The Texas Progressive Alliance has its eyes on Charlotte as it brings you this week’s roundup.
There were two major court rulings last week, with the state of Texas losing and the voters of Texas winning as both the redistricting maps and the voter ID law were found to be illegal.
BossKitty at TruthHugger is sick of all the emails and robo calls wanting money for this or that political cause. Quit violating my personal space to beg for money when Super Pacs are doing that job for me, You Have My Vote, But Not My Money!
With the Texas GOP’s dual losses on redistricting and voter suppression this week, it’s still key for Democrats to keep the pressure on. Because, as WCNews at Eye on Williamson, points out they still have big and destructive plans for the future, Public education being left for dead in Texas.
The Austin Police Department not only infiltrated Occupy Austin, but one undercover cop designed and supplied the devices used in the Houston port protest that resulted in felony charges against several protestors. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs wants to know if Mayor Annise Parker still supports this kind of police misconduct.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants you to know that Quico Canseco is a whiner – your typical Republican crybaby.
Texas History for the Week of September 3 – 8
WIKI: 2011 Texas wildfires
On Sunday, September 4, 2011, a firestorm known as the Bastrop County Complex Fire engulfed Bastrop, Texas and by September 30 had destroyed 1,645 homes, burned 34,068 acres, and killed two people.[5] This fire is now regarded as the most catastrophic wildfire in Texas history.[6]
Texas Governor Rick Perry declared a State of Disaster starting on December 21, 2010 and renewed the proclamation every month. On April 16, 2011 Perry asked that President Barack Obama declare 252 of 254 Texas counties as disaster areas due to wildfires and wildfire danger;[7] the request was partially approved on July 1, 2011.[8] Critics of the governor’s relief efforts point to his budget cuts to the Texas Forest Service which provides a first line of defense against wildfires.[9]
View of Bastrop Complex fire captured by Terra satellite, September 5, 2011
Due to the on going exceptional drought conditions in most of Texas and the high winds brought to the state by Tropical Storm Lee, a series of wildfires flared up over Labor Day weekend and continued into the following week. The largest and most destructive was what is now known as the Bastrop County Complex. At approximately 3:00 p.m. (CDT) on September 4, two fires started north of Bastrop State Park in the communities of Circle D-KC Estates and Taihitan Village.[12][13] The likely cause of the blaze was sparks from electric power lines. 30 mph gusts of wind apparently toppled trees which tumbled into electrical lines at two locations, creating sparks that fell onto and ignited the dry grass and leaf litter below. The fire was exacerbated by the outflow of Tropical Storm Lee in conjunction with exceptional drought.[14] The fire quickly spread, engulfing 400 homes.[13] Multiple areas and locales were evacuated, including the Bastrop Animal Shelter, Bastrop State Park (more than half of which was burned), and other communities affected by the fire.[13][15] By 7:30 PM on September 5, 2011, the fire had burned about 25,000 acres and 500 homes. Winds began to calm the evening of September 5, but the fire still had no containment by the evening of September 6. By September 11, 1,554 homes had been destroyed. By October 1, the fire had reached 98% containment but had burned a total of 34,068 acres and 1,645 homes, making it the most destructive fire in Texas history.[16][17] At 8:00 PM on October 10, the fire was declared 100% contained.[18]
Sep 5, 1836: Sam Houston elected as president of Texas On this day in 1836, Sam Houston is elected as president of the Republic of Texas, which earned its independence from Mexico in a successful military rebellion.
The Hurricane of 1900 made landfall on the city of Galveston in the U.S. state of Texas, on September 8, 1900.[1] It had estimated winds of 145 miles per hour (233 km/h) at landfall, making it a Category 4 storm on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale.[2] It was the deadliest hurricane in US history, and the second costliest hurricane in US history based on the US dollar’s 2005 value (to compare costs with those of Hurricane Katrina and others).
The hurricane caused great loss of life with the estimated death toll between 6,000 and 12,000 individuals;[3] the number most cited in official reports is 8,000, giving the storm the third-highest number of deaths or injuries of any Atlantic hurricane, after the Great Hurricane of 1780 and 1998‘s Hurricane Mitch. The Galveston Hurricane of 1900 is to date the deadliest natural disaster ever to strike the United States. By contrast, the second-deadliest storm to strike the United States, the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane, caused more than 2,500 deaths, and the deadliest storm of recent times, Hurricane Katrina, claimed the lives of approximately 1,800 people.
September 03 |
| Last surviving signer of Texas Declaration of Independence dies (1895) |
| San Antonio piano teacher composes polka (1847) |
| Pioneer Methodist ministers hold camp meeting on Caney Creek (1834) |
September 04 |
| Fort Sam hospital renamed in honor of military physician (1942) |
| Black students attempt to enroll in white school (1950) |
| Former floating Texas capitol sold (1839) |
September 05 |
| Sam Houston elected first president of the Republic of Texas (1836) |
| Infamous outlaw sentenced to death (1877) |
| Future port developer weds future state legislator (1905) |
September 06 |
| Jaybirds order black leaders out of Fort Bend County (1888) |
| Constitutional convention meets in Austin (1875) |
| Texan’s sacrifice in Korea earns Medal of Honor (1952) |
September 07 |
| Houston Ship Channel is deepened (1914) |
| Hill County cotton mill begins production (1901) |
| Soldiers charged with setting fires and looting in Brenham (1866) |
September 08 |
| Port Arthur and Orange County connected by bridge (1938) |
| Frank Baldwin captures mysterious “white Indian” Tehan (1874) |
| Hurricane devastates Galveston (1900) |
WILDFIRES LABOR DAY ANNIVERSARY
- Many Steiner Ranch neighbors, students rediscovering normal
- Events commemorate Bastrop Fire
- In Bastrop, finding God and faith among the ashes
- Austin budget contains no new funding for wildfire protection
- When fires came, so did the money, but it’s still not enough, Bastrop officials say
- In Bastrop County, fire victims, school districts hanging on, pushing forward
- Anniversary may be difficult for fire victims
- Tragedy, tears and time: Before and after photos of Central Texas wildfires, one year later
- Explore an interactive gallery of then-and-now photos and videos
- Visit our Central Texas Wildfire Recovery Facebook page
Original article: TPA Roundup 9/3/2012
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