Now in our 12th year on KPFT!

FYI: WordPress is forcing me to work with a new type of editor, so things will look … different … for a while. I’m hoping I’ll improve with a learning curve. Please bear with me, and let me know of any odd glitches you see that I may not, so I can try to fix them. — Mike

Beginning April 20th, Thinkwing Radio will air on KPFT 90.1-HD2 on Sundays at 1PM, and will re-air on Mondays at 2PM and Wednesdays at 11AM. Thanks for listening!

AUDIO: 

Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio) is now on Sundays at 1PM and re-runs Wednesday at 11AM (CT) on KPFT 90.1 FM-HD2, Houston’s Community Media. You can also hear the show:

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1. It’s already time for some runoff elections resulting from the May 3^rd Early Voting Centers will be open this week on Tuesday, May 27 through Tuesday, June 3 (Mon-Sat: 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.; Sun: 12:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.)
   1. On Election Day, Saturday June 7, Voting Centers will be open from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. If you are in line by 7PM on any voting day, you cannot be turned away.
   2. You can visit the “What’s on my Ballot?” page at HarrisVotes-dot-COM and enter your name or address to see all the contests and candidates you are eligible to vote on! I have provided the link in this blog post. (You can bring handwritten notes or printed sample ballots to the voting booth; just be sure to take them with you when you leave.) 
   3. The deadline to apply for a mail ballot is May 27, so it’s too late to mail one in.
   4. For election and ballot information outside Harris County, go to your county’s elections office. I have some of those at the bottom of this show post. Let me know if any need updating.
   5. The following entities have contracted with Harris County to host their contests. Check your sample ballot to see if you fall within the boundaries for any of these four entities: City of Pasadena Councilmember District A; City of Pasadena Councilmember District B; City of Pasadena Councilmember District G; [and the] San Jacinto Community College District.
   6. For election information anywhere in Texas, you can go to VoteTexas-dot-gov.
2. FYI, from THELEADERNEWS-dot-COM — Solid Waste Management holiday collection schedule for Memorial Day, Juneteenth, and Independence Day; COMMUNITY REPORTS | THELEADERNEWS.COM | May 20, 2025 Updated 3 hrs ago. TAGS: Houston Trash Pickup, Holiday Schedule,
   1. In observance of the City of Houston’s approved holiday schedule, there will be no curbside collection services, and all Solid Waste Management (SWMD) facilities will be closed. 
   2. Services will resume the day following each holiday, and customers are urged to review the information below to ensure they are prepared for the holiday schedule. 
   3. Memorial Day– Monday, May 26, 2025
   4. Juneteenth Day– Thursday, June 19, 2025
   5. Independence Day– Friday, July 4, 2025
   6. MIKE: So for Memorial Day, Monday pick-ups will be Tuesday, and Tuesday pick-ups will be Wednesday.
   7. MIKE: Juneteenth curbside pickups will be the next day, which is a Friday.
   8. MIKE: July 4^th curbside pick-ups will take place the following day, which is Saturday.
   9. MIKE: All drop-off facilities with reopen the day after each legal holiday.
   10. MIKE: You’ve been warned.
3. Exclusive: $1 billion plan could reshape part of Montgomery County with huge new town center; By Marissa Luck, Staff Writer | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | May 18, 2025. TAGS: Magnolia, Magnolia Town Center, Tannos Development Group,
   1. A Friendswood-based developer is unveiling plans for a $1 billion project that could transform 200 acres of rural land in Magnolia into one of the largest mixed-use developments the small city has ever seen.
   2. Tannos Development Group has spent the past two years laying the groundwork for a project called Magnolia Town Center, which could eventually encompass 1 million square feet of residential, multifamily, retail, office, medical, and hospitality space.
   3. [Louis Tannos, president of Tannos Development, said,] “This is the first product of its kind in Magnolia… it’s the largest and most well-organized of its kind. It’s going to give the city something it’s never had before.”
   4. [Rachel Steele, executive director of Magnolia Economic Development Corp., a division of the City of Magnolia, said that] Magnolia has just 5,800 residents, but its population has exploded in recent years due to an influx of retirees and Houstonians seeking a quieter lifestyle. … Between 2020 and 2024, the city’s population grew by 147%, according to estimates based on data from the Texas Demographic Center. Steele said she wouldn’t be surprised if the population doubles again within the next five years.
   5. Magnolia’s meteoric growth has strained the city’s water resources, forcing the city to impose a building moratorium in December 2022. The moratorium has been extended multiple times, most recently in April, but is set to end in August.
   6. The project is planned just west of Highway 249, near the intersection of FM 1488 and Buddy Riley Boulevard. …
   7. Expected to break ground in early 2026, Magnolia Town Center could transform mostly undeveloped and agricultural land into a mixed-use district with a walkable, outdoor shopping mall akin to Market Street in The Woodlands. Tannos said the entire development could be built out within a five-year time period. However, a lot will depend on how quickly third-party developers move.
   8. [Executive Director Rachel Steele said,] “This project is transformational, it really is. When you really look at the whole scope … they’re not just bringing in one thing, they’re addressing multiple needs the community has been asking for.”
   9. While the city’s rural charm has attracted new residents, the lack of amenities, entertainment options, and professional services has been a common complaint, Steele said.
   10. Although the project still needs formal city approvals and permitting, the initial plans for Magnolia Town Center include:
          250,000 square feet of retail space
       •    200,000 square feet of medical and office space
       •    A nationally branded hotel 
       •    A 350-unit apartment complex
       •    A convention center capable of hosting up to 1,500 people
       •    185 single-family home lots
       •    A senior living development
       •    Parking garages and new roads
       •    32 acres of parks, trails, green space and lakes
   11. While much of the project is self-financed, the developer is seeking to strike an agreement with the city of Magnolia to be reimbursed over time for the cost of building public infrastructure, including roads, water, sewage, and adding utilities at the site. That could be achieved through two public finance tools – a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) and a Public Improvement District (PID) – that would need formal approval from the city. Those tools would allow the city to avoid issuing any bonds or going into debt, Steele said.
   12. Construction won’t begin until Tannos and the city finalize a development agreement outlining infrastructure responsibilities, zoning, phasing, design expectations, and financing terms. The project would also have to move through the normal permitting process.
   13. The site comes with challenges. About half the land lies in a floodplain, requiring developers to dig up more than 1.2 million cubic yards of soil to create manmade lakes that will serve as both drainage infrastructure and recreational amenities.
   14. The excavated dirt will then be redistributed to elevate the rest of the property above the floodplain, said Tyler Munson, a civil engineer with Berger Munson Engineers working on the project.
   15. Meanwhile, Tannos said he has already secured $52 million worth of land sales under letters of intent with prospective buyers, including a homebuilder, multifamily developer, bank and hotel group. In total, he hopes to sell roughly $90 million worth of land to third-party developers who would construct their own buildings.
   16. [Tannos said,] “Magnolia has long been (overlooked). It feels country, so people pass it up. But I didn’t — because I see what’s coming.”
   17. MIKE: I have several observations from this story.
   18. MIKE: A couple of weeks ago, I read a story here about Conroe having to initiate development moratoriums due a lack of water infrastructure. Now Magnolia is having to do the same.
   19. MIKE: Also, on January 9^th, I read a story about a deal that Mayor Whitmire and the State of Texas were exploring for the State to buy Houston water that could be redistributed to more arid parts of the state.
   20. MIKE: If you ever had any doubts that Texas is entering an era of water shortage that will ultimately impact the economy and lifestyles throughout the state, doubt no more.
   21. MIKE: Texas is in dire need of more, and more reliable, surface water sources because underground aquifers are not infinite and over-pumping water from them comes with its own problems.
   22. MIKE: Then there’s always the issue of loss of agricultural land that often comes with development. Arable land is also a finite resource, and it’s fair to say that as our population grows, we’re literally paving over land that used to feed us.
   23. MIKE: I also can’t help but wonder if they’ll relocate useful topsoil, which is a valuable and shrinking commodity. It may not make sense economically, but it may be a good idea environmentally.
   24. MIKE: Another point I might make is that raising land in one area will inevitably cause flooding wherever it drains to. It’s the reason that The Heights doesn’t permit you to bring soil into the community, and if you raise land above the flood plain in one area, builders have to take that soil from elsewhere in the development and create detention ponds for subsequent runoff.
   25. MIKE: And then there’s the final irony in the story, that “the city’s rural charm has attracted new residents, [but] the lack of amenities, entertainment options, and professional services has been a common complaint.”
   26. MIKE: This brings to mind the old joke that wherever you go, there you are.
   27. MIKE: These folks are moving to a small town for its peace and quiet and hometown feel, but they want big city amenities there, too.
   28. MIKE: You just can’t please some people.
   29. REFERENCE: Massive Magnolia development growing again with 1,400-home expansion — HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM
4. Fifth Ward may be the hardest-hit neighborhood in all of Texas by SNAP cuts; By Jeremy Wallace, Texas Political Writer | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | May 20, 2025. TAGS: President Donald Trump, Houston’s Fifth Ward, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Texas 18th Congressional District Special Election,
   1. Nearly 700,000 needy Texans could be knocked off federal food stamp programs or have their benefits slashed under reforms congressional Republicans are racing to pass, at the behest of President Donald Trump.
   2. And one of the most impacted areas of Texas could be Houston’s Fifth Ward, which is the only area in the state currently without an elected member of Congress to fight the cuts.
   3. S. Rep. Sylvester Turner died in March, but Gov. Greg Abbott has delayed holding a special election to replace him until November – leaving the 18th Congressional District without a representative until late this year.
   4. According to estimates compiled by Democrats in Congress, the 18th District has 155,000 people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — the most of any congressional district in Texas. Seventy-five percent of the district is made up of people who are Black or Hispanic.
   5. “It’s unconscionable,” said Amanda Edwards, one of dozens of candidates who have filed to run for the open seat, which was formerly filled for nearly three decades by the late Sheila Jackson Lee. [She added that,] “This is exactly the type of scenario that illustrates why representation matters.”
   6. Abbott has said he is waiting until November to fill the seat because he doesn’t trust that Democratic-led Harris County can conduct a fair election before then.
   7. [The Republican governor said in a statement last month announcing the special election that,] “No county in Texas does a worse job of conducting elections than Harris County.”
   8. But Abbott’s move leaves the 18th District without a representative for at least 245 days — twice as long as any of the other 14 vacancies in Congress over the last two years that were created by a death or resignation.
   9. And it is helping Republicans in Congress by leaving Democrats one vote short through most of 2025. The GOP started the year with a five-vote majority, but because of the deaths of Turner and Arizona Democrat Raul Grijalva, the party can now [afford to] lose three Republican votes on big bills if the rest of the coalitionsticks together.
   10. In a statement, Abbott’s office said he “will continue to work with the legislature and Congress to ensure Texans have access to healthy foods to care for themselves and their families.”
   11. It’s not just the 18th District that is bracing for the cuts. U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, a Houston Democrat who represents the neighboring 29th Congressional District, said the cuts would be a disaster for the entire state, which has some of the highest percentages of people dealing with food insecurity. Texas has about 3 million people presently enrolled in SNAP. Garcia’s district has more than 103,000 people in the program. 
   12. In total, the proposed changes could result in 683,000 Texans, or about 23% of the state’s participants, losing some or all of their SNAP benefits, according to research from the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
   13. Garcia argued that Republicans are selling the changes as fiscally sound reforms, but ultimately it’s going to leave more families in Texas and Houston hungry, and add to food deserts as businesses that accept food stamps see less business. She said the working poor who are struggling to keep food on the table are the ones who could be knocked off because of new paperwork and verification rules Republicans have included in the massive spending and tax bill [that] President Donald Trump is pushing.
   14. [Said Garcia, who represents the 29th Congressional District, where an estimated one [out] of every five households is collecting food stamps,] “The bottom line is that a lot of these families will be declared ineligible based on a bunch of red tape, like not filing the right paperwork.”
   15. [To qualify for SNAP in Texas,] a family of four has to earn less than $4,125 each month. The maximum benefit for a family of four is $973 per month, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
   16. Republicans stand by their proposed changes, insisting they are enacting reforms to assure SNAP benefits are truly going to the needy.
   17. [Said U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, a Pennsylvania Republican who is chairman of the House Agriculture Committee,] “We ensure that SNAP works the way Congress intended it to by reinforcing work, rooting out waste, and instituting long-overdue accountability incentives to control costs and end executive and state overreach.”
   18. More specifically, the changes include expanding work requirements for people to receive food aid. Current law already requires able-bodied adults without dependents to meet work requirements until they are 54. The new reforms would push that [work requirement up to age 64.]
   19. In addition, some parents are already exempt from work requirements if they have children under 18. But under the proposed changes, only people caring for dependent children under 7 would be exempt from work requirements.
   20. Participants in SNAP currently have to provide evidence [that] they work 20 hours per week to qualify to be on the program for longer than 3 months.
   21. Changes to the work requirements alone could cut up to 3.5 million people from food stamp rolls nationwide, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.
   22. GOP leaders are also pushing for administrative changes that would shift responsibility for funding food benefits to states. States would have to pick up 5% of the costs of benefits and 75% of the administrative costs for the program. Currently, the federal government covers the full cost of the program.
   23. Garcia said some states, like Texas, aren’t going to want to add that to their budgets and will be in a position to cut even more costs.
   24. Finally, the changes to SNAP would bar states from seeking waivers for people who live in areas with high unemployment and can’t find work, and it would block future presidents from expanding SNAP benefits as President Joe Biden did during the COVID pandemic.
   25. The focus on the SNAP program isn’t unexpected, given [that] it was a key piece of Project 2025, the conservative blueprint written by Republican groups in preparation for a new Trump administration. In it, they called for increasing work requirements on families who get benefits from SNAP, and called for reducing school lunch programs that Biden expanded during the pandemic. Spending on school lunch programs jumped from $27.6 billion in 2020 to over $50 billion during Biden’s tenure.
   26. MIKE: While referring to Elon Musk, Bill Gates recently said, “The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one.”
   27. MIKE: In fact, this statement can refer to the entire Republican Party. Keep that in mind as Republicans continue to turn Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” into Scroogian law.
   28. MIKE: It was reported that in 2007 that many people in Congress thought that people earning over $100,000 per year are middle class. In fact, in 2007, and depending on where you lived in the country, a median income could range from $50,000 per year in rural areas to as much as $75,000 per year in places like New York City or Los Angeles.
   29. MIKE: According to the CPI Inflation Calculator, inflation since 2007 has increased the income needed to be middle class by about 58%.
   30. MIKE: So extrapolating from that 2007 quote, that Congress person’s estimate of a middle class income in 2025 has grown to at least $158,000. And it’s still wrong.
   31. MIKE: Quoting an article entitled, “The Income Needed to be Middle Class in Every U.S. State (2025)”, “In Massachusetts [in 2025], a household needs to earn between $67,000 and $200,000. … [while in] Mississippi, the minimum household income to be considered middle class is $36,162 [to $108,000.]
   32. MIKE: Another source says, “As of February 2025, the median household income in the United States was around $75,000, with half of Americans earning less.”
   33. MIKE: From an additional source in February of 2025: “The average annual household income in the U.S. has increased to $61,984. … That’s [an] increase from the $59,384 recorded at the end of 2023.”
   34. MIKE: What we have here is an example of what Benjamin Disraeli is claimed to have once said: “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies, and statistics.”
   35. MIKE: But there is agreement here that an actual “middle-class” income in this country is still pretty modest. By which I mean, “low”.
   36. MIKE: So when Republicans in Congress keep trying to stick it to people struggling to make ends meet in this country, or even just pay rent and put food on their tables, Republicans are in fact playing the role of the Sheriff of Nottingham. And that’s sadly funny when I recall that humorist Dylan Brody once said, “I recently heard [Newt Gingrich] say that Obama is a ‘Robin Hood socialist’. How far off the path of decency do you have to wander to read the Robin Hood legend and identify with the Sheriff?”
   37. MIKE: I think I’ll leave it there and give Dylan Brody the last word on this subject.
   38. MIKE: I will note, though, that for those who may question my assertions here, I have linked to my sources in this show’s blog post.
   39. REFERENCE: “I recently heard [Newt Gingrich] say that Obama is a ‘Robin Hood socialist’. How far off the path of decency do you have to wander to read the Robin Hood legend and identify with the Sheriff?” ~  Dylan Brody, from “Chronological Disorder” [Played on KPFT (10:30PM, June 7, 2012)]
   40. REFERENCE: Who Is Middle-Class According to Politicians? Everyone, of Course! — By Gerald Prante | TAXFOUNDATION.ORG | July 27, 2007
   41. REFERENCE: The Income Needed to be Middle Class in Every U.S. State (2025) — By Bruno Venditti | VISUALCAPITALIST.COM | Published March 28, 2025
   42. REFERENCE: Average US Salary by State — By Jacqueline DeMarco | SOFI.COM | January 28, 2025
5. I’m now going to read two related stories back-to-back. I think it’s important to do it that way because the first story includes context that the follow-up story does not. Then I’ll discuss them. First, from CLICK2HOUSTON-dot-COM on May 20^th — Why is Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo asking commissioners to pay for her staff to go to Paris?; By John Lomax V, Staff writer | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | May 20, 2025. TAGS: Harris County, Judge Lina Hidalgo, Greater Houston Partnership, 2025 Viva Technology Conference,
   1. Commissioners will decide Thursday if Harris County will pay for four of Judge Lina Hidalgo’s staff to join her on a trade mission to Paris in June, according to public agenda documents. 
   2. It’s the latest in an ongoing dispute over the county’s travel policy, which Hidalgo first suggested revising to allow for international travel at a meeting in late April. Citing security concerns, she initially refused to publicly state where she was going, but a representative for her office later confirmed Hidalgo planned to participate in a trade mission to Paris organized by the Greater Houston Partnership. 
   3. Hidalgo’s office asked commissioners to approve $23,000 to fund the trip, which the representative said would be allocated from funds already earmarked for travel. 
   4. … A spokesperson for the Greater Houston Partnership said the mission will be similar to one late U.S. Rep. and then-Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner was scheduled to lead in 2022. Delegates will meet with senior government officials, investors and corporate executives and participate in the 2025 Viva Technology conference, according to the spokesperson.  
   5. Nancy Sims, a political science lecturer at the University of Houston, said she thought Hidalgo’s request was reasonable. Trade missions have an important role to play in attracting industries to the Houston area, and sending a local official to participate in them is standard practice, Sims said.
   6. [Sims said,] “The idea is that you go to a different region, and you take dignitaries and business leaders, and you meet with their business leaders and convince them to come to the city. That is economic development 101, Harris County can’t grow if we don’t attract new business.”
   7. Sims said [that] historically, the city has taken the lead on representing the Houston area abroad, but it’s not particularly unusual for Hidalgo to step into that role. 
   8. Houston, unlike Harris County, maintains an office dedicated to international affairs that regularly participates in trade missions and other delegations. But this year, Mayor John Whitmire is focused on addressing the city’s immediate issues and has no plans to travel to Paris, a spokesperson for his office said. 
   9. [Said Mary Benton, spokesperson for the mayor’s office,] “Mayor Whitmire was elected to fix Houston, and that is his total focus right now — improving public safety, infrastructure and other city priorities. He does not need or intend to be in Paris.”  
   10. The proposal has proven divisive among county officials, with only Commissioner Rodney Ellis voicing support for it. Hidalgo argued that commissioners have used their personal campaign funds to participate in similar delegations in the past, and that revising the county’s travel policy to permit officials to use taxpayer funds would improve transparency. 
   11. [Hidalgo said at a May 8 Commissioners Court meeting,] “I could pay for this out of campaign funds. I don’t want to because I don’t think that practice is appropriate from us, because that means the public doesn’t know where we’re going and that we’re representing the county. We go as our official personas, but the public never hears about it because we’re using campaign money.”
   12. … The county’s travel policy allows for international travel only in “extraordinary circumstances,” and generally prohibits commissioners from using taxpayer funds for trips outside the U.S. Instead, some commissioners use money accrued through campaign donations for official international travel. 
   13. According to campaign finance reports maintained by the Texas Ethics Commission, Ellis has used his campaign chest for travel-related expenditures around 90 times between 2001 and 2016. At least 15 of those expenses were related to international travel. Ellis was the only commissioner whose name appeared in the reports. 
   14. The current policy also mandates that officials also get prior approval from Commissioners Court, which Hidalgo said presented a security concern. She said the revised travel policy, the text of which was not immediately available, would allow commissioners to seek approval for travel “on the way back,” instead of beforehand. 
   15. [Hidalgo said at the May 8 meeting,] “We’re being accountable on the way back. It’s not safe to do it on the way out because of the vitriol in politics. It’s not safe for me to broadcast where I’m going to be on this.”
   16. Commissioners Adrian Garcia, Lesley Briones and Tom Ramsey voted May 8 against changing the travel policy. A revised proposal will go before commissioners for another vote Thursday, but Ramsey said in a statement that he does not plan on changing his stance on the issue. 
   17. [Ramsey said,] “I voted no last time, and I’m voting no this time. There’s no reason to spend taxpayer dollars for Judge Hidalgo to go to a junket. If Greater Houston Partnership wanted her to go, they should pay for it.” 
   18. Garcia and Briones declined to comment further on the issue, but said they stood by the results of the May 8 vote. 
6. This is the follow-up story, also from CLICK2HOUSTON-dot-COM, but on May 23^rd — Harris County Commissioners vote down Judge Lina Hidalgo’s request to pay for staff to join her in Paris; By Christian Terry, Digital Content Producer | CLICK2HOUSTON.COM | Published: May 22, 2025 at 7:29 PM/Updated: May 23, 2025 at 7:32 AM. Tags: Harris County Commissioners Court, Lina Hidalgo, Trip, Politics
   1. Harris County Commissioners voted down two motions presented by Judge Lina Hidalgo for taxpayer money to be used to pay for members of her staff to accompany her on an international trade mission to France.
   2. While Hidalgo explained the funds for the trip itself were already included in this year’s allotted budget, the request was for more funds to be used to pay for four members of her staff to join her on the trip.
   3. [Hidalgo said during the meeting,] “They would not be able to come otherwise because they would have to take vacation time.”
   4. During the public comment section of the meeting and before the vote, Barbara Denson, a Harris County Republican Party precinct chair, gave her thoughts on the request, harshly criticizing the judge.
   5. [Denson said,] “The voters have placed their trust in you to manage their hard-earned money wisely. And it’s your responsibility to ensure that every dollar is spent effectively. State law requires essential expenditures — maintaining roads and parks, insuring public safety, [and] funding prison, but with a county facing a $140 million dollar budget deficit, every expense demands careful scrutiny. When finances are sinking, splurging on a $23,000 trip to France isn’t the life raft you need. A frivolous trip should be the absolute last priority. This situation is like reasoning with a child determined to max out their credit card for a getaway they can’t afford. This proposal is as financially reckless as buying a yacht while drowning in debt. It’s nothing more than a disappearing act for taxpayer dollars.”
   6. [Hidalgo responded, saying,] “Thank you so much and I would be curious to see my colleagues’ budget line items. I don’t know if they’ll even produce those, but to see if there’s anything there you’d find frivolous.”
   7. Later on in the meeting, when it was time to vote on the motion, Hidalgo stressed security concerns.
   8. ]She said,] “If you don’t approve this, I can’t even bring [a] security detail even though the leaks about where I’m going already got people to say they’re going to come.”
   9. Commissioners [rejected] the motion by a 2-3 vote.
   10. Before the meeting moved onto resolutions, Hidalgo made another motion, again citing security concerns.
   11. [She said,] “You know what, let me make another motion here because I’m really concerned about my security detail, so I would like to make a motion to approve international travel to Paris, France for two staff members.”
   12. Commissioners once again voted down the motion by a 2-3 vote.
   13. MIKE: There’s actually a lot to unpack here.
   14. MIKE: First, I think that Mayor Whitmire should be the one going to this Paris Trade Mission meeting as part of his overall job of not only running the city, but also of promoting it. In the past, I have made it clear on this show that generally speaking, I don’t like the way he is doing his job, so you can take that opinion as you will.
   15. MIKE: Next, given Mayor Whitmire’s failure to do what is arguably part of his job, and seeing as how Houston is such a large part of Harris County, I think it’s appropriate at this time for Judge Hidalgo to step into that role.
   16. MIKE: Keeping in mind that I don’t know the precise rules and regulations around County funds being used in this way, I can’t really comment on the legal propriety of using County money for this purpose, but on its face, the request seems reasonable.
   17. MIKE: Further, I don’t know whether all four of the staffers Hidalgo wants are for security, or whether one or two or three would be going as administrative personnel for such duties as scheduling, planning, and record keeping. Personally, I think that should be an important detail to include in this story. What precisely would each of these individuals be doing during this trip?
   18. MIKE: That said, there is the aspect that historically, it seems that personnel brought along on these sorts of trips are paid for out of campaign funds. Why Judge Hidalgo decided to make this a political hill to die on is something I don’t understand, unless there’s a serious financial consideration regarding how much she has in campaign funds to dedicate to this trip, and how much it might hurt her when it comes to paying for her next political campaign.
   19. MIKE: You’ll forgive me if I entirely discount the crocodile tears that Harris County Republican Party precinct chair Barbara Denson was shedding over “hard-earned [taxpayer] money” as shameless political hypocrisy. She is serving a party in support of a president who is cutting essential services and public assistance in order to cut taxes for, and shift wealth to, the 1% of people who actually need it least, and then borrowing still more money to pay for that tax cut, thus unnecessarily increasing the national debt. Further, her president wants to spend tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money on his birthday military parade.
   20. MIKE: If Democrats are tax-and-spend, Republicans for the last 45 years have certainly been the borrow-and-spend party. Which is more fiscally responsible?
   21. MIKE: So forgive me if I entirely dismiss Ms. Denson’s feigned indignation.
7. Next, from the HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM — Harris County leaders question whether a county administrator is needed, push to close office; By John Lomax V, Staff writer | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | May 19, 2025. TAGS: Office of County Administration, Harris County,
   1. Two commissioners have begun a push to shutter the nascent Office of County Administration [OCA], following the resignation of the second county administrator in less than four years. 
   2. Commissioners Adrian Garcia and Tom Ramsey argued at a recent meeting that Harris County was simply too large and diverse for a centralized administrator to oversee. 
   3. [Garcia said at the May 8 commissioners court meeting,] “My skepticism around this office has nothing to do with the work that the office has completed. I don’t believe a traditional county administrator like the one in Travis County will ever work in Harris County. I think it’s a disservice to our constituents.”
   4. Garcia said the office created an unneeded layer of bureaucracy between elected officials and their constituents. He said commissioners were better equipped to represent the needs of their precincts directly rather than routing them through a centralized administrator. 
   5. It’s a marked departure for Garcia, who was among the three Democrats who voted to create the office in 2021. Ramsey and then-Republican Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle criticized the Democrat-led effort, saying the office would serve only the whims of whichever party held a majority on commissioners court.
   6. The bipartisan push came after Diana Ramirez, the second person appointed to serve as county administrator since the office was founded in 2021, resigned in April. Commissioners created the OCA to oversee the county’s 16 departments, including flood control and public health, and handle various day-to-day operations. 
   7. Ramsey, a vocal opponent of the office since its inception, acknowledged the unlikely pairing and described the OCA as an experiment that had run its course.  
   8. [Ramsey said,] “We probably have come to this conclusion from different areas. But the bottom line is, we’ve had this experiment. We’re going on four years. Harris County is a different type of organization. No other county in the state has a toll road authority like this. No one has a flood control district like this. No one has port considerations like this. Nobody has a hospital district like this. So there’s a lot of issues associated with it.”
   9. A 3-2 vote ultimately saved the office from being stripped of some of its responsibilities at the May 8 meeting. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who cast the tie-breaking vote, said the OCA was an improvement over the previous system, which was predicated on commissioners strong-arming staff into doing what they wanted. 
   10. [Hidalgo said,] “Before we got here, one commissioner would beat up on a department head. Whoever beat up on the department head the hardest, that’s what would get done. So we have a county administrator system … so that we can say, ‘Here’s what we’d like to do,’ and they divide the work amongst the department heads.”
   11. … The push to dismantle the OCA came amid looming budget concerns for county officials. A bill under consideration by the Texas Legislature would reroute tens of millions in toll road revenue to Houston, and a recent pay bump for officers with the Houston Police Department has led to pay-disparity concerns among deputies employed by the county. 
   12. Although Hidalgo said the office’s budget is relatively small compared to the amount needed to bring deputies’ salaries in-line with HPD’s, Ramsey said in a statement that the OCA’s funding could be used for other crucial county services. 
   13. [Ramsey said,] “The county administrator position is nothing but a bureaucratic scapegoat. Since its inception four years ago, we’ve gone through two highly paid administrators, with the last one making $418K a year. The $25M spent on this unnecessary department can be used on addressing county responsibilities, such as the jail, drainage and infrastructure improvements or victim support services.”
   14. Although the OCA’s annual budget is around $25 million, roughly half its total allocation is made up of one-time transfers, according to county budget documents. That means just over $12 million is transferred from the OCA to other funds, such as the Domestic Violence Assistance Fund and the Language Access Fund. 
   15. Commissioners appointed Jesse Dickerman, a chief of staff to Ramirez’s predecessor and most recently the county’s director of energy transition, to serve as interim county administrator in late April. Dickerman will run the OCA while commissioners search for a permanent replacement. 
   16. While the OCA appears safe for the time being, whoever commissioners pick to permanently fill Ramirez’s position will face increased pressure from officials who see the office as needless bureaucracy. 
   17. But the OCA is not without its champions. Commissioners Rodney Ellis and Lesley Briones, who was not in office when the OCA was created, stood with Hidalgo in supporting the OCA, saying it formed an important link between elected officials and the departments that report to them.
   18. [Commissioner Briones said,] “I see them as the COO team to just project manage, help drive smooth, effective, efficient operations, and then present recommendations to the court, and we’re the decision makers. There could be day-to-day recommendations, insights, collaborations and operational efficiencies that we don’t have time to project-manage … There wasn’t anybody liaising between what I saw as deep silos when I arrived two and a half years ago.” 
   19. MIKE: My first thought from reading this piece is that if there have already been two OCA administrators in 4 years, the question to ask is, Why? Why, with a salary of over $400 thousand dollars per year, do people seem to flee from this job?
   20. MIKE: Do job responsibilities have to be better clarified? Do four Commissioners and a County Judge pull this person in too many directions at once, making the job untenable?
   21. MIKE: Commissioner Garcia’s comment may have been unintentionally revealing when he said that commissioners were better equipped to represent the needs of their precincts directly rather than routing them through a centralized administrator.
   22. MIKE: I think that makes an interesting contrast with Judge Hidalgo’s comment that, “Before we got here, one commissioner would beat up on a department head [and] Whoever beat up on the department head the hardest, that’s what would get done.”
   23. MIKE: In other words, before there was an Office of County Administration, the squeakiest wheel got the grease. Maybe for a couple of county commissioners, they miss getting results as the squeakiest wheels.
   24. MIKE: And maybe the OCA has been through two administrators in four years because there’s no way to insulate the OCA administrator from constantly getting pulled in five different directions.
   25. MIKE: When I was a young man, I once found myself in a somewhat similar situation, and I also decided to quit rather than be caught between much stronger managers in a political tug-of-war.
   26. MIKE: In principle, there may be nothing wrong with having an Office of County Administration. It may in fact be useful. But maybe there needs to be more thought put into how the commissioners liaise with that person.
   27. MIKE: And this is just a thought, but maybe that person needs to be relocated in the management flow chart. Maybe they should serve below the county judge, but above or on a par with the county commissioners.
   28. There is a National Association of Counties, which I’m linking to in this show post as a reference. On that page, there’s this summary of how weak or powerful some county administrators are.
   29. “County administrators play a major role in overseeing county operations. Forty-four percent of county administrators have a high level of authority, appointing and removing department heads, supervising departments, preparing budgets and managing day-to-day operations. Another group of county administrators, about a third of them, are mainly in charge of the daily operations of the county and the preparation of the annual budget. The remaining administrators have lower levels of authority, coordinating between departments, ensuring administrative action on board policies and preparing draft ordinances and reports.”
   30. I have a sneaking suspicion that each of our county commissioners jealously guarded their own power when this job was created, and that the Harris County administrator falls into that last category of “lower levels of authority”, putting that person at the mercy of the various commissioners, with no real power of their own to stand up to that pressure.
   31. I don’t blame them if that’s the case. I might do the same. But maybe the commissioners need to look at themselves and how they interact with the OCA before metaphorically dumping the baby out with the bathwater.
   32. REFERENCE: National Association of Counties — NACO.ORG (At the bottom of the page, there is then this link: “Click here to read the complete analysis.”
8. Texas House greenlights restrictive bail measures aimed at Harris County; By Benjamin Wermund, Austin Bureau | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | May 19, 2025. TAGS: Greg Abbott, The Texas House, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Bail Rules,
   1. [On Monday, May 19^th, the Texas House] approved a series of restrictive bail measures long sought by Gov. Greg Abbott, likely assuring the changes — which received bipartisan support — will be on the ballot in November. 
   2. The [Texas House] overwhelmingly approved a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would give judges significantly more power to deny bail to people accused of certain crimes, effectively putting them behind bars until they are tried. 
   3. State Rep. John Smithee, an Amarillo Republican who chairs the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, said the bail bills are the most important he has ever voted on. He pointed to examples of individuals who have been granted pretrial release and gone on to commit other crimes and argued the legislation will stop that from happening in the future.
   4. [Smithee said,] “It holds the very key to the life or death of some very wonderful people.”
   5. [MIKE: That’s Smithee’s actual quote. Continuing …]
   6. The House votes are a significant victory for Abbott, who has long sought to restrict bail as he has accused “activist judges” in Democratic cities like Houston of being too quick to grant pretrial release. 
   7. Abbott ratcheted up a pressure campaign in recent weeks, holding public events in Houston and Austin and posting repeatedly on social media about especially egregious examples. 
   8. The Texas Republican also shifted his demands as lawmakers negotiated the deal the House approved, pushing for lawmakers to force judges to prohibit pretrial release to defendants accused of several violent offenses. 
   9. The House legislation would not go that far, instead requiring judges to deny bail to those accused of a series of crimes, including murder, aggravated assault and sexual assault, only if prosecutors present compelling evidence that they will not show up to court or will be a danger to the community. The reforms would require judges to issue a written order explaining any time they grant bail, a priority of Abbott’s.
   10. The governor cheered the chamber’s overwhelming support for the measure.
   11. [Abbott wrote on the social media site X,] “These bills will reform Texas’ broken, deadly bail system & keep dangerous criminals behind bars — where they belong.”.
   12. The [Texas] Constitution currently prevents judges from denying bail to first-time offenders, other than those accused of capital murder and for whom the state is seeking the death penalty.
   13. State Rep. Joe Moody, an El Paso Democrat involved in negotiations on the legislation, criticized proposals like Abbott’s that would have flipped the burden of proof to the accused, calling them “gulag” bills. 
   14. Moody said the final deal “isn’t perfect but it’s a good balance that is going to get us to the right results in most cases.”
   15. [Moody continued by saying,] “What we have now is a clear burden placed on the prosecution — where it should be. If the state proves a person is a danger or a flight risk at a hearing where the defendant is represented, that’s a person who should be locked up, pending trial … The fact is we wouldn’t be here if there weren’t real life examples of people being released who plainly shouldn’t have been.” 
   16. Smithee said the reforms “may not be perfect, but it’s the best we could do to fix a system that’s been broken for a long time. I can assure you every word in this resolution was developed after a lot of negotiation, of input.”
   17. The proposal passed on a 133-8 vote, easily clearing the 100-vote threshold required to put a constitutional amendment to the state’s voters. The measure, which has already cleared the Senate, will first head back to the chamber after changes in the House. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has said he and the bill’s author, Sen. Joan Huffman, a Houston Republican, will concur with the House changes.  
   18. The House on Monday also advanced a proposed constitutional amendment that would deny pre-trial release to some immigrants accused of certain crimes, including murder, trafficking and sexual assault — though the proposal did not reach the threshold it will need to ultimately clear the chamber. 
   19. The legislation was filed in response to the slaying of Jocelyn Nungaray, a Houston girl whose death became a driving force behind President Donald Trump’s White House campaign against “migrant crime” last year. The men accused of murdering Nungaray are Venezuelan nationals who had been apprehended and released by the Border Patrol. 
   20. Civil rights groups have opposed the effort, saying the language in the proposed constitutional amendment is overly broad and could include immigrants in the country legally, including those with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and asylum seekers. 
   21. Democrats opposed the measure and pushed to amend the legislation to explicitly exempt immigrants with certain protected and legal statuses, including DACA, from the proposal.
   22. [Said state Rep. Ramon Romero, Jr., a Fort Worth Democrat,] “The DACA people I know are as American as any one of us. They are not a flight risk.”
   23. Moody, the El Paso Democrat who helped negotiate the measure, said it was “vastly tighter” than the original proposal, which he argued would have “swept up even some U.S. citizens.” 
   24. During at-times heated debate, Smithee defended the definition of immigrants included in the legislation as being carefully crafted in consultation with immigration attorneys and in negotiations with the Senate and governor’s office. He said he would work with Democrats on a definition they could support before the measure came back to the House floor for a final vote. 
   25. Both constitutional amendments would require approval by voters in November. 
   26. MIKE: I have a basic philosophical objection to enshrining in the Texas Constitution things that should be routine legislation. And I believe that any Constitution that’s been amended over 500 times either must have been a pretty poor constitution to start with, or the amendment provision has been horribly abused.
   27. MIKE: That being said, I can’t assess an opinion on this bill until it passes, and the actual language of the proposed amendment has been finalized.
9. From TEXASTRIBUNE-dot-ORG — Another big tax cut for Texas homeowners appears imminent; By Joshua Fechter | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | May 20, 2025 / Updated: 2 hours ago. TAGS: Texas Homeowners, Texas State House, Senate Bill 4, Property Taxes,
   1. Texas homeowners are one step closer to a bigger tax break after the state House gave unanimous preliminary approval to a set of legislative proposals Tuesday.
   2. House members advanced bills aimed at giving homeowners relief on the property taxes they pay toward school districts, the biggest chunk of a property owner’s tax bill. Senate Bill 4 by state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican, would change the state’s homestead exemption, which reduces how much of a home’s value can be taxed to pay for public schools, from $100,000 to $140,000.
   3. Senate Bill 23, another Bettencourt proposal, would raise a separate homestead exemption for homeowners who are older or have disabilities from $10,000 to $60,000.
   4. Both bills — key priorities for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Texas Senate — must come back before the House on Wednesday for a final vote. The Senate will have to sign off on changes the House made to the bills before they head to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.
   5. Providing bigger tax breaks to homeowners is a key component of a deal brokered by Republicans in the Texas Legislature to lower tax bills for Texans, who pay among the highest property taxes in the country. The other major piece is giving business owners greater exemptions on their inventory. Texas is one of the few states that taxes businesses’ inventory.
   6. House Bill 9 by state Rep. Morgan Meyer, R-University Park, would exempt up to $125,000 of businesses’ inventory from being taxed by school districts, cities, counties or any other taxing entity. Under current law, businesses don’t have to pay taxes on that property if it’s worth $2,500 or less.
   7. The Texas Senate approved that bill last week, and House members gave a thumbs-up Monday to changes that chamber made.
   8. House lawmakers shot down a push by the chamber’s more conservative members to boost the homestead exemption to $160,000. Supporters of the failed amendment argued that legislators could further tap the state’s $24 billion surplus to pay for greater relief. But other lawmakers stressed that state budget writers have only set aside enough money to pay to raise the exemption to $140,000.
   9. The owner of a home valued at $302,000 — about the typical Texas home value last year, according to Zillow — would have saved more than $500 on their 2024 school taxes had the $140,000 exemption been in place that year, according to a Tribune calculation. That’s when the exemption is combined with $3 billion in cuts to school tax rates proposed in the state’s upcoming two-year budget.
   10. Texas lawmakers plan to spend $51 billion on cutting property taxes over the next two years. State budget watchers and some lawmakers, including Republicans, worry that the state won’t be able to afford tax cuts in the long term.
   11. Voters in November will have the final say on whether the tax relief takes effect. The changes must be approved by voters because they each involve amending the Texas Constitution.
   12. Lawmakers appear on track to pass their major property tax legislation before they leave Austin in June. That’s a marked difference from two years ago, when House and Senate leaders couldn’t come to terms on a tax-cut deal before the clock ran out, forcing Abbott to call two special sessions to come to terms.
   13. MIKE: Republicans generally, and Texas Republicans specifically, still seem to be laboring under the philosophies of Grover Norquist, who once said, “My goal is to cut government … down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”
   14. MIKE: And people seem to love this idea in principle, but then whine and complain when governments don’t provide the services to which they feel entitled. I, on the other hand, believe that you get the government you pay for. If you want the services, you have to pay the taxes.
   15. MIKE: Texans need to internalize that lesson.
   16. MIKE: As far as other bills moving through the Texas legislature or going to the governor for a signature, I’m linking to a frequently updated piece in The Texas Tribune called, Is it law yet? See how far some of the most consequential bills have made it in the 2025 Texas Legislature. If you want to know what horrible ideas our State government is pondering, you can check there.
   17. REFERENCE: Is it law yet? See how far some of the most consequential bills have made it in the 2025 Texas Legislature — By Texas Tribune Staff, Graphics by Carla Astudillo, May 20, 2025 Updated: May 25, 2025
10. Ted Cruz introduces bill incentivizing K-12 scholarships; By Katharine Wilson | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | May 20, 2025/Updated: 2 hours ago. TAGS: TX Ted Cruz, Universal School Choice Act, Federal Tax Credits, Public Schools, Private, Schools,
    1. Ted Cruz introduced a school choice bill Tuesday that would encourage donations for scholarships to K-12 public or private school students.
    2. The bill, which he has titled the Universal School Choice Act, would allow for $10 billion annually in federal tax credits for people and businesses that contribute to nonprofits that grant scholarships to elementary and secondary school students.
    3. [Cruz wrote in part in a news release,] “School choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century. Every child in America deserves access to a quality education that meets their individual needs, regardless of race, ethnicity, income, or zip code. I remain committed to leading this fight until universal school choice has become available to every American … .”
    4. The scholarships could be used for tuition, books, tutoring, dual enrollment and other school-related expenses. The funds could be used for expenses related to attending religious schools and home schooling, but not for payments to family members of the student. …
    5. School choice has become a leading Republican policy push in recent years as the party has emphasized parent’s rights in K-12 education by advocating for initiatives on topics such as LGBTQ+ rights, religion, COVID-19 shutdowns, and the content of children’s books.
    6. Texas became the latest state to offer publicly funded vouchers to pay for private school tuitions this year after a yearslong battle in the state legislature. Supporters of voucher programs say they increase opportunities for families to choose what type of schooling their children should receive, with less financial limitations.
    7. Critics of the Texas voucher program argued that the funding should instead be spent on improving public schools in Texas.
    8. The Texas Public Policy Foundation, an Austin-based conservative think tank that pushed for the Texas voucher program, has endorsed Cruz’s bill.
    9. MIKE: I think we can conclude that all these Republican lawyers who want to enact these sorts of laws funding religious schools with tax dollars haven’t read the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. And I can’t say much about Ted Cruz that hasn’t already been said, including that he’s a continuing embarrassment to the State of Texas and this country.
    10. But I think Al Franken once said it best: “I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz.”
11. And that dovetails nicely with the following opinion piece from NEWREPUBLIC-dot-COM — Four Supreme Court Justices Refuse to Read the First Amendment; By Malcolm Ferguson | NEWREPUBLIC.COM | May 22, 2025/11:50 a.m. ET. TAGS: US Supreme Court, First Amendment, Oklahoma Religious School, Establishment Clause, Separation Of Church & State,
    1. Four Supreme Court Justices wanted to make it legal for taxpayer dollars to fund religious charter schools.
    2. The Supreme Court produced a 4–4 deadlock on Thursday on the question of whether an Oklahoma religious school could take part in the state’s publicly funded charter school programs. While the decision is unsigned, thanks to the even split, it is likely that Chief Justice Roberts sided with liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Elena Kagan in opposition to the measure, while conservatives Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Samuel Alito likely voted in favor of allowing religious charter schools access to public funds. Justice Amy Coney Barret recused herself due to attorneys from her alma mater, Notre Dame Law School, representing the religious schools.
    3. The deadlock leaves in place an Oklahoma ruling that a Catholic public charter school is unconstitutional. But the Supreme Court sidestepped the question, deferring to the lower court decision.
    4. The four judges who voted in favor of the measure seem to be ignoring that earmarking public funds for religious schools is a clear violation of the establishment clause of the First Amendment. This clause prohibits the government from “establishing” a religion and from blurring the lines between separation of church and state.
    5. [Said CNN Supreme Court Analyst Steve Vladeck,] “The fact that the Court split 4–4 in this case, with Justice Barrett recused, is not especially surprising. The surprise is that the court had agreed to take this case up, with Justice Barrett recused, in the first place. That had led some folks to wonder if Chief Justice Roberts might be willing to join the other four Republican appointees in favor of public funding for religious charter schools. Today’s affirmance without an opinion suggests that he isn’t, at least for now.”
    6. MIKE: Let’s give credit to Justice Amy Coney Barret for recusing herself due to the appearance of a conflict of interest. Justices Thomas and Alito might note her example.
    7. Also, the 4-4 split means that this decision established no precedent, assuming that still means something to this high court. What does “unconstitutional” even mean anymore.
12. An update on a story I read last week — Driverless big rigs between Houston and Dallas will now have someone in the driver’s seat; By KHOU 11 Staff | KHOU.COM | Published: 6:14 PM CDT May 19, 2025/Updated: 8:25 AM CDT May 20, 2025. TAGS: Driverless Trucking, Aurora Innovation, I-45, Houston-Dallas Corridor,
    1. Earlier this month, we told you about a driverless trucking company that was running up and down I-45 between Houston and Dallas.
    2. That company — Aurora Innovation — is reversing course a bit. The company said it’ll be putting a human back in the driver’s seat.
    3. You might wonder why. According to company co-founder and CEO Chris Urmson, the change came at the request of one of Aurora’s partners.  
    4. A message posted to the company’s website from Urmson reads, in part, “One of those partners, PACCAR, requested we have a person in the driver’s seat, because of certain prototype parts in their base vehicle platform. We are confident this is not required to operate the truck safely based on the exhaustive testing (covering nearly 10,000 requirements and 2.7 million tests) and analysis that populates our safety case. PACCAR is a long-time partner and, after much consideration, we respected their request and are moving the observer, who had been riding in the back of some of our trips, from the back seat to the front seat.”
    5. [There is a link in the story where] You can read the full message … . 
    6. Aurora said the human will only observe, but not actually drive the truck. It’ll still be automated. The company said this change will have no impact on near and long-term development plans.

There’s always more to discuss, but that’s all we have time for today. You’ve been listening to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig from KPFT Houston 90.1-HD2, Galveston 89.5-HD2, and Huntsville 91.9-HD2. We are Houston’s Community Media. I hope you’ve enjoyed the show and found it interesting, and I look forward to sharing this time with you again next week. Y’all take care!

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