Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Wednesday Wowza EV Turnout Wrangle


(Early) turnout is off to a torrid start. The Harris County Clerk’s office tweeted that 128K people voted in person today, plus 41K absentee ballots received to date, easily the highest single-day total in county history. In 2016, the first day of early voting saw 129K combined in-person and absentee ballots.

In Travis County, 36K voted in person (Tuesday), roughly the same as in 2016, and another 23K absentee ballots were received ... more than double the 2016 number.

Hidalgo County reported its first-day turnout exceeded 2016 by 1.5K votes. Denton County Judge Andy Eads tweeted in-person first-day turnout (36K) was more than double the first day of 2016 (17K). Turnout in Lubbock County was around 25% more than the first day in 2016.

In Dallas County, 58K people voted in person (actually over 59K)  roughly the same as the first day of 2016.

Same in San Antonio.  Same in El Paso.

Reform Austin provides the executive summary: a Texas House flip is within Democrats' reach; Trump's re-election chances -- and those of Republicans tethered to him -- are slipping in the suburbs, and Greg Abbott's popularity is rolling downhill fast.

So I feel very safe in voting a Green slate.

(I know I promised fewer election posts in this Wrangle, but hey, shit happens.)


Two breaking court rulings that aren't election-related:


Which gets us to the criminal justice news, full of "cops behaving badly" again.  Let's have a couple of bowls of Grits for Breakfast.

Overwhelmingly, most searches at traffic stops are fruitless fishing expeditions. At the Houston Chronicle, Eric Dexheimer and St. John Barned-Smith dug into the data on contraband hit rates, newly available from Texas' Sandra Bland Act, and took aim at trainers teaching cops "deception detection."

Ten people died in the Tarrant County Jail this year and a woman gave birth without the jailers noticing (the baby also died). Now Sheriff Bill Waybourn is up for reelection. Michael Barajas at the Texas Observer took apart his record.

The Sheriff in Fort Bend County is running for Congress and taking heat for his record of on-the-job misconduct.


The Observer's editor-in-chief has a follow-up.


Donald Neely, arrested by Galveston police on horses last year and then led by a rope through the city, has filed a lawsuit.

(Neely) seeks mental anguish damages on claims of assault, infliction of emotional distress, malicious prosecution and negligence. Both the city and its police department are named (.pdf) defendants.


The city has not formally apologized to Neely and no officers were disciplined for how they treated him, according to his attorney, who said he’s content to stay out of the spotlight, but he would like to get a decent settlement and to be the catalyst for Galveston police reforms.

And it seems as if I'll never be able to post another Wrangle ever again without mentioning Ken Paxton, whose latest fraud and corruption allegations have taken another odd turn.  Meanwhile, our governor gets it wrong again about crime in the capital city.


Concluding, the 21st Annual March to Abolish the Death Penalty was a virtual event, and it featured Elsa Alcala, a former Republican judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Now for environmental news ...

Naveena Sadasivam at Grist points out a Texas-sized loophole letting polluters off the hook.  "Enforce existing laws" is coincidentally the rallying cry for the Democratic candidate for the Railroad Commission, Chrysta Castaneda (she's miles better than the Republican with a dead Democrat's name, but I made a case for voting against both on Monday).  Bridget Thompson, a UT intern at Environment Texas, writes about the plastic she sees -- coffee cup lids, water and soda bottles, food containers, and the ubiquitous plastic bags and wrappers -- in Texas' creeks.  Bloomberg (via MSN) reports on a Permian Basin wellsite, abandoned by its bankrupt fracking company owner, that has been leaking gases for almost a year, despite being investigated by the TCEQ.

“TCEQ and RRC must properly address these intense emissions including, but not limited to, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), methane, and hydrogen sulfide,” Sharon Wilson, Earthworks’ thermographer, wrote in the letter {.pdf).

And Houston could be the low-carbon energy capital in thirty years (needs to be much sooner, of course)... but only if regional leaders begin taking the proper steps NOW (.pdf).


Only a few social justice headlines, primarily dealing with the economic blows being dealt to the poorest among us as a result of COVID, and the squabbling back-and-forth between our so-called leaders in Washington.


And former H-Town city council candidate Brad Jordan, better known as rapper Scarface, is in need of a kidney donor after having contracted the coronavirus.


And here's two stories from LareDOS I want to share: the Villa Antigua Museum has its "Cities of the Dead" exhibit of Laredo and Webb County cemeteries opening in November, and Luis Guerra updates another of his Cuentos de la Sierra, this one about la aguililla (the hawk).

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