[WB1] The City of Houston, which last week approved an eye-popping $5.7 billion budget, has announced that it will not be releasing its report on the 2021 winter freeze (per guidance from the state attorney general).
Houston residents will recall that the city’s water system failed catastrophically, for days, during the freeze, with no explanation (to this day) as to what went wrong with backup systems (we suspect a combination of ineptitude, poor management, and deferred investment/maintenance – the usual stuff when it comes to the City of Houston’s declining services).
Of course, City of Houston leadership could release some assessment of what went wrong without jeopardizing the city’s ability to protect critical infrastructure from terrorism or criminal activity. One can only assume the assessment was so damning that said leadership decided it would never, ever be shared with the public in any way, shape, or form.
[WB2] In last week’s update, we neglected to note that two of the aides to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo who are facing charges related to the contract that was fixed for an unqualified Democratic party operative to do COVID outreach (wink) have asked a district court judge to remove Ogg from the case, citing the DA’s conflict of interest. Of note, one of the three indicted aides did not join the others. Is it possible he’s cooperating with authorities in the case? TICK TOCK
[WB3] The U.S. House of Representatives voted this week to approve the so-called “Ike Dike” project.
[WB4] Over 400 cases in Harris County are being reviewed after the testimony of a DNA analyst in an earlier case was found faulty by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
[WB5] Massive traffic snarls continue to plague users of Bush Intercontinental Airport, as a poorly managed expansion project continues to muddle along.
[WB6] KRIV-26 asks whether Houston’s gun buyback plan will help or misfire? It will almost certainly be a costly, ineffective, virtue-signaling exercise that has no real impact on anything. That said, the main problem at the moment is that no “plan” exists. There’s just a mayoral announcement.
[WB7] This seems like a better hobby for an area billionaire than his advocacy shop’s decarceration and gun–grabbing projects.
[WB8] The New York Times reported this week that former Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson used some 66 women for massages over a 17-month period, apparently with some assistance from the team. The area newspaper of record ran the New York Times story on its pages.
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