Monthly Archives: December 2023

On “active shooter” training and what happened at Uvalde

Posted on December 9, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

You may not want to read this story, which is part of a package that includes a TV documentary. It’s about the Uvalde massacre and how it could be that so many law enforcement officers were just standing around doing … Continue reading →

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Today is Runoff Day 2023

Posted on December 9, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

You know what to do if you haven’t already. Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth reminds voters that Election Day for the Joint Runoff is tomorrow, Saturday, December 9. There will be 450 vote centers across the county open from 7 … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2023 | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Emergency abortion approval granted

Posted on December 8, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Good, with the obvious proviso that no one should ever have to go through this. For the first time in at least 50 years, a judge has intervened to allow an adult woman to terminate her pregnancy. When Travis County … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

State GOP sues the lawyer who led their sore loser election contest lawsuits

Posted on December 8, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Oh my God, this is hilarious. The Republican Party of Texas is suing a lawyer who helped write the state’s recent election reform law and who they claim duped several former Republican candidates into believing they could prove election fraud … Continue reading →

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

The recent history of runoff early voting

Posted on December 8, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I brought this up in yesterday’s post, so let’s take that look at how much of the runoff vote has been cast early in the last few Mayoral elections. Year Early E-Day Total EV % ======================================= 2003 77,984 138,804 216,788 … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2023 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Dispatches from Dallas, December 8 edition

Posted on December 8, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

This is a weekly feature produced by my friend Ginger. Let us know what you think. This week, in news from Dallas-Fort Worth: Mark Cuban sells the Mavericks and a lot of filing activity in the Metroplex. Plus, the Fairfield … Continue reading →

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2023 final runoff Early Voting totals

Posted on December 7, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Early voting has ended. Early takes are flowing in. As of Tuesday night, nearly 132,000 votes – 120,155 in-person ballots and 11,732 mail ballots – had been recorded in Harris County, according to the Harris County Clerk’s Office. That compares … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2023 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Candidate Agwan sued by former staffer for sexual harassment

Posted on December 7, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Not good. A former campaign worker has sued a progressive Democratic challenger to Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, accusing him of making unwanted sexual advances toward her after she complained about another staffer sexually harassing female campaign workers. The lawsuit accuses Pervez … Continue reading →

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State abandons effort to retake Fairfield Lake State Park

Posted on December 7, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Of interest. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has effectively thrown in the towel on a monthslong battle to buy or seize a 5,000-acre property that includes the now-closed Fairfield Lake State Park in Freestone County. Dallas-based developer Todd Interests … Continue reading →

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Texas blog roundup for the week of December 4

Posted on December 7, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance wishes Henry Kissinger a nice warm eternity in hell as it brings you this week’s roundup.

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One weird trick to make those election lawsuits go away

Posted on December 7, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Worth a shot. Maybe it’ll work. State officials have apparently found a legal tactic to prevent a slew of election contest lawsuits from derailing the constitutional amendments that voters overwhelmingly approved in November. The state argued in court filings Tuesday … Continue reading →

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Precinct analysis: At Large #4

Posted on December 6, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

PREVIOUSLY: Mayor’s race Controller’s race Harris Health bond referendum At Large #1 At Large #2 At Large #3 After that nine-candidate pileup in AL3, At Large #4 and its four contenders is a much more sedate affair, and a lot … Continue reading →

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Galveston ordered to use its current map for 2024

Posted on December 6, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Pending the Fifth Circuit, of course. A federal judge ruled Galveston County must keep its old commissioner precinct map in place for the 2024 election while a federal appeals court mulls overturning its precedent and allowing new maps which do … Continue reading →

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Texas woman seeks emergency abortion approval

Posted on December 6, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Boy howdy is this a big ol’ can of worms. A Texas woman is asking a judge to allow her to get an emergency abortion after learning that her baby has a rare and typically fatal condition. The first-of-its-kind lawsuit, … Continue reading →

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

Precinct analysis: At Large #3

Posted on December 5, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

PREVIOUSLY: Mayor’s race Controller’s race Harris Health bond referendum At Large #1 At Large #2 At Large #3 had the largest non-Mayoral field on the ballot, with nine candidates. Five candidates finished with at least ten percent of the vote, … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2023 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mayor proposes his water bill fix ordinance

Posted on December 5, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

This sure got a lot of late momentum. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is adding water bill reform to his to-do list as he approaches the end of his eight years in office. Turner announced at a Monday news conference nine … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Jim Leyland elected to the Hall of Fame

Posted on December 5, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Congratulations! Jim Leyland, the longtime manager who guided the Florida Marlins to the 1997 World Series title, was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame on Sunday. Leyland was named on 15 of 16 ballots in the election process during a … Continue reading →

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Precinct analysis: At Large #2

Posted on December 4, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

PREVIOUSLY: Mayor’s race Controller’s race Harris Health bond referendum At Large #1 Dist Davis Hellyar Coryat Bess Holly Obes ========================================================== A 5,494 3,854 1,580 2,112 1,830 1,184 B 5,834 800 1,286 5,148 658 1,211 C 7,921 13,067 2,477 4,679 4,923 … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2023 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

8 Day runoff 2023 campaign finance reports

Posted on December 4, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

The last campaign finance reports for the year are the 8 day reports for the runoff elections. These were mostly filed on Friday, so let’s have a look at them. The 8 Day reports from November for the Mayor’s race … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2023 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

2023 runoff early voting: With two days to go

Posted on December 4, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I changed up the schedule of posting early voting daily totals because I realized that the EV periods for the three years I’m comparing are all different, which makes the comparisons a little screwy. At this point in all three … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2023 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Weekend link dump for December 3

Posted on December 3, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

““Stranger danger” swept America in the ensuing decades, and like any fear, some of its founding myths were just that, myths, like the stories of fiends who hid razor blades in Halloween candy, or Satanic cults that ran daycare centers. … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged | 4 Comments

Precinct analysis: At Large #1

Posted on December 3, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

PREVIOUSLY: Mayor’s race Controller’s race Harris Health bond referendum We have four runoffs in the At Large races, and they’re all basically D versus R affairs. The HCDP and the Harris County GOP have taken their sides. Let’s look at … Continue reading →

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Fifth Circuit has its book rating lawsuit hearing

Posted on December 3, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

It looks like it might have…gone well? I am cautiously hopeful. Federal appellate judges Wednesday questioned a new Texas law requiring book sellers to rate the explicitness and relevance of sexual references in materials they sell to schools, though it … Continue reading →

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Rhonda Hart for CD14

Posted on December 3, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I wish her very well. Rhonda Hart, who lost her daughter in the 2018 mass shooting at Santa Fe High School, is launching a bid for Congress. Hart, a Democrat, plans to run against incumbent U.S. Rep. Randy Weber, a … Continue reading →

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Saturday video break: The boys of the NYPD Choir still singing “Galway Bay”

Posted on December 2, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I will have a note on his passing in the Sunday linkdump, but for obvious reasons the first thing I thought about upon hearing of Shane MacGowan’s passing was this: As a part-Irishman, I’m an absolute sucker for a sad … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Precinct analysis: 2023 Harris Health proposition

Posted on December 2, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

PREVIOUSLY: Mayor’s race Controller’s race The nice thing about analyzing Harris County Proposition A is that I can use the precinct/district guide I got and used for the 2022 election, which is nice and clean and gives me totals that … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2023 | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Apparently there’s a lawsuit challenging the 2023 constitutional amendment elections

Posted on December 2, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I feel like I’m running out of synonyms for “deranged” and “absurd”. Lawsuits based on false claims about voting equipment could delay millions of dollars in cost of living increases for retired teachers expected to arrive in January. The lawsuits … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2023, Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Dodo update

Posted on December 2, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Everyone needs a home. After years of working on bringing back one of the most popular extinct animals — the dodo — Colossal Biosciences has found a home for its bird in Mauritius in a new partnership with the Mauritian … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues Pfizer for not ending the COVID pandemic quickly enough

Posted on December 1, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

What the actual fuck? Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused drugmaker Pfizer of fear-mongering and lies about the effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine, which the company insinuated would end the pandemic, according to a lawsuit Paxton announced Thursday. “In a … Continue reading →

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

HISD’s continued enrollment decline

Posted on December 1, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not great. Houston ISD saw its steepest enrollment decline this year since the first full school year of the pandemic, losing roughly 6,000 students, according to preliminary data obtained by the Houston Landing. Some 183,884 students now attend HISD … Continue reading →

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

DPS ordered again to release Uvalde public records

Posted on December 1, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Good, though I’m a bit confused about the timing. A Travis County state district judge has ordered the Department of Public safety to release law enforcement records related to the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, more than a year after … Continue reading →

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