arguments about once-new technology that eventually became widely used, such as AutoTune, drum machines and synthesizers.

People complain “that you’re using a computer to do all the work for you. I don’t see it that way. I see it as any other tool that we have,” said Scott Smith, whose AI band, Pulse Empire, was inspired by 1980s British synthesizer-driven groups like New Order and Depeche Mode.

Smith, 56 and a semi-retired former U.S. Navy public affairs officer in Portland, Oregon, said “music producers have lots of tools in their arsenal” to enhance recordings that listeners aren’t aware of.

Like McCann, Smith never mastered a musical instrument. Both say they put lots of time and effort into crafting their music.

Once Smith gets inspiration, it takes him just 10 minutes to write the lyrics. But then he’ll spend as much as eight to nine hours generating different versions until the song “matches my vision.”

McCann said he’ll often create up to 100 different versions of a song by prompting and re-prompting the AI system before he’s satisfied.

AI song generators can churn out lyrics as well as music, but many experienced users prefer to write their own words.

“AI lyrics tend to come out quite cliche and quite boring,” McCann said.

It’s hard to overstate how terrible a lot of AI music is. You should listen to this episode of What Next TBD to get the full flavor of that. I’m sure there’s some worthwhile stuff out there, but the crap factor is very high.

That said, I do have some sympathy for the “everyone complains about the use of new technology” argument. Synths and drum machines are indeed perfectly respectable and respected instruments these days – let’s be honest, though, AutoTune is still trash. I don’t know enough about their use as song generators to compare them to AI tools, which mostly have more user-friendly interfaces. I’ve taken enough AI classes at this point to know that using it for generating ideas or first drafts is greatly overrated, but I’ve never tried to write a song. I do my best to be open minded and receptive to new music – having kids who love music and make you listen to what they like really helps with that – so I should at least try to be somewhat receptive to AI as a tool for inspiration.

But at some level, I will never respect it as much as anything created by a human. As a mediocre sax player since the sixth grade, I know what it takes for people to make music. Give me a band and/or a singer every damn time.

Posted in Music | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

A brief note about a poll

Posted on September 13, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This poll.

Only one-third of Texas voters approve of the GOP-led effort to redraw the state’s congressional map, according to a recent statewide poll, which found that independent and Democratic voters overwhelmingly opposed the mid-decade redistricting and would rather give control of Texas’ political maps to an appointed commission.

Just 13% of independent voters approve of state lawmakers redrawing the congressional map, while 41% are against it, according to the survey released Tuesday by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. Overall, 34% of voters said they approved and 41% said they disapproved of the effort, with nearly two-thirds of Republicans voicing support.

The new map, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott on Aug. 29, aims to net five GOP seats in the 2026 midterms. The poll surveyed 1,200 voters across Texas between Aug. 22 and Sept. 1, going into the field just before lawmakers sent the map to Abbott’s desk.

The Texas Politics Project poll also measured where Texas voters stand on a range of other issues, including the GOP’s tax and spending megabill approved earlier this summer. The majority of Democrats and independents have decidedly negative opinions about the legislation, fueling its underwater rating — 32% approval vs. 45% disapproval — among statewide voters.

Republicans polled had more favorable views. Sixty-five percent of GOP voters approve of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with 28% expressing strong approval.

Few voters expect the megabill to actually lower their taxes and health care costs. Democrats and independents think the bill will increase how much they pay, according to the poll. Almost half of Republicans expect the bill to lower taxes, but just 21% said they anticipated lower health care costs.

Texans are also concerned about the rising prices of food and consumer goods, especially as the impacts of Trump’s tariffs loom, the poll found. Only about a quarter of voters said their economic circumstances are better off now than they were a year ago.

We’ve seen plenty of polls in recent years in which an issue question gets a favorable result for Democrats. Pick an issue – guns, abortion, school finance – you can find plenty of such polls. The formula is strong but roughly equivalent and opposite levels of support from Dems and Republicans, and at least a plurality of indies siding with the Dems. That’s enough to tilt the issue towards the Dem position, sometimes with a small majority, sometimes with a plurality.

What caught my eye about this poll, at least on the redistricting question, is that Dems were more against it than Republicans were in favor of it, by a 78-65 margin. Compare that 65% Republican approval of redistricting – and the OBBBA, as noted – to the 85% GOP approval of Trump, or the 76% GOP approval of Greg Abbott. Where did that dropoff come from, and does it mean something?

Now to be sure, the Dems’ 78% disapproval of redistricting falls short of their 93% disapproval of Trump and 89% disapproval of Abbott. Some of this for sure is just a portion of voters not paying as much attention to the news as the rest of us do. But no matter how you look at it, the Dems have more intensity. Which in an off year election, one where Trump isn’t on the ballot – though he’s doing everything he can to put a thumb on it – might make a difference.

As always, this is one poll for one month. I haven’t studied the archives of the UT Politics Project, and I haven’t seen other results about this. It’s also many months before we vote, and a lot of things will happen between now and then. I’m just saying, for what it’s worth, that I noticed this.

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Paxton drops one gender affirming care lawsuit

Posted on September 13, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Good, and bad at the same time.

One of the nation’s first doctors accused of illegally providing care to transgender youth under GOP-led bans was found to have not violated the law, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office says, nearly a year after the state sued the physician.

Dr. Hector Granados, a pediatric endocrinologist in El Paso, was called a “scofflaw” last year by Paxton’s office in a lawsuit that accused him of falsifying medical records and violating a Texas ban that took effect in 2023. More than two dozen states have prohibitions on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, but Texas was the first to bring cases against doctors, filing lawsuits against Granados and two other providers.

The cases against the other doctors, both in Dallas, remain ongoing. But Paxton’s office quietly withdrew its lawsuit last week against Granados, saying in a statement that “no legal violations were found” following a “review of the evidence and Granados’ complete medical records.”

Granados, who says Paxton’s office never reached out before suing him last October, said he wished the state had first let him show he had stopped providing gender-affirming care for youth before the law took effect.

“It was just out and then we had to do everything afterwards,” Granados said in an interview.

[…]

Harper Seldin, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, said that even when a lawsuit is dropped, it still takes “an enormous toll” on those who have to defend themselves.

“I think this continues to be best understood as part of the Texas AG’s campaign to intimidate medical providers,” he said.

Granados said he was meticulous in halting gender-affirming care for youth before Texas’ ban took effect. He said that before the ban, treating transgender youth was just an extension of his practice that treats youth with diabetes, growth problems and early puberty.

He said that after the ban, he did continue to prescribe puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy, but that those treatments were not for gender transition. Granados said they were for youth with endocrine disorders, which occur when hormone levels are too high or too low.

Texas’ lawsuit against Granados called him a “scofflaw who is harming the health and safety of Texas children.” It referenced a 2015 news article about transgender care that quoted Granados and medical articles he had written on the topic. Also listed in the lawsuit were details on unnamed patients, including their ages and what they had been prescribed, including testosterone.

In a court document filed in Cooper’s case, an attorney in Paxton’s office said they had subpoenaed provider reports for the doctor’s testosterone prescriptions from the Texas Prescription Monitoring Program.

Granados’ attorney, Mark Bracken, said that after entering into an agreed protective order with the state, they were able to confidentially produce patient records to show Granados had complied with the law.

Peter Salib, an assistant professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center, said that it’s “unusual” for a state to drop a case due to lack of violations after filing a lawsuit.

“They have a lot of opportunity to find out what is going on before they decide to bring a lawsuit,” he said.

See here for the background. I have no doubt that the policy at the AG’s office is “sue first and ask questions later”, because they get something out of it no matter what the outcome. It’s not like they’ll ever face a penalty for filing frivolous claims or just general harassment. This doesn’t mean that they other lawsuits they’ve filed won’t have different outcomes, just that we now know that they don’t make a habit of acting with care and diligence. Everything about this is terrible, most prominently the fact that state law allows for this hateful bullshit. The fact that this one doctor got out from under the state’s thumb in less than a year and minus only lawyer’s fees and his mental health is the smallest of consolations.

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

THC vape pens are now illegal

Posted on September 13, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

For those who need to know.

Vapes containing THC and other hemp-derived cannabinoids like Delta-8 [are now] illegal to sell in Texas […] under a law passed earlier this year. Senate Bill 2024, while narrower than efforts to outlaw all THC products in Texas, drew far less attention as it moved through the Legislature.

SB 2024 makes it a Class A misdemeanor to market or sell any vape containing cannabinoids, even if the active ingredients would otherwise be legal under state and federal law. The penalty carries up to one year in jail and a fine of as much as $4,000. The law does not explicitly ban possession.

Supporters say the law is meant to keep cannabis vapes, which are small and easy to use discretely, out of the hands of teenagers. Opponents counter that it will fuel a black market and deprive adults of a safer and more convenient way of using cannabis.

[…]

The cannabinoid vape ban was tacked on to legislation that initially only targeted e-cigarettes disguised to look like pens, pencils, smartphones or other products found in schools. The law also prohibits selling or marketing vapes that contain alcohol, kratom, kava or mushrooms. And it outlaws vape products made in China or in any country designated as a foreign adversary of the United States.

[…]

The bill passed the Senate with only one dissenting vote. Sen. Molly Cook, D-Houston, a registered nurse, said her concern was how SB 2024 would punish any person who sold a prohibited vape.

“That means that the kid behind the counter, who is not a business owner, could be held accountable for a Class A misdemeanor, which means jail time for a lot of folks,” Cook said.

Cook, whose law to ban e-cigarette advertising near schools passed the Legislature and was signed by Gov. Abbott, said she’s “pretty much never ever, ever going to be OK with criminalizing something like cannabinoids or THC.”

“The folks who are good players, who want to put therapeutic products out there for people, they do go above and beyond,” Cook said. “When folks are asking you for safe rules and asking you how to follow them, we should give it to them.”

I’m with Senator Cook here. It is already illegal in Texas for minors to buy, possess, or use vapes, so this was about restricting their use for this purpose for adults. At the end of this special session – which, despite some promises from leadership that it would end by Labor Day, is still going on – we may have that overall ban on THC products anyway, or possibly greater restrictions and regulation. Or Dan Patrick will continue to refuse to budge and the House will fail to pass his ban bill and we’ll be back where we started. Whatever the case, if you vaped your THC products, you should have stocked up before Monday. Sorry about that.

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Let’s find a Democrat for CD35

Posted on September 12, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

We’ve gotta compete in these redrawn districts.

While a number of Republicans are eyeing [the redrawn CD35] — in addition to the Texas GOP’s preferred candidate — Democrats have been slow to line up for the open seat.

But San Antonio political consultants say it would be a mistake for Democrats not to put up a fight to keep the seat, which has been Democrat-held since its creation after the 2010 Census. They point to narrower GOP margins of victory in other Texas races in recent years — apart from Trump’s commanding showing in last year’s presidential contest.

Then-Vice President Kamala Harris “did so poorly in 2024 that it’s not an accurate partisan benchmark,” said Democratic political strategist Bert Santibañez.

Harris lost Texas by nearly 14 percentage points — which Santibañez considers an “outlier” compared to Democratic presidential nominees’ performance in previous election cycles. Joe Biden lost the state by 5.6 points in 2020 and Hillary Clinton by 9 points in 2016.

Under the new lines, Trump would have won the 35th District by less than 2 points in 2020, according to a San Antonio Express-News analysis.

Even in Texas’ U.S. Senate race in November, Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz would have won by less than 4 points to former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred under the new boundaries.

“Absolutely it’s still winnable,” said Andrew Solano, a political consultant who served as Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s San Antonio district director from 2013 to 2015 when the Austin Democrat represented the 35th District, which ran from Austin down Interstate 35 to San Antonio.

[…]

So far, only John Lira and Whitney Masterson-Moyes have filed statements of candidacy. A retired Marine, Lira was the 2022 Democratic nominee for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District. Masterson-Moyes owns a clay shooting club in Guadalupe County.

Beto Altamirano, a first-time candidate who came in third in San Antonio’s mayoral election in May, has been asked to consider running, said Solano, who worked as his campaign manager.

Altamirano showed himself to be a prolific fundraiser who energized younger voters.

Because the congressional district will now be anchored on San Antonio’s South Side, “there’s going to be a lot of electeds or former electeds for that area on the Democratic side who are going to take a look — as they should,” Solano said. “Anybody who has a base, current or former, of constituents should be looking at that race.”

One of those people is state Sen. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, a former San Antonio City Councilman for the Southeast Side’s District 3 who previously served in the Texas House of Representatives. He said he views the redrawn district as a “swing seat” and has been approached by people in Washington, D.C., about launching a campaign.

“We certainly are exploring all of our options,” Gutierrez said. “I have enjoyed representing the Southeast Side of San Antonio and South Texas for the better part of 20 years, and it has been my highest honor and privilege to do that.”

Former District 3 City Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran, who’s currently president and CEO of the South Texas Business Partnership, is seen as a potential contender.

Viagran sought the 35th District seat in the 2022 Democratic primary, coming in third. Casar won the party nomination.

She did not respond to a request for comment.

One San Antonio Democrat who was rumored to be considering running in the 35th District, state Rep. Philip Cortez, a former Southwest Side city councilman, said through a campaign spokesperson that he is “100% focused on winning reelection in his House district.”

I’m glad there are some candidates already and others in the mix. Neither Lira nor Masterson-Moyes excite me, and if they’re the only primary entrants or the top tier among them, I will consider this to be a failure, but there’s time. Any of Sen. Gutierrez, former Council Member Viagran, or Rep. Cortez (*) would be fine; I don’t know enough about Beto Altamirano to say for sure, but he could be in that group as well. The start of filing season will be here in about two months, so let’s get going. And let’s do the same exercise for CD09 while we’re at it, too.

On a related note.

When Republicans unveiled a new congressional map shrinking the number of Democratic districts in Texas, Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett was quick to announce he would run in the sole Austin-based district.

Doggett, a formidable incumbent with three decades in Congress, was planting a flag with the hope that his Austin counterpart Rep. Greg Casar would stay in his current district despite its new boundaries favoring Republicans. But Doggett’s move unexpectedly set off a powerful coalition that worked publicly and privately to support the younger congressman.

Three weeks after Doggett dug in on the promise to run again, he changed his mind, opting to retire at the end of his term and support Casar’s candidacy — a move that spared Democrats an expensive primary.

Doggett, 78, still believes he would have beaten Casar in a head to head, and he stands by his position that his colleague should have run in the newly-drawn Congressional District 35, a majority-Hispanic district in San Antonio and outlying counties that bears the same number as Casar’s current district but has little overlap with his constituents. But he realized in August that a race between the two of them would have been damaging.

“It would be a very demanding race for everybody involved,” Doggett said in an interview with The Texas Tribune about his decision, adding that even if he did win “it would still leave a community scarred and split. And that is a community I really care about. And so, I’m satisfied.”

We’ve discussed this before, and you can read on for who did what to bring this about. I agree that Rep. Casar would have been the best candidate for CD35, but I can hardly blame him for wanting a more favorable district, and I would have supported Casar over Doggett if it had come down to it as well. Not because of anything against Rep. Doggett, but sometimes you’ve got to change the guard. It absolutely sucks that this was forced on us, but barring a longshot intervention from the courts it’s where we are.

(*) Rep. Cortez has some baggage and would be easily my third choice, probably the fourth choice if Altamirano is a real possibility. But he has run and won multiple elections, and you have to take that seriously.

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Zoox to begin its robotaxi service

Posted on September 12, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Today Las Vegas, sometime later Austin and other cities.

Five years after its splashy $1.3 billion acquisition of Zoox, Amazon has officially entered the U.S. robotaxi race, which to date has been dominated by Alphabet’s Waymo.

Zoox’s first public launch kicks off Wednesday on the Las Vegas strip. The company is offering free rides from a few select locations, with plans to expand more broadly across the city in the coming months. Riders will eventually have to pay, but Zoox said it’s waiting on regulatory approval to take that step.

Amazon is jumping into a market that’s all about the future, but one where Waymo has a major head start, having offered commercial driverless rides since 2020. Earlier this year, Waymo said it surpassed 10 million paid rides, and the company now operates in five cities, with Dallas, Denver, Miami, Seattle and Washington, D.C., coming next year.

Tesla, meanwhile, began testing a limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in June, though with human supervisors on board.

But unlike Waymo and Tesla, Zoox’s electric robotaxi doesn’t resemble a car. There’s no steering wheel or pedals, and the rectangular shape has led many in the industry to describe it as a toaster on wheels. Zoox co-founder and technology chief Jesse Levinson says, “We use robotaxi or vehicle or Zoox.”

“You can shoehorn a robotaxi into something that used to be a car. It’s just not an ideal solution,” Levinson told CNBC in an interview in Las Vegas. “We wanted to do that hard work and take the time and invest in that, and then bring something to market that’s just much better than a car.”

[…]

Zoox’s Las Vegas depot spans 190,000 square feet, which is about the size of three football fields. At the facility, the company houses the dozens of vehicles set to start operating around the city. Smartphone users will be able to order them from Top Golf, Area15, Resorts World Las Vegas, New York-New York Hotel & Casino and Luxor Hotel & Casino.

The robotaxi features two rows of seats that face each other and can transport up to four people at a time. The front and rear are identical, with bidirectional wheels that allow it to move forward or backward without turning around. The vehicle can run for 16 hours on a single charge.

Floor-to-ceiling windows provide a sightseeing experience for passengers who want a clear view of the endless rows of casinos. But the interior design is meant to enable easy conversation with fellow riders.

“It’s not a retrofitted car,” said Zoox CEO Aicha Evans. “It’s built from the ground up around the rider.”

I’ve compared the Zoox-mobiles to the microtransit shuttles that Metro is using around Houston, though I think those actually have room for six. I suppose there’s no reason why these things have to look like regular cars, assuming the public doesn’t seem them as too strange to take seriously. I’m sure it’s cheaper to manufacture them like this, and that may be a competitive edge for them. The current route map in Vegas is about the size of our microtransit service areas, too. Maybe these things won’t be safe to drive on highways, or even higher-speed thoroughfares. If so, that’s certainly a limiting factor. I don’t know enough about their model yet to draw any conclusions.

More details from TechCrunch:

The company spent six years developing its technology before unveiling its purpose-built, electric, autonomous robotaxis. Zoox then began testing its cube-like vehicles on public streets in Las Vegas in 2023. Initially, the test area was a one-mile loop around the neighborhood where its Las Vegas facilities are located in the southwest region of the city. The testing area inevitably grew to encompass the public streets around its depot, the length of the Strip, and some of the roads adjacent to it.

Earlier this year, the Foster City, California, company launched a Zoox Explorer program — a limited pilot aimed at early public riders, in Las Vegas. Wednesday’s launch opens the service up to any adult who downloads the Zoox app on iOS and Android devices.

While the new robotaxi service covers the Las Vegas Strip, riders cannot be picked up or dropped off just anywhere. For now, the service can only be accessed at five designated pickup and drop-off destinations, including Las Vegas landmarks like Resorts World Las Vegas, AREA15, Topgolf, New York New York, and Luxor. A Zoox spokesperson said the company will continue adding new destinations in the coming months.

It’s unclear how long these rides will be free as the company said it needed “regulatory approval” before it could charge for them. While Zoox doesn’t explicitly list which regulations it needs to meet, the requirement is likely connected to a recent agreement with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the federal agency that oversees vehicle safety standards.

Last month, the NHTSA gave Zoox an exemption to demonstrate its custom-built robotaxis on public roads. That decision cleared up a long-standing debate over whether Zoox’s custom-built autonomous vehicles complied with federal motor vehicle safety standards, which typically require vehicles to have features like a steering wheel and pedals. But for now, the exemption only allows Zoox to demonstrate the robotaxis, not operate them commercially.

They’ve been testing in Austin since last July, and Miami for as long. They’re building a fleet operations depot in Austin as well. I have to think it won’t be too long till they take the training wheels off, assuming they don’t have any regulatory hurdles to clear. Avride, ADMT, and Motional are also out there, presumably wanting to not fall further behind. Reuters, the Associated Press, and the Las Vegas Sun have more.

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Abbott bans THC for those under 21

Posted on September 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Why didn’t we just do this first?

THC products will remain largely legal in Texas, but will be banned for minors and current regulations further enforced under a new executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Abbott on Wednesday directed the Texas Department of State Health Services and the Alcoholic Beverage Commission to ban the sales of THC products to minors.

Abbott’s order requires these agencies to immediately start their rule-making processes to create the age limit, but does not prescribe when the restriction must take effect. Abbott’s order also doesn’t specify the age threshold, though he has previously called on lawmakers to prohibit such products for those under 21. The Texas Tribune has reached out to his office to clarify.

In addition, DSHS has to start reviewing current rules within 10 business days to possibly add stricter labeling and testing requirements, improve recordkeeping to facilitate oversight, as well as increase licensing fees to support enforcement. The order also calls for DSHS and TABC to work with the Department of Public Safety to increase enforcement on existing rules.

The governor also requires DSHS, TABC, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and other relevant agencies to jointly look at how to create a comprehensive regulatory framework. He pointed to House Bill 309 from the second special session as a model. Authored by Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, the proposal would have created a Texas Hemp Council to study and develop rules for THC products and establish hemp testing and licensing requirements, among other restrictions.

“Texas will not wait when it comes to protecting children and families,” Abbott said in a news release. “While these products would still benefit from the kind of comprehensive regulation set by the Texas Legislature for substances like alcohol and tobacco, my executive order makes sure that kids are kept safe and parents have peace of mind now, and that consumers know the products they purchase are tested and labeled responsibly.”

The executive order was teased by the Trib on Tuesday. I’m basically fine with this – it’s perfectly reasonable to me to treat THC more or less the same as alcohol – I’m just wondering why we had to go through all this drama to get here. Dan Patrick made it clear that he was never going to budge on passing a full ban on THC, and he had plenty of support for that in the Senate. I’m not sure if Abbott thought he would win the legislative staredown with Patrick or if he just never thought it through, but either way here we are.

Of course it is preferable to legislate these things, so I can’t be too mad about Abbott trying to go that route. Maybe, since Patrick and the Republicans in the Senate are so out of touch with popular sentiment, it’s time to put some effort into making that chamber more THC-friendly. I’m sure Abbott could think of ways to do that, if he put his mind to it. The Chron has more.

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Less funding for homelessness means more homeless

Posted on September 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

It’s just math.

An annual survey of the homeless population in the Houston area suggested that the region — which has attracted international attention for its ability to reduce homelessness — is at an inflection point.

As the emergency funding that it had used to quickly move individuals off the streets into housing has run out, progress in reducing the size of the homeless population stalled, and the share of people who have been homeless for a year or more increased.

Leaders in the efforts to reduce homelessness are calling for more funding, as well as more sustainable money sources, to prevent the number from growing even further. Kelly Young, head of the Coalition for the Homeless in Houston and Harris County, pointed to the region’s successful use of emergency funding as proof that more funds could once again make a dent.

“We use money effectively and efficiently,” she said. While homelessness in the Houston region has flatlined in recent years, it’s still down one-sixth from the start of the pandemic. In contrast, homelessness nationwide surged by a third.

When the pandemic broke loose, unleashing with it an influx of federal emergency funding, homeless organizations used that funding to quickly move individuals off the streets, leading to a 21% drop in homelessness between 2020 and 2022.

In the years since, homelessness has increased by 6%, according to the count. Volunteers counted about 3,330 people this January living in shelters, on the streets or in other places not meant for habitation, up from roughly 3,120 in 2022.

The survey differentiates people who live in shelters from people who live in other places not meant for habitation, such a on sidewalks or in tents, cars or abandoned buildings. Volunteers counted about 1,280 unsheltered individuals — a 16% percent increase from the roughly 1,110 people the January before.

[…]

But as resources have dwindled, so has the number of people homeless organizations are moving off the streets into housing. In 2024, the Houston region relocated more than 2,330 people into housing, a decrease of one-third from the nearly 3,630 people housed in 2023.

The slight increase in overall homelessness comes after Mayor John Whitmire in November announced a $70 million-a-year plan to end street homelessness in Houston.

The city did not respond to questions regarding the current status of funding. As of June, housing department officials reported the city had given $23 million, METRO up to $10 million a year and Houston First up to $2.6 million a year to pull off the effort. Officials are still seeking $60 million in donations for a plan that they estimate will cost $210 million through 2027.

Houston has also requested that HUD allocate $40 million of the $314 million intended to recover from Hurricane Beryl and the 2024 derecho toward the homelessness plan. That plan has not yet been approved by HUD, which will have 45 days to review the proposal after it is submitted by Sept. 19.

Harris County housing officials said Monday they had pledged $16 million toward addressing homelessness.

The $70 million-a-year plan would be in addition to the annual funds that HUD has long channeled to homeless prevention. The Trump administration has proposed significant changes to funding and how it could be used, and it remains to be seen what Congress will enact for the 2026 fiscal year budget.

I don’t expect things to get better in the short term, despite the Mayor’s pledge. We’re not going to get any real help from the federal government, which at this time would rather these folks all get locked up. Longer term mitigations include building a lot more and more-affordable housing, more direct financial help for lower income folks, more services for mental health and drug addition (which among other things will require expanding Medicaid in Texas and fully funding the rest of the program nationally), and more. Again, it will get worse before it gets better. It’s good we made the progress that we did here, but it will be harder to keep up for now.

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Summer Willis Act

Posted on September 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Too much of what we got from the Legislature this year was garbage. Wingnut Republican priorities are the only things that really matter to them, and we got a lot of it. But some decent things made it through, and we should take note of it when that does happen. Here’s one example.

[Last] week, the Summer Willis Act took effect.

Before Sept. 1, the state’s sexual assault laws only defined what was not consent via a list of 14 scenarios, such as cases where a perpetrator uses or threatens “physical force, violence, or coercion,” or intentionally incapacitates someone “by administering any substance without the other person’s knowledge.” The law also defined assault in terms of power dynamics, recognizing instances in which healthcare professionals, coaches, tutors, and clergymen wield coercion tactics.

But even as advocates, lawmakers, and prosecutors fought to expand the state’s definition of assault over time, the enumerations weren’t comprehensive. And if a victim’s sexual assault didn’t fall neatly within the statute’s lines, their case would be that much more difficult to prosecute.

Like Summer Willis’s.

In 2014, as a sophomore at University of Texas at Austin, Willis was raped at a college. The assault, like countless others, fell within a loophole: Because she was drugged by one attacker and raped by another, none of the 14 specific “non-consent” clauses applied to her.

“What happened to me, the rape that changed me, that haunted me, and nearly broke me, wasn’t even considered rape in Texas,” Willis said in her March 25 testimony to the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence. “The law didn’t recognize my assault.”

Now, prosecutors are ready to test it in court.

“We know it when we see it,” prosecutor Janna Oswald, division chief of the Adult Sex Crimes Division in Harris County, told The Barbed Wire. “When you hear a fact pattern of sexual assault, you say, ‘Yeah, she didn’t consent. That was rape.’ And then (needing to take) whatever that fact pattern is and being like, ‘Okay, was she intoxicated? Did he use force? Physical force? Was he unaware that she was unaware?’”

Such legal hoop-jumping, Oswald said, makes prosecuting assault “very difficult, sometimes.”

“It would just be nice to say ‘she didn’t consent,’ and then be able to present the fact pattern to a jury, and they say: ‘She didn’t consent, therefore it is sexual assault.’”

It’s a long story and it’s very much worth your time to read it, so go do that. What happened to Summer Willis was a crime no matter what the law at the time said, but now it’s a crime for real. As awful as that was for her, that this bill finally passed is a good thing. Kudos to her and to the legislators who got it done.

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Texas blog roundup for the week of September 8

Posted on September 11, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance is always glad to see a legislative session end as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Talarico’s announcement

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

And we’re off.

Rep. James Talarico

Texas Rep. James Talarico launched his bid for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, promising in an interview to bring honesty and compassion back to politics, while pursuing a fairer distribution of wealth and power in the country.

“It’s been 10 years of Trumpian politics — politics as blood sport,” said Talarico, a progressive from Austin and an aspiring minister, in an interview. “This campaign can show people what a different kind of politics would look like — one that actually fights for people regardless of their party or their race or their gender or their religion — and takes on this broken political system and the very powerful people who benefit from this system being broken.”

A former public school teacher and nonprofit director, Talarico, 36, has served in the Texas House since 2018, representing North Austin and parts of Pflugerville and Round Rock. He was first elected to a seat that narrowly went for President Donald Trump in 2016, before switching to a bluer district in 2021 when state Republicans drew him out of his original seat.

Talarico has seen his profile skyrocket over the past year as he built a viral presence online with clips of him drawing on his Christian faith to oppose private school vouchers and religion in schools, while battling Republican lawmakers and conservative media hosts. He also landed a high-profile feature on Joe Rogan’s podcast this summer, a coveted appearance among Democrats looking to engage audiences that have veered right.

He has emerged as one of Texas Democrats’ most effective communicators — a skill he attributes in part to his two years as a middle school teacher — and he more recently helped lead the caucus’ messaging efforts against Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting.

Talarico joins a Democratic primary field that so far includes Colin Allred, a former Dallas congressman and NFL linebacker who fell short of unseating U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024 by 8.5 percentage points, and former astronaut Terry Virts. Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio are also considering running.

[…]

Videos of Talarico sparring with his Republican colleagues have garnered millions of views on social media. But he emphasized that he’d also gained experience in the House working and building relationships across the aisle, on efforts to pass major legislation such as a $25-per-month cap on insulin copays and a bill to import low-cost prescription drugs from Canada.

Talarico, who is lesser known outside of Central Texas, said he intended to campaign in “unorthodox ways” and reach Texans across platforms, from social media to town halls full of Republican voters. During his first run for the Texas House, for instance, he walked 25 miles along the length of his district and held three town halls along the way.

“The country is looking for a reset in the Democratic Party, and I think we’ve got to put forward people who are offering something different and something new,” he said. “A conventional campaign is not going to work in Texas.”

Talarico said he wanted to replicate O’Rourke’s “energy,” and “his willingness to go everywhere and talk to everyone,” during the former congressman’s 2018 Senate campaign where he famously visited all 254 counties. But Talarico said he would rightsize the strategy for today’s TikTok era. His launch video, for instance, will be filmed vertically and tailor-made for the “newest platforms,” he said.

When asked about his platform, Talarico did not name specific policy issues but said that taking on billionaires was the way to achieve outcomes such as lower costs of childcare and housing, expanded health care access and fully-funded public schools — all issues he worked on as a state legislator.

“I’ve really come to think of politics less as left vs. right and more as top vs. bottom,” he said, arguing that the wealthiest Americans are increasingly “the powers that be,” in politics, media and the economy.

See here for the background. The main thing I will add to what I’ve said before is that I’ll be interested to see how exactly Talarico updates the Beto 2018 strategy. It sounds like he’s mostly talking about the social media aspect of it – TikTok wasn’t a thing in 2018 – but I would encourage him and everyone else to think a bit more strategically about that 254-county part of it. Some places are too small, too isolated, and too red to spend time on an in person visit for the purpose of checking a box. Spend some time in the small to midsize cities, where I continue to believe there’s a lot of potential for common ground with the big urbans, and hammer home the message that the Republicans are doing plenty to harm them and precious little to help them. Politico (scroll down to item 5 under “9 things for your radar”) and The Downballot have more.

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

HISD still has a teacher turnover problem

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Doesn’t seem to be going away.

Across Texas, 1 in 6 teachers didn’t return to teach in 2024-25. In Houston ISD, it was nearly 1 of 3.

The state’s largest school district had a turnover rate of 32.2% compared with the statewide average of 18.8% in 2024-25, according to new Texas Education Agency data obtained by the Houston Chronicle.

HISD’s teacher turnover rate increased 12.5 percentage points in 2024-25 after a large exodus of teachers following the first year under state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles. Nearly a third of teachers who taught in 2023-24 did not return to teach in 2024-25, pushing the district’s turnover rate significantly higher than the statewide rate.

Some departures can be traced to low morale and the district’s stringent expectations to meet Miles’ vision of reform, teachers previously shared. Houston ISD has previously said it prioritizes high-quality instruction and maintains standards for performance.

[…]

A separate Houston Chronicle analysis of district records reported the head count of teachers who left after the 2023-24 school year. In June 2024, almost 2,500 teachers left the district after the first year of state-appointed leadership’s reforms. The Chronicle’s analysis did not calculate turnover rates for individual teachers between fall 2023 and fall 2024.

More than 800 teachers left the district from August 2024 through May. And in June 2025 alone, more than 2,300 of the district’s roughly 10,000 teachers left, district records showed.

The HISD spokesperson mostly avoided the question about this when asked. You can only spin this as Mike Miles chasing out the bad teachers for so long. At some point, it looks like a lot of people don’t want to teach as HISD. And also at some point, you would think it would get harder to find quality replacements for those who leave. I’m just saying.

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

More indictments against Maria Rojas

Posted on September 10, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Remember to wait until her lawyers get a chance to respond before making any inferences about this.

The Texas midwife who earlier this year became the first person charged under the state law banning people from performing abortions is now charged with 15 felonies, including a new charge that accuses her of killing an unborn child.

A Waller County indictment expands the number of charges against Maria Rojas, 50, who was the subject of a highly public arrest in March. The indictment accuses Rojas of three counts of performing an abortion and 12 counts of practicing medicine without a license.

A grand jury handed up the indictment in June, but the new charges were never publicized. The Waller County district attorney’s office quietly uploaded a copy of the document to a public folder containing case files last month.

Rojas was arrested based on allegations she attempted to perform an abortion on a woman, identified as E.G. According to a complaint, E.G. was provided with pills meant to induce an abortion. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office used the allegations in E.G.’s case to secure an injunction closing Rojas’ four clinics in Waller and Harris counties.

The June indictment alleges Rojas performed an abortion on another woman, identified as N.M., in October 2024. Unlike the E.G case, the charge specifies that the unborn child died.

It’s the first time the attorney general’s office has alleged that Rojas performed a successful abortion. The criminal complaint released in March referred to two women who an anonymous tipster claimed received abortions from Rojas, but so far they have not been connected to any criminal cases.

AG’s office investigators identified E.G. after staking out Rojas’ clinics and witnessing the woman visit an office on multiple occasions. When approached by investigators, E.G. told them Rojas portrayed herself as an OB-GYN and gave the pregnant woman pills after saying her pregnancy was likely unviable, according to court documents.

The indictment didn’t give any other information about the allegations involving N.M.

Rojas’ defense attorney on Monday said she was still waiting on more information to be shared with her about the new charges.

“We are looking forward to receiving meaningful discovery in these cases so that we can continue to fight vigorously for these charges to come to an end,” said Nicole Deborde Hochglaube.

[…]

Paxton’s office made no announcement about the indictments, and did not mention the new criminal charges in July, when it submitted arguments to the Texas Supreme Court arguing that Rojas’ clinics in Harris and Waller counties should remain closed by a court order.

Rojas’ legal team is continuing to fight the civil court order. In a brief filed Friday, her lawyers said they believed that the counts of practicing medicine without a license should not apply to her, because her midwifery license permitted her to care for pregnant women.

Her lawyers have said the attorney general’s office investigators were “grasping at straws” and trying to conflate women’s health care with crime. The drug that Rojas allegedly gave E.G. was misoprostol, which is commonly used in labor and delivery and to treat miscarriages, her lawyers wrote.

See here, here, and here for more on the criminal charges; see here and here for more on the civil order to shut down her clinic. This case is strange in many ways, and for obvious reasons I don’t trust anything from Waller County or the AG’s office. We’ll just have to wait for the next batch of filings and rulings.

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

NY AG to intervene in Carpenter case

Posted on September 9, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Raising the stakes.

New York Attorney General Letitia James on Monday said she will intervene in a legal fight over Texas’ ban on abortion pills, escalating a national showdown between states that have restricted abortion access and others that are defending practitioners who offer services to out-of-state women.

Her decision came over a month after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued a New York county clerk for refusing to file a six-figure judgment against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion drugs to a Texas woman. This continues a legal battle over shield laws that experts say will likely reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

“I am stepping in to defend the integrity of our laws and our courts against this blatant overreach,” James said in a news release. “Texas has no authority in New York, and no power to impose its cruel abortion ban here.”

[…]

James said she will submit a legal filing later this month to argue that New York has the legal right to safeguard its residents and courts against “out-of-state overreach.” She said Monday that she has formally notified the case’s judge of that decision.

“Our shield law exists to protect New Yorkers from out-of-state extremists, and New York will always stand strong as a safe haven for health care and freedom of choice,” she said in the news release.

Besides this legal fight with New York, Paxton has joined over a dozen other attorneys general from Republican-led states in July in calling on Congress to take action against abortion shield laws. They similarly argued that such laws infringe on the Constitution’s full faith and credit clause and the extradition clause.

The Texas Legislature also just advanced a bill allowing private residents to sue anyone who manufactures or distributes abortion drugs to or from the state.

See here for the previous update. I fully expect this to go to SCOTUS, and I do not have a lot of optimism about the outcome there. The wingnuts will find a way, if they decide it is their preference to find a way.

I also fully expect that this can, should, and will be reversed by Congress in the future, when the opportunity is there. It’s a matter of how long it takes to get that opportunity. What happens in next year’s election will be a big factor in that. You know what is needed. The 19th has more.

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Let’s unseal those divorce records

Posted on September 9, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Yes, please.

Also a naughty boy

As you might recall, Texas Attorney General (and noted pen pilferer) Ken Paxton and state Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney) are getting divorced after 38 years of marriage. Angela Paxton announced on X.com in early July that she initiated the divorce “on biblical grounds” and “in light of recent discoveries.” Ken asked for “prayers and privacy.”  Not long after the filing, Angela Paxton also asked that the proceedings be sealed. On Thursday, the watchdog nonprofit Campaign for Accountability filed a motion in Collin County to unseal those records, citing the fact that both Paxtons are public officials “who collectively represent more than 31 million Texans.”

The organization points out that the divorce proceedings follow an alleged affair that became widely known after seven attorneys from the AG’s office reportedly told the FBI that their boss had been using his office to benefit his mistress and to conceal evidence of the affair. Some of those employees were fired, which prompted a whistleblower lawsuit that was settled. When Paxton asked for state funds to pay the settlement, it triggered an ethics investigation, leading to impeachment proceedings. The vote to acquit him fell along party lines for the most part. The Campaign for Accountability argues that those events, plus reports about the Paxtons’ homestead exemption claims on multiple homes, are good reasons for unsealing the couple’s divorce records.

“Law and precedent overwhelmingly support unsealing the Paxtons’ divorce records in the interest of public knowledge. Courts have routinely unsealed records in similar cases involving elected officials, and we are asking this Court to do the same,” Campaign for Accountability executive director Michelle Kuppersmith said in a statement. “Ken Paxton is the top law enforcement officer in Texas and now a U.S. Senate candidate. The public has every right to information that may reflect upon his character.”

You can read the motion here.

See here and here for the background. I don’t know if this is a serious effort with legal merit or just a huge troll, but either way I’m here for it. We deserve to know. It would help if Angela Paxton could find it in her heart to be less forgiving and not oppose this motion. But either way, unseal the records. Whatever is in there – and I freely admit this could be a “Geraldo opens Capone’s vault” situation – let us in so we can see.

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Another look at Waymo’s robotaxi approach versus Tesla’s

Posted on September 9, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Good long analysis here.

A month after Tesla launched a trial robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in June for select fans, CEO Elon Musk told investors that the company’s driverless taxis would likely be available to “half the population of the U.S.” by the end of this year.

Alphabet’s Waymo – the U.S. leader in autonomous ride-hailing – launched a similar test service in Phoenix more than eight years ago. Today, it operates in areas with about 3% of the U.S. population.

Musk’s pronouncements about expanding Tesla’s robotaxis at a “hyper-exponential rate” stand in contrast to Waymo’s deliberate approach ahead of entering new markets.

Musk sees a faster path to scaling the business because of Tesla’s reliance on just cameras and artificial intelligence, compared with Waymo’s rules-based AI approach that uses more sensors and high-definition mapping. The differing strategies have far-reaching implications for the early pecking order in the nascent autonomous-driving space, which some analysts and investors say could become a multitrillion-dollar market over the next 15 years.

Waymo’s expansion playbook involves comprehensively mapping new cities, and phasing in autonomous ride-hailing after testing the technology with drivers in the front seat and employees as passengers.

Tesla says its robotaxis use a different autonomous technology from Waymo’s, one that allows it to bypass much of that painstaking prep work. The cars – still in the testing phase – use AI that reacts to road conditions the way a human would. Tesla says that requires less-extensive road testing and mapping.

“Once we can make it basically work in a few cities in America, we can make it work anywhere in America,” Musk told analysts on a conference call in April. He has called Waymo’s approach “fragile,” saying its ability to expand is “limited.”

Many investors have bought in to Musk’s vision. Some analysts attribute the vast majority of Tesla’s stock-market value to autonomous driving capabilities that investors are betting can reach scale much faster than Waymo’s efforts. If successful in a rapid commercial expansion, the robotaxi business could solidify a new growth engine for Tesla.

Reuters interviewed a dozen current and former industry executives, regulators, law-enforcement officials and city planners to contrast Tesla’s early expansion efforts with those of Waymo, revealing sharp contrasts in their technical and go-to-market strategies.

Current and former Waymo executives say their market-by-market approach of mapping and testing before expansion is essential to ensuring safety, helping factor in the peculiarities of each city’s roads – for example, steep inclines in San Francisco that make it difficult to see what’s ahead.

“We really need to understand the core ingredients of each of these cities,” said Aman Nalavade, a Waymo product manager, in an interview with Reuters. “There is a lot of risk in doing this incorrectly.”

Musk has also talked about the importance of safety. “We don’t want to take any chances, and so we are going to go cautiously,” he said last month.

[…]

Waymo says it is reducing the testing time in new cities as its autonomous technology gains more experience and applies previous lessons to new geographies.

Paul Miller, an analyst at market research firm Forrester, said Waymo’s approach is safer and more realistic in the short term, while Tesla’s approach is a riskier bet but a “far cheaper approach to scale globally.”

Bank of America analysts estimate Waymo lost between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion last year. But analysts expect that Waymo’s model will eventually be profitable as vehicle costs come down and ridership grows.

Morningstar analysts projected in a March report that Waymo would have a “rapid ramp-up period” over the next few years while Tesla would have a “slower initial robotaxi rollout,” because its software “will not be ready.” Morningstar expects Tesla to launch fully autonomous robotaxis by 2028 and surpass Waymo’s ride-hailing market share by the end of the decade.

We’ve looked at this before, from a business model standpoint and how the overall way that we travel could be affected if one of these approaches becomes dominant. This is more about the technology and how it affects each companies’ ability to grow. There are other significant players out there – Zoox, the fledgling Amazon robotaxi service, for example – but so far I’ve not seen any of them factored into this analysis, probably because none of them have officially launched a service that people are using yet. Everyone is catching up to Waymo and Tesla at this point.

And along those lines:

Tesla has expanded its Robotaxi coverage area in Austin for the third time in just two months.

The company first launched the Robotaxi service in June, initially covering just a tiny, 22 square mile area in southern Austin. Now, with this latest increase, Tesla covers 173 square miles in Austin, and the company says it’s also increased the number of available cars by 50 percent.

A fun fact noted by Teslarati: The Robotaxi service area now also covers Tesla’s own Gigafactory Texas.

With this increase, Tesla has far surpassed Alphabet’s Waymo, which currently covers 90 square miles in Austin with its self-driving cars.

[…]

It’s worth noting, however, that despite the increased service area and the number of cars available, Tesla’s Robotaxi service is still only available via invite to a limited number of users.

And so it remains hard to take Musk’s claims seriously. Both Tesla and Waymo are looking at further expansion in the near future. My advice to not engage with Tesla’s service remains in place.

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

Interview with Vincent Sanders

Posted on September 8, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

As we know, there is a hearing scheduled to begin October 1 in federal court to hear arguments about the new Congressional map. The original group of plaintiffs against the current map, whose trial was finally heard in May, subsequently filed a new lawsuit and a motion to block the new map, which will be held at this hearing. They are joined in these new complaints by a group of new plaintiffs.

In looking through all of those legal filings, I noticed that one of the new plaintiffs’ names was familiar to me – Vincent Sanders, a precinct chair and local activist whom I’d met through Swing Left during the first Trump term. I’d always wondered how individual plaintiffs for these lawsuits get identified and what they are expected to do, so I asked him if he’d mind if I asked him a few questions about that. He agreed, and here’s the conversation we had. He also sent me this document, which he uses to help explain to friends and people who ask him about the redistricting process what’s going on. It’s a fairly short conversation, and we agreed I’d ask a few followup questions after the hearing concludes in October. Let me know what you think.

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lawsuit filed over ban on lab-grown meat

Posted on September 8, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Fascinating.

Two cultivated meat companies have filed a lawsuit against officials in Texas over the law that bans the sales of lab-grown meat in the state for two years.

California-based companies UPSIDE Foods, which makes cultivated chicken, and Wildtype, which makes cultivated salmon are suing Attorney General Ken Paxton, Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas Health and Human Services, and Travis County, accusing them of government overreach.

“This law has nothing to do with protecting public health and safety and everything to do with protecting conventional agriculture from innovative out-of-state competition,” said Paul Sherman, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit law firm that is representing UPSIDE Foods and Wildtype. “That is not a legitimate use of government power.”

In June, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 261, which bans the sale of lab-grown meat in Texas for two years. Lab-grown meat, also known as cell cultivated meat or cultured meat, is made from taking animal cells and growing them in an incubator or bioreactor until they form an edible product.

Lawmakers expressed concerns during the Senate committee hearing on the bill that cultured meat will disrupt traditional family farms in Texas, as well as concerns over product labelling and safety.

[…]

“We do believe that Americans should have the freedom to choose what to eat,” said Justin Kolbeck, a co-founder of Wildtype. “We think even if you hate the idea of cultivated seafood, we hope you agree that we’re on a slippery slope if we’re handing over intensely personal choices like what to feed ourselves and our families to the government.”

Sherman, the lead counsel on the case, added that the federal government has approved cultivated meat as safe for consumers. In 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave approval for two companies, UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat, to sell cell-cultivated chicken and a year later, the U.S. Department for Agriculture (USDA) approved the label of “cell-cultivated chicken” for the products.

As of July, four companies have received regulatory clearance to sell cultured meat in the United States, according to the Good Food Institute.

Texas lawmakers and the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, who testified in favor of SB 261 before it was passed, said that they are concerned about the safety of cultured meat products.

“The USDA and The FDA have agreed that these products are safe,” Sherman said. “If that’s not good enough for some consumers, there’s a simple solution, don’t eat it.”

I basically buy that argument. I don’t buy the argument about protecting the cattle industry from the competition. If the FDA under a real President approved this for sale, I will accept that it’s safe to consume. We are all free to choose not to do so.

The story notes that this same group sued Florida in 2024 over a similar ban. That case is still pending. Here’s their page about the Texas suit for more information. For those of you keeping score at home, at present you can get raw milk and ivermectin in Texas. You cannot at this time get lab-grown meat. Whether or not you can get THC remains undetermined. I’ll keep an eye on this.

Posted in Food, glorious food, Legal matters | Tagged | 1 Comment

The WPBL holds a tryout

Posted on September 8, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Another step forward for professional women’s baseball in the US.

That future began to actualize over a whirlwind weekend in Washington, where more than 600 women from 10 countries arrived for open tryouts ahead of the WPBL’s inaugural season next summer. Those hopefuls included heralded vets of the international circuit, such as [Kelsie] Whitmore and Japanese pitcher Ayami Sato. Others, including a few women in their 40s and 50s, attended the tryout as a shot-in-the-dark bucket-list item, a chance to see how they would fare or what they have left.

For many, it was the first time they had ever shared a ballfield exclusively with other women. According to Baseball for All, roughly 100,000 girls play youth baseball each year in the U.S., but only about 1,000 continue into high school ball. Participation gradually dwindles throughout Little League and then plummets once girls reach middle and high school. Many of the most talented players are incentivized to switch to softball, which offers ample travel ball and scholarship opportunities.

Baseball for All — founded by [Justine] Siegal in 2010 — was designed to change that. And now, Siegal’s newest project, the WPBL, is meant to serve as the capstone: a league for all young girls and women to strive toward.

That league took its most important step forward on Monday, once the original pool of 600 had been whittled down to 100 players. Those finalists were split into four squads that played a pair of scrimmages at Nationals Park. The turnout for a weekday morning was strong, but the symbolism was stronger still. The stands were dotted with young girls clutching baseballs and pens, eagerly seeking autographs from their new heroes. Co-founder Keith Stein said the league has sold more than $20,000 worth of hats in just the past week.

[…]

Stein announced that team names and host cities will be determined within the next four weeks. The dispersal draft, for which all 100 players in Monday’s games are eligible, will be held in October. An unidentified number of international players, unable to make the trip to D.C., will also be included in the draft pool. Notably, athletes still competing at the collegiate level, such as Brown’s Olivia Pichardo, will not participate in the league so as to not jeopardize their NCAA eligibility. Stein also shared that a number of high-profile ambassadors will be added to the league’s leadership group in the near future.

Current rumblings point toward an inaugural season featuring six clubs playing in one central location. That would ease the financial and logistical lift of organizing city-to-city travel. Identifying the right area — an easy-to-travel-to metropolitan center with multiple suitable venues and sufficient interest in women’s baseball — is crucial. Games are likely to be held exclusively on weekends in order to maximize attendance. That schedule would allow many of the athletes, who will be compensated relative to their draft position, to still work during the week.

See here and here for the background. I’m excited and I’m looking forward to the launch of this new league. More baseball is good for us all, and having a new women’s league is even better. Let’s get this started.

UPDATE: NBC News also has a good overview of the current action.

Posted in Baseball | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Weekend link dump for September 7

Posted on September 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

“This isn’t a debate about vaccine safety— researchers take that seriously and study it continuously. This is a coordinated campaign to undermine evidence-based medicine itself. When the nation’s top health official calls for retracting peer-reviewed research (a recent Danish study that assessed data from 1.2 million children) based on misrepresentations of scientific methodology, we’ve moved beyond normal scientific discourse into dangerous territory.”

“What Your Go-To Drink Order Says About You, According to Servers”.

“If more men behaved like Kelce, conservatives might have already found the solution to the marriage and fertility crises they worry about.”

“His argument is not with the 1619 Project or with Ibram X. Kendi or with whichever other Black academic white “centrist” posers are fretting about this week. His argument is with Calvin and Augustine and Paul.”

“A university professor has set her team’s research on the plight of Florida’s declining oyster population to music, aiming to inform a receptive new audience about the “catastrophic” scale of the crisis.”

“Even Super Rich Lamborghini Buyers Are Getting Scared Off By The Tariffs A Lot Of Them Probably Voted For”.

A brief history of Dippin’ Dots, which I would have sworn had been the “Ice Cream of the Future” since at least the 70s, but apparently just since 1988. And after the usual kinds of corporate foibles, they’ve diversified into various non-ice cream ventures.

A well-deserved award for the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, who did not take any crap from a 2024 election denier.

RIP, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, disgraced former Congressman and the inspiration for TPM’s Golden Duke awards.

“Meta has appropriated the names and likenesses of celebrities – including Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway and Selena Gomez – to create dozens of flirty social-media chatbots without their permission, Reuters has found. While many were created by users with a Meta tool for building chatbots, Reuters discovered that a Meta employee had produced at least three, including two Taylor Swift “parody” bots.”

RIP, Graham Greene, trailblazing Canadian First Nations actor who was nominated for an Oscar for Dances with Wolves.

“Everything is on fire, and now I can’t even buy yarn.”

“But in a world in which the word “justice” was the term corrupted by the otherworldly abstraction white Christianity requires to accommodate injustice, perhaps the term “righteousness” would be spared that corruption. Maybe in that world, what we call “injustice” would be called “unrighteousness.” Maybe the President Grant of that world would create the Department of Righteousness to beat back the Klan and enforce the Reconstruction Amendments.”

Let them fight.

Let them fight.

“The cruel and contemptuous, in government and out of it, will tell you that poverty is about the choices you make, and I am here to tell you, from experience, that far more than that, it is about the choices we make. We have chosen, in the aggregate, to make things difficult, well beyond that ability of most individuals in poverty to make useful choices, or to make those choices stick without luck or other outside intervention.”

“DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Seems To Have A Poorly Hidden Secret Facebook Page“.

RIP, George Raveling, Hall of Fame basketball coach and Nike executive who signed Michael Jordan to an endorsement contract.

RIP, Giorgio Armani, iconic fashion designer.

“What can they do? They could demand revision of the laws Trump is currently using to invade states with the US military (the National Guard is the US military). They could insist on binding guarantees against further rescissions. They could insist that Trump follow the Constitution and get Congress’s approval for his tariff regime. That’s absolutely what the Constitution requires and, again, it’s also extremely good politics. They could seek to enforce these points by insisting on backing only short-term continuing resolutions.”

“So while it’s possible that Swift’s engagement is just one more thread in her meticulously woven tapestry of faux heterosexuality, Gaylors should take comfort in the knowledge that she may just be a bisexual woman doing what bisexual women often do: marrying a man.”

“Melania Trump is now pimping AI like it’s her job”.

Baseball at all levels is so analytically optimized that public displays of AI usage are truly nothing more than stunts. But hey, they got a news story and I linked to it, so give them the W.

RIP, Davey Johnson, former All Star second baseman and manager who once his 43 home runs as a teammate of Henry Aaron, and won three World Series as player and manager. He was also a math major at Trinity University, my alma mater.

“Is This The Hidden Part of the Trump-Epstein Drama?”

RIP, Ken Dryden, Hall of Fame goaltender who helped the Montreal Canadiens win six Stanley Cup titles in the 1970s, later a member of Canada’s Parliament and a Minister of Social Development.

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged | Leave a comment

Talarico says he’s in for Senate

Posted on September 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s go.

Rep. James Talarico

Texas Rep. James Talarico will announce Tuesday he’s jumping into the race for U.S. Senate, according to two people familiar with the plans who were granted anonymity to discuss them.

Politico and CNN reported the plan earlier Friday.

Talarico will be the second high-profile Democrat to enter the race.

Talarico, a rising star among Texas Democrats, has made a name for himself through a string of viral social media moments that show him drawing on his Christian faith while he spars with Republican colleagues and conservative media hosts, covering topics like school vouchers and Texas’ new policy of requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms. His videos on TikTok regularly earn millions of views, and he notched a coveted appearance earlier this summer on Joe Rogan’s top-rated podcast show.

A former public school teacher and nonprofit director, Talarico, 36, has served in the Texas House since 2018, representing North Austin and parts of Pflugerville and Round Rock, where he grew up. He hopes to one day become a pastor, earning his master’s degree in theological studies last year from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Talarico will join former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred and former astronaut Terry Virts in a closely watched Democratic primary that might still generate more candidates. Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of El Paso and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio have flirted with joining the race.

The contest is of particular interest to Democrats who see blood in the water for incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. The four-term Republican is facing a tough primary challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who Democrats see as vulnerable in a general election due to his ethics scandals, infidelities and hardline conservative stances. Paxton has led Cornyn in polling, though recent surveys suggest the race is tightening.

[…]

Talarico has leaned in recent months into the idea that Democrats need to show voters they are fighting for the middle class against billionaires and those who would cheat the system. After he deployed that argument with Rogan, the politically amorphous podcast host who has recently veered right, told Talarico near the end of the two-and-a-half-hour show that he should run for president.

More recently, Talarico was on the forefront of Democratic messaging against the mid-decade redistricting effort pushed by Trump to protect the GOP’s congressional majority, joining the contingent of House lawmakers who camped out in Illinois last month to delay the new map.

“The Democratic Party has forgotten how to fight, but this critical moment in our country’s history demands fighters, not folders,” Talarico told a room full of Democrats in Hays County in August. “It’s time to start flipping tables.”

I’ll be honest, I would have preferred Talarico run for Governor if he was going to go statewide. That’s partly because I’m fine with Allred 2.0 and partly because we need a bigger name in the Governor’s race. But there’s no question that Talarico will bring excitement and energy to the Senate race, and he’s already made a name for himself nationally. I’ll be very interested to see what the October finance reports look like. Welcome to the race, Rep. Talarico.

Posted in Election 2026 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The latest abortion news

Posted on September 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll start here.

The Texas Senate passed new bounty hunter-style abortion legislation Wednesday night to quash mailed abortion pills, targeting a method that has slipped through the cracks of abortion bans and contributed to the slight rise in the total number of abortions since the Supreme Court decided Dobbs.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), staunchly anti-abortion, is expected to sign it.

The bill would allow people to sue the manufacturers, deliverers and providers of mailed abortion pills for damages. It sets up a long-predicted abortion showdown: red state abortion bans versus blue state shield laws. Many blue states passed such laws after Dobbs, specifically to protect providers and patients in their states from red state prosecution.

The case law here is thin and the central questions largely untested. How far can states’ laws extend out of their territory?

“Patients leaving the state to access care, get the procedure and come home is one thing,” Jessie Hill, associate dean and reproductive rights scholar at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, told TPM. “But when you’re sending pills into a state, you are reaching into that state in a sense.”

[…]

Texas’ new legislation, by design, will be difficult to preemptively challenge, as it’s enforced by ordinary citizens. A legal clash is likely only after someone is sued under it.

“They’re trying to provoke a fight over the Comstock Act,” Hill said, referencing an 1873 federal law banning the mailing of abortifacients that the anti-abortion movement has been eyeing to ban mailing the medication.

Texas has been increasingly citing the Comstock Act in other legal attacks on abortion access, including in its effort to join a red-state attack on mifepristone. That zombified case is the latest iteration of an effort that the unanimous Supreme Court rejected for lack of standing last June. It’s dragged on at U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s court, where a random assortment of red states has tried to reinvigorate it under the infamously anti-abortion judge, despite the litigation having no jurisdictional ties to north Texas, where his courtroom is based. Texas is currently trying to remedy that problem, asking to join the case earlier this month.

The fight over medication abortion is the fundamental one that will shape the post-Dobbs world. The anti-abortion movement has been stunningly successful, even pre-Dobbs, in regulating surgical abortion out of existence in large swaths of the country. Medication abortion, though, which has steadily increased in popularity, has proven much harder to track and kill.

“It feels like we’re in a Prohibition-like era,” Hill said. “A ban doesn’t mean abortions stop happening.”

It’s hard to know what will happen but easy enough to see how it will play out, at least in the beginning. Someone will file one of those bounty hunter suits against a doctor in New York or wherever, the relevant county clerk in that state will refuse to process the judgment based on that state’s abortion protection laws, and off we go into the federal courts. The one thing I know for sure is that the next time the Dems have a trifecta in Washington they damn well better pass federal laws to protect abortion access and end all of this bullshit. Until then, this is what we’re gonna get.

We’re also gonna keep getting stuff like this.

A Corpus Christi woman is suing an abortion pill supplier, alleging a former sexual partner terminated her pregnancy by lacing her drink with medication produced by the group.

In a wrongful-death lawsuit, filed Monday in a Texas federal court, the woman claims her former partner secretly dissolved abortion pills from Aid Access into a hot beverage and served it to her leading to the termination of her pregnancy.

Aid Access is a European nonprofit founded by Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts that provides access to medication abortion by mail in all 50 states.

U.S. doctors in Democratic-led states have been able to use abortion shield laws to prescribe and mail Aid Access pills to patients in anti-abortion states. In February, a New York doctor was fined $100,000 and ordered by a Collin County judge to stop prescribing and mailing abortion pills to Texans.

“The Court has personal jurisdiction over Aid Access and Rebecca Gomperts because they purposefully and knowingly mailed abortion-inducing drugs into Texas in violation of state and federal law,” court documents read.

The complaint alleges Aid Access violated the Comstock Act, an 1873 federal law that bans the mailing of “obscene” materials, including those related to contraception and abortion.

[…]

The woman is also suing her former partner, accusing them of violating Texas law, which prohibits almost all abortions after six weeks.

The woman became pregnant in February and her and her partner, who was stationed in Corpus Christi to become a Marine Corps pilot, disagreed on how to handle the pregnancy, according to court documents.

Over the course of the next three months, the woman and her partner went back and forth on how to handle the situation with the partner advocating for the woman to get an abortion, text conversations in the court documents show.

“I could make us some warm relaxing tea instead of alcohol,” the partner’s message reads.

The lawsuit alleged on April 5, he visited the woman’s house and laced her hot chocolate with an abortion pill while she watched TV. Within 30 minutes consuming the drink she began hemorrhaging and cramping.

She went to the emergency and lost her pregnancy at eight weeks, according to court documents.

The lawsuit comes a month after a Texas man, Jerry Rodriguez, sued a California doctor for wrongful-death after his girlfriend allegedly used pills prescribed by the doctor to terminate two pregnancies.

That’s from a few weeks ago. I didn’t blog about it at the time because sometimes it’s just too much and I don’t want to deal with it.

But then this happened.

A man accused by his Texas neighbor of spiking her drink with an abortion-inducing medication is fighting back, alleging in a new countersuit that she fabricated the incident to help bolster the Legislature’s effort this month to ban mail-in abortion pills.

In the 96-page filing, Christopher Cooprider’s attorney argues that the original claim was a political ploy.

“After seeing criminal authorities reject her fantastical story, why has she recycled it here in a federal court complaint filed on August 11, 2025?” wrote Cooprider’s attorney, Mikal Watts. “So it could be immediately and widely disseminated to national and Texas media outlets that morning prior to a Senate State Affairs Committee hearing set to begin at 10:00 a.m. that same day.”

Liana Davis, of Corpus Christi, had sued Cooprider as well as the online abortion pill supplier Aid Access and its doctor for wrongful death, claiming that he laced her hot chocolate with medicine provided by the group.

Cooprider now denies those claims and is seeking $1.1 billion in damages.

[…]

Watts, Cooprider’s attorney, is a major Democratic donor who long said he opposes abortion in most cases, which became a flashpoint in 2007 when he considered a run against Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. He later opted not to run.

“While right-to-life advocacy is commendable and perhaps justified under the Sixth Commandment that “Thou Shalt not Kill,” one may not capriciously cross the Rubicon from the elevated light of righteousness brought by sincere religious advocacy into a pit of darkness and lies by purposefully ignoring the Ninth Commandment – “Thou Shalt Not Give False Testimony against Thy Neighbor,’” Watts wrote in the countersuit.

“That is what Davis has done here with this suit, and she must be punished for it.”

[…]

Cooprider, in his countersuit, claimed that Davis had previously been accused of poisoning her ex-husband, that she drank around her children and was an irresponsible mother, and that she became emotionally infatuated with Cooprider after he tried to end their brief relationship.

“When Cooprider did not agree to stay in a relationship with her, Davis began an escalating destructive, obsessive and compulsive, pattern of behavior which included: destruction of evidence, multiple faked miscarriages, demands for gifts and attention, blackmail, threats of court martial, and now, a false accusation of murder against Cooprider,” the suit reads.

Cooprider also claimed that Davis had previously asked him to procure abortion pills for an earlier, alleged pregnancy that turned out not to be real.

Oh my. I will definitely keep an eye on this one now. Mother Jones, where I saw this update first, and The Barbed Wire have more.

Posted in Legal matters, That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

State GOP sues to force closed primaries

Posted on September 7, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

I have no idea how this might work.

Still the only voter ID anyone should need

The Republican Party of Texas filed a lawsuit against Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson on Thursday in a bid to restrict participation in the GOP’s primary elections to only voters registered with the party.

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court, claims Texas’ open primaries violate the Republican Party’s First Amendment associational rights to choose party leaders. The GOP said in its suit that it would prefer the Legislature to pass a law allowing only registered party members to vote in primary elections, but that it could not wait for lawmakers to act.

“[G]iven the steps necessary to transition to a fully closed primary in an orderly fashion, the Party cannot continue to wait and risk further political inaction and delay that could lead to open primaries (or even a bridge election) in 2028 as well,” the lawsuit read.

[…]

Using a suit against a secretary of state to restrict access in the primaries is not an unprecedented maneuver. A federal district judge ruled in favor of the Idaho Republican Party in a suit against their state’s secretary in 2011, closing the state’s primaries as requested. Ten states have closed primaries, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Because Texas has open primaries, people who traditionally affiliate with the Democratic or Republican parties can vote in the other party’s primary election, commonly referred to as “crossover voting.” The suit alleges that crossover voting leads to the selection of more moderate candidates and gives non-party members unfair influence.

“In Texas, Republicans, and only Republicans, should select Republican nominees,” Republican Party of Texas Chair Abraham George said in a brief statement posted on social media.

The suit pointed to the 2024 primary races of two House representatives — former House speaker Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, and Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston — as examples of the prevalence of crossover voting. Both lawmakers won their primary races by less than 800 votes, and the suit suggested the pair prevailed over their opponents because of votes from Democratic and independent-leaning voters.

The suit also says the state GOP will be able to create its own registration and verification process for a closed primary if the court rules in its favor.

The Texas GOP adopted new rules in 2024 calling for closed primaries and bolstered them again in June.

The Idaho example notwithstanding, it’s hard for me to see why a court would take this seriously. This very much is a legislative issue, one that you’d think the Republicans would be able to accomplish if they wanted to. The claims of injury via the party’s disfavored candidates winning their elections seem ludicrous as well. But I know better than to guess what is beyond the pale for some federal judges.

If they do somehow win, how would that manifest itself? Force everyone to re-register with a party? That sounds like a huge mess. Maybe the state GOP does have a plan to make that happen, at least for their voters. Color me skeptical.

And again if they do win, this feels like it could backfire on them. Like, it may turn off a bunch of more casual Republican voters, who won’t want to jump through the hoops of qualifying to vote in a closed primary, or who might not qualify and be offended by that. They would almost certainly achieve the goal of nominating even more hardcore and extreme candidates, which may be all they care about.

Again, I don’t think this will happen, but who knows. I’m not in the business of giving them advice, but the old adage “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” seems appropriate here. What do you think? The Chron has more.

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

The CD18 lineup

Posted on September 6, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Wednesday was also the filing deadline for the CD18 special election. Amanda Edwards has a photo of the SOS proclamation that includes a listing of the candidates and their parties. This Community Impact story also has the lineup and campaign webpages where it could find them. A brief summary:

The Democrats that you’ve heard of:

Amanda Edwards
Christian Menefee
Isaiah Martin
Jolanda Jones

The Dems you probably haven’t heard of:

Feldon Bonner
Stephen Huey
Valencia Williams

The Republicans:

Theodis Daniel
Ollie Knox
Carmen Montiel
Carter Page
Ronald Whitfield

The independents:

Reyna Anderson
Vince Duncan
George Foreman IV

The Green:

Tammie Jean Rochester

That’s sixteen candidates in total, down from the insane earlier count of 29, of whom ten have webpages per that CI article. Zoe Cadore, who had done a pretty good job of fundraising so far and who was in that recent candidate forum, sent out an email on Wednesday saying that she had decided to end her campaign. I feel reasonably confident we’ll see her in the future.

The only recognizable names to me from the non-Dems are Foreman and Montiel, who ran against Sheila Jackson Lee in 2022 and got 26% of the vote. I’ll look to see who has raised what in the October finance reports, but I don’t expect any surprises.

I still think the single most likely outcome in November is a Menefee/Edwards runoff. Jolanda Jones probably has the best name recognition among Dems, and I’m sure Foreman will pick up a stray vote or two on the basis of his name. Countywide turnout in 2021 was 9.2% and in 2017 was 6.7% – those are the only two cycles we’ve had with an odd year and no City of Houston general election. At Large #4 may draw out a few voters, but this race is the marquee matchup and I would expect it to have turnout well in excess of the overall figure. Maybe 15-20%? I’m just guessing, and there weren’t any special elections in those years to provide a basis for comparison. We’ll see how visible the campaigns are, because that will be what drives the voters who don’t show up for the school board and Constitutional amendment elections out to the polls.

Posted in Election 2025 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Lawsuit filed against anti-student protest bill

Posted on September 6, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

This is the time in the calendar when bills from the last legislative session that are now in effect get sued for various reasons. This one is particularly head-scratching.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression sued the University of Texas System in federal court on Wednesday to block a new state law that creates rules for campus protests and gives university systems’ governing boards the power to limit where they can take place.

In the 59-page lawsuit, attorneys from FIRE argue that Senate Bill 2972 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments because it prohibits protected expression and speech. According to the law, expressive activity is banned on campuses from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., a rule that applies to students, campus groups and university employees.

“The First Amendment doesn’t set when the sun goes down,” said FIRE attorney JT Morris. “University students have expressive freedom whether it’s midnight or midday, and Texas can’t just legislate those constitutional protections out of existence.”

Lawmakers passed SB 2972 during this year’s regular legislative session largely in response to last year’s pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses. Republicans who support the law say it will prevent disruption and unsafe behavior seen during those demonstrations. Critics say it contradicts previous conservative efforts to protect free speech rights on Texas campuses.

Here’s what you need to know about the effort to block the law.

What the law does: SB 2972, authored by State Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, creates new limits on how people can protest on campus and carves out blackout hours for expressive activity, a term that has attracted criticism due to its broad interpretation.

SB 2972 took effect Sept. 1, essentially walking back a prior law passed by the Texas Legislature in 2019 that mandated all outdoor spaces on state universities be designated as open forums for public speech.

In addition to the overnight restrictions, the law prevents demonstrators from using microphones or other devices to amplify sound while protesting during class hours or if it intimidates others or interferes with campus operations, a university employee or a peace officer doing their job.

Protesters are also barred from building encampments, taking down an institution’s U.S. flag to put up another nation’s or organization’s banner, and wearing disguises to avoid being identified or to intimidate others. In addition, university employees and students at a campus protest are required to provide proof of their identity and status with the school when asked by a university official.

Brandon Creighton is set to be the next Chancellor of Texas Tech. Clearly, he’s the guy you want in charge of young minds.

Not everything about this is egregious – some restrictions on sound amplification while classes are in session are fine, though why it requires a law and not just school rules is beyond me. I’ll let FIRE explain what the real problems are.

In 2019, Texas was a national leader in protecting student speech, passing a robust law enshrining free speech on public university campuses. But after a series of high-profile protests over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in 2024, the Texas legislature reversed course and passed Senate Bill 2972, transforming the speech-protective 2019 law into one mandating that the state’s public universities and colleges impose a host of sweeping censorship measures.

[…]

FIRE’s lawsuit is challenging two major provisions of the law, which went into effect on Sept. 1. The first requires public universities in Texas to ban all “expressive activities” on campus between the hours of 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., which the law defines as “any speech or expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment.”

That is a shocking prohibition of protected speech at public universities. Under the new law, universities now have the power to discipline students at nighttime for wearing a hat with a political message, playing music, writing an op-ed, attending candlelight vigils — even just chatting with friends.

“This law gives campus administrators a blank check to punish speech, and that authority will inevitably be used to target unpopular speech,” said FIRE attorney Adam Steinbaugh. “Administrators have plenty of ways to prevent disruptive conduct that do not involve such a broad censorship mandate.”

FIRE is also challenging the law’s mandate that universities ban student groups from a host of protected expression during the last two weeks of any semester or term, including inviting guest speakers, using amplified sound, or playing a drum. The Fellowship of Christian University Students at UT-Dallas, for example, would be unable to invite an off-campus minister to lead a prayer during finals.

“Our organization gives students on campus a place to worship with one another and hear from Christian leaders,” said FOCUS committee chair Juke Matthews. “For many of them, this is their church away from home. This law would yank away part of their support system right at the most stressful time of the term.”

Note those last paragraphs – I have to assume that the likes of Brandon Creighton did not have this outcome in mind. Bravo to FIRE for its recruitment of plaintiffs. The Current notes one more bit of irony in all this.

The petition also points out that SB 2972 marks an abrupt about-face for the GOP-controlled Texas Legislature, which passed a 2019 law requiring universities to ensure that all campus outdoor common areas be available to stage protests, so long as demonstrators obey the law.

The Lege passed that legislation after Texas A&M leaders, voicing safety concerns, cancelled a rally featuring white nationalist Richard Spencer, the Texas Tribune reports. Around the same time, Texas Southern University refused to allow a speech by a Republican Texas lawmaker because it was organized by an unrecognized student group.

And now Christian groups are saying they’re being victimized by this latest Republican speech-suppressing effort. I feel pretty good about the chances of this suit to succeed. KXAN has more.

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

From the “We don’t have to take our clothes off” department

Posted on September 6, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

Coming to a street near you.

As Houston peels away bike lanes, a group of cyclists plans to peel away its clothes and pedal through the city in protest.

World Naked Bike Ride Houston is planned for Sept. 13, both beginning and ending at Super Happy Fun Land on Polk Street. Riders will gather at 6 p.m. and set off at 8 p.m. The route, as in past years, will be announced shortly before departure and will be about 12 miles long at a relaxed pace.

One of the organizers, David Collins, said this will be the 14th ride the group has done in Houston, but the rides are not always protests.

“In recent years, we’ve had things to celebrate,” Collins said. “We were riding in favor of the bike infrastructure that’s been constructed over the last few years. But with the current mayoral administration, we’re seeing a reversal of that. That’s kind of sad.”

Since Mayor John Whitmire took office, the city has pushed to either halt or alter road projects that included bike lanes or have removed protected bike lanes and replace them with “sharrows” — street markings that are intended to encourage drivers to share the road.

[…]

Houston’s ride is one of dozens held worldwide each year, from New Orleans to Austin to London. Some cities provide police escorts, but Houston’s event is organized independently, without permits.

The planned ride is free, but the organizers are taking donations. Interested riders can get more information from their Facebook page.

Collins said the rides are usually have anywhere from 20 to 100 riders and that they get cheers everywhere they go.

“Only once in a while do we have somebody who says something negative about it,” Collins said.

As for riding a bike in the nude?

“A lot of people think it’s uncomfortable, but it’s not,” Collins said. “If you position yourself correctly on the saddle, it’s really not a big deal.”

Here’s a Forbes story about the WNBR, which is an international event that takes place over several weeks and which has been done in Houston for more than a decade. As that notes, it has long been “a peaceful part protest, part celebration advocating for cyclists’ rights, the end of the world’s oil dependency and a curb on car culture and pollution.” Houston’s version this year is a bit of a variation on that, but it’s well withing that original vision. You’re either the kind of person that already knew about this stuff or this is all new to you. If you were in that latter group, congratulations: Now you know. The calendar of events is here; you can still go to Austin’s event on October 4 if this one doesn’t work for you.

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The At Large #4 lineup

Posted on September 5, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

CM Letitia Plummer

Wednesday was the filing deadline for both CD18 and Houston City Council At Large #4. There are fourteen filed candidates plus one write-in. I will offer a bit of commentary on each.

– Alejandra Salinas, Dwight Boykins, and Al Lloyd were in the opening lineup for this seat. So was Obes Nwabara, but he posted to Instagram on Wednesday that he was withdrawing from the race. Jordan Thomas had a July campaign finance report, so he was an early entrant as well.

– Brad Batteau is a constant presence in City Council elections by now. Sonia Rivera ran for At Large #5 in 2019, receiving 11.1% of the vote, and District H in 2019, receiving 11.8% of the vote, neither of which got her into the runoff. Martina Dixon has run for various things including District E in 2023, losing to Fred Flickinger. Kathy Tatum was a candidate for Mayor in 2023. She got 515 votes.

– Angie (Angeanette) Thibodeaux was a candidate for HD139 in the Democratic primary in 2024. She led the field in March but lost in the runoff to now-Rep. Charlene Ward Johnson. I sent her emails to ask for an interview but they weren’t delivered, so I didn’t pursue it any further. Ethan Hale is an HCC student and is listed as the “Research, Polling, Outreach, Community Coordinator” for Recall Houston.

– Adrian Rogers appears to be an attorney. Miguel Herrera appears to a a student at UH-Downtown and the Vice President of its student body. Cris Wright appears to have a TED talk about intellectual capital. Sheraz Siddiqui appears to be on the IT Service staff for the HCDE. He is the only one in this group who has a campaign page of some kind. (*) I say “appears to be” for all of these folks because while a Google search for their name plus “Houston City Council” led me to these links, I can’t swear that they are also the City Council candidates.

– Kristal Mtaza-Lyons is the write-in candidate. Maybe she didn’t want to pay the filing fee? I dunno.

So that’s what I know. I will do some number of interviews for this race, probably four or five. Note that while both this and CD18 are sure to go to runoffs, they will have those runoffs on different dates – Council in December, CD18 in January. Yeah, get ready for “voter fatigue” again.

(*) After finishing the first draft, I noticed that it’s “Shiraz” on the HCDE page and “Sheraz” on the Facebook page, and also on the City Secretary page. That Google search still took me to that HCDE page, but then it also gave me a bunch of results for “Chris” (not “Cris”) Wright. Sheraz Siddiqui’s Facebook page did not have anything on its About tab. Insert shrug emoji here.

Posted in Election 2025 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on The At Large #4 lineup

Lege fails to pass disaster emergency response bill

Posted on September 5, 2025 by Charles Kuffner

What a bunch of jokers.

Efforts to overhaul local emergency response to disasters failed after the Texas Senate concluded its business early Thursday without taking up the House’s version of a bill that would have mandated new training and licensing requirements.

Senate Bill 2 would have created license requirements for local emergency coordinators, initiated registration requirements for disaster volunteers and established a mass-casualty disaster training program for certain justices of the peace. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the upper chamber, did not state on the Senate floor why the bill was not taken up before the chamber adjourned Thursday morning.

SB 2 was one of several bills aimed at remedying problems made evident during the July 4 floods, in which more than 130 people were killed and dozens of homes and businesses were destroyed. The Legislature passed House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1 on Wednesday night, which would create new requirements and restrictions for camps operating in or near floodplains. SB 2 had already received initial approval from the Senate in August, but underwent changes in the House that the two chambers disagreed on.

Representatives in the House added amendments that allowed counties to be reimbursed by the state comptroller’s office for helicopter use during certain disasters and give emergency coordinators more input on proposals for transmission lines built in floodplains. Lawmakers from both chambers needed to agree on a new, final version, or have the Senate agree to the House changes before the bill could be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott for signing.

But they didn’t. It just died on the vine in the Senate. Someone should ask Dan Patrick why. The Republicans gave themselves plenty of goodies this session. They did pass some flood-related bills, but not all of them. In every case, it was for lack of action in the Senate. Again, someone should ask Dan Patrick why.

Also not happening:

The Texas Legislature ended another legislative overtime round without banning or further regulating most THC products after a monthslong fight between lawmakers to rein in the exploding hemp industry.

The Texas House gaveled out of the second special session late Wednesday, leaving behind Senate Bill 6, which would have broadly banned consumable hemp products with any “detectable amount of any cannabinoid.” Only those with cannabidiol or cannabigerol, which are both non-psychoactive, would have stayed legal.

That means most forms of consumable hemp-derived products stay legal in Texas. There also remains no age limit on who can purchase these goods, which come in the form of gummies, smokeable flowers and drinks. Yet it is now illegal to sell — but not possess — THC vape pens under a separate law, passed earlier this year, that went into effect Monday.

The House’s move followed a last-minute effort earlier in the day between top Republicans to hash out a compromise, after SB 6 sat without a hearing for two weeks in a House committee.

Earlier in the night, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had announced that the Senate would wrap up the second special session without any new THC restrictions or ban in a post on X. Patrick said he, Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dustin Burrows were not able to reach an agreement despite “long discussions.”

“My position remains unchanged; the Senate and I are for a total THC ban,” he said, adding that the Senate will adjourn after finalizing its remaining flood bills.

[…]

A full ban cleared the Senate both special sessions this summer but stalled in the House, where it became clear that it lacked enough votes to pass. During the regular session, some House members said they voted for a full THC prohibition under the impression that their unrelated bills would die in the Senate if they failed to get in line.

“We looked hard for that common ground and just never could find it,” Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston and the ban’s author, said Tuesday afternoon before the last-ditch negotiations began. “We just don’t see that we can get anything off the House floor.”

Kyle Bingham, a farmer in the South Plains who also serves as vice president of the National Hemp Growers Association, said it has been frustrating to navigate the legislative uncertainty over the past few months. Instead of growing hemp, he said he has been focusing on other crops such as wheat and cotton.

“It’s already difficult to operate in this emerging industry,” he said, “and this is just one more layer of how difficult it is to do business.”

Still, Bingham and Cabrera said that there could be improved regulations such as age restrictions — even as they oppose a full ban. In particular, Cabrera said the Legislature should have focused on the bill raising the age limit instead and that it was disappointing that lawmakers couldn’t reach this “simple fix.”

“But it is a sigh of relief,” she said after learning about Patrick’s announcement.

Katharine Neill Harris, drug policy fellow for Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, similarly said it’s worth another session to address specific issues such as the sale and marketing of THC products towards minors — separate from a blanket ban.

“If you ban them, they become truly unregulated because they go to the illicit market,” she said. “And we know that there are no regulations for illicit drugs.”

This is basically what I expected would happen. Dan Patrick was never going to budge and was willing to leave the status quo in place, however distasteful he considered it to be, on the grounds that the badness of the status quo (at least from his perspective) would eventually force people to his side. He’s not going to get that – people do want THC to be legal in this state – but that’s how I believe he sees it. If you would prefer for there to be sensible regulation of THC products, such as a ban on the sale and marketing of said products towards minors, you have to vote out Dan Patrick next year. Funny how often I have to say something like that about some very popular things.

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Lege fails to pass disaster emergency response bill