Headlines / Quote of the Week
Fri., Oct. 18, 2024
Debate Time: Colin Allred and loathsome toad Ted Cruz had a fun debate Wednesday night. The candidates attacked one another throughout the evening, with Allred calling Cruz possibly the most extreme senator of the last 30 years. The challenger hammered Cruz’s support for Texas’ abortion ban, asking if he believes there should be exceptions for rape and incest. Cruz replied that the question should be settled on the state level but refused to answer Allred’s question otherwise.
Abortion Pill Suit Dropped: Need more reasons to hate on ultra-conservative men? Google Marcus Silva, who, according to the Texas Tribune, used the state’s anti-abortion law, SB 8, to sue two of his soon-to-be-ex-wife’s friends for $1 million, claiming they helped her acquire pills to terminate her pregnancy. SB 8 lets any citizen file lawsuits against people they claim have facilitated an abortion, but in Silva’s case the women sued back, saying he knew about the planned abortion and did nothing to stop it. Both sides dropped their claims last week before the trial began.
Movement on Project Connect: A trial over Project Connect will resume after A.G. Ken Paxton’s appeal was rejected, the Austin Monitor reports. A group of Austinites filed suit against the Austin Transit Partnership to block Project Connect more than a year ago. Mayor Kirk Watson wrote on X about the trial moving forward: “The decision by the Fifteenth Court of Appeals exposes Ken Paxton’s jurisdictional challenge as a blatant delay tactic. I want this case to go to trial because the facts and the law are on our side.”
Bus Stops Lack Benches: Speaking of transportation, a recent audit of CapMetro’s 2,511 bus stops found that fewer than half of bus stops – 47% – have a bench. Even fewer – 29% of stops – have a shelter, KUT reports.
Ruining Voting Rolls: An investigation by ProPublica, the Texas Tribune, and Votebeat has discovered that thousands of U.S. citizens were labeled as noncitizens or removed from voting rolls this year after failing to respond to letters asking about their citizenship. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has boasted about knocking off 1 million ineligible voters, but the investigation found that the vast majority were removed through routine practices that readjust the rolls to account for those who have moved or died. “Abbott’s claims helped to fan ongoing unsubstantiated Republican allegations that noncitizens plan to cast ballots,” the joint report read.
No to Outside Money: On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman dismissed a lawsuit by mayoral candidate Doug Greco arguing that Austin’s campaign finance rule, which caps the amount of money a candidate can raise from outside the city limits, is unconstitutional. Greco and his opponent, Kirk Watson, were accused in September of raising more than the allowed sum of $47,000. Greco argued that the limit violates the First Amendment rights of people outside Austin who might want to meddle in – sorry, participate in – our city elections.
Fumbled Foster Care: The conservative 5th Circuit Court of Appeals handed another loathsome toad, Gov. Greg Abbott, a victory last week, removing U.S. District Judge Janis Jack from overseeing a lawsuit going all the way back to 2011 which charges the State of Texas with the abuse and neglect of its foster care children. The ruling also reversed the $100,000-a-day fine that Jack had imposed on the state, ruling that she was “highly antagonistic” during court appearances. Jack wrote in 2015 that Texas’ foster care children “have been shuttled throughout a system where rape, abuse, psychotropic medication, and instability are the norm.”
Shady Sheriff Move: According to reporting by the Caldwell/Hays Examiner, Hays County Sheriff candidate Anthony Hipolito illegally paid $8,000 to his wife in September for work she’d done on his campaign. Hipolito, a Republican, initially defended the payment in a post on social media, writing, “I don’t care what the optics look like ... I paid her and will pay her again.” After learning that the payment constitutes a Class A misdemeanor, Hipolito had the money returned to his campaign, saying in a statement that the payment had been “an honest mistake.” “Does the person who wants to be in charge of enforcing the law in Hays County even know the law?” the Hays/Examiner wrote.
Glue Traps Out: The Austin Animal Advisory Commission unanimously voted Monday to recommend that City Council pass a ban on the purchase and use of glue traps in all city facilities, noting that the traps indiscriminately and inhumanely target wildlife, the Austin Monitor reported.
Blind Eye Turned: The Texas Education Agency has, unsurprisingly, cleared the state-installed leader of Houston’s public school system of illegally diverting millions of dollars of Texas taxpayer money to his for-profit charter school network in Colorado. Mike Miles was given control over HISD by TEA last year, generating chaos in the district and ongoing, bitter demonstrations by students, parents, and teachers. Spectrum News and The Texas Observer reported last spring that money from Texas schools which are part of Miles’ charter network had been deposited in Colorado. The TEA found he had not “violated any applicable Texas laws.”
Execution of Possibly Innocent Man: It is looking very likely that Texas will execute a man widely believed to be innocent. One of Robert Roberson’s last chances to avoid the death penalty collapsed on Wednesday when an Anderson County judge refused to throw out his execution warrant. Roberson was convicted under the dubious shaken baby syndrome hypothesis in 2003. If executed, he will be the first person in the U.S. put to death under the discredited medical theory.
It Takes a Village: This week KUT took a close look at Travis County’s proposed tax increase to pay for affordable child care slots – Travis County Proposition A. Reporter Katy McAfee pointed out that child care costs as much as a semester at UT, and that child care centers run on razor-thin margins. With pandemic-era federal funding set to end in 2026, local child care centers are at risk of closure. The tax increase would generate $75 million to support several programs, including about 1,900 new slots for infants and toddlers and 3,900 slots for afterschool and summer programs.
Hays County Roads Growing: Hays County voters will get to vote on a $440 million bond this November to build and upgrade roadways countywide, KUT reports. The fast-growing area is expected to more than double in population by 2045, according to data from the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. About two dozen road plans are near Kyle and Buda, and the city of Kyle broke ground this week on the first of eight projects funded by a road bond voters already passed back in 2022.
New Public Safety HQ: The city is considering acquiring a new combined headquarters for the Austin Police Department, Austin Fire Department, and Emergency Medical Services, the Austin Monitor reported. Next week City Council is set to decide whether to spend $107.8 million to purchase an office campus along South MoPac Expressway. Deputy CFO Kimberly Olivares outlined to Council the dire condition of our existing public safety facilities. She said it adds expense in maintenance cost, and that the APD headquarters Downtown is overcrowded and in disrepair. Meanwhile the AFD and EMS facilities face foundation issues and aren’t big enough, she said.
Quote of the Week
“We’re doing an awful lot right in the state of Texas.”
– Ted Cruz, opening the recent debate with A very iffy statement
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