- Abbott gets it terribly wrong on property taxes, and good riddance to the head of AT&T
- State Sales Tax Revenue Totaled $2.6 Billion in April, Down 9.3% from April 2019
- Recent Local Tax Shortfalls Point Toward Declines in Revenue Across the State
- AG resists Odessa’s efforts to obstruct records access
- Abbott Isn’t Reopening Texas, He’s Keeping It Mostly Closed
- Growing chorus of Democrats ‘baffled’ by Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to re-open Texas – aren’t Democrats usually “baffled” by most things?
- Texas ends travel restrictions from Louisiana
- Guidance Letter About Reopening Non-Essential Businesses Regarding GA-18 – a stupidly embarrassing interpretation from the AG’s office.
- Attorney general’s office warns local officials that barber shops, hair salons and gyms still can’t reopen
- Rise in Harris County Crimes, Murders, Tied to Lenient Bond Policies
- $3.4 billion added to I-35 project paves way to reconstruct entire highway in Austin
- Groundwater Flows and Water Measurements
- Sierra Club sues feds over Kinder Morgan pipeline
- The Back Mic: Abbott Teases Permanent Alcohol-to-Go, Lawmakers Request Salon Reopening and Emergency Resources for Nursing Homes
- Legal liability may complicate reopening for many businesses across Texas
- AG Paxton Advises County Officials to Avoid Misleading the Public on Vote by Mail Laws
- Sen. Cornyn unblocks Twitter critic after lawsuit – the platforms themselves are engaging in blocking speech
- TX13: Will Hurd PAC Announces Attack Ad Campaign Against Trump-Backed Candidate – told you from the get-go that Hurd is a fake Republican, it’s telling he backs the other guy!
- National Republicans Look to … Joe Straus? – absurd but believable
- Republicans Down 73 Percent; Democrats Up 26 Percent in Texas Legislature Donations
- ——————————————–
- Coronavirus related
- Let’s Not Pretend This Is Constitutional
- COVID-19 mitigation is a weighing of harms
- Texas COVID-19 situation report for 5/1/2020 (pdf) – 782 deaths in Q1 plus April, a third of Q2. Official Texas 2018/19 flu season deaths were 9249 by end of July last year, over 10,000 for the year. Should our rights have been scuttled for that?
- COVID-19 Diagnoses, Fatalities Continue to Climb in Texas – only 1,702 in hospital and yet the entire mobilization was to keep from overwhelming hospitals. 732 fatalities is .027 of the positive tested cases (27,054) which we now know is likely much smaller than the actual number of those who have had the virus.
- Coronavirus hot spots flare as Texas prepares to reopen
- How Close Is US to Herd Immunity for COVID-19? What the Numbers Show
- Health officials wasted time on the speculative, didn’t harden the known
- Two residents of Arlington retirement community says management discouraged people from getting tested – but remember, local health officials should have already taken over control of these matters.
- Should Texas doctors, hospitals and nursing homes be protected from lawsuits during the COVID-19 pandemic?
- The Swedish experiment looks like it’s paying off
- Understanding why mask wearing is little more than virtue signaling
- Do face masks work?
- Chasing one’s own tail in contact tracing. Masks don’t stop viruses
- Balch: The Great Reveal – In describing these days will future historians employ as metaphor a pressure cooker about to explode or sheep being led to slaughter?
- We crave certainty over COVID-19. There isn’t any and may never be.
- Explained: How Abbott plans to reopen Texas and differences from San Antonio, Bexar County orders
- ‘And Then, Boom’: Outbreak Shows Shaky Ground as Texas Opens – typical of how this will be covered. Of course there will be localized outbreaks.
- Child abuse reports rising in Austin amid coronavirus outbreak, group says
- Dr. John Lee: Could the lockdown have side-effects no one has considered?
- FDA has approved Remdesivir for emergency use in coronavirus patients
- It’s time for Texas to begin to reopen, but caution must come before hope
- Mildand mayor: Residents don’t need to be told what to do – proper persuasion as opposed to coercion.
- In-person voting in Wisconsin produced no new Wuhan flu cases
- Protesters with Guns Rally Against North Carolina Stay-at-Home Order
- Armed US protesters enter Michigan capitol to demand lockdown end – it is legal to bear arms in the Michigan capitol, FYI.
- Standoff: Whitmer extends lockdown by executive order after armed protest; lawmakers plan court fight
- Michigan judge refused to block Whitmer’s first stay-home order, saying constitutional rights not absolute
- ‘GIVE PEOPLE BACK THEIR G**DAMN FREEDOM’: Elon Musk bashes US shelter-in-place orders as ‘fascist,’ says they’re ‘forcibly imprisoning’ people in their homes – right.
- Mass. Governor cites 1902 yellow fever case in defense of gun store coronavirus shutdowns
- New Mexico’s governor locksdown Gallup using “Riot Control Act” with no riot
- Odessa gym plans to open May 1 despite no declaration allowing it to do so – don’t go there if you don’t want to, it’s that simple.
- Defiant Houston strip club owner closes doors after police threaten arrest – well, you are not supposed to touch the girls anyway….
- State Agency Opens Texas Beaches, Supersedes Local Orders
- Democrats more likely than Republicans to report neighbors breaking coronavirus ban on big parties
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- Federal/DC related to Texas
- U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Texas predicts cities and local governments could be facing bankruptcy – guess gov’t shouldn’t have shutdown the economy!
- Congressional Republicans: Next coronavirus spending needs protections against ‘frivolous lawsuits’
- Fed changes open the door for more oil companies to get loans
- Car dealership owned by Texas Rep. Roger Williams received loan through coronavirus relief fund for small businesses – fine
- Latino Businesses Not Receiving ‘Fair Share’ Of Federal Relief, Say Advocates – silly, they apply they get funds like everyone else.
- Sen. Cruz Pushes to Expand Emergency Relief for U.S. Chambers of Commerce – Cruz is completely wrong on this.
- Cruz to Trump: Don’t Put American Taxpayers on Hook for Blue State Bailouts
- Cruz, Hawley to introduce Senate legislation targeting Chinese espionage
- Unsealed FBI Docs Show Agents Plotting to Pressure Michael Flynn to Lie to Prosecute Him, Get Him Fired
- Congressman Probes into Pentagon ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ Grant to Firm that Sent Taxpayer Dollars to Wuhan Lab
- Postal Service, beset by funding woes, faces new fight over mail-in voting
- VA secretary defends use of hydroxychloroquine for veterans, claims analysis led to ‘misinformation’ – might see: Hydroxychloroquine Has about 90 Percent Chance of Helping COVID-19 Patients, States Association of American Physicians and Surgeons
- Tiny airports rake in big cash after botched stimulus formula – typical
- ———————————————
- Presidential race / national politics
- Biden on sexual assault allegation: ‘never, never happened’
- Nolte: Tara Reade Is Joe Biden’s Eighth Accuser
- Univ. of Delaware Refuses to Release the Biden Papers
- Biden Called on National Archives to Release Any Complaint from Reade, But There’s a Big Problem With That, As He May Know
- Tara Reade’s Former Neighbor: I Believed Her Then, and I Believe Her Now
- Should we ignore some women?
- Tara Reade is not Only a Challenge for Joe Biden — Campaign Grapples with Running Mate Selections Who Have to Navigate a #MeToo Minefield
- Joe Biden Calls Himself ‘Transition’ Candidate VIDEO
- Amid a Rising Coronavirus Death Toll, Trump Leaves the Grieving to Others – the propaganda of the useless media.
- Poll shows Biden with slight edge over Trump in Texas – a B.S. poll by a Leftwing outlet that uses polls to drive fundraising and opinion
- Gallup: Trump is now above water in approval ratings
- Susan Sarandon Praises Nancy Pelosi’s Democrat Challenger After Speaker Defends Biden
- Democrat lesbian defeats incumbent in Ohio sheriff’s race – well, she looks as if she may be more man than he!
- ————————————
- Border / immigration
- Border Patrol Agents in South Texas Warn Cartels Are Working Around Wall Edge – why we need a full continuous wall or personnel 24/7 at each small gap.
- Illegal Alien Rescues Up 57% in Texas Border Sector amid Coronavirus
- 48 Illegal Aliens Found in Two Tractor-Trailer Busts near Texas-Mexico Border
- Reynosa Tamaulipas: Bad guys escape in a taxi after shooting at state police
- Nuevo Laredo: Federal forces kill 7 on bridge
- ——————————————–
- Business
- State Sales Tax Revenue Totaled $2.6 Billion in April, Down 9.3% from April 2019
- US manufacturing falls in April as virus ravages economy
- Baker Hughes rotary oil & gas drilling rig count – ouch!
- Rig count slides near 400; lowest since mid-2016
- Lyft pulls its scooters from Austin amid pandemic, layoffs
- ‘We miss the roar’: Austin restaurants on empty tables, coronavirus and when to open
- With oil reeling under pandemic, “clean” energy looks to capitalize
- Frac sand industry sheds more than 500 jobs in three weeks
- Exxon Mobil reports $610 million loss
- Chevron profits rose $1B in quarter capped by oil crash, COVID-19
- Marathon Oil lays off 200 as drilling permits dry up
- Gyrodata exits directional drilling business
- Fed changes open the door for more oil companies to get loans
- When flames go out, the Permian’s methane problem worsens
- Jobless Claims Fall to 3.84 Million
- American Eagle fleet adjustments will mean fewer cramped regional jets
- Major US Airlines to Require Passengers to Wear Face Masks – more theater
- Most US airlines will soon require passenger masks, more
- Former Blue Bell CEO charged with conspiracy in deadly listeria outbreak
- GrayStreet is buying San Antonio’s former Lone Star Brewery complex
- Happy State Bank Announces Appointment of New CEO
- Judge orders Reagor Dykes bankruptcy to be delayed for COVID-19
- Here’s why you won’t be going to the movies once everything reopens
- Stars & Stripes Drive-In is back with trio of movies, virus-related rules … and go to bathroom before you get in the car
- USAA Extends Another 20% Credit to Auto Policyholders
- ——————————————–
- Crime & general news of Texas
- BCSO: 2-year-old girl abducted by grandmother in San Antonio found in Central Texas – found in Waco!
- San Antonio police searching for driver who fled scene of crash on foot
- Woman led police on I-35 chase from New Braunfels to San Marcos, officials say
- Former Blue Bell CEO charged with conspiracy in deadly listeria outbreak
- Suspect drops meth bong during traffic stop
- Texoma’s Most Wanted as of May 1, 2020
- 33 indicted by Taylor County grand jury
- Plane makes emergency landing at Flying J in Cisco
- Abilene man facing 16 criminal charges after crashing into family during police chase, holding them at gunpoint
- Abilene police arrest two Big Country men involved with child pornography
- Lubbock man stole the wrong package, and it will cost him
- Teen shot while waiting for bus in southwest Houston
- Four New Austin Road Deaths Despite Emptier Roadways
- May Day Protesters Arrested for Blocking I-35
- ———————————————
- Local government
- AG resists Odessa’s efforts to obstruct records access
- Abilene’s Mayor Williams requests May 2020 elections be postponed until August
- Taylor Co. Sheriff’s Office Sgt. withdraws from Callahan Co. Sheriff’s race
- City of Wolfforth enacts water restrictions
- City of Lubbock development services to open in Citizens Tower, more
- Thousands of birds will die in Dallas tonight unless we do one simple thing – the silly speculative B.S. some people worry about amidst press problems like crime.
- Fort Worth Announces Plans for Using Federal CARES Funds, Including Small Business Grants and Housing Assistance
- Officials In Galveston, Dallas And El Paso Are At Odds With Abbott Over Reopening
- Rise in Harris County Crimes, Murders, Tied to Lenient Bond Policies
- Hood County Tables Resolution to Declare All Businesses “Essential”
- ———————————————
- Colleges & universities
- Sul Ross planning for fall reopening
- McMurry University Returns To Face-to-Face Classes
- TSTC resuming hands-on instruction to limited students on May 4
- Midland College English department honors students for writing excellence
- MSU cancels delayed graduation, plans underway for virtual graduation in May
- ACU communications sciences student receives 2020-21 Fulbright U.S. Scholar award
- ACU debate team earns national rankings
- South Plains College plans for fall re-open
- WT making plans to continue on-campus classes, operations this fall
- Texas State University System says it’ll resume on-campus classes in the fall
Pratt’s post for 5/1/2020
May 1, 2020 by Leave a Comment
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