
[WB1] In politics, it’s never good if you’re a politician whose communications team is making news. For the Turner administration, this happens with some frequency, as his communications staffers have generally not been very good at the job. This week, press secretary Mary Benton stepped in it (again) with yet another of her insipid tweets. The gang on KRIV-26’s What’s Your Point show – and Charles Blain specifically – rightly blasted her for her behavior.
[WB2] Meanwhile, Bill King still wants to know why Mayor Sylvester Turner told off-duty firefighters to stay home during Hurricane Harvey. The Turner administration has yet to offer a reasonable answer to that question.
[WB3] Houston’s budget remains structurally unbalanced, despite what the mayor says when he bothers to show up at mayoral forums.
[WB4] A new group called Houston for Tomorrow has come out in favor of a state takeover of HISD, according to Urban Reform.
[WB5] Two academics, on the other hand, contend in a data-light opinion piece for the Houston Chronicle that states don’t have a great track record with such takeovers. When we noted on twitter that only two examples were cited in the evidence-light piece, one of the authors (interestingly, the architect of the most recent Houston “pension reform” can-kicking) demonstrated that he was not at all familiar with how Texas law would guide such a takeover, which kind of detracts from the usefulness of the op-ed in guiding Houston/Texas education policymakers.
[WB6] Nevertheless, the HISD board continues to try to find ways to extend its reign of error despite being put on notice by the Texas Education Agency.
[WB7] Roll Call thinks Texas Congressional District 7 is the “Houston suburbs” and that a laughable “poll” that was fairly obviously shared (and probably commissioned) by one campaign’s consultants is to be taken seriously for some reason.
[WB8] In case you missed it: Be sure to check out our commentary on the latest METRO/Uptown Post Oak BRT setback.
[WB9] The sad thing about this satirical Babylon Bee article on auto parts control is that it’s pretty easy to envision the David Crossley/Houston Tomorrow/Vision Zero crowd nodding in agreement as they read along.
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