Monthly Archives: October 2021

Weekend link dump for October 31

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

“There’s one less frequently discussed way in which Substack actually might be endangering democracy: It’s become a conduit for public disinformation during a historic pandemic.” “In six out of seven countries — all but Germany — Tweets posted by accounts … Continue reading →

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A brief update on the Gutierrez/Eckhardt redistricting lawsuit

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

First news we’ve had in awhile. Plaintiff: Democratic state Sens. Roland Gutierrez and Sarah Eckhardt What the lawsuit argues: Ahead of lawmakers’ third special session, two Democratic state senators sued to block the Legislature from redistricting in a special session … Continue reading →

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Is there no way to fully close the flood bond funding gap?

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Not looking great right now. For three years, Harris County Commissioners Court members have bickered, haggled and negotiated over the $2.5 billion flood bond program voters passed after Hurricane Harvey. Throughout all the discord over how projects should be prioritized … Continue reading →

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November 2021 final early voting totals

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

A busy final day, and a significant uptick in early votes over 2017. Friday was the last day to vote early in the 2021 school board and state constitutional amendment elections with early numbers showing an uptick in turnout in … Continue reading →

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Wait, what Astrodome mural project?

Posted on October 31, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

How is it we hadn’t known about this before now? A proposal to repaint the Astrodome with a series of murals expressing opposition to human trafficking was rejected Friday by the Texas Historical Commission out of concern for the 56-year-old … Continue reading →

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8 day campaign finance reports: HISD

Posted on October 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t often go to the 8-day finance reports, mostly because there’s too little time to squeeze everything in, but HISD is the main story this year, so let’s have a look. The 30-day report summaries can be found here, … Continue reading →

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There is no reason to trust John Scott

Posted on October 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

He deserves zero benefit of the doubt. Texas’ new secretary of state says he wants to “restore confidence” in the state’s elections, despite a background that includes helping former President Donald Trump challenge the 2020 presidential election results in Pennsylvania. … Continue reading →

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Fort Bend Commissioners Court redistricting update

Posted on October 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Was supposed to be done this week, but has been delayed. Fort Bend County Judge KP George has thrown a wrench in the Commissioners Court’s posted agenda to hold public hearings and adopt a final redistricting map on Oct. 26. … Continue reading →

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Buc-ee’s keeps on with the logo lawsuits

Posted on October 30, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Almost as on brand for them as the beaver logo itself. Texas mega-chain Buc-ee’s is suing a Sugar Land man over claims that his “Buky’s” gas station and convenience stores are “confusingly similar” to the brand’s famous logo. The trademark … Continue reading →

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Commissioners Court passes its new map

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It differs from the first map in a few ways, which I will get to in a minute, but it checks all the boxes I wanted it to check. For Democratic Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, it boiled down to … Continue reading →

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A brief meditation on the Deshaun Watson situation

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Let us pause for a moment and contemplate this John McClain column about the likely football fate for the Texans’ soon-to-be-former star quarterback. Deadlines have a way of initiating action, and if the Texans are going to ship quarterback Deshaun … Continue reading →

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Exempt yourself

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Is it really a regulation if you can just say nope, sorry, no can do? The Public Utility Commission of Texas approved weatherization standards for electricity generators on Thursday, requiring them to be ready for winter cold by by Dec. … Continue reading →

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Redistricting lawsuit #2 filed

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This one focuses on just the Congressional map. An organization affiliated with Eric Holder, who was attorney general in the Obama administration, has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s GOP-drawn redistricting map for Congress on behalf of … Continue reading →

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CM Travis resigns to run for HD133

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Did not see that coming. City Councilmember Greg Travis on Wednesday announced he is running for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, effectively resigning his District G post at City Hall. Travis told supporters at a River Oaks … Continue reading →

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Here comes the library police

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Hide your children, and your copies of forbidden books. A Republican state lawmaker has launched an investigation into Texas school districts over the type of books they have, particularly if they pertain to race or sexuality or “make students feel … Continue reading →

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Texas blog roundup for the week of October 25

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

The Texas Progressive Alliance notes a freshness to the air now that the Lege is adjourned. That’s it, that’s the intro, now here’s the weekly roundup.

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Rep. Vicente Gonzalez to switch to CD34

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

And in doing so, he’s probably going to make it harder to hold onto CD15, the swingiest district in the state (as far as we can tell from 2020 data). U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, announced Tuesday he is running … Continue reading →

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More on Harris County Commissioners Court redistricting

Posted on October 27, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Tune up that tiny violin. Republican Harris County Commissioners Jack Cagle and Tom Ramsey want to keep the decennial process of redistricting precinct boundaries simple. The maps they have proposed would add new zigs and zags to ensure each precinct … Continue reading →

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The new maps are now official

Posted on October 27, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Expect further lawsuits to follow. Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday approved Texas’ new political maps for the state’s congressional, legislative and State Board of Education districts, according to Texas Legislature Online. The maps were drawn to keep Texas Republicans in … Continue reading →

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Caught between a mandate and a madman

Posted on October 27, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I have sympathy for the schools. Many Texas universities — which collectively hold billions of dollars in federal contracts — are wrestling with how to navigate the Biden administration’s mandate that all federal contractors be vaccinated by Dec. 8 in … Continue reading →

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October 2021 campaign finance reports: Congress

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Another three months have passed, and so we review the Congressional finance reports again. I fear these reports are about to get a lot more boring post-redistricting, but for now we will plow onward. The July 2021 reports are here, … Continue reading →

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Last chance to make a good FIFA impression

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Coming to the end of this very long process. Houston’s diversity is being played up in the city’s recent push to host the 2026 men’s World Cup. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner joined forces with … Continue reading →

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2021 Day Seven EV report: After the weekend

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Let’s get right to it: These are the early voting totals for the 2021 election after Sunday: Mail ballots: 36,517 In person: 19,901 You can see the full Day Seven report here. The “voters by type” breakdown on the last … Continue reading →

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Harris County Commissioners Court begins the process of approving its new maps today

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox, an email from Commissioner Rodney Ellis: Every decade, after each U.S. census, states, cities and counties engage in a process called redistricting, where they adjust the boundaries of their governing districts to reflect changes in population growth … Continue reading →

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Chron overview of the HISD Trustee elections

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

There is an election, with candidates, and they all deserve a paragraph and maybe a quote if they’re lucky so you can sort it all out and know how to vote. Five seats on the Houston ISD Board of Education … Continue reading →

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Another look at I-35 expansion

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

From Slate: Built on top of tree-lined East Avenue, the road opened in 1962, cutting off Black and Mexican-American East Austin from Downtown. Like urban renewal projects in other American cities, the road’s destructive legacy has recently been reconsidered in racial terms. … Continue reading →

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A loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, a few Bitcoins

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Not on my shopping list, sorry. Be sure to add Bitcoin to your grocery list. Coin Cloud, a Las-Vegas based digital currency machine company, is making it convenient to access some of the most popular cryptocurrencies by placing a number … Continue reading →

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Weekend link dump for October 24

Posted on October 24, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

“Christchurch, New Zealand has just made a terrible mistake. It has fired its official city wizard, a man named Ian Brackenbury Channell, and now finds itself undefended against attacks by mystical armies of dragons, goblins, and, most dangerous of all, … Continue reading →

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I think we are going to have a regular March primary

Posted on October 24, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

This happened in the second special session, after the Dems came back from Washington DC. Senate Bill 13, from Senator Joan Huffman (R-Houston), has been sent to Governor Greg Abbott after being approved by the House and Senate this week. … Continue reading →

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Fort Bend County Commissioners Court redistricting

Posted on October 24, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

From last week. Fort Bend County commissioners has formally called for the redistricting process to begin this week. The Commissioners Court will have to prepare maps of new precincts, following the 2020 census, to ensure that the boundaries retain “one-person-one-vote” … Continue reading →

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The Hollywood (mostly non-) response to SB8

Posted on October 24, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Of interest. In May 2021, Texas governor Greg Abbott signed into law SB8, also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act. It’s the latest, and most contested, challenge to the 1973 Supreme Court decision made in Roe v. Wade, which legalized … Continue reading →

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2021 Day Five EV report: A one week checkin

Posted on October 24, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

One work week, anyway. Here are the vote totals after five days of early voting. The first thing to notice is that about 70% of the votes cast so far have been by mail: Mail ballots = 36,517 Early in … Continue reading →

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SCOTUS will hear SB8 appeals

Posted on October 23, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Both of them, on November 1. The law remains annoyingly in effect until then. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to fast-track two Texas cases involving the state’s near-total ban on abortion, but refused to halt the law from being … Continue reading →

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Third Court rejects Paxton attempt to kill whistleblower lawsuit

Posted on October 23, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Good. A state appeals court found Thursday that former deputies of Attorney General Ken Paxton who were fired after accusing the Republican official of abusing his office are protected under the state’s whistleblower law, allowing their lawsuit against Paxton to … Continue reading →

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