Good morning, 

Here is the Texas Minute for Tuesday, August 22, 2023.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Texas Land Commissioner Promises to Fight Biden’s Wind Farm

• Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is promising to push back against President Joe Biden’s proposed wind farm off the Galveston coast. Katy Marshall reports the Biden administration wants to designate 546,645 acres as a “Wind Energy Area.”

      
• The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, a branch of the Department of the Interior, claims the project will produce enough energy to power 2.3 million homes.
     
• Texas State Sens. Mayes Middleton (R–Galveston) and Drew Springer (R–Muenster) want to stop the project. They have advocated for a new law that would allow Buckingham to deny the Biden Administration permits for burying cables in Texas-controlled waters.
        
• Buckingham has said the administration has failed to publish an Environmental Impact Statement, required under the National Environmental Policy Act. Further, she worries about the impact of a "nearly 900 square-mile field of abandoned wind turbines off our coast, degrading and leaching harmful substances into our ocean.” 

July Saw Spike In Illegal Alien Encounters

• As the border crisis rages on, the U.S. Border Patrol encountered nearly 200,000 illegal aliens at the southwest border in July. This is an increase of almost 40,000 from June.

      
• Not reported in the official data is the number of known/reported got-aways recorded by border patrol agents. A border patrol agent told The Center Square that there were over 27,000 “got-aways.”

Harris County Deputies Call for Judge's Resignation

• The Harris County Deputies’ Organization is calling for Harris County Judge DaSean Jones to resign after a criminal he released on bail shot multiple law enforcement officers. Emily Medeiros has the details.

      
• Last week, a Harris County deputy was shot while conducting a traffic stop involving Terran Green, who has had multiple felony convictions. He reportedly shot two U.S. Marshals and another deputy before barricading himself in a home.
      
• Green has been charged with four counts of attempted capital murder of a police officer. Out of the four officers shot, only one was severely injured.
      
• Multiple warrants were issued for Green's arrest back in March, and he was listed on the Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives compiled by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
       
• Judge DaSean Jones, who presides over Texas’ 180th District Court, allowed Green to be released on a low $55,000 bond earlier this year. According to the deputies' organization, Jones "has a documented history of giving PR Bonds and low bonds to habitual, violent offenders." 

Taxpayers Win Appeal Against Amarillo Civic Center

• Amarillo taxpayers were handed a major legal victory after an appellate court affirmed a lower court’s judgment that halted the proposed rebuild of the Amarillo Civic Center last year. Thomas Warren explains that after voters rejected a bond proposal to do the work, city officials nonetheless moved forward with a different debt-financing scheme that didn't require voter approval.

       
• The appeals court affirmed that the City of Amarillo overstepped state law in several aspects when pushing the proposed debt-funded rebuild of the Civic Center Complex.

Medical Clinic Inside Denton ISD School Raises Concerns

• Families in Denton Independent School District are raising concerns about plans to add a clinic to a local school, where students could receive medical or mental health care without parents’ knowledge or consent. Erin Anderson has the story.

       
• A proposal would allow PediPlace, a nonprofit pediatric clinic based in Lewisville, to operate inside Fred Moore High School. Clinic proponents say it will decrease students’ absences due to illness and allow them to return to class more quickly.
          

• Critics say the district should stick to educating students. Less than half of Denton ISD students perform at grade level across all subjects.
      

• “This proposed action is another step in the direction of undermining parents and broadening the scope of influence of public education into areas where it has no mandate,” said Terry Senne, a retired educator and public school advocate.
       

• Denton ISD Superintendent Jamie Wilson is on the PediPlace board, which some view as a conflict of interest.

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Y'All Answered

Advocates for convicted felons have pointed out this summer that some Texas prisons do not have air conditioning.

Yesterday, we asked readers if this was an issue the Legislature should address. Just under 60 percent responded "no," while 40.8 percent think it should be.

Here is a sampling of the replies from folks who "clicked" a survey response...

• “We are treating prisoners worse than we treat our animals!” – Sherrye Nail
      

• "Putting A/C in the units would benefit those employees who are working in the same conditions." – Deanna Withers
     

• “Humans survived without air conditioning for millennia and many still do. Prison is not supposed to be a vacation. However, it is worth noting that the employees must also suffer these conditions, and one might make an argument that it should be done for their benefit.” – Larry Thacker
      

• “A/C in Texas is just humane!” – Katherine Kelton
      

• “Prison should not become a Holiday Inn. They elected to go there knowing there was no A/C. Make it so that they think twice before committing a crime.” – Corrine Jung
      

• “Give them enough creature comforts, such as workout areas, libraries, art classes etc. AND air conditioning, then it’s just an apartment they can’t leave, not a prison.” – Garry Ludwig 
     

• “The state of Texas has employees that must work in those extreme heat conditions in order to guard and give support services for the inmates. In my opinion, the medical cost from heat-related occurrences for both employees and inmates should be weighed against the cost of A/C.” – Kay Moore
     

• “I said yes to A/C, mainly for the guards and employees.” – Rod Dixon
     

• “As a former Corrections Officer, I worked those prisons with no A/C, I made it just fine without it. The criminals locked up there didn’t find themselves convicted of singing too loud in church.” – Kevin Bowden
      

• “Prisons are supposedly meant to rehab prisoners. I think most would agree that doesn’t happen to the degree it should.  Adding sweltering temperatures to the mix is a step in the wrong direction.” – Jan Goria
      

• “While prison isn’t supposed to be a vacation, it also isn’t supposed to be 'cruel and unusual punishment.' If every prison has heat for the winter, they should have cool for the summer. My definition of ‘cool’ could be accomplished with ‘swamp coolers’ that get the temperature to 80 or so. Subjecting prisoners to temperatures of 100+ is a bit cruel.” – Steve Sullivan
      

• “If you hope to attract and keep qualified guards and employees, A/C in Texas is imperative.” – Patricia Forsythe
      

• “Prison is not supposed to be a comfortable way of life. I went through 128-degree days with sandstorms and no air conditioning in Iraq for 16 months.” – Gary Hunt
      

• “I volunteer as a chaplain in one of the men's prisons near Palestine, and we have our church services in an un-air-conditioned gym. In the summer, it is oppressively hot.” – Eleanor Bigbie
      

• “I went through twelve years of the government school system with No air conditioning. AC in the prisons? Not only no but hot as hell no!” – Terry Harper
      

• “As a former TDCJ employee, I can empathize with inmates suffering in the intense heat. We all have to pay to have A/C from our own pockets. If they must have A/C, why not invest in metered units in their ‘houses’? If they have commissary funds they wish to spend on air, they would be welcome to do so, but Texas taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for them to be comfortable.” – Suzanne Osborne
      

• “If they want to be in an air-conditioned space, perhaps they should first strive to remain out of prison.” – Tara Souther
     

• “Inmates serving life should be happy they are alive, as well as rapists and pedophiles for that matter. As for the rest of the inmates, prison should be a safe but harsh experience with few comforts to deter recidivism.” – Mike Masterson
      

• “While I’m in favor of A/C in Texas prisons, it is primarily for the sake of the guards and other employees who work in that already hostile environment. I think the bill for the A/C and its maintenance should go to the prisoners.” – Sarah Miller
      

• “Prison is not supposed to be comfortable.  In times gone by, a prisoner was thrown into a rat-infested dungeon with nothing but bars and four walls.  Today's prisons are luxurious by comparison, even without air conditioning. Today, there are people that are more concerned with the rights – that have been taken away through due process –of criminal inmates than the rights of innocent citizens.” – Roger Taylor
      

• “It is inhumane to deny even prisoners A/C, heat, beds, food, a place for hygiene care, or any other basic need. We are not putting them on trial by torture.” – Diana Koen
      

• “As a volunteer at the John Middleton Unit, I can testify as to how hot it is in metal buildings. If we put people in prison for leaving a child or pet in a locked car, then how is it right to lock people up in hot buildings? … This is cruel and unusual punishment and, for some, a death sentence! This is not right!” – Hal Howell
     

• “With dangerous Texas heat, all inmates deserve air conditioning.  We do not leave our animals out in the heat, nor should we leave people to suffer in intolerable heat.  I am not for making an easy life for inmates, but I do believe they should be treated humanely.” – Mary Gray
      

• “No A/C! I am 71 years old and work outdoors in 100-plus degrees and freezing temperatures as well. Texas will not allow prisoners to work outside when I am able to do it. Therefore, let them be uncomfortable in their home away from home.” – Danny Thompson 
      

• “If we are going to house inmates, we need to house them humanely.” – O. Machelle Morris
       

• “I know prison is hardly a brand new invention. There actually were prisoners serving time back in the days before air conditioning - imagine that. If they survived with no A/C then, they ought to be able to survive with no A/C now.” – Andra Haney
      

• "Many law-abiding Texans do not have air conditioning.  Why should wrong-doers be rewarded for breaking the law?" – Jeanie Targac
       

• "You can judge how good a society is by how they treat their prisoners.  No AC in Texas is cruel and unusual punishment." – Karl Swierenger

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