Wouldn’t It Be Nice If We Had Trains: It’s really rather silly to think we can have nice things. It’s been obvious for years that high-speed rail would be a quality-of-life boost for Texans and Amtrak has recently made progress on a project that would connect Houston with the Dallas Metroplex. But Republicans in the Texas Legislature have already filed bills to prevent state tax dollars from being used to support high-speed rail and to block the seizure of land needed for the rail lines.
To Post or Not to Post: Lawmakers will debate whether to ban social media for children in the upcoming legislative session, The Texas Tribune reports. Social media is blamed for sexualizing kids, exposing them to cyberbullying, and undermining their education. Groups like the American Federation of Teachers and the American Psychological Association say the platforms are the root cause of the nationwide mental health crisis. Republican Rep. Jared Patterson recently introduced a bill to ban children from establishing social media accounts, saying, “Social media is the most dangerous thing our kids have legal access to in Texas.”
Anti-Trans Bills: Speaking of Patterson, last session he filed what was known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would have stopped teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in schools. That bill didn’t pass, but Texas Republicans will be pushing tons of anti-trans proposals in 2025. So far, these include bills requiring government records to specify only two genders, based on penises and vaginas. Other bills would prevent trans people from changing their birth certificates. And Republicans want to resurrect their bathroom bill of 2017, to force trans people to use the opposite bathroom of their gender identity.
Paxton’s Mysterious Properties: How did Trump not pick Ken Paxton for his attorney general? Corrupt? Check. Clownish? Check. And he’s big into real estate! According to KUT, Paxton has bought millions of dollars worth of real estate in recent years, a suspicious happenstance given Paxton has only one source of income – being AG – and wasn’t wealthy going into office. Paxton failed to disclose the purchases in 2023 and 2024, saying the rules requiring him to do so were “vague.” The Texas Ethics Commission, which formulates the rules, clarified them last week, requiring Paxton to disclose properties he holds if he has “actual knowledge” of them. Has Paxton already forgotten they exist? Who keeps sending him those checks?
Onion Undone: Was the fix in? On Wednesday, a Houston judge overturned The Onion’s selection as the winning bidder of Alex Jones’ Infowars company. The Onion won the bid last month, announcing plans to turn the conspiracy theory operation into a parody of itself. Jones promptly appealed. Judge Christopher Lopez rejected Jones’ tired and boring allegation of a “rigged process” but said that the auction had not been transparent and the winning bid – $7 million – “left a lot of money on the table.” Lopez wants to see a plan for a new auction in 30 days.
Mainstream Ain’t Main: Speaking of wacky “news” content, this week The Atlantic posited that “mainstream media” is done, or at the very least has a new meaning today, as Joe Rogan, and the like, draw more viewers and listeners than traditionally “mainstream” outlets. For example, Rogan’s interview with Donald Trump performed far better than the Fox News interview with Kamala Harris. The problem with this shift, The Atlantic points out, is softball interviews with nonjournalists. Ahead of the election, Trump and Harris were not forced to outline their policies or clarify their stances, but were able to instead project “vibes.”
Builders Mistrust ERCOT: Texans never believed the assurances put out by Gov. Abbott and ERCOT after the snowpocalypse, that the grid had been fixed. Evidence comes from Texas homebuilders, who are incorporating blackout protection in the homes they’re constructing. KUT reports that builders in Houston, Dallas, and here are including backup battery power, solar panels, and increased insulation in their new homes. Coincidentally, ERCOT recently announced that this winter looks disturbingly similar to 2021, when a weeklong power outage killed hundreds of residents.
Fossil Fuel in Focus: A gas plant? Really? Council votes today on a plan to generate future electricity that includes a new gas plant. Environmentalists say the idea is a betrayal of the city’s Climate Equity Plan, which aims to bring emissions in Austin to “net-zero” by 2040. The city’s electric utility says the new facility would be a “peaker” unit and only operate during times of peak energy demand. Read more online.
It’s Turtle Time: Perhaps you knew, probably you didn’t – UT has a turtle pond. It’s located on the north side of the UT Tower but is currently drained for repairs. So, no turtles. “The turtles are currently on vacation, and they’re up at some ponds that we have up at the Pickle Research Campus,” Travis LaDuc of UT’s Biodiversity Collections told KUT. LaDuc said he and about eight students jumped into the pond and retrieved 100 turtles. The goal is to have the turtles back by spring, when they lay their eggs.
UT Breaks Record Again: UT may not have its turtle situation sorted out, but the university is certainly attracting enough human students. The Statesman reported this week that, for a third straight year, UT received record-breaking admissions applications. This year brought almost 17,500 more, or 24.3% more, compared to last year. For students from out of state, interest grew by 48%, according to a UT news release.
SoCo Books Closing: South Congress Books is losing its Kerbey Lane home. Only two years after being forced from its original location, the 13-year-old business will close its brick-and-mortar store. They’ll keep operating on eBay and as Tornbooks on Abebooks.com, and for physical perusals, they will pop up at Uncommon Objects and Antiques of Oakmont. For now, the store is holding a 10% off sale through Christmas Eve, rising to 20% through the final day of business on Jan. 5. Read more online.
Speaker Squeaker: Some pretty weird stuff is happening among state Republicans. House Speaker Dade Phelan, who feuded with fellow Republican leaders last session, failed to get the support to be speaker once more. Two challengers – Dustin Burrows of Lubbock and David Cook of Mansfield – are claiming they’ll be the next speaker. The House’s GOP caucus endorsed Cook, who is more conservative, last week. But Burrows immediately announced that his support from independent-minded Republicans and Democrats will be enough for him to win the contest.
Moving in Mueller: In many ways, Mueller is a great example of the kind of dense, urban living space that is in high demand in Austin. But the neighborhood continues to deal with congestion issues. A new white paper from a local transportation management nonprofit recommends broad changes in parking and transit policies in the neighborhood, the Austin Monitor reports. It calls for more bike accessibility, carpool programs, and better signage to help visitors get to currently underused public garages.
Higher Taxes, More Community Investment: For one year in our lives – last year – the city’s property taxes actually declined. That’s over now. KUT reports that an analysis by the Travis County Tax Office shows that the average homeowner’s tax bill for the upcoming year will be $1,123 higher than in 2024, an increase of 11%. It’s the biggest jump in 10 years and is partly the result of voters’ approval of November ballot propositions to provide more money to our local schools and credits for child care for economically disadvantaged residents.
Tiny Homes on the National Stage: Last week, The New York Times’ massively popular podcast The Daily turned its focus to Austin, looking at the affordable housing experiment we know as Community First! Village. It’s a neighborhood of microhomes for formerly homeless Austinites created by local businessman Alan Graham.
Quote of the Week
“Ladies and gentlemen, we can celebrate the judge doing the right thing with the most ridiculous fraudulent auction known in human history.”
– Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones celebrating a judge’s rejection of The Onion’s bid for Infowars
This article appears in December 13 • 2024.