Tag Archives: Twitter

Join Senator Kirk Watson & Bill White in Online Video Town Hall, Monday July 12

Posted on July 11, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

State Senator Kirk Watson will host an online video town hall with Bill White on Monday, July 12th at 5:30pm. You can join the conversation yourself, submit questions, and enjoy a high-tech, low-key campaign chat with two of Texas’ most … Continue reading →

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New frontiers in open meeting laws

Posted on May 17, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

There’s an awful lot here to think about. The Texas Legislature may become the first in the nation to tackle whether tweeting and texting is being used to circumvent open meetings laws and whether the private devices of public officials … Continue reading →

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McGuff interviews the Mayor

Posted on February 23, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

Mayor Annise Parker discusses her social media strategy with Mike McGuff: Interesting stuff. Among other things, the Mayor mentions that a new and improved City of Houston website is on its way. I can’t wait to see it.

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No texting while deliberating

Posted on February 17, 2010 by Charles Kuffner

If you get called in for jury duty in Harris County, you can now get free WiFi in the Jury Assembly Room. But once you get into a courtroom, and especially if you get empaneled, you should expect to have … Continue reading →

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Endorsement watch: Republicans (very quietly) for Roy

Posted on October 24, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Saturday edition of the Chron the past couple of weeks has had a feature in the City & State section called Campaign Watch, which is a blog-like collection of short items relating to the 2009 elections. For some odd … Continue reading →

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Weekend link dump for October 18

Posted on October 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

You have to wonder what Tom Lehrer would have made of tweeting in Church. Are you the unknown liberal? if big media companies really want Google to stop “stealing” their content, they can make that happen today, all by themselves. … Continue reading →

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Interview with Council Member Jarvis Johnson

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Wrapping up my series of incumbent district Council member is Jarvis Johnson, who is finishing his second term in District B. Council Member Johnson has been one of the leading advocates for bringing wireless Internet access to various parts of … Continue reading →

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City of Houston social media

Posted on September 27, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The City of Houston is doing it in the Facebook with the Twittering, plus some bonus YouTube action as well. Follow BARC, various Community Affairs offices, the George R. Brown Convention Center, and more, some of which update more often … Continue reading →

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No vote from HISD on several school upgrades

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Last week, I noted that a parents group and some HISD trustees were complaining about there not being a vote on three school construction projects that were promised as part of the 2007 bond referendum. Even though we now have … Continue reading →

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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 →

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Tuesday Council roundup

Posted on August 4, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Council Member Sue Lovell, who is running hard for re-election after her close win in 2007, has added some fundraising muscle to her team. Houston Vice Mayor Pro Tem Sue Lovell announced today that Robert Miller would lead the Finance … Continue reading →

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Doing it in the Facebook with the Twittering, HCRP-style

Posted on July 25, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Lisa Falkenberg checks in on the Harris County Republican Party’s efforts to bring social media skillz to their masses. It’s easy to make fun of them for this – okay, it’s easy to make fun of them in general – … Continue reading →

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City candidates on Twitter

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Since I brought up the subject of Houston city candidates on Twitter last week, I figured I’d put together as complete a list of such candidates’ Twitter feeds as I could, since I’d already gotten such a head start on … Continue reading →

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Parker reports $800K raised for Mayoral race

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Tomorrow is the deadline for filing campaign finance reports for City of Houston elections. In the meantime, expect campaigns that did well in that department to announce their results ahead of time. One such announcement comes from the Annise Parker … Continue reading →

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Metro light rail groundbreaking

Posted on July 13, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Asa we know, today was groundbreaking day for Metro on the North and Southeast lines. Here’s the coverage I could find: an oddly negative story from KTRK, stories from Fox and KHOU, and a story from Texas Cable News that … Continue reading →

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Support the Central City Co-op

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Some of you may know that my wife, Tiffany Tyler, has been working with Central City Co-Op. Last year, she helped launch the farmers market they run at Discovery Green – she was its first manager – and has continued … Continue reading →

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Cillizza on White

Posted on June 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The WaPo’s Chris Cilizza surveys the Senate campaign scene, and makes an interesting comment about Texas: Democrats’ best opportunities to broaden the current playing field are in Louisiana and Texas. […] Texas is a bit more of a longshot although … Continue reading →

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“Texas Democrats’ First Truly Statewide Campaign of the 21st Century”

Posted on June 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Go read Phillip’s analysis of the Bill White campaign and its effective and extensive use of social media. Good stuff, with lots to think about.

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Charging for Twitter

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure something like this will eventually happen. Twitter Inc.’s co-founders say the rapidly growing online communications company will eventually charge fees for its services, but it’s unclear which ones and what will drive revenue. “There will be a moment … Continue reading →

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City Council redistricting lawsuit dismissed

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Marc Campos mentions this in passing: This past Friday, a federal judge threw out Lopez v. City of Houston. That is the lawsuit filed by Vidal Martinez to force the City of H-Town to draw two more district council seats … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Budget yes, UI not yet

Posted on May 21, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The conference committee on the budget finished its work yesterday. While final details are still emerging, the 10 conferees worked out a last minute plan for spending $700 million of federal stimulus money for state fiscal stabilization. They hope that … Continue reading →

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Gearing up for the voter ID showdown

Posted on May 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

SB362 was not on the calendar today, but it is expected to be brought to the House floor before the Tuesday deadline for approving Senate bills, perhaps as early as tomorrow. House Dems had a press conference today, accidentally pre-empting … Continue reading →

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TRCC survives sunsetting

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s Blogabear‘s view of HB2295, the bill to sunset the Texas Residential Construction Commission, aka the TRCC. And here’s John Coby‘s view of it. I sure hope the former is closer to the truth, because it passed, though with some … Continue reading →

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The Speaker speaks, and a Voter ID update

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

So how is Speaker Joe Straus doing? Three months into his first term leading the 150-member chamber, Republican Speaker Joe Straus is emerging as a bipartisan compromise-seeker, rejecting much of the power that his predecessor so coveted. Straus still faces … Continue reading →

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Tweet it! The cops!

Posted on April 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

New frontiers in social networking and law enforcement. Milwaukee’s department is one of a growing number of police and fire agencies turning to social networking Web sites such as Twitter, which lets users send text-message “tweets” to a mass audience … Continue reading →

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Senate passes SB1569, but may not be able to override a veto

Posted on April 20, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Senate passed SB1569, the bill that accepts stimulus funding for unemployment insurance, by a 19-11 vote today. As Elise noted on Twitter, two Senators flipped to No for final passage; one other Senator was either absent or did not … Continue reading →

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BAR for AG

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

Barbara Radnofsky has been talking about a run for Attorney General in Texas in 2010 for some time now; I had a conversation about it with her back in 2007. Today she officially announced her intent, making her the third … Continue reading →

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House passes budget, slaps Perry

Posted on April 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

State Rep. Chris Turner, on Twitter: At 3:56 am, the House unanimously passed the budget. Believe it or not, that was earlier than was originally anticipated. The pregame chatter was that the House would have to reconvene today to finish … Continue reading →

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Weekend link dump for March 29

Posted on March 29, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

And so we approach the end of another college basketball season. Which can only mean one thing: Time for baseball to begin! Woo hoo! Amazing beer bottle dominoes. May be the best thing I’ll see on YouTube this year. Now … Continue reading →

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Win some, lose some for science

Posted on March 28, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the basic conclusion to draw after the three-day circus that was the now-concluded SBOE hearings in Austin. TFN Insider sums it up: TFN President Kathy Miller: Texas State Board of Education Adopts Flawed Science Standards The word “weaknesses” no … Continue reading →

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Strengths and weaknesses fails

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

That’s the good news. San Antonio’s Ken Mercer, part of the board’s seven-member social conservative bloc, tried to put the much-debated “strengths and weaknesses” language back into the state’s science standards that guide the content of textbooks and curriculum. Mercer’s … Continue reading →

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Holm announces for Controller

Posted on March 18, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

I can’t say authoritatively if it’s the first of its kind anywhere, but this is the first announcement for public office via Twitter that I’ve seen. Announcing the launch of my Houston City Controller campaign web site, pamholm.com! Visit often, … Continue reading →

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No voter ID today

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

The Senate was supposed to finish doing its dirty work on voter ID today, but a clerical error has put things off for another day. Including all previously scheduled committee meetings, because nothing else can get done till the single … Continue reading →

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Voter ID: All through the night

Posted on March 10, 2009 by Charles Kuffner

According to Elise Hu’s liveblog of the voter ID hearing in the Senate, they’re on witness number 3 of 15, and they haven’t gotten to any public testimony yet. Suffice it to say, this is gonna go on for awhile, … Continue reading →

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