MRT: Texas Sets New COVID-19 Records Wednesday; Houston Sues GLO; Houston Cancels TX GOP Convention; Hegar & Allies Launch $1.5M in TV Ads
Here's What You Need to Know in Texas Today.
MustReadTexas.com – @MustReadTexas
BY: @MattMackowiak
THURSDAY – 07/09/20
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TOP NEWS
"Texas sets new COVID-19 records Wednesday in key metrics,"The Dallas Morning News' Allie Morris and Robert Garrett -- "Two key metrics Gov. Greg Abbott has used to judge the coronavirus epidemic in Texas hit record highs Wednesday.
More than 9,600 people were hospitalized. And over the past week, 15% of reported coronavirus tests have come back positive -- the highest rate since the epidemic began.
Texas also hit another grim record Wednesday: 98 people died of COVID-19.
“The fact of the matter is COVID has not gone away and it is not going to go away until we have medications able to treat it,” Abbott told KTAL-TV in Texarkana. “And what we are seeing is this massive spike in the spread of COVID across the entire state of Texas. There are no communities that are immune to this.”
The numbers could signal more trouble ahead. Deaths and hospitalizations are lagging indicators of infection. It means people sick enough to be hospitalized today were likely exposed to COVID-19 about two weeks ago, public health experts said.
More than 220,500 Texans have tested positive for COVID-19 and 2,813 have died since March
In response to surging caseloads, Abbott closed bars and mandated most Texans wear face masks in public. But plenty of other businesses, including restaurants, gyms and amusement parks, remain open under Abbott’s orders." Dallas Morning News
"Feds seek to keep guns seized after West Texas mass shooting,"AP'sJake Bleiberg -- "Prosecutors are seeking to keep dozens of guns and firearm accessories seized from a man whose home was searched last year following a mass shooting in West Texas that left more than 20 people injured and seven dead.
Lawyers for the Justice Department have asked a federal court to grant the government permanent possession of 29 pistols, rifles and gun parts taken from the Lubbock home of Marcus Anthony Braziel. Court records value the guns at more $11,000.
The search of Braziel’s home last September came days after another man drove through Odessa and Midland, neighboring cities 140 miles south of Lubbock, shooting people before being shot dead by police.
At the time, a federal law enforcement official did not identify Braziel by name but said the home searched was that of a man who agents believed sold a semi-automatic rifle to the alleged gunman, 36-year-old Seth Aaron Ator.
The civil forfeiture complaint filed last week states Braziel spent years buying, selling and building guns without a license, and in 2016 sold an AM-15 rifle to an Odessa resident with the initials “S.A.”
The case is against the seized firearms, not Braziel, and there is no record of a criminal case against him. It was first reported by KLBK-TV.
A person who answered a phone number associated with Braziel hung up when asked about the case and did not respond to a subsequent voicemail seeking comment. A lawyer for Braziel could not be immediately identified.
“The criminal investigation involving Mr. Braziel is ongoing,” said Erin Dooley, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Texas.
Ator obtained the gun he used in the shooting in a private sale, allowing him to evade the type of background check that blocked him from getting a gun in 2014 due to a “mental health issue,” a federal official told The Associated Press last year.
Private sales, which some estimates suggest account for 25% to 40% of all gun sales, are not subject to a federal background check in the United States. If the person selling the firearm knows the buyer cannot legally purchase or possess a firearm, they would be violating the law. But they are not required to find out if the person can possess a firearm and are not required to conduct a background check." AP
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
"Houston sues Bush, Texas General Land Office over Harvey recovery takeovers,"The Houston Chronicle'sJasper Scherer -- "The city of Houston on Wednesday sued the Texas General Land Office and Land Commissioner George P. Bush over the state agency’s move to assume control of federal Hurricane Harvey housing funds.
The lawsuit, filed in Travis County state district court, concerns $1.27 billion in grant funds allocated to the city by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Mayor Sylvester Turner is seeking a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction to block Bush from taking over the funds.
Bush has said he is seeking control of the city’s largest recovery program — a more than $400 million effort to repair or replace single-family homes damaged during Harvey — but may let Turner’s administration “negotiate the possible retention” of the programs that make up the remaining funds, such as its multifamily rental and home buyer assistance programs.
In a statement, Turner accused the GLO of “playing politics with citizens who need their Harvey damaged homes repaired.”
"I am disappointed the state agency is engaged in an illegal attempt to take control of the funds, without any regard to those who need help,” Turner said.
Bush was not immediately available for comment, but he previously said the GLO has faced “consistent opposition by the city” when it tried to help Turner’s administration “allow for more timely disbursement of allocated funding.” A spokeswoman for Bush also previously said the city was not on track to spend the funds by the August 2024 deadline.
Turner said Wednesday that he “strongly opposes” the GLO’s move, and argued that the city’s programs are “successful and on schedule.” A March 31 program status report showed repairs had begun on 59 homes in Houston, while 44 homeowners had been reimbursed for work they had paid for themselves. Turner said Wednesday that the city has “fully served” 234 homeowners through its single-family programs, though he did not say if that referred to completed repairs.
The lawsuit comes more than two months after Bush notified Turner that he planned to take over the Harvey recovery money. The mayor immediately promised to use “all necessary legal steps” to fight the move.
In their bid to halt the takeover, city officials contended that their contract with the GLO requires their written consent on any changes to the amount of funds they receive. The city also is arguing that the GLO violated the contract by “interfering with the City’s attempts to fulfill its program obligations” and “running its own parallel program within the City which has not been approved by HUD,” according to the petition.
The GLO administers recovery programs in all the other counties that received federal Harvey aid. It began accepting applications in May from Houston residents seeking repairs, rehabilitation or reconstruction of homes damaged by Harvey. With the takeover still pending approval from the federal government, Houston officials still may accept applicants to their program, as well.
While Turner and Bush repeatedly have butted heads over Harvey recovery matters, the GLO negotiated a friendlier agreement with Harris County officials to assume control over about a third of the county’s Harvey housing recovery dollars.
Under that agreement, the GLO is set to take control of about $338 million of the county’s $1.2 billion project, heading up federally funded repairs of Harvey-damaged homes while the county maintains control of its other programs, such as developing affordable rental units and building new single-family homes.
Turner said the debate revolves around the city and GLO’s differing priorities about delivering aid to low-income and elderly residents.
“The City has specifically created its programs to ensure that Houston’s most vulnerable residents are able to recover from Harvey,” Turner said. “At the heart of the dispute with the GLO is whether the State will allow local control to meet the community’s priorities or whether the State can override the priority’s set by the local community.”" Houston Chronicle
"For first time, independent experts to analyze racial profiling data from 2,000 Texas police agencies,"The Houston Chronicle's Eric Dexheimer -- "Beginning next year, racial profiling data collected by Texas police departments will be analyzed annually by a team of expert academics, the first time comprehensive traffic stop data submitted by the state’s nearly 2,000 law enforcement agencies will be studied in a systematic way.
“When properly collected and analyzed, this data should provide a much-needed basis for developing sound public policy that addresses racial profiling in Texas,” said Garnet Coleman, the Houston legislator who sponsored the 2017 Sandra Bland Act. Coleman and the Texas A&M University System announced the effort on Wednesday.
The change is the latest fallout from a Hearst Newspapers analysis demonstrating that the racial profiling data collected by the state could not be used to identify disparities in a department’s traffic stops - the purpose of the program.
A day after the article was published, Coleman asked the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which collects the information, to re-do its annual racial profiling survey to ensure the information would actually be usable in the future. He said he asked the agency to try to re-assemble the profiling information from 2019, as well." Houston Chronicle
2020
"City cancels state GOP convention in Houston as party vows legal fight,"The Houston Chronicle's Dylan McGuinness -- "Mayor Sylvester Turner announced Wednesday the city canceled the Texas Republican Party’s in-person state convention scheduled for downtown Houston next week, though GOP officials vowed they would pursue a legal fight against the move.
Houston First, the public nonprofit that serves as the city’s convention arm, sent a letter to the party’s executive committee notifying it that the convention has been canceled.
The letter triggers a part of the contract called a “force majeure” clause, which allows one side to cancel for an occurrence out of its control. The definition included “epidemics in the City of Houston,” according to the Houston First letter.
“No one wanted to step in and be the heavy and say no, and then run the risk of being accused of being political,” Turner said. “But if after all of that, if you still refuse to recognize the public health danger to everyone involved, then I am still the mayor.”
Texas Republican Party officials lambasted the decision and said they were preparing for a legal fight. The gathering, which was expected to draw several thousand visitors, was scheduled July 16-18 at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Meanwhile, Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough said he would welcome a convention there." Houston Chronicle
STATEMENT FROM TEXAS GOP CHAIRMAN JAMES DICKEY:
"Today, just five days before the beginning of the Republican Party of Texas State Convention, Houston First Corporation, at the behest of Mayor Sylvester Turner and the City of Houston, terminated our binding contract to host the 2020 State Convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
“This cancellation is not about the health and safety of Houstonians or the delegates and guests to our Convention. We made every effort to conduct our convention in a safe manner, working cooperatively with the Convention Center, going well beyond the requirements of the Center’s health safety plan. If Mayor Turner’s motivations were pure, he could have cancelled the lease weeks ago. Instead, he waited until the eve of the Convention to inflict the greatest disruption.
“Mayor Turner has publicly stated his intention to interrupt the Convention process and disenfranchise Republicans around the state. Mayor Turner changed Health Department guidelines to impose additional requirements on the Republican Party that he did not impose on other organizations.
“Mayor Turner’s disdain for all Republicans is evident by the divisive rhetoric he uses to describe conservatives and our efforts to participate in the electoral process.
“Make no mistake, our State Convention will continue unimpeded. If necessary, we will protect the rights of our delegates and complete the electoral business delegated to us by the U.S. Constitution and the laws of the state of Texas using online technologies.
“In the coming days, we will evaluate all legal remedies available to us to fight back against the unequal treatment Mayor Turner has chosen to inflict on conservatives. We will keep our delegates, alternates, and other convention attendees posted as we pursue those remedies.”
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"Hegar launches air war; West looks to digital targeting," The Austin American-Statesman's Jonathan Tilove -- "In a demonstration of superior air power, MJ Hegar’s U.S. Senate campaign, along with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Emily’s List, will be bombarding cable and broadcast media with more than $1.5 million in advertising in the closing days before the July 14 runoff election.
But Royce West’s campaign, which will be spending a mere $25,000 for a touch of TV in Houston in the waning days, said Hegar is wasting money and that the West campaign is more effectively spending on targeted digital and voter outreach by phone.
According to a Republican operative tracking media buys, the Hegar campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee plan to spend roughly $750,000 in the last week of the campaign to run a Hegar ad talking about health care, immigration and systemic racism.
On top of that, Women Vote!, the super PAC associated with Emily’s List, an organization that works to elect Democrats who support abortion rights, is buying $777,000 in broadcast TV time exclusively in Houston for a new ad focused on health care." Austin American-Statesman
"After losing big on Super Tuesday, Texas progressives hope to salvage some victories in July,"The Texas Tribune's Alex Samuels -- "Judging from March, the ideological left wing of the Democratic Party in Texas should be inconsolable.
After months of high hopes, the faction ran into a centrist buzz saw in the March 3 primary. Joe Biden practically locked up the Democratic presidential nomination, and progressive candidates experienced electoral drubbings.
Among the fallen: presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, congressional candidate Jessica Cisneros, U.S. Senate hopeful Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, and Audia Jones, a candidate for Harris County District attorney endorsed by Sanders.
But rather than licking their political wounds, leading progressive candidates still in the fight say they’re invigorated — and eager to use the coronavirus pandemic, fights over voting by mail and calls for police reform to score some late victories in the July runoffs.
“Every time we have a progressive run, we get a little bit closer,” said Sara Stapleton-Barrera, who is in a runoff against state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville. “I feel like we’re slowly winning the war, but we have to get through some of these battles first.”
Perhaps the most energy is coming from Austin, where two runoffs have the attention of progressives. José Garza is competing in the nationally watched Democratic primary runoff for Travis County district attorney. Mike Siegel is vying for his party’s nomination in the 10th Congressional District’s Democratic primary runoff." Texas Tribune
REMAINDERS
PATTY MILLS: "Spurs' Patty Mills to donating $1M to fight racism"AP
HOUSTON DASH: "Sky Blue defeats Dash 2-0 for 1st win of Challenge Cup"AP
'MACK ON POLITICS' PODCAST
LATEST "MACK ON POLITICS" PODCAST: Tim Alberta, chief political correspondent for Politico magazine, returns as our guest for the 194th episode.
In this conversation we take stock of the 2020 election, Trump’s polling disadvantage, the state of the GOP, the ‘law and order’ approach, the resignation of Black Democrats, and whether the 2020 race will likely tighten in the fall.
Available on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher and on the web at http://www.MackOnPoliticsPodcast.com.
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