The office of State Rep Borris Miles, D-Houston, has issued a press release in response to news he's under investigation for brandishing a weapon and making threats at a party he crashed last month. In part:

Representative Borris L. Miles disagrees with the reported accounts of this alleged event. We are unaware of any investigations by the Harris County District Attorney's office. At the request of counsel, there will be no further comments on this matter.

What does "disagrees with" mean? Is "disagreeing with" a report denying that the events detailed actually happened? If the alleged gun-flashing and threat-throwdown and kissing of another man's wife happened at a big party, I would imagine plenty of people at the party could "agree" or "disagree" that it happened. Since Miles is not going to talk about it, I guess we'll have to see what else comes out within the next few days.

Posted by Elise Hu at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Merry Christmas! My Christmas is pretty much over, the surefire sign being that Dad is now vacuuming the living room obsessively as he does every year. Instead of holiday cheer, I bring you some fascinating news, packaged in a nice news lead, or "lede", as the print-folk like to misspell it.

This year’s death-penalty bombshells — a federal moratorium, a state abolition and the smallest number of executions in more than a decade — have masked what may be the most significant and lasting development. For the first time in the modern history of the death penalty, more than 60 percent of all American executions took place in Texas.

Posted by Elise Hu at 3:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

State Rep. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, isn't in my neck-of-the-woods but she has long been an outspoken House member.* She's now under federal indictment, and so I thought we'd take some time to find out what this means for her politically.

Courtesy: Austin Chronicle

Enter The Dallas Morning News' political writer Gromer Jeffers Jr. The two of us thought we'd get all synergized (since we work for the same parent company) and chat about the political implications for Rep Hodge.

EH: So, what does all of this mean for Hodge?
GJ: No one wants to be indicted, right?
EH to self: I think that was a rhetorical question, right?
GJ: But she's not had an opponent in several election cycles, which makes her practically unbeatable in her district.**
EH: How much does an indictment hurt her, politically?
GJ: It weakens her but so far, no candidate has emerged. That's always been the problem for her political adversaries. It's hard to find someone to run against her.

Continue reading "The Impact of The Indictment" »

Posted by Elise Hu at 5:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)