Monthly Archives: May 2013

Friday random ten: The city never sleeps, part 8

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know about elsewhere, but all eyes remain on Austin around here as the legislative season goes into overtime. There are no Austin songs on this list, but there is a song about a suburb just north of Austin. … Continue reading →

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The special session won’t be so short

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The original idea behind the special session on redistricting was that it would be a quickie – gavel in, vote to adopt the interim maps as permanent, maybe vote on a few wingnut wish list items, and gavel out again. … Continue reading →

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A bumpy ride for an equality resolution in Dallas

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The saga begins when Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings unenthusiastically agreed to putting a resolution in support of marriage equality on the Dallas City Council agenda. After weeks of sidestepping the question, Mayor Mike Rawlings says he will vote next month … Continue reading →

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Justice Department engaged in North Forest closure

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

A possible ray of hope for supporters of North Forest ISD, which is still hoping to survive past July 1 when the TEA’s order for it to be subsumed into HISD takes effect. The chief of the Justice Department’s voting … Continue reading →

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Houston keeps on growing

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Sounds good to me. Among large American cities, only New York added more people than Houston in the year ending July 1, 2012, according to new census figures released Thursday. In addition, the Census Bureau reported, eight of the 15 … Continue reading →

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Many questions at the redistricting hearing

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the Trib: The Legislature is currently considering whether to ratify maps drawn by the three federal judges and used in the 2012 elections. It became clear during Wednesday’s hearing that the judges and the lawyers in the case agree … Continue reading →

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Combs not running for re-election

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

And a domino falls. Comptroller Susan Combs opened up the logjam that has been statewide office in Texas by announcing Wednesday that she will not seek election in 2014. Announcements were immediately flying with state Rep. Harvey Hildebran, R-Kerrville, throwing … Continue reading →

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Hooray for the hotels

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

We’re going to have a lot of people coming into town for Super Bowl LI. We’re going to have to put them somewhere. Mayor Annise Parker said Thursday that hosting the 2017 Super Bowl will be another step in Houston’s … Continue reading →

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Texas blog roundup for the week of May 27

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes their legislators get to go home soon as we bring you this week’s roundup.

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Why a special session on redistricting won’t resolve anything

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From Texas Redistricting: Intentional Fragmentation  In the other parts of the map, redistricting plaintiffs contend that the Texas Legislature intentionally diluted African-American and Hispanic voting strength by fragmenting cohesive communities. This fragmentation, they argue, is especially pronounced in the DFW … Continue reading →

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Calling to add to the call

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The special session is just a day old, and already legislators are lining up to extend its agenda to cover things that didn’t get done during regulation time. Senate Finance Chairman Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, and Senate Transportation Chairman Robert … Continue reading →

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Does the Super Bowl doom the Dome?

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The Texican ponders what the announcement about Houston landing Super Bowl LI means for everyone’s favorite unused arena. So what does this mean for our Dome? A parking garage would be an ignoble end for the Dome, though I am … Continue reading →

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North Line on track to open early

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Excellent. Metro’s North Line light rail extension will open ahead of schedule in December, officials said Thursday, providing the first new light rail service in Houston in almost 10 years. The announcement at the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s monthly board meeting … Continue reading →

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Wrapping up the rest of the regular session

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

So as we now know, a special session on redistricting has been called, though we don’t yet know what if anything else may be added later. I covered that last night, so let’s cover what else got done at the … Continue reading →

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Testing and charter bills pass

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

A lot of stuff gets done at the last possible minute in the Legislature. The two big education bills were examples of this. The session’s two biggest school reform bills, one from each chamber, have danced the House and Senate … Continue reading →

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Some last minute good news from the Lege

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From Equality Texas: On May 15th, the Texas House passed an amendment by Rep. Matt Krause of Fort Worth that would prohibit state universities from requiring officially-recognized student organizations to abide by campus non-discrimination policies. The official vote on the Krause amendment … Continue reading →

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Double secret illegal Medicaid amendment amended

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Yes, I know, it’s all so confusing. The House on Sunday night accepted Sen. Jane Nelson’s and other lawmakers’ clean up of an amendment by a freshman state representative from Collin County that would require a rubber stamp from the … Continue reading →

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Special session is called

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

And no one is surprised. With the ink barely dry on the bills passed during the 83rd Legislature’s regular session, Gov. Rick Perry called lawmakers back into an immediate special session to consider redistricting measures for the Legislature and the … Continue reading →

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Sine die, mofos

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Animal speaks for me: There may be a special session on redistricting or any number of other things, or there may not be. In a just world, everyone would get to go home and enjoy the summer. Unfortunately, this is … Continue reading →

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Boy Scouts go half gay

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

There are compromises that actually resolve disputes, and there are compromises that exacerbate them. The Boy Scouts gay compromise is an example of the latter. The Boy Scouts of America on Thursday ended its longstanding policy of forbidding openly gay … Continue reading →

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Weekend link dump for May 26

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

There are some professions that you can’t list on LinkedIn. There will be twelve new stop-motion animations of the “Peanuts” characters coming soon. “Perhaps I should share the secret of the show’s 1981 Soviet wig technology with the CIA,” says … Continue reading →

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Perry vetoes “dark money” bill

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Not a surprise. Gov. Rick Perry has vetoed a divisive measure that would have forced some tax-exempt, politically active nonprofits to disclose their donors. That effectively kills the measure for this session; lawmakers stripped a similar amendment from an Ethics … Continue reading →

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Eiland will not seek re-election

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This is a tough break for the Democrats. State Rep. Craig Eiland, D-Galveston, will not seek re-election, he announced in a tearful personal privilege speech on the House floor Wednesday night. Eiland, who has served in the Legislature for two … Continue reading →

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Getting all of the courts ready for e-filing

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I confess to being a little confused at first when I read this. A half-dozen Harris County departments will spend the rest of the year scrambling to fulfill a Texas Supreme Court mandate that all civil courts accept only electronic … Continue reading →

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Making the world a better place, one baby at a time

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This is awesome. Conditions associated with premature birth, often related to breathing problems, are responsible for about 30 percent of neonatal mortality. In the developed world, these conditions can be treated using bubble Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machine. But these … Continue reading →

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Saturday video break: I Feel For You

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Song #18 on the Popdose Top 100 Covers list is “I Feel For You”, originally by Prince and covered by Chaka Khan. Typically, Prince videos are not easily available. Here then is as reasonable a facsimile that I could find: … Continue reading →

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Don’t count your victories too soon

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

While I wouldn’t call this legislative session anything to be terribly happy about, it could have been far worse. That’s because a whole lot of nasty red meat bills never got voted on, and Democrats are justifiably happy about that. … Continue reading →

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Lege passes a Lilly Ledbetter bill

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This is some fine work, but it’s a little early to be giddy about it. A bill that seeks to prevent pay discrimination against women narrowly passed the Texas Senate on Wednesday. “Employers who are doing the right thing and … Continue reading →

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Fewer tests in the future

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

If you’re tired of standardized tests, this will be good news for you. Under House Bill 866 by state Rep. Dan Huberty, R-Humble, which passed the Senate on Tuesday night, students who do well on state exams in third and … Continue reading →

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Collecting compost from restaurants

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The city of Austin takes another step on its path towards zero waste. Austin restaurants and other food businesses will have to compost food scraps starting in 2016, under new rules the City Council OK’d Thursday. Food service businesses — … Continue reading →

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Friday random ten: The city never sleeps, part 7

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve been in a different city (Austin) all week for a training class, but I’m headed back to my own city (Houston) today. None of these songs are about either of those cities. 1. Miami 2017 – Billy Joel 2. … Continue reading →

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We appear to have a budget

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Took them long enough. After days of jockeying and one-upsmanship, the Texas House and Senate each approved measures Wednesday evening critical to passing their next two-year budget. “The results of these two bills together is a good conservative budget, and … Continue reading →

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Abbott is gearing up for Governor

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I have two things to say about this. Gov. Rick Perry hasn’t yet said whether he’s running for re-election — but Attorney General Greg Abbott doesn’t appear to be waiting for him to make up his mind. Abbott is collecting … Continue reading →

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Someone attempted to do something about MBIA and the Sports Authority

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

And others expressed their disapproval about it. What the “it” is, and who it was that was trying to do “it” remain unclear. A surprise legislative maneuver has local government lobbyists scrambling to defend the agency that pays the debt … Continue reading →

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