Tag Archives: Arizona

NBA agrees to offer its arenas as voting centers

Nice. “What was the plan?” was always the wrong question to ask of striking NBA players; what they wanted was to not play basketball, and they got it. But they used that time not playing to talk, to think and … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2020 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

How about an Arizona/Florida/Texas plan for MLB?

Call it the MLB Plan 3.0 for having a season. With the spread of the novel coronavirus threatening Major League Baseball’s 2020 season, the league and the union continue to seek ways to salvage the year as best they can. … Continue reading

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The Arizona/Florida Plan

Let’s call this the MLB Plan 2.0 for playing a season. Major League Baseball, assessing myriad proposals, has discussed a radical plan that would eliminate the traditional American and National Leagues for 2020, a high-ranking official told USA TODAY Sports, … Continue reading

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MLB begins to contemplate its return

Well, this is interesting. Major League Baseball and its players are increasingly focused on a plan that could allow them to start the season as early as May and has the support of high-ranking federal public health officials who believe … Continue reading

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2019 election results: Elsewhere

I think we can all agree that this was the most important race on anyone’s ballot. One of the most contested elections in the brief history of The Woodlands Township Board of Directors came to a close Tuesday night, as … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2019 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Here come the driverless trucks

Coming soon to a freeway near you. Self-driving 18-wheelers will soon cruise next to you down Interstate 10 and other major Texas freeways. TuSimple, a California-based autonomous truck start-up, has been mapping routes and plans to haul commercial loads from Arizona … Continue reading

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Driverless taxis have arrived

In Phoenix. Google offshoot Waymo announced it is launching the nation’s first commercial driverless taxi service in this and other Phoenix suburbs. The 24/7 service, dubbed Waymo One, will let customers summon self-driving minivans by a smartphone app, a la … Continue reading

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CBS/YouGov: Cruz 44, O’Rourke 36 (RVs)

Time for another poll. In Texas’ Senate race, incumbent Republican Ted Cruz has a 10-point lead over Democrat Beto O’Rourke among likely voters. Cruz benefits from strong support from his own party and has an advantage among independents as well. … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2018 | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Waymo moves forward on a self-driving car service

Get ready, because they’re coming. Waymo, the driverless-technology company spun out of Google, has agreed to purchase as many as 62,000 minivans from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for use in a ride-hailing service set to begin commercial operations later this year. … Continue reading

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The crossover question

From G. Elliott Morris, reviewing the recent AZ-08 special Congressional election: The second thing to learn from AZ-08 helps explain the first: if Democrats aren’t winning because of differential turnout (or, not solely because of differential turnout), why are they? … Continue reading

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State to help defend county bail policies

Of course it will. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the top lawyers in five other states are backing Harris County in its protracted battle over money bail for poor low-level defendants, as the tally of those released on no-cash … Continue reading

Posted in Legal matters | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

SB4’s day in court

Sparks were flying. Opponents of Texas’ state-based immigration law told a federal judge Monday that allowing the controversial measure to stand would pave the way for a nationwide police state where local officers could subvert the established immigration-enforcement powers of … Continue reading

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

The Arizona experience

This is what Texas has to look forward to post-SB4. Seven years in, Arizona’s experience hints at what Texas, with the nation’s largest Hispanic population after California, might expect. Supporters of Arizona’s legislation say it has worked, helping to reduce … Continue reading

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Get ready for the “sanctuary cities” lawsuits

It’s just a matter of time. Now that Senate Bill 4 is on its way to becoming law, opponents are looking to the courts for relief – and a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court case is giving them hope. The high … Continue reading

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Uber moves driverless car pilot to Arizona

This happened right before Christmas, so I’m just catching up to it now. The day after California regulators shut down Uber’s self-driving car program in San Francisco, Uber on Thursday packed up its autonomous vehicles and hauled them to Arizona, … Continue reading

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A new way to attack gerrymandering

From Think Progress: America’s anti-gerrymandering law is an incoherent mess. Thirty years ago, in Davis v. Bandemer, the Supreme Court held that a partisan gerrymander may be struck down as unconstitutional upon proof of “both intentional discrimination against an identifiable … Continue reading

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Get out of solar’s way

Keep an eye on this. “Hawaii is a postcard from the future,” said Adam Browning, executive director of Vote Solar, a policy and advocacy group based in California. Other states and countries, including California, Arizona, Japan and Germany, are struggling … Continue reading

Posted in Technology, science, and math | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Online voter registration bills advance

Some good news. House Bill 313, which received praise from committee members in a Monday hearing, and Senate Bill 315, which was voted out of committee Thursday, propose allowing voters to register online and have that application automatically authenticated rather … Continue reading

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In case you didn’t have enough Supreme Court business to worry about

Here’s Texas Redistricting to give you more to worry about, in the form of Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona. Although the case has gotten far less attention than challenges to the constitutionality of section 5 of the Voting … Continue reading

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On voter confidence

There was one more interesting aspect to that poll of Harris County from last week, and it had to do with how confident voters were that the vote they cast would be counted. This KUHF story goes into that result. … Continue reading

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Fifth Circuit will re-hear the Farmers Branch lawsuit again

I have an uneasy feeling about this. Farmers Branch was sued four years ago after it passed an ordinance allowing the city building inspector to evict any illegal immigrant renters. Its case will now go before the full membership of … Continue reading

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Fifth Circuit rules against Farmers Branch

I almost missed this. A federal appeals court has upheld the ruling that struck down a Farmers Branch renters ordinance aimed at banning illegal immigrants from rental housing in the city. The decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of … Continue reading

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Election results elsewhere

Results of interest from elsewhere in Texas and the country… – Three of the ten Constitutional amendments were defeated, with Prop 4 losing by nearly 20 points. It drew strong opposition from anti-toll road activists, and I daresay that was … Continue reading

Posted in Election 2011 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

MLB needs to stand by all of its players

A brief history of baseball’s other color line. There is no Latin American Jackie Robinson, no single Hispanic ballplayer who lifted his people onto his back and crashed through baseball’s racist barricades. But there always has to be a first, … Continue reading

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The cost to cities of being anti-immigrant

The Center for American Progress has a new report out called The High Price of Local Immigration Enforcement that tracks how much various anti-immigrant ordinances in cities like Hazelton, PA, and Farmers Branch have cost them. Most of those costs … Continue reading

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Arizona Congresswoman shot

Horrible. Six people were killed and 12 others wounded — including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — in a shooting outside a Tucson, Arizona, grocery store where the congresswoman was holding a constituent meeting, police said. The suspect in the shooting … Continue reading

Posted in National news | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Sheriffs not sold on Arizona immigration bill

Texas’ sheriffs are not very enthusiastic about being charged with enforcing federal immigration laws. Texas has 254 sheriffs, and while opinions vary about whether illegal immigration should be their problem, some Republicans are pushing measures that won’t give them a … Continue reading

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How anti-immigrant is this session going to be?

It will likely be very strongly anti-immigrant. It’s really just a question of how far the Republicans pushing this will go. The Democrats can’t stop them – I’m not expecting the Senate’s two thirds rule to be much of an … Continue reading

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The anti-immigrant hysteria has officially begun

Didn’t take long. State Rep. Debbie Riddle camped out and endured “creepy” noises inside the cold, empty Capitol to be first in line Monday morning to file legislation targeting illegal immigration and ballot security. The Tomball Republican said she remained … Continue reading

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Arizona Green Party sues to kick its own candidates off the ballot

Just when you think you’ve seen it all… The state Democratic Party is alleging possible voter fraud in what it called a scheme to undermine its candidates by recruiting “sham” Green Party hopefuls. In a complaint filed late Monday, the … Continue reading

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The chiefs talk about Arizona

HPD Chief Charles McClelland was one of several police chiefs to go to Washington and talk with Attorney General Eric Holder about why Arizona’s immigration law would be harmful to them, and why the federal government needs to finish the … Continue reading

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Targeting Frito-Lay

I’ve talked about sporting events like the 2011 MLB All Star Game that are currently scheduled to be held in Arizona and of various ways that people who have some involvement with them have spoken out about Arizona’s “Show me … Continue reading

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Briefly noted

Some interesting things from today that I wanted to note… There are plenty of people who want to be on the Appropriations Committee, so putting some who doesn’t want to be there, like State Rep. Joe Driver of Dallas, doesn’t … Continue reading

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Selig avoids All Star Game issue

We always knew he was a weenie. With a lengthy non-answer, Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig on Thursday gave no indication he would move the 2011 All-Star Game from Phoenix in response to Arizona’s immigration law, saying MLB has … Continue reading

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