Category Archives: The great state of Texas

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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No federal action to un-screw Houston on Harvey relief funds

Posted on May 4, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Not yet, anyway. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around this. The federal government is punting for now on enforcing a finding that Texas discriminated against communities of color when it stiffed Houston in distributing flood mitigation funds stemming from Hurricane Harvey. The Department … Continue reading →

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You can always count on Sid Miller to be a bigot

Posted on April 25, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

There are other words I could have used as well. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is ordering his employees to dress “in a manner consistent with their biological gender,” the latest move by the state’s Republican leaders against transgender people. … Continue reading →

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“Fort Worth is the new Austin”

Posted on April 18, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Hadn’t thought of it that way. Who speaks for Fort Worth in the nation’s capital? For more than 25 years the go-to member of the Texas delegation for Tarrant County has been U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth. From securing … Continue reading →

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The Observer on the effect that banning abortion has had on Texas doctors

Posted on April 2, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I’m glad this won’t end up being one of their last stories. Doctors have a code, a set of principles meant to guide their practice: Give care. Act justly. Respect patients. Do no harm. But for Texas doctors, especially obstetrician-gynecologists, … Continue reading →

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Another “future doctor shortage” article

Posted on March 29, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Third in the series. This one covers our future nurse shortage, too. More than a year and a half after Texas implemented its six-week abortion ban, and months after Dobbs, medical providers say they are facing impossible situations that pit their … Continue reading →

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Abortion funds go back to work

Posted on March 27, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Glad to see it, but I’m waiting for another shoe to drop. Some abortion advocacy nonprofit groups have resumed paying for Texans to get abortions out of state after a court ruling last month. These groups, called abortion funds, stopped … Continue reading →

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New frontiers in propaganda

Posted on March 25, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

We are at the forefront, because of course we are. Readers of the daily email newsletter of one of the country’s leading right-wing, fossil fuel-funded think tanks were treated to a bizarre sight [last] week: an AI-generated image of a … Continue reading →

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Whole Woman’s Health opens its New Mexico clinic

Posted on March 25, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

A little bittersweet, I have to say. One of the largest independent abortion providers in the nation opened a new clinic in New Mexico on Thursday, nearly nine months after it shuttered its clinics in Texas after the U.S. Supreme … Continue reading →

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We finally have a reason for the timid police response in Uvalde

Posted on March 21, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

It was because the shooter was using an AR-15, and the cops didn’t want to get slaughtered. Almost a year after Texas’ deadliest school shooting killed 19 children and two teachers, there is still confusion among investigators, law enforcement leaders … Continue reading →

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More on the Denton experience with marijuana decriminalization

Posted on March 20, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

A long story from the Dallas Observer. Nick Stevens stood before the Denton City Council looking equally frustrated and determined. The activist had helped to lead the grassroots charge to decriminalize marijuana in the North Texas college town. Now he … Continue reading →

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Muskville, Texas

Posted on March 12, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

What did Bastrop do to deserve this? Elon Musk is planning to build his own town on part of thousands of acres of newly purchased pasture and farmland outside the Texas capital, according to deeds and other land records and … Continue reading →

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A win for butterflies

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure this will end up in court, but it’s still a good thing. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday declared the prostrate milkweed an endangered species and mandated new habitat protections for the plant, closing a chapter … Continue reading →

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Are there more parks like Fairfield Lake out there?

Posted on March 4, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Yes, there are others, but most are not likely to go away any time soon. We hope. Recent news that Texas’ Fairfield Lake State Park is closing to make way for a new upscale gated community raised a question: How … Continue reading →

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Actually, we could have saved Fairfield State Park

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Well, well, well. State officials passed up an offer to save Fairfield Lake State Park this month, just days before the Texas parks department celebrated its centennial, according to newly uncovered text messages. The 1,821-acre park sits on land the … Continue reading →

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