Today, the print version of the Houston Chronicle and Chron.com both ran an edited version of an Associated Press story on a House vote on base closures that will affect Ellington Field locally.
The fact that the Chronicle D.C. bureau did not cover this story of local relevance is about what we’ve come to expect. The editing of the AP story is also curious.
Beneath the [Read More] link, I’ve posted the original AP story as posted by the Fort Worth Star Telegram. The bolded portion represents what the Chronicle and Chron.com chose to cut from their versions.
Rep. Tom DeLay joined nine other Texans, most of them Democrats, to oppose a base closing plan Thursday, but he ended up on the losing side.
The House voted 324-85 to allow the first round of U.S. military base closures and consolidations in a decade. Texas installations that would be closed include Naval Station Ingleside, Lone Star Ammunition Plant and Brooks City Base in San Antonio. Red River Army Depot will be realigned and F-16s stationed at Ellington Field near Houston will be removed.
Also, thousands more troops will be added to Fort Bliss, but Fort Hood will lose a temporary unit local officials hoped would be permanent.
Along with DeLay, Republican Reps.* Ted Poe of Houston, Mike McCaul of Austin and Ron Paul of Surfside opposed the recommendations of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission. Democrats who opposed the plan were Reps. Chet Edwards of Waco; Al Green and Gene Green of Houston; Ruben Hinojosa of Mercedes, Eddie Bernice Johnson of Dallas and Solomon Ortiz of Corpus Christi.
The vote marked the first time DeLay has opposed a base closing plan, said spokeswoman Shannon Flaherty.
DeLay asked the Air Force to keep the 147th Fighter Wing at Ellington Field until unmanned drones scheduled to be at the air field are delivered. He also has asked for a schedule for removing the F-16s from Ellington.
“It should be plain to see that instead of removing our fighter wing, Ellington Field is in need of more personnel, greater maintenance and better military assets,” DeLay said. “And yet, the BRAC Commission has chosen to realign Ellington, removing its F-16 fighter wing, and leaving the Gulf Coast in many ways more vulnerable than it is now. “
The base closings and realignments – backed by the Pentagon, White House, Republican leaders and many Democrats are intended to streamline military facilities and troops and put savings toward improving U.S. military forces and restructuring them to respond to future threats.
The print Chronicle and Chron.com chose to cut parts of the AP story that flesh out a local angle. Perhaps the cuts were made because of space limitations, but that wouldn’t seem to affect Chron.com.
It’s unfortunate that the D.C. bureau was apparently too busy to cover this local angle to national news, and it’s also unfortunate that the AP reporting was excised of some of its local flavor.
* The Chron.com version changes this bolded portion to “Republican Reps. Tom DeLay of Sugar Land,”
