Ups and downs
Brutal cold, oil rebound, a bad man.
We begin the year angry. People died during this week’s cold spell. Others sat shivering in inadequately heated homes. Those hit the hardest were the poor and the mentally ill. Media accounts suggest law enforcement and elected officials responded as best they could. But they came up short. This community needs a sustained focus on safe housing, affordable housing and, most of all, mental health services. Thanks to our state’s shortsightedness on mental health, there are few options for those demanding to stay on the street other than the jail. The discussion must be had when it’s 72 degrees and sunny, not when the mercury dips to perilous levels.
Even though crude hit $60, we’re focused on the number 250. The threeyear slump resulted in 250 bankruptcies, $250 billion in lost investment capital and 250,000 jobs gone. Yep, oil is $34 higher than this time in 2016, but prudent oil executives are sticking with light beers over the meritage wine list. There may be time to celebrate a recovery, but that’s going to take a year or so.
“The grand story of Texas oil,” writes Austin’s Lawrence Wright in the New Yorker, “is really about three wells.” His must-read piece of long-form journalism in the magazine’s Jan. 1 edition takes readers from Spindletop to the fracking revolution created by Galveston’s George Mitchell to exploration in fragile areas of the Permian Basin. Not to reveal the ending, but Wright, like editorials often appearing on this page, concludes that Texas must prepare for a post-fossil-fuel economy.
Auto sales may have slumped nationally last year but not so in Texas. With buyers replacing vehicles damaged by Harvey, the state collected $414.3 million in taxes on car sales and rentals last month, up 16.1 percent from December 2016. The question for Austin is how do they repatriate the largesse to those affected by the storm?
Here’s one last curtain call for a legend of Houston stage. Jeannette Clift George, founder of the A.D. Players theater, died recently at 92. A Golden Globenominated actress, George created Players 50 years ago as a place for Christian plays but later added secular productions. She was a “theatrical local legend,” said former Chronicle critic Everett Evans.
Our first reprehensible politician of 2018 is one who finished close to the top of the list in 2017. U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi, had promised to repay the government the $84,000 it paid on his behalf to settle a sexual harassment claim. Now, he’s backtracking. “On advice of counsel, congressman Farenthold is waiting to see what changes the House makes to the Congressional Accountability Act before repaying the funds,” one of his aides said.