03 March 2010
2010 Primary open comments thread
THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE and most every other major newspaper in Texas endorsed Kay Bailey Hutchison in the Republican gubernatorial primary.
It didn't seem to have much impact. Maybe it's time for the Chron to follow the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's lead and think about getting out of the endorsement game altogether -- although they could still record screening interviews as a public service and post them online for citizens.
We'll throw this thread open for your thoughts on that or anything else related to yesterday's primary election.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/03/10 07:40 AM |
02 March 2010
Unca Darrell to the Chron: Replace your editorial board
UNCA DARRELL wishes the Chronicle management would show leadership by "firing this [editorial board] and starting over with editors tethered by wisdom and common sense to the soil of Texas."
Harsh commentary like that is a sure way to get the luminaries who run Chron.com to whitewash your blog from their site, Unca Darrell!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/02/10 07:55 AM |
01 March 2010
More "news you can't use" on Chron.com
THE HEAD HONCHOS AT HEARST CORPORATE must not be happy with February's Chron.com pageview totals, because the webpage of America's worst big-city daily has been even more insipid than usual today.
Earlier, Cory Crow noted there was plenty of "news you can't use."
And here's some more.
Apparently, serious news people no longer make decisions about the Chron.com site (if they ever did).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/01/10 08:38 PM |
Troubles at the Houston Housing Department (updated)
ON FRIDAY, KRIV-26 REPORTER ISIAH CAREY posted that the city's Housing Department had a big problem: City Controller Ron Green has temporarily shut down a housing assistance program because of a multi-million dollar shortfall in accounts. Here is the related KRIV story, and here is the Chron story that ran on Saturday.
CORRECTION (07/22/2010): An earlier version of this post misidentified the City's Housing Department as the Houston Housing Authority, which had a different problem that was also previously referenced in the post. The two organizations are completely separate, and blogHOUSTON apologizes for the error. We should have caught that, and regret the mistake.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/01/10 07:49 AM |
27 February 2010
Train wreck: Sports Authority wants in on soccer stadium deal
THE ALREADY FINANCIALLY-CHALLENGED SPORTS AUTHORITY changes its mind and now wants to become a player in the Dynamo stadium deal. However, Fox 26's Mark Berman notes there are some obstacles to overcome, and the Chron's story notes the political undertones running through the latest development in the ongoing soccer stadium drama.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 02/27/10 09:30 AM |
26 February 2010
Houston natural gas bills going up
IF YOU LIVE IN HOUSTON, YOUR NATURAL GAS BILL is going up.
Centerpoint Energy asked for an increase last year, partly to help cover pensions. The City of Houston asked for -- and got -- a smaller increase than Centerpoint requested.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/26/10 08:35 PM |
METRO ShredderGate (02/26/2010 Update)
LOCAL TV NEWS REPORTERS continue to probe further into ShredderGate, METRO's apparent effort to shred certain documents and purge legal personnel related to the same.
KTRK-13's Jessica Willey broke some interesting news last night on the timing of attorney Pauline Higgins' departure from the organization:
Eyewitness News has also learned that Mayor Parker met with Higgins regarding her concerns with METRO over the weekend, just a couple of days before she was fired.
Willey also points out that Mayor Parker's transition team has had difficulty obtaining public documents from METRO, which won't come as any surprise to anyone who has tried to obtain documents from the agency.
KRIV-26, KHOU-11, and KPRC-2 have additional coverage of ShredderGate, including comments from Lloyd Kelley (whose public information request sparked this controversy), from Rusty Hardin (who is representing Pauline Higgins, and who promises that six months from now, David Wolff's confidence in Frank Wilson may seem very misplaced), and from Mayor Annise Parker (who stated forcefully that it's time for a change of leadership in both positions).
Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle, long a METRO cheerleader/enabler, led its story today as follows:
Faced with a lawsuit, an increasingly critical mayor and lingering questions about document shredding and high-level firings, Metro board chairman David Wolff took steps Thursday to prop up public confidence in his embattled agency.
With regard to the bolded excerpt, that ship has already sailed. Talk about burying the lede!
Between "SciGuy" Eric Berger's meltdown over the collapse of the man-made global warming apocalyptic "consensus" and the increasing realization by more and more people that the area's transit organization is not only arrogant and nontransparent but possibly corrupt, we're hoping that Hearst has a good grief-counseling package as part of its Houston employee healthcare coverage.
In the meantime, we'll be looking forward to the TV news reporting of this developing story. If it's anything like Lloyd Kelley's last big foray into public documents, heads are eventually going to roll.
BLOGVERSATION: Harris County Almanac, Bay Area Houston, Campos Communications.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/26/10 07:24 AM |
25 February 2010
Pot, meet kettle
HOUSTON'S VILLAGE VOICE CORPORATE ALT-WEEKLY discusses the Chronicle's latest foray into nonprofessional content.
As Cory Crow points out, the Press does have some knowledge about amateurish dreck posing as journalism.
MORE: Mike McGuff.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/25/10 09:40 PM |
METRO transparency: Court orders agency not to shred requested public docs
NEWS BROKE FROM VARIOUS SOURCES yesterday that METRO has been barred by court order from destroying public records requested by former city controller Lloyd Kelley, and two METRO attorneys who reportedly objected to the destruction of public records are no longer employed by the organization (KRIV-26, KHOU-11, KTRK-13, Chronicle).
As reported by the Chronicle, METRO chief Frank "Procurement Disaster" Wilson said, "I'm not sure there was anything sinister about it ... It may be very innocent and very coincidental."
Right! And we are sure METRO's "internal investigation" will reflect Wilson's perspective.
As a refresher, here are some fibs told by METRO executives in the past:
David Wolff: “We are transparent. We are accountable. Those who say we are not are not well informed...."
Frank Wilson: "We operate the METRO organization in a completely transparent manner."
We certainly hope that Mayor Parker has seen enough from this crew to make some significant changes at this rogue public agency.
BLOGVERSATION: Harris County Almanac, Musings, TBIFOC.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/25/10 07:55 AM |
24 February 2010
Study: DFW most traffic-congested city in Texas
TEXAS WATCHDOG'S Jennifer Peebles notes that Dallas-Fort Worth has taken over from Houston as the most traffic-congested city in Texas, according to a new study.
But how can this be, since Dallas has a more robust light-rail system (the answer to all problems, according to some Houtopians)?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/24/10 05:03 PM |
State fire marshal raises questions about HFD firefighters' deaths
EARLIER IN THE WEEK, THE CHRONICLE reported on a 47-page report by the state fire marshal's office that noted six "factors that, when combined, may have contributed to the deaths" of two HFD firefighters.
After reporting that news, the Chron story immediately quoted HFD's interim fire chief to the effect that the officers did everything according to department guidelines.
That leads to some fairly obvious questions, which regular BH commenter FilioScotia emailed us:
I looked in vain for some sign that the reporter asked the obvious followup questions, such as: If they did everything according to guidelines, why did they get killed?
If they did everything according to guidelines, why did the state fire marshal, and the HFD's own internal report, find fault with the way this particular fire was handled?
If firefighters follow guidelines and still get killed, isn't it possible that the guidelines may be at fault and might need to be changed?
One suspects that the reporter was trying to avoid coming off as insensitive to two firefighters killed in the line of duty, but those questions should have been asked of HFD's interim fire chief. And those are questions that Mayor Parker may need to ask the interim fire chief herself.
UPDATE (02-25-2010): The Chron Houston Politics blog reports that Mayor Parker has asked HFD for a briefing on the discrepancies. The public deserves that briefing as well (no thanks to the original reporter who downplayed that part of the story).
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/24/10 04:52 PM |
Big Jolly Politics: Terry Lowry Watch (update)
DAVID JENNINGS has updated his list of "candidates that enable Terry Lowry to distort records, spread rumors, and give false teachings about the Bible."
RELATED: Your Philosophy Sucks.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/24/10 04:24 PM |
23 February 2010
Harris County Almanac: Underwear optional
DID CORY CROW spot a wardrobe malfunction on Chron.com earlier?
It certainly seems that way.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/23/10 11:21 PM |
Houston's best metro writer on the Miles/Edwards "blood feud" rematch
SLAMPO turns his attention to the "blood feud" rematch race for HD 146 between Borris Miles and Al Edwards.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/23/10 11:12 PM |
Mike McGuff interviews Mayor Annise Parker
MIKE MCGUFF posts an excellent interview he conducted with Mayor Annise Parker.
That sets the bar pretty high for audio/video bloggers (and pro journos for that matter), and it's a very good appearance for the mayor.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/23/10 07:48 AM |
22 February 2010
Seibert: Walking about Eastwood
TEXAS WATCHDOG'S TRENT SEIBERT posts about his weekend stroll about Eastwood.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/22/10 09:37 PM |
The Chron resumes its sanctuary city advocacy
FORMER MAYOR BILL WHITE NEVER ALLOWED a public Council debate over a past police chief's unilateral implementation of sanctuary city status.
When the issue occasionally came up during the White era, proponents of sanctuary status would all assert that it was imperative never to debate this policy decision made in 1992 by an unelected official, lest illegal immigrants stop talking to the police.
Perhaps for the benefit of our new mayor, America's worst big-city daily has rolled out a story asserting that illegal immigrants here have stopped talking to authorities, due to the 287(g) jail screening program. Hard to see that one coming, huh?
Cory Crow properly deems this advocacy journalism, because it doesn't even attempt balance, instead selectively quoting "immigrant advocates" to assert what the story-tellers (journalists would be a stretch) want to assert. Why can't they confine this editorializing to the opinion section, and have journalists go gather/report some actual news?
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/22/10 09:33 PM |
21 February 2010
Houston Politics: METRO covers its coverage
THE CHRON HOUSTON POLITICS BLOG notes that METRO's bloated media relations/PR department regularly produces an in-house assessment of media coverage of the transit organization.
It would be nice to know how much this level of detail costs taxpayers, but that wasn't part of the post.
METRO critic Paul Magaziner asked us why METRO board members like automobile huckster George DeMontrond allow the organization to divert precious resources to analysis like this, as opposed to spending as much as possible on transit for area residents.
Good question!
We look forward to Mayor Parker restocking METRO's board (and administration) with some folks outside of the usual "Houston Way" network, which has served Houston transit users poorly over the last 12 years.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/21/10 10:06 PM |
HISD outdoes METRO on expensive "state of" presentation
NEW TEXAS WATCHDOGGER LYNN WALSH reports on HISD chief Terry Grier's "state of the schools" talk, and the $80 price tag for what was described as a fundraiser.
Here's our quaint notion: "State Of" speeches by leaders of public entities ought to be priced affordably (or free!). If it costs more than a Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo show, it's not priced affordably. And if a public organization wants to have a high-priced fundraiser, it should be an "extra" sort of presentation, not a "state of" presentation.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/21/10 09:52 PM |
Chronically out of touch
NOT-QUITE-RETIRED BLOGGER UNCA DARRELL mocks the Chron editorial board for the lesson they took from Scott Brown's election.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 02/21/10 09:36 PM |
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