Category Archives: The great state of Texas

Monkeypox? Really?

Posted on June 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Yeah, really. Texas health officials said Tuesday they have identified the first case of monkeypox in the state this year, but noted the illness does not currently present a risk to the general public. The case was identified in a … Continue reading →

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When we had more deaths than births in Texas

Posted on June 10, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Seems like that would be a bad thing. In the midst of the nation’s deadliest pandemic, Texas recorded more births than deaths every month since 2016 — with one exception. Provisional data from the Texas Department of State Health Services … Continue reading →

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McConaughey opines for gun control

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Not bad. I believe that responsible, law-abiding Americans have a Second Amendment right, enshrined by our founders, to bear arms. I also believe we have a cultural obligation to take steps toward slowing down the senseless killing of our children. … Continue reading →

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I’m sure they’ll evaluate themselves objectively

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

What could possibly go wrong? In October, Colorado-based E3 Consulting offered a plan for how the Public Utility Commission should redesign Texas’ deregulated power market. It produced a 44-page proposal, paid for by energy giants NRG and Chicago-based Exelon. Now … Continue reading →

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Is there any chance the GLO won’t screw Houston this time around?

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I mean, maybe. Things can happen. I just wouldn’t count on it. Mayor Sylvester Turner on Wednesday commended the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for ordering Texas to fix a Hurricane Harvey recovery plan that the federal agency … Continue reading →

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We really missed counting a lot of people in Texas

Posted on May 21, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Over half a million, by the latest estimate. Tripped up by politics and the pandemic — and with only a last-minute investment in promotion by the state — the 2020 census likely undercounted the Texas population by roughly 2%, the … Continue reading →

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Rough times for oysters

Posted on May 20, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s bad for oyster fishers, too. But if there just aren’t enough oysters to support harvesting them, well… Currently, 25 of the state’s 27 harvesting areas are already closed. The season normally runs from Nov. 1 through April 30, but … Continue reading →

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GLO prepares to screw Houston again on Harvey recovery funds

Posted on May 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Gird yourselves. Of the more than 300,000 homes in Texas damaged by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, none were in Coryell County. Located 220 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, this small agricultural county was not the place Congress had in … Continue reading →

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Sure hope our grid can handle a bunch of crypto

Posted on May 18, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. With interest surging in digital currencies and the blockchain technology behind them, more and more investors and operators are turning to Texas, lured by its cheap energy and hands-off regulatory approach. The … Continue reading →

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Bad news for the crazy ants

Posted on May 16, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

They have found a mighty foe. Several years ago, staffers at Estero Llano Grande State Park in Weslaco, Texas, noticed a new type of invasive ant species. Tawny crazy ants were so aggressive that they were driving birds out of … Continue reading →

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How much is Greg Abbott sweating right now?

Posted on May 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I hope it’s a lot. It should be a lot. With temperatures soaring statewide, Gov. Greg Abbott is scrambling to reassure Texans he’s closely monitoring the state’s shaky electric grid as other GOP officials vow to get back to work … Continue reading →

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A tour of the future Ike Dike

Posted on May 8, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Fascinating stuff. Federal engineers envisioned a massive version of the “Ike Dike” plan to protect the region from hurricane storm surge. It’s currently sitting with lawmakers, who have to decide whether to pay their share of the $29 billion proposal and move the years-long … Continue reading →

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Time once again for Texas hospitals to struggle financially

Posted on April 30, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I feel their pain, but… More than $3 billion in federal money has flowed to Texas health care providers in recent months to help pay for COVID-19 treatments, tests and vaccines for patients without health insurance, according to national health … Continue reading →

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The New Orleans perspective on the Ike Dike

Posted on April 28, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Of interest. Kelly Burks-Copes braces herself against the wind and marches past the ruins of Fort San Jacinto, a strategic spot on a sandy, wave-battered point where Spain, France, the Republic of Texas, the Confederacy and the United States have … Continue reading →

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Our still-smoggy skies

Posted on April 23, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We’re being called on the carpet for them. The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday sought to list the Houston and Dallas metro areas as “severe” violators of 2008 federal ozone pollution standards, kicking off a process that will likely impose … Continue reading →

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The Texas City explosion, 75 years later

Posted on April 20, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Not the sort of thing you want your city to be known for. Saturday marked the 75th anniversary of what has come to be known as the Texas City Disaster, the deadliest industrial accident in United States history. All told, … Continue reading →

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Texas child welfare workers are resigning

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Three guesses why. Morgan Davis, a transgender man, joined Texas’ child welfare agency as an investigator to be the advocate he never had growing up. Less than a year later, one of the first cases under Gov. Greg Abbott’s order … Continue reading →

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It’s hurricane forecast season

Posted on April 15, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Gonna be busy again. You should know what to do about it by now. Another above-average hurricane season is in the forecast for 2022. A prediction issued Thursday by scientists at Colorado State University says there will be at least … Continue reading →

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How the reproductive rights groups reacted to the Lizelle Herrera arrest

Posted on April 14, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Respect. Deep, abiding respect. Cathy Torres was ready to log off for the weekend and start celebrating her 26th birthday when she got a text message with a link to a local news story: A woman in the Rio Grande … Continue reading →

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COVID hospitalizations at a low in the state

Posted on April 12, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good news (say it with me) for now. Texas hospitals are treating fewer than 1,000 patients with COVID-19 for the first time in two years. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, hospitalizations totaled 993 on Sunday. The … Continue reading →

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Will the Huntsville bats be homeless?

Posted on April 10, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I sure hope not. Hundreds of thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats in the coming weeks will return to an abandoned Texas Department of Criminal Justice warehouse, their preferred spot to spend the summer. They will find their usual digs partly … Continue reading →

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Why the business response to the state’s right wing assault has been so muted

Posted on March 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

A really good in depth article on the subject from the tech press, which is a source I hadn’t thought about for this before. When Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in February directed state agencies to investigate anyone who provides gender-affirming treatment to transgender … Continue reading →

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Keep your hands off of the Harvey money, H-GAC

Posted on March 17, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Seriously. You’ve done enough already. First, a regional council of government officials left Harris County and most of its cities out of a plan to distribute $488 million in federal flood mitigation funds stemming from Hurricane Harvey. As justification, the Houston-Galveston Area Council … Continue reading →

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How Republicans bullied a gender affirming care clinic into closing

Posted on March 14, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Gross. Leaders of a now-defunct health clinic — known for years as the largest program of its kind for transgender youth in Texas — came under pressure to restrict gender-affirming care from the governor’s office and a state House investigative … Continue reading →

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Ken Paxton repays the Briggle family for their hospitality

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

What a scumbag he is. When the case worker asked to inspect the house, Amber and Adam Briggle first led her to the kitchen. They opened the cabinets to show they were full of food. They moved on to the … Continue reading →

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And more people are travelling for abortions

Posted on March 10, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

The number of abortions performed in Texas has declined greatly since the passage of SB8. But the number of Texans seeking abortions has remained the same, which is what abortion advocates have always said would be the case. The number … Continue reading →

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HUD finds the GLO’s process to screw Houston out of Harvey funds “discriminatory”

Posted on March 9, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Now get us the funds we deserve. In a decision that could redirect millions of dollars in flood relief to Houston, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found the Texas General Land Office discriminated against minority residents … Continue reading →

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Have van, will travel to register voters

Posted on March 8, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Nice. Tayhlor Coleman keeps a framed Texas voter roll from 1867 in the van she calls home to remind her why she chose to live there in the first place. Names from her family tree appear here and there throughout … Continue reading →

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Create your own power grid

Posted on March 7, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Two words: Solar panels. For nearly eight hours one day in late January, the power to Sam Bryan’s house blinked off after a transformer near his greater Third Ward lot blew a fuse. The same transformer has long had issues, … Continue reading →

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We’ve had a lot of COVID

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Wow. More than half of Texans had been infected by COVID-19 as of late January, according to a nationwide blood sample survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The survey was based on samples from 52 commercial … Continue reading →

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More people are choosing the medical abortion option

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not like there are good alternatives right now in Texas. The demand for abortion-inducing medication spiked in the month after Texas significantly limited abortion access and has remained high since, according to new data from a researcher at the … Continue reading →

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“The Dead Sea of West Texas”

Posted on February 27, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Not a vacation spot. About twenty-five miles north of Fort Stockton sits what looks, at first blush, like an oasis amid the West Texas desert. When I recently visited what might be Texas’s newest sizable body of water, its color … Continue reading →

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Let’s pay some attention to the Gulf Coast Protection District

Posted on February 26, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

They may raise some tax revenue to help pay for the Ike Dike, so best to know what’s happening with it. Especially since they didn’t exactly go out of their way to make it easy to do that. Danielle Goshen … Continue reading →

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In case you’d forgotten, we still haven’t fixed the power grid

Posted on February 16, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

It has other problems too, which we also haven’t addressed. Millions of Texans lost power in February 2021. Hundreds died as a result. Tens of billions of dollars in damages were lost. Billions were just transferred from consumers by government … Continue reading →

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