Thumbs up, down

Bail possibilities, grab a magic marker, and the Trump administration.

If you’ve got money and you’re busted in Harris County, chances are you won’t be spending time behind bars. You can hire a lawyer and make bail. But if you’re poor, get ready for the orange jump suit. The indigent are the largest portion of almost 10,000 people warehoused at the downtown jail. Whether the bail system is fair or passes legal muster is being argued in a courtroom this month. County commissioners, however, took baby steps toward improvement this week. They decided to provide public defenders for some defendants at bail hearings. So, what took so long? We ask because a report issued to the same commissioners in 2009 recommended the action. Thumbs were twiddled for eight years. That changed in the face of an unrelenting federal judge who is poised to punish them.

If you’re walking by Pennzoil Place downtown, bring a Sharpie and 10 extra minutes to the lobby. Design firm Gensler has created a brilliant, interactive public display (see photo), and it needs your help. They pose a challenge like imagining a new skyscraper or revealing an inspiration. You’re asked to draw it on card. So grab a bowl of gumbo at Treebeards in the tunnel and create a new building.

There’s nothing better for the rank-and-file than the boss having your back. New Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo struck the perfect chord Tuesday when seriously bad dudes shot two of his cops. “What we’ve seen today is the courage of the American police officer,” Acevedo said. “As much as society likes to disparage our police officers … they’re brave. They run toward danger.”

The Chamber of Commerce weather has been nonpareil when it comes to chasing a golf ball, a Frisbee or flying a kite. February was the warmest in history for Houston and for Texas. The statewide average temperature of 57.3 degrees was eight degrees higher than the historical average. And for the first time since records were kept, the Gulf’s average surface temperature never fell below 73 degrees in the meteorological winter. Science blogger and meteorologist Eric Berger says this doesn’t portend more hurricanes, but it may mean spring storms could be severe. Will the blooms hang around through next weekend’s Azalea Trail in River Oaks?

It’s excellent to see nine African-American Houstonians included in The HistoryMakers, an oral archive stored at the Library of Congress. Not that we have anything against men, but couldn’t the project have recognized at least one female in Houston’s black community?

As of press time, Jeff Sessions was still U.S. attorney general. But we’re watching and waiting. The same week that Harris County rolled out its marijuana policy that gets small-time possessors a lecture instead of handcuffs, we’re reminded of Sessions’ quote in a confirmation hearing: “Good people don’t smoke marijuana.” To that, we say, Exhibit A: Willie; Exhibit B: Art car parade marshal Cheech Marin; and Exhibit C: half the towns of Steamboat Springs, Aspen and Vail.

One person who could use a toke of wacky weed is state Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas. He was caught on video yelling at seventh- and eighth-graders visiting his Austin office. Huffines accused them of being selfish when the kids challenged his position on vouchers.

Also from Trump’s Cabinet comes another piece of evidence that our new inner circle is out of touch. Education secretary Betsy DeVos this week said in a statement that HBCUs were pioneers of school choice. These schools, anyone in the education business should know, weren’t created as a choice; they were created so white students didn’t have to study alongside blacks.

Not to pile on to the Trump administration, but the hypocrisy that is partisan politics earned an exclamation point Thursday when we learned that Vice President Mike Pence used private email to conduct state business while he was governor of Indiana. We won’t chant “lock him up,” but an apology would suffice.