Monthly Archives: December 2014

Interview with Ty McDonald

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The discussion of the special elections going on this week and culminating on January 6 has been dominated by Bexar County, home of two of the three races, including the Senate race, but the HD17 election is important in its … Continue reading →

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Meet the judges

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Not a bad panel, all things considered. Judges Patrick Higginbotham of Dallas, Jerry Smith of Houston and James Graves Jr. of Jackson, Miss., will sit on a panel that will hear appeals from state officials in Texas and Mississippi of … Continue reading →

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Banning e-cigarette sales to minors

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

You’d think this would have a decent chance of passing. Legislators in Texas, one of just nine states that permit the sale of e-cigarettes to minors, will consider banning such sales amid concerns about growing use of the “safer” alternative … Continue reading →

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Texas blog roundup for the week of December 29

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance is takking a cup of kindness yet as it brings you this week’s roundup.

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Interview with Trey Martinez-Fischer

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Continuing with my sprint-to-the-finish-line week of special election interviews, today we have a conversation with State Rep. Trey Martinez-Fischer, one of five candidates vying to succeed Sen. Leticia Van de Putte in SD26, the higher profile and much more expensive … Continue reading →

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HD17 overview

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron provides an overview of the special election in HD17. Given that current Rep. Tim Kleinschmidt hadn’t planned to resign till January 14, it seems that the swift date for this election, the same day as the ones in … Continue reading →

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Tommy Adkisson joins SA Mayoral race

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

And then there were three major candidates. Bexar County Precinct 4 Commissioner Tommy Adkisson became the latest candidate to enter the 2015 San Antonio mayor’s race Sunday as he announced his bid to lead the Alamo City. […] His announcement … Continue reading →

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It pays to go green

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a simple enough formula – reduce energy usage, save money. As Houston leaders push the counter-intuitive notion that the world’s energy capital can go green, and pledge ever-lower emissions goals for municipal operations, installing energy-efficient lighting and low-flow toilets … Continue reading →

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Interview with Diego Bernal

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

For the second biennium in a row, there are legislative special elections going on during what many of us think of as the Christmas break. That’s not so great for the people involved in those campaigns, since it’s hardly a … Continue reading →

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First city campaign finance lawsuit action this week

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

As you may recall, City Council candidate Trebor Gordon filed a lawsuit last month alleging that the city of Houston’s campaign fundraising blackout period was illegal. This week, a federal judge is expected to rule on a request for a … Continue reading →

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From the “Hope springs eternal” department

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Democrats have hope that the upcoming legislative session won’t be any worse than preceding ones. Despite all of the turnover in state government in 2014, the Texas Legislature will reconvene in January with a familiar balance of power. Democrats, … Continue reading →

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Weekend link dump for December 28

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

It’s almost the year 2015, but where are the hoverboards? We were promised hoverboards! Mythbusters meets The Simpsons. “Researchers are unsure why whales have suddenly chosen to inhabit the city, though they posit it has something to do either with … Continue reading →

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Profile of Bert Richardson

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has a nice story about Bert Richardson, the well-regarded judge in the Rick Perry trial, though they manage to completely avoid addressing a key issue regarding him. When Gov. Rick Perry was asked whether the criminal case against … Continue reading →

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Trib overview of the same sex marriage appeal

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Less than three weeks till the appeal is heard by the Fifth Circuit. Fourteen states allowed same-sex marriage when Cleopatra De Leon and Nicole Dimetman filed a lawsuit late last year challenging Texas’ constitutional ban on marriages that are not … Continue reading →

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Is this the end of the two-car household?

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From Streetsblog: While predicting continued global growth in car sales as countries like India and China become more affluent, KPMG’s recent white paper about trends affecting the car industry [PDF] sees different forces at work in the United States. In … Continue reading →

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Saturday video break: El Matador

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s get folky, shall we? When you think folk music, you’ll probably think about the Kingston Trio sooner or later. Of course, the Trio themselves didn’t consider themselves to be folkies, though they obviously had a huge effect on the … Continue reading →

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Re-deputizing registrars

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Did you undergo the training to become a deputy voter registrar this year, perhaps at the urging of Battleground Texas? Well, you’re going to have to do it again if you want to register people for 2015 and/or 2016. A … Continue reading →

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ERCOT acknowledges that meeting EPA clean air requirements won’t be that big a deal

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From Texas Clean Air Matters: Well, it didn’t take long before the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) released, at the request of Texas’ very political Public Utilities Commission, another report about the impacts of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) … Continue reading →

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Speed limits and pedestrian fatalities

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s a topic that won’t be the least bit controversial, I’m sure. The New York City Vision Zero goal is simple and precise: to end traffic deaths and injuries on city streets. This is not a mere sound bite in … Continue reading →

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Friday random ten: That was the year that was

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Tribune does a weekly feature in which they sum up the preceding week as a Spotify playlist. Here’s my attempt to sum up some of the big news stories of this year using tunes from my library. 1. … Continue reading →

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A Denton fracking overview

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Trib has a long piece on the Denton fracking fight, also published in Politico to help non-Texans understand what this was about. It’s a good read that goes over all the main points if you need a refresher on … Continue reading →

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Montgomery County really wants an I-45 option for the high speed rail line

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

They’re not fooling around. Montgomery County commissioners have unanimously adopted a strongly worded resolution criticizing any effort to run a high-speed train between Houston and Dallas through the western side of the fast-growing county. Instead, commissioners believe the right track … Continue reading →

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Working for progress on LGBT issues

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I’m always a little wary when I see a phrase like “chipping away” in a story about LGBT issues, but in this case it refers to obstacles, not hard-won victories, so it’s OK. The rights and interests of homosexual Texans … Continue reading →

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Tesla brings the lobbyists

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Nothin’ but good times ahead if you’re a Republican-connected lobbyist, thanks to Tesla and the auto dealers. Locked in a brawl with auto dealers, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk is unleashing some of the most powerful lobbyists and consultants in … Continue reading →

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My annual salute to Mel Torme

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Every year on Christmas Day, I link to my favorite Christmas story, which stars Mel Torme (a more recent posting of it is here). Apparently, this story is so popular now that it gets ripped off a lot, which sure … Continue reading →

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Wednesday video break: A visit from St. Nicholas

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Still my favorite rendition of this classic poem: And now I’ve got to dash away as well. Merry Christmas to all, and I’ll see you on the flip side.

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How much do payday lenders suck?

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

This much. Pursuing, or even threatening, criminal charges against payday and title borrowers is strictly prohibited by Texas law, with very few exceptions. The Texas Constitution unequivocally states, “No person shall ever be imprisoned for debt.” But new research released … Continue reading →

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Krampuslauf

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Now this is what I call going old school for Christmas. Long before parents relied on the powers of Santa Claus to monitor their children’s behavior, their counterparts in Alpine villages called on a shaggy-furred, horned creature with a fistful … Continue reading →

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Texas blog roundup for the week of December 22

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes that all your days are merry and bright as they bring you this week’s holiday roundup.

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Perry sets HD13 special election date

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

For all the writing I’ve done about the various legislative special elections, I’d almost forgotten that this one was still out there. Just hours after Lois Kolkhorst was sworn in as the newest state senator Monday, Gov. Rick Perry called … Continue reading →

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Villalba gets defensive about his pro-discrimination bill

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know if Rep. Jason Villalba is willfully dense or just confused, but either way this is a big pile of BS. State Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas) remains adamant that a proposed constitutional amendment he filed earlier this month … Continue reading →

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Fixing birth certificates

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Trying again, with some hope for progress. The Texas Legislature added a provision to the Health & Safety Code in 1997 requiring supplemental birth certificates issued to adoptive parents to contain the name of one female, the mother, and one … Continue reading →

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Waller County pledges more transparency after landfill verdict

Posted on December 23, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

More transparency is good. Beyond that, we’ll see what happens. Incoming Waller County leaders are pledging more transparency in the wake of a jury’s verdict that sitting county commissioners illegally discussed a contentious landfill project in closed-door sessions and in … Continue reading →

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Overview of the Bexar County special legislative elections

Posted on December 22, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

From The Rivard Report: Texas House District 123 Former District 1 City Councilmember Diego Bernal resigned his city seat in mid-November to launch his campaign for Villarreal’s former seat. His VoteDiego website offers voters his positions on a number of … Continue reading →

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