Super shorts show Gov. Abbott’s big bet, Dallas’ missing super fountain and NFL overtime rules
That’s what I call “super shorts” – starting with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. It is now clear to everyone that the governor is banking his political career on ensuring that there will be no power outages this winter. “I can guarantee the lights will stay on,” Abbott told Fox 7 in Austin last week.
It’s now $ 10 billion. While I was on vacation, the Texas Railroad Commission agreed to borrow $ 3.4 billion, plus the $ 6.5 billion bonds approved by the Electricity Utility Commission. That’s $ 9.9 billion. Who will pay it back? Look in the mirror.
The money games played by state leaders after the freeze remind me of the journalists’ prayer (yes, there is one) that is supposed to give my colleagues the strength to expose “the half-truth that is deceiving and the weird word that corrupts”. Amen.
What happened to the $ 10 million super-well that was slated to open at Klyde Warren Park this month? This project, sponsored by Nancy and Randy Best, was designed to house the world’s tallest water jets and transform the Dallas skyline. Construction should start in summer and open this month. Project spokesman Tony Fay tells me: “The pandemic and its aftermath slowed it down … We have been ready to start construction since November 1st. However, we are still waiting for one of the necessary city permits. ”The construction time is expected to take six months.
The flood of cryptocurrency miners to Texas in recent months is largely due to our deregulated electricity market. Bloomberg reports that “Texas, already home to the most fragile power grid in the United States, will be hit by a surge in electricity demand double that of Austin.”
Another type of punishment. The official address of Dallas Police Headquarters changed from 1400 S. Lamar St. to 1400 S. Botham Jean Boulevard that year. It’s a constant reminder to the police and all of us of Jean’s death by a confused Dallas cop.
Botham Jean’s family embraces after unveiling the street sign for Botham Jean Boulevard, named after their murdered son and brother in Dallas, on March 27, 2021. Botham Jean, who was murdered by a Dallas police officer in his Cedars apartment in September 2018, lived on the part of the street formerly known as South Lamar Street. (Juan Figueroa / Dallas Morning News)(Juan Figueroa)
Do you hear a financial advisor on the Dallas-Fort Worth radio? You may want to change channels. In Dallas, their track record is miserable, according to The Watchdog’s scorecard: Bobby Eugene Guess, who hosted the “Dollars & Sense” show, is in jail for fraud. James Poe lost his “Found Money Radio” program after agreeing to pay a civil penalty of $ 35,000 for mishandling administration fees and lost his registration as a financial advisor. Doc Gallagher has been sentenced to life imprisonment for his Ponzi program. Now comes the newest, Mark Plummer, who promoted gas and oil investments in “Smart Oil and Gas”. He agreed to pay $ 500,000 to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that he improperly spent investors’ money on personal purchases.
Notice how many companies use the word “integrity” on their behalf? Integrity plumbing. Integrity automobile. Integrity air conditioning. Integrity insurance. Integrity Pest Control. Integrity real estate and much more. The owners say: “You can trust us. We’re not like our competitors. ”It shows how the old adage“ honesty is the best policy ”no longer applies in a wide variety of industries.
I have a hypothesis about the Texas state government: After watching state leaders fail to power up the power grid (which the rest of us want) and the restrictions on carrying handguns were lifted (despite surveys showing that most Texans did not advocate this change), I have come to the conclusion that this government is not working for us. Elected civil servants actually work for about a dozen people who write the millions of dollars in donation checks. The rest of us can watch.
The group openrecords.org, which I wrote about last week, is warning Dallas County real estate owners that if they click on a website advertised on a postcard of the Dallas Central Appraisal District – DallasCountyTexasTaxes.gov – they were managing to become one Dot Com website are redirected from a server in Bulgaria that is known for its involvement in criminal activity. The group says the foreign website could inject malicious code into your computer. DCAD Tech Director John Milam told the group that the domain will be redirected to servers in Bulgaria and the Netherlands, but will be hosted through Amazon Web Services. DCAD spokeswoman Cheryl Jordan told The Watchdog: “There is no problem and no story. Trust me.”
I can’t stand the NextDoor website. I get hit by sensational headlines and find out that the coyote that killed the cat happened 10 miles away, for example. Hardly next door. I know I could personalize the neighborhood list. But why bother? NextDoor, along with Facebook, um, Meta, has become the go-to place to lie about local political candidates and elected officials. It’s defamation center.
Do you know the difference between a journalist like me and an amateur social media poster? I try to reach out to the people I write about before posting. If I tell them what I’ve learned in my reporting, they can correct me. Social media posters vomit anything they want to say in a public post. It may or may not be true.
I can’t stand the NFL overtime rules. Game is too short. I like the college OT rules because an exciting OT phase can last a lot longer.
It’s the time of year to donate to charities. Stay away from phone attorneys. And before you write a check or pull out your credit card, check out a few websites for reputation information: CharityWatch and GuideStar. Also, type in the name of the charity and the phrase “Form 990” in a search engine. Often their annual tax returns are available online. Sometimes when I see how much the CEO of a charity is paid, I say, “Don’t worry.”
Hurst attorney Chuck Noteboom shows how lawyers can fight back a lot easier than the rest of us. He told me how after collecting 800,000 points in his Capitol One account, he tried to redeem them. But the bank informed him that his account was closed and that he would not get anything. Noteboom sued in the magistrate’s court. He turned himself in to a Capitol One attorney from Houston. Noteboom won $ 18,000, half for damages and the rest for legal fees. As the winner, he jokes about the company’s advertising slogan: “What’s in your wallet?”
Fortunately, the travel club program has slowed down a lot. This is where fast-talking salespeople are trying to convince potential customers that by paying thousands of dollars they are getting massive discounts on travel and hotels. In truth, the discounts aren’t that great. A company got into big trouble with the state a decade ago. Sealand Travel Club / Royal Palms Travel had to pay the state $ 30,000 in fines and $ 20,000 in legal fees. Now, a decade later, several former clients told me that they were suddenly being billed for annual membership fees after having long since quit. Unfortunately, a past purchase mistake can still haunt you.
Eventually, some lucky readers will read the next sentence and get money they didn’t know was theirs. Check the ClaimItTexas.org website for any funds that may be owed to you. You don’t have to hire a company that promises to look for you. Just claim it.
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