Stories with the latest COVID 19 updates, Juneteenth celebrations, Black Lives Matter rallies, police and municipal government responses, and the disturbing backlash from the extremist right will be curated in a separate post appearing later. This Wrangle brings developments on TXGOP foibles, the latest election news, environmental accounts, and some lighter-side items to help keep us sane in these trying times.
Governor Helen Wheels kicks us off.
.@GovAbbott congratulates Texas counties on solving his clever mask riddle https://t.co/qWuYiQr3eF #TexasCOVID #TXLege
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) June 17, 2020
"A Gordian knot is a complicated problem with a simple solution. A Greggian knot is a simple problem made hopelessly complicated by the governor's own desire to be removed from the consequences of his own actions." https://t.co/XAf3JXCZAU
— Texas Monthly (@TexasMonthly) June 18, 2020
In a podcast full of F-bombs and other expletives, two staffers from the hardline conservative group @EmpowerTexans were caught mocking @GovAbbott for his disability. #txlege https://t.co/ScNDtiD8on
— Reform Austin (@ReformAustin) June 19, 2020
The comments came on an unedited version of the group’s podcast, Texas Scorecard Radio, featuring Empower Texans’ vice president, Cary Cheshire, and general counsel, Tony McDonald. The audio was published — apparently inadvertently — Thursday. https://t.co/3OFvHHUfRj #TXLege
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) June 19, 2020
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announces he’ll hold briefing about COVID-19 with limit press coverage on Monday at 2 pm. The Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News once again not allowed to be there to ask questions despite both cities seeing huge spike in ICUs. pic.twitter.com/Fsjmb5mPTD
— Jeremy Wallace (@JeremySWallace) June 21, 2020
TX US Sen @tedcruz spends hours on @Twitter getting into flame war with Hellboy
— ChickenFriedPolitics (@ChkFriPolitics) June 16, 2020
--ChickenFriedPolitics.com is The Place for Southern Politics--https://t.co/ZbbkeBVMAj
Trump supporters scrambled Saturday over an antifa "elevated threat" to tear down the Alamo. Ted Cruz urged protesters to "come and take it." But the only proof that antifa wanted to blow up the Alamo comes from an InfoWars lawyer and a QAnon believer. https://t.co/EEDHDMAi85
— Will Sommer (@willsommer) June 17, 2020
“This is a victory for all Americans who value equality and fairness. When laws are enacted to prohibit discrimination against gay and transgender individuals, research has shown that health outcomes improve." — @sandyapa2020 on today's #SCOTUS ruling https://t.co/feK73THGu0
— American Psychological Association (@APA) June 15, 2020
The #SCOTUS decision expanding workplace protections to LGBTQ individuals is part of a larger trend of fading opposition to queer rights, even in Texas.
— Progress Texas (@ProgressTX) June 21, 2020
If you don’t support full equality for #LGBTQIA+ folks, you’re on the wrong side of history. #txlege https://t.co/hZMUm0dwrx
Continuing to mark Pride Month, Equality Texas introduces us to Elia Chinó, the founder of the Fundación Latinoamericana de Acción Social, Inc. (FLAS).
#SCOTUS rules that the Trump administration's cancellation of #DACA was illegal. https://t.co/OegsIzgZWn
— Nina Totenberg (@NinaTotenberg) June 18, 2020
8 📅 days until you can head to the polls for #EarlyVoting 🗳️ for the July 2020 #PrimaryRunOffs! #KnowYourDates and get ready to #GetHeard 🗣👂🏼!
— Harris County Clerk (@HarrisVotes) June 21, 2020
6/29 -First day of in-person Early Voting
7/2 -Last day to apply for a mail ballot
7/14 -Primary Runoff #Election Day #HarrisVotes pic.twitter.com/Ked52JhR9k
Visiting with @JoyAnnReid and fellow Senate candidates @MikeEspyMS @harrisonjaime @ReverendWarnock and @Booker4KY on @amjoyshow pic.twitter.com/PzH7t3IJpV
— Royce West (@RoyceWestTX) June 21, 2020
New: With the July runoffs less than a month away, Republican opponents of the hardline conservative group Empower Texans are gearing up to make the group's allied candidates pay dearly — and sink its intraparty reputation for good. #txlege https://t.co/KwBo1z3CUX
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) June 22, 2020
Here's a few state ecological stories from last week.
An analysis of @TCEQ data found that, in the weeks following the start of the pandemic, the agency issued 20 percent fewer violations of environmental laws than it did during the same period in 2019. https://t.co/yUUHdCNhdH
— Texas Observer (@TexasObserver) June 22, 2020
Precinct 3 includes Buffalo Bayou west of Loop 610 and many tributaries, as well as other major streams like Cypress and Little Cypress creeks, part of Spring Creek and Brays Bayou, the federal flood-control reservoirs, Addicks and Barker; and much of the Katy Prairie. It also includes parts of Memorial, Spring Branch, Bellaire, West University, and more.
The west-northwest area of the county, once farm and ranch land, has been under heavy development pressure for many years, with resulting controversies over requirements for stormwater detention and preservation of the native prairie.
Nature-based approaches to reducing flood risk—prairie grasses and wetlands, trees, parks, ponds, and gardens—slow rain runoff and absorb stormwater before it even enters and overwhelms our natural (green) and built (gray) drainage systems. Green flood management is the most practical, beneficial, and cost-effective method of reducing flood risk.
For these reasons, local environmental groups are sponsoring an online forum with the Democratic candidates vying to take the place of retiring Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack, a Republican who has represented Precinct 3 since 1989.
The forum, which takes place online June 24 from 7 to 8 p.m., will focus on environmental issues. Advance registration for this event is required. To sign up go here.
The Democratic candidates are Diana Alexander, an educator, and Michael Moore, former chief of staff under Houston Mayor Bill White. The runoff election is July 14, with early voting starting on Monday, June 29 and running through Friday, July 10.
The winner will face Republican candidate Tom Ramsey in the general election on Nov. 3. Ramsey is a four-term mayor of tiny Spring Valley Village in west Houston, a civil engineer and until 2015, senior vice-president of Klotz and Associates, now RPS Group, a major contractor with Harris County and the Harris County Flood Control District.
This month in weird Texas news: A hacker crashes a city council meeting, the El Paso Opera offers curbside performances, and a bear makes its way from Mexico to Texas. https://t.co/sU76YS39JV
— Texas Observer (@TexasObserver) June 21, 2020
Tell me this photo of signs in front of the Hi-Way Tavern in Crystal City, Texas isn't one of the best Texas photos of all time. Just tell me. C'mon, I dare you. 😉😃
— Traces of Texas (@TracesofTexas) June 17, 2020
Russell Lee took this in 1939. pic.twitter.com/i4pafsKgSg
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