Up or down
Go vote! Today is Election Day for the $2.5 billion post-Harvey flood bond. You can find information about your voting location at HarrisVotes.com. Remember, it’s not enough for Proposition A to simply pass — it needs overwhelming support to show politicians in Austin and Washington, D.C., that Houstonians care about fighting flooding. If turnout is wimpy, it’ll look like we’ve moved past Harvey, and those politicos will feel free to return to the status quo and spend another year fighting about bathroom bills. Speaking of … Not since he explored the mysteries of Al Capone’s vault has Geraldo Rivera promised such a spectacular television surprise: a debate with Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Geraldo claimed, accurately, that undocumented immigrants aren’t disproportionately committing violent crimes, and Patrick leaped at the opportunity to fearmonger. What makes it so surprising is that Patrick’s Democratic challenger, Mike Collier, has been hounding Patrick about debates for weeks. Apparently property taxes, flood prevention and public schools aren’t worthy of Patrick’s precious time. We’ll take an oldschool muckraker over a cable news pundit any day of the week — a muckraker like Trent Seibert. The local investigative journalist died this week at 47. Seibert founded and edited the Texas Monitor, but you probably know him best as the man who exposed the Darian Ward Show. Thanks to Seibert’s digging, the mayor’s communications director was found to be using her work email and public resources to pitch Hollywood producers on her ideas for reality TV shows. Not everyone loves a good reporter. Take Blake Farenthold — really, please take him. The disgraced former congressman turned lobbyist was deposed recently over a sexual harassment lawsuit that he tried to settle with $84,000 in taxpayer dollars. Blakey said he “took a bullet for the team” by resigning from Congress and blamed his downfall on the #MeToo movement, the House Ethics Committee and, yes, journalists — whom he called “f-tards.”
What, exactly, did he mean by that? “A-S-S-E-S,” he said. Here’s one journalist’s advice: Get a better thesaurus. The show must go on! One year after Harvey, Theater District Houston is again opening its doors. The Wortham Center is finally back in action after a season of holding the Houston Grand Opera at the George R. Brown Convention Center. While it was inspiring to see the opera company put on a show in the wake of disaster, hearing world-class arias at the Resilience Theater felt all too much like watching the Astros play at a Little League field. But on Sunday, the Wortham will be open to the public as part of the TransCanada Theater District Open House, along with other events at the Alley Theatre, Hobby Center, Jones Hall and Revention Music Center.