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Not really buying it, Komen

Feb 3rd, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

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Right there with them

So Komen has supposedly reversed itself on Planned Parenthood. I’ve read their statement, as well as TBogg’s improved version of it, and I don’t see a “reversal” so much as I see a bunch of weasel words that may very well lead to the same functional result. There’s a bunch of analysis out there, I’ll just refer you to Adam Serwer and Greg Sargent for a good summary of why I remain skeptical. Planned Parenthood, for its part, put out a statement thanking Komen for its reconsideration, as did allies of Planned Parenthood like Reps. Jessica Farrar and Carol Alvarado. I understand their desire to get back on the same page again and refocus the conversation to women’s health again, but I’ve got to admit, I would have preferred them to respond more like this:

There’s probably a reason I was never attracted to diplomacy as a career. Anyway, the outpouring of support to Planned Parenthood has been heartening, and you can keep that going because the need never goes away.

Posted in: National news.
Tagged: abortion · activism · breast cancer · Planned Parenthood · Susan Komen

Friday random ten: The past is never what you remember it to be

Feb 3rd, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

No comments yet

What hath the iPod wrought this week?

1. The Best Is Yet To Come – Frank Sinatra and Count Basie
2. Better Be Good To Me – Tina Turner
3. Hammer To Fall – Queen
4. Bridge Of Sighs – Robin Trower
5. Born In Time – Bob Dylan
6. Downtown – The B-52′s
7. Yours Is No Disgrace – Yes
8. White Rabbit – Austin Lounge Lizards with Karen Abrahams
9. Blind Man – Aerosmith
10. Farewell To The Fairground – White Lies

A few years back one of the radio stations here in town converted to an “all 80s” format; they were more or less on the leading edge for that. For awhile, it was awesome – the station started out playing 10,000 songs in a row, commercial- and DJ-free. I’d be listening in my car and song after song I’d be saying “Wow, I haven’t heard that in awhile”, as they had a pretty extensive playlist at first. Well, that sort of thing never lasts forever, and before you knew it they were playing the same damn thing over and over again, and I moved on to other things. But what I still remember from those early days is that somehow they never played a Tina Turner song, at least never while I was listening. How can you call yourself an 80s station and never spin a tune from “Private Dancer”, I wondered? They never played any Michael Jackson, either, which I must admit I appreciated, but that brings up the same type of question. No doubt it was a matter of what type of 80s-nostalgic audience they wanted, but still. How can you call yourself an 80s station and never play “What’s Love Got To Do With It?”, or “Private Dancer”, or “Better Be Good To Me”? I mean, seriously.

Another bit of 80s music nostalgia came in an unlikely place, this Baseball Prospectus article by Steve Goldman, in which he riffs on 1987; you have to scroll down to get to it. He lists and mostly laments the Billboard Top 10 songs from that year, which one must agree contained an impressive amount of dross. I was rather stunned to realize that I’d never heard of two of the songs and their artists – “Shake You Down”, by Gregory Abbott, and “C’est La Vie”, by Robbie Nevil. I was never a Top 40 station listener, but I don’t remember hearing either of them on that 80s station back when I was listening to it.

If you want a great example of how music changed from the 80s to the 90s, browse through the first few entries in Popdose’s Ass End Of The 90s series. They had two long such features previously on 80s music, and the vast majority of the tunes and the artists were at least passingly familiar to me. This one is largely alien to me. Some of that is undoubtedly me getting older, even if I was only 24 at the start of the decade, but a good bit of it was the extreme fragmentation of radio that began around that time and continues today. It’s not just me, is it?

Finally, I gave props awhile back to an excellent cover of “White Rabbit”, and I want to do the same here. I don’t know how Karen Abrahams came to sit in with the Austin Lounge Lizards for this number, which isn’t on any of their CDs but which is available via iTunes and Amazon, but it’s awesome. In fact, according to Abrahams, this version was listed in Esquire Magazine’s Top Ultimate Cover Songs for Download. I’m not sure if this is the list she has in mind, but whatever the case, I agree. Go get yourself a copy.

Posted in: Music.
Tagged: 80s music · cover songs · Friday random ten

DC court will take its time

Feb 3rd, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

2 comments

At least a month.

No hurry, right?

A panel of federal judges told parties in a Texas redistricting case Wednesday not to expect a ruling within 30 days, throwing the date of the state’s political primaries further in doubt.

A ruling by the District of Columbia court in the complex case was expected to provide guidance to another federal panel in San Antonio trying to draw new maps for state House, Senate and congressional elections.

If the San Antonio court wants to maintain the April 3 primary date, “it will have to draw plans without benefit of a ruling from District Court in D.C.,” said Nina Perales with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

The San Antonio court could wait for a ruling by the D.C. court, which concluded testimony this week on dilution of minority voting strength and discriminatory intent.

Michael Li, who was the first to report this, was blunt about what it means.

“An April 3rd primary clearly is dead, absent an agreement,” said Michael Li, a Dallas lawyer and author of a Texas redistricting blog.

Li added that it’s still possible to have an election on April 17 if a federal court in San Antonio doesn’t wait for the Washington court’s decision before it draws interim maps for the U.S. House, Texas House and state Senate.

Also, the order by the Washington court increases the possibility of a split primary in which the presidential and perhaps some other elections would be held separately from races for Congress and the Legislature, Li said.

Li went on to note at his blog that the San Antonio court has called for briefs by the 10th and a status hearing on the 15th. So yeah, I’d say they’re waiting for the DC court if there’s no settlement.

I think the state may feel some pressure to settle – we’ve heard enough from county elections administrators to know that a split primary will be a huge burden on them, and pretty much nobody wants to drag this out till the summer – but that’s easier said than done, especially if the plaintiffs feel like the state is playing favorites. Monday the 6th is the drop dead date for an agreement that would enable an April primary, so we’ll see what happens. I think the San Antonio court, having been swatted once by SCOTUS, will not take action until it gets clear guidance either from the DC court or the litigants themselves. And so we wait. NewsTaco has more.

Posted in: Election 2012.
Tagged: Congress · Election 2012 · Greg Abbott · Justice Department · lawsuit · Michael Li · redistricting · SCOTUS · Senate · Texas · The Lege · Voting Rights Act

Doing business downtown

Feb 3rd, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

3 comments

I have three things to say about this.

Downtown Houston

Despite public and private attempts to revive a shopping scene downtown, the retail market has struggled.

Some stores like Forever 21 and Books-A-Million have opened, but most of the activity in recent years has come from restaurants and bars.

Turnover has been high.

Last year, 16 street-level restaurants and bars closed, including three that had been open less than a year, according to the Houston Downtown Management District. At least one relocated and a couple of others lost their leases.

“A lot of nighttime traffic has moved over to different parts of town,” said Sherman Lewis, one of the owners of Cabo, a shuttered Mexican restaurant that helped popularize the fish-taco craze.

But even as the market for downtown retail and restaurants remains shaky, and sometimes unsustainable, new businesses continue to open.

Owners now pin their hopes on new residential and office towers, public investment in parks, transportation and the area around the George R. Brown Convention Center, and an overall economic rebound.

The downtown district counted 24 establishments that opened last year, and at least a couple more have opened or will do so early this year. Most are in the food and bar business. One was a large grocer.

[...]

The number of residents has been slow to grow. About 12 years ago, some 3,000 people lived downtown and officials were projecting that number to triple by 2010.

Today it’s around 4,400.

“Everyone has a vision of what they want downtown,” Bob Eury, the district’s executive director, said at a recent business event about the future of downtown. “We’re not quite there yet.”

1. Given the state of the economy, having more businesses open than close in the past year sounds like a win to me. All things considered, it could be a whole lot worse.

2. Having nearly fifty percent population growth over the past decade isn’t too shabby, either, even if it’s well below the rather optimistic projection. As one of the commenters on the story says, it’s a bit of a chicken and egg problem – people don’t want to move in until there are more amenities, but until the population increases sufficiently there isn’t enough support for those amenities. Part of the issue is getting residential construction off the ground. Discovery Green was a boon for that, and the proposed Convention Center district includes some further residential possibilities. I’d still like to see a focus on making something happen with the derelict properties downtown, as they seem to offer the greatest potential for residential growth.

3. These things do take time. As noted previously, Midtown took the better part of 20 years to get where it is. I don’t know when exactly downtown’s renaissance is supposed to have begun, but by my measure it started after Midtown’s. It’s not there yet, but it’s come a long way.

Posted in: Elsewhere in Houston.
Tagged: construction · downtown · economy · Houston · Midtown

The state of water in Texas

Feb 3rd, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

1 comment

The Statesman has a long story about the state of water in Texas and its outlook for the future. Short summary: We’re going to need more than what we’re capable of getting now, and it’s going to cost a lot of money to bridge the shortfall.

2012 State Water Plan

“For most of our recent history, we just treated (water) as if we had an unlimited supply of it. We’re finding to our dismay that that’s not true,” said Andrew Sansom, executive director of the River Systems Institute at Texas State University.

One clear indication that Texans need to rethink how they value water came when the state asked for $53 billion in improvements to prepare the state for a record-breaking drought in the next 50 years.

The cheapest strategy in the Texas Water Development Board’s 2012 water plan is conservation, which would account for 24 percent of the new supply by 2060; the costliest, desalination, would account for about 3.4 percent of the new supply.

But the prospect of a future crisis doesn’t necessarily make consumers more willing to open their wallets.

“It can be hard to convince ratepayers that they need to pay more money to get that security in their supply,” said Robert Mace, the board’s deputy executive administrator for water science and conversation.

It may come as little surprise, then, that lawmakers have failed to ensure sustainable funding for the water plan.

“I don’t think there’s been a greater dereliction of duty” than failing to fund Texas water needs, state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas , said Jan. 10 in a Business and Commerce Committee hearing, where lawmakers were told that a dwindling water supply can also affect the state power grid, as most energy production relies heavily on water to cool power plants.

You can find the 2012 State Water Plan here if you want a little light reading for your bedside table. We’ve talked about a lot of this stuff before as well – conservation, desalinization, reuse and recycling, infrastructure, and so forth. I’ll refer you again to the Drop By Drop and Sprayed Away reports, as well as the 2011 Regional Water Plan. I truly believe we need to be doing a lot more now to push conservation, because it’s not only the cheapest solution, it also buys us time for implementing the solutions that require capital investment. I strongly believe in tiering water prices in a way that rewards those who use less and charges a premium to those who use the most. I also believe in educating people about ways they can easily reduce their own water usage. One example is capturing rainwater for later use on gardens or lawns. You can buy a decent-sized rain barrel for $150 or less and use your sprinkler less. Every little bit helps, and if you want to avoid seeing future surcharges on your water bill, you’ll need to start thinking of what you can do. NewsTaco has some further reading.

Posted in: The great state of Texas.
Tagged: Allan Ritter · conservation · desalinization · drought · irrigation · John Carona · recycling · Texas · Texas Water Development Board · The Lege · water

Texas Watch on the Supreme Court

Feb 3rd, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

No comments yet

The Texas Supreme Court has a long history of favoring corporate defendants over families and small businesses, according to a decade-long review of the Court’s decision making by Court Watch, a project of the non-profit Texas Watch Foundation.

Court Watch reviewed the 624 cases involving consumers decided by the Court between 2000 and 2010. The report, “Thumbs on the Scale: A Retrospective of the Texas Supreme Court, 2000-2010”, finds that the state’s high court for civil matters “has marched in lock-step to consistently and overwhelmingly reward corporate defendants and the government at the expense of Texas families.”

“The Texas Supreme Court is an activist, results-oriented body that over the last 10 years has developed into a safe haven for corporate defendants at the expense of individuals, families, and small business owners,” said Alex Winslow, director of Court Watch. “The statistics speak for themselves. The court’s pro-defendant ideology cannot be disputed.”

Among the report’s findings are:

Corporate and government defendants prevail in an average of 74% of cases annually.

Consumers have lost 79% of cases in which they were pitted against a corporate or government defendant.

These findings lead Court Watch to conclude: “The Texas Supreme Court has become a reliable friend to those who seek to escape the consequences of their actions; its justices are the ultimate guardians for the moneyed and powerful who wish to shirk responsibility.”

The report is here. The Trib spoke to a couple of people who did dispute Winslow’s assertions about the Court.

Bill Peacock, vice president of research at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, said he doesn’t think the large percentage of defendant wins means that the Supreme Court favors corporations. He attributed the numbers to the court interpreting laws that the Legislature has passed to limit frivolous lawsuits, which are often brought by consumers against businesses.

“The fact that more corporations are winning before the Supreme Court shows that the Supreme Court is doing its job,” Peacock said.

[...]

Former Supreme Court Justice Scott Brister also said evaluating the Supreme Court isn’t as simple as compiling statistics. The justices, he said, only consider cases in which they might reverse the lower court’s decision.

“They only look at 10 percent of the cases. They’re not going to take a case that looks right, and the consumer won,” Brister said.

Brister denied Texas Watch’s assertion that the court favors corporations.

“We don’t look at a case and say, ‘Where can we help a company?’” he said. “We say, ‘Where does something look wrong?’”

I do think there’s something to what Peacock and Brister say. I mean, the laws the Supreme Court is asked to interpret are themselves generally anti-consumer and pro-corporate. So is the Legislature that writes those laws. For sure, the Supreme Court is part of the problem, but they’re not the extent of the problem. The remedy for each is the same, and that’s to elect people with a broader diversity of background, experience, and perspective to both the Lege and the Court. Which will be a little more difficult this year, as there are no Democrats running for the Supreme Court, but one must take the long view. Until we elect more people who share the experiences of the people that are getting shafted and want to represent them, very little will change. Trail Blazers has more.

Posted in: Legal matters.
Tagged: Alex Winslow · lawsuit · Scott Brister · Supreme Court · Texas · Texas Public Policy Foundation · Texas Watch

Debt collection is harder than it looks

Feb 2nd, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

1 comment

Last year around this time, the city announced it was “getting tough on users of its services who have racked up nearly $1 billion in unpaid fines and fees, unveiling an aggressive collection program that is expected to make frequent use of litigation.” The Chron has an update on how that is going.

A city analysis of delinquent bills revealed that nearly 70 percent of the debt is more than 2 years old. The older a debt gets, industry experts say, the less likely it is that it will be collected. People die, move or even forget about bills past due as time goes on.

“There’s no write-off of these older debts,” Bruce Haupt, the city’s deputy assistant finance director, told the City Council’s Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee. “It’s just in terms of setting realistic expectations of what is potentially out there to really pursue, it’s really the last two years’ worth of debt.”

According to the Finance Department, that represents about $210 million.

[...]

[T]he $295 million the city is owed in unpaid ambulance rides alone will be difficult to collect because many of the debtors are uninsured, indigent people. The city’s leverage to collect $25 million in red-light camera fines has been limited in part by the county tax assessor’s refusal to deny vehicle registration renewals to red-light scofflaws.

Finance director Kelly Dowe said he expects collections to increase as the city changes the way it evaluates its debt collectors. Currently, the city evaluates its collectors largely on how many contacts they make with debtors. Several of those collections contracts are up for renewal this year, and Dowe said the city intends to shift toward evaluating its debt collectors on how much money they brought in. The city also intends to improve its data management, Dowe said.

The city uses at least five different firms to collect bills for 13 departments. The departments’ databases are not integrated. Currently, there is no way of knowing, for example, if a delinquent property owner also has applied for a restaurant permit. The city also has stopped short of reporting many kinds of debt to credit bureaus to increase pressure on debtors.

Kind of a different tone this time around. Still, even with the reduced numbers, it’s worth the effort. If $210 million is the new target, that’s still a lot of money, and collecting even ten percent of it would make a big difference. If you look at this detailed presentation given to the city’s Budget & Fiscal Affairs Committee, you’ll see this on the Executive Summary page:

The project team is now moving into the implementation phase of the project focused on building sustainable processes to more
effectively manage collection efforts including:
1. Implementing specific activities to collect against outstanding debt
2. Implementing citywide practices that will improve the collection processes going forward including:

Collection enforcement mechanisms such as Credit Bureau Reporting, Scofflaw, and Legal Action

Citywide skip tracing capabilities to obtain correct contact information on City debtors

Metrics for reporting on internal collections’ operations and external vendors

Developing the infrastructure to support the reporting process, customer master data, and skip tracing

Implementing the above recommendations is expected to yield an incremental FY13 Budget impact of $9.3 MM
($8.6MM to General Fund).

Not too shabby. The Fiscal Responsibility page has other presentations from August through January, and I can tell you because I was looking on that page early yesterday morning for this kind of information that it was all (except for the presentation from August ) added during the day yesterday. Because none of that was there when I looked, and because the Chron story didn’t address the issue, I sent an inquiry to Finance Director Dowe to ask for a total on debt collection since this initiative was announced. Now we can see what they project, but I still can’t tell how much they’ve already taken in. I will let you know when I hear back from him.

Posted in: Local politics.
Tagged: Annise Parker · budget · debt collections · Houston · Houston City Council · Kelly Dowe

Don’t go counting school finance lawsuit money yet

Feb 2nd, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

2 comments

The state of Texas is very likely to have to do something about school finance soon, but “soon” is not the same as “right now”.

Houston ISD counsel David Thompson was exuding confidence Saturday that Texas school districts will prevail in their four lawsuits challenging state funding — but he warned trustees not to expect relief for another two years.

“I think the cavalry are coming, but we’re still a couple years away,” he told the HISD board at its annual retreat, held Saturday at Horn Elementary School in Bellaire.

[...]

He said he expects the four suits to be consolidated for a trial court, and that the districts are seeking a trial date in early fall. Anticipating a trial lasting about six weeks, he said the goal is to get a decision before the start of the legislature in January 2013. The losing side (he expects that to be the state) will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, and presuming that appeal will be expedited, the earliest that a decision could be forthcoming would be late 2013.

A win for the plaintiffs would set the stage for a special session of the Legislature in 2014 to establish funding that will comply with the court’s ruling, Thompson said.

I don’t recall the West Orange-Cove lawsuit going to SCOTUS, but it may have just been that SCOTUS declined to hear the state’s appeal. I’ve been saying for awhile now that the pieces are in place for the 2014 election in this state to be seen as a genuine change election. There may be no incumbents running for re-election in any state (non-judicial) office, and we’ll have had one more tumultuous deficit-dominated legislative session by then. Having a special session to once again “fix” school finance a couple of months before that election could be the catalyst.

On a related note, did you catch this Patricia Kilday Hart column, in which State Rep. Scott Hochberg gives us a going-away present on school finance?

Rep. Scott Hochberg

Call it Exhibit A: Why Money Matters In Public Education. The revenue available to school districts co-relates exactly with how their students perform in the state’s elaborate accountability system.

Here’s how the numbers break out: On average, school districts that earned the “Exemplary” rating had $6,580 available to spend on educating each student. Districts earning the “Recognized” label could spend an average of $5,751 per student. “Academically Acceptable” districts, on average, had $5,662 per student. And the pariahs of the state’s accountability system – “Academically Unacceptable” districts? They had, on average, only $5,538 per student to spend.

So the school districts that pat themselves on the back for being “Exemplary” have a $1,000-per-student advantage over those rotten, no-good “Academically Unacceptable” districts.

I asked Hochberg, who has spent nearly 20 years in the Texas Legislature advocating a more equitable school funding system, what lessons we should take away from his chart.

“We have a system where the state picks the winners and losers,” he told me. “The state decides what districts are going to get the most money, and then they turn out to be ‘Exemplary’ and we act surprised. The state decides who is going to get the least money, and they turn out to be low-performing and we whip them.”

There’s more disturbing news. The wonky Hochberg decided to look at the number of students on free-and-reduced lunch in the districts of each accountability category. He found that “Exemplary” districts, on the average, have only 17 percent of their students on free-and-reduced lunch. Meanwhile, 85 percent of the students in “Unacceptable” districts qualify for free lunches, based on federal poverty guidelines. Since poor kids are more likely to move more often and have less-educated parents, they arrive at school with greater educational needs. Therefore, our so-called “Exemplary” districts “have the easiest kids to teach,” Hochberg pointed out.

But don’t worry. I’m sure if we threw more money at the poorer districts there would be no effect at all on their educational outcomes. So there’s no need to even try. Right?

Posted in: Budget ballyhoo.
Tagged: budget · David Thompson · deficit · Election 2014 · HISD · HISD Board of Trustees · lawsuit · school finance · schools · Scott Hochberg · Texas · The Lege

Grading Texas science classes

Feb 2nd, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

No comments yet

Texas public school science courses “pay lip service” to critical content and largely ignore evolution in the middle grades, according to a national education foundation study that gives the state of Texas an overall “C” for science education.

The average grade for Texas science curriculum standards by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in a national report card Tuesday represents a step up from the “F” issued for Texas two years ago by the National Center for Science Education.

Texas science curriculum standards are “just too vague,” said Kathleen Porter-Magee, a senior director at Fordham. “They cover a lot of the essential content, but they don’t do it in a way that can actually guide curriculum or guide instruction in the classroom or can guide assessment development.”

It’s also better than the D we got in Social Studies from the Fordham Institute. You can see the Texas report here and a full list of state reports plus their other materials related to this here.

The report offers a mixed review on how Texas teaches evolution. The evolution portion of the new Texas science curriculum standards provoked considerable controversy before the State Board of Education adopted them in 2009.

“In spite of the Texas Board of Education’s erratic approach to evolution, the state’s current high school biology standards handle the subject straightforwardly,” the report says

[...]

“As a science teacher, I am pleased that our standards received a score of 5 out of 7 for content and rigor,” said board chairwoman Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands. “We look forward to continuing to work with Texas teachers to bring the best instruction to the classroom with our excellent science standards.”

Former board member Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, lost his chairmanship, in part, because Senate Democrats believed he injected his strong religious beliefs into the curriculum development and blocked his nomination three years ago.

McLeroy said he was pleased the report described the high school evolution teaching as “exemplary.”

“The report confirms what I have always insisted: that the creationists inserted real scientific rigor into the teaching of evolution,” McLeroy said.

McLeroy is as dishonest as ever. Here’s what the report said about Texas and the teaching of evolution:

Evolution is all but ignored from Kindergarten through fifth grade, save a sentence in the earth and space science section that asks students to “identify fossils as evidence of past living organisms” (grade 5).

The middle school standards are marginally better, but still problematic. For example, seventh graders should learn that:

Populations and species demonstrate variation and inherit many of their unique traits through gradual processes over many generations. (grade 7)

Unfortunately, this is simply wrong. Traits are inherited directly at each generation; there’s nothing gradual about it. Students are then asked to explain variation within a population or species by examining external features that enhance survival. Such examinations will yield no explanation of variation.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the middle school standards, however, is their coverage of evolution. For instance, the seventh-grade standards mention the Galapagos finches, giving the impression that the Darwinian paradigm is being presented. Unfortunately, it is not. Instead, the example of the finch Geospiza fortis apparently refers to studies by Peter and Rosemary Grant on beak size in this species, made widely known by Jonathan Weiner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Beak of the Finch. Creationists often distort these important findings to argue that Darwinian macroevolution does not occur—instead, microevolution does. In addition, the word “evolution” is never used in any of the middle school standards, and the term “natural selection” is never explained.

In spite of the Texas Board of Education’s erratic approach to evolution, the state’s current high school biology standards handle the subject straightforwardly. There are no concessions to “controversies” or “alternative theories.” In fact, the high school biology course is exemplary in its choice and presentation of topics, including its thorough consideration of biological evolution. Even so, the term “natural selection” appears just three times, as does the word “evolution” and its variants. It is hard to see how Texas students will be able to handle this course, given the insufficient foundations offered prior to high school.

In other words, it’s pretty clear they think McLeroy and his bunch were the problem, not the solution. The more voters that see it that way as well, the better. One Democrat running for the SBOE had some sharp words for his putative colleagues.

Steven Schafersman, president of Texas Citizens for Science and a longtime critic of the board’s conservatives, said the Fordham analysis overlooked some glaring problems with Texas’ standards.

He pointed to a separate examination from the National Center for Science Education that found Texas’ standards contain “creationist jargon” and “reflect political and religious agendas, rather than good pedagogy and strong science.”

“Without the State Board-mandated political, anti-scientific changes, Texas would have received an A or perhaps B grade from the Fordham reviewers,” said Schafersman, who is running as a Democrat for an open West Texas seat on the board.

If Schafersman’s name sounds familiar to you, it’s because he’s been one of the indefatigable SBOE meeting livebloggers of late. He’d be a great addition to the Board, but he’s running in a bright red district, so I can’t say I’m holding out any hope. Texas Politics has a link to Schafersman’s full response. TFN Insider has more.

Posted in: School days.
Tagged: Barbara Cargill · creationism · Don McLeroy · Election 2012 · evolution · SBOE · science · Steve Schafersman · Texas · textbooks · Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Texas blog roundup for the week of January 30

Feb 2nd, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

No comments yet

The Texas Progressive Alliance is stocking up on unhealthy snacks and adult beverages as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Continue reading →

Posted in: Blog stuff.
Tagged: blog roundup · TPA

Interview with Sheriff Adrian Garcia

Feb 1st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

1 comment

Sheriff Adrian Garcia

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia was elected in 2008 with the highest vote total of any candidate on the ballot. He inherited an office that was tainted by the scandals of his long-term predecessor, a jail system that was overcrowded, understaffed, unsafe, unsanitary, and under the spotlight of federal and state inspectors, a hiring freeze brought on by the county’s budget shortfall, and a hostile political environment on Commissioners Court. Despite all that, he’s made progress on nearly every front. The jail is no longer outsourcing inmates, thanks in part to some innovative ideas to reduce the number of people being incarcerated. Sheriff Garcia has dealt with a backlog of discipline issues, the jail has passed inspections while seeing sharp drop in inmate deaths – the list goes on and on. There’s still a lot more work to be done, but Sheriff Garcia, who faces two opponents for the nomination, has done the job he was elected to do and clearly deserves the chance to keep doing it. Here’s what we talked about:

Download the MP3 file

You can find a list of all interviews for this cycle, plus other related information, on my 2012 Harris County Primary Elections page. You can also follow this blog by liking its Facebook page.

Posted in: Election 2012.
Tagged: Adrian Garcia · Democratic primary · Election 2008 · Election 2012 · Harris County · Harris County Sheriff · interviews · jail overcrowding · jails

Redistricting settlement deal looking unlikely

Feb 1st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

2 comments

Late last week we heard about the possibility of a settlement agreement in the San Antonio redistricting case that would allow for the creation of interim maps in time to keep the April 3 primary date. The court gave this Friday as a drop dead date for getting that done. As of today, it’s looking like that’s not going to happen.

Deal or no deal?

There were rumors floating around all weekend that there could be a deal struck as early as today, but with all parties heading to DC to catch closing arguments in the preclearance hearing tomorrow, Jan. 31, that seems unlikely. The Mexican American Legislative Caucus told the Chronicle this morning that a deal is not imminent, even though they are all working towards some kind of agreement.

MALC (and particularly chair Rep. Trez Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio) and MALDEF are clearly most interested in creating the largest number possible of Hispanic opportunity districts. However, that could clash severely with both the interests of the other plaintiffs (many of whom are looking for more Democratic opportunity seats) and the historic coalition between African-American and Hispanic groups. Throughout this process, LULAC and the NAACP have been very much on the same page, and have not always been in complete agreement with MALC and MALDEF.

It would not be too surprising if MALDEF backed something closer to the legislature’s maps than the other plaintiffs would be comfortable with: After all, they were fine with a map that would split Travis County four ways and draw Congressman Lloyd Doggett into a Democratic primary with San Antonio’s Rep. Juan Castro.

[...]

The time crunch means the plaintiffs can dangle the equal representation terms of Section Two of the Voting Rights Act over the assembled heads of Attorney General Greg Abbott’s team. However, the DC District Court is expected to rule this week on whether the legislature’s maps violate the preclearance terms of Section Five of the VRA. There are undoubtedly voices in the room suggesting that the plaintiffs would be in a much stronger negotiating position – and that the state would have little legal wiggle room – if they just wait a couple more days.

Most importantly, as one source close to the negotiations put it, all the parties should be more concerned about ensuring true representation for all Texans that holding on to the arbitrary April 3 primary date.

ADDENDUM: Just got an email from LULAC attorney Luis Roberto Vera, Jr. who confirmed that his clients (who are still pushing for coalition districts) are still pushing to wait for the DC ruling, and that was the stated position of all plaintiffs to the San Antonio panel before this weekend. “As to negotiations,” he wrote, “they have totally broken down as of now. I am sure they will resume but I doubt an agreement if at all by this Monday so I don’t expect an April 3rd election.”

The Statesman reports that the AG has been trying to find a wedge in the plaintiffs’ unity.

Representatives for other plaintiff groups also didn’t want to speak publicly because of the delicate nature of the ongoing negotiations. But there has been some chatter among the groups that lawyers for the Mexican American Legislative Caucus and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, two of the main plaintiffs driving the litigation, have been talking to the state without other groups.

Though he didn’t name any groups in particular, Vera said some of the state’s lawyers were offering some plaintiffs’ lawyers deals that would benefit Latino groups but might be seen as detrimental to African American plaintiffs.

Vera said a major obstacle is that the state isn’t involving all parties in the negotiations. Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP, which is among the plaintiffs, said the state was mainly negotiating with MALDEF and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.

Bledsoe said unanimous agreement among the nine isn’t required for the court to accept a deal. He said he believes that there is a “reasonable chance” the state could work out a deal with two or three of the groups but that the odds of getting total consensus are longer.

State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, a San Antonio Democrat and chairman of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, said his organization had been in touch with lawyers from Abbott’s office and gave them a strict set of parameters that would need to be met before they could agree to anything.

The Express News adds on.

Martinez Fischer said he thought the attorney general’s office was trying to work with as many plaintiffs groups as possible.

“Their intention is to try and work something out,” a stance he called “encouraging.”

But thus far, he said, MALC hasn’t been satisfied with what the state has offered. He declined to offer specifics.

Even if an agreement is reached, it could still be challenged.

An attorney for U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, argued Friday before the three-judge panel in San Antonio that the attorney general’s office doesn’t have the authority to remake maps approved by the Legislature and that any maps that were redrawn would also need to be approved, or “precleared,” by the Justice Department.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott “would be agreeing to something that the Legislature did, so it would become new state policy,” attorney Trey Trainor said. “Well, the state doesn’t have the ability to implement change of voting policy without preclearance.”

Texas must get approval for new maps from the Justice Department under the Voting Rights Act because of the state’s history of discrimination.

Vera thinks that the plaintiffs should wait on the D.C. panel to rule rather than settle with Abbott’s office.

“There was so much evidence of racial discrimination,” he said. “Texas is going to get nailed, and nailed hard.”

If that really is the case, then there’s little incentive for the plaintiffs to settle. The primary date was more of an issue for Republicans, who want to have a say in their Presidential race and whose financial exposure for the state conventions is greater. And the previous talk about settlements, which sounded very favorable from a Democratic perspective, have apparently ruffled some feathers on that side of the aisle. Michael Li quotes from a post by RPT Chair Steve Munisteri, whose backside is clearly seeking some concealment:

It is important to note, that the talks between the Democratic and Republican parties deal solely with the deadlines and scheduling of the primary election, not with the boundaries of state legislative or Congressional districts. Only the Attorney General’s office’s attorneys are involved in those discussions. Thus, the email chains that have gone out accusing the Republican Party of Texas of trying to save a convention deposit in exchange for district lines, are blatantly false.

Emphasis mine. Translation: Don’t blame me if the pooch gets screwed.

Meanwhile, closing arguments were made in the DC preclearance trial, and from the sound of it the plaintiffs have good reason to be hopeful.

The three-judge panel frequently interrupted the state’s closing presentation on Tuesday, probed some of its most basic positions and questioned its interpretation of some evidence.

Lawyers for Texas argued throughout the trial that the GOP-controlled Legislature created oddly shaped districts and used gerrymandering techniques to protect Republican incumbents–not to discriminate against racial minorities. Political gerrymandering is legal, if not pretty, they said.

Judge Rosemary Collyer questioned whether politics could excuse the fracturing of minority communities, who fueled 89 percent of Texas’ population growth in the last decade and helped the state gain four new seats in Congress.

“It’s really hard to explain that,” she said, “other than on the basis of reducing the effectiveness of the minority vote, whether black or Latino.”

She pointed to the Legislature’s plans for congressional seats in the Dallas-Forth Worth area. District boundaries carve up much of the urban center–largely minority and Democratic–and disperses it into GOP-friendly districts in the suburbs.

Judge Beryl Howell said the state’s position treats minority populations as “collateral damage,” and Judge Thomas Griffith asked whether law required the Legislature to take the racial impact of its plans into consideration, even if the primary motive was political.

The state’s attorneys, who ended up spending much of their final statement answering questions, stuck to their position.

That doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but it’s often a sign of how the judges are thinking. If my reading is correct, that would be one reason why the state was interested in settling. By the same token, of course, that would be a disincentive for the plaintiffs to cut a deal. At this point, I’d say we’re waiting for the DC court to rule before anything else happens. We’ll know soon enough, though whether it’s soon enough to keep an April primary is question #1 and highly dependent on how soon we know. Campos has more.

Posted in: Election 2012.
Tagged: Congress · DC Circuit Court of Appeals · Election 2012 · Justice Department · lawsuit · MALC · MALDEF · NAACP · redistricting · Senate · Texas · The Lege · Trey Martinez-Fischer · Voting Rights Act

No more Not-Stros

Feb 1st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

1 comment

Glad we got that settled.

New owner Jim Crane ended a week of speculation and rare attention on a national level and anticipated backlash among Houstonians, saying he would not change the name of the club – a possibility he floated last week.

“You asked for change and we added several fan friendly initiatives last week and we hope you like them,” Crane said in a video message to season ticket holders. “We will continue to listen, and to look for additional ways to improve on and off the field.

“One thing that we are not going to change is the name. We received strong feedback and consensus among season ticket holders and many fans, and we will not change the name Astros. The Houston Astros are here to stay.”

Crane said he would consider the franchise’s second name change last Monday at a press conference to announce lower ticket prices and the end of the ban on outside food at Minute Maid Park.

You can watch the video here. I had said this wouldn’t go over well, and an unscientific Chron poll confirmed that fans were strongly against the idea. Of course, if the real idea was to remind people that they did still care about the Astros, then mission accomplished. Just don’t do it again, OK?

Posted in: Baseball.
Tagged: Astros · Baseball · Houston · Jim Crane · MLB

Leland Woods

Feb 1st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

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I’ve been banging the drum lately about encouraging growth inside the city’s boundaries as a long-term financial management strategy, so I’m glad to see this.

TIRZ 22

Eight years ago, city of Houston officials decided to incentivize the conversion of 80 wooded acres off Little York Road into a 375-home community, a place, in some small measure, to reverse working class flight to the suburbs and turn vacant land into a cluster of property-tax payers.

The idea was to give the area a little shove and hope that once Leland Woods took off, other developers would chase the success without city help and District B in northeast Houston would sprout new neighborhoods.

To seed the new neighborhood, the city put up $1.5 million in redevelopment money toward the land purchase. It resulted in only 41 homes before credit markets dried up and builders fled. The city got the land back, but it was out nearly $120,000 in fees and taxes to do it.

So, when economic development officials asked City Council last week to approve $100,000 to give it another go, even new District B Councilman Jerry Davis confessed to having some initial reservations.

“I want to make sure that myself, as well as other council members, understand that this is going to be a good investment, not a case of throwing good money after bad,” he said.

Davis said he is confident that a second attempt to grow the neighborhood will succeed because the city has one of the nation’s largest home-builders involved. D.R. Horton plans to build at least 44 more homes and is in talks with the city to continue working toward the original vision of Leland Woods. The city searched for a new builder for two years before selecting D.R. Horton.

The council signed off Jan. 18 on moving the $100,000 from some of the city’s other redevelopment zones to restart Leland Woods. The money is to pay for landscaping, parks, fencing, a monument – and to cover interest payments on the bank note the city holds from a previous developer.

I’ve embedded the TIRZ map in the quote above, but to really appreciate this you have to have a view of the area. Here’s a Google map link, and here’s a closeup look at the development area and its environs:

Leland Woods, south of Cheeves at Little York

That’s an awful lot of undeveloped land. There are a number of reasons why unincorporated Harris County has grown more over the past decade than the city, but one prime reason is because there’s a lot more empty space out there that can be easily and inexpensively converted into housing and other development. There’s not nearly as much of that inside city limits, but where it does exist it behooves us to do something with it.

Even successful redevelopment projects take time, officials say. The redevelopment zone in Midtown, for example, is held up as a success story, but it grew slowly in its initial years before ultimately expanding from a tax base of $211 million 18 years ago to $1.3 billion today.

This is exactly what I’m talking about. Midtown was a wasteland when I moved to Houston in 1988. It’s some of the most prime real estate in the city now. Leland Woods may never be that successful, but it sure as heck can be more than it is today. We need it and other places like it to be.

Posted in: Elsewhere in Houston.
Tagged: construction · District B · Houston · Jerry Davis · Leland Woods · Midtown · TIRZ

Komen outrage

Jan 31st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

2 comments

I’m speechless.

In a shocking move Tuesday afternoon, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the country’s most famous breast cancer charity, pulled its grants for breast-cancer screenings from Planned Parenthood. Komen claims that their reason is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation from Congress, but as it’s well-understood on both the left and the right that the investigation, headed by Rep. Cliff Stearns, is a nuisance investigation that will almost surely turn up nothing, this excuse sounds lame indeed. The likelier explanation is the one offered by Planned Parenthood, that Komen caved under relentless pressure from anti-choice activists who oppose Planned Parenthood for offering abortions as well as low-cost contraception and STD prevention and treatment. In addition, Komen has a history of not playing nice with other women’s health organizations. Planned Parenthood has created an emergency fund to replace the Komen grants, to keep the breast-cancer screening service from being interrupted.

State Rep. Carol Alvarado is a lot nicer to them about this than I would have been. Far as I’m concerned, it’ll be a long time before I even think about giving another dime to them. Jezebel, TBogg, and Kos, among many others, have more.

Posted in: Society and cultcha.
Tagged: abortion · activism · breast cancer · Planned Parenthood · Susan Komen

Grand jury no-bills DA’s office

Jan 31st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

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Thus endeth one of the most fascinating local stories in recent memory.

A Harris County grand jury ended its session Tuesday, ending a months-long investigation into the district attorney’s office and the Houston Police Department’s DWI testing vehicles with a blistering report, but no indictments.

“There was no evidence of a crime,” said grand jury foreman Trisha Pollard.

Pollard signed off on a one-page report blasting the DA’s office for “unexpected resistance” and accusing the office of launching an investigation into the grand jurors, the special prosecutors and judges.

The grand jury also harshly criticized Rachel Palmer, a prosecutor who invoked her fifth amendment right to refuse to testify.

“The stain upon the HCDAO will remain regardless of any media statements issued or press conferences issued by anyone,” according to the statement.

That may be all they wrote, but something tells me we have not heard the last of this. Like Grits, I look forward to reading the jury’s report. Hair Balls has more.

UPDATE: Here’s the statement from DA Lykos about the grand jury’s decision. I am greatly intrigued by this bit at the end:

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office has long been eager to share what we know with the public. Now that the grand jury’s proceedings have ended, we will be responding—vigorously.

In the days to come, our website—HarrisCountyDA.com—will feature a new section devoted to setting the record straight.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is confident that anyone willing to review the full set of facts, in an unbiased and fair-minded manner, will conclude we have acted responsibly and with integrity in every respect.

I’m sure I’ll be taking a close look at that. In the meantime, the grand jury’s statement is here.

Posted in: Crime and Punishment.
Tagged: District Attorney · grand jury · Harris County · HPD · Pat Lykos

January finance reports: Harris County state races

Jan 31st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

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In addition to county candidates, my 2012 Democratic primary election page has information about state and federal candidates who will be on the ballot in Harris County. There are numerous contested primaries, and while I’m not tracking information about Republican races on that page, I thought it would be useful to check on the finance reports for all races of interest. Here’s the relevant data for candidates that have submitted reports, with my comments at the end. Candidates without a party affiliation listed are Democrats, and incumbents are noted as such.



Candidate      Office   Raised    Spent  Cash on hand
=====================================================
Nilsson         SBOE6    1,600      431         1,552
Jensen          SBOE6        0    1,088             0
Scott           SBOE6    1,010      362           647
Bahorich (R)    SBOE6      325      669        50,320

Cargill (R, I)  SBOE8   38,586   18,710        25,626
Ellis (R)       SBOE8    2,195    7,019         1,163

McCool (R)       SD11   10,047    8,515            31
Taylor (R)       SD11  329,124  154,172       169,778
Norman (R)       SD11    9,981    6,512        11,534

Huberty (R, I)  HD127   58,075   37,575        36,811
Jordan (R)      HD127    1,763      967             0

Davis (R,I)     HD129   20,475   45,286        62,852
Huls (R)        HD129    1,684    1,501           182

Allen (I)       HD131    5,565   14,542        18,764
Adams           HD131        0    4,697        59,572

Callegari (R,I) HD132    8,250   28,593       222,340
Brown (R)       HD132      975      779           195

Murphy (R,I)    HD133   72,015   38,365       182,682
Johnston (R)    HD133    6,244    6,015         6,244

Johnson         HD134    7,347        0         7,347
Davis (R, I)    HD134   83,035   61,807       102,570

Witt (R)        HD136    4,821   85,139        25,218
Schofield (R)   HD136   67,203   34,899        29,245
Holm (R)        HD136  142,997   98,594        44,402
DeAyala (R)     HD136  144,860   39,105       106,253

Smith           HD137    2,500      750         2,500
Madden          HD137   11,002      750        10,252
Wu              HD137   71,700      831        70,869
Winkler         HD137      850      750         1,378
Khan (R)        HD137   

Risner          HD144        0        0             0
Perez           HD144    1,300    2,569        14,547
Ybarra          HD144
Legner (R,I)    HD144   27,475   57,949        34,040

Miles (I)       HD146   15,900    2,750         6,800
Edwards         HD146        0        0         1,199

Coleman (I)     HD147  158,474  106,581       106,823
Hill            HD147

Riddle (R,I)    HD150   89,401   54,384       108,874
Wilson (R)      HD150    4,160    4,366           893

My notes:

- Donna Bahorich loaned herself $50,000, which is where her cash on hand figure comes from.

- Despite having the opportunity to support a “Senator McCool”, it seems clear that Republicans prefer State Rep. Larry Taylor in SD11.

- As noted before, Wanda Adams’ money comes from her Council campaign coffers. I will be interested to see who gives to her between now and the primary. Rep. Allen unsurprisingly has the support of her legislative colleagues, at least if a recent notice about a fundraiser for her is any indication.

- Given that HD134 is likely to be the highest profile legislative race in November regardless of what the next map looks like, I was curious how Rep. Sarah Davis’ efforts stacked up against her predecessors as they headed into their first re-election campaign. In 2008, Ellen Cohen reported $188K raised, $45K spent, and $203K on hand. None of Martha Wong’s 2004 included cash on hand information, so I can’t get an exact comparison with her. Her January 2004 report showed only $7K raised and $18K spent, but I doubt that indicates that she was cash-poor, as she was a generally strong fundraiser. Her July 2005 report is the first to include cash on hand, and she had $250K at that time. For January 2006 her numbers were $127K raised, $24K spent, and $349K on hand. All this is to say that Davis is not starting out in any better shape than either Cohen or Wong, at least financially.

- I have to say, that’s an impressive amount of fundraising in HD136, which currently does not exist in Harris County. As Greg noted, the one guy with no electoral experience had quite a strong showing, and Ann Witt’s burn rate is almost as impressive. Witt also has $100K in loans to herself outstanding.

- Not much action in HD137 so far. It’s the opposite of HD136 in the sense that it was originally obliterated by the Lege but restored by the court. My guess is that if it gets folded back into HD149, none of the Dems will remain in the race. Gene Wu’s money came primarily from himself ($50K) and a relative ($20K). MJ Khan had not filed a report at the time of this publication.

- Also not much action in HD144, which is currently a Dem-favorable district, but was originally made a stronger Republican district. Legler may be feeling the effect of the uncertainty, though he surely had plenty of time before the court got involved to raise a few bucks. Ybarra had not filed a report at publication time, and Risner reported no money raised or spent.

- Don’t be fooled by Rep. Borris Miles’ numbers. He’s perfectly capable of self-funding; he has $655K in loans to himself outstanding. This is Al Edwards’ first run as a non-incumbent in the post-Craddick era. Will his old buddies still support him?

- Ray Hill had not filed a report as of publication time. I don’t really expect him to get much financial support, but you never know.

That’s about all I’ve got. As the Trib had reported earlier, uncertainty over the map for 2012 has made fundraising more of a challenge for many candidates. We can see some of that here, but I daresay things will be clearer in the next reports, which would now be due in early March but presumably will get pushed back along with the primary date, if need be. On a related note, for a look at cash on hand among Senators, see Robert Miller.

Posted in: Election 2012.
Tagged: campaign finance reports · Democratic primary · Election 2004 · Election 2006 · Election 2008 · Election 2012 · Ellen Cohen · Harris County · HD127 · HD129 · HD131 · HD132 · HD133 · HD134 · HD136 · HD137 · HD144 · HD146 · HD147 · HD150 · Martha Wong · Republican Party · Sarah Davis · SBOE · SD11 · Senate · The Lege

More on disciplining deputies

Jan 31st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

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Here’s another long Chron story about disciplinary statistics for Harris County Sheriff’s deputies. Reading through it, I felt like there was some context missing.

A Houston Chronicle review of disciplinary records indicates that from 2008 through 2010, more than 200 jail employees were disciplined for various offenses, some serious and others minor. Last year, the Sheriff’s Office disciplined 88 employees working in detention, including jailers, deputies and civilians.

Their offenses included excessive use of force, having sex with inmates, mistakenly releasing dangerous prisoners including suspected drug dealers, sleeping on the job, and even leaving their post to have a 90-minute-long domino game. One jailer destroyed mail sent to prisoners, and another ruined a picture of an inmate’s son by spraying it with cleaning solvent.

[...]

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, in a prepared statement, said his office “employs many dedicated and professional women and men. They are the rule rather than the exception.”

The U.S. Justice Department cited a “flawed” use of force policy in a June 2009 report, adding that “systemic deficiencies” in policies and training for jailers exposed inmates to harm. Investigators found a significant number of instances where jailers used force inappropriately – including hog-tying prisoners or using choke holds – and claimed jail commanders did not interview prisoners or take corrective action.

Garcia said training and the internal complaint process has been improved and that unjustified use of force incidents against prisoners are isolated, adding they have declined during his three years in office.

A review of disciplinary actions in 2011 indicate seven jailers were punished for using excessive force against inmates and another for not reporting using force on a prisoner, the same as seven cases that brought disciplinary action in 2010.

The Sheriff’s Office provided statistics indicating a decrease in the number of jailers assaulted by inmates, as well as a decline in use of force by jailers on prisoners and fewer fights between inmates. There were 130 assaults on jailers by inmates and 3,084 prisoners involved in fights with each other in the jail last year, Garcia said.

“Our policies and practices on staff use of force against inmates take into account that, as the figures indicate, the usually calm and orderly jail environment nevertheless can sometimes be a dangerous place for employees and inmates,” Garcia stated.

If this story seems familiar to you, it’s because the Chron wrote a very similar story on October 30, which I blogged about here. A sample from that story:

A Houston Chronicle review of Sheriff’s Office discipline reports from 2007 to August provides a sobering look into a department plagued by deputies, jailers and civilians accused of violating laws they are charged to enforce and breaking department policies more than 1,200 times in the past four-and-a-half years.

In all, Sheriff Adrian Garcia has fired 81 deputies and jailers from January 2009 through August, considerably more than the 36 employees let go by his predecessor, Tommy Thomas, during 2007 and 2008. Garcia, who took over the department in January 2009, has also suspended 273 employees without pay and given 414 written reprimands.

[...]

[Garcia] said he decided not to examine past disciplinary actions to identify and remove any “bad apples” he inherited when he took office in early 2009. Instead, he felt it was more important to triple his internal affairs unit to reduce a backlog of more than 160 internal affairs complaints pending against deputies when he took office.

The embedded chart was from that earlier story. Note that the data in that story goes back to 2007, and to 2008 in the newer story. What that means is that it’s hard to do an accurate comparison from one Sheriff to another. I don’t know if the data exists for earlier in the Tommy Thomas regime – if you go to the HCSO Internal Affairs page, you can see previous IAD reports, but again they only go as far back as 2007. What was it like before then? We have no idea as far as the numbers go, but I think we have a pretty good hunch nonetheless. Note that Garcia has stepped up IAD investigations to deal with a huge backlog of complaints, a decision for which he was attacked by Stave Radack, so in a sense the increase in disciplinary actions isn’t really on his watch. Note also that that 2009 Justice Department report was based on a visit from 2008, when Thomas was still in charge, and that at Garcia’s direction the use of force policies were changed to be more rigorous. Those facts were curiously unmentioned in the Sunday story. As Grits says, it’s great that this data is available and there are certainly stories to be written about it, but it’s important to remember what the data can’t tell us, because otherwise we’re getting an incomplete picture.

Posted in: Crime and Punishment.
Tagged: Adrian Garcia · Election 2008 · Harris County · Harris County Sheriff · jails · Justice Department · Steve Radack · Tommy Thomas

Meet the voter ID three judge panel

Jan 31st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

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The only voter ID anyone should need

The only voter ID anyone should need

As you know, the state of Texas has filed a lawsuit in the DC District Federal Court – the same court that is hearing the preclearance lawsuit – to get the odious voter ID law precleared. Michael Li introduces us to the judges that will be hearing this case.

Texas’ suit over its voter ID law has been assigned to a familiar face, Judge Rosemary Collyer, who is one of three judges hearing Texas’ suit over preclearance of its redistricting maps.

In addition to Judge Collyer, Chief Judge David Sentelle of the D.C. Circuit, on Friday, appointed Circuit Judge David Tatel and District Judge Robert Wilkins to sit on the panel. (Order here)

Judge Tatel is a Clinton appointee, and Judge Wilkins is an Obama appointee. As Juanita notes, that’s about as favorable a draw as Dems could want. Yes, I know, this is all a warmup act for SCOTUS, but it’s still critically important to get a good ruling. I’m hopeful this trial will go as well as the other one seems to have gone.

Posted in: Legal matters.
Tagged: DC Circuit Court of Appeals · Justice Department · lawsuit · SCOTUS · Texas · voter ID · Voting Rights Act

Matagorda smog

Jan 31st, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

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I feel like there are some pieces missing in this discussion.

Matagorda County, 1920s map from the General Land Office

The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to add Matagorda County to the list of Texas’ smog violators because Gulf breezes that blow through the area send air pollution toward the sprawling metropolis.

Local leaders are pushing back, saying the dubious distinction would lead to stricter regulation of industry at a time when unemployment is at 11 percent in the county.

“We have two plants, and they are minute by Houston’s standards,” Matagorda County Judge Nate McDonald said. “We are not the problem, so do not throw us under the bus because we are in a two-county proximity.”

McDonald is asking other public officials in the region for support in his fight against the EPA. Houston Mayor Annise Parker, for one, said through a spokeswoman that the federal agency has not made a scientific case to add Matagorda County to the smog list.

The move signifies the first change in geography in the federal efforts to clean Houston’s air. The list long has included Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller counties.

[...]

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality says EPA data overstates Matagorda’s emissions. Also, federal regulators cannot directly link the pollution to bad air in Houston using models of wind paths, the state agency contends.

“There is nothing we have seen that shows these emissions are contributing to ozone in Houston,” said David Brymer, the TCEQ’s air quality director. “It is just a possibility.”

Carl Young, a scientist for the EPA’s Region 6, which includes Texas, said there is “no bright line” that ties Matagorda’s emissions to Houston’s dirty air, but the “weight of evidence” suggests a connection.

The TCEQ is sufficiently Perry-ized that I don’t trust it in these matters. However, it doesn’t sound like the EPA has (if you’ll pardon the expression) a smoking gun to point to. I doubt Mayor Parker would question the evidence if it were conclusive. So, I don’t know what to make of all this right now. There is an elephant in the room that the story doesn’t being up, though, and that’s the proposed White Stallion Coal Plant in Bay City, which was approved by the TCEQ but is still on hold and recently was unable to get a contract for water. There’s no question that it would have a negative effect on Houston’s air quality. I don’t know what if anything one may have to do with the other, but I’m a little surprised it wasn’t brought up in the story. Whatever the merits of including Matagorda County on the EPA smog list now, they’re surely greater if White Stallion gets built.

Posted in: The great state of Texas.
Tagged: air quality · Annise Parker · coal · Environmental Protection Agency · Houston · Matagorda County · smog · TCEQ · Texas · White Stallion

Interview with Zack Fertitta

Jan 30th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

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Zack Fertitta

We move on this week to the two top of the ticket races for Harris County, DA and Sheriff, starting today with Zack Fertitta, who is running for the Democratic nomination for District Attorney. Fertitta spent several years in the DA’s office as a prosecutor, and since then he has had his own practice as a criminal defense attorney, so he has seen the courtroom from both sides of the aisle. Though he has an opponent in this primary, the person he’s running against is a perennial candidate with a questionable history. The choice in this race is very clear.

I have been asked by a number of people to do interviews with Republican candidates for the primaries as well. Generally speaking, I don’t have the time or the inclination for that, but if there’s one office on the ballot this year for which I’d make an exception it’s District Attorney. I’m pleased to say that I have been able to line up interviews with both of the Republican candidates for this office as well, incumbent DA Pat Lykos and challenger Mike Anderson. Look for them to run in the near future. In the meantime, here’s my conversation with Zack Fertitta:

Download the MP3 file

You can find a list of all interviews for this cycle, plus other related information, on my 2012 Harris County Primary Elections page. You can also follow this blog by liking its Facebook page.

Posted in: Election 2012.
Tagged: Democratic primary · District Attorney · Election 2012 · Harris County · interviews · Zack Fertitta

Non-filers in Harris County races

Jan 30th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

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As of today, the following candidates for county offices in Harris County have not filed campaign finance reports with the County Clerk:

Candidates for Sheriff

Charles Massey El (D)
Guy Clark (R, formerly D)
Daniel Lemkuil (R)

Candidates for HCDE

Jarvis Johnson (D)
Silvia Mintz (D)
Timothy Rose (R)
Tom Cruz (R)

Candidates for County Commissioner

Dave Wilson (“D”)
Chuck Maricle (R)

Candidates for Justice of the Peace

LaTonya Allen (D)
Tommy Ginn (R)

Candidates for Constable

Ruben Loreto (D)
Victor Archer (D)
Kenneth Perkins (D)
Rickey Spivey (D)
Edward Rios (R)

The last date that I saw a report filed was January 23. Obviously, some of these candidates are more serious than others. Massey El, Perkins, and Wilson are all perennials, with Wilson being a bad joke in addition. Clark is on at least his third run for Sheriff, this time as an R after running as a D in 2004 (he was the nominee) and 2008 (he, along with Charles Massey El, lost in the primary to Sheriff Adrian Garcia). Others should know better.

Posted in: Election 2012.
Tagged: campaign finance reports · Commissioners Court · Constable · Election 2012 · Harris County · HCDE · Justice of the Peace · Sheriff

On free speech and reproductive rights

Jan 30th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

2 comments

I must say, I was a bit flummoxed by this story.

The City of Austin might repeal a 2-year-old ordinance requiring some facilities that counsel women with unplanned pregnancies to post signs saying they don’t offer abortions or contraceptive services.

The four Austin facilities affected by the ordinance sued the city last fall, saying the ordinance violates their constitutional rights.

City attorneys are urging the City Council to repeal the ordinance at Thursday’s council meeting “to avoid further litigation costs” and because similar laws have been struck down in other cities, according to a written summary of their recommendation.

Bill Spelman, the council member who led the charge to enact the ordinance, is proposing that the council revise, not repeal, it.

“This is a consumer awareness issue,” Spelman said in an email. “I still believe that it is important for women to have as much information about these businesses as possible, and I believe the changes I’m proposing will provide women information as well as satisfying the legal issues that have come up since (the council) passed the original ordinance” in April 2010 .

The ordinance requires pregnancy resource centers that don’t offer or refer clients to abortions or birth control to display entrance signs in English and Spanish noting the lack of those services.

So, it’s perfectly constitutional for the state to compel doctors to show a sonogram they don’t want to show to a patient who doesn’t want them to show it to them, but it’s a violation of free speech for the state to require a “clinic” that performs no medical services to clearly state that they perform no medical services? How is that even remotely consistent? I’ve been trying to come up with a righteous rant about this, but in the end I decided it was better just to point you to what Katherine Haenschen said; see also her report on Council’s actions. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go put a helmet on so my head doesn’t explode.

Posted in: Legal matters.
Tagged: abortion · Austin · City Council · contraception · lawsuit · sonogram · Texas

New school food coming

Jan 30th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

No comments yet

No more mystery meat.

School lunches, long saddled with an unhealthy reputation, are getting a makeover.

Instead of salt-doused fried foods, highly processed white bread and sugar-laden desserts, cafeteria trays will be carrying whole wheat pizza, leafy green and orange vegetables and fresh fruit.

The changes, announced Wednesday by first lady Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, mark the first major nutritional adjustment to the $11 billion school meal program in 15 years.

Under the new guidelines, which were directed by the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, schools must limit calories, trans fat and sodium, while serving students a wider variety of fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

[...]

The new rules, which will affect 32 million children, will be phased in over the next three years.

Many Houston-area school districts have already taken steps to raise nutritional standards, instituting changes that mirror many of the new USDA requirements.

In Houston ISD, for example, all milk is fat-free or low-fat, and more than half of grains served are whole grain, including pasta, sliced bread, homemade rolls, pizza crust and brownies.

Meals contain no trans fat, and dark green and orange vegetables are served three times a week, said district spokesman Jason Spencer.

Clear Creek, Spring and Alief are among the other local school districts that have also made the switch to all whole-grain items, fat-free or low-fat milk and more dark green and orange vegetables.

Olivia has been asking to get the school lunch more often as of late. I think that’s more because it’s what her friends do than anything else, but that’s okay. I suspect she won’t have any problems with the change, but as The Lunch Tray wrote last month, there can be quite a few bumps in the road in getting better food to school kids. Don’t be surprised if there are problems here and there. If you don’t mind a little profanity, there’s an interesting perspective on the issue of better-quality food and why it isn’t always embraced here. This is a process, one that will likely take some time to show results. Here’s more from The Lunch Tray and Obamafoodorama, and The Spork Report has some related food news from HISD.

Posted in: Food, glorious food.
Tagged: HISD · Michelle Obama · school lunch · schools · Tom Vilsack · USDA

Weekend link dump for January 29

Jan 29th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

No comments yet

To everything there is a season, and that season starts with pitchers and catchers.

“If you are a consumer of conservative media, you get constant reminders — every day, multiple times a day — that you absolutely must not believe anything you hear or read in any news outlet that is not explicitly conservative.”

Fans of soccer know that it’s boring. They like it that way.

Would “The Life Of Brian” be made today?

We just rode between the cars on the NYC subway.

This is why we need comprehensive, fact-based sex education.

The guy responsible for one of the greatest headlines ever is up for parole.

Freedom’s just another word for whining about being inconvenienced.

“Apple’s mind-bogglingly greedy and evil license agreement”

This is wrong on so many levels.

Some useful anti-social media tips.

Feel the fear and loathing the Republican establishment has for Newt.

I’m just wondering how, if this is true, it was his thigh that got injured. On second thought, I don’t want to know.

I believe those are crow tacos he’ll be eating.

Just go read The Slacktivist. I can’t say that often enough.

Fact checking should be about checking facts, don’t you think?

The conservative media cartel puts out a hit on Newt Gingrich. Pass the popcorn. Of course, they don’t anyone to blame but themselves for him.

The pill is now on sort of equal footing with Viagra.

RIP, Juan Epstein.

The climate change denial industry is getting back to basics.

Posted in: Blog stuff.
Tagged: linkdump

About that “solution” for bike trail obstruction

Jan 29th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

1 comment

Me, last month:

Meanwhile, two weeks ago there was a story about TxDOT closing the White Oak Bayou Hike and Bike Trail between Ella and 34th streets while there is construction on the service road for 610 North at East TC Jester. The closure was scheduled for two years, without an alternate route that bicyclists thought was adequate. Fortunately, after meeting with bike activists, TxDOT made some changes to accommodate riders a little better. I’ve been meaning to get over there and take some pictures but just haven’t had the chance. Anyone here have experience with what’s going on at this location?

A reader named Andy wrote to me that he had had a close look at this area, and it’s not as you would expect based on that report. He sent me some of photos to illustrate, two of which I will show here. First, a view of the White Oak Trail from the north:

That looks pretty blocked to me

And a view from street level:

A view of the blocked trail from grade level

Andy writes:

I took photos of this mess on Monday (Jan 23) [...] In short, the construction company working for TxDOT decided to bury the section of White Oak Trail which runs under 610 with the dirt they removed while leveling out other sections. They didn’t have to do this, but it was faster and cheaper than having to haul the dirt somewhere else. Other than the dirt, there is absolutely no construction going on there right now, and there were no construction vehicles there at all on Monday.

TxDOT and/or Karen Othon apparently has been claiming that the trail closure was for safety reasons, but this is simply nonsense. They could use a chainlink and plywood safety barricade over the trail just as other construction companies have used downtown to keep pedestrian access open, and limit total closure of this section of White Oak Trail to the same times that they close TC Jester (when doing overhead crane work, such as lifting and setting beams, the same as they did when rebuilding Ella’s 610 overpass). This however would be less convenient for the construction company, since it would be an additional cost and they would also need to find another place to pile the dirt they removed while leveling other areas.

While taking photos, I also witnessed no less than 20-25 people in about a 30 minute or so time span going around and over the dirt piled on the trail (I had to wait for many to get out of the frame so I could take photos). A number of hikers climbed right up and over the dirt (which is not safe at all for reasons which can be seen in the photos from the north end of the dirt pile), while other pedestrians and bicyclists used the sidewalk on the west side of TC Jester which runs parallel to White Oak Trail, and then crossed under 610, (which is just dirt and loose gravel). This route likely won’t remain an option once demolition and construction begins on the three existing bridges though. I also saw several people walk down the bayou embankment and follow the flat concrete basin to bypass the blocked trail and walk right under 610 (also not terribly safe, due to the steep incline).

Somehow TxDOT is going to have to come up with an option other than blocking White Oak Trail until late 2013 because people are clearly not going to stop traveling through the area.

And in a followup email, Andy writes:

When I was speaking with Tom Gall via email yesterday, he mentioned “My understanding is that the soil on the trail will serve as a platform for the piling cranes and isn’t just spare soil but we certainly need to keep an eye on them.” If that is what TxDOT has been claiming in the public meetings (they only claim they closed the trail for “safety reasons” on their website), then it would seem TxDOT’s contractor needs to use a crane with a longer boom and/or a different sort of jib. I can’t see the ~10ft width of the trail making all that much difference anyway when they bring in a large crane with a diesel-driven pile driver attachment (which is the type of pile driver they would most likely use if they are going to be installing prestressed concrete piles). I would actually be surprised if they located a crane that close to the bayou embankment because of the steep grade and danger of tipping the crane over too. There also appear to be stockpile markings on the soil that has been piled over the trail.

You can see in the photo of the north end of the trail just how dangerous they’ve made it with all that reinforcing mesh/wire sticking up out of the dirt. It was when I was taking photos from grade level (which was around 5:30pm) that I saw people heading north on the trail and climbing over and going through that mess. With all the people clearly unwilling to stop using the trail, if TxDOT and their contractor doesn’t come up with another solution, and soon, someone is very likely to end up hurt and then turn around and sue to city. With all the budget shortfalls, the last thing the city needs is another lawsuit.

Also, the retaining wall made of decorative concrete bricks is still in place. They just buried it under all that dirt. I would like to know what they’ve done with the metal safety railing they removed though. That railing was custom made and expensive…

My thanks to Andy for sending this along. It doesn’t sound like a good situation to me. I don’t know who needs to take this up with TxDOT, but they do respond when enough of a fuss is made. Let’s make that fuss for them, shall we?

Posted in: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
Tagged: bicycles · construction · Houston · photography · TxDOT · White Oak Bayou

SCOTUS declines to hear strip club tax case

Jan 29th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

No comments yet

The end of the road for this particular bit of litigation.

The U.S. Supreme Court will not take up the adult entertainment industry’s lawsuit against the state’s $5-per-patron strip club tax, justices decided Monday.

“Texas is now one step closer to a sustainable source of funding for rape crisis centers, and most importantly, for supporting sexual assault survivors in their recovery,” said Annette Burrhus Clay, executive director of the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault.

That means the Texas Supreme Court’s ruling — that the fee does not violate the First Amendment — stands. But it doesn’t mean that the industry, years into its legal battle, can’t file yet another suit against other elements of the tax.

The story doesn’t go into what other grounds there may be for litigation, and I don’t care to think about it at this time. Here’s a reminder of the timeline in this case, which first got a ruling from a district court judge in 2008. As I recall, it took about a decade for all the lawsuits over the city of Houston’s SOB ordinance to be resolved. Check back in 2018 or so, I guess.

Posted in: Legal matters.
Tagged: lawsuit · SCOTUS · sexually oriented businesses · strip clubs · Supreme Court · Texas · Texas Association Against Sexual Assault · The Lege

Job growth was good last year

Jan 29th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

No comments yet

More hopeful news for this year.

Jobs and job growth for the region (Source: Greater Houston Parnership)

Boosted by gains in energy, manufacturing and retail trade, the Houston area added 75,800 jobs during 2011, a 3 percent increase over the previous year, the Texas Workforce Commission reported Friday.

“The numbers are impressive,” said Barton Smith, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Houston.

Improvement appeared to begin at the end of the summer and has been broadening over a greater number of sectors.

“The improvement in energy is now spilling over to the rest of the economy,” Smith said.

You may be looking at that 75,800 figure and saying to yourself “Didn’t we just see some better numbers than that for 2011? What gives?” You’re right, we did. The difference is that the numbers reported in that earlier post were for the November 2010 to November 2011 period, while these here are December 2010 to December 2011. What accounts for the difference? Barton Smith suggests the November ’11 numbers were a bit wonky. Here’s another explanation:

Last year the Austin area — and Texas as a whole — showed modest job growth at an annual rate of about 2 percent. Texas added 204,500 jobs last year, while the Austin area added 16,100 jobs over the year .

However, the rate of net job growth was negligible for December and well below the annual rates for Texas and the Austin area.

Alan Miller, executive director of the regional arm for the state workforce commission, said he doubts the survey is capturing Austin’s growth accurately.

“Personally, I think our local economy is growing and adding more jobs than what is reflected,” he said.

For example, he said there have been numerous news reports of software firms expanding or relocating here, but the workforce commission’s report reflects zero job growth in the information sector.

“I can’t explain that,” Miller said.

The data are based on a survey of employers and are updated monthly as well annually. For that reason, the monthly data indicate directions for the economy, but economists tend to favor the annual, corrected numbers.

In other words, it’s also quite likely that the December ’11 numbers are not accurate, and will be significantly revised when the next report comes out in March. So don’t panic.

“If it slowed down, it slowed down from a 100-yard dash to a mile run,” added Patrick Jankowski, vice president of research for the Greater Houston Partnership. “Maybe we’re finding the pace we can sustain over the long run.”

Jankowski also noted that local job growth in 2011 was the sixth strongest of the past 21 years. Houston saw year-over-year growth in all but four sectors: transportation, warehousing and utilities; information (which includes media); arts, entertainment and recreation; and government.

Austin saw government employment shrinkage as well. Unlike some people, I expect more of that this year, though I fervently hope not as much as there was last year. The Trib has more.

Posted in: Elsewhere in Houston.
Tagged: Barton Smith · economy · Greater Houston Partnership · Houston · Texas Workforce Commission

Saturday video break: Kiss

Jan 28th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

No comments yet

Song #84 on the Popsode Top 100 Covers list is “Kiss”, originally by Prince and covered by the Art of Noise with Tom Jones. While I was able to find a Prince song video before, I regret to say that this time I struck out – every one I clicked on had the audio disabled. So you’ll just have to settle for the cover this week, which I must say is its own kind of awesome.

The Art of Noise and Tom Jones are individually two things I’ve never quite gotten, but put together they add up to more than their parts. I love the little commentary at the end, too, even if the announcer is speaking over the music, which I normally consider to be a cardinal sin. Weirdly enough given the artists involved, this isn’t that great a divergence from the original, though it clearly bears the Tom Jones stamp – with that voice, how could it not? I was going to make a joke about Martian heads exploding, but while Tom Jones was in the movie, it was apparently Slim Whitman music that saved the Earth. And to think, all these years I’d remembered it wrong. Oh, well.

Posted in: Music.
Tagged: cover songs · movies · videos

Update on the redistricting settlement possibility

Jan 28th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

1 comment

Late Friday we heard about the possibility of a settlement agreement in the redistricting lawsuit in San Antonio, with the idea of coming up with an interim map in time to keep the primaries on April 6. Here’s an update on that from the Chron.

Under the arrangement outlined during the hearing, the parties would negotiate each of the challenged districts separately and the court would draw the boundaries for districts where an agreement could not be reached.

[Assistant Attorney General David] Mattax said they could announce agreements on some of the districts as soon as Sunday or Monday.

“If it’s possible to have a primary in April, why don’t we at least set that as a goal to do that?” asked Texas Republican Party Chairman Steve Munisteri, who said it is still in the “realm of possibility” to have an April primary.

He acknowledged that the court could give the state some flexibility in dealing with the MOVE Act, which requires ballots to be sent to troops and citizens abroad at least 45 days before an election.

The Justice Department objected to that request, so it’s no sure thing. In any event, the San Antonio court told both sides to get a move on if they want a chance to salvage the April primary date.

Is there an end in sight?

U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia told an attorney for the state that the parties should try to agree “to as many districts as possible” by early next week “if you want to have an election in April.”

He also said the parties should agree to an election date in case the maps can’t be done in time for an April election.

Assistant Attorney General David Mattax said the state wants to have a unified primary, and they want to have it in April. He said the state hasn’t appropriated the money for extra elections. That’s a new position. In hearings last month about moving the primaries, the state didn’t take a position on whether the primaries should be split or not.

The judges are concerned about the timetable. Election administrators across the state have said they need 60 to 80 days after maps are completed to pull an election together. To hold an election on April 3, they’ve told the court that they need maps by the end of the month. “How are we supposed to get all of this done by the 1st?” asked an obviously frustrated [Judge Xavier] Rodriguez.

“It can’t be done,” Garza answered. He reads the Supreme Court’s recent decision to mean the worries of the state parties are “secondary” to the need to hold fair elections. The parties hold their state conventions in early June and must hold primaries in advance as part of their nominating process.

“Those are party issues,” Garza said, in response to a question from [Judge Jerry] Smith. “I’m not saying they’re not important … but they must take a back seat.”

[...]

Garcia said the lawyers should meet over the weekend to figure out what they can agree upon. “Monday or Tuesday, you tell us the districts you’ve agreed upon or you’ll tell us the date you’ve agreed upon if it’s not going to be April,” he said.

Judge Garcia later said basically that they either have a map by February 6 or they can kiss the April 3 primary good-bye.

Michael Li sums it all up.

Settlement discussions

The other big development of the day (maybe the biggest) was the emergence of serious discussions about a settlement on the maps, with intense negotiations expected to continue this weekend.

David Mattax, the state’s lawyer, explained that what the state was proposing was a deal on interim maps, not permanent maps.

Mattax said that under the deal he was trying to work out, if redistricting plaintiffs proposed maps in areas where the state agreed that there were legitimate issues of dispute, the state would not object. Mattax conceded, though, that other parties (such as Congressman Barton) might object. Mattax also recognized that complete agreement with redistricting plaintiffs might not be possible. But Mattax said he hoped to at least be able to narrow the issues for the court before February 6 in an effort to facilitate getting maps by mid-February.

If this sounds like a significant sea change from the state’s prior position, it certainly seems to be. And at least some reports are that Republicans are willing to make significant concessions.

_____

Drawing new maps

If the parties are not able to agree on interim maps, or substantially narrow issues, the court did not indicate when it expected to be able to complete maps.

However, the judges repeatedly raised questions about how they would be able to draw maps quickly in that instance, with Judge Rodriguez noting that they had even yet received the record and transcript from the D.C. case.

There also were questions about whether to wait for a ruling in the preclearance case from the D.C. court. In middle of the hearing, the court took a recess to call the D.C. court to discuss timing with Judge Collyer, though the judges were mum about what they learned.

While the state said it thought the court could move quickly, plaintiffs disagreed noting that the record in the D.C. case was different than in the case tried before the San Antonio court. They also said they thought the burden imposed by the Supreme Court’s ruling was more complicated than the state suggested. That position was supported, in part, by lawyers for Joe Barton who argued that the court would benefit from evidence about section 5 issues before making any significant changes to the map.

Emphasis mine. That sure sounds like a big effin’ deal to me. Obviously, the plaintiffs, whose interests are mostly but not entirely aligned, would have to come up with something – remember, there are three maps in dispute here – and there would have to be no objections from other intervenors such as Congressmen Barton and Canseco, but I would think the plaintiffs would have strong incentive to work something out. I’m very hopeful, that’s for sure. The other news of interest is that the previous court order that included things like a secondary filing deadline of February 1 has been suspended pending the outcome here. There will still be a second filing period, we just don’t know when it will be yet. Stay tuned.

Posted in: Election 2012.
Tagged: Congress · Election 2012 · Greg Abbott · Joe Barton · Justice Department · lawsuit · Quico Canseco · redistricting · Senate · Texas · The Lege · Voting Rights Act

You can drive 75

Jan 28th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

No comments yet

Pedal to the metal, y’all.

Vroom vroom!

The Texas Transportation Commission approved 75 mph speed limits for nearly 1,500 miles of interstate in 60 counties.

The action follows a state law approved last year providing for the Texas Department of Transportation to see whether 70 mph speed limits safely can be raised to 75 mph, and to hike the speed as warranted.

Before passage of that law, higher speed limits were limited to rural counties and highways mostly in West Texas, according to TxDOT. Under the previous law, Texans could drive 75 mph on 1,445 miles of highway and 80 mph on other stretches.

You can see a full list of the affected highways here; click one of the PDF map links there, or look at the post above for a graphical guide. Note that this now includes I-10 from the Waller – Austin County Line all the way to Loop 410 in San Antonio and I-45 from the Montgomery – Walker County Line to the Navarro – Ellis County Line. Not that people weren’t already driving 75 out those ways, it’s just that now they won’t get ticketed for it. Well, once the new speed limit signs are up they won’t. The On The Move blog and Dallas Transportation have more. And because tradition demands it:

You’re always welcome in Texas, Sammy.

Posted in: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
Tagged: I-10 · I-45 · speed limits · Texas · Texas Transportation Commission · The Lege · TxDOT

The CFPB and payday lending

Jan 28th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

No comments yet

This ought to be good.

Picking his first public fight with the banking industry, Washington’s top consumer cop, Richard Cordray, promised on Thursday that his examiners will scrutinize a handful of big banks that make high-cost loans. Inspection of major financial institutions will be part of a broader review of payday lenders, he said at a public hearing organized by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Birmingham, Ala.

The move is significant in that Cordray made no distinction between established financial institutions, including Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, and less-respectable storefront and online payday lenders with names like EZ Money and AmeriCash Advance, widely criticized for making high-cost, short-term loans to the most desperate borrowers.

Although he was careful not to strike a directly confrontational tone, by specifically mentioning banks’ high-cost loans in his first major speech as the new CFPB chief, Cordray suggested that his agency doesn’t buy the bank industry line that its loans are not traditional payday products because they are structured differently.

Cordray did not single out any bank. But the listing of specific names of such payday lending programs in an examination guide released at the hearing — such as Fifth Third Bank’s “early access advance” — is likely to chill the blood of bank executives, whose companies make big profits off payday loans.

“We recognize the need for emergency credit,” Cordray said in a transcript of his opening remarks, provided in advance. “At the same time, it is important that these products actually help consumers, rather than harm them.”

I have a copy of his remarks beneath the fold. I note this story for two reasons. One, of course, is because I believe this sort of scrutiny is long overdue. While there is certainly a need for short-term emergency credit, you don’t have to do a lot of research on this topic to see that an awful lot of payday lending is designed to take advantage of people who are not very sophisticated about finances, most of whom are poor. It’s a huge transfer of wealth away from those who have the least, which is why many religious leaders and organizations are involved in this fight, to their credit. Often, churches are left to clean up the mess that this causes for their members. Putting a stop to the worst practices and arming people with the information they need to make better choices will make a big difference.

The other reason is that the state of Texas finally took action on payday lending last year, with those new laws taking effect this month. Stronger legislation than what eventually passed was championed by none other than Rep. Tom Craddick, who is no one’s idea of a business opponent. It’s too early to say what effect the state’s new laws will have, and it’s too early to say what direction the CFPB will take, but it’s not hard to imagine the feds being more aggressive than the state was. If so, how will the politics of that play out? There is clearly bipartisan support for more oversight on this industry. Will the federal versus state issue get in the way?

Anyway. The CFPB’s field guide for examiners is here, and there’s more on the CFPB website. Let’s remember what this is all about:

Traditional payday lenders say the high cost of their loans is justified because the risk of default is also high. At those lenders, where average annual interest rates on borrowing top 400 percent, customers leave behind a post-dated check for the amount borrowed, plus a fee.

Bank payday loans, also described as direct deposit advance products, work differently. Customers must have checking accounts and must have their pay or benefits check directly deposited into that account. When the check is deposited — the maximum loan term is 30 days; the maximum loan usually $500 — the bank pays itself what it is owed, plus the fee. If direct deposits are not sufficient to repay the loan within 35 days, the bank repays itself anyway, even if the repayment overdraws the customer’s account, triggering more fees.

For some borrowers, there are much cheaper forms of short-term credit. Members of State Employees’ Credit Union in North Carolina, for example, can take out a payday loan at 12 percent interest. Further, they are required to sock away 5 percent of what they borrow in a savings account. When that balance tops $500, they can borrow money for even less — just 5.5 percent.

Payday loans are still the most profitable loans the credit union makes, said Jim Blaine, president of the company. Blaine said that the credit union earns a 4 percent return on the average loan.

More than 110,000 members participate in the program, with as many as 90,000 taking loans on a recurring monthly basis. They have put away $23 million collectively through the mandatory savings program, according to the credit union’s data.

Blaine said he didn’t want to comment directly on bank payday lending, but noted, “It sometimes seems like our financial system is set up to penalize those who know the least and have the least.”

He added, “It appears to me that the system has gone beyond buyer beware to buyer be damned.”

Indeed it has. This is why the CFPB was created.

Continue reading →

Posted in: National news.
Tagged: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau · payday lenders · Richard Cordray · The Lege · Tom Craddick

Sierra Club sues over coal permits

Jan 28th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

No comments yet

Remember how four coal plants were granted permits to pollute more in December? You probably don’t, because it basically happened under cover of darkness. The Sierra Club found out about it and has filed a lawsuit to call a halt to it.

Martin Lake coal plant

The environmental group is appealing permit amendments approved Dec. 16 by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality that allow increased emissions from the plants, in East and Central Texas, during periods of planned startup, shutdown and maintenance.

The issuance of the permits is “invalid, arbitrary and unreasonable,” according to the lawsuit filed in state District Court in Travis County.

The lawsuit comes as coal plants across the state apply for permit amendments for emissions produced during startup, shutdown and maintenance, which were not previously regulated, said Ilan Levin, an environmental attorney representing the Sierra Club.

Environment commission spokesman Terry Clawson said the agency has not received the lawsuit and will not comment on it, but he said the four permits questioned in the lawsuit were issued legally.

Coal plant operators were required to apply for the amendments to authorize increased emissions by Jan. 5, 2011 . The four plants involved in the suit, all owned by the state’s largest generator, Dallas-based Luminant Generation Co., applied for higher emission ceilings and were approved in December.

“We were surprised to find out that, really, just by trolling the agency’s website, that right before the holidays, the TCEQ had issued these permits to Luminant without any public notice or any sort of opportunity at all to file some formal comments,” Levin said.

I wish I could tell you more about this, but the Sierra Club webpage has no information on the suit, and I have been unable to get a copy of it for myself. So this is all I know for now. Texas Vox also wrote about this, but they don’t have anything more than the Statesman did.

Posted in: Legal matters.
Tagged: air quality · coal · lawsuit · pollution · Sierra Club · TCEQ · Texas

Could there be a settlement in the redistricting lawsuit?

Jan 27th, 2012

by Charles Kuffner.

2 comments

A leading player in the state’s redistricting turmoil said this morning he’s hopeful that both sides are closing in on a settlement that will salvage Texas’ April 3 primary.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has been meeting with representatives of minority groups that sued the state last year to stop new political boundaries from taking effect on grounds the decade-long maps ignore profound population growth of minority Texans – mostly Hispanics.

“I am confident that the parties are working in good faith and have enough time to craft a compromise that will assure that the April primaries go on as scheduled,” said state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, chairman of the House Mexican American Legislative Caucus, which is one of the parties suing the state.

Caught off guard as he was preparing for a 1 p.m. court hearing in San Antonio before three federal judges refereering the redistricting fight, Martinez Fischer acknowledged that lawyers for his organization have been talking with Abbott and others in the case about a settlement. Martinez Fischer said he could not share details.

A spokesman for Abbott said the attorney general will hold off commenting until the court hearing.

A settlement here means a set of interim maps that everyone agrees on that would be used for this year. I presume this means the other litigation, both in San Antonio and DC, would then continue – this would basically put us back to where we were with the original interim map in that the 2012 elections could go forward as currently scheduled (or possibly with the primary moved back to April 17) and the “permanent” maps would be determined later by the courts. Here’s a full statement from Rep. Martinez-Fischer:

“Since the early days of the legislative session, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus had been asking for Republican law-makers to negotiate fair maps that reflect the growing diversity of the State of Texas. I am encouraged by the Attorney General’s efforts to now strive towards that goal, but I must say that the evidence presented at trial in San Antonio and in Washington, D.C. are compelling. Given that evidence, any hope to arrive at a consensus will require that proposed compromise maps reflect the diversity of Texas and ensure that 3.7 million minority Texans are not be swept under the rug for the sake of partisan politics. I have asked MALC Legal Counsel Jose Garza to work within these parameters and I am confident in his ability to be the voice of Texas’ Latino voters.”

Looks like the parties will be working on this over the weekend. Final arguments are set for Tuesday – testimony concluded yesterday – but it’s the need to get lines in place so all the county clerks can do their job that really matters. Having a settlement means not having to wait for the DC court’s ruling on preclearance and not having to wait for the San Antonio court to do its re-draw. See Michael Li’s Twitter feed for the blow-by-blow.

UPDATE: If this is true, it’s amazing.

The Texas state attorneys defending the state’s GOP-drawn redistricting plans from court challenges have reached out to settle litigation, according to sources in the state. The settlement would give minority groups and Democrats what they’ve been demanding from the start: more heavily minority, Democratic-leaning House seats.

The result would likely mean at least four more Texas Democrats in Congress as of next year, a good start on the 25 or so seats Democrats need to win to retake control of the House.

“They’re backed up against the wall and have to come to some agreement and it’ll be awfully favorable on our end,” said one of the plaintiffs in the case.
Another plaintiff agreed. “It’s clear they know they’re in a vulnerable position and that’s why they want to settle,” he said.

Any settlement would need to get the multiple minority group plaintiffs on board, and would create more majority-Hispanic and majority-African American congressional districts. Two of the plaintiffs predicted that an agreement will be reached early next week.

[...]

Any agreement would lead to a minimum of 13 Democratic-leaning seats, and possibly a fourteenth seat depending on how the districts in Fort Worth are drawn.

With conservative former Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas) running for a Galveston-area seat, Democrats could win as many as 14 or 15 seats in the state, up from the nine seats they currently hold. Republicans would hold 21 or 22 seats, down from the 23 they currently have.

Those 23 seats include two Democratic-leaning seats won by Republican Reps. Quico Canseco and Blake Farenthold in the 2010 Republican wave election. Farenthold would have a chance to run in the same Galveston district Lampson is likely to run in, while Canseco would have an uphill fight for reelection.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) is also likely to be spared a tough race — initial plans would have forced him to run in a Hispanic-majority seat, something Latino groups are looking to avoid.

If true, wow. Just, wow. Via Texas Redistricting.

Posted in: Election 2012.
Tagged: Congress · Election 2012 · Greg Abbott · Justice Department · lawsuit · MALC · redistricting · Senate · Texas · The Lege · Trey Martinez-Fischer · Voting Rights Act

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