Heads

June, she’ll change her tune
In restless walks she’ll prowl the night
July, she will fly
And give no warning to her flight

That’s from “April Come She Will” put out by Simon and Garfunkel in 1966 and written by Paul Simon.

Hello, July.

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This happened yesterday in Pasadena. See this from Houston Public Media:

Many forms of gambling are outlawed in Texas, but chance decided who would represent District B on the Pasadena City Council.

The seat was chosen Monday by a coin toss – incumbent council member Bianca Valerio was sworn in for another term minutes after successfully calling heads at Pasadena City Hall, located about 20 miles southeast of Houston.

“I freak out when I lose $20, so to lose an entire position of representation, it’s a lot to put on the line,” Valerio said after the toss. “And it’s not something that I can work for – that’s what’s really important to me. I would have rather had the chance to go and campaign again and get some more (votes), but that wasn’t an option this time.”

Valerio’s unusually decided win came after a June 7 runoff against former council member Bruce Leamon ended in a tie, with each candidate receiving 272 votes. Under Texas Election Code, if a runoff election ends in a tie, the candidates can agree to “cast lots” to resolve the predicament.

“For a small election, it’s not out of the question that you could see this method used to pick somebody to save time and money,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor. “Municipalities are going to spend, depending on how big the electorate is, between $5,000 up to $1 million (on elections), and it’s something that’s cost prohibitive for a lot of areas. So this is an easy way to determine a winner in a lower stakes election.”

Valerio and Leamon, both of whom have prior experience on the city council in Pasadena, were the top two vote-getters in the May 3 election before tying in the runoff about a month later. Valerio was initially elected in 2021 to replace Leamon, who did not run that year due to the city council’s term limit. Leamon represented District B from 2013 to 2021.

After losing the coin toss, Leamon emphasized the importance of individual votes in local elections.

“I just hope in the future that people will take an interest and come out and vote. This just goes to show that every vote counts,” Leamon said. “I would have much preferred the voters had decided, but since it came out the way it did, this is the way it will be.”

I know both Council Member Bianca Valerio and former Council Member Bruce Leamon. I am sure Bruce is very disappointed. Two election days, raising campaign dough, running for the past few months, going door-to-door, spending days greeting voters at early voting locations, texting and making phone calls, and going to civic club meetings and other events, and then having the race decided by a coin flip. I think I would much rather have lost by one vote. Congrats to Bianca for calling heads. That’s Bianca in the featured photo.

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Folks know how I feel about this. I don’t think this fella ran a good campaign last year. I don’t think he knows how to throw a punch, and he definitely can’t take a punch.  See this from the Trib:

Democrat Colin Allred launched his campaign for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, making a second run at the upper chamber after failing to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz last year.

I want a competitive Democratic Party Primary in the U.S. Senate race. I hope this fella doesn’t get a free ride. I hope he runs a better campaign.

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I didn’t lose my power yesterday even though a CenterPoint truck with a bucket was parked down the street for an hour or so.  I am going to try not to worry about it.

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My Beatles wall calendars for July is the “Paperback Writer” and “Rain” 45 record sleeve from 1966 with the four in a black and white photo with Paul sitting in an open equipment case. The other is the four in a 1964 black and white photo.

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See this from the Chron:

Houston was left out of the WNBA’s most recent expansion with the league granting franchises to Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia on Monday, but commissioner Cathy Engelbert possibly tipped her hand when it comes to Houston’s WNBA future.

Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta put in a bid for a WNBA franchise and was turned down alongside other bidders in Austin, Miami, Denver, Charlotte, Nashville, Kansas City and St. Louis, among others.

However, it was only Fertitta and Houston that earned a mention from Engelbert during the league’s Monday press conference to announce the latest expansion.

“There are a variety of cities that bid, and one of those I wanted to shout out, because they have such a strong history in this league and their great ownership group, is Houston,” Engelbert said. “So, the Houston Comets were just amazing, won the first four inaugural championships in the WNBA, so I would say that’s the one obviously we have our eye on. Tilman has been a great supporter of the WNBA and we’ll stay tuned on that.” 

The three teams announced Monday are all backed by NBA ownership groups and paid a $250 million expansion fee, about five times what Golden State paid just a few years ago.

We didn’t support the Comets when we had them. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

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Jeremy Peña is dinged up and will be out for a while. He got plunked by a Cubbie pitcher the other night and fractured his rib. There ought to be an MLB rule that if a player gets plunked and must miss playing time, the team that plunked him has to have one of their players benched. It doesn’t seem fair that Jeremy must sit on the bench and mend while no Cubbie is penalized. Just saying.

We begin a six-game roadie today in Denver against the Rockies who own the worst record in MLB at 19-65. Then we head over to LA this weekend to take on the Dodgers who are tied for the best record in MLB at 53-32.