Monthly Archives: August 2009

Sneak preview of HMNS Sugar Land facility

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

You may have heard that the Houston Museum of Natural Science will be opening a site in Sugar Land on October 3. If you’re in the are Thursday afternoon, you can get a sneak preview of it as they finish … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Austin to ban texting while driving

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

After considering it for a long time, the city of Austin is set to ban texting while driving. Council members Mike Martinez and Chris Riley and Mayor Lee Leffingwell are proposing to prohibit writing, sending or reading text messages, instant … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Planned Parenthood

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As you know, I consider the Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsements to be a big deal, because I think very highly of Planned Parenthood as an organization. They just released their endorsement list for the 2009 Houston elections, which are … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2009 | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Harris County disputes federal criticism of its jails

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

This is interesting. Harris County officials today delivered a 300-page response to the U. S. attorney general’s findings that the Harris County Jail was unconstitutional, saying the report was largely based on anecdotal accounts from inmates and incomplete data. County … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Peter Brown on the air

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As noted last week, Mayoral candidate Peter Brown will start airing TV ads this week. A preview of the first ad, which doesn’t appear to be embeddable yet, can be seen here. It’s basically an intro spot, and it hits … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2009 | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

The exodus from the DA’s office

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron writes about disgruntlement in the DA’s office. Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos promised to clean house when she was elected in November and promptly fired seven senior prosecutors. Now other experienced prosecutors, including a member of Lykos’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Steroids: Still not a problem in the schools

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

At least, as far as our ridiculous and expensive steroid testing og high school athletes program can tell, we don’t have a problem. More than a year has passed since the state implemented one of the world’s most ambitious steroids … Continue reading →

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Will the Rockets suck this year?

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe not, say the statheads at the Wages of Wins Journal, who note that seven of the eight top players for this year’s team all measure above average by their Wins Produced metric. By that metric, the Rockets are already … Continue reading →

Posted in Other sports | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Texas blog roundup for the week of August 24

Posted on August 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

School is starting, and the Texas Progressive Alliance is prepared as always to ace the test. Click on for this week’s roundup of blog highlights.

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Endorsement watch: Can we get a list, please?

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

There’s been a lot of endorsement activity lately for the 2009 Houston elections, and since I don’t really want to reproduce every press release I get, I thought I’d try to link to endorsement lists from some of the groups … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2009 | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

A city-county threefer?

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

In case you were wondering why there didn’t seem to be any progress in making a Dynamo Stadium deal, it appears the reason for that is there will be much more to it than just a stadium deal. The city … Continue reading →

Posted in Local politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Interview with Council Member Jolanda Jones

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I feel like Council Member Jolanda Jones needs no introduction. She’s got a fairly high profile these days, and if you follow Houston politics at all, you’ve probably got a familiarity with her and an opinion of her. Mine remains … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2009 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Irving proposes district council lines

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Greg shows a map of the proposed new district City Council lines in Irving, which as this DMN story notes would likely unseat two current Council members and might have an effect on HD105 next year. I keep following this … Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

An open letter to HEB

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Feed the Heights, which notes that HEB had a wildly successful debut of their new Buffalo Speedway store, implores them to do something similar for our neighborhood. Grocery shopping in the Heights is getting better, but still needs some help. … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, glorious food | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Q&A with Terry Grier

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Learn more about our new HISD Superintendent here and here. One thing to highlight, from the first link: Q: What are your priorities for HISD? A: Houston is a good urban district. It has the potential to be the best … Continue reading →

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Buckle up back there

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Texas’ seat belt law is about to change. Texas law already requires buckling up in the front seat, and starting Sept. 1, it’ll be the law to do so in the back seat, too. The change affects people 17 and … Continue reading →

Posted in That's our Lege | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bringing rock music back to Houston

Posted on August 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Mike McGuff notes the reappearance of an old Rock 101 KLOL billboard, and muses about having a real rock station in Houston again. Why did Clear Channel kill Rock 101? I’ve been told it was because you had 93.7 The … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Weekend link dump for August 23

Posted on August 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The science of one night stands. Apparently, women are pickier about who they’ll sleep with than men. Who knew? It is possible to successfully fend off a zombie attack, according to Canadian mathematicians. The key is to “hit hard and … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog stuff | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The city jails have problems, too

Posted on August 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose I’m not surprised to find out that the Houston city jails have their share of problems, but I’m a little puzzled by this article about them. The inspection was conducted as part of a legal consent decree originating … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

The future of textbooks

Posted on August 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I figure the traditional textbook is eventually going to go away, but how and when it will be replaced is not yet clear. The average college student spent $702 on books in 2006-07, according to the National Association of College … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Technology, science, and math | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

A new way to bring solar power to the people

Posted on August 23, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

This is very cool. One of the major obstacles preventing many homeowners from installing solar panels on their roofs is, well, it’s expensive. At least in the short term. True, the panels may pay for themselves over the course of … Continue reading →

Posted in The great state of Texas | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Parker statement on Ashby highrise

Posted on August 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Fresh from the inbox: Statement by Annise Parker on Ashby High Rise August 22, 2009 Contact: Sue Davis, 713-392-6011, sue@suedavis.net I am disappointed with the city’s decision yesterday to grant a site development permit for the high-rise building planned for … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , | 22 Comments

Saturday video break: One man band

Posted on August 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Ever see a one-man band, where one dude, usually a street musician, plays a bunch of instruments at once? It’s impressive in a way, but usually (to me, anyway) more hokey than remarkable. Here’s an example of something that truly … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Is KBH the new CKS?

Posted on August 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The fact that Jason Embry is asking the question whether Kay Bailey Hutchison is the new Carole Keeton Strayhorn, which as he notes was brought up by Burkablog commenters, says a lot about the state of the Hutchison campaign so … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2010 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Textbook ideology

Posted on August 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Who cares about Cesar Chavez and Henry Cisneros when our students could be learning about Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh? The State Board of Education has appointed “review committees” made up largely of active and retired school teachers to draft … Continue reading →

Posted in Show Business for Ugly People | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

New beach boundaries

Posted on August 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We have a new vegetation line, which determines where the public beach ends and private property begins, courtesy of Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson. The line will determine whether beachfront property owners whose buildings were destroyed by Ike on Sept. 13 … Continue reading →

Posted in Hurricane Katrina | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

You kids today, you don’t know what it was like

Posted on August 22, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

And that’s a pretty good thing, as evidenced by GeekDad’s list of 100 things your kids may never know about – things like typewriters, relying on the evening news for all your sports highlights (am I the only one who … Continue reading →

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Ashby highrise approved

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

That sound you just heard was a massive freakout in the Southampton area. More than two years after they first applied, the developers of the Ashby high-rise will receive permits for a project that generated protests and a renewed debate … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Metro and its art deco demolition debacle

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I saw this Swamplot report yesterday and I thought “Why, Metro, why? Why are you pissing off your supporters so?” This timely building at 4819 Harrisburg in Eastwood, built in 1935 for the Sterling Laundry & Cleaning Co., showed up … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Friday random ten: All there is to it

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

And we go back to the theme lists, as we take a stroll through the alphabet and find for each letter ten songs that start with the same word, one for each letter. Today is the letter A and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Tagged , | 2 Comments

That’s a wrap for the Keller trial

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

So the judicial misconduct trial of Sharon Keller is now over, and we will await the ruling from District Judge David Berchelmann Jr., who will compile “findings of fact” for the State Commission on Judicial Conduct; the Commission will then … Continue reading →

Posted in Crime and Punishment | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

It’s all about the runoff

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Professor Murray also comments on the Marc Campos post that assessed the state of the Mayoral race, and he hits on a lot of the same points that I did, with some more detail. And just in time, as it … Continue reading →

Posted in Election 2009 | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

A solution in search of a problem

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

We were out of town over the weekend, so I managed to miss this Bill King op-ed about the “need” to elevate the Main Street line on Fannin in the Medical Center area. Having now read it, I have three … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Ike Dike update

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

As the first Atlantic tropical storms of the year make their appearance, we get an update on the proposed Ike Dike. One of Hurricane Ike’s legacies may be the hardening of the upper Texas coast against hurricane storm surges. Within … Continue reading →

Posted in Hurricane Katrina | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment