Monthly Archives: December 2008

TxDOT gets sunsetted

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

It probably won’t mean much, as I have my doubts the Lege will take up this recommendation, but it’s still a shot across the bow from the Sunset Commission. Describing the Texas Department of Transportation as “a mess” that must … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Comments Off on TxDOT gets sunsetted

The University of Something Else

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

UH-Downtown has officially voted to change its name, but its regents haven’t decided what that new name ought to be just yet. UH regents today voted to pursue a new name for the 34-year-old school, with a majority agreeing that … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged | 1 Comment

More on Bill White’s Senate announcement

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the full version of the Chron story. It’s mostly background and reaction stuff as you’d expect, but this bit is worth mentioning: [Sen. Kay Bailey] Hutchison, who formed a state campaign committee and put $1 million into it earlier … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2010 | Tagged | 3 Comments

Economy affecting school bonds

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

More evidence, as if we needed it, that things are tough all over. The ailing economy could make it more expensive for Texas school districts and their taxpayers to borrow money as the state has temporarily postponed its school bond … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 1 Comment

Making movies on location

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

News item: Governor Perry is among those pushing to spend more money to bring filmmakers to Texas. Perry is proposing making $40 million available in the coming two-year state budget to improve incentives for productions in Texas. He plans to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 7 Comments

“BCS champion”, not “national champion”

Posted on December 17, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Smokey Joe Barton finally introduces a bill I can support. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, might have graduated from Texas A&M, but that didn’t stop him from announcing a plan to put an end to college football’s Bowl Championship Series. “I’m … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | 1 Comment

Huffman defeats Bell

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Alas. The Democrats had the votes in November, but thanks to the Republican ringer, that wasn’t good enough. My sincere thanks to Chris Bell for all he did. He deserved better. Congratulations for Sen.-elect Joan Huffman on her victory. May … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2008 | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

White officially announces

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Bill White for Texas. Just a video file of his announcement and a place to give your email address for updates. I understand a formal announcement is coming tomorrow. So there you have it. Miya and the Chron have the … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2010 | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Today is Runoff Day

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Well, this is it. Today is officially the last day of the Election 2008 cycle in Texas as Chris Bell goes up against Joan Huffman for SD17. I caught one of Huffman’s ads on the tube last night. It’s more … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2008 | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Some sloppy Senate reporting

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

The Hill has a story about Houston Mayor Bill White’s apparent decision to run for the Senate seat that will presumably be vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison. By my count, it has three errors in it. The three-term mayor, who … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2010 | Tagged | 1 Comment

El Paso versus the border fence

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

El Paso joins the lawsuit brigade against the border fence. In asking the court to review a lawsuit previously dismissed by a federal court judge, lawyers for El Paso County contend that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff overstepped his … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in National news | Comments Off on El Paso versus the border fence

Texas blog roundup for the week of December 15

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

No shoes were thrown in the making of this Texas Progressive Alliance weekly roundup post. Click on for the highlights. Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on Texas blog roundup for the week of December 15

Rally to rebuild UTMB

Posted on December 15, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

From the Inbox: Texas State Employees Union / CWA Local 6186 News Release Rally to Rebuild and Restore UTMB Galveston Wednesday, December 17, 4:00 pm Market St. between 10th and 11th Streets, Galveston Contact: Myko Gedutis, TSEU, 713-661-9030 Dr. David … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Hurricane Katrina | Comments Off on Rally to rebuild UTMB

Shift? What shift?

Posted on December 15, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

The Wall Street Journal reports some bad news for supporters of Net Neutrality. The celebrated openness of the Internet — network providers are not supposed to give preferential treatment to any traffic — is quietly losing powerful defenders. Google Inc. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Technology, science, and math | Comments Off on Shift? What shift?

More on magnet schools

Posted on December 15, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

I blogged about this earlier, and now there’s a Chron story about the controversy surrounding HISD magnet schools and the costs of transporting students to them. In recent weeks, HISD Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra has proposed limiting busing to magnet schools … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | 1 Comment

Accenture, Texas finalize divorce

Posted on December 15, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

It’s all like a bad dream now. Texas and Accenture LLP on Friday reached a final agreement on ending a controversial social services deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The settlement — worth more than $100 million to the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Budget ballyhoo | 1 Comment

This week’s Speaker scenario

Posted on December 15, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Burka suggests that the recent entry into the Speaker Sweepstakes by Rep. Ed Kuempel represents a realistic scenario for Tom Craddick to lose, since everyone likes Kuempel and he doesn’t represent a threat to anyone. Hey, any scenario that involves … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Comments Off on This week’s Speaker scenario

The unthreatening sex offender next door

Posted on December 15, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Breathless reports about people who are in the state’s database of registered sex offenders living in residential neighborhoods are a regular and predictable staple of local TV news coverage. The question that doesn’t often get asked in these reports is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | 3 Comments

Some dirty tricks in the SD17 runoff

Posted on December 14, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

PDiddie reports: Some Democrats — I am one — are getting late-night robo-calls (11:00pm-2:00am) about ethics complaints against an unnamed candidate in the SD-17 runoff. Since this slime is NOT coming from the Chris Bell campaign, it’s obviously the latest … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2008 | 3 Comments

Weekend link dump for December 14

Posted on December 14, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Nearly seven years of blogging and I still haven’t been indicted by Patrick Fitzgerald. Yet. Swear your way to better health. Where the ticket-splitters are now. Let’s find a true progressive candidate to win back the Congressional seat that William … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Comments Off on Weekend link dump for December 14

Dallas extends smoking ban

Posted on December 14, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Good for them. Smoking will soon be illegal in Dallas bars, billiard halls and most other workplaces as the Dallas City Council [Wednesday] afternoon voted 10-5 to expand the city’s municipal smoking ordinance. The vote came after a more than … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | 4 Comments

Booster seats

Posted on December 14, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Lege is going to take another crack at passing a bill to require booster seats in cars for children over the age of 3. [In November], Texas was singled out by the National Transportation Safety Board as one … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Comments Off on Booster seats

Galveston takes a step forward on commuter rail

Posted on December 13, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

The Galveston City Council has approved a study of a possible commuter rail line from Galveston to Houston. The Federal Transportation Administration will use the analysis to decide whether engineering can begin and Congress will use it to decide whether … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | 2 Comments

Weingarten’s bait and switch

Posted on December 13, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

The construction has been going on for awhile at the River Oaks Shopping Center – you can really see the shape of the structure that will eventually be there. Problem is, it’s not what property owner Weingarten Realty had gotten … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 6 Comments

“Recycle Ike” winner

Posted on December 13, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

We have a winner in the Recycle Ike contest. A team of Rice scientists and students won a city contest Wednesday to devise a new way to recycle tree debris. The winners of Houston’s “Recycle Ike” contest accepted $10,000 in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Hurricane Katrina | Comments Off on “Recycle Ike” winner

White for Senate

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not what I wanted, and it’s not what I’d have chosen had he asked me, but it looks like Mayor Bill White has his eyes on a Senate race. Ending months of speculation about his political future, White plans … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2010 | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Friday random ten: Let’s get groovy

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

I’ll say this for the Genius feature – even as I’ve been critical of it for not being as broad in its scope as I think it should be, it’s not always easy to guess what direction it will take … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Music | 1 Comment

Gallegos and Van de Putte criticize DSCC

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

This will surely ruffle a few feathers. Two prominent Hispanic Democratic officials from Texas harshly criticized an arm of their national party today for skipping over the state when it provided funding muscle for U.S. Senate candidates across the country. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2008 | 3 Comments

Dems drop legal challenge to Harper-Brown

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

The recount in HD105 is over, and now so is the legal wrangling, at least as far as the outcome of that race is concerned. State Democrats will not seek a restraining order against Dallas County elections officials over votes … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2008 | Comments Off on Dems drop legal challenge to Harper-Brown

Will the last member to file for Speaker please turn out the lights?

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Byron Cook. Ed Kuempel. We are getting to a point where it will be easier to list the members of the State House who are not running for Speaker. I just hope they’ll all still be on the same team … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | 2 Comments

Green lights

Posted on December 12, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Houston is moving ahead with a plan to replace the light bulbs at all 2,381 of its traffic stops with energy-efficient bulbs that could save more than $4 million a year in electricity costs. City Council approved a $16.4 … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | 1 Comment

One hundred feet

Posted on December 11, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

Oops. Joan Huffman’s campaign for state Senate appears to have broken the law against campaigning on property where voting is taking place, Harris County Clerk Beverly Kaufman said today. Republican Huffman, opposing Democrat Chris Bell in next Tuesday’s state Senate … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2008 | 2 Comments

Lawsuit filed over rejected voter registrations

Posted on December 11, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

J. Goodwille Pierre, who lost his Harris County judicial race by 230 votes, has filed a lawsuit claiming that improperly rejected voter registrations and provisional ballots cost him that election. [H]is lawsuit focuses instead on Harris County voting controversies being … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2008 | 2 Comments

Yes, it really did snow in Houston last night

Posted on December 11, 2008 by Charles Kuffner

It wasn’t a hallucination. Falling snowflakes glimmered in streetlights, so wide that they billowed to the ground like parachutes, and so tantalizing that even awestruck adults reached out their hands or stuck out their tongues to catch one. By Wednesday … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in See, I do have a life! | Comments Off on Yes, it really did snow in Houston last night