Category Archives: The great state of Texas

The push to make driving out of state for an abortion a crime

Posted on September 7, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Take a deep cleansing breath. Have a few sips of your favorite relaxing beverage. Settle into a nice, comfy chair. Then, when you’re feeling calm and collected and your blood pressure is under control and you think you can handle … Continue reading →

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State goes eminent domain on Fairfield Lake

Posted on September 5, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

We knew this was coming. In a new attempt to save Fairfield Lake State Park, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department filed a petition to condemn and seize the 5,000-acre property south of Dallas through eminent domain. The petition was … Continue reading →

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The Fort Worth bitcoin mining experience

Posted on August 28, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Wild. A year ago, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker joked the city was now “cowtown and cryptocurrency” after plugging in donated bitcoin mining machines. That news generated millions of web impressions across the world, a nominal amount of money and … Continue reading →

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UTMB gets grant for a gun study

Posted on August 26, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I’ll be very interested to see what they learn. Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston will be at the forefront of an emerging field of study after receiving a $2 million grant to study ways to … Continue reading →

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New frontiers in bad ideas

Posted on August 17, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Private dams. No, seriosuly. A private dam proposed on the South Llano River, a major tributary to the Highland Lakes, is the center of a debate in the Hill Country this week as a public hearing set for Thursday evening … Continue reading →

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Wildfire disaster declared

Posted on August 16, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Stay safe, y’all. Gov. Greg Abbott has issued a wildfire disaster declaration for about 75% of Texas counties, allowing them to use all available state resources to respond to any new fires as the state continues to bake under triple-digit … Continue reading →

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Todd Interests rejects “final offer” by TPWD for Fairfield State Park

Posted on August 16, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Off to court next, I guess. The developer who purchased the site of a now-former state park has rejected the state’s final offer to purchase the property. Dallas-based Todd Interests became the owner of the Fairfield Lake State Park property, … Continue reading →

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Lots of people were affected by that Dallas ransomware attack

Posted on August 9, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Not great. Computer hackers accessed the personal information of at least 26,212 Texans in a ransomware attack on the city of Dallas, according to an official disclosure made public Monday, three months after the breach. The city’s notice to the … Continue reading →

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Some data points in the “future doctor shortage” story

Posted on July 18, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

From The 19th: The landscape of American health care has undergone an extraordinary transformation in the past several years, with the end of federal abortion protections allowing states to end access to the procedure, and the concurrent rise in bans … Continue reading →

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Tuberculosis

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

It’s making an unfortunate comeback. Before 2020, advances to eradicate TB, which is spread person to person through the air, were underway globally. It was considered by many public health experts to be a feasible goal, since tools are available to identify … Continue reading →

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Future legislator Miss Texas

Posted on July 13, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Gotta say, I’m impressed. The day of the school shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, Tex., last year, Averie Bishop posted a TikTok video, sobbing. “These things happen all the time and nothing changes,” she said. After the Supreme … Continue reading →

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Lots of broadband funding on the way

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Nice. Texas will receive more than $3.3 billion in federal money — the most of any state — to help expand broadband availability statewide, the Biden administration announced Monday. The money will be distributed from the $42.45 billion in the Broadband Equity, … Continue reading →

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Fort Worth data exposure

Posted on July 2, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

This one is a little different. A hacker group has leaked internal data from the City of Fort Worth’s online systems, city officials announced Saturday. The city was notified around 4 p.m. Friday a group called SiegedSec had downloaded data … Continue reading →

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Dallas improves its cybersecurity

Posted on June 30, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Good to see. The Dallas City Council approved a nearly $4 million deal Wednesday to get a new system that alerts the city’s information technology department of possible cyber attacks. The approval comes as the city is nearly two months … Continue reading →

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How hot is it?

Posted on June 29, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Too damn hot. Record-setting heat in Texas has sent hundreds of people to emergency rooms in recent weeks, according to state health officials. Temperature records fell across Texas during the last two weeks, putting June 2023 on pace to be … Continue reading →

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Project Texas versus Project Texas

Posted on June 28, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

That’s gotta suck. Kendall Hill was in a meeting at Pegasus Park as TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified in front of Congress on March 23. As Chew spoke to U.S. officials, Hill received a vague message from a friend. … Continue reading →

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Add Stephen F. Austin University to the list of recent cyberattack victims

Posted on June 27, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Not a lot of detail here, but these things are never good. More than a week after Stephen F. Austin State University was hit with a cyberattack, leaders at the public university in the East Texas Pineywoods are still working … Continue reading →

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Freestone County opposes use of eminent domain on Fairfield Lake State Park

Posted on June 22, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Plot twist. The Freestone County commissioners are decrying the state’s decision to move forward with eminent domain to seize the Fairfield Lake State Park property in their county. At a Wednesday morning meeting, the five commissioners voted unanimously to send … Continue reading →

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Syphilis

Posted on June 18, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I had no idea. The number of babies born with syphilis in the U.S. continued its upward climb in 2021, new data shows, worrying doctors and public health investigators in Texas who have been trying to draw attention to what … Continue reading →

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Statewide COVID disaster declaration to end

Posted on June 13, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

It’s nothing to celebrate. Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday he will not renew Texas’ long-running COVID-19 disaster declaration later this week after he signed a law that bans local mandates related to the pandemic. Abbott has kept the disaster declaration … Continue reading →

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State will use eminent domain to reclaim Fairfield State Park

Posted on June 12, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Game on. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department voted unanimously to use eminent domain to seize a 5,000-acre property south of Dallas that included Fairfield Lake State Park on Saturday, citing the need to preserve a state park enjoyed by … Continue reading →

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Fairfield developers accuse state of lying about buying the park property

Posted on June 10, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Getting spicy out there. While state officials are planning to vote Saturday on whether to attempt to use eminent domain to claim Fairfield Lake State Park, the Dallas-based developer who now owns the land wants Texans to know that the … Continue reading →

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Fairfield State Park closes again

Posted on June 7, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

What a rollercoaster. For the second time this year, the state has closed Fairfield Lake State Park after it was unable to negotiate the purchase of the property from a developer. After several attempts to save the 1,820-acre park, Texas … Continue reading →

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Hammerhead flatworms

Posted on June 4, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

What fresh hell is this? They can grow up to 15 inches long, multiply when cut in half and are poisonous when eaten by pets and other animals. People across social media have reported seeing hammerhead flatworms in Texas this year and are … Continue reading →

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State moves to buy Fairfield State Park

Posted on May 31, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

This would be a fitting end to this saga. Texas isn’t giving up on saving Fairfield Lake State Park, a 1,820-acre park that operated on leased land for decades until the owner sold it earlier this year. On Thursday, Texas … Continue reading →

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Yet another Dallas ransomware update

Posted on May 29, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

We’re three weeks out, how are things going? Three weeks after Dallas was hit with a ransomware attack, city officials still haven’t publicly explained the full scope of the breach or the city’s progress toward restoration. The ransomware attack hit May … Continue reading →

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A brief Uvalde roundup one year after the massacre

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Just a few links for you… A year after Uvalde’s school massacre, healing remains elusive. In the year since 19 children and two teachers were killed inside their classrooms at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the search for healing … Continue reading →

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Dallas data leak threatened by ransomware attackers

Posted on May 21, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Not good. An online blog post by a group claiming responsibility for Dallas’ ransomware attack says a leak of employees’ personal information and other data stored by the municipal government will happen soon. In the post Friday, Royal noted the … Continue reading →

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And another Dallas ransomware update

Posted on May 16, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Recovery is a long and painful process. In the immediate aftermath, the attack forced the city to take offline the police and fire department’s computer-aided dispatch system, the police department’s website and the city’s website. The city also closed its … Continue reading →

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The bracted twistflower

Posted on May 13, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Gotta save our wildflowers, y’all. The bracted twistflower, a Texas wildflower threatened by growing urban sprawl, was declared a threatened species Monday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The tall, bright purple flower, which has seen significant decline across … Continue reading →

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Fort Cavazos

Posted on May 12, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

For a number of reasons, Tuesday was a good day. One of the U.S. military’s largest bases has been renamed after the Army’s first Hispanic four-star general. Fort Hood, located about 70 miles north of Austin, Texas, was redesignated on … Continue reading →

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Another Dallas ransomware update

Posted on May 11, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

More specific info, but still a lot we don’t know. Dallas’ top information technology official says the city hasn’t found any signs yet that personal information from employees or residents have been leaked after a cyberattack last week. Bill Zielinski, … Continue reading →

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Dallas ransomware update

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

As of the weekend, things still weren’t great. A ransomware attack from a prolific group called Royal has caused outages for many of Dallas’ systems for the past three days. Websites remained down and first responders continued to rely on … Continue reading →

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City of Dallas hit by ransomware attack

Posted on May 5, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

A bad day for them. The city of Dallas said Wednesday afternoon they found a number of their servers compromised with ransomware. The city’s security monitoring tools notified the Security Operations Center of the ransomware attack, the city said, and … Continue reading →

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