[WB1] At the start of the week, the Texas Education Agency recommended replacement of HISD’s dysfunctional school board with a state-appointed governing board. KPRC-2 News made the full report available here (as it became public as part of HISD’s court filing).
[WB2] A Houston Fire Department captain won his appeal for workers compensation cancer benefits a year after the city denied his claim. The City of Houston has apparently not decided if it will pursue further court action. In response to criticism from the fire union, the mayor’s ill-tempered communications staff put out this laughable statement: “I believe Houstonians and other people in this country are exhausted from how people talk negatively about each other, especially when what is being said is untrue….”
[WB3] KHOU-11’s Jeremy Rogalski reports that an internal City of Houston audit confirmed that from January to June, the city mishandled some 1,301 tons of recycling. Recall that the mayor’s communications director Alan Bernstein snidely dismissed Rogalski’s original reporting in April:
[WB4] David Jennings reports that the Harris County Republican party has rejected Diane Trautman’s proposal to conduct a “joint” Republican and Democrat Harris County primary in 2020. Jennings also includes a fun reference to a local news consolidator website that reproduces long blockquotes of paywalled news.
[WB5] Last Sunday, a flash car mob took over the intersection at Westheimer/Sage and shut it down with fireworks and car stunts. Houston police were slow to respond, just as they were slow to respond to a similar “event” the weekend before near Toyota Center.
[WB6] While various interest groups have recently come out strongly against the I-45 expansion, Oscar Slotboom makes the case in favor of the project (which, he contends, has been in the works for 17 years). See more from Slotboom at Houston Strategies.
[WB7] Bob Rehak reports on his difficulties trying to get basic information from the Army Corps of Engineers about… dredging plans. It’s not clear why the Corps so often feels like it must keep the public in the dark about its decisionmaking on flood control.
[WB8] A caravan transporting massive sections of a drilling ship finally arrived at the Bayport Cruise Terminal, after causing great inconvenience all along the way. Here’s a thought: Shipbuilders historically have not been located inland, away from bodies of water, for very good reason.
