Tag Archives: The Lege

The legislative attacks on mifepristone are coming

Posted on November 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Get ready. A Louisiana law that reclassified abortion-inducing drugs as controlled substances has made it more difficult for doctors to treat a wide range of gynecological conditions, doctors say. Now, a similar proposal has been filed in Texas. Texas Rep. … Continue reading →

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High speed rail II proposed in the Lege

Posted on November 29, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

For obvious reasons, I don’t expect this to go anywhere. As plans for a Dallas to Houston bullet train move forward, one state legislator is hoping to kick-start another high speed rail line from North Texas to San Antonio. State Rep. John … Continue reading →

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Porsha Ngumezi

Posted on November 27, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Remember her name. Wrapping his wife in a blanket as she mourned the loss of her pregnancy at 11 weeks, Hope Ngumezi wondered why no obstetrician was coming to see her. Over the course of six hours on June 11, … Continue reading →

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Miles’ record on the HISD budget

Posted on November 24, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

A closer look from the Houston Landing. In his first year, Houston ISD’s state-appointed superintendent, Mike Miles, ushered in several changes that sparked massive media attention and community pushback — but another important set of shake-ups took place largely behind … Continue reading →

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Paxton won’t be deposed by the whistleblowers

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Alas. Attorney General Ken Paxton will not have to sit for a deposition in a longstanding lawsuit filed by four former senior aides who said he improperly fired them after they reported him to the FBI, the Texas Supreme Court … Continue reading →

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PUC releases its initial CenterPoint report

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Some reasonable recommendations in there. The Public Utility Commission of Texas on Thursday made public the results of its investigation into the performance of CenterPoint Energy and other Houston-area electric utilities during Hurricane Beryl and the May derecho, offering up … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues Dallas over its marijuana decriminalization law

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

As expected. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the city of Dallas over the newly approved Proposition R — which decriminalizes up to four ounces of marijuana in the city. The filing names the entire Dallas City Council, Mayor … Continue reading →

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The first Harris County LGBTQIA+ Commission report

Posted on November 21, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

For your perusal. The Harris County LGBTQIA+ Commission came out with its list of recommendations to improve the quality of life for Houston’s LGBTQIA+ community. The commission, created in June 2023 under the office of Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones, … Continue reading →

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The Texas A&M Space Institute

Posted on November 20, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Cool. A grassy field next to NASA’s Johnson Space Center is getting an otherworldly makeover. Officials gathered Friday to celebrate the groundbreaking of the Texas A&M University Space Institute, which will re-create the moon and Mars to help develop rovers, … Continue reading →

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SCOTx lets Robert Roberson get another execution date

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

But thank God that separation of powers was preserved. The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled a House committee overstepped its authority when it effectively stalled Robert Roberson’s execution by issuing an eleventh-hour subpoena. The ruling clears the way for … Continue reading →

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Time for another warfarin update

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Not much effect on the feral hog population yet, but it’s still early days. Nine months after the Texas Department of Agriculture approved a new toxicant to curb crop-destroying feral hogs, many farmers and ranchers are still leery or unaware … Continue reading →

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More on how the Lottery odds were stacked

Posted on November 16, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Another fascinating deep dive into how a recent Lottery was won by an outfit that had bought a ticket foe every possible combination. In the year and a half since an anonymous player engineered a $95 million Texas lottery jackpot … Continue reading →

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Two CenterPoint updates

Posted on November 14, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll see about this. State Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, filed legislation Tuesday that would create a process to refund Houstonians for charges associated with CenterPoint Energy’s $800 million lease of generators that went largely unused after Hurricane Beryl. King’s North Texas district … Continue reading →

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Three local marijuana decriminalization referenda passed last week

Posted on November 12, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Forgive me if my enthusiasm is modest. This General Election, Texans voted to decriminalize marijuana on ballot measures in Lockhart, Bastrop, and Dallas. According to The Dallas Morning News, about 67% of Dallas voters supported the proposition decriminalizing small amounts … Continue reading →

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Time once again for another “future doctor shortage” post

Posted on November 12, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This continues to seem bad. Texas’ new abortion laws are stressing the state’s already beleaguered OB/GYN workforce, and threatening the pipeline of new doctors that would help provide relief, a new survey shows. More than 70% of practicing OB/GYNs in … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues second doctor for providing gender affirming care to teens

Posted on November 11, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

From before the election. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing a second doctor for allegedly violating state law and providing gender-affirming medical care to minors. Dr. Hector Granados is an El Paso pediatric endocrinologist. Paxton accuses him in the … Continue reading →

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If we’d listened to OB-GYNs in the first place we wouldn’t be having these problems now

Posted on November 10, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I very much appreciate what they’re saying, but let’s be honest, their words will have no effect. The newly reported deaths of two pregnant Texans sparked a renewed plea from Texas OB/GYNs, including dozens in the Houston-area, for lawmakers to … Continue reading →

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Dispatches from Dallas, November 8 edition

Posted on November 8, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

This is a weekly feature produced by my friend Ginger. Let us know what you think. This week, in news from Dallas-Fort Worth, election results, and only election results, because we’re all dealing with our grief right now. Next week … Continue reading →

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Well, that sucked

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

It’s about 10:30 PM as I write this, and I don’t care to stay up any longer. The national situation looks dicey, but it’s not yet clear what will happen. I’ll put that off for now. It was bad here … Continue reading →

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A brief list of things I’ll be watching for today

Posted on November 5, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

In no particular order… 1. I don’t expect Democrats to win statewide in Texas. It would be great, it would do a world of good, but I’d be setting myself up for disappointment if I start there. What I want … Continue reading →

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Loving County defunds its police

Posted on November 4, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

How is it that a place with so few people can generate so much news? When activists demanded cuts to police budgets in the wake of George Floyd’s 2020 death at the hands of Minneapolis police, Texas lawmakers reacted swiftly, passing a … Continue reading →

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On cryptomining and power plants

Posted on November 4, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I say again, there’s a political opportunity here, and it involves being on the right side of an issue. About 150 angry residents gathered in a conference center here on Monday for a public meeting hosted by the state environmental … Continue reading →

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Houston re-ups its membership in H-GAC

Posted on November 3, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

It’s hard not to get really effing discouraged sometimes. Houston City Council voted 9-4 to renew its membership in the Houston-Galveston Area Council Wednesday after fiery discussions over whether the city’s continued involvement violated the city charter. Council Members Tarsha Jackson, Abbie Kamin, Edward … Continue reading →

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Nevaeh Crain

Posted on November 2, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

ProPublica said it had two stories of women who died after being unable to get an abortion during a miscarriage. This is the second one. Candace Fails screamed for someone in the Texas hospital to help her pregnant daughter. “Do … Continue reading →

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Paxton takes his fight against the State Fair gun ban back to district court

Posted on November 2, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

As threatened and expected. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton intends to continue challenging the State Fair of Texas’ gun ban, despite the fair ending last week, according to new court filings. Paxton filed a motion Monday to dismiss his appeal … Continue reading →

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Is this the year Tarrant County finally goes blue?

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Maybe. “Tarrant County is the 15th-largest county in the country, so it should get a lot of attention. And it’s the third-largest county in Texas, so it makes sense that there would be a lot of focus there,” said Mark … Continue reading →

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Josseli Barnica

Posted on October 31, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Remember her name. Josseli Barnica grieved the news as she lay in a Houston hospital bed on Sept. 3, 2021: The sibling she’d dreamt of giving her daughter would not survive this pregnancy. The fetus was on the verge of … Continue reading →

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Ken Paxton also doesn’t care if we execute an innocent man

Posted on October 26, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Shocking, I know, from such a moral paragon. A week after death row inmate Robert Roberson was set to die, the extraordinary quest to save his life has morphed into a deepening political battle between Texas House lawmakers and the … Continue reading →

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Make that 18.6 million registered voters

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

That’s a lot. Texas added nearly 200,000 voters to its rolls in the two weeks before the deadline to register, according to state data, giving the state a record-breaking 18.6 million voters going into this year’s election. Since 2016, when … Continue reading →

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Greg Abbott cares more about his own power than about human life

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

What else can one say about this? Gov. Greg Abbott’s office condemned the actions of a bipartisan group of Texas legislators Monday, effectively breaking his silence in the pending execution of Robert Roberson. In an amicus brief filed by James … Continue reading →

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Paxton sues doctor for providing gender affirming care to teens

Posted on October 21, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Nothing good will come of this. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against a Dallas pediatrician, accusing her of violating state law by providing gender-transitioning treatments to at least 21 teenage patients. Thursday’s filing is Paxton’s first … Continue reading →

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TEA clears Third Future Schools

Posted on October 18, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Some good news for Mike Miles. The Texas Education Agency’s investigation into alleged misuse of state funds concluded Third Future Schools — a Colorado-based charter school network founded by Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles — did not violate any Texas laws. The investigation also … Continue reading →

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Fifth Circuit pauses vote harvesting injunction

Posted on October 17, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Here they come to do what they do. A federal appeals court has temporarily reinstated portions of Texas’ 2021 voting law regulating ballot handling, ruling that a judge’s previous decision to strike certain rules came too close to the 2024 … Continue reading →

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Interview with Laurel Swift

Posted on October 14, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

We know that in our post-redistricting world there aren’t many legislative districts that are truly competitive, but sometimes opportunities arise where you hadn’t expected them. HD121, the San Antonio district that was once represented by Speaker Joe Straus, is nominally … Continue reading →

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