The Texas Blue: News
Today's Odd Business News Story
Thu, 03/20/2008 - 4:12pm
JP Morgan Chase is on the path to finalizing their Bear Sterns buyout, but billionaire Bear Sterns shareholder Joe Louis is considering an attempt at blocking the deal. I guess he isn't just going to grin and Bear it without some Sterns looks!
Al-Qaeda, or Extremists, or Whatever, Part II
Thu, 03/20/2008 - 3:45pm
Via TPM: Remember yesterday when we talked about how John McCain seems to not know what's going on in the Middle East?
Adjourned for Easter
Thu, 03/20/2008 - 2:55pm
The news out of the Proud Mitten State is that the State Senate has adjourned for a 2-week Easter break without approving a plan for a re-vote.
The Return of 'Rent to Own': Goodman Fined by TEC
Thu, 03/20/2008 - 1:56pm
On August 31, 2006, the Texas Values in Action Coalition filed an ethics complaint against Arlington Republican State Representative Toby Goodman, asserting that Goodman was using campaign funds to pay for property and converting those funds for personal use. Recently, the Texas Ethics Commission found that Goodman's payments were a violation of Texas Election Code Sections 253.038 and 253.035. The Ethics Commission levied a fine of $10,000. You can get the full ethics ruling here in PDF form, and see the official TexVAC release after the jump.
Superfund Comes to Town
Thu, 03/20/2008 - 11:30am
Several years after buried industrial waste pits near the San Jacinto River were linked to severe pollution and toxic levels of dioxin in fish in and around Harris County, the EPA has designated the area for Superfund cleanup, along with a few other sites in Texas. And that's good progress in cleaning up some of the state's most polluted areas.
Chronicling the Statesman
Thu, 03/20/2008 - 11:00am
When I wrote for an alt-weekly, it seemed like one of the main functions of the publication (or the genre, really) was raking the local big city dailies over the coals, or pointing out when they did something silly, and even passing out the credit when they did something right. It is the media meta-critic aspect of the alt-weekly that drew me to them in the first place. Kevin Brass at the Austin Chronicle has cast an eye to the Austin American-Statesman's recent management and editorial choices and gives a snapshot of an industry that is currently in heavy flux - daily newspapers - and the decisions that shape it.
Who Is Out There?
Thu, 03/20/2008 - 10:30am
I am not the only one to make the argument that we don't really know what the partisan demographics currently are in Texas.
An Approval Rating 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Thu, 03/20/2008 - 10:00am
I wasn't sure it was possible for President Bush's approval rating to get any lower, but this is a year of political surprises, one after another: Bush drops to 31 percent.
Oil Drops Below $100... Wait, What?
Thu, 03/20/2008 - 9:53am
What's going on here? Reports are coming in that the unit price of oil dropped below $100 on reduced demand? Could it be that people are responding to wickedly high gas prices by... buying less gas?
If Ann Coulter Liveblogged The Gettysburg Address...
Thu, 03/20/2008 - 9:46am
One of my daily reads in the blogosphere is Mark Kleiman. He's got a hilarious "what if" up today that has Ann Coulter liveblogging the Gettysburg Address.