The 2022 Midterm Elections in Texas

The General (Midterm) Election Day this year is November 8 (early voting starts October 24), and the Texas Tribune has published ballot information.

Local

Mayor

  • Bobby Gutierrez
  • Brent Hairston
  • Mike Southerland

Single Member District No. 1

  • Raul Santana
  • Paul Torres

Single Member District No. 2

  • Ray Arrington
  • Rafael Peña III

Single Member District No. 3

  • Doris Machinski
  • Jared Salvato

Single Member District No. 5

  • Marca Ewers-Shurtleff
  • Anjuli “A.J.” Renold
  • Kyle R. Schumann

At Large, Place 6

  • Kevin C. Boriskie
  • Patrick Giammalva

U.S. House District 10

  • Michael T. McCaul (R) [Incumbent]
  • Linda Nuno (D)
  • Bill Kelsey (L)

Texas Senate District 5

  • Charles Schwertner (R) [Incumbent]
  • Tommy Estes (L)

Texas House District 14

  • John Raney (R) [Incumbent]
  • Jeff Miller (L)

State Board Of Education District 10

  • Tom Maynard (R) [Incumbent]

Statewide

Governor

  • Greg Abbott (R) [Incumbent]
  • Beto O’Rourke (D)
  • Mark Tippetts (L)
  • Delilah Barrios (G)

Lieutenant Governor

  • Dan Patrick (R) [Incumbent]
  • Mike Collier (D)
  • Shanna Steele (L)

Attorney General

  • Ken Paxton (R) [Incumbent]
  • Rochelle Garza (D)
  • Mark Ash (L)

Land Commissioner

  • Dawn Buckingham (R)
  • Jay Kleberg (D)
  • Alfred Molison (G)

Agriculture Commissioner

  • Sid Miller (R) [Incumbent]
  • Susan Hays (D)

Comptroller

  • Glenn Hegar (R) [Incumbent]
  • Janet T. Dudding (D)
  • V. Alonzo Echevarria-Garza (L)

Railroad Commissioner

  • Wayne Christian (R) [Incumbent]
  • Luke Warford (D)
  • Jaime Andrés Díez (L)
  • Hunter Crow (G)

HTML5.tx 2013

I attended HTML5.tx in Austin, Texas, February 1-3. Friday, February 1, was 8 hours of CSS3. Saturday was a series of 7, 1 hour-long talks. Sunday was 5 hours of JavaScript. Here is a brain-dump of my notes.

Links

Friday

CSS: from Knowledgable to Ninja
Estelle Weyl
@estellevw
http://standardista.com/
http://estelle.github.com/CSS-Workshop/

Course Outline Selectors Specificity
Generated Content
Media Queries
Debugging
Colors & Transparency
Fonts / Typography
Backgrounds & Borders
Gradients
Transforms
Transitions & Animation
Other Features

http://copypastecharacter.com/

data-FOO is HTML5 for creating your own attribute.

http://caniuse.com

http://modern.ie

Saturday

Adaptive Images for Responsive Web Design
Chris Schmitt
http://github.com/teleject/hisrc/

http://www.useragentstring.com/

Feature Testing
1) width
2) screen resolution
3) bandwidth

but speed test hinder ux

there is native speed test
modernizer network-connection.js

Img old school
1) .htaccess
2) <picture> and or srcset
3) HiSRC

hisrc.js w/ jquery.js
and data-1x, data-2x
or
css media queries and single-pixel gif replacement

Workarounds
1) background-size:auto (fittextjs.com)
2) svg
3) font-based solutions
4) compressed jpeg (not for high contrast)

Img new school
1) simple design for users
2) browser, server handshake
3) same,…

DOM
codylindley.com/domit

1. document node
2. element node
3. text node
encompass 90% of nodes

jQuery = “find something, do something”

The New Rules of the Responsive Web
@matthew_carver

“The Responsive Web”
Use code 13rw37 for 37% off book
http://manning.com/carver/

Tech has changed in the last 18 months.

People create with big device, consume with small device.

Rules:

1) responsive design doesn’t end with squishing

2) there is no responsive pixie dust

Think: prototyping

3) your workflow will change

Think: style tiles

4) your tools will change

Think: CSS preprocessors; scss, sass, less
Book: SMACSS (lumberjack book)

5) the web is responsive by default

6) embrace unpredictability

LIGHTNING TALKS

Aaron Murray
10 Minutes that can save hours of debugging headaches
or Dodging Javascript pitfalls
@aaronkmurray

In developer console

parseInt(010) – octal = 8

a == true doesn’t check type
=== does check type

—————————————————-

Ryan Joy
Drop the widgets
embrace html5

@atxryan
ryanjoy.com

<form>
<progress>
autocomplete
drag and drop
audio and video
contenteditable
javascript (sizzle)
css
input type=date
color picker input type=color
context menu

—————————————————-

Austin Hallock
clay.io

html5 games – cross platform
<canvas>
github.com/austinhallock/html5.tx

10 Things You Didn’t Know Browsers Could Do
Estelle Weyl
@estellevw
estelle.github.com/10

1) $(‘selector’) without jquery
Selectors API

2) everything is editable
contentEditable()

3) can store lots of data
local storage
session storage
webSQL (webkit)
indexedDB
your whole site with appcache

4) svg as background image

5) count with css

6) css can calculate

7) IE6 and IE7 can buy you a house

8) take your picture
navigator.getusermedia

9) animate sprites

10) help you manage memory

HTML5 on TV
Mike Taylor
github.com/pepelsbey/shower

Opera is everywhere

beware of overscan

navigation – spatial navigation (keyboard)

input

libraries – microjs

vanilla-js.com

javascript, html5 & DOM

storage

cookies

audio/video

tools

opera tv emulator
dragonfly

templates

dev.opera.com/tv

Model-View-Websockets
Garann Means

javascript

SPA – same page application

issues:
scaffolding
how/when to redraw
where client interactions fit
those damn http requests

twitter flight
airbnb – node.js
meteor
mvc vs. eda

model = object
view = presentation
controller = ?

eda – event-driven architecture

Controller

spine.js in Toolmvc

Presenter
backbone.js in todomvc

Viewmodel
knockback.js in todomvc

CRUD
REST

WebSockets
server push dataq
bi-directional
no request, no responce

Rapid Templating: “Designing in the Browser” with Sass, Compass, and Serve
Nathan Smith
@nathansmith

j.mp/get-serve

get-serve.com

nathansmith.github.com

unsemantic.com

Sunday

Advanced Javascript Training
Pamela Fox

http://tinyurl.com/html5tx
http://www.teaching-materials.org/workshops/html5tx.html

developers.whatwg.org

CLIENT SIDE STORAGE
1)localStorage/sessionStorage
Use a library like store.js or lscache https://github.com/pamelafox/lscache
Careful, there are ways not to use localstorage

2)IndexedDB
Again use a library like lawnchair,
Not in all browsers, need fallbacks

3) File APIs
There are many file APIs

jshint.com

MULTIMEDIA IN HTML5
online-convert.com – online video converter
handbrake – download video converter

Subtitle tag Use a tool

JavaScript APIs
There are javascript tools and hosted services.

GRAPHICS IN HTML5
Try to make it without use of plugins.

SVG
embed, inline, scripted, CSS background
There are tools and libraries.

<canvas> tag</canvas>
<canvas> HTML and Javascript.</canvas>
<canvas> Animation is redrawing the canvas.</canvas>

Javascript drawImage.

Canvas has lots of libraries & tools.

WebGL
Most people use ThreeJS.
There are libraries and tools.

CSS 3d Transforms

BONUS:

I managed to make videos of me at my hotel. I posed them to youtube: Irony in a hotel & Irony in a hotel part 2.

Texas Tremors Beginning of Methane ‘Mega’ Disaster

Have you seen this spam email? It has circulated at least once (Typos in the last paragraph.) As wacky as it is, it is a good read.

This version is from “Regional Bulletin” <texastremors@mac.hush.com>

The strange tremors and rumbling noises in several North Eastern Texas counties reported in the Corsicana Daily Sun on Dec 5th mirror the reports of the noisy tremors in Assumption Parish Louisiana that have moved homes off of their foundations. The mysterious tremors in Texas and Louisiana are being caused by the build up of high pressure methane gas that is originating from an enormous deposit of methane hydrates in the Gulf of Mexico. The gas is migrating through subterranean passageways throughout many Gulf States. The extraction of petrochemicals over the decades has resulted in a honeycomb structure of tributaries throughout the region.

The unusually large deposit of methane hydrates was breached by the BP deep well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico back in 2010. The seafloor geology was compromised at the time and the high pressure and high temperature crude oil has been seeping into the huge lake of frozen methane hydrate and transforming it into high pressure gas. One cubic foot of methane hydrate becomes 160 cubic feet of methane gas.

Expect the migrating methane to cause explosions and poisonings in your area as it makes it way to the surface. Recent fish kills in the Gulf are no doubt the result of increased methane levels. Do not expect any information or warnings from local authorities. Officials in Assumption Parish have all received the following warnings and are not warning the public of the dangers. They refer to the methane they are now having to vent and burn in flare stacks as natural gas. Until the catastrophic sinkhole recently burped up thousands of gallons of raw crude oil they were calling the presence of petrochemical odours and residue, diesel fuel. As that disaster worsens the truth about the methane and the crude is beginning to surface.

The following is excerpted from our Saviour’s June 30 warning. The entire warning follows……..

“Now, you do not see again what is happening to you! For, the great frozen methane lake, which is beneath the Gulf of Mexico, is quickly melting! The heat of the seeping oil, which is pouring into the frozen lake, is melting this great lake of frozen methane!

Yes, you watch in amazement as these methane bubbles come to the surface and some of you are surprised at the shifting of your homes. But, hear Me! For, you have seen nothing yet! This gas is finding its own exits!

A great volume of methane gas is pushing upwards and is seeking to find its own vents! As more of this gas pushes its way to the surface, there will come a shifting in the subterranean land masses. There shall come a subsequent shifting in the lands, both beneath the Gulf of Mexico, and even for some distance from the Gulf of Mexico!

Some of these land displacements will be great with ensuing earthquakes. But, the earthquakes will not compare to the unexpected explosions, and in many areas, unparalleled deaths of humans, animals and aquatic life and yes, even birds and other life forms!

Oh, you people of Louisiana, you would not listen! I have sent you two very great calamities and now comes a third. So great shall be your suffering! The stench, the stink of the dying shall be so great! And, many will say, “Who is going to Louisiana?” For, the explosions and the dying shall be so great among you!

And, when you see these terrible things hit Louisiana, know that this is My third, great judgment against this wicked state. It is a haughty state! It is full of idol worship and witchcraft’s; and those in the churches will not obey Me. They will not walk in humility before Me. For, their song is, “How great I am!”

But, I tell you, oh state of Louisiana, you are a cancer! You are a grievous sore in My face! You are a great blot upon the face of the whole earth; and I will erase you!

I will continue in My judgments against you; and I will continue to plead with you to repent through My great judgements, until I erase your very existence! For, you are rotten, oh state of Louisiana! You are rotten to the core and I will no longer allow this evil before My face!

I tell you now; and hear Me well! The great methane bubble, which lies beneath the Gulf of Mexico, is beginning to rupture! As this great bubble ruptures, it will push out! It will begin to push out with great force! It will erupt beneath the ocean! It will erupt all along the Gulf Coast!

The great rupture of this methane gas will hit Florida! It will hit Texas! It will hit inland and move up beneath the Mississippi River! It will go south towards Cuba. It will go towards Mexico! It will spew forth, sometimes with small eruptions, but at other times, the eruptions of these gases will be so great that they will easily sink ships! And, there will come a time when travel in the Gulf of Mexico will be extremely hazardous!

Most often, the presence of these terrible gases will go undetected, but the effects of these gases will be deadly! Whole areas will come under attack, and there will be many “unexplained” deaths and sicknesses! This great gas explosion will be seen as the “silent killer.” (end excerpt)

Message from our Savior
A great call to repentance: America is burning!
The Melting of the great, frozen, methane lake:
The Third Great Judgement for Louisiana and for this nation!
June 30, 2012

My Blessed Child, I am your Father Yahweh, yea Jehovah, Most High God, yes Jesus, Lord of Lords and King of Kings! I tell you again, that I am One and the Same! I am your Saviour! I am your Redeemer; and I am Most High God; and besides Me, there is none! But, there come those, who wish to quibble, who wish to find fault and who wish to dispute the truth of who I am! And some say, “She speaks to another Jesus! She hears from another God!” But, I tell you, My Blessed Child, that among these very mockers are those, who speak to another god. They speak to another Jesus! For, I am not found among them; and these include some of your biggest critics, who control the churches, and who mock these works.

But, now, My Blessed Child, I come to you and I tell you a very important thing! And, this very important word is about to accelerate all of My judgements in the earth! Yes, people will look here and they will look there and they will say, “Oh, look at these Satanists! Oh, look what they do!” But, I tell you this! Hear Me in this! For, I am empowering the Satanists over you!

Just as I raised up Nebuchadnezzar and I empowered Nebuchadnezzar to come forward and to overrun and defeat My people, who did evil and who would not heed the warnings of My prophets, I have now raised up another in your midst! Indeed, he is Satan’s choice and Satan has put him over you through his secret organizations. But, I tell you now that I control Satan! He does what I allow and what I command!

I wrote the Book of Revelation; and I have spoken through My prophets down through the ages, for this is what My people chose. And, I have honored their choices!

The Antichrist in our midst!

But now, hear Me in this! Make no mistake about it! Barack Obama is the antichrist! Whine all you want! Be in denial all that you want, but you will not change who he is; and you will not change the fact that I put him over you!

He is your worst nightmare, oh America; for he will burn you down and laugh as he sees you burning! He has no allegiance to America; for his allegiance is to Satan; and this man’s heart is set upon his rule of the whole world!

“The Time of the Burning!”

You, oh America, are but fodder for his fires, you wicked and adulterous peoples of America! And, burn you will! Yes, you will burn; and the fires will spread all across this nation, even before the nukes come! Yes, you will burn, oh America! For, you will not repent! And, because you will not repent; and I have called out to you for many years to repent of your evil ways, and you will not hear My cries, I tell you that you will burn! (The Lord warned the prophet, Dumitru Duduman, that America will burn. We have now come to that time!)

Terrible Droughts and Famines!

And, the famines, great famines, will begin to rip across this land, from one city to another and from one part of this land to another! In years past, I warned you through My words, which I gave to My servant, Linda Newkirk. I told you that if you would not repent that I would dry up your corn fields, that I would bring famines; and you would not hear! You would not believe!

Now come the famines, and you can see it at your door! For, the droughts are so great! And, now the great fires come, yet few of you can see them, and these fires continue on! Now comes also the time when your antichrist president will wallow in his victories! For, now comes also the time when he is coming into his power!

The Fall of America!

What will you do, oh you decadent nation of America? You will fall! America will fall! Yes, America will fall, and all over the world, the people will shudder! They will panic! They will fear with a great fear! For, they shall soon say, “America is fallen!” Yes, the whore of the world is fallen! That old wicked woman, who made the world to drink of the cup of her perversions, has fallen!

Yet, not all will fear, but only those nations, who have depended upon you, will fear! Many will rejoice! Many will be joyful! They will be glad; for you, oh decadent nation of America have terrorized many nations!

Terrors From the South!

Now comes the time, and it is at your door, when many nations shall terrorize you, oh nation of America! For, as you have sown, so shall you reap!

The wind is coming! Yes, a very great wind from the South is coming! A very great Southerly wind will come upon this nation and this wind from the South will greatly trouble you!

Yes, the King of the South will rise up and he will collect his own nations; and they shall rise up to defeat and to overthrow this nation, not through war, not yet through war, but soon through war! However, at this time, they shall rise up; and soon, en masse, they will rise up to overthrow the dollar! And, this wind will blow hot! This wind will blow upon you with a great force and this great wind will cause you to suffer an irreparable crack in the economy of this nation. And, the rumbles of this great wind shall crash and crack and beat and dissolve, beat and dissolve, pound and pummel the very economic structure of this nation!

The Works of the Antichrist!

But, do not be alarmed when you see your president bow to them all; for he is not after your approval. He is after their glory! He is after their support! He is after their admiration; for he champions their causes! He is their man and he is your great enemy, oh America!

Yes, America, your president is the antichrist! He came out of Europe! In Europe, he was conceived and through the European Satanic elite, he was born! But, he is truly a man without a country; and because he is a man without a country, he is loyal to no country! His eyes are on the prize of world governance; for while he bows today to ingratiate himself to foreign rulers, tomorrow he will require that they all bow to him.

The Fulfillment of Our Saviour’s words!

Yes, Barack Obama is a man with a great plan; but remember: I wrote the plan! I put him over you, oh America; for I am going to use him to break your pride! I am going to use him to break your haughtiness. I am going to use him to break your economy! I am going to use him to fill up your concentration camps! I am going to use him to haul you off as slaves, oh you rebellious house! I am going to use him to further pollute you, oh Nation of America; for he hates you, oh wicked nation; and I will drive his hate towards you until he sees you in flames from one end of this nation to the other, from north to south and from east to west!

The Price of Rebellion

You will not repent, oh you wicked nation of America! You will not heed My calls to repent, or perish! You will not bow a knee to Me, to the Creator of All Things, but you will bow a knee to him! And, many of you will take his mark and will worship him, just to have food on your tables. For, you will not honor Me and My word! You will not repent! Therefore, you will worship him and you will lose your souls! For, you have loved evil! You have no regard for what is right! You love a lie! You love every perverted thing; and you will perish in your wicked ways!

The Great Judgements of our God against Louisiana and this nation!

Get ready, people of Louisiana! Get ready! Get ready for one of the greatest catastrophes that you will ever see! I have sent you warnings through the great devastation of Hurricane Katrina! This was My first great warning to you, oh people of Louisiana: my warning to repent, or perish. Yet, you have made yourselves busy in re-building that great decadent city of New Orleans, but you have not repented!

Then, I sent you even greater warnings through the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster! Great is this calamity and great have been your losses through this great calamity! But, still you have not repented!

These are My judgments, oh you blind, who lead the blind; but you would not see My handiwork in the midst of these great calamities. You would not see My judgments through these great catastrophes!

The Third Great Judgement Against Louisiana, and the people of this nation!

Now, you do not see again what is happening to you! For, the great frozen methane lake, which is beneath the Gulf of Mexico, is quickly melting! The heat of the seeping oil, which is pouring into the frozen lake, is melting this great lake of frozen methane!

Yes, you watch in amazement as these methane bubbles come to the surface and some of you are surprised at the shifting of your homes. But, hear Me! For, you have seen nothing yet! This gas is finding its own exits!

A great volume of methane gas is pushing upwards and is seeking to find its own vents! As more of this gas pushes its way to the surface, there will come a shifting in the subterranean land masses. There shall come a subsequent shifting in the lands, both beneath the Gulf of Mexico, and even for some distance from the Gulf of Mexico!

Some of these land displacements will be great with ensuing earthquakes. But, the earthquakes will not compare to the unexpected explosions, and in many areas, unparalleled deaths of humans, animals and aquatic life and yes, even birds and other life forms!

Oh, you people of Louisiana, you would not listen! I have sent you two very great calamities and now comes a third. So great shall be your suffering! The stench, the stink of the dying shall be so great! And, many will say, “Who is going to Louisiana?” For, the explosions and the dying shall be so great among you!

And, when you see these terrible things hit Louisiana, know that this is My third, great judgment against this wicked state. It is a haughty state! It is full of idol worship and witchcrafts; and those in the churches will not obey Me. They will not walk in humility before Me. For, their song is, “How great I am!”

But, I tell you, oh state of Louisiana, you are a cancer! You are a grievous sore in My face! You are a great blot upon the face of the whole earth; and I will erase you!

I will continue in My judgments against you; and I will continue to plead with you to repent through My great judgements, until I erase your very existence! For, you are rotten, oh state of Louisiana! You are rotten to the core and I will no longer allow this evil before My face!

I tell you now; and hear Me well! The great methane bubble, which lies beneath the Gulf of Mexico, is beginning to rupture! As this great bubble ruptures, it will push out! It will begin to push out with great force! It will erupt beneath the ocean! It will erupt all along the Gulf Coast!

The great rupture of this methane gas will hit Florida! It will hit Texas! It will hit inland and move up beneath the Mississippi River! It will go south towards Cuba. It will go towards Mexico! It will spew forth, sometimes with small eruptions, but at other times, the eruptions of these gases will be so great that they will easily sink ships! And, there will come a time when travel in the Gulf of Mexico will be extremely hazardous!

Most often, the presence of these terrible gases will go undetected, but the effects of these gases will be deadly! Whole areas will come under attack, and there will be many “unexplained” deaths and sicknesses! This great gas explosion will be seen as the “silent killer.”

The time is at hand, oh America! You have come to the time of your great judgements; and this bowl is now full and overflowing!

I am your Father, Yahweh, yea Jehovah, Most High God.

As witnessed, dictated and recorded this 30th day of June, 2012, Linda Newkirk

Visit prophecies.org to read the recent revelations of Obama and treasonous factions within the US Military bringinging foreign troops into the country to confiscate guns and round up dissidents after he declares marial law. For whistleblower testimony/reports about the foreign troops look up an article entitled Russian Troops Infilltrate USA, you will be shocked when you read it.

 

Texas Reds Steak and Grape Festival 2011

This year they changed the date to the fall in the hopes of cooler weather. October in Texas is still warm, but it’s closer to harvest. So, it should be interesting to see if the vintners present new wines or yearlings.

The Texas Reds Steak and Grape Festival is October 7-8, 2011, in Downtown Bryan, Texas.

A new twist this year: general admission is $4 or $5. They’ll have the event gated so they know who paid and who didn’t. The rational? To make up for the revenue they’ll loose for the two days. Seriously? I find it hard to believe that the City of Bryan makes $50,000+ in two days from the 5 square blocks of downtown where the event is being held. I may not go just on principle.

Texas faces worst dry spell since 1895

Texas drought 2011-09-11

Texas isn’t the only place affected by heat and drought.

August was yet another busy month for global weather extremes. Highlights included record-busting heat and drought (again) in the south-central portions of the U.S.A. The climatological summer of June-August was the 2nd warmest since accurate measurements began in 1895. An intense heat wave also affected southern Europe in mid-month. Severe tropical storms lashed the eastern seaboard of the USA (Irene) and the Philippines and Japan. Torrential rains caused devastating flooding and landslides in Nigeria and Uganda. But the 2nd most important extreme weather story (2nd to the USA heat wave and drought) was the record cold wave and blizzard that hit New Zealand on August 14-15. Source: Weather Extremes : August 2011 Global Weather Extremes Summary : Weather Underground.

This drought and summer-heat is still going, and may continue until summer 2012. It did cool off last week though – lows in the mid-50’s, highs in the low 90’s – but we’ve only seen 1 inch of rain since August 1. That cool off is 2 weeks ahead of schedule. Usually we have a cool spell during the 3rd week of September.

Since January 1, state and local firefighters and crews from across the country have battled 18,887 wildfires over more than 3.5 million acres in Texas, according to state officials. Source: More wildfires erupt in Texas as it faces worst dry spell since 1895 – CNN.com.

Back in June I reported about Global Weirding and the number of counties in exceptional drought. Well, as expected, the trend continued into September. As of September 6, 81% of counties are in exceptional drought – the worst on the Drought Monitor’s scale.

See how fast wildfire spreads – Texas Parks and Wildlife

Sad days for Texas education, public services

This practice is reverberating around the country. As good as  Texas is, as well as it weathered the recession, public services are not immune to budget cuts.

The Texas Education Agency is laying off 178 employees this week as part of budget cuts ordered by the state Legislature. via KBTX  Texas Education Agency to Lay Off 178 Employees.

The Texas Legislature had to cut something, unfortunately education was a big looser when the budget was finalized.

Media is reporting many local job cuts. College Station is cutting 27 positions. Bryan is cutting 20 jobs. Texas A&M already cut more than 150 jobs and more may be on the way.

“This Legislature will go down in the history books as the worst for public education in a generation,” said Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio. “Now it’s time for legislators to go home and explain to their communities why they voted for or against these historic education cuts. via The Three Way Attack on Texas Public Education; Part One: Fiscal Responsibility « Education in Texas.

Rain

This is worth mentioning for future reference – we got about 2 inches of rain yesterday night. That’s the first time since May 23 that we’ve seen rain, and January since we’ve seen more than an inch.

Global Weirding Serves Texas Worst Drought Since Dust Bowl

Almost two years after the drought of 2009, Texas is worse off than ever before. This summer, there are almost 4 times as many counties experiencing “exceptional” drought than in 2009 and almost 2 times as many than in 2006.

Just how hot is it? On May 25 – 27 days before the start of summer – we reached 100° F in Brazos county! If that’s a trend, I expect 45 – 60 days of 100+ degree days this summer. That is insane hot!

To our relief, it has rained and we got maybe 1/2 inch the last two nights. That will probably prolong the grass’ life another week or two. Check back in September, Texas might be in Dust Bowl 2.0. Meanwhile, crops and livestock are holding on for dear life.

To compound the trouble – or as a result of drought – Texas has experienced the worst fires ever too. More than 2 million acres have burned and it is only June – we have at least 90 days of dry, hot conditions ahead.

The tinder-dry conditions in Texas have spawned thousands of wildfires that have killed two firefighters, scorched about 2.3 million acres and destroyed about 400 homes since November. Source: Severe drought in Texas worst in map’s history | Star-Telegram

Extra $1.2B found for Texas budget

No surprises – yet – but hearing that education is the highest expense is not good news for a college town.

Lawmakers battling the multibillion-dollar shortfall have agreed on all major parts of the budget except education. House and Senate negotiators are working to craft a compromise version of each chamber’s proposal. So far, they’ve agreed to all parts of the budget except the portion that funds public and higher education, Texas’ biggest expense. Source: Extra $1.2B found for Texas budget | Bryan/College Station, Texas – The Eagle.

That extra money comes from increases in sales tax collections, oil production tax, and motor vehicle sales tax. I also think property taxes are helping. The city pushed mine up 20%! I plan to protest, but I need to do it soon. The deadline to protest is June 1.

Most of the higher revenue estimate comes from a dramatic rise in sales tax receipts over the last year. The high price of oil also has helped fill the state coffers. Source: Extra $1.2B found for Texas budget | Bryan/College Station, Texas – The Eagle.