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11. <title>Off the Kuff</title>
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13. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp</link>
14. <description>Knowledge Is Good</description>
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22. <item>
23. <title>Election Day for November 2025 is tomorrow</title>
24. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120933</link>
25. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120933#respond</comments>
27. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
28. <pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2025 11:01:01 +0000</pubDate>
29. <category><![CDATA[Election 2025]]></category>
30. <category><![CDATA[absentee ballots]]></category>
31. <category><![CDATA[CD18]]></category>
32. <category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
33. <category><![CDATA[Constitution]]></category>
34. <category><![CDATA[constitutional amendments]]></category>
35. <category><![CDATA[early voting]]></category>
36. <category><![CDATA[Election Day]]></category>
37. <category><![CDATA[Harris County]]></category>
38. <category><![CDATA[Houston]]></category>
39. <category><![CDATA[Houston City Council]]></category>
40. <category><![CDATA[runoff]]></category>
41. <category><![CDATA[special election]]></category>
42. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
43. <category><![CDATA[turnout]]></category>
44. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120933</guid>
45.  
46. <description><![CDATA[From the inbox: The Harris County Clerk’s Office (HCCO) reminds registered voters that Election Day is Tuesday, November 4, 2025, the final opportunity to cast a ballot in this election. Races and Measures Include 17 proposed amendments to the Texas &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120933">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
47. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://mailchi.mp/cco/early-voting-for-the-may-3-joint-election-begins-april-10984188?e=6872da55ce">From the inbox</a>:</p>
48. <blockquote><p>
49. <img decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-60801" src="http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/vote-button.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="147" /></p>
50. <p>The Harris County Clerk’s Office (HCCO) reminds registered voters that Election Day is Tuesday, November 4, 2025, the final opportunity to cast a ballot in this election.</p>
51. <p><strong>Races and Measures Include</strong></p>
52. <ul>
53. <li>17 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution</li>
54. <li>18<sup>th</sup> Congressional District for voters registered within that district</li>
55. <li>Houston City Council At-Large Position 4 for voters registered within the city limits</li>
56. <li>Other local elections (Cities, school districts, utility districts)</li>
57. </ul>
58. <p>“This election will shape the future of our neighborhoods and communities across Texas,” <strong>said Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth.</strong> “I encourage every voter to participate.”</p>
59. <p><strong>When and Where to Vote</strong></p>
60. <ul>
61. <li>Tuesday, November 4, 2025, from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.</li>
62. <li>At any of the <strong>600 vote centers</strong> across Harris County</li>
63. <li>Find your nearest vote center and sample ballots at <a title="https://www.harrisvotes.com/" href="https://www.harrisvotes.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>HarrisVotes.com</strong></a></li>
64. </ul>
65. <p><strong>Acceptable Forms of Required Photo IDs</strong></p>
66. <ul>
67. <li>TX Driver’s License</li>
68. <li>TX Personal ID</li>
69. <li>TX Handgun License</li>
70. <li>TX Election ID Certificate</li>
71. <li>U.S. Military ID (with photo)</li>
72. <li>U.S. Citizenship Certificate (with photo)</li>
73. <li>U.S. Passport</li>
74. </ul>
75. <p><strong>Mail Ballot Drop-Off</strong></p>
76. <ul>
77. <li>Voters may only drop off their own mail ballot in person on Election Day, Tuesday, November 4, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. at 1019 Congress St. in downtown Houston. A valid photo ID is required.</li>
78. <li>If you receive a mail ballot but want to vote in person instead, take your mail ballot to a vote center to surrender it and receive a regular ballot. If you do not have the mail ballot with you, you may still vote in person using a provisional ballot. Again, you must present one of the seven acceptable forms of photo ID.</li>
79. </ul>
80. <p>For more information and real-time updates, follow <strong>@HarrisVotes</strong> or visit <a title="https://www.harrisvotes.com/" href="https://www.harrisvotes.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>HarrisVotes.com.</strong></a>
81. </p></blockquote>
82. <p>You can find the voting centers <a href="https://www.harrisvotes.com/Vote-Centers">here</a>. Any will suffice for you to cast your ballot. As <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120927">noted before</a>, early voting was pretty heavy, so tomorrow may be light or it may be a continuation of what we&#8217;ve seen so far. You won&#8217;t know till you go. I&#8217;ll have the results for you for Wednesday. Note that we will have two separate runoffs, one for At Large #4 in December and one for CD18 in January or February. They&#8217;re governed by different laws, so it is what it is. Be ready to vote again, and again, soon.</p>
83. ]]></content:encoded>
85. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120933</wfw:commentRss>
86. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
89. </item>
90. <item>
91. <title>NY court dismisses Paxton stunt lawsuit</title>
92. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120929</link>
93. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120929#respond</comments>
95. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
96. <pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2025 10:53:00 +0000</pubDate>
97. <category><![CDATA[Legal matters]]></category>
98. <category><![CDATA[abortion]]></category>
99. <category><![CDATA[Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine]]></category>
100. <category><![CDATA[Aid Access]]></category>
101. <category><![CDATA[Collin County]]></category>
102. <category><![CDATA[Hey Jane]]></category>
103. <category><![CDATA[Ken Paxton]]></category>
104. <category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
105. <category><![CDATA[Margaret Carpenter]]></category>
106. <category><![CDATA[mifepristone]]></category>
107. <category><![CDATA[New York]]></category>
108. <category><![CDATA[SCOTUS]]></category>
109. <category><![CDATA[telemedicine]]></category>
110. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
111. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120929</guid>
112.  
113. <description><![CDATA[Good. A New York judge dismissed a legal challenge Friday from Texas seeking to enforce a more than $100,000 civil judgment against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a Dallas-area woman in an early test of the state’s &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120929">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
114. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/31/texas-lawsuit-new-york-abortion-provider-shield-law-ken-paxton/">Good</a>.</p>
115. <blockquote><div id="attachment_71150" style="width: 170px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-71150" src="http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/paxtonmug1-240x300.jpg" alt="" width="160" height="200" class="size-full wp-image-71150" /><p id="caption-attachment-71150" class="wp-caption-text">Still a crook any way you look</p></div>
116. <p>A New York judge dismissed a legal challenge Friday from Texas seeking to enforce a more than $100,000 civil judgment against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a Dallas-area woman in an early test of the state’s “shield law” designed to protect providers.</p>
117. <p>Republican Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton wanted a New York court to enforce a civil decision from Texas against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who practices north of New York City in Ulster County, for allegedly prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine.</p>
118. <p>But acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck refused to file the judgment, saying he was a government employee who had to comply with New York’s shield law, which protects providers from other states’ reach.</p>
119. <p>New York is among at least eight states with shield laws. Opponents of the laws argue they violate a constitutional requirement that states respect the laws and legal judgments of other states.</p>
120. <p>Justice David Gandin ruled that Bruck followed New York law and granted his motion to dismiss the petition from Texas. The judge, sitting in Kingston, wrote that the medical services Carpenter rendered are legal in New York and that they fall “squarely within the definition of ‘legally protected health activity&#8217;” under the state’s shield law.</p>
121. <p>Bruck said he was relieved.</p>
122. <p>“It seemed very clear to me that as a government employee I should not be complying with this,” he said. “Since there was no precedent for the shield law yet, it feels really good to set that precedent.”
123. </p></blockquote>
124. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=119754">here</a> for the background. I have no doubt that Paxton was doing this mostly for the headlines, and also because he&#8217;s an asshole. He could still appeal this, but the real goal is to get this in federal court and on a track to SCOTUS. I figure this is more of a sideshow to the main event, so most likely Mr. Bruck is in the clear. But with Paxton, you can never be too sure.</p>
125. ]]></content:encoded>
127. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120929</wfw:commentRss>
128. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
131. </item>
132. <item>
133. <title>SOS responds to &#8220;closed primary&#8221; lawsuit</title>
134. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120923</link>
135. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120923#respond</comments>
137. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
138. <pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2025 10:45:59 +0000</pubDate>
139. <category><![CDATA[Legal matters]]></category>
140. <category><![CDATA[Abraham George]]></category>
141. <category><![CDATA[Dade Phelan]]></category>
142. <category><![CDATA[Election 2026]]></category>
143. <category><![CDATA[Election 2028]]></category>
144. <category><![CDATA[Gary VanDeaver]]></category>
145. <category><![CDATA[Jane Nelson]]></category>
146. <category><![CDATA[Ken Paxton]]></category>
147. <category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
148. <category><![CDATA[primaries]]></category>
149. <category><![CDATA[Republican Party]]></category>
150. <category><![CDATA[Secretary of State]]></category>
151. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
152. <category><![CDATA[voter registration]]></category>
153. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120923</guid>
154.  
155. <description><![CDATA[Nicely done. Texas’ top election official is opposing a GOP lawsuit that seeks to close the state’s primaries, arguing in new legal filings that a decision to restrict voting to registered party members should be up to lawmakers, not the &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120923">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
156. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/31/texas-republican-closed-primary-lawsuit-jane-nelson-ken-paxton/">Nicely done</a>.</p>
157. <blockquote>
158. <div id="attachment_45141" style="width: 282px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-45141" class="size-full wp-image-45141" src="http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/VoterRegistrationCard.jpg" alt="" width="272" height="186" /><p id="caption-attachment-45141" class="wp-caption-text">Still the only voter ID anyone should need</p></div>
159. <p>Texas’ top election official is opposing a GOP lawsuit that seeks to close the state’s primaries, arguing in new legal filings that a decision to restrict voting to registered party members should be up to lawmakers, not the courts.</p>
160. <p>Quoting from an earlier court decision, Republican Secretary of State Jane Nelson wrote in her filing that a court ruling on the GOP lawsuit now, just before the March primaries, threatens to “confuse voters, unduly burden election administrators, or otherwise sow chaos or distrust in the electoral process.”</p>
161. <p><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26209664-nelson-response-to-close-primaries/">In her filing</a>, Nelson also took aim at Attorney General Ken Paxton, a fellow Republican who has <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26209665-paxton-closed-primaries-motion/">sided with the Texas Republican Party in court</a>, calling a joint motion he filed with the party “brazen and misguided.” <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/09/texas-republican-lawsuit-ken-paxton-close-primaries/">The motion asked the court to require Nelson to close the primary</a>.</p>
162. <p>Texas Republicans say the state’s open primaries violate their constitutional right to freedom of association, alleging in their legal filings that some Democratic and independent-leaning voters are casting ballots in Republican primaries and boosting more moderate candidates.</p>
163. <p>The party sued Nelson in federal court in September, asking the court to close primaries and restrict voting to registered Republicans only.</p>
164. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
165. <p>Paxton, the state’s top lawyer, typically defends state laws when challenged, in election and voting-related lawsuits. But in this case, he joined the Republican Party of Texas in a motion asking the court to find Texas’ open-primary law unconstitutional, grant the GOP request, and resolve the case without a trial. Paxton will be on Republican primary ballots in March as he and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston each seek to unseat U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.</p>
166. <p>Instead of “fighting this lawsuit with expensive out-of-state lawyers, the Secretary of State’s office should respect the will of Texas voters and defend their freedoms by creating a process that will allow the RPT to immediately close its primaries,” Paxton said in a news release.</p>
167. <p>In her filings Thursday, Nelson said a ruling now declaring the state’s open primary system unconstitutional could lead to confusion for voters ahead of the 2026 primary. She reminded the court that mail ballots for that election must be sent less than four months from now. Early voting begins Feb. 17.</p>
168. <p>“Even if heroic efforts by state and local authorities are enough to avoid chaos and confusion and the open primaries are held, the proposed judgment would cast a pall on the results, because they would be the product of a system that a federal court declared unconstitutional,” Nelson’s filing says.</p>
169. <p>According to Nelson’s filing, lawmakers filed at least six bills in 2025 to close the primaries, but the proposals failed.</p>
170. <p>Nelson added that state lawmakers can take up the matter in the 2027 legislative session.
171. </p></blockquote>
172. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120244">here</a> for the background. I must have missed Paxton&#8217;s weaselly intervention in the case, which is totally on brand for him. The RPT says in its lawsuit that it is seeking the court&#8217;s intervention now so it can prepare for a closed primary in 2028. Which would still be a massive undertaking, with all sorts of possible ramifications. SOS Jane Nelson is no hero, but she&#8217;s old school enough to respect the law and the process for changing it, and good on her for that. Now we wait to see what the court does.</p>
173. ]]></content:encoded>
175. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120923</wfw:commentRss>
176. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
179. </item>
180. <item>
181. <title>Weekend link dump for November 2</title>
182. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120826</link>
183. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120826#comments</comments>
185. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
186. <pubDate>Sun, 02 Nov 2025 20:13:24 +0000</pubDate>
187. <category><![CDATA[Blog stuff]]></category>
188. <category><![CDATA[linkdump]]></category>
189. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120826</guid>
190.  
191. <description><![CDATA[&#8220;Individuals trying to support themselves via subscriptions are as dependent on the whims of the marketplace as those working for large corporations, and it’s not just the lack of health care and 401ks that make the career of a patron-supported &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120826">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
192. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;Individuals trying to support themselves via subscriptions are <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/tpm-25/patron-supported-journalism-cant-be-the-future-of-news">as dependent on the whims of the marketplace</a> as those working for large corporations, and it’s not just the lack of health care and 401ks that make the career of a patron-supported creator precarious — it’s the rawness and immediacy of the relationship.&#8221;</p>
193. <p>&#8220;Will Women Rising in the Church of England <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/10/22/archbishop-of-canterbury-church-of-england-women-vatican/">Influence</a> the Vatican?&#8221;</p>
194. <p>&#8220;Domestic violence nonprofits <a href="https://19thnews.org/2025/10/domestic-violence-nonprofits-trump-courts/">are winning against the Trump administration in court</a>&#8220;. Hope that doesn&#8217;t jinx it.</p>
195. <p>&#8220;Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, and Google have a lot riding on their relationships with the Trump administration. <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/white-house-east-wing-destruction-google-meta-apple-microsoft-amazone/">They all cut checks</a> for the ballroom.&#8221;</p>
196. <p>&#8220;As the tortilla controversy has earned national headlines, there’s no better time to explore <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6747556/2025/10/25/college-football-tortillas-traditions/?source=athletic_pulsenewsletter&#038;campaign=15326697&#038;userId=14739098">some of the wildest traditions</a> in college football.&#8221;</p>
197. <p>&#8220;Reagan did, in fact, repeatedly emphasize the virtues of free trade. Like all modern presidents, he nonetheless imposed some tariffs for political reasons. But Reagan <a href="https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/no-ronald-reagan-didnt-love-tariffs">always stayed within the boundaries of the law</a>, using his right to impose discretionary tariffs as pressure release valves rather than abusing his authority to make tariff policy an instrument of his personal whims.&#8221;</p>
198. <p>&#8220;What this video reveals is not only a hunger for domination but <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/of-course-it-was-shit-in-trumps-no-kings-ai-video-calling-it-brown-sludge-misses-the-religious-significance/">a fascination with blasphemy</a>—with the pleasure of polluting what others still hold sacred.&#8221;</p>
199. <p>&#8220;To be frank, it looks a lot like someone just <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/10/27/2350718/-Not-even-Trump-knows-what-the-hell-he-s-doing-with-his-dumb-ballroom?pm_campaign=blog&#038;pm_medium=rss&#038;pm_source=main">used AI to render a crappy facsimile</a> of Mar-a-Lago.&#8221;</p>
200. <p>&#8220;And what follows from that is that no plan to recover from or even seriously battle with Trumpism can be in any way capable of succeeding unless <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/there-is-no-democratic-future-without-supreme-court-reform/sharetoken/1600ef4a-1d65-4101-a713-44d8baa16dca">reforming the Supreme Court</a> is the first order of business. The dire corruption of the Republican majority governs everything.&#8221;</p>
201. <p><a href="https://www.avclub.com/cbs-news-john-dickerson-exits-bari-weiss-paramount">John Dickerson</a> is departing CBS News. He won&#8217;t be the last to do so.</p>
202. <p><a href="https://www.pajiba.com/tv_reviews/the-lowdown-behind-taylor-sheridans-paramount-exit.php">Taylor Sheridan >> David Ellison</a>. And I&#8217;m not even a fan of his shows.</p>
203. <p>&#8220;We’ve known for decades that <a href="https://slate.com/life/2025/10/halloween-candy-sugar-kids-hyper-debunk.html">sugar doesn’t really make people hyperactive</a>. The basic idea is reasonable—when you eat a lot of sugar, your blood glucose does tend to spike, which in theory should cause you to have more energy. In practice, though, we know that this just doesn’t end up being the case.&#8221;</p>
204. <p>How <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/oct/20/norman-greenbaum-spirit-in-the-sky-cook-no-1-jesus?ref=type-click-type.ghost.io">Norman Greenbaum</a> made &#8220;Spirit in the Sky&#8221; is kind of a wild story.</p>
205. <p>&#8220;The coalition announced on Tuesday <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/10/28/nx-s1-5587848/literary-arts-fund-foundation-writers-publishers-grants">the creation of the Literary Arts Fund</a>, which will distribute &#8220;at least&#8221; $50 million through grants to various nonprofit organizations across the country over the next five years.&#8221;</p>
206. <p><a href="https://deadline.com/2025/10/prunella-scales-dead-fawlty-towers-star-93-1236599806/">RIP, Prunella Scales</a>, BAFTA-nominated actor best known for playing Sybil Fawlty in the iconic BBC sitcom <em>Fawlty Towers</em>. <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/10/john-cleese-remembers-prunella-scales-fawlty-towers-1236599969/">John Cleese is correct</a>, she was absolutely perfect in that classic show.</p>
207. <p>“To be perfectly honest, <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/10/melania-trump-michael-wolff-lawsuit-defamation-epstein-1236594313/">I’d like nothing better than to get Donald Trump and Melania Trump under oath in front of a court reporter</a>, and actually find out all of the details of their relationship with Epstein.”</p>
208. <p>&#8220;‘The Pitt’ Has <a href="https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/the-pitt-organ-donation-end-of-life-planning-study-1236562186/">Inspired More Organ Donation and End-of-Life Planning</a>, According to USC Norman Lear Center Study&#8221;.</p>
209. <p>&#8220;Without <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/tpm-25/without-online-trolls-there-would-be-no-donald-trump">Online Trolls</a>, There Would Be No Donald Trump&#8221;.</p>
210. <p>&#8220;The end of SNAP-Ed <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2025/10/29/snap-ed-cuts-maha-hypocrisy/">exposes the chasm between the White House’s messaging and governance</a>. Even as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voices concern about what Americans put in their bodies, the administration has dismantled SNAP-Ed, which helped low-income Americans eat better.&#8221;</p>
211. <p><a href="https://featureassets.gocomics.com/assets/67edfb90decb013171a6005056a9545d">Bats aren&#8217;t bugs</a> but the do eat bugs, and <a href="https://www.tpr.org/news/2025-10-29/at-this-texas-pecan-orchard-bats-handle-most-of-the-bug-control">that makes them welcome</a> at pecan orchards, where they are a great alternative to pesticides.</p>
212. <p>The Pentagon <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/house-dynamite-writer-responds-pentagon-1236412090/">doesn&#8217;t like</a> the movie <em>House of Dynamite</em>.</p>
213. <p><a href="https://people.com/buzz-aldrin-wife-anca-faur-dies-11839666">RIP, Anca Faur</a>, wife of Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin.</p>
214. <p><a href="https://deadline.com/2025/10/margaret-depriest-dead-writer-general-hospital-1236602254/">RIP, Margaret DePriest</a>, actor and five-time Daytime Emmy Award nominee who wrote on numerous soaps.</p>
215. <p>&#8220;<a href="https://www.tvinsider.com/1224894/the-view-marjorie-taylor-greene-joining-guest/">Marjorie Taylor Greene to Appear on ‘The View’</a>&#8220;. Make some popcorn, I guess.</p>
216. <p>When you&#8217;ve <a href="https://boingboing.net/2025/10/29/kirk-cameron-criticizes-trumps-possible-use-of-the-insurrection-act.html">lost Kirk Cameron</a>&#8230;</p>
217. <p>Meet <em>Nanotyrannus lancensis</em>, the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/10/30/nx-s1-5589172/tyrannosaurus-rex-dueling-dinosaurs-fossil-new-species">newest T-Rex</a> on the block.</p>
218. <p>It&#8217;s important to always know <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/10/29/2025/british-newspaper-spoke-to-the-wrong-deblasio-not-an-imposter">which Bill DeBlasio</a> you&#8217;re talking to.</p>
219. <p>Go ahead, let Trump <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-wants-to-abolish-the-filibuster-please-proceed-degenerate/sharetoken/1c60d97f-583f-4513-8195-ec2c593a9b1b">abolish the filibuster</a>. Make our day.</p>
220. ]]></content:encoded>
222. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120826</wfw:commentRss>
223. <slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
226. </item>
227. <item>
228. <title>Final November 2025 early voting: A lot of people voted early</title>
229. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120927</link>
230. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120927#respond</comments>
232. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
233. <pubDate>Sun, 02 Nov 2025 11:02:23 +0000</pubDate>
234. <category><![CDATA[Election 2025]]></category>
235. <category><![CDATA[absentee ballots]]></category>
236. <category><![CDATA[early voting]]></category>
237. <category><![CDATA[Election 2017]]></category>
238. <category><![CDATA[Election 2021]]></category>
239. <category><![CDATA[Harris County]]></category>
240. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
241. <category><![CDATA[turnout]]></category>
242. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120927</guid>
243.  
244. <description><![CDATA[And here&#8217;s a look at the final early voting totals. Final EV total 2025 = 212,104 Final EV total 2021 = 114,060 Final EV total 2017 = 60,974 A lot of people voted last week! Even I was a little &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120927">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
245. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/EarlyVoting.jpg" alt="" width="254" height="199" class="alignright size-full wp-image-45332" /></p>
246. <p>And here&#8217;s a look at the final early voting totals.</p>
247. <p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xnQJ3OYnUTJbPejo2GrnKAtgMXtJnqpW/view?usp=sharing">Final EV total 2025</a> = 212,104</p>
248. <p><a href="https://files.harrisvotes.com/harrisvotes/prd/HISTORY/20211102/Official%20Cumulative.pdf">Final EV total 2021</a> = 114,060</p>
249. <p><a href="https://files.harrisvotes.com/harrisvotes/prd/HISTORY/20171107/cumulative/Cumulative.pdf">Final EV total 2017</a> = 60,974</p>
250. <p>A lot of people voted last week! Even I was a little surprised. To put this comparison another way:</p>
251. <p>Final overall vote total 2017 = 150,174<br />
252. Final overall vote total 2021 = 229,036<br />
253. Final EV total 2025 = 212,104</p>
254. <p>I think it&#8217;s safe to say that the turnout from this year will be higher than in 2017 or 2021, whether you look at it as raw numbers or a percentage of registered voters. </p>
255. <p>What that means beyond that, I don&#8217;t know. I&#8217;ll see what I think when we see what happened. For now, go vote if you haven&#8217;t already. I&#8217;ll have info on Election Day voting tomorrow.</p>
256. ]]></content:encoded>
258. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120927</wfw:commentRss>
259. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
262. </item>
263. <item>
264. <title>&#8220;Death Star&#8221; lawsuit filed in Dallas</title>
265. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120921</link>
266. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120921#respond</comments>
268. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
269. <pubDate>Sun, 02 Nov 2025 10:53:42 +0000</pubDate>
270. <category><![CDATA[Legal matters]]></category>
271. <category><![CDATA[Dallas]]></category>
272. <category><![CDATA[Denton County]]></category>
273. <category><![CDATA[El Paso]]></category>
274. <category><![CDATA[Greg Abbott]]></category>
275. <category><![CDATA[Houston]]></category>
276. <category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
277. <category><![CDATA[local control]]></category>
278. <category><![CDATA[San Antonio]]></category>
279. <category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>
280. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
281. <category><![CDATA[Texas Public Policy Foundation]]></category>
282. <category><![CDATA[The Lege]]></category>
283. <category><![CDATA[Third Court of Appeals]]></category>
284. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120921</guid>
285.  
286. <description><![CDATA[Welp. Two years after state lawmakers passed a sweeping law aimed at preventing Texas cities from adopting progressive policies, that law may finally get its first major test. Three Dallas residents sued the city in Denton County District Court Wednesday &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120921">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
287. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/29/texas-death-star-bill-dallas-lawsuit/">Welp</a>.</p>
288. <blockquote><p>
289. <a href="https://star-wars-and-mlpfim.fandom.com/wiki/Death_Star"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full" src="https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/star-wars-and-mlpfim/images/d/d0/Death_Star.jpg" width="200" height="200" /></a></p>
290. <p>Two years after state lawmakers passed a <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/18/texas-legislature-death-star-law-city-ordinances-limits/">sweeping law</a> aimed at preventing Texas cities from adopting progressive policies, that law may finally get its first major test.</p>
291. <p>Three Dallas residents sued the city in Denton County District Court Wednesday to strike down dozens of local ordinances they allege violate the law, dubbed the “Death Star” law by opponents. The law made it illegal for cities and counties to enact local laws that go further than certain broad areas of state law.</p>
292. <p>“Cities don’t get to pick and choose which state laws they follow,” said Matthew Chiarizio, a senior attorney for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the influential conservative think tank, who is representing the plaintiffs. “For too long, Dallas has piled unnecessary and duplicative regulations on its citizens. The Legislature has rightly preempted those rules, and this lawsuit is about protecting Texans’ freedom to live and work without being smothered by layers of needless local regulation.”</p>
293. <p>A representative for the city of Dallas declined to comment, citing litigation.</p>
294. <p>Some 83 ordinances could be wiped out if a judge sides with the plaintiffs. Among them are a slew of local protections for LGBTQ+ people, rules that city contractors pay employees a living wage and noise regulations for public parks and recreational facilities.</p>
295. <p>Dallas officials could also be prevented from regulating ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft that operate at Dallas Love Field Airport, valet parking services and gas drilling and production within city limits.</p>
296. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
297. <p>Houston, San Antonio and El Paso sued to block the law a month after it passed. A Travis County judge ruled the law unconstitutional in 2023. In July, the Third Court of Appeals overturned that decision and cleared the way for the Dallas lawsuit.
298. </p></blockquote>
299. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=119638">here</a> and <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=111255">here</a> for the most recent updates. The Third Court ruling wasn&#8217;t about whether the law was in fact constitutional or not but instead hinged on the claim that the cities didn&#8217;t yet have standing to sue since nothing had happened to them yet. That is obviously no longer the case. I don&#8217;t know exactly how this is going to go, but I do expect the Supreme Court to more or less go along with what Abbott and the Republicans want in the end. It may take a couple of years to get there, though, and there may be some limitations along the way. We won&#8217;t know for awhile. I don&#8217;t know if other lawsuits will be filed in other cities, or if the malignant activists behind this one will wait to see how it goes first. I do expect there will be others eventually. <a href="https://www.keranews.org/government/2025-10-30/city-of-dallas-sued-over-local-ordinances-public-policy-group-says-are-illegal-under-texas-death-star-law-regulatory-consistency-act">KERA</a> has more.</p>
300. ]]></content:encoded>
302. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120921</wfw:commentRss>
303. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
306. </item>
307. <item>
308. <title>Time once again to compost those pumpkins</title>
309. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120803</link>
310. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120803#respond</comments>
312. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
313. <pubDate>Sun, 02 Nov 2025 10:44:07 +0000</pubDate>
314. <category><![CDATA[Elsewhere in Houston]]></category>
315. <category><![CDATA[compost]]></category>
316. <category><![CDATA[Halloween]]></category>
317. <category><![CDATA[Houston]]></category>
318. <category><![CDATA[landfills]]></category>
319. <category><![CDATA[pumpkins]]></category>
320. <category><![CDATA[Sallie Alcorn]]></category>
321. <category><![CDATA[SCARCE]]></category>
322. <category><![CDATA[Solid Waste Management Department]]></category>
323. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
324. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120803</guid>
325.  
326. <description><![CDATA[You know what to do. The City of Houston Solid Waste Management Department, in partnership with Council Member Sallie Alcorn, is excited to announce the return of the 5th Annual Pumpkin Compost Drop-Off Program. Don’t toss your pumpkins in the &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120803">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
327. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://mailchi.mp/houstontx/city-of-houston-kicks-off-pumpkin-composting?e=5f3e046d21">You know what to do</a>.</p>
328. <blockquote><p>
329. <a href="https://mailchi.mp/houstontx/city-of-houston-kicks-off-pumpkin-composting?e=5f3e046d21"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/bbc8dea1a49ed98f626812405/images/81ac5cae-0013-4329-884d-03a664cbf42d.png" width="148" height="146" /></a></p>
330. <p>The City of Houston Solid Waste Management Department, in partnership with Council Member Sallie Alcorn, is excited to announce the return of the 5th Annual Pumpkin Compost Drop-Off Program.</p>
331. <p>Don’t toss your pumpkins in the trash, compost them instead! From October 25 through November 29, Houston residents can drop off their used or unused pumpkins at two City of Houston facilities. All collected pumpkins will be transformed into nutrient-rich compost to help grow a greener Houston.</p>
332. <p>Please remove any candles, stickers, paint, or other non-pumpkin decorations before dropping off your pumpkins.</p>
333. <p>Last year’s event was a smashing success, diverting more than 25,260 pounds of pumpkins from Houston’s landfills, making it the most successful year yet. The city hopes to break that record in 2025 and divert even more compostable material from the landfill.</p>
334. <p>“We’re proud to see Houstonians embracing composting and taking action to reduce waste,” said Director Larius Hassen, Director of Solid Waste Management “It’s amazing to see how something as simple as a leftover pumpkin can help grow a more sustainable Houston”</p>
335. <p>&#8220;Pumpkins are everywhere, and I love seeing them. They get me excited for Halloween and Thanksgiving. And while pumpkin season is upon us, we know it won’t last forever. When your once-glorious pumpkin is ready to be retired, don’t throw it in the trash. Take advantage of the city’s pumpkin composting initiative. Turn your pumpkin into glorious compost to be used in city parks and green spaces,” said Council Member Sallie Alcorn.</p>
336. <p>Join us in turning holiday leftovers into something good for the earth. Together, we can make Houston cleaner, greener, and more sustainable, one pumpkin at a time.</p>
337. <p><strong>Drop-off Locations:</strong></p>
338. <p><a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/wzuQAuwzuEBvckNy7" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>City of Houston Reuse Warehouse</strong></a><br />
339. 9003 N Main St, Houston, TX 77022<br />
340. October 25th – November 29th<br />
341. 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.</p>
342. <p><a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/LqxbV1TCJHq5SRo57" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Westpark Recycling Center</strong></a><br />
343. 5900 Westpark, Houston, TX 77339<br />
344. October 25th – November 29th<br />
345. 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
346. </p></blockquote>
347. <p><a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=116584">Same as last year</a>, more or less. You may find other options &#8211; as noted before, there&#8217;s a house in my neighborhood that collects them as feed for livestock &#8211; and that&#8217;s fine, pick what works best for you. Just don&#8217;t throw &#8217;em in the trash, there&#8217;s no need for that.</p>
348. ]]></content:encoded>
350. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120803</wfw:commentRss>
351. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
354. </item>
355. <item>
356. <title>The latest UT Politics Project poll also has some warning signs for Republicans</title>
357. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120906</link>
358. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120906#respond</comments>
360. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
361. <pubDate>Sat, 01 Nov 2025 10:02:32 +0000</pubDate>
362. <category><![CDATA[Show Business for Ugly People]]></category>
363. <category><![CDATA[Dan Patrick]]></category>
364. <category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
365. <category><![CDATA[Election 2024]]></category>
366. <category><![CDATA[Election 2026]]></category>
367. <category><![CDATA[Greg Abbott]]></category>
368. <category><![CDATA[immigration]]></category>
369. <category><![CDATA[Ken Paxton]]></category>
370. <category><![CDATA[polls]]></category>
371. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
372. <category><![CDATA[Texas National Guard]]></category>
373. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120906</guid>
374.  
375. <description><![CDATA[Two data points isn&#8217;t enough for a trend, but it is worth noticing. A small majority of Texans oppose the deployment of the Texas National Guard for law enforcement in cities out of state, according to a recent statewide survey. &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120906">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
376. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Two data points isn&#8217;t enough for a trend, <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/29/texas-national-guard-deployment-illinois-abbott-trump-ut-poll/">but it is worth noticing</a>.</p>
377. <blockquote><p>
378. A small majority of Texans oppose the deployment of the Texas National Guard for law enforcement in cities out of state, according to a recent statewide survey.</p>
379. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
380. <p>The survey, conducted by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas, Austin between Oct. 10 and Oct. 20, found that 43% of Texans “strongly oppose” the move and 8% “somewhat oppose” it. Forty-one percent of Texans supported the move.</p>
381. <p>Ten Texas Democratic members of Congress demanded the immediate withdrawal of the state’s troops earlier this month, arguing that the deployment was unlawful.</p>
382. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
383. <p>A plurality of Texans also said they opposed the use of the U.S. military for law enforcement efforts in American cities, with 49% opposing the move and 43% supporting it.</p>
384. <p>The poll, which surveyed 1,200 registered voters across Texas, found that Abbott’s approval numbers tumbled to his lowest yet over the course of his decade as governor. His approval rating, 39%, marked a 12 point drop from October last year. Abbott is up for reelection next year for a fourth term as governor.</p>
385. <p>Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is also seeking reelection, saw his approval rating fall 10 points from October 2024, coming in this month at 29%. Patrick <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/06/10/dan-patrick-texas-thc-ban-republican-gop-backlash/">drew backlash</a> from some conservatives earlier this year for championing measures such as a state ban on consumable hemp products and an influx of funding for the state’s <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/25/texas-film-incentives-commercials/">film incentives program</a>.</p>
386. <p>And Trump’s approval numbers in Texas, too, slipped to 41% after steadily declining from 54% before his inauguration and 53% in February at the start of his second term.
387. </p></blockquote>
388. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120680">here</a> for the recent UH/Hobby poll, which also had some possible red flags for Republicans. I focused on the horse race numbers and the shifts in Latino preferences in <a href="https://www.uh.edu/hobby/txtrends/election2026.pdf">that poll</a>, but it also had some favorable/unfavorable data, which I&#8217;m going to reproduce here:</p>
389. <pre><span style="font-family: courier;">
390. Name      Fav  Unfav  DK/NA
391. ===========================
392. Trump      45     52      3
393. Abbott     45     49      6
394. Patrick    32     41     27
395. Paxton     35     48     17
396. </span></pre>
397. <p>Not a single one in positive territory. These numbers do bounce around, as we&#8217;ll see from the Texas Politics Project data, but they&#8217;re not in a good place for these four right now.</p>
398. <p>The <a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/latest-poll">Texas Politics Project poll for October</a> has a metric crap-ton of data, which includes Approval and Fav/Unfav data for this quartet and more. I&#8217;ll start with Favorability. Here&#8217;s the individual results for these four:</p>
399. <p><a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/donald-trump-favorability-october-2025">Trump</a><br />
400. <a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/greg-abbott-favorability-october-2025">Abbott</a><br />
401. <a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/dan-patrick-favorability-october-2025">Patrick</a><br />
402. <a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/ken-paxton-favorability-october-2025">Paxton</a></p>
403. <p>And the summary:</p>
404. <pre><span style="font-family: courier;">
405. Name      Fav  Unfav  None  DK/NA
406. =================================
407. Trump      41     50     6      2
408. Abbott     41     49     7      3
409. Patrick    28     43    14     14
410. Paxton     28     44    16     11
411. </span></pre>
412. <p>All a little worse than UH/Hobby. The inclusion of a &#8220;neither favorable nor unfavorable&#8221; option alters the numbers a bit, but the story is the same. Having a second data point like this is valuable, since for all we know the UH/Hobby poll could be an outlier. That could still be the case, but at least now we have a second source.</p>
413. <p>And here&#8217;s Approval:</p>
414. <p><a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/donald-trump-approval-october-2025">Trump</a><br />
415. <a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/greg-abbott-approval-october-2025">Abbott</a><br />
416. <a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/dan-patrick-approval-october-2025">Patrick</a><br />
417. <a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/ken-paxton-approval-october-2025">Paxton</a></p>
418. <pre><span style="font-family: courier;">
419. Name      App  Disap  None  DK/NA
420. =================================
421. Trump      42     51     6      1
422. Abbott     39     50     9      2
423. Patrick    29     46    15     10
424. Paxton     29     45    16     10
425. </span></pre>
426. <p>Very similar, though not identical. I don&#8217;t know how people differentiate the two, but it&#8217;s not hard to imagine someone thinking &#8220;I like the guy but he&#8217;s off his game right now&#8221;, or &#8220;I don&#8217;t really care for this guy, but he&#8217;s making some sense on this thing that is important to me&#8221;, or something like that.</p>
427. <p>The Texas Politics Project poll has kept track of these numbers over time, which is great because they also produce trend data for these four, all of which go back a long way. Here&#8217;s the trend data, which is Approve/Disapprove for the three Texans and Favorable/Unfavorable for Trump:</p>
428. <p><a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/donald-trump-approval-october-2025">Trump</a> &#8211; As noted, this is Fav/Unfav. They have a trend for that but not for Approve/Disapprove because the data goes all the way back to November 2015 and Approve/Disapprove is for incumbents, not for candidates or potential candidates. This is a tie for his second worst ever, with August 2022. His worst was August 2023, 41 Fav, 51 Unfav. In December 2024, he was at 54 Favorable and 39 Unfavorable.</p>
429. <p><a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/greg-abbott-job-approval-trend">Greg Abbott</a> &#8211; This is his worst ever Approval rating. In December 2024 he was at 55 approve, 34 disapprove. Ouch.</p>
430. <p><a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/dan-patrick-job-approval-trend">Patrick</a> &#8211; Also his worst ever Approval rating, with his second worst being June of 2025, when he was at 30 Approve and 42 Disapprove. Before that, you have to go back to August of 2021, when he was at 33 &#8211; 42. In December of 2024, he was at 41 Approve, 27 Disapprove.</p>
431. <p><a href="https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/set/ken-paxton-job-approval-trend">Paxton</a> &#8211; His second worst ever, after August 2023 (27 approve, 46 disapprove). Paxton&#8217;s December 2024 was 40 approve, 30 disapprove.</p>
432. <p>As you can see in these trend lines, the numbers do move around over time, though Abbott and Patrick in particular have generally been in positive territory. The drop from December 2024 for all of them is steep and remarkable. That said, we&#8217;re a long way off from the next election, and they will have the time and money to make the eventual Democratic statewide candidates also be in negative territory. I&#8217;m just flagging this for now as a thing to keep an eye on. If six months from now everyone&#8217;s at neutral or better, then maybe this was all nothing to see. I&#8217;ll be checking back.</p>
433. ]]></content:encoded>
435. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120906</wfw:commentRss>
436. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
439. </item>
440. <item>
441. <title>Judges can discriminate against same-sex couples</title>
442. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120908</link>
443. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120908#comments</comments>
445. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
446. <pubDate>Sat, 01 Nov 2025 09:53:03 +0000</pubDate>
447. <category><![CDATA[Legal matters]]></category>
448. <category><![CDATA[Brian Umphress]]></category>
449. <category><![CDATA[constitutional amendments]]></category>
450. <category><![CDATA[Dianne Hensley]]></category>
451. <category><![CDATA[Election 2026]]></category>
452. <category><![CDATA[gay marriage]]></category>
453. <category><![CDATA[gay rights]]></category>
454. <category><![CDATA[Greg Abbott]]></category>
455. <category><![CDATA[Jack County]]></category>
456. <category><![CDATA[Jimmy Blacklock]]></category>
457. <category><![CDATA[Justice of the Peace]]></category>
458. <category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
459. <category><![CDATA[Liberty Institute]]></category>
460. <category><![CDATA[McClennan County]]></category>
461. <category><![CDATA[SCOTUS]]></category>
462. <category><![CDATA[State Commission on Judicial Conduct]]></category>
463. <category><![CDATA[Supreme Court]]></category>
464. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
465. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120908</guid>
466.  
467. <description><![CDATA[For now, at least. Texas judges who decline to perform a wedding ceremony based on a “sincerely held religious belief” do not violate the state’s rules on judicial impartiality, according to a comment the Texas Supreme Court added to the state’s judicial &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120908">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
468. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/29/texas-judges-gay-marriages-rule-supreme-court/">For now, at least</a>.</p>
469. <blockquote><p>
470. Texas judges who decline to perform a wedding ceremony based on a “sincerely held religious belief” do not violate the state’s rules on judicial impartiality, according to a comment the Texas Supreme Court <a href="https://www.txcourts.gov/media/1461440/259082.pdf">added</a> to the state’s judicial conduct code last week.</p>
471. <p>The high court’s comment on Oct. 24, effective immediately, could have statewide implications for gay marriage and potentially play a role in a <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/10/court-to-consider-whether-to-hear-challenge-to-same-sex-marriage-on-nov-7/">federal lawsuit attempting</a> to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage.</p>
472. <p>The rule change appears to answer a question of state law that the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals posed to the Texas Supreme Court in April, which was prompted by a <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2025/05/02/can-judges-in-texas-discriminate-against-same-sex-couples-in-solemnizing-marriages">lawsuit</a> challenging the State Commission on Judicial Conduct’s now-withdrawn sanction of a <a href="https://www.keranews.org/news/2019-12-17/waco-judge-sues-state-agency-after-public-warning-for-refusing-to-officiate-same-sex-marriages">Waco judge</a> who refused to marry gay couples while continuing to marry straight couples. The plaintiff in that suit, a North Texas county judge, sued saying he was afraid he could face the same punishment.</p>
473. <p>Texas Supreme Court clerk Blake Hawthorne said in an email to KERA News the court cannot comment on the rule change.</p>
474. <p>“The order speaks for itself, and the Court cannot comment on its connection to pending litigation,” Hawthorne said.</p>
475. <p>The State Commission on Judicial Conduct declined to comment.</p>
476. <p>The court’s clarification amended Canon 4 of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, which prohibits judges from doing things outside their judicial role that would cast doubt on their ability to act impartially or interfere with the proper performance of judicial duties.</p>
477. <p>It’s the rule the commission accused Waco Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley of violating when it issued a <a href="https://www.keranews.org/2019-12-03/waco-judge-issued-warning-for-refusing-to-perform-same-sex-marriages">public warning</a> against her in 2019, saying her refusal to marry people based on their sexual orientation cast doubt on her ability to appear impartial as a judge.</p>
478. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
479. <p>The Texas Supreme Court has yet to directly answer the 5th Circuit’s certified question, but Jason Mazzone, a law professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who has <a href="https://verdict.justia.com/2025/05/02/can-judges-in-texas-discriminate-against-same-sex-couples-in-solemnizing-marriages">written about the case</a>, said the court’s comment seems to resolve Umphress’ claims.</p>
480. <p>Someone could, however, challenge a judge’s decision not to marry gay couples on constitutional equal protection grounds in the future, Mazzone said.</p>
481. <p>“One of the claims that I think will be made in response to litigation that is likely is that, ‘well, there are other people who can perform the wedding ceremony, so you can’t insist that a particular judge do it,&#8217;” Mazzone said. “But that, of course, is not how equal protection works, and it’s not how we expect government officials to operate.”</p>
482. <p>Douglas Lang, one of the attorneys representing the commission in Umphress’ case, said he doesn’t believe the new comment answers the certified question.</p>
483. <p>“I wouldn’t prejudge what the Supreme Court says,” Lang said. “We’ve suggested in our briefs what we think they oughta say, but that’s what makes an appeal.”
484. </p></blockquote>
485. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=115122">here</a> for the most recent update in the Dianne Hensley saga. The bit after the ellipsis refers to a different case, brought by a rural County Judge, who can officiate weddings but isn&#8217;t a &#8220;judge&#8221; in the traditional sense. I agree with Jason Mazzone, this is not how equal protection works. Or at least, it&#8217;s not how it&#8217;s supposed to work and it&#8217;s not how it did work before SCOTUS got so thoroughly corrupted. I for one will prejudge what our Supreme Court is going to say, because I think they&#8217;ve already said it. They just haven&#8217;t put it in an opinion yet.</p>
486. <p>One more thing:</p>
487. <blockquote><p>
488. The high court’s update also comes as Texas voters are being asked to weigh in on changes to the makeup of state judicial commissioners during the <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/22/texas-statewide-propositions-november-ballot-election/">Nov. 4 constitutional amendment election.</a> Under <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/22/texas-statewide-propositions-november-ballot-election/#ba985b81-22dc-4d20-bc57-ad2858ce4c60">Proposition 12</a>, the governor would appoint seven members of the public out of the commission’s 13 members. The rest would be a variety of state judges and all would need Senate approval.</p>
489. <p>Two former public members of the commission <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Ex-members-of-Judicial-Conduct-Commission-say-14884918.php">alleged</a> they were removed from the commission after how they voted on Hensley’s judicial discipline.
490. </p></blockquote>
491. <p>Yeah. Vote against Prop 12 if you haven&#8217;t already. I mean, it would be effing hilarious if Gina Hinojosa beats Greg Abbott next year and the Republicans all have to face the reality of giving her all that much extra power, but it&#8217;s still not right for the Governor to be able to tilt the scales like that. The Commission is fine as it is.</p>
492. ]]></content:encoded>
494. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120908</wfw:commentRss>
495. <slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
498. </item>
499. <item>
500. <title>The restaurant AI experience</title>
501. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120350</link>
502. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120350#respond</comments>
504. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
505. <pubDate>Sat, 01 Nov 2025 09:43:35 +0000</pubDate>
506. <category><![CDATA[Food, glorious food]]></category>
507. <category><![CDATA[Technology, science, and math]]></category>
508. <category><![CDATA[artificial intelligence]]></category>
509. <category><![CDATA[ChatGPT]]></category>
510. <category><![CDATA[Houston]]></category>
511. <category><![CDATA[restaurants]]></category>
512. <category><![CDATA[Texas Restaurant Association]]></category>
513. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120350</guid>
514.  
515. <description><![CDATA[Interesting. Several Houston restaurants have cracked the code on efficiency, using artificial intelligence to streamline small tasks and free up staff to focus on hospitality. ChatGPT and other AI tools have surged in popularity across industries, and the restaurant world &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120350">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
516. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-culture/restaurants-bars/article/ai-restaurants-houston-20827829.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&#038;utm_source=t.co&#038;utm_medium=referral">Interesting</a>.</p>
517. <blockquote><p>
518. <a href="https://aidarwinawards.org/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://aidarwinawards.org/images/aidarwinawards-logo.svg" width="200" height="200" class="alignright size-full" /></a></p>
519. <p>Several Houston restaurants have cracked the code on efficiency, using artificial intelligence to streamline small tasks and free up staff to focus on hospitality.</p>
520. <p>ChatGPT and other AI tools have surged in popularity across industries, and the restaurant world is no exception. From fast-casual spots to fine dining, local operators are finding ways to integrate the technology. Much of it happens behind the scenes, invisible to customers, though some restaurants are beginning to explore guest-facing uses, as well.</p>
521. <p>&#8220;There is constant stress on the restaurant operation business model. So if you&#8217;re able to implement the right artificial intelligence, either to enhance your guest experience or to help automate some of those roles that are not hospitality-based, then for the future of the industry, that is something that you have to embrace,&#8221; said Emily Knight, president of the Texas Restaurant Association.</p>
522. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
523. <p>Other AI companies are rolling out tech specifically to help restaurants forecast their prep portions and costs. Mac Haik Restaurant Group — which owns First Watch, Slapfish, the Original Chopshop and Due Cucina — is using Prep Assistant from Precitaste, which predicts how much food a restaurant will need each day and creates a prep list that reduces waste. It even factors in weather and other events that might affect customer traffic.</p>
524. <p>Training that once took managers six months on the old inventory system now takes about a week with Prep Assistant. Prep work is finished faster, allowing staff to spend more time on hospitality. The shift has boosted sales and, in turn, increased employee earnings through tips, said Chief Operating Officer Dan Anfinson.</p>
525. <p>The company has seen at least a 50% reduction in food waste for two consecutive fiscal periods. “The system has been more accurate for what I need, what we need to prep, and the shelf life of food,” said First Watch manager Araceli Salgado. “We don’t have to throw out batches of items because we over-prepped. It’s helping with training, knowledge, and the quality of both the food and production.”</p>
526. <p>Prep Assistant runs on a subscription model, but Anfinson said it has already paid for itself in the month since its roll-out across the group. He added that the company worked with PreciTaste for more than a year to tailor the system to their needs.
527. </p></blockquote>
528. <p>That&#8217;s one of three examples cited &#8211; the first is a mostly LLM example, and the third is an automated voice system that seems to build on existing automated voice tech systems. Neither it nor this one here would fall under what I think of as ChatGPT-type systems, but somewhat surprisingly to me they all sound like reasonable use cases. None seem like direct threats to jobs, either, though the first example uses a tool that would reduce the need for an accountant. The best uses of AI, or more generally automation that may or may not be AI-based, is to handle low-value repetitive tasks and allow the humans to do more high-value work. If that&#8217;s the way restaurants are deploying this now, then good for them.</p>
529. <p>(The embedded image is from the site <a href="https://aidarwinawards.org/">AI Darwin Awards</a>, which aims to honor the least best uses of AI from the past year. I very much look forward to seeing who the winners are.)</p>
530. ]]></content:encoded>
532. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120350</wfw:commentRss>
533. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
536. </item>
537. <item>
538. <title>Fifth Circuit upholds Tarrant County redistricting map</title>
539. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120904</link>
540. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120904#comments</comments>
542. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
543. <pubDate>Fri, 31 Oct 2025 10:01:54 +0000</pubDate>
544. <category><![CDATA[Election 2026]]></category>
545. <category><![CDATA[Legal matters]]></category>
546. <category><![CDATA[Alisa Simmons]]></category>
547. <category><![CDATA[Census]]></category>
548. <category><![CDATA[Commissioners Court]]></category>
549. <category><![CDATA[County Judge]]></category>
550. <category><![CDATA[Election 2024]]></category>
551. <category><![CDATA[Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals]]></category>
552. <category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
553. <category><![CDATA[League of Women Voters]]></category>
554. <category><![CDATA[LULAC]]></category>
555. <category><![CDATA[Matt Krause]]></category>
556. <category><![CDATA[redistricting]]></category>
557. <category><![CDATA[SCOTUS]]></category>
558. <category><![CDATA[Tarrant County]]></category>
559. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
560. <category><![CDATA[Texas Open Meetings Act]]></category>
561. <category><![CDATA[Tim O'Hare]]></category>
562. <category><![CDATA[Tony Tinderholt]]></category>
563. <category><![CDATA[Voting Rights Act]]></category>
564. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120904</guid>
565.  
566. <description><![CDATA[Not a surprise. A group of Tarrant County residents who sued over the county’s redistricting process did not prove the new map is racially discriminatory, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. Tarrant County’s Republican commissioners pushed through an unusual mid-decade redistricting &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120904">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
567. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/10/29/federal-appeals-court-upholds-decision-allowing-tarrant-countys-redrawn-map-to-go-into-effect/">Not a surprise</a>.</p>
568. <blockquote><p>
569. <a href="https://www.tarrantcountytx.gov/en.html"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full" src="https://www.tarrantcountytx.gov/content/dam/styleassets/TCseal300.png" width="150" height="153" /></a></p>
570. <p>A group of Tarrant County residents who sued over the county’s redistricting process did not prove the new map is racially discriminatory, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.</p>
571. <p>Tarrant County’s Republican commissioners pushed through <a href="https://www.keranews.org/government/2025-06-03/tarrant-county-redistricting-vote" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><u>an unusual mid-decade redistricting process</u></a> earlier this year. They argued their plan was to grow their majority on the court, and race had nothing to do with it. Critics said the new map illegally diluted the power of Black and brown voters, packing them into a single precinct.</p>
572. <p>The county has been sued twice over the new map, and judges have declined to block the maps in <a href="https://www.keranews.org/government/2025-09-16/federal-judge-tarrant-county-redistricting-lawsuit-black-latino-voters-commissioners-court-racial-gerrymandering" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><u>both</u></a> <a href="https://www.keranews.org/news/2025-10-07/tarrant-county-electoral-map-will-stay-in-effect-after-judge-denies-request-to-stop-implementation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><u>cases</u></a>. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision in the first lawsuit, <a href="https://thearp.org/litigation/jackson-v-tarrant/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><u>Jackson et. al. v. Tarrant County</u></a><em>, </em>in a ruling Wednesday.</p>
573. <p>The judges acknowledged that Black and Latino voters were disproportionately affected by redistricting, but that doesn’t prove commissioners had racially discriminatory intent, they decided.</p>
574. <p>“An obvious explanation for the disparity exists: race and partisanship are highly correlated in Tarrant County, and districting decisions driven by partisanship will often have disparate racial effects,” the ruling reads.</p>
575. <p>The judges also dismissed the argument that Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare’s remarks in an interview with NBC 5 about redistricting proved any racial intent.</p>
576. <p>“The policies of Democrats continue to fail Black people over and over and over, but many of them keep voting them in,” O’Hare said. “It’s time for people of all races to understand the Democrats are a lost party, they are a radical party, it’s time for them to get on board with us and we’ll welcome them with open arms.”</p>
577. <p>That statement seems to be an expression of ordinary partisan politics, the court ruled.
578. </p></blockquote>
579. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120370">here</a> for some background. The plaintiffs also failed to get a restraining order in the <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120632">state lawsuit</a>. There may be an appeal for that one going on, but if so I wouldn&#8217;t expect a different outcome. The simple fact is that discriminatory effect is a lot easier to prove than discriminatory intent &#8211; &#8220;intent&#8221; in any legal context is always hard to prove &#8211; and so as long as &#8220;intent&#8221; is the standard for these lawsuits, they&#8217;re going to be hard to win. That&#8217;s one of the outcomes of the SCOTUS kneecapping of the Voting Rights Act. Sadly, this is nothing new.</p>
580. <p>One side point of interest:</p>
581. <blockquote><p>
582. The lawsuit also argued some voters would be disenfranchised by being forced to wait to vote in their next county commissioner race. Commissioners serve for four years, but their terms are staggered – meaning some people who would have voted for their commissioner in 2026 have to wait until 2028 under the new maps.</p>
583. <p>That’s a natural consequence of redistricting, the Fifth Circuit decided.
584. </p></blockquote>
585. <p>As <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=119279">noted before</a>, a similar claim was raised by plaintiffs in the <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=102966">lawsuit filed against the Harris County redistricting in 2021</a>. That lawsuit didn&#8217;t proceed after <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=103779">the State Supreme Court refused to intercede</a>. I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s still an active matter, but now we have a legal opinion on the subject. Federal court, not state court, so not the same thing, but it&#8217;s still a precedent now.</p>
586. ]]></content:encoded>
588. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120904</wfw:commentRss>
589. <slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
592. </item>
593. <item>
594. <title>A brief Fort Worth ISD roundup</title>
595. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120899</link>
596. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120899#respond</comments>
598. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
599. <pubDate>Fri, 31 Oct 2025 09:53:43 +0000</pubDate>
600. <category><![CDATA[School days]]></category>
601. <category><![CDATA[Board of Managers]]></category>
602. <category><![CDATA[Fort Worth]]></category>
603. <category><![CDATA[Fort Worth ISD]]></category>
604. <category><![CDATA[HISD]]></category>
605. <category><![CDATA[Karen Molinar]]></category>
606. <category><![CDATA[Mike Morath]]></category>
607. <category><![CDATA[schools]]></category>
608. <category><![CDATA[STAAR]]></category>
609. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
610. <category><![CDATA[Texas Education Agency]]></category>
611. <category><![CDATA[The Lege]]></category>
612. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120899</guid>
613.  
614. <description><![CDATA[You know the drill&#8230; How a single Fort Worth ISD campus prompted a state takeover The Texas Education Agency is taking over the Fort Worth Independent School District — a district with more than 70,000 students — because a campus &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120899">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
615. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You know the drill&#8230;</p>
616. <p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/29/texas-fort-worth-isd-takeover-history/">How a single Fort Worth ISD campus prompted a state takeover</a></p>
617. <blockquote><p><a href="https://x.com/FortWorthISD"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1772669047756230657/eHqPKORD_400x400.jpg" width="150" height="150" /></a></p>
618. <p>The Texas Education Agency is taking over the Fort Worth Independent School District — a district with more than 70,000 students — because a campus with just over 300 sixth graders repeatedly failed to meet state academic standards.</p>
619. <p>While Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade ultimately set off the state’s ability to intervene, the threat of a state takeover has been looming over the district for nearly two decades — with the first dating back to 2008. The district has a history of struggling to bring students’ grades up across the city, especially at campuses in low-income neighborhoods with large Black and brown populations.</p>
620. <p>TEA Commissioner Mike Morath <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/23/texas-education-agency-fort-worth-isd-takeover/">announced last week</a> his decision to remove all decision-making power from elected Fort Worth ISD school board members. Soon, the state will replace them with a board of managers and a superintendent handpicked by Morath. The new set of appointed leaders will wield substantial power. They will preside over one of North Texas’ biggest school districts — around <a href="http://google.com/url?q=https://www.har.com/school_district/fort-worth-isd_220905&amp;sa=D&amp;source=docs&amp;ust=1761676751325122&amp;usg=AOvVaw1a0D-i0sgzJKsucYvP-xkM">135 campuses</a> — and their responsibilities will range from deciding how to spend the district’s $1 billion budget to hiring the directors who will lead day-to-day operations such as bus transportation and campus maintenance.</p>
621. <p>The district has been on the upswing academically in the last two years. But TEA, under state law, can take over a school district when a school receives a failing grade on the state agency’s A-F accountability rating system for five consecutive years, and Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade received its <a href="https://rptsvr1.tea.texas.gov/cgi/sas/broker?_service=marykay&amp;_program=perfrept.perfmast.sas&amp;_debug=0&amp;ccyy=2023&amp;lev=C&amp;id=220905064&amp;prgopt=reports/acct/summary.sas">fifth F in 2023.</a> The ratings, which were <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/15/texas-schools-a-f-accountability-ratings-2/">recently unveiled</a>, had been held back because several school districts <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2024/08/12/texas-school-accountability-ratings-lawsuit/">had sued</a> to block their release.</p>
622. <p>But long before the sixth-grade campus reached the threshold for a takeover, conversations of state intervention in Fort Worth had swirled around the community.</p>
623. <p>In 2008, Meadowbrook Middle School, a campus composed of around 60% Hispanic students and 35% Black students, had missed federal academic standards for years, which nearly led to a state takeover under the now-defunct No Child Left Behind Act.</p>
624. <p>In the years that followed, the district averted two other threats of an intervention. John T. White and Maude Logan elementaries endured a streak of failing grades and nearly met the takeover threshold before seeing improved scores.</p>
625. <p>Leadership Academy at Forest Oak Sixth Grade, which the district <a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2024/03/31/fort-worth-isd-board-approves-contract-to-start-closure-of-forest-oak-sixth-grade/">shuttered after the 2023-24 school year</a>, was located in Glencrest, a <a href="https://statisticalatlas.com/neighborhood/Texas/Fort-Worth/Glencrest/Race-and-Ethnicity">largely Black and Hispanic neighborhood</a> with a median household income <a href="https://www.homes.com/local-guide/fort-worth-tx/glencrest-neighborhood/">far below</a> the national average. The campus, which drew in refugee and immigrant newcomers, struggled with academic performance for years.
626. </p></blockquote>
627. <p>This is mostly an overview story, so if you missed earlier coverage this can catch you up.</p>
628. <p><a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/10/28/teachers-parents-express-hope-fear-as-texas-takes-control-of-fwisds-future/">Teachers, parents express hope, fear as Texas takes control of FWISD’s future</a></p>
629. <blockquote><p>
630. De Zavala Elementary parents see an opportunity through <a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/10/27/heres-what-parents-need-to-know-about-the-state-takeover-of-fort-worth-isd/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the state takeover of Fort Worth ISD</a>: Possibly saving their <a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/04/22/fort-worth-isd-slates-de-zavala-elementary-for-possible-2027-closure/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">school</a>.</p>
631. <p>Teacher Scott Blanco-Davis and FWISD PTA Council President <a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/03/01/52-faces-lupe-lynchs-love-for-students-fuels-pta-growth-in-fort-worth-isd/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lupe Lynch</a> said they will continue pushing for better support for educators and increased parental engagement.</p>
632. <p>The United Educators Association’s Steven Poole, though, warned of a potential teacher exodus once the state fully assumes control.</p>
633. <p>Parents, FWISD staff and community members voiced hope and concerns Tuesday during the trustees’ first meeting since the Texas Education Agency launched a takeover of the 67,500-student district. The locally elected school board will soon lose its authority to the state.</p>
634. <p data-autoattached="true">“We’re at a crossroads,” De Zavala Elementary father Gabe Moreno said.</p>
635. <p>Moreno and other parents of De Zavala students repeatedly appealed for reconsideration of closing their south Fort Worth campus, which earned four straight A grades under the state’s academic accountability system. <a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/05/21/fort-worth-isd-students-plead-to-save-schools-before-board-approves-closures/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Trustees approved the closure of the school in May</a> citing low enrollment.</p>
636. <p>High-performing schools should be replicated — not closed — if the state’s mission is to boost student success quickly, they said.</p>
637. <p>“I implore the TEA to reexamine the current strategy for school closures and for promoting schools that are meeting and exceeding standards,” De Zavala mother Liz Conville said.</p>
638. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
639. <p>Blanco-Davis has been a teacher since the early 1990s. He’s witnessed repeated leadership shifts over the past decade — some hitting the district worse than others, he said.</p>
640. <p>“I don’t know where our future lies. I don’t know what TEA is going to do. I do know that I’ve been worried about the district for a long time,” said Blanco-Davis, a science teacher at World Languages Institute.</p>
641. <p>He applied for a seat on the board of managers, he said.</p>
642. <p>Poole and the United Educators Association, which represents thousands of employees across the district, are also worried about the district’s future.</p>
643. <p>Speaking to trustees, Poole addressed his fear that teachers will leave in large numbers following the state’s intervention.</p>
644. <p>“Every Fort Worth student deserves a highly trained, certified teacher in front of them every single day,” Poole said.
645. </p></blockquote>
646. <p>We are familiar with those emotions and sentiments here in HISD. And good luck to the teacher who applied to be on the Board of Managers. No such luck for us here with that, but maybe you&#8217;ll fare better.</p>
647. <p><a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/fort-worth-isd-state-takeover/">Fort Worth ISD Parents Fear the Same Chaos that State Takeover Has Brought to Houston ISD</a></p>
648. <blockquote><p>
649. FWISD board members wrote in a <a href="https://x.com/DAnglinFox4/status/1981368061253881904">statement</a> that TEA’s announcement came when the district was seeing academic gains. “Over the past year, our Board and Administration have worked tirelessly to strengthen instruction and accelerate student outcomes, said Board President Roxanne Martinez. “Our elected Board is in the best position to drive the sustainable improvements the Commissioner seeks.”</p>
650. <p>Zach Leonard, a parent with children attending FWISD who’s been organizing community members against the takeover, told the <em>Texas Observer</em> that they’ll continue to resist: “An appointed board of managers is beholden not to local citizens. They’re beholden to Mike Morath and ultimately, Greg Abbott.” Leonard said parents are worried FWISD could go through the same tumult that Houston ISD has experienced since 2023, when TEA took over the district and appointed the controversial ex-Dallas ISD superintendent Mike Miles to lead the district.</p>
651. <p>Miles has been <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/hisd/article/accountability-ratings-release-prelim-20803390.php">touting</a> improved academic ratings at Houston ISD (HISD) since he took charge: The district received no F rated campuses and fewer D rated campuses in the state’s latest ratings. But critics warn Miles’ proclaimed success has come at the expense of its schools’ leadership, teachers, and students.</p>
652. <p>Reports from the <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/education/hisd/article/biology-staar-drops-freshmen-20024985.php"><em>Houston Chronicle</em></a> and <a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/houston-isd-staar-rise-holding-students-back/"><em>Texas Monthly </em></a>have revealed that Miles inflated STAAR scores by excluding students at struggling schools from advanced math and science courses and delaying participation in those STAAR exams by a year.</p>
653. <p>Parents, students, and teachers in HISD have all complained of how classroom learning has turned exclusively into test-prep: libraries have been replaced with disciplinary centers, science labs with worksheets, essay writing with multiple choice tests, and reading whole books with reading passages from the STAAR test. Each district-scripted lesson ends with a 5-minute multiple choice quiz.</p>
654. <p>“It’s not a sustainable model for the future. It’s not true education. It’s just test prep,” Leonard said.</p>
655. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
656. <p>The state takeover in Fort Worth could be followed by others in Beaumont, Connally, Wichita Falls, and Lake Worth ISDs, which all received a fifth consecutive failing grade at one of its schools after the 2024-25 school year.</p>
657. <p>“It’s not just a Fort Worth ISD or Houston ISD issue. This is a statewide issue,” Leonard said.
658. </p></blockquote>
659. <p>Yep. And good luck to those other districts as well. One wonders if the TEA actually has the capacity to manage all these takeovers, if they come to pass.</p>
660. <p><a href="https://alicelinahan.substack.com/p/the-takeover-of-texas-public-schools">The Takeover of Texas Public Schools: Mike Morath, AJ Crabill, TPPF and the Tyranny of “Lone Star Governance”</a></p>
661. <blockquote><p>
662. In April 2016, Governor Greg Abbott appointed Mike Morath, a former Dallas ISD trustee, to serve as Texas Commissioner of Education. One of Morath’s first major moves was to bring in AJ Crabill, formerly known as Airick West, as the Texas Education Agency’s Deputy Commissioner of Governance.</p>
663. <p>By October of that same year, Crabill sent letters to superintendents and school boards across eleven districts, including Dallas, Houston, and Fort Worth. Those letters ordered them to attend his new Lone Star Governance training. The message was clear. Comply, or face state intervention.</p>
664. <p>These sessions were presented as tools to improve “student outcomes,” but in practice they became a top-down model that stripped elected school boards of their decision-making authority and replaced local leadership with state-driven oversight.</p>
665. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
666. <p>Where is the independent research proving that Lone Star Governance actually improves schools?</p>
667. <p>That question has followed Morath’s TEA since Crabill’s first letters in 2016. Parents and analysts have been warning for years that this model was never about helping children.</p>
668. <p>Meg Bakich, a public school advocate urged the FWISD board to focus on inputs rather than outcomes manufactured by bureaucrats. She was right. The results tell the story.</p>
669. <p>According to a 2025 Austin American-Statesman analysis, the gap in performance between Lone Star Governance districts and others has grown worse. In 2018, districts using LSG averaged 84 points compared to 86 points for other districts. By 2023, that gap had widened to 74 versus 81. Several of those same LSG districts are now under state intervention for lack of progress.</p>
670. <p>That is not reform. It is proof that Lone Star Governance was never intended to work.
671. </p></blockquote>
672. <p>I don&#8217;t know enough about this subject to comment, but I&#8217;d like to know more. Seems like this is a good opportunity for some data-driven reporting.</p>
673. <p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/30/texas-fort-worth-isd-takeover-staar/">Fort Worth ISD takeover was largely based on STAAR, despite plans to replace it</a></p>
674. <blockquote><p>
675. The state takeover of the Fort Worth Independent School District is largely based on student performance on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness — a testing system that came under scrutiny this year and led state lawmakers to replace it over concerns that it set students up for failure.</p>
676. <p>The widespread criticism of STAAR has prompted questions about the fairness of the takeover, including whether the state should replace an elected school board and a superintendent if the test driving the decision does not adequately capture student learning.</p>
677. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
678. <p>Abbott recently signed the law to get rid of STAAR, which will <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/03/texas-staar-standardized-test-accountability-2/">phase out the test</a> by the 2027-28 academic year and replace it with three shorter exams. The governor’s office in a statement did not address the critiques of the test or the fairness of the accountability system. Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson, instead reiterated that Abbott “supports appointing a board of managers for Fort Worth ISD to ensure students receive a top-quality education.” He highlighted that the Houston school district takeover has resulted in improved test results.Texas Education Agency spokesperson Jake Kobersky pointed to a state-commissioned study that concluded that the <a href="https://tea.texas.gov/student-assessment/reports-and-studies/staarstudypartifinal.pdf">2019</a> and <a href="https://tea.texas.gov/student-assessment/reports-and-studies/staarstudypart2final.pdf">2020</a> versions of the test mostly aligned with Texas’ content and learning standards. The reports concluded that students were mostly capable of understanding what they were reading on the exam. Texas rolled out a <a href="https://tea.texas.gov/student-assessment/assessment-initiatives/staar-redesign">revamped version</a> of STAAR during the 2022-23 school year.</p>
679. <p>Prior to the 2025 legislative sessions, the exam had long faced criticism for concerns it <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2019/03/05/does-staar-test-texas-students-too-high-grade-level/#:~:text=Educators%20and%20parents%20have%20been,STAAR%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20state%20Rep.">evaluated students unfairly</a>. It not only determines how the state holds schools accountable for subpar academic performance, but the test also decides whether students can graduate high school and whether teachers in certain districts receive <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/05/06/texas-teacher-incentive-allotment-pay-raises/">bonuses</a> worth thousands of dollars.</p>
680. <p>Educators say that many districts have focused heavily on “teaching to the test” because of STAAR’s high-stakes nature. In the eyes of Janet Harrison, an instructor of more than two decades who was recently hired to teach literacy in the Fort Worth district, Texas children have missed out on critical learning opportunities because of their schools’ hyperfocus on STAAR.</p>
681. <p>“You’re not preparing your students to read, write, and think, and do math,” Harrison said. “Basically, you’re teaching them how to take one particular kind of test, and statewide … yes, we are absolutely setting our students up for failure.”
682. </p></blockquote>
683. <p>If that story doesn&#8217;t get some people mad, I don&#8217;t know what would.</p>
684. ]]></content:encoded>
686. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120899</wfw:commentRss>
687. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
690. </item>
691. <item>
692. <title>Elon Musk once again makes a full self-driving promise</title>
693. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120869</link>
694. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120869#respond</comments>
696. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
697. <pubDate>Fri, 31 Oct 2025 09:45:31 +0000</pubDate>
698. <category><![CDATA[Planes, Trains, and Automobiles]]></category>
699. <category><![CDATA[Arizona]]></category>
700. <category><![CDATA[Austin]]></category>
701. <category><![CDATA[driverless cars]]></category>
702. <category><![CDATA[Elon Musk]]></category>
703. <category><![CDATA[Florida]]></category>
704. <category><![CDATA[Nevada]]></category>
705. <category><![CDATA[Tesla]]></category>
706. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
707. <category><![CDATA[Waymo]]></category>
708. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120869</guid>
709.  
710. <description><![CDATA[Death, taxes, etc. During the Tesla Q3 earnings call, CEO Elon Musk revealed that, within the next few months, the company’s robotaxi service could begin operating without the safety monitors that currently ride in the front seat of all the &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120869">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
711. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/austin/news/2025/10/27/tesla-robotaxi-service-will-go-unmanned-in-the-near-future">Death, taxes, etc</a>.</p>
712. <blockquote><p>
713. <a href="https://twitter.com/Tesla"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1337607516008501250/6Ggc4S5n_400x400.png" width="140" height="140" /></a></p>
714. <p>During the Tesla Q3 earnings call, CEO Elon Musk revealed that, within the next few months, the company’s robotaxi service could begin operating without the safety monitors that currently ride in the front seat of all the autonomous vehicles’ trips.</p>
715. <p>This move would make the vehicles fully driverless, which was one of the goals of the service from the very beginning, according to Musk.</p>
716. <p>The robotaxi service, which launched in June in Austin, launched with 10 to 20 cars, but has now expanded to be somewhere in the realm of 30 cars, according to a report <a href="https://www.statesman.com/business/technology/article/tesla-robotaxi-austin-service-area-expansion-waymo-21017708.php">from the Austin American-Statesman</a>. The report also says that the service covers 173 square miles in the Austin area.</p>
717. <p>During the call, Musk said that robotaxi is looking to launch in other markets before the end of 2025.</p>
718. <p>“We do expect to be operating robotaxi in, I think, about eight to ten metro areas by the end of the year. It depends on various regulatory approvals,” Musk said. “We expect to be operating in Nevada, Florida and Arizona by the end of the year.”</p>
719. <p>Though Musk’s initial goal was to serve 50% of the U.S. population with robotaxi, he says that they’re taking a cautious approach with deployment.</p>
720. <p>“Even one accident will be front-page headline news worldwide. It’s better for us to take a cautious approach here,” Musk said.
721. </p></blockquote>
722. <p>The Statesman story, which I found in the <a href="https://austin.citycast.fm/newsletter/2025-10-27?id=austin.0fd17745-22b3-4d4c-8536-4c7ea1de7d08">CityCast Austin newsletter</a>, is paywalled, so this is what I know. You can add this prediction of full-self-driving-ness <a href="https://www.jalopnik.com/elon-musk-tesla-self-driving-cars-anniversary-autopilot-1850432357/">to the collection</a>. Elmo did leave himself some wiggle room &#8211; &#8220;could&#8221; begin operating without the safety monitors &#8211; so maybe he&#8217;s reeling it in a little. We&#8217;ll check back sometime next year and see.</p>
723. ]]></content:encoded>
725. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120869</wfw:commentRss>
726. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
729. </item>
730. <item>
731. <title>A brief wrapup of the redistricting trial</title>
732. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120885</link>
733. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120885#respond</comments>
735. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
736. <pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2025 10:01:36 +0000</pubDate>
737. <category><![CDATA[Legal matters]]></category>
738. <category><![CDATA[Adam Kincaid]]></category>
739. <category><![CDATA[Attorney General]]></category>
740. <category><![CDATA[Barbara Gervin-Hawkins]]></category>
741. <category><![CDATA[Carol Alvarado]]></category>
742. <category><![CDATA[CD09]]></category>
743. <category><![CDATA[CD18]]></category>
744. <category><![CDATA[CD22]]></category>
745. <category><![CDATA[CD27]]></category>
746. <category><![CDATA[CD28]]></category>
747. <category><![CDATA[CD30]]></category>
748. <category><![CDATA[CD32]]></category>
749. <category><![CDATA[CD34]]></category>
750. <category><![CDATA[CD35]]></category>
751. <category><![CDATA[Cody Vasut]]></category>
752. <category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
753. <category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
754. <category><![CDATA[Election 2026]]></category>
755. <category><![CDATA[Greg Abbott]]></category>
756. <category><![CDATA[Joe Moody]]></category>
757. <category><![CDATA[Justice Department]]></category>
758. <category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
759. <category><![CDATA[LULAC]]></category>
760. <category><![CDATA[MALC]]></category>
761. <category><![CDATA[MALDEF]]></category>
762. <category><![CDATA[NAACP]]></category>
763. <category><![CDATA[National Redistricting Foundation]]></category>
764. <category><![CDATA[Phil King]]></category>
765. <category><![CDATA[redistricting]]></category>
766. <category><![CDATA[SCOTUS]]></category>
767. <category><![CDATA[special session]]></category>
768. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
769. <category><![CDATA[The Lege]]></category>
770. <category><![CDATA[Todd Hunter]]></category>
771. <category><![CDATA[Voting Rights Act]]></category>
772. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120885</guid>
773.  
774. <description><![CDATA[Meant to do this awhile ago but never quite got my act together. The future of Texas congressional elections and minority voting rights are in the hands of three federal judges after hearing nearly two weeks of testimony in a &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120885">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
775. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/politics/2025/10/11/federal-judges-to-make-ruling-minority-targeting-redistricting-lawsuit/86612784007/">Meant to do this awhile ago</a> but never quite got my act together.</p>
776. <blockquote><p>
777. The future of Texas congressional elections and minority voting rights are in the hands of three federal judges after hearing nearly two weeks of testimony in a lawsuit alleging Republican leaders violated the voting rights of Hispanics and Blacks through redistricting.</p>
778. <p>The nine-day trial of testimony from Texas legislators and political experts, laying out the process of redistricting, concluded on Friday, Oct. 10, with applause from the dozens of attorneys and the public who listened to more than eight hours of testimony every day in the courtroom.</p>
779. <p>However, the happiness may not last for one side, as the judges&#8217; decision will shape the foundation of elections in Texas and perhaps determine whether the Republican Party can retain control of the U.S. House of Representatives.</p>
780. <p>Senior U.S. District Judge David C. Guaderrama of the Western District of Texas, 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jerry E. Smith and U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown of the Southern District of Texas heard testimony from state and civil rights organizations&#8217; attorneys in the case.</p>
781. <p>What&#8217;s clear is that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the GOP-controlled Legislature rushed through the redistricting process to give President Donald Trump five more Republican-leaning congressional seats in Texas.</p>
782. <p>The redistricting process grouped minority districts and resulted in them having less representation in the U.S. House.</p>
783. <p>&#8220;The DOJ twice identified Hispanic majority districts to dismantle,&#8221; Nina Perales, one of the civil rights organizations&#8217; attorneys that filed the racial discrimination lawsuit, said in her closing arguments. &#8220;Partisan gerrymandering has a limit and that limit is voting rights. Intentionally diluting minority voting strength is unconstitutional.&#8221;</p>
784. <p>State attorneys countered that Republican leaders did not target minorities, but Democrats, in a legal redistricting process. They did not deny that the efforts were to find Trump more representative seats in Congress.</p>
785. <p>&#8220;There can be no doubt the reason we are here is because President Trump called for more House seats,&#8221; Ryan G. Kercher, lead attorney for the state of Texas, said in his closing arguments. &#8220;This map is sorting on party, not race. We are left with the bare facts that a Republican president wanted more Republican seats and a Republican Legislature passed a partisan (redistricting) bill.&#8221;
786. </p></blockquote>
787. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120594">here</a> for the previous update, which came a couple of days into that trial. Looking in Google News now, there&#8217;s barely anything from after that; this one El Paso Times story is the only mainstream media wrapup story I saw. If you want some day by day stuff, <a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/state/texas/">Democracy Docket</a> is your place to go:</p>
788. <p><a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/in-testimony-top-texas-republican-remembers-another-conversation-with-gop-mapmaker/">In Testimony, Top Texas Republican Remembers Another Conversation With GOP Mapmaker</a></p>
789. <p><a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/rnc-hired-mapmaker-denies-using-racial-data-in-texas-gerrymander/">RNC-Hired Mapmaker Denies Using Racial Data in Texas Gerrymander</a></p>
790. <p><a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/top-gop-mapmaker-describes-a-texas-gerrymander-ordered-up-by-washington/">Top GOP Mapmaker Describes a Texas Gerrymander Ordered Up By Washington</a></p>
791. <p><a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/new-details-emerge-in-federal-court-about-texas-secretive-redistricting-map/">New Details Emerge in Federal Court About Texas’ Secretive Redistricting Map</a></p>
792. <p><a href="https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/we-could-not-have-clearer-facts-minority-advocates-say-racial-motive-is-evident-as-texas-redistricting-hearing-wraps-up/">‘We Could Not Have Clearer Facts’: Minority Advocates Say Racial Motive Is Evident As Texas Redistricting Hearing Wraps Up</a></p>
793. <p>We expect to get a ruling soon, as the filing period begins in mind-November. <a href="https://www.kut.org/politics/2025-10-09/texas-new-congressional-map-is-in-federal-court-meet-the-cases-lone-citizen-spectator">KUT</a>, which did a feature story on the lone courtroom observer of the trial, has more.</p>
794. ]]></content:encoded>
796. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120885</wfw:commentRss>
797. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
800. </item>
801. <item>
802. <title>Ogg contempt hearing delayed again</title>
803. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120883</link>
804. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120883#respond</comments>
806. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
807. <pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2025 09:55:40 +0000</pubDate>
808. <category><![CDATA[Crime and Punishment]]></category>
809. <category><![CDATA[District Attorney]]></category>
810. <category><![CDATA[Harris County]]></category>
811. <category><![CDATA[Kim Ogg]]></category>
812. <category><![CDATA[Mitch Little]]></category>
813. <category><![CDATA[Sean Teare]]></category>
814. <category><![CDATA[special session]]></category>
815. <category><![CDATA[State Bar of Texas]]></category>
816. <category><![CDATA[The Lege]]></category>
817. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120883</guid>
818.  
819. <description><![CDATA[We&#8217;ll get there eventually. A contempt of court hearing is still in the works for former Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg to determine if she violated a gag order in the criminal case for two Venezuelan nationals accused of raping and killing &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120883">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
820. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/kim-ogg-contempt-court-jocelyn-nungaray-21124064.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&amp;utm_source=t.co&amp;utm_medium=referral">We&#8217;ll get there eventually</a>.</p>
821. <blockquote><p>
822. A contempt of court hearing is still in the works for former Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg to determine <a class="" href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/crime/article/kim-ogg-contempt-hearing-scheduled-20390331.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="native" data-mrf-link="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/crime/article/kim-ogg-contempt-hearing-scheduled-20390331.php" data-modified-href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/crime/article/kim-ogg-contempt-hearing-scheduled-20390331.php">if she violated a gag order in the criminal case</a> for two Venezuelan nationals accused of raping and killing Jocelyn Nungaray.</p>
823. <p>The hearing was originally slated for July but pushed back until October as Ogg&#8217;s attorney, Mitch Little, also a state representative, <a class="" href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/article/ogg-contempt-hearing-legislative-delay-20765314.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="native" data-mrf-link="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/article/ogg-contempt-hearing-legislative-delay-20765314.php" data-modified-href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/article/ogg-contempt-hearing-legislative-delay-20765314.php">participated in a special legislative session</a>. The hearing did not proceed Tuesday as planned and a new date was not set.</p>
824. <p>Ogg asked for more time earlier this week, court records show.</p>
825. <p>&#8220;I am not in the business of litigation by ambush,&#8221; Judge Josh Hill said as both sides hashed out their next steps in court. </p>
826. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
827. <p>Ogg arrived outside the 232nd District Court and waited outside for the courtroom to open alongside her lawyers, former congressman and judge Ted Poe included, and several journalists awaiting her arrival. </p>
828. <p>A coordinator later called out her name along with other defendants on the morning docket. </p>
829. <p>&#8220;Present,&#8221; Ogg said, clutching a gray binder titled &#8220;The State of Texas V Kimbra Ogg.&#8221; </p>
830. <p>If held in contempt, Ogg could face jail time or a fine if she is found to have made extrajudicial comments about the case.
831. </p></blockquote>
832. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=119361">here</a> and <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=119541">here</a> for the most recent previous updates. I presume this will be back on the docket soon, but then I totally underestimated how long it would take to get to this point from the previous request for a delay, so take that for what it&#8217;s worth. Defense attorney Mitch Little is also claiming that Judge Hill&#8217;s gag order that Ogg is accused of violating is an unconstitutional impingement of her First Amendment rights, so even when we do get back to business this may all take awhile. Hang in there.</p>
833. ]]></content:encoded>
835. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120883</wfw:commentRss>
836. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
839. </item>
840. <item>
841. <title>Michelin 2.0</title>
842. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120894</link>
843. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120894#respond</comments>
845. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
846. <pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2025 09:50:04 +0000</pubDate>
847. <category><![CDATA[Food, glorious food]]></category>
848. <category><![CDATA[Austin]]></category>
849. <category><![CDATA[Dallas]]></category>
850. <category><![CDATA[Fort Worth]]></category>
851. <category><![CDATA[Houston]]></category>
852. <category><![CDATA[Houston First]]></category>
853. <category><![CDATA[Michelin Guide]]></category>
854. <category><![CDATA[restaurants]]></category>
855. <category><![CDATA[San Antonio]]></category>
856. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
857. <category><![CDATA[Travel Texas]]></category>
858. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120894</guid>
859.  
860. <description><![CDATA[They&#8217;re back, with more stars. The Michelin Guide announced its picks for top Texas restaurants at the Wortham Theater Center Tuesday night. Last year, 15 Texas restaurants earned a Michelin star, including six in the Houston area. Michelin recognized 117 restaurants in total last year. Stars &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120894">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
861. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-restaurants/article/michelin-guide-houston-restaurants-21114470.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&amp;utm_source=t.co&amp;utm_medium=referral">They&#8217;re back, with more stars</a>.</p>
862. <blockquote><p>
863. <a href="https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/to-the-stars-and-beyond"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full" src="https://d3h1lg3ksw6i6b.cloudfront.net/media/image/2018/01/11/00e03dcc76ed4ec08691a5f52da7b86e_michelin-guide-stars-description.png" width="280" height="191" /></a></p>
864. <p>The <a class="" href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-restaurants/article/michelin-texas-2025-preview-21114445.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="native" data-mrf-link="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-restaurants/article/michelin-texas-2025-preview-21114445.php" data-modified-href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-restaurants/article/michelin-texas-2025-preview-21114445.php">Michelin Guide announced its picks</a> for <a class="" href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-restaurants/restaurants-bars/article/michelin-guide-texas-full-list-21041479.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="native" data-mrf-link="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-restaurants/restaurants-bars/article/michelin-guide-texas-full-list-21041479.php" data-modified-href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-restaurants/restaurants-bars/article/michelin-guide-texas-full-list-21041479.php">top Texas restaurants</a> at the Wortham Theater Center Tuesday night.</p>
865. <p>Last year, <a class="" href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-culture/restaurants-bars/article/michelin-guide-texas-restaurants-stars-full-list-19906970.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="native" data-mrf-link="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-culture/restaurants-bars/article/michelin-guide-texas-restaurants-stars-full-list-19906970.php" data-modified-href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-culture/restaurants-bars/article/michelin-guide-texas-restaurants-stars-full-list-19906970.php">15 Texas restaurants earned a Michelin star</a>, including <a class="" href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-culture/restaurants-bars/article/michelin-guide-texas-houston-stars-19852344.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="native" data-mrf-link="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-culture/restaurants-bars/article/michelin-guide-texas-houston-stars-19852344.php" data-modified-href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-culture/restaurants-bars/article/michelin-guide-texas-houston-stars-19852344.php">six in the Houston area</a>. Michelin recognized 117 restaurants in total last year.</p>
866. <p>Stars are Michelin&#8217;s most prestigious award. Restaurants can earn up to three, though no one in Texas earned more than one star last year. The guide also recognizes Bib Gourmand spots, which offer good food at affordable prices, and Recommended restaurants, which serve &#8220;high quality dining.&#8221;</p>
867. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
868. <p>No new Houston restaurants received a Michelin star this year. Three new restaurants, one from Dallas and two from San Antonio, did.</p>
869. <p>All six Houston-area restaurants that received one star last year maintained that recognition:</p>
870. <ul>
871. <li>BCN Taste &amp; Tradition (Montrose Spanish fine-dining spot with Picasso on the wall)</li>
872. <li>CorkScrew BBQ (Spring barbecue joint where the owners are always fixtures in the dining room)</li>
873. <li>Le Jardinier (French fine dining at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston)</li>
874. <li>March (Six- or nine-course Mediterranean tasting menu in Montrose)</li>
875. <li>Musaafer (Indian fine dining in a gorgeous setting at the Galleria)</li>
876. <li>Tatemo (Maiz-driven tasting menu)</li>
877. </ul>
878. </blockquote>
879. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=115304">here</a>, <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=115531">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=116701">here</a> for coverage from last year, the first year that Michelin rated restaurants in Texas cities. There was a lot of pre-event stuff then, as the arrival of the Michelin Guide to Texas was a long-awaited event. This year was more muted &#8211; I didn&#8217;t hear a thing until the day before &#8211; as there wasn&#8217;t really anything new, at least from a big picture perspective. No one lost their stars, so that&#8217;s all good. Houston Chron restaurant critic Bao Ong <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/food-restaurants/article/michelin-houston-guide-opinion-21114489.php?utm_source=marketing&#038;utm_medium=copy-url-link&#038;utm_campaign=article-share&#038;hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaG91c3RvbmNocm9uaWNsZS5jb20vZm9vZC1yZXN0YXVyYW50cy9hcnRpY2xlL21pY2hlbGluLWhvdXN0b24tZ3VpZGUtb3Bpbmlvbi0yMTExNDQ4OS5waHA%3D&#038;time=MTc2MTc3NTM5Njc5Ng%3D%3D&#038;rid=YWFjMTVlOGItMGZiZS00ZWU5LTg0MTEtY2MyOTY0M2U5ZGNm&#038;sharecount=MQ%3D%3D">was also underwhelmed</a> by both the ceremony and Michelin&#8217;s overall approach. We&#8217;ll see what next year is like.</p>
880. <p>Here&#8217;s a roundup of coverage from the other cities:</p>
881. <p><a href="https://www.statesman.com/entertainment/dining/article/michelin-star-texas-austin-restaurant-live-updates-21114635.php">2 Austin restaurants earn Bib Gourmand designations, but no new Michelin stars</a></p>
882. <p><a href="https://www.dmagazine.com/food-drink/2025/10/michelin-adds-two-north-texas-restaurants-to-its-guide/">Two Dallas Restaurants Join the Michelin Guide in 2025</a></p>
883. <p><a href="https://www.dallasobserver.com/food-drink/texas-michelin-stars-how-dallas-compares-to-houston-austin-40611392/">Every Texas Michelin Star Restaurant. How Dallas Stacks Up</a></p>
884. <p><a href="https://sanantonioreport.org/san-antonio-restaurants-texas-michelin-guide-star-awards-2025/">San Antonio’s Isidore, Nicosi and Mixtli restaurants win big at Michelin Guide awards</a></p>
885. <p><a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/10/28/fort-worth-restaurants-keep-michelin-guide-recognitions-no-new-local-spots-honored/">Fort Worth restaurants keep Michelin Guide recognitions, no new local spots honored</a></p>
886. <p><a href="https://houston.culturemap.com/news/restaurants-bars/michelin-guide-restaurant-stars-2025/">Prestigious Michelin Guide selects 44 Houston restaurants for 2025 edition</a></p>
887. <p><a href="https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/2025-michelin-guide-texas-restaurants-stars/">In Year Two of Its Guide, We’re Still Wondering If Michelin Understands Texas</a></p>
888. <p>That last one is from Texas Monthly, and it seems they share Bao Ong&#8217;s opinion on the whole thing. Happy eating anyway!</p>
889. ]]></content:encoded>
891. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120894</wfw:commentRss>
892. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
895. </item>
896. <item>
897. <title>Texas blog roundup for the week of October 27</title>
898. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120796</link>
899. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120796#respond</comments>
901. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
902. <pubDate>Thu, 30 Oct 2025 09:45:39 +0000</pubDate>
903. <category><![CDATA[Blog stuff]]></category>
904. <category><![CDATA[blog roundup]]></category>
905. <category><![CDATA[TPA]]></category>
906. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120796</guid>
907.  
908. <description><![CDATA[Happy Halloween to all who celebrate and to all who read the weekly Texas Progressive Alliance roundups. Off the Kuff produced the Q3 campaign finance reports for Texas Democratic candidates for Congress and the Senate. SocraticGadfly noted that free speech &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120796">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
909. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Happy Halloween to all who celebrate and to all who read the weekly Texas Progressive Alliance roundups.</p>
910. <p><a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/">Off the Kuff</a> produced the <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120772">Q3 campaign finance reports</a> for Texas Democratic candidates for Congress and the Senate.</p>
911. <p><a href="https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com">SocraticGadfly</a> noted that free speech <a href="https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2025/10/free-speech-under-attack-at-unt.html">is under attack at UNT</a> .</p>
912. <p>Neil at the <a href="https://www.neilaquino.com/houston-democracy-project-blog/">Houston Democracy Project</a> says the big peaceful October 18 No Kings protest in Downtown Houston <a href="https://www.neilaquino.com/houston-democracy-project-blog/city-of-houston-masses-municipal-army-for-no-kings-threat-is-criminals-running-country">was over-policed</a>. The real criminals are the people running the state &#038; running the country. </p>
913. <p>=====================</p>
914. <p>And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.</p>
915. <p><a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/201950/no-kings-weird-normies-texas">Ana Marie Cox</a> reported on the &#8220;normie&#8221; energy from the No Kings Day protest in New Braunfels.</p>
916. <p>The <a href="https://tsta.org/grading-texas/the-alamo-has-long-been-a-shrine-the-new-alamo-museum-must-tell-a-more-complete-story-will-it/">TSTA Blog</a> wants the full story of the Alamo to be told.</p>
917. <p><a href="https://thebarbedwire.com/2025/10/21/texas-state-fair-attendance-drop-high-prices/">The Barbed Wire</a> notes the drop in attendance at the State Fair.</p>
918. <p><a href="https://www.texasrailadvocates.org/post/eye-opener-txdot-unveils-first-ever-statewide-multimodal-transit-plan-for-urban-rural-and-intercity-corridors">Texas Rail Advocates</a> examines the first ever Statewide Multimodal Transit Plan for Texas.</p>
919. <p><a href="https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/185-the-state-of-play-in-the-national">Steve Vladeck</a> and <a href="https://www.lawdork.com/p/a-guide-to-what-is-happening-in-the">Law Dork</a> wade into all of the National Guard litigation.</p>
920. <p>The <a href="https://texassignal.com/texas-coalition-launches-campaign-about-constitutional-amendment/">Texas Signal</a> reports on an effort to defeat State Proposition 15.</p>
921. <p><a href="https://thebloggess.com/2025/10/24/you-are-being-scammed-dont-fall-for-it/">The Bloggess</a> provides some education on various scams.</p>
922. ]]></content:encoded>
924. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120796</wfw:commentRss>
925. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
928. </item>
929. <item>
930. <title>Paxton sues over alleged Tylenol-autism link</title>
931. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120881</link>
932. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120881#respond</comments>
934. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
935. <pubDate>Wed, 29 Oct 2025 10:01:12 +0000</pubDate>
936. <category><![CDATA[Legal matters]]></category>
937. <category><![CDATA[American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists]]></category>
938. <category><![CDATA[Ashley Keller]]></category>
939. <category><![CDATA[autism]]></category>
940. <category><![CDATA[Johnson and Johnson]]></category>
941. <category><![CDATA[Ken Paxton]]></category>
942. <category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
943. <category><![CDATA[RFK Jr]]></category>
944. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
945. <category><![CDATA[Tylenol]]></category>
946. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120881</guid>
947.  
948. <description><![CDATA[Welp. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Johnson and Johnson, accusing the pharmaceutical company of failing to warn consumers about the risk of taking Tylenol while pregnant. This lawsuit, the first of its kind from a state government, comes &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120881">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
949. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/28/texas-tylenol-johnson-lawsuit-rfk-ken-paxton-autism/">Welp</a>.</p>
950. <blockquote>
951. <div id="attachment_71150" style="width: 170px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-71150" class="size-full wp-image-71150" src="http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/paxtonmug1-240x300.jpg" alt="" width="160" height="200" /><p id="caption-attachment-71150" class="wp-caption-text">Still a crook any way you look</p></div>
952. <p>Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Johnson and Johnson, accusing the pharmaceutical company of failing to warn consumers about the risk of taking Tylenol while pregnant.</p>
953. <p>This lawsuit, the first of its kind from a state government, comes a month after President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced updated guidance discouraging pregnant women from taking acetaminophen, citing it as a possible cause of autism. The announcement set off a wave of controversy in the health care community, and confusion among pregnant women unsure how they should manage fever and pain during pregnancy.</p>
954. <p>The science around Tylenol and autism is uncertain. While <a href="https://www.mountsinai.org/about/newsroom/2025/mount-sinai-study-supports-evidence-that-prenatal-acetaminophen-use-may-be-linked-to-increased-risk-of-autism-and-adhd">some studies</a> suggest a correlation between taking Tylenol while pregnant and having a child with autism, <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2817406">others</a> have repudiated those findings. Major medical associations rejected Kennedy and Trump’s claims as overly generalized and potentially harmful.</p>
955. <p>“The conditions people use acetaminophen to treat during pregnancy are far more dangerous than any theoretical risks and can create severe morbidity and mortality for the pregnant person and the fetus,” Dr. Steven J. Fleischman, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, <a href="https://www.acog.org/news/news-releases/2025/09/acog-affirms-safety-benefits-acetaminophen-pregnancy">said in a statement</a>.</p>
956. <p>But this issue has been bubbling up for far longer than Trump and Kennedy have been in office. Dozens of people have filed personal injury lawsuits against Johnson and Johnson, and its corporate spin-off, Kenvue, alleging adverse neurodevelopment outcomes for their children after taking Tylenol while pregnant.</p>
957. <p>Those cases have been consolidated into multi-district litigation, which is still making its way through the courts and being led by Ashley Keller of Chicago law firm Keller Postman. Keller has <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/24/ken-paxton-private-lawyers-texas-cases/">represented Texas</a> in litigation against Google and Meta, and has been contracted by the attorney general’s office to handle this new lawsuit against Johnson and Johnson.</p>
958. <p>“[Paxton] figured I knew the science, I knew the history, I knew a lot of the moving parts,” Keller said in an interview. “And so I’d be an obvious choice to pursue this for Texans.”
959. </p></blockquote>
960. <p>There&#8217;s more but I&#8217;m not going to dwell on this. Ken Paxton is, among many other things, a try-hard and a bandwagon-jumper, and he&#8217;s got a primary to win. The science is not on his side, but that doesn&#8217;t mean that he &#8211; or let&#8217;s be real, a future AG because this sucker is going to take years to conclude &#8211; can&#8217;t win. Some kind of lowball no-fault-admitted NDA-ed up the wazoo settlement down the line is a possible outcome. For now, Paxton got the headlines. I doubt he cares much or has thought much beyond that.</p>
961. ]]></content:encoded>
963. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120881</wfw:commentRss>
964. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
967. </item>
968. <item>
969. <title>McLennan County joins the mid-decade redistricting trend</title>
970. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120856</link>
971. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120856#respond</comments>
973. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
974. <pubDate>Wed, 29 Oct 2025 09:53:48 +0000</pubDate>
975. <category><![CDATA[Election 2026]]></category>
976. <category><![CDATA[Commissioners Court]]></category>
977. <category><![CDATA[DL Wilson]]></category>
978. <category><![CDATA[Election 2024]]></category>
979. <category><![CDATA[Fort Bend County]]></category>
980. <category><![CDATA[Jeremy Davis]]></category>
981. <category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
982. <category><![CDATA[McLennan County]]></category>
983. <category><![CDATA[redistricting]]></category>
984. <category><![CDATA[Scott Felton]]></category>
985. <category><![CDATA[Tarrant County]]></category>
986. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
987. <category><![CDATA[Voting Rights Act]]></category>
988. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120856</guid>
989.  
990. <description><![CDATA[Three does make a trend. An unusual mid-decade redistricting that McLennan County commissioners quietly approved this past week appears to transfer thousands of Republican voters to the historically Democrat-friendly Precinct 2 of the Commissioners Court. Precinct 2 was drawn in &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120856">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
991. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://wacobridge.org/2025/10/25/commissioners-redrawn-map-favors-gop/">Three does make a trend</a>.</p>
992. <blockquote><p>
993. <a href="https://wacobridge.org/2025/10/25/commissioners-redrawn-map-favors-gop/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/wacobridge.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Proposed-Commissioner-Precincts-Map-.jpg?w=2560&#038;ssl=1" width="256" height="219" class="alignright size-full" /></a></p>
994. <p>An unusual mid-decade redistricting that McLennan County commissioners quietly approved this past week appears to transfer thousands of Republican voters to the historically Democrat-friendly Precinct 2 of the Commissioners Court.</p>
995. <p>Precinct 2 was drawn in the 1980s as a majority-minority precinct that includes much of inner-city Waco and has been a Democratic stronghold for most of the time since.</p>
996. <p>The commissioner seat was held by Black Democrats from 1990 until November 2024, when Republican D.L. Wilson narrowly defeated Democrat Jeremy Davis in a special election. That left the court with five Republicans, including four commissioners and County Judge Scott Felton.</p>
997. <p>Davis says he still plans to challenge Wilson in the November 2026 general election, but it appears he will now face much steeper odds.</p>
998. <p>The decision to pursue mid-decade redistricting, announced on the county’s website Oct. 7, may be a first for McLennan County. The last redistricting was in 2021, following the 2020 census.</p>
999. <p>The county website says the latest redistricting is based on the need to balance road work and population growth evenly across the county’s four precincts. </p>
1000. <p>Elected commissioners oversee road and bridge maintenance operations in their precincts in addition to voting on general county business.</p>
1001. <p>“The Court’s goal is to ensure that McLennan County’s precinct structure remains equitable, effective, and responsive to the county’s growth and administrative needs,” the <a href="https://www.mclennan.gov/1327/Commissioners-Court-Proposed-Redistricti">redistricting notice</a> states.</p>
1002. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
1003. <p>In their two meetings this month on redistricting, McLennan County commissioners made no mention of how redistricting might dilute minority representation or affect future elections.</p>
1004. <p>“The issue has been imbalance in road miles, population, which affects the budget,” Felton said during the commissioners’ Oct. 21 meeting, shortly before approving the new map. </p>
1005. <p>“This move really balances out the county and will give one-man-one-vote a more equal chance in the community.” </p>
1006. <p>The Waco Bridge was unable Friday to reach Felton, Wilson or commissioners Ben Perry or Will Jones for comment.</p>
1007. <p>Precinct 1 Commissioner Jim Smith, a Republican, told The Waco Bridge on Friday that his motives were practical, not political.</p>
1008. <p>“We’ve had a lot of growth in the county and it’s not all been distributed equally across the precincts, so we’ve got some precincts representing north of 40,000 (people) and another representing 20,000 or so,” he said.</p>
1009. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
1010. <p>Hays, the Democratic chair, said he took some responsibility for not noticing the redistricting agenda sooner, but added that county officials usually made “an overt effort to make sure that we, our party, and the Republican Party and the public, were able to know that these things (are) happening.” </p>
1011. <p>“None of that happened this time,” Hays said. “So (redistricting) was done kind of quietly in such a way that the public would not find out about it until after it had already happened.” </p>
1012. <p>Hays said a legal challenge to the redistricting is not off the table, while Davis, the Precinct 2 challenger, felt the lack of community consultation underscored the need for new faces on the court.</p>
1013. <p>“I think (this is) why we need leadership on the commissioners court who are knowledgeable of the precincts and who are thoughtful when making major decisions like this, and who also include the community,” Davis said.
1014. </p></blockquote>
1015. <p>There&#8217;s more in the story about the history of that precinct and the changes that were made to it, so read the whole thing. I know little about McLennan County and knew nothing about any of this before reading the story, but I do know self-serving baloney when I see it. The Republicans had a 4-1 advantage on the Court before narrowly winning a special election last November, which means they&#8217;ll have a 5-0 Court through the end of next year. They can do anything they want with that margin, which includes building or planning to build whatever roads and bridges they think they need wherever they&#8217;re needed. None of that is dependent on the political boundaries of their precincts. Redistricting, certainly the kind that is being done these days, is about partisanship and power. The least these guys could do is own that.</p>
1016. <p>So add McLennan to the list that includes <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120632">Tarrant</a> and <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120764">Fort Bend</a>. I don&#8217;t know how many other counties out there might try this &#8211; at this point, I would assume anyplace where it could be done it will at least be considered. Unless some kind of legislation passes to ban or at least discourage this &#8211; a new Voting Rights Act that restores preclearance would be one way to do that &#8211; I won&#8217;t be surprised if this becomes a regular occurrence pretty much everywhere. What&#8217;s to stop it from happening after every election, if a county &#8211; or the Lege, here or in any other state &#8211; sees an advantage in it? The seal has been broken. No one is going to turn back voluntarily.</p>
1017. ]]></content:encoded>
1019. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120856</wfw:commentRss>
1020. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1023. </item>
1024. <item>
1025. <title>Full Fifth Circuit to reconsider West Texas A&#038;M drag ban</title>
1026. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120867</link>
1027. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120867#respond</comments>
1029. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1030. <pubDate>Wed, 29 Oct 2025 09:45:32 +0000</pubDate>
1031. <category><![CDATA[Legal matters]]></category>
1032. <category><![CDATA[drag shows]]></category>
1033. <category><![CDATA[Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals]]></category>
1034. <category><![CDATA[Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression]]></category>
1035. <category><![CDATA[gay rights]]></category>
1036. <category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
1037. <category><![CDATA[Matthew Kacsmaryk]]></category>
1038. <category><![CDATA[Spectrum WT]]></category>
1039. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
1040. <category><![CDATA[Texas A&M]]></category>
1041. <category><![CDATA[The Lege]]></category>
1042. <category><![CDATA[West Texas A&M]]></category>
1043. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120867</guid>
1044.  
1045. <description><![CDATA[Hrmph. A federal appeals court will take a second look at whether West Texas A&#038;M University can ban drag shows, setting aside an earlier ruling that found the university’s ban likely violated students’ free speech rights. The Fifth Circuit Court &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120867">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1046. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/27/west-texas-am-drag-show-ban-lawsuit/">Hrmph</a>.</p>
1047. <blockquote><p>
1048. <a href="https://x.com/wtamu"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1859268382337495044/gZWd36Rv_400x400.jpg" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-full" /></a></p>
1049. <p>A federal appeals court will take a second look at whether West Texas A&#038;M University can ban drag shows, setting aside an earlier ruling that found the university’s ban likely violated students’ free speech rights.</p>
1050. <p>The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday tossed a 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel issued in August and agreed to rehear the case before the court’s 17 active judges. </p>
1051. <p>The panel’s <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/18/west-texas-a-m-drag-ban-fifth-circuit-appeals/">earlier decision</a> had sided with the student group Spectrum WT, which is represented by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, after university President Walter Wendler canceled a campus drag show in 2023. The panel majority said the students would’ve likely engaged in protected expression, pointing to their drag show’s context as a ticketed event organized by a LGBTQ+ student group to raise money for a suicide prevention charity, and that the venue, Legacy Hall, was a public forum.</p>
1052. <p>It’s not yet clear whether the university plans to resume banning drag shows while the case is under review. A West Texas A&#038;M spokesperson declined to comment Monday.</p>
1053. <p>“Our clients will keep fighting for their First Amendment rights and those of all public university students to express themselves on campus free of the government’s heavy hand of censorship,” said JT Morris, FIRE  supervising senior attorney.</p>
1054. <p>The court’s eventual decision could also influence a separate lawsuit filed by the Texas A&#038;M Queer Empowerment Council, a student group at Texas A&#038;M University in College Station, which is challenging a systemwide prohibition on drag performances. The Texas A&#038;M System asked the Fifth Circuit to pause that case until it decides the West Texas A&#038;M appeal. </p>
1055. <p>The full court has tentatively scheduled oral arguments for the week of Jan. 19.
1056. </p></blockquote>
1057. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120036">here</a> for more on the West Texas A&#038;M case, and <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=111631">here</a>, <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=116335">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=118225">here</a> for more on the original case. It&#8217;s never great when a positive ruling from a three-judge panel gets an en banc review, but here we are. This is a clear cut First Amendment case, and I do have hope that Court, as perverse as it is, will see that. We&#8217;ll know soon enough.</p>
1058. ]]></content:encoded>
1060. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120867</wfw:commentRss>
1061. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1064. </item>
1065. <item>
1066. <title>Sen. Eckhardt will run for CD10</title>
1067. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120865</link>
1068. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120865#respond</comments>
1070. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1071. <pubDate>Tue, 28 Oct 2025 10:01:30 +0000</pubDate>
1072. <category><![CDATA[Election 2026]]></category>
1073. <category><![CDATA[CD10]]></category>
1074. <category><![CDATA[Chris Gober]]></category>
1075. <category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
1076. <category><![CDATA[Dawn Marshall]]></category>
1077. <category><![CDATA[Democratic primary]]></category>
1078. <category><![CDATA[Election 2018]]></category>
1079. <category><![CDATA[Election 2024]]></category>
1080. <category><![CDATA[fundraising]]></category>
1081. <category><![CDATA[Jessica Karlsruher]]></category>
1082. <category><![CDATA[Mike McCaul]]></category>
1083. <category><![CDATA[redistricting]]></category>
1084. <category><![CDATA[Sarah Eckhardt]]></category>
1085. <category><![CDATA[Tayhlor Coleman]]></category>
1086. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
1087. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120865</guid>
1088.  
1089. <description><![CDATA[Game on. State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt launched her campaign for Texas’ 10th Congressional District on Monday, saying voters in the district, long held by Republicans, deserve choices. The Austin Democrat’s announcement comes a month and a half after Rep. Michael &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120865">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1090. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/27/sarah-eckhardt-district-10-congress-campaign/">Game on</a>.</p>
1091. <blockquote><div style="width: 170px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/directory/sarah-eckhardt/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full" src="https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/0b0ccc0a0b27d9b25e24e600910f4e23/Sarah%20Eckhardt%20TT.jpg" width="160" height="200" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Sen. Sarah Eckhardt</p></div>
1092. <p>State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt launched her campaign for Texas’ 10th Congressional District on Monday, saying voters in the district, long held by Republicans, deserve choices.</p>
1093. <p>The Austin Democrat’s announcement comes a month and a half after Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, said he is <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/14/michael-mcccaul-retiring-texas-congress-republican-austin/">vacating</a> the Republican-leaning district after more than 20 years in office.</p>
1094. <p>In her launch video, Eckhardt compared the spirit of her campaign to the efforts to build large-scale infrastructure projects in the district, like Lake Livingston and the Mansfield Dam, and the level of cooperation it took the Founding Fathers to create the country.</p>
1095. <p>“We’re not going to agree on everything, but just like those original 13 colonies, we can work together to build things that last as long as Mansfield Dam — not just until the next election cycle,” Eckhardt said.</p>
1096. <p>Eckhardt was elected to the Texas Senate in 2020. She is now serving her second term, which ends in early 2029. This means she won’t have to give up her seat to run for Congress. </p>
1097. <p>Eckhardt has deep roots in Austin, having previously served as a Travis County Commissioner and Travis County Judge. She’s also the daughter of the late Rep. Bob Eckhardt, who represented Texas’ 8th District in Congress from 1967 until 1981. </p>
1098. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
1099. <p>So far, 10 candidates have filed to run in the Republican primary, including lawyer Chris Gober, who has represented Elon Musk, and lobbyist Jessica Karlsruher. Two other Democrats, college professor Dawn Marshall and voting rights advocate Tayhlor Coleman, have filed for the race.
1100. </p></blockquote>
1101. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120392">here</a> for the background. I mentioned Tayhlor Coleman before, but <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H6TX10205/">Dawn Marshall</a>, who did not have any finances to report as of October, is new to me. Eckhardt as noted doesn&#8217;t start out with a lot of cash on hand, but I have no doubt that she will have the ability to raise a decent amount. </p>
1102. <p>Sen. Eckhardt is not risking her seat to run for CD10, but nobody serious runs for the heck of it. If she&#8217;s in, she thinks she has a realistic shot to win. The political climate is <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120680">more favorable for Democrats now</a> than it was last year, and I&#8217;d bet on that continuing, but it&#8217;s still going to take a lot for even a not-terribly red district like CD10 to flip. But having good candidates is a necessary start, and we have a couple in this race. Good luck to all.</p>
1103. ]]></content:encoded>
1105. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120865</wfw:commentRss>
1106. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1109. </item>
1110. <item>
1111. <title>Paxton chases a doctor out of state</title>
1112. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120872</link>
1113. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120872#respond</comments>
1115. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1116. <pubDate>Tue, 28 Oct 2025 09:53:56 +0000</pubDate>
1117. <category><![CDATA[Legal matters]]></category>
1118. <category><![CDATA[ACLU]]></category>
1119. <category><![CDATA[Attorney General]]></category>
1120. <category><![CDATA[Collin County]]></category>
1121. <category><![CDATA[Hector Granados]]></category>
1122. <category><![CDATA[Ken Paxton]]></category>
1123. <category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
1124. <category><![CDATA[M. Brett Cooper]]></category>
1125. <category><![CDATA[May Lau]]></category>
1126. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
1127. <category><![CDATA[Texas Medical Association]]></category>
1128. <category><![CDATA[Texas Medical Board]]></category>
1129. <category><![CDATA[The Lege]]></category>
1130. <category><![CDATA[Transgender Education Network of Texas]]></category>
1131. <category><![CDATA[transgender rights]]></category>
1132. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120872</guid>
1133.  
1134. <description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s horrible, and there&#8217;s no end in sight. A Dallas pediatrician has surrendered her medical license, a year after becoming the first target of a law that banned providing gender-transitioning hormones to minors. Last October, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120872">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1135. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/24/paxton-transgender-lawsuit-doctor/">It&#8217;s horrible</a>, and there&#8217;s no end in sight.</p>
1136. <blockquote>
1137. <div id="attachment_71150" style="width: 170px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-71150" class="size-full wp-image-71150" src="http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/paxtonmug1-240x300.jpg" alt="" width="160" height="200" /><p id="caption-attachment-71150" class="wp-caption-text">Still a crook any way you look</p></div>
1138. <p>A Dallas pediatrician has surrendered her medical license, a year after becoming the first target of a law that banned providing gender-transitioning hormones to minors.</p>
1139. <p>Last October, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against adolescent medicine physician May Lau for prescribing testosterone to at least 21 patients. Her license was cancelled by her request early this month, according to the Texas Medical Board.</p>
1140. <p>In a statement to The Texas Tribune, Lau maintained her innocence.</p>
1141. <p>“Dr. Lau decided to move her medical practice to Oregon and saw no reason to continue to maintain her Texas license,” according to a statement provided by her attorney Craig Smyser. “Dr. Lau continues to deny the Texas Attorney General’s politically- and ideologically-driven allegations.”</p>
1142. <p>The case was the first brought under <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2023/06/02/texas-gender-affirming-care-ban/">Senate Bill 14</a>, a 2023 law that prohibits physicians and health care providers from prescribing hormones to minors to transition their biological sex. The suit accused Lau of violating the law by authorizing the use of testosterone by at least 21 patients between the ages of 14 and 17 to transition their biological gender or affirm their gender identity.</p>
1143. <p>Lau surrendering her license was “a major victory for our state,” Paxton said in a Friday news release.</p>
1144. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
1145. <p>Shortly after filing the suit against Lau, Paxton used SB 14 to bring similar claims against two other doctors: El Paso endocrinologist Hector Granados and <a href="https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/press/Dr%20Cooper%20SB%2014%20Petition%20File%20Stamped.pdf">Brett Cooper</a>, a Dallas pediatrician.</p>
1146. <p>In September, the state <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/11/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-transgender-care-lawsuit/">quietly dropped</a> its suit against Granados almost a year after bringing charges against him, finding that the doctor had stopped providing gender-affirming care to minors before the law took effect.</p>
1147. <p>Last week, Cooper’s attorneys told the court that Paxton has issued misleading information that maligns Cooper’s character and intends to “poison the Collin County jury pool.”</p>
1148. <p>“Before any evidence had been produced, Attorney General Paxton’s office issued two misleading press releases, insinuating that evidence showed Dr. Cooper had ‘knowingly’ and ‘illegally’ prescribed hormones for the purposes of gender transition,” attorneys said in the filing. “If the State continues to make unrestrained, misleading, and defamatory statements to the public, it will prevent Dr. Cooper from obtaining a fair and impartial jury.”</p>
1149. <p>Cooper’s case is slated to go to trial in May over the allegations. He and Lau had both entered separate <a href="https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/press/Cooper%20Rule%2011%20Agreement.pdf">Rule 11 agreements</a> that prevent them from practicing medicine on patients while the proceedings continue.</p>
1150. <p>SB 14 commands the Texas Medical Board to revoke the license or other authorization to practice medicine from a physician who violates the law. The Texas Medical Association declined to comment on this case but said Texas physicians follow the laws of the state.</p>
1151. <p>In Lau’s statement, she said she continues “to contend that the court has no jurisdiction over her, and contend that the court where the AG filed the case – the county where AG Paxton has a residence and where Dr. Lau did not practice medicine –  is a legally invalid venue for the case.”</p>
1152. <p>Lau specializes in adolescent female and male sexual and reproductive health, including gender dysphoria. Formerly an associate professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Lau is no longer listed on the website’s directory. UT Southwestern did not respond to a request for comment.
1153. </p></blockquote>
1154. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=116454">here</a>, <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=116634">here</a>, <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=117356">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120313">here</a> for the background. I wish I had something positive to say here, to end on a more upbeat note, but I don&#8217;t. Right now there&#8217;s nothing stopping Paxton from this hateful rampage. We&#8217;re in a deep hole and it&#8217;s going to take awhile to get out of it. </p>
1155. ]]></content:encoded>
1157. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120872</wfw:commentRss>
1158. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1161. </item>
1162. <item>
1163. <title>IPAWS</title>
1164. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120485</link>
1165. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120485#respond</comments>
1167. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1168. <pubDate>Tue, 28 Oct 2025 09:45:43 +0000</pubDate>
1169. <category><![CDATA[National news]]></category>
1170. <category><![CDATA[DOGE]]></category>
1171. <category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
1172. <category><![CDATA[Elon Musk]]></category>
1173. <category><![CDATA[FEMA]]></category>
1174. <category><![CDATA[flooding]]></category>
1175. <category><![CDATA[Guadalupe River]]></category>
1176. <category><![CDATA[Hurricane Helene]]></category>
1177. <category><![CDATA[hurricanes]]></category>
1178. <category><![CDATA[Integrated Public Alert and Warning System]]></category>
1179. <category><![CDATA[Kerrville]]></category>
1180. <category><![CDATA[National Weather Service]]></category>
1181. <category><![CDATA[NOAA]]></category>
1182. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120485</guid>
1183.  
1184. <description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s an informative story about an underutilized tool in the emergency response arsenal. In the fall of 2016, as wind-stoked wildfires raced across parched forest and threatened lives around Gatlinburg, Tennessee, state and local officials went back and forth about &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120485">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1185. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here&#8217;s an <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/ipaws-emergency-alerts-local-official-failures">informative story</a> about an underutilized tool in the emergency response arsenal.</p>
1186. <blockquote><p>
1187. <a href="https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/practitioners/integrated-public-alert-warning-system"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full" src="https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/fema-events/2022-02/IPAWS-logo-original-colors-spacing-corrected.png" width="248" height="150" /></a></p>
1188. <p>In the fall of 2016, as wind-stoked wildfires raced across parched forest and threatened lives around Gatlinburg, Tennessee, state and local officials went back and forth about blasting an evacuation order over the federal government’s emergency alert system. As they consulted one another, a critical 15 minutes slipped away. Cell service and electricity failed. Many people in the fire’s path could no longer receive the alert ultimately sent out. More than a dozen people died.</p>
1189. <p>A few months later, across the country, torrential storms drenched the Santa Cruz Mountains in California, flooding the area around San Jose’s Coyote Creek. Local officials there didn’t send alerts over the federal system, which can, among other things, sound a blaring alarm with evacuation orders on cellphones in geotargeted areas.</p>
1190. <p>“There was a general lack of institutional knowledge on how to utilize these communications technologies,” a review of the disaster later concluded.</p>
1191. <p>Fast-forward seven years and myriad disasters later. Last September, when Hurricane Helene barreled north from the Gulf of Mexico, very few officials in all of Western North Carolina sent alerts over the federal system ahead of the massive storm’s arrival to warn people of risks or suggest what they do. As ProPublica reported in May, <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/hurricane-helene-evacuation-warnings-yancey-county-north-carolina">emergency managers’ actions varied considerably across the region</a>.</p>
1192. <p>Some hadn’t become authorized to use the federal Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. Others weren’t confident in using it. More than 100 people in North Carolina died.</p>
1193. <p>The threats have changed, as have the places. But over the past decade, the same story has played out over and over.</p>
1194. <p>The problem isn’t that there is no way to alert residents. It’s that officials too often don’t use it.</p>
1195. <p>ProPublica identified at least 15 federally declared major disasters since 2016 in which officials in the most-harmed communities failed to send alerts over IPAWS — or sent them only after people were already in the throes of deadly flooding, wildfires or mudslides.</p>
1196. <p>Formal reviews after disasters have repeatedly faulted local authorities for not being prepared to send targeted IPAWS alerts — which can broadcast to cellphones, weather radios, and radio and TV stations — or sending them too late or with inadequate guidance.</p>
1197. <p>In 2023, a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/life-saving-emergency-alerts-often-come-too-late-or-not-at-all/#:~:text=CBS%20News%20found%20at%20least,from%20the%20island%20of%20Maui">CBS News investigation similarly found</a> that emergency alerts came too late or not at all. Yet the same problems have persisted during recent catastrophic disasters, Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and the <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-flooding-evacuations-hurricane-helene">flash floods in Texas</a> among them.</p>
1198. <p>Each time these failures occur, journalists and others examining what went wrong “tend to treat it as though it’s a new problem,” said Hamilton Bean, a University of Colorado Denver professor who is among the country’s top researchers of public alert and warning systems. “In fact, it is the same problem we’ve seen again and again since at least 2017.”</p>
1199. <p>Local emergency managers sit at the center of alerting decisions. They are supposed to prepare their communities for disasters and guide the response when they hit. But some fear sending too many alerts to a weary public. Many are busy juggling myriad other duties in small, resource-strapped offices. More than a few face political headwinds.</p>
1200. <p>“There is a certain reluctance to send emergency messages out,” <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/5423995-disaster-response-system-failure/">said Steven Kuhr</a>, former emergency management director for New York state who now runs a crisis management consulting firm. Counterparts in the profession have lost their jobs and faced public backlash for sounding alarms, only to see the predicted disaster fizzle. “You don’t want to get it wrong.”</p>
1201. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
1202. <p>The biggest hurdle to accessing IPAWS isn’t training or testing. It is money. Local governments must pay a third-party vendor for software that can interface with IPAWS — an expense of potentially tens of thousands of dollars that rural and lower-income counties struggle to afford.</p>
1203. <p>A <a href="https://www.iaem.org/Portals/25/documents/2025/EM-Study-State-Local-and-Territory-Findings-Report-July-2025.pdf">study released in July</a> by a team at Argonne National Laboratory found that 82% of local emergency managers cited a lack of funding as their main barrier to adopting more technology. More than half cited a lack of expertise or training.</p>
1204. <p>In late 2019, <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title6/pdf/USCODE-2024-title6-chap1-subchapV-sec321o-1.pdf">Congress required</a> FEMA to create a training and recertification process that IPAWS users would have to complete each year, but that remains in the works. Although FEMA was pursuing a contract to create the program, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, its parent agency, did not approve the funding for it, a FEMA spokesperson said.</p>
1205. <p>Despite this, FEMA “continues to lean forward to launch” the program, the spokesperson said in an email.</p>
1206. <p>Using IPAWS also can be daunting. Some of the software systems that local governments purchase to interface with it are confusing and require practice, Sutton said. With a disaster looming or upon them, officials face a blank white text box. They must write the alert, code it correctly and get whatever permissions their policies require.</p>
1207. <p>In the back of an emergency manager’s mind is that nagging question: What if I send out this alert and the threat turns out to be a big dud? “Then they’re going to get a lot of people who are really mad,” Sutton said.</p>
1208. <p>Sending alerts also doesn’t always go perfectly. In 2018, Hawaii’s Emergency Management Agency mistakenly sent an alert warning of an incoming ballistic missile. “THIS IS NOT A DRILL,” the message said, before being corrected 38 minutes later. The employee who sent it <a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2024/01/13/false-missile-alert-rattled-hawaiis-nerves-6-years-ago/">was later fired, although his</a> attorney argued he was made a scapegoat.</p>
1209. <p>Other times, software and other technical problems play a role. In January, a wildfire evacuation order sent to cellphones over IPAWS was intended for a specific area in Los Angeles County but instead blasted to all of its 10 million residents. The error stemmed from location data failing to save properly in the IPAWS system, likely due to its software vendor’s technical glitch, according to <a href="https://robertgarcia.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/robertgarcia.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/false-alerts-final-report-5.10.pdf">a recent congressional report</a>.</p>
1210. <p>A few months earlier, in September, an emergency manager in North Carolina <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/hurricane-helene-evacuation-warnings-yancey-county-north-carolina">hesitated to send IPAWS alerts</a> as Hurricane Helene closed in on his county because a past experience had left him reluctant to try again.</p>
1211. <p>Jeff Howell was the emergency manager in Yancey County, a rural expanse of mountainous beauty that Helene would soon decimate. A few years earlier, when he’d sent an IPAWS alert, the message blasted to cellphones in a neighboring county and to Johnson City, Tennessee. He fielded an angry phone call from a counterpart displeased that residents in his county had received it.</p>
1212. <p>Howell, who has since retired, said was told the area’s mountainous topography played a role in the message casting too far. He didn’t want that to happen with Helene approaching.</p>
1213. <p>Although the weather service warned almost 24 hours before Helene’s devastating floodwaters hit that the storm would be among the region’s worst weather events “in the modern era,” Yancey County sent no IPAWS alerts giving warnings or directions to people living along its rivers and creeks, which ferry water down steep mountains. In the end, 11 people died there, more per capita than in any other county.</p>
1214. <p>In hindsight, Howell said he wished he’d tried harder to send an IPAWS alert before the unprecedented flash flooding and deadly landslides tore down the mountains. But he’d often fielded complaints from residents who told him they turned off weather notifications because they got so many of them.
1215. </p></blockquote>
1216. <p>The story covers the Kerrville floods and the many issues there. I don&#8217;t recall seeing IPAWS mentioned in the many stories I read and blogged about during this time &#8211; I&#8217;m sure there were some references, but nothing that I recall highlighting it &#8211; and as far as I know it wasn&#8217;t explicitly mentioned in the <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120157">bills that were passed</a> or the <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120217">bills that weren&#8217;t passed</a> during the second special session. Maybe cost was a factor, maybe mistrust of the feds in general and FEMA in particular was a factor &#8211; to be fair, at this present moment, that is not an irrational response &#8211; maybe it just wasn&#8217;t the top priority, I don&#8217;t know. The concerns about alerting the wrong people or sending a false alarm are real, too, though there are ways to deal with them. There is a movement in Congress to pass a bill to address some of these shortcomings, which is more necessary than ever in this day of bigger and more frequent disasters. We should be using the tools that are available to us, and to make them as effective as they can be.</p>
1217. ]]></content:encoded>
1219. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120485</wfw:commentRss>
1220. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1223. </item>
1224. <item>
1225. <title>October 2025 campaign finance reports &#8211; CD18</title>
1226. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120836</link>
1227. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120836#respond</comments>
1229. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1230. <pubDate>Mon, 27 Oct 2025 10:01:31 +0000</pubDate>
1231. <category><![CDATA[Election 2026]]></category>
1232. <category><![CDATA[Amanda Edwards]]></category>
1233. <category><![CDATA[campaign finance reports]]></category>
1234. <category><![CDATA[Carmen Montiel]]></category>
1235. <category><![CDATA[CD18]]></category>
1236. <category><![CDATA[Christian Menefee]]></category>
1237. <category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
1238. <category><![CDATA[Election 2025]]></category>
1239. <category><![CDATA[George Foreman]]></category>
1240. <category><![CDATA[Isaiah Martin]]></category>
1241. <category><![CDATA[Jolanda Jones]]></category>
1242. <category><![CDATA[Reyna ANderson]]></category>
1243. <category><![CDATA[special election]]></category>
1244. <category><![CDATA[Stephen Huey]]></category>
1245. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
1246. <category><![CDATA[Zoe Cadore]]></category>
1247. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120836</guid>
1248.  
1249. <description><![CDATA[I looked at the October campaign finance reports for Congress and Senate last week, but didn&#8217;t include CD18 because they had a later deadline for reporting. Today we get to catch up on that. The April reports for Congress and &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120836">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1250. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/BagOfMoney.jpg" alt="" width="198" height="254" class="alignright size-full wp-image-48508" /></p>
1251. <p>I looked at the <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120772">October campaign finance reports</a> for Congress and Senate last week, but didn&#8217;t include CD18 because they had a later deadline for reporting. Today we get to catch up on that. The April reports for Congress and Senate, including CD18, are <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=118529">here</a> and July reports are <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=119583">here</a>. </p>
1252. <p><a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H4TX18138/">Amanda Edwards</a> &#8211; CD18<br />
1253. <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H4TX18153/">Isaiah Martin</a> &#8211; CD18<br />
1254. <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H6TX18232/">Christian Menefee</a> &#8211; CD18<br />
1255. <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H6TX18364/">Jolanda Jones</a> &#8211; CD18<br />
1256. <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H6TX18331/">Zoe Cadore</a> &#8211; CD18<br />
1257. <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H6TX18372/">Stephen Huey</a> &#8211; CD18<br />
1258. <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H2TX18207/">Carmen Montiel</a> &#8211; CD18<br />
1259. <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H6TX18349/">Reyna Anderson</a> &#8211; CD18<br />
1260. <a href="https://www.fec.gov/data/candidate/H6TX18398/">George Foreman</a> &#8211; CD18</p>
1261. <pre><span style="font-family: courier;">
1262. Dist  Name             Raised      Spent    Loans    On Hand
1263. ============================================================
1264. 18    Edwards       1,266,234    935,649        0    331,798  
1265. 18    Martin        1,054,745    961,677        0    267,702
1266. 18    Menefee       1,539,610  1,146,989        0    392,621
1267. 18    Jones           341,647    314,313        0     27,333
1268. 18    Cadore          266,557    225,298        0     41,259
1269. 18    Huey             37,856     26,092        0     11,764
1270. 18    Montiel          61,173     41,065        0     20,551
1271. 18    Anderson          8,225      3,616        0      4,608
1272. 18    Foreman           8,453        758        0      7,694
1273. </span></pre>
1274. <p>This list is of all of the candidates who are on the <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Jf-Z2CtyjcPUmJVgOQmA4qgrmkvVNNwZqqOnS6yo4UY/edit?gid=1915436070#gid=1915436070">Erik Manning spreadsheet</a> and who reported raising something between July 1 and October 23. Carmen Montiel is a Republican, Reyna Anderson and George Foreman are independents, the rest are Dems. Zoe Cadore dropped out before the filing deadline but did submit an updated October report, showing about $33K raised above what she had as of July.</p>
1275. <p>Lots of money raised in this race. I think I&#8217;m most impressed by Isaiah Martin, who is the only person among the top four who had no previous electoral experience. That&#8217;s a good job of building a network right there, and whatever happens in this race it will position him well, whether in a future campaign of his own or if he wants to launch a PAC or the like. Jolanda Jones had about six weeks to raise money after the end of the last special session, which is undoubtedly why her total is so much lower than the others. The main thing there is that this would put her at a disadvantage going into the runoff if she makes it. Given that the runoff would be no earlier than January and might not be until February, and given her high name ID, that will be mitigated to some extent. It&#8217;s still something to keep in mind.</p>
1276. <p>Beyond the top four there&#8217;s not much to say. I never took seriously the earlier polls that had Carmen Montiel at roughly the same level of support as the Edwards/Menefee/Jones cluster. The two most recent polls have her down at around six percent, which is probably too low but much more likely to me than in the range of the top two. She doesn&#8217;t have the name or the resources to drive anyone who wasn&#8217;t already voting to the polls. In a Presidential year, that&#8217;s good for 20-25% in the district, just from the environment. In an election like this, she&#8217;ll be listed under &#8220;Others making an appearance&#8221;. You can say the same for George Foreman, who would have been harder for me to minimize if he&#8217;d raised, say, $100K or so, enough to run some web and radio ads and capitalize on his famous name. He may get a stray vote or two from people who happened to be voting for some other reason and to their surprise learned that this race was on their ballot as well. I don&#8217;t expect more than that.</p>
1277. <p>The Chron <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/houston/article/cd-18-special-election-candidates-21081239.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&#038;utm_source=t.co&#038;utm_medium=referral">ran a story</a> about some of the CD18 candidates you&#8217;ve never heard of, which included Montiel, Foreman, Stephen Huey &#8211; who as you can see did at least raise a few bucks; he lives in the Heights and I&#8217;ve seen a sign or two for him &#8211; and a couple of others but not everyone. If you can&#8217;t be bothered to run an actual campaign, which includes both raising money so you can have the resources to inform people about your candidacy and filing the reports as required about the money you raised and spent, I&#8217;m not interested in finding out about you. I&#8217;ll stick to the candidates who are making that effort.</p>
1278. ]]></content:encoded>
1280. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120836</wfw:commentRss>
1281. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1284. </item>
1285. <item>
1286. <title>Will Fort Worth ISD get to keep its Superintendent?</title>
1287. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120859</link>
1288. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120859#respond</comments>
1290. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1291. <pubDate>Mon, 27 Oct 2025 09:53:54 +0000</pubDate>
1292. <category><![CDATA[School days]]></category>
1293. <category><![CDATA[Board of Managers]]></category>
1294. <category><![CDATA[Fort Worth]]></category>
1295. <category><![CDATA[Fort Worth ISD]]></category>
1296. <category><![CDATA[HISD]]></category>
1297. <category><![CDATA[Karen Molinar]]></category>
1298. <category><![CDATA[Mattie Parker]]></category>
1299. <category><![CDATA[Mike Morath]]></category>
1300. <category><![CDATA[schools]]></category>
1301. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
1302. <category><![CDATA[Texas Education Agency]]></category>
1303. <category><![CDATA[The Lege]]></category>
1304. <category><![CDATA[Tim O'Hare]]></category>
1305. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120859</guid>
1306.  
1307. <description><![CDATA[I think this will give some insight into how the TEA is thinking about its takeover strategy now. Instability has defined Fort Worth schools for more than a decade, former and current city leaders say. Immediately after the state moved to &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120859">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1308. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I think <a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/10/25/leaders-back-superintendent-molinar-warn-against-adding-chaos-during-fwisd-takeover/">this</a> will give some insight into how the TEA is thinking about its takeover strategy now.</p>
1309. <blockquote><p>
1310. <a href="https://x.com/FortWorthISD"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1772669047756230657/eHqPKORD_400x400.jpg" width="150" height="150" /></a></p>
1311. <p>Instability has defined Fort Worth schools for more than a decade, former and current city leaders say.</p>
1312. <p>Immediately after <a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/10/23/texas-takes-control-of-fwisd-in-states-second-largest-public-school-intervention/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the state moved to replace Fort Worth ISD’s nine elected trustees</a>, business leaders, parents and educators called for stability — and, in many cases, for Superintendent Karen Molinar to stay and <a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2024/10/22/interim-superintendent-plans-student-centered-reforms-to-turn-around-fort-worth-isd/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">use her nearly 30 years of experience</a> working in the district to build it better.</p>
1313. <p>They argued the fastest way to help students is keeping classrooms focused and leadership consistent while Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath installs a conservator, selects a board of managers and searches for a superintendent.</p>
1314. <p>Molinar took the job in March after five months acting as interim. District mother Neisha Lomax hasn’t agreed with every decision the short-time superintendent has made.</p>
1315. <p>For example, she pointed to the <a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/04/23/fort-worth-isd-families-demand-fairness-as-school-closure-decision-approaches/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">closure of her two daughters’ school</a>, Edward J. Briscoe Elementary, and the <a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/09/23/bible-stories-featured-in-fort-worth-schools-new-reading-lessons/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">district’s adoption of Bluebonnet Learning</a>, state-endorsed reading lessons for kindergarten through fifth grade that incorporate Bible stories.</p>
1316. <p>Regardless, Lomax said, the superintendent deserves a chance to see her plans through.</p>
1317. <p>“She’s brought structure to the classrooms,” Lomax said. “My daughter is finally achieving well in math and science where she wasn’t before.”</p>
1318. <p>Constant change <a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/08/28/these-8-charts-show-fort-worth-isds-progress-and-challenges/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">would undo progress teachers and students have made</a>, Lomax said. Her message to state leaders: Let the families and communities have more of a say.</p>
1319. <p>“Don’t just take it over and change everything,” she said.</p>
1320. <p>Fort Worth ISD has cycled through four superintendents and two interim superintendents in 10 years. Priorities shifted as each leader had their own ideas on how to run a large, urban school system. Inconsistency contributed to students falling behind peers across the state.</p>
1321. <p>Students don’t have time to waste, said Melody Johnson, a former FWISD superintendent from 2005 to 2011 who wants Molinar to stay.</p>
1322. <p>“The No. 1 thing we need is stability, direction, intense focus and doing the right thing every single day for kids,” said Johnson, who promoted Molinar to principal of Oakhurst Elementary in 2007 and has known and mentored her for two decades. “We’re looking at 13 years of low performance and changes in superintendents.”</p>
1323. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
1324. <p>Molinar supporters want Morath to understand what she’s accomplished in just seven months. Since March, Molinar has restructured academic leadership, closed underenrolled campuses to better distribute resources and formulated a districtwide turnaround plan focused on students and literacy. </p>
1325. <p>Decisions on school closures and Bluebonnet Learning drew criticism. However, Molinar said they ultimately were in the best interest of students.</p>
1326. <p>Johnson posed a question about the district’s next leader: “What is going to be brought in that’s substantively different from what she is trying to put in place right now?”
1327. </p></blockquote>
1328. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120823">here</a> for some background. FWISD Superintendent Molinar seems to have broad support in the community &#8211; Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and Tarrant County Judge Tim O&#8217;Hare are both quoted in favor of her continuing to serve &#8211; and the overall vibe seems to be one of wanting to work with the TEA on the issues that district has faced rather than fighting against it. Maybe that will work for them, I have no idea. For obvious reasons, I&#8217;m not inclined to give the TEA the benefit of the doubt. But as I say, this may be an indicator of how this is going to play out. If Mike Morath gives the community&#8217;s input some weight and sticks with Superintendent Molinar, that will say something. Then we&#8217;ll see if that&#8217;s a one off or a sign for the future. I&#8217;m very interested to see what happens.</p>
1329. ]]></content:encoded>
1331. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120859</wfw:commentRss>
1332. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1335. </item>
1336. <item>
1337. <title>WPBL names its inaugural team cities</title>
1338. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120831</link>
1339. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120831#respond</comments>
1341. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1342. <pubDate>Mon, 27 Oct 2025 09:45:36 +0000</pubDate>
1343. <category><![CDATA[Baseball]]></category>
1344. <category><![CDATA[Athletes Unlimited Softball League]]></category>
1345. <category><![CDATA[Baseball for All]]></category>
1346. <category><![CDATA[Justine Siegal]]></category>
1347. <category><![CDATA[Keith Stein]]></category>
1348. <category><![CDATA[MLB]]></category>
1349. <category><![CDATA[softball]]></category>
1350. <category><![CDATA[Women's Baseball World Cup]]></category>
1351. <category><![CDATA[Women’s Pro Baseball League]]></category>
1352. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120831</guid>
1353.  
1354. <description><![CDATA[A brief update. The Women&#8217;s Professional Baseball League has chosen New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco as the cities that will represent the four teams that will compete in the inaugural season, the league announced Tuesday. The upstart &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120831">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1355. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46670729/wpbl-tabs-new-york-boston-la-san-francisco-first-season">A brief update</a>.</p>
1356. <blockquote><p>
1357. <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/wpbl.bsky.social"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cdn.bsky.app/img/avatar/plain/did:plc:zwm5jkqokmhwip4evhsa2phf/bafkreiawp6wdaqxciut3zgxsganaceyucpyxvmqazh2qjhy4feljd6ttya@jpeg" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-full" /></a></p>
1358. <p>The Women&#8217;s Professional Baseball League has chosen New York, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco as the cities that will represent the four teams that will compete in the inaugural season, <a href="https://x.com/wpbl_official/status/1980620085275553897">the league announced Tuesday</a>.</p>
1359. <p>The upstart league co-founded by Justine Siegal, the first woman to coach for an MLB team with the Oakland Athletics in 2015, announced plans last year to launch in 2026 as a six-team circuit with a regular season, playoffs and all-star game. When it debuts, it will be the first pro league for women since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League &#8211; immortalized in &#8220;A League of Their Own&#8221; &#8211; dissolved in 1954.</p>
1360. <p>The WPBL will now launch with four teams for the inaugural season, with 15 players per club.</p>
1361. <p>The top 100 players from the WPBL&#8217;s summer tryouts advanced to the league&#8217;s draft next month, which will also feature some of the sport&#8217;s biggest stars, including former Little League star Mo&#8217;ne Davis, USA baseball&#8217;s Kelsie Whitmore and Japanese pitcher Ayami Sato.</p>
1362. <p>All of the WPBL&#8217;s games will be played at a neutral venue in 2026, which the league said will be announced at a later date.</p>
1363. <p>The league added the four cities were selected because of their market size and large fan presence.</p>
1364. <p>&#8220;Each of these cities are storied sports cities,&#8221; Siegal said in a statement, &#8220;and we can&#8217;t wait to connect with the fans who live there and baseball fans across the country.&#8221;
1365. </p></blockquote>
1366. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=116582">here</a>, <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=117284">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120255">here</a> for the background. There had been some talk about six teams originally, I don&#8217;t know whether that was inaccurate or if something changed. The basic approach of all games in the first season being played at a single neutral site is similar to what the Athletes Unlimited Softball League <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=116907">originally announced</a> before they played a <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=118545">touring schedule</a>. That league will have its teams in their cities next year, while the WPBL will aim for 2027. Good to have more baseball to look forward to.</p>
1367. ]]></content:encoded>
1369. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120831</wfw:commentRss>
1370. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1373. </item>
1374. <item>
1375. <title>Weekend link dump for October 26</title>
1376. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120736</link>
1377. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120736#comments</comments>
1379. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1380. <pubDate>Sun, 26 Oct 2025 19:12:06 +0000</pubDate>
1381. <category><![CDATA[Blog stuff]]></category>
1382. <category><![CDATA[linkdump]]></category>
1383. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120736</guid>
1384.  
1385. <description><![CDATA[&#8220;The End of Windows 10 Support Is an E-Waste Disaster in the Making&#8221;. &#8220;The lesson for me, from the early blogosphere, is that quality of speech matters, too.&#8221; The Earth is now a ringed planet. Good to know. Forty years &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120736">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1386. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>&#8220;The End of Windows 10 Support Is an <a href="https://www.404media.co/the-end-of-windows-10-support-is-an-e-waste-disaster-in-the-making/">E-Waste Disaster</a> in the Making&#8221;.</p>
1387. <p>&#8220;The lesson for me, from the early blogosphere, is that <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/tpm-25/what-made-blogging-different">quality of speech matters</a>, too.&#8221;</p>
1388. <p>The Earth is <a href="https://xkcd.com/3156/">now a ringed planet</a>. Good to know.</p>
1389. <p>Forty years ago, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/10/17/nx-s1-5550270/harlem-globetrotters-lynette-woodard-first-woman">Lynette Woodard made history</a> as the first woman to play on the Harlem Globetrotters.</p>
1390. <p>&#8220;It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Chemtrail? <a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/chemtrails-conspiracy-fringe-theory-maha-kennedy-hhs/">New Conspiracy Theory Takes Wing</a> at Kennedy’s HHS&#8221;.</p>
1391. <p>&#8220;The <a href="https://slate.com/life/2025/10/kids-tv-movies-best-ratings-parents-disney.html">de-weird-ification of children’s media</a> is part of a broader, complicated story.&#8221;</p>
1392. <p><a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/college/article/houston-cougars-great-warren-mcvea-dies-21108982.php?utm_content=hed&#038;sid=599db56424c17c50398bcb61&#038;ss=A&#038;st_rid=86ccb2e1-c6b3-4289-8697-a2493c6b398a&#038;utm_source=newsletter&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_term=alert&#038;utm_campaign=hcrn%20%7C%20cougar%20alerts">RIP, Warren McVea</a>, Texas high school football legend who became the first Black player to receive a scholarship to play football at any of the major college programs in Texas when he signed with the University of Houston, and later went on to win a Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs.</p>
1393. <p>&#8220;Grab the goggles. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/10/19/nx-s1-5578303/pickleball-eye-injuries-protection">Pickleball eye injuries</a> are on the rise&#8221;.</p>
1394. <p><a href="https://www.tpr.org/news/2025-10-20/sam-rivers-bassist-and-founding-member-of-limp-bizkit-dies-aged-48">RIP, Sam Rivers</a>, bassist and founding member of Limp Bizkit.</p>
1395. <p>&#8220;Cringe a little at the ideological timidity if you will—let he who has not enjoyed a Costco hot dog cast the first bomb. This isn’t Andor-style insurgency, and it sure isn’t John Brown’s raid. But not everything has to be. <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/201950/no-kings-weird-normies-texas">There’s room in the resistance for half-measures</a>, even if it won’t overthrow the Empire on its own. Sometimes a frog in a cowboy hat is enough. A Kirkland-brand protest movement can go the distance.&#8221; That&#8217;s about the No Kings rally in New Braunfels, the population center of dark red Comal County. It&#8217;s a good read and quite an uplift.</p>
1396. <p>&#8220;How can <a href="https://msmagazine.com/2025/10/17/immigration-solutions-women-violence-asylum-policy/">past feminist policy wins</a> inform a better immigration future?&#8221;</p>
1397. <p>&#8220;In a deliberately provocative move, [BBC] Channel 4 has broadcast an entire documentary <a href="https://deadline.com/2025/10/channel-4-airs-show-hosted-ai-presenter-1236592504/">hosted by an artificial intelligence creation</a>.&#8221;</p>
1398. <p>&#8220;Prince Andrew has <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prince-andrew-is-officially-dropping-his-duke-of-york-title-after-new-epstein-revelations">agreed to give up his royal titles</a> to save the royal family from further embarrassment over his connections with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.&#8221;</p>
1399. <p>&#8220;Uber drivers may be able to earn a few extra bucks by <a href="https://www.dailydot.com/news/uber-digital-tasks-for-drivers/">completing digital AI training tasks on the rideshare app</a> while they wait for passengers.&#8221;</p>
1400. <p>&#8220;Musician Kenny Loggins <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/10/20/trump-no-kings-ai-kenny-loggins-song">demanded that President Trump remove his song from an AI-generated video of the president dumping feces from a fighter jet on protesters</a> at No Kings events.&#8221; What a hell of a sentence that is.</p>
1401. <p>“We accept that following Christ’s example may mean we are mocked and assaulted, opposed and even arrested. Jesus has guidance for this as well, saying, ‘Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you.’ If he were living today, we believe he might add ‘<a href="https://religionnews.com/2025/10/21/after-clergy-arrests-religious-pushback-to-ice-expands-in-chicago/">pepper spray, body slam and arrest you</a>’ to his beatitude.”</p>
1402. <p>&#8220;My <a href="https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna--lindsey-halligan-here">Signal exchange with the interim U.S. attorney</a> about the Letitia James grand jury.&#8221;</p>
1403. <p>&#8220;I don’t know what good triumphing over evil looks like to Kash Patel, but I would argue that <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/p/maga-outraged-at-demon-worshiper">it looks nothing like his mentions did</a> after he posted that.&#8221;</p>
1404. <p>&#8220;George Santos <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/10/22/2349737/-George-Santos-might-not-be-off-the-hook-just-yet?pm_campaign=blog&#038;pm_medium=rss&#038;pm_source=main">might not be off the hook</a> just yet&#8221;.</p>
1405. <p><a href="https://deadline.com/2025/10/barbara-gips-dead-alien-1236593467/">RIP, Barbara Gips</a>, Hollywood advertising copywriter who created the &#8220;In space, no one can hear you scream&#8221; tagline for <em>Alien</em>.</p>
1406. <p>&#8220;A new study from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn., shared first with The Hollywood Reporter, has found that a “drip” release strategy <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/weekly-releases-vs-binge-whats-better-for-streamers-1236403891/">leads to a 48 percent greater short-term retention of subscriptions</a> vs. binge-drops.&#8221;</p>
1407. <p>&#8220;That anger is <a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2025/10/22/get-angry-stay-angry-do-better/">what real repentance looks like</a> — the kind of repentance that allows for the possibility of redemption.&#8221;</p>
1408. <p><a href="https://slate.com/technology/2025/10/doordash-waymo-ai-self-driving-cars-gig-workers-labor.html">Don&#8217;t use DoorDash</a>. Or Uber Eats, or Instacart, until they all stop screwing their workers.</p>
1409. <p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6738748/2025/10/22/2-holes-in-one-same-day-college-golfer/?source=athletic_pulsenewsletter&#038;campaign=15312316&#038;userId=14739098">This</a> is what you call a pretty good day on the golf course.</p>
1410. <p>&#8220;The Trump administration has <a href="https://www.cybersecuritydive.com/news/cisa-stakeholder-engagement-division-layoffs-critical-infrastructure-international/803433/">effectively closed</a> the division of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency that coordinates critical infrastructure cybersecurity improvements with states and local governments, private businesses and foreign countries.&#8221;</p>
1411. <p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg1rrzn1kwo">RIP, Dave Ball</a>, founding member and keyboardist for Soft Cell.</p>
1412. <p>&#8220;Why Trump <a href="https://ballsandstrikes.org/law-politics/trump-justice-department-ftca-claims/">Expects the Justice Department</a> to Cut Him a Quarter-Billion-Dollar Check&#8221;.</p>
1413. <p>&#8220;Below, please find <a href="https://type-click-type.ghost.io/louvre-heist-top-five/">my five favorite things about (or even just kind of related to) the Louvre heist</a>. The image at the top of this page is Diana Rigg in The Great Muppet Caper. In the business, we call this a tease.&#8221;</p>
1414. <p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/10/23/nx-s1-5583624/trump-beef-argentina-prices-cattle">Donald Trump doesn&#8217;t care about you</a>. At all. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.</p>
1415. <p>&#8220;In a perverse and ironic way, Trump’s very argument about the corruption of the American elite <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/fear-greed-civic-virtue-and-the-fall-of-the-elites/sharetoken/a7716003-7704-48e1-b408-a3dec99eafd2">is most vividly and visibly confirmed in the way he has so easily plowed through it</a>. That social and civic corruption is deep and real. To the extent the American Republic is still in the game, taking punches but still in the ring, it’s large numbers of fairly ordinary people, without any great amount of power on their own who are doing it. You see that in ground level organizing, in turnout at town halls or No Kings demonstrations.&#8221;</p>
1416. <p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/10/25/g-s1-95111/june-lockhart-lassie-mother-dies">RIP, June Lockhart</a>, actor best known for <em>Lassie</em> and <em>Lost in Space</em>.</p>
1417. ]]></content:encoded>
1419. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120736</wfw:commentRss>
1420. <slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
1423. </item>
1424. <item>
1425. <title>Early voting Day Five: A brief comparison</title>
1426. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120849</link>
1427. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120849#respond</comments>
1429. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1430. <pubDate>Sun, 26 Oct 2025 09:59:35 +0000</pubDate>
1431. <category><![CDATA[Election 2025]]></category>
1432. <category><![CDATA[absentee ballots]]></category>
1433. <category><![CDATA[early voting]]></category>
1434. <category><![CDATA[Election 2017]]></category>
1435. <category><![CDATA[Election 2021]]></category>
1436. <category><![CDATA[Election 2023]]></category>
1437. <category><![CDATA[Harris County]]></category>
1438. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
1439. <category><![CDATA[turnout]]></category>
1440. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120849</guid>
1441.  
1442. <description><![CDATA[Final EV total 2021 = 114,060 Final EV total 2017 = 60,974 Day Five EV total 2025 = 63,969 So less than halfway through early voting this year, we have exceeded the entire EV total from 2017, and are more &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120849">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1443. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/EarlyVoting.jpg" alt="" width="254" height="199" class="alignright size-full wp-image-45332" /></p>
1444. <p><a href="https://files.harrisvotes.com/harrisvotes/prd/HISTORY/20211102/Official%20Cumulative.pdf">Final EV total 2021</a> = 114,060</p>
1445. <p><a href="https://files.harrisvotes.com/harrisvotes/prd/HISTORY/20171107/cumulative/Cumulative.pdf">Final EV total 2017</a> = 60,974</p>
1446. <p><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zj0p6v4yL6Nh4PVET6rbv-hARLEGGALV/view?usp=sharing">Day Five EV total 2025</a> = 63,969</p>
1447. <p>So less than halfway through early voting this year, we have exceeded the entire EV total from 2017, and are more than halfway to the 2021 final EV total. Putting the latter another way, we&#8217;re 56% of the way to the 2021 final EV total after 42% of the early voting period. </p>
1448. <p>What does it all mean? Probably not all that much, at least in comparison to 2021. Maybe more people will cast an early ballot. In 2021, 49.8% of all ballots were early, and the trend is up, as it was 40.4% early in 2019 and 53.4% early in 2023. I&#8217;m sure we have more registered voters now than we did in 2021, so the turnout rate so far may be lower. There&#8217;s a lot we still don&#8217;t know. </p>
1449. <p>And on the flip side, Week 2 of early voting tends to be at a higher level overall than Week 1. We may have completed 42% of the early voting period, but that doesn&#8217;t mean we&#8217;ve gotten 42% of the early votes so far. A busy Week 2 could change the calculations quite a bit.</p>
1450. <p>I also couldn&#8217;t tell you who if anyone might benefit from relatively higher turnout versus lower. It&#8217;s not a partisan election year and neither of the two marquee races have serious Republican candidates. Republicans overperformed in the At Large races in 2023, but they have also benefitted in the past from multiple-Dems-and-one-Republican fields, giving them a clear path to the runoff. That&#8217;s not the case in the AL4 race this year. Heck, it&#8217;s not even the case in CD18. </p>
1451. <p>Anyway. I just wanted to give a numeric update. You know me, I&#8217;ll start with one number and go from there, I can&#8217;t help it. I&#8217;ll probably do one more of these during the week and then an end-of-EV summary. Have you voted yet?</p>
1452. <p><u>UPDATE</u>: Saturday was relatively quiet, with 9,529 total votes cast and an updated cumulative of 73,497. On to Week 2!</p>
1453. ]]></content:encoded>
1455. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120849</wfw:commentRss>
1456. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1459. </item>
1460. <item>
1461. <title>Cards Against Humanity settles its lawsuit against Elon Musk</title>
1462. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120801</link>
1463. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120801#respond</comments>
1465. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1466. <pubDate>Sun, 26 Oct 2025 09:53:37 +0000</pubDate>
1467. <category><![CDATA[Legal matters]]></category>
1468. <category><![CDATA[border fence]]></category>
1469. <category><![CDATA[CAH Saves America]]></category>
1470. <category><![CDATA[Cameron County]]></category>
1471. <category><![CDATA[Cards Against Humanity]]></category>
1472. <category><![CDATA[conservation]]></category>
1473. <category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
1474. <category><![CDATA[Elon Musk]]></category>
1475. <category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
1476. <category><![CDATA[SpaceX]]></category>
1477. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
1478. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120801</guid>
1479.  
1480. <description><![CDATA[We continue to live in strange times. Cards Against Humanity, the satirical party game, has settled its trespassing lawsuit against Elon Musk&#8217;s rocket company SpaceX. Court records show the lawsuit was dropped last month. In an email to fans sent &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120801">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1481. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.tpr.org/news/2025-10-20/elon-musk-cards-against-humanity-settle-lawsuit-over-south-texas-land">We continue to live in strange times</a>.</p>
1482. <blockquote><p>
1483. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cards-Against-Humanity-LLC-CAHUS/dp/B004S8F7QM"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61p0INj26yL.__AC_SX300_SY300_QL70_FMwebp_.jpg" width="170" height="300" class="alignright size-full" /></a></p>
1484. <p>Cards Against Humanity, the satirical party game, has settled <a href="https://www.tpr.org/news/2024-09-22/cards-against-humanity-sues-elon-musks-spacex-for-using-its-land-along-the-border">its trespassing lawsuit</a> against Elon Musk&#8217;s rocket company SpaceX.</p>
1485. <p>Court records show the lawsuit was dropped last month. In an email to fans sent Monday, the game company did not disclose the terms of settlement but said SpaceX &#8220;admitted on the record&#8221; to dumping trash on land it bought near Musk&#8217;s rocket launch site in South Texas.</p>
1486. <p>&#8220;Soon, the land will be returned to its natural state: no space garbage, and still completely free of pointless [expletive] border walls,&#8221; the email read.</p>
1487. <p>Cards Against Humanity&#8217;s spokesperson Maria Ranahan told The Texas Newsroom a trial would have cost more than what the company was likely to win from SpaceX.</p>
1488. <p>&#8220;Under Texas law, even if we had won at trial (and we would have, given their admission to trespassing), we likely wouldn&#8217;t be able to recoup our legal fees,&#8221; she said in response to questions. &#8220;The upside is that we&#8217;re able to work with a local landscaping company to restore the land to its natural state.&#8221;</p>
1489. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
1490. <p>In its lawsuit, filed in September of last year, Cards Against Humanity alleged SpaceX&#8217;s employees entered the site without approval and dumped trash there. It sought $15 million in damages. SpaceX argued the game company did not have standing to sue.</p>
1491. <p>In its message to fans on Monday, Cards Against Humanity said it had not won any money from SpaceX, which it had <a href="https://x.com/CAH/status/1837178036673990830?lang=en">promised to give back to fans</a> if it had prevailed in court. It did announce the release of a special Musk-themed mini pack of its card game to mark the settlement.</p>
1492. <p>&#8220;While we can&#8217;t give you what you really wanted –– cash money from Elon Musk –– we&#8217;re going to make it up to you, our best, sexiest customers…with comedy!&#8221; the email added.
1493. </p></blockquote>
1494. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=116105">here</a> for the background. Time and money well spent, I say. Kudos to all involved.</p>
1495. ]]></content:encoded>
1497. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120801</wfw:commentRss>
1498. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1501. </item>
1502. <item>
1503. <title>A different approach to Austin-San Antonio commuter rail</title>
1504. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120809</link>
1505. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120809#respond</comments>
1507. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1508. <pubDate>Sun, 26 Oct 2025 09:44:35 +0000</pubDate>
1509. <category><![CDATA[Planes, Trains, and Automobiles]]></category>
1510. <category><![CDATA[Andy Brown]]></category>
1511. <category><![CDATA[Austin]]></category>
1512. <category><![CDATA[Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority]]></category>
1513. <category><![CDATA[commuter rail]]></category>
1514. <category><![CDATA[I-10]]></category>
1515. <category><![CDATA[I-35]]></category>
1516. <category><![CDATA[Lone Star Rail District]]></category>
1517. <category><![CDATA[San Antonio]]></category>
1518. <category><![CDATA[SH 130]]></category>
1519. <category><![CDATA[SH71]]></category>
1520. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
1521. <category><![CDATA[Travis County]]></category>
1522. <category><![CDATA[TxDOT]]></category>
1523. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120809</guid>
1524.  
1525. <description><![CDATA[Very interesting. Deeply flawed, as far as I can tell, but interesting. Travis County leaders are exploring new ways to connect Austin to San Antonio. On Tuesday morning, county commissioners approved a $124,953 study from HNTB, an engineering company, to &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120809">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1526. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.kvue.com/article/traffic/proposed-rail-line-austin-san-antonio/269-2249c6f1-ed24-4a07-ac9e-8bdd87ccffb2">Very interesting</a>. Deeply flawed, as far as I can tell, but interesting.</p>
1527. <blockquote><p>
1528. Travis County leaders are exploring new ways to connect Austin to San Antonio. On Tuesday morning, county commissioners approved a $124,953 study from HNTB, an engineering company, to look into a new commuter rail line along State Highway 130 and Interstate 10. </p>
1529. <p>&#8220;We&#8217;re not going to be able to build our way using highways out of the connection problem that we have with San Antonio, and so this would allow another option,&#8221; Travis County Judge Andy Brown said. &#8220;I can&#8217;t think of any similar-sized, especially growing this fast, regions in the world that don&#8217;t have good passenger rail service in between them.&#8221;</p>
1530. <p>In the Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio, the current population is about 4.5 million, but it&#8217;s expected to grow 6 to 7 million by 2030. For years, Brown said he&#8217;s talked to Union Pacific about adding a passenger rail line along I-35 connecting the two cities. </p>
1531. <p>The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is currently working on a study about adding a passenger line there. But with freight trains already on that line, he said it may be difficult to make the two of them work on the same line. </p>
1532. <p>That&#8217;s why county leaders are now looking into this alternate route. It would be around 80-90 miles running from 71, down SH 130 and ending on I-10. Brown said he&#8217;s confident this route would be more feasible.</p>
1533. <p>&#8220;That I believe would get us a lot of support at the Capitol, at TxDOT, and other places if we&#8217;re not trying to take private land to build this passenger rail line,&#8221; Brown said.</p>
1534. <p>Once the feasibility study is completed, Brown said county leaders would have to put together some plans for the rail. That would include deciding who would run the train – either TxDOT, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority (CTRMA) or another entity – and how they would pay for it, either locally, through ticket sales, or split across the counties between Travis and Bexar County.</p>
1535. <p>Once that is done, Brown is hopeful they can bring a plan to the federal government to get some funding for the project. </p>
1536. <p>&#8220;If we can get that plan together, I think that&#8217;s something very persuasive to then go to the federal government and say, &#8216;Hey, you know, we&#8217;ve come together, all these communities, we have a study, we can do it once it&#8217;s built – would you help us build it?'&#8221; Brown said. </p>
1537. <p>The feasibility study is expected to be completed in March 2026. Looking at the timeline for other cities that have built a similar rail line in about two and a half years, Brown is hopeful the timeline for this passenger rail wouldn&#8217;t be too far off.
1538. </p></blockquote>
1539. <p><a href="https://www.kxan.com/traffic/transportation/infrastructure-firm-to-conduct-feasibility-study-on-passenger-rail-connecting-austin-san-antonio/">KXAN</a> adds some details.</p>
1540. <blockquote><p>
1541. A planning manager with TNR spoke to commissioners during the meeting on Tuesday to provide them with a rundown of what the feasibility study would entail.</p>
1542. <p>“This study is intended to be a complement to a TxDOT study that’s being conducted by HNTB. The TxDOT study is focusing on the IH 35 corridor and is expected to conclude in March of 2026,” she said. “The study we’re proposing today would also be conducted by HNTB and focus on other options using the right-of-way of state highways and interstates in the region.”</p>
1543. <p>The study will analyze current rail infrastructure and potential service options from the Amtrak station in San Antonio to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Austin. It’s expected to take 175 days, and it will cover project management, engineering feasibility, cost estimates, and a technical memorandum.</p>
1544. <p>“I’m very excited about this one,” Judge Andy Brown said. He said the study would look at a route that would “theoretically go from downtown Austin out 71, then down 130, and then in on I-10.” Brown said the study is just looking at the 130 to I-10 segment.
1545. </p></blockquote>
1546. <p>There&#8217;s already an <a href="https://www.hntb.com/projects/texas-i-10-corridor-study/">I-10 Corridor study</a>, which would presumably handle the rest.</p>
1547. <p>Longtime fans know of my obsession with the <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=114640">Lone Star Rail District</a> and its decades-old promise of building commuter rail between Austin and San Antonio along the I-35 corridor. For various reasons, not the least of which being the need to share the existing freight rail tracks with freight rail companies that don&#8217;t want to share, it has never come together despite the obvious benefits. </p>
1548. <p>This plan, if it were to happen, could finally connect Austin and San Antonio via rail. It would be a much longer trip, and there would be fewer in-between cities to include &#8211; an I-35 line could make stops in Buda, Kyle, San Marcos, and New Braunfels at least, as well as being extended to Round Rock and Georgetown, while this line could stop in Seguin and not much else as far as I can tell. I don&#8217;t know what that might do to the cost-benefit analysis, but it can&#8217;t be great. </p>
1549. <p>But we&#8217;ll see. A flawed plan might still be a lot better than no plan, and if it got proper levels of support it could come together in a few years. I will note that there&#8217;s a TxDOT <a href="https://www.texasrailadvocates.org/post/eye-opener-txdot-unveils-first-ever-statewide-multimodal-transit-plan-for-urban-rural-and-intercity-corridors">Statewide Multimodal Transit Plan</a> out there now, which might help nudge this along, as it notes the vast ridership potential for this long-desired rail connection. Is this finally the winning formula? I&#8217;ll keep an eye on it. <a href="https://www.tpr.org/news/2025-10-23/travis-county-says-a-passenger-rail-to-san-antonio-could-come-before-i-35-construction-wraps">KUT</a> and <a href="https://www.trains.com/pro/passenger/commuter-regional/officials-approve-feasibility-study-for-austin-san-antonio-commuter-rail/">Trains.com</a> have more.</p>
1550. ]]></content:encoded>
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1553. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1556. </item>
1557. <item>
1558. <title>Dems have a statewide judicial slate</title>
1559. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120818</link>
1560. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120818#comments</comments>
1562. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1563. <pubDate>Sat, 25 Oct 2025 10:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
1564. <category><![CDATA[Election 2026]]></category>
1565. <category><![CDATA[Audra Riley]]></category>
1566. <category><![CDATA[Chari Kelly]]></category>
1567. <category><![CDATA[Cory Carlyle]]></category>
1568. <category><![CDATA[Court of Criminal Appeals]]></category>
1569. <category><![CDATA[Democratic primary]]></category>
1570. <category><![CDATA[Gisela Triana]]></category>
1571. <category><![CDATA[Gordon Goodman]]></category>
1572. <category><![CDATA[Holly Taylor]]></category>
1573. <category><![CDATA[judicial races]]></category>
1574. <category><![CDATA[Marc Veasey]]></category>
1575. <category><![CDATA[Okey Aniyam]]></category>
1576. <category><![CDATA[Supreme Court]]></category>
1577. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
1578. <category><![CDATA[Texas Justice Democrats]]></category>
1579. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120818</guid>
1580.  
1581. <description><![CDATA[From the inbox: DEMOCRATS LAUNCH CAMPAIGNS FOR TEXAS STATEWIDE JUDICIAL OFFICES Seven Democrats launch campaigns this week for the Texas Supreme Court and Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Democrats are planning to campaign for every statewide judicial office on the &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120818">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1582. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://texasjusticedemocrats.com/news">From the inbox</a>:</p>
1583. <blockquote><p>
1584. <a href="https://texasjusticedemocrats.com/news"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://img1.wsimg.com/isteam/ip/85f079fa-57c9-4767-b61d-ed0f30e8ae06/TJD-logo.png/:/rs=w:432,h:170,cg:true,m/cr=w:432,h:170/qt=q:95" width="432" height="170" class="alignright size-full" /></a></p>
1585. <p><strong>DEMOCRATS LAUNCH CAMPAIGNS FOR TEXAS STATEWIDE JUDICIAL OFFICES</strong></p>
1586. <p>Seven Democrats launch campaigns this week for the Texas Supreme Court and Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Democrats are planning to campaign for every statewide judicial office on the ballot in 2026. The Democrats running include current judges and appellate justices, former appellate justices, and attorneys.</p>
1587. <p><strong>TEXAS SUPREME COURT CANDIDATES:</strong> Cory Carlyle, former Justice on the 5th Court of Appeals in Dallas, is campaigning for Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice. Justice Chari Kelly of the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin is running for Place 2. Gordon Goodman, former Justice on the 1st Court of Appeals in Houston, is campaigning for Place 7. Justice Gisela Triana of the 3rd Court of Appeals is campaigning for Place 8.</p>
1588. <p><strong>TEXAS COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS CANDIDATES:</strong> The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is the state&#8217;s top court for criminal cases. Judge Audra Riley, a felony district court judge in Dallas, is running for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 4. Holly Taylor, Director of the Public Integrity and Complex Crimes Division for the Travis County District Attorney&#8217; Office, is running for Place 9 on the court. Dallas criminal defense attorney Okey Anyiam is seeking Place 3.</p>
1589. <p>North Texas Congressman Marc Veasey commented on the importance of Democrats running for these offices: &#8220;Abbott is systematically trying to control all aspects of government, in service to billionaire donors and big business. Abbott is appointing judges all over the state at every level. He is pushing tort reform so far that people cannot count on getting fair justice when they have been done grievous harm. Meanwhile, Paxton has installed his partisan followers on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals so the court might rule in his favor more often. This centralization of all power by Abbott and Paxton is hurting Texans. Access to fair justice is diminished. The courts&#8217; power to hold bad actors accountable is being undercut. The only way to stop the derailing of our justice system is to elect a judiciary with a wider range of perspectives, and with a commitment to the law instead of partisanship.&#8221;
1590. </p></blockquote>
1591. <p>Some of these folks have run statewide before &#8211; Gisela Triana and Holly Taylor, in particular &#8211; the rest are new. There&#8217;s a PAC behind them, the <a href="https://texasjusticedemocrats.com/">Texas Justice Democrats</a> PAC, which I hope has a lot of success raising money. I will say, while it&#8217;s been common for Dems to have announced for various statewide offices by this time on the calendar in the past, I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve seen a full slate of statewide judicial candidates at this early point before. Given the size of the overall statewide slate, it sure seems like there&#8217;s some optimism on our side, and I&#8217;m here for that. </p>
1592. <p>The only question I have now is when do we start electing judges to the 15th Court of Appeals and the business court? I know Greg Abbott still has some appointments to make for those, but beyond that I&#8217;m less sure. But at least we have this, and I&#8217;ll take it.</p>
1593. <p><u>UPDATE</u>: There&#8217;s now a <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/24/texas-supreme-court-kyle-hawkins-solicitor-general-abbott/">newly appointed Supreme Court justice</a>, but given the late date I assume he won&#8217;t be up until 2028, unless the term of the departing Justice was to expire in 2026.</p>
1594. ]]></content:encoded>
1596. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120818</wfw:commentRss>
1597. <slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
1600. </item>
1601. <item>
1602. <title>Metro makes its excuses</title>
1603. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120838</link>
1604. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120838#comments</comments>
1606. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1607. <pubDate>Sat, 25 Oct 2025 09:51:43 +0000</pubDate>
1608. <category><![CDATA[Planes, Trains, and Automobiles]]></category>
1609. <category><![CDATA[Abbie Kamin]]></category>
1610. <category><![CDATA[Austin]]></category>
1611. <category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category>
1612. <category><![CDATA[Elizabeth Brock]]></category>
1613. <category><![CDATA[gay rights]]></category>
1614. <category><![CDATA[Greg Abbott]]></category>
1615. <category><![CDATA[Houston]]></category>
1616. <category><![CDATA[John Whitmire]]></category>
1617. <category><![CDATA[Lina Hidalgo]]></category>
1618. <category><![CDATA[Metro]]></category>
1619. <category><![CDATA[San Antonio]]></category>
1620. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
1621. <category><![CDATA[TxDOT]]></category>
1622. <category><![CDATA[US Department of Transportation]]></category>
1623. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120838</guid>
1624.  
1625. <description><![CDATA[Weak. Metro board chair Elizabeth Brock on Thursday stood by the agency&#8217;s decision to remove the Montrose rainbow crosswalk this week after a Houston resident asked why it was erased so quickly. “My primary concern is how quickly y&#8217;all allowed &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120838">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1626. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/trending/article/houston-metro-montrose-crosswalk-21116475.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&#038;utm_source=t.co&#038;utm_medium=referral">Weak</a>.</p>
1627. <blockquote><p>
1628. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/RainbowPotholes.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="167" class="alignright size-full wp-image-120704" srcset="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/RainbowPotholes.jpg 1284w, https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/RainbowPotholes-300x249.jpg 300w, https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/RainbowPotholes-1024x851.jpg 1024w, https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/RainbowPotholes-768x638.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" /></p>
1629. <p>Metro board chair Elizabeth Brock on Thursday stood by the agency&#8217;s decision to <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/trending/article/montrose-crosswalks-rainbow-houston-pride-21109413.php">remove the Montrose rainbow crosswalk this week</a> after a Houston resident asked why it was erased so quickly.</p>
1630. <p>“My primary concern is how quickly y&#8217;all allowed this to happen without giving LGBTQ+ Houstonians the time or space to process this removal to grieve,” David Mendoza said during the public comment period at Metro&#8217;s board meeting. “Gov. Abbott gave cities 30 days to comply or risk funding, and y&#8217;all removed it in 12 days.” </p>
1631. <p>Brock said the decision was not taken lightly.</p>
1632. <p>“It was something that we had to do because of a mandate, and whether we did it in 12 days or whether we did it in 30 days, we had a responsibility, and we met our responsibility, because at the end of the day, we are a transit authority, and we have to meet our community,&#8221; she said.
1633. </p></blockquote>
1634. <p>This is, to put it gently, baloney. Metro didn&#8217;t meet its community before it did this, because if it had they would have been told in no uncertain terms to fight it, or at least wait until those who did want to fight it took their swing. <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120790">San Antonio</a> and <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120806">Austin</a> have shown what else could have been done, if Metro and its Chair hadn&#8217;t been in such a rush to comply. You failed, Elizabeth Brock, and now you are being called on it. Stop making excuses for it.</p>
1635. ]]></content:encoded>
1637. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120838</wfw:commentRss>
1638. <slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
1641. </item>
1642. <item>
1643. <title>RIP, CityCast Houston</title>
1644. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120843</link>
1645. <comments>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120843#respond</comments>
1647. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1648. <pubDate>Sat, 25 Oct 2025 09:42:00 +0000</pubDate>
1649. <category><![CDATA[Elsewhere in Houston]]></category>
1650. <category><![CDATA[CityCast]]></category>
1651. <category><![CDATA[Houston]]></category>
1652. <category><![CDATA[Houston Landing]]></category>
1653. <category><![CDATA[podcasts]]></category>
1654. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120843</guid>
1655.  
1656. <description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m sad to see them go. Hey, there! I can’t believe I’m writing these words. After over 800 newsletters, today is my last one to you. Hey Houston and City Cast Houston officially shut down on Oct. 24 &#x1f622; I truly enjoyed &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120843">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1657. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://link.citycast.fm/view/63d1ac6bbfbc9749a88add1ap3iey.bne/3a17dd6c">I&#8217;m sad to see them go</a>.</p>
1658. <blockquote><p><a href="https://houston.citycast.fm/"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full" src="https://cdn.wisepops.com/shared/images/wisepops/c.95230/2f0364de3410f417d281bd4b02f8e580.png" width="150" height="150" /></a></p>
1659. <p><strong>Hey, there!</strong> I can’t believe I’m writing these words. After over 800 newsletters, today is my last one to you. <a href="https://link.citycast.fm/click/42154234.15098/aHR0cHM6Ly9ob3VzdG9uLmNpdHljYXN0LmZtL25ld3NsZXR0ZXIvMjAyNS0xMC0xNz9pZD1ob3VzdG9uLjZhNjBhNmZiLWE1MDEtNDhmZC05N2QzLTViNDQ3NGU0N2RiMw/63d1ac6bbfbc9749a88add1aCcf3c14b3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hey Houston and City Cast Houston officially shut down on Oct. 24 </a><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/16.0.1/72x72/1f622.png" alt="😢" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" /></p>
1660. <p>I truly enjoyed every single day writing Hey Houston. You’ve all become my online family of readers. You’re so special to me and every email expressing your love for Hey Houston this week has meant the world. I want to say thank you to every single person who has helped make this newsletter special. I’m so glad our paths crossed!</p>
1661. <p>Over the last several months, the City Cast Houston team has been collecting a list of things we love about Houston. Today, we’re releasing <a href="https://link.citycast.fm/click/42154234.15098/aHR0cHM6Ly9ob3VzdG9uLmNpdHljYXN0LmZtL2Jlc3QvNzEzLXRoaW5ncy13ZS1sb3ZlLWFib3V0LWhvdXN0b24/63d1ac6bbfbc9749a88add1aDda5209c0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">713 things we love about Houston</a> to honor our last newsletter and podcast. This is also our love letter to you and this great city we call home! I hope this list brings up fun memories, makes you laugh, or gives you the courage to try something new.</p>
1662. <p>[&#8230;]</p>
1663. <p>Don’t miss our <a href="https://houston.citycast.fm/podcasts?utm_source=Sailthru&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_campaign=20251024_Newsletter_Houston&#038;utm_term=Houston">last City Cast Houston episode</a> below where me, City Cast Houston host Raheel Ramzanali, and producer Carlignon Jones, share our favorite moments over the last few years working for City Cast.
1664. </p></blockquote>
1665. <p>There&#8217;s about a dozen CityCast podcasts around the country. Houston was one of the first to go online, and I was a listener and newsletter subscriber from the jump. It was an eclectic mix of news, food, events, arts, a little bit of science &#8211; original host Lisa Gray liked having a particular Rice biologist on to talk about the local flora and fauna; I learned more about Houston&#8217;s insect population through that than anywhere else &#8211; and more. I&#8217;ve referenced podcast episodes here a few times, and I will miss having them in my ears. Between this and the <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=118867">demise of the Houston Landing</a>, I&#8217;m kind of bummed for the state of media innovation in this town. But at least we have the archives, and maybe the next outfit to take their shot here will learn from these experiences. So long, CityCast Houston. </p>
1666. ]]></content:encoded>
1668. <wfw:commentRss>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?feed=rss2&#038;p=120843</wfw:commentRss>
1669. <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
1672. </item>
1673. <item>
1674. <title>TEA will take over Fort Worth ISD</title>
1675. <link>https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120823</link>
1677. <dc:creator><![CDATA[Charles Kuffner]]></dc:creator>
1678. <pubDate>Fri, 24 Oct 2025 10:01:42 +0000</pubDate>
1679. <category><![CDATA[School days]]></category>
1680. <category><![CDATA[Board of Managers]]></category>
1681. <category><![CDATA[Fort Worth]]></category>
1682. <category><![CDATA[Fort Worth ISD]]></category>
1683. <category><![CDATA[HISD]]></category>
1684. <category><![CDATA[Karen Molinar]]></category>
1685. <category><![CDATA[Mike Morath]]></category>
1686. <category><![CDATA[schools]]></category>
1687. <category><![CDATA[Texas]]></category>
1688. <category><![CDATA[Texas Education Agency]]></category>
1689. <category><![CDATA[The Lege]]></category>
1690. <guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120823</guid>
1691.  
1692. <description><![CDATA[Good luck, y&#8217;all. You&#8217;re gonna need it. Fort Worth ISD’s nine locally elected trustees are out as Texas officials stepped in Thursday after years of poor student outcomes. In the new year, a slate of state-appointed leaders will take over &#8230; <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=120823">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
1693. <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/10/23/texas-takes-control-of-fwisd-in-states-second-largest-public-school-intervention/">Good luck</a>, y&#8217;all. You&#8217;re gonna need it.</p>
1694. <blockquote><p>
1695. <a href="https://x.com/FortWorthISD"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1772669047756230657/eHqPKORD_400x400.jpg" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-full" /></a></p>
1696. <p>Fort Worth ISD’s nine locally elected trustees are out as Texas officials stepped in Thursday after years of poor student outcomes.</p>
1697. <p>In the new year, a slate of state-appointed leaders will take over FWISD with its nearly 70,000 students and nearly 10,000 employees, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said during a news conference. Superintendent Karen Molinar’s future is in the hands of Morath, who plans to appoint a superintendent in the spring. Molinar will be a candidate, he said.</p>
1698. <p>“Today nothing is actually changing. The elected school board is still in charge. Superintendent Molinar is still in charge,” Morath said.</p>
1699. <p>Morath launched the second-largest takeover in Texas history, marking the crescendo of Fort Worth ISD’s decade of academic failure. The stagnation resulted in the closure of a school that failed for five straight years. Substantive changes will come to the district next year, he said.</p>
1700. <p>“This action is necessitated, unfortunately, because Fort Worth ISD has seen chronically low levels of support given to students and very low levels of academic performance,” the commissioner said.</p>
1701. <p>Morath vowed the intervention will give students a needed boost. Some community members decried his decision to intervene in a locally directed turnaround just beginning to show progress.</p>
1702. <p>In the meantime, Morath plans to appoint a conservator to oversee current leadership.</p>
1703. <p>In a statement to the Fort Worth Report, school board President Roxanne Martinez said trustees respect the commissioner’s commitment to student success, but they are disappointed with his decision. Trustees want Morath to reconsider his decision because FWISD is heading in the right direction with locally elected leadership, she said.</p>
1704. <p>“Our elected board is in the best position to drive the sustainable improvements the commissioner seeks, with measurable progress already underway,” Martinez said. “We respectfully ask him to reconsider his decision as we continue partnering with families, educators, and state leaders to keep this momentum going for every Fort Worth ISD student.”</p>
1705. <p>During a Thursday morning news conference, Morath announced applications are <a href="https://tea.texas.gov/texas-schools/school-boards/school-governance/board-of-managers">open for the board of managers</a> who will oversee Fort Worth ISD once the state formally assumes control.
1706. </p></blockquote>
1707. <p>See <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=118761">here</a> and <a href="https://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=118935">here</a> for some background, and <a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/10/23/timeline-what-led-to-the-states-takeover-of-fort-worth-isd/">here</a> for a comprehensive timeline of how this all came to be. No question that FWISD has some longstanding issues, and they ironically brought this outcome on themselves by closing the one school whose repeated failures subjected them to the takeover law (because then closing that school was no longer an option), but whether the &#8220;cure&#8221; will be worthwhile is an open question. I can&#8217;t imagine too many HISD parents would recommend the experience. But here we are.</p>
1708. <p>I&#8217;ll be very interested to see if the TEA has learned anything from its takeover of HISD. Like, will they appoint a Superintendent who&#8217;s less of an asshole and who actually engages with the community? (Note to FWISD: Don&#8217;t expect Mike Morath to allow your current Super to stay on.) Will they appoint a Board of Managers that actually has oversight capability and is allowed to exercise it? (I had a hard time typing that without snorting.) Maybe they have and maybe FWISD will benefit from it. If so, then you&#8217;re welcome, FWISD. If not, let this serve as an example of why the takeover law needs its own major overhaul. The <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/10/23/texas-education-agency-fort-worth-isd-takeover/">Trib</a> and the <a href="https://fortworthreport.org/2025/10/23/frustration-cautious-optimism-expressed-by-elected-officials-in-wake-of-fwisd-takeover/">Fort Worth Report</a> have more.</p>
1709. ]]></content:encoded>
1713. </item>
1714. </channel>
1715. </rss>
1716.  

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