83 Days

The featured photo is from the Olympics Closing Ceremony. It is a cool patriotic shot. It also serves as a reminder that Election Day is in 83 days.

_____

This is from the Chron:

The Texas Rangers concluded an investigation into Harris County’s highly scrutinized November 2022 election, finding no evidence that there was an attempt to sway the results, District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Tuesday.

The election, marred by a ballot paper shortage that impacted voters at some polling locations across the county, sparked state legislation and more than 20 lawsuits based partly on Republican claims that county officials had deliberately allocated an insufficient amount of ballot paper to polls in conservative areas in an effort to disenfranchise GOP voters.

“Some have said this (shortage) was directed at one party,” Ogg said Tuesday. “Our investigation has not found that to be so.”

Here is the entire read: Texas Rangers find no evidence of fraud in Harris County election (houstonchronicle.com).

I am sure the election deniers are still in denial. Oh, well.

_____

I saw this on ABC Channel 13 news yesterday:

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — It wasn’t that long ago that catalytic converter thefts were a major issue in Houston. ABC13 covered them frequently.

According to data presented by the Houston Police Department at city hall Tuesday morning, that would have been in the first part of 2022.

HPD Cmdr. Dana Hitzman presented the information during a meeting for the City of Houston’s Public Safety Committee.

The statistics provided were part of a line graph that didn’t include specific numbers, which ABC13 requested through an open records request.

The graph showed that in March 2022, the City of Houston had more than 1,200 incidents involving catalytic converter theft.

The most recent data included was from February and March of 2024. Both months featured a line that rested near the zero mark.

So what caused this? A few things, according to Hitzman.

Hitzman said a 2023 state law called the Deputy Darren Almendarez Act created stricter penalties for those caught stealing catalytic converters.

Almendarez was a Harris County sheriff’s deputy who was shot and killed trying to prevent the theft of his catalytic converter in March 2022.

The law also gave more money to law enforcement to help with cracking down on the issue.

A reminder. The Deputy Darren Almendarez Act was sponsored and carried by State Sen. Carol Alvarado. Nice job.

_____

The Astros have now won seven in a row. All seven on the road. We have a game and a half lead in the AL West.