@phwolfe940@denton.social
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

phwolfe940

@phwolfe940@denton.social

Author and #journalist. #News producer for KUZU 92.9 FM Denton, Texas; fan of #writing in plain language. See Sam Run (2008), Between Now and Dreams (2022)
she/her
https://peggyheinkelwolfe.com
On the fediverse
@peggy

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phwolfe940, to denton
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

, we've got your Local at 10 a.m. and then I'll be on hiatus for a week.

My daughter is getting married and the calendar is chock full of family fun.

Please tune in for news about a major park proposal and the teeing-up of the citizen's charter committee.



https://kuzu.fm

phwolfe940, to Texas
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

As long as I've practiced journalism in , non-responsiveness and open hostility on the part of public officials has been the norm. itself became more responsive after churning through a couple of city managers (and one particularly horrid asst city manager was forced out), and state officials started taking aim at local governance.

Many state officials and state agencies have been perfecting this playbook, and have gotten away with it for such a long time that it's metastasizing.

https://www.poynter.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Poynter-Ethics-Report-wToolkit-April-2024.pdf?utm_source=Poynter+Institute&utm_campaign=d445e9fa37-Weekly+Training+Digest+4-30-24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-dfd13f3a1c-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

spiralganglion, to random
@spiralganglion@mastodon.social avatar

To whoever needs to hear this:

Your blog is better without an image than with an AI-generated one. I came here to read your words — let them stand for themselves!

If you must use an image, and some soulless AI mockery would suffice, do this instead:

Step outside, and take a photo of wherever you are.

Include a lot of sky, if you can.

This implicit "here's where I am" is a better reflection of your work than whatever midjourney or stable diffusion would splort out.

phwolfe940,
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

@spiralganglion I took a picture of my typewriter and use it over and over and over. No one has complained. They are there--I hope--for the words.

cs, to random
@cs@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

Big Clive is always going on about finding lithium cells in the street. I have run and walked the streets of this town for twelve years or so and never found anything like what he seems to find regularly. Is this a regional thing or something? Am I just missing them?

phwolfe940,
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

@cs When I walk my dog, I pick up litter and have been doing so for about 7 years. We have several different routes that cover 2-3 square miles between Newton Rayzor Elementary, McKenna and Rayzor Ranch Parks. I think maybe once I've found a lithium battery. Once or twice month, I pick up a AA or AAA battery, or vape pen.
I have found loads of money (probably close to $50 at this point), an abandoned six-pack of Sierra Nevada, unused rolls of dog waste bags, and like you, scores of tools and similar useful items. But most trash comes from construction and retail workers who discard their gear (think ear plugs, gloves, safety glasses) food wrappers and drink containers as they are walking.
I'm pretty committed to keeping Joe Rivas' front and side yards litter-free, as well as the grassy areas on Bonnie Brae between the substation and the gas well. It's a stunning amount of trash, but rarely hazardous.

phwolfe940, to denton
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

It says something when the news of the indictment of two school principals is broken by an astroturf group and a "newspaper" funded by Dallas billionaire Montgomery Bennett hours before it becomes more largely known to the public.

And, to be clear, this is not to insult the local paper or KERA, which broke the news a few hours ago.

Bennett made a major donation to Terry Senne's campaign for school board last year.

There is big money pushing very hard against public

https://libertyjusticecenter.org/newsroom/breaking-local-isd-officials-indicted-for-electioneering/

phwolfe940, to denton
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

Here's a little good news, 's Mayor Gerard Hudspeth is dropping his request that city change the part of its charter that declares an official newspaper--which most importantly means that the city's legal notices are published there.

He wanted to send the business to a student newspaper, rather than the longtime community newspaper, the Denton Record-Chronicle, which is now a part of KERA, an NPR affiliate.

It's important to note that the mayor has joined a long line of politicians -- mostly -- that ignore calls from reporters at their community newspapers. Instead, they send press releases, decline to comment and occasionally grant "interviews" to news outlets of their choosing.

IMHO that's never smart. While they can be a source of friction, reporters are part of the community. Trying to ignore them is akin to telling a large, important swath of the community (you know, readers, those curious, yet extraordinarily responsible people who rely on journalists for quality news and information) that they don't deserve your time and thoughtful response to pressing community questions.

Snubbing the local paper is proof that a politician is disconnected, or willing to become disconnected from the community they represent, the community they lead, the community they govern.

politicians are becoming so disconnected that they don't see how maladaptive this behavior is. The broader public gives politicians a certain social license to make decisions on their behalf, in pursuit of quality government and the common good.

And while the public will tolerate a certain amount of slop and wobble, once you've lost that social license to govern, you're done.

My .02 for the day.

phwolfe940,
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

Important fact check: mayor just repeated the myth that tampons cause toxic shock syndrome.

TSS is rare, and tampon manufacturers no longer use the materials or designs that cause it. (lesson learned from Rely tampons DECADES ago).

He also says if the city makes menstrual products available, community members are going to steal and sell them -- i guess different from the free toilet paper and paper towels in every rest room.

Tampons and pads are in a basket in restrooms at the libraries already. It's not a problem.

This goes to the problem of being disconnected from your community.

"Don't mansplain women's stuff to women," Council member Vicki Byrd says to them.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/toxic-shock-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20355384

phwolfe940, to Texas
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

Helpful essay explaining the real agenda of the banners: the destruction of our public institutions, including and .

With loads of examples from .

https://bookriot.com/how-public-libraries-are-targeted/?mc_cid=faada2fc83&mc_eid=3fd746d600

phwolfe940, to random
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

This is an important story about how government suffers when political rhetoric overheats

We need good politicians. It’s how we hold each other accountable and negotiate agreements for everyone’s benefit.

I think most of us are voting for good governance, not to literally have our reps “fight” for us, so you gotta wonder what is reinforcing all this bad behavior

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/30/congressional-staffers-survey/

phwolfe940,
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

Anyways we tackle this theme from another angle on Weekend Edition later today, taking a look at how our local governments are governing - or not - in the face of

Think about that when you get your first electric bill next month

Please tune in at 4pm



https://kuzu.fm

phwolfe940,
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

In another example, We Texans have been governed by a single party for so long, it’s hard to recognize how little negotiation really goes on.

ISD is just one of many, many districts now facing layoffs, hiring freezes, building closures even though our state is growing and absolutely flush with cash.

Don’t forget those school taxes are an ersatz state property tax.

But Governor Abbott wants and he’s squeezing our schools until he gets them

We are not being governed, , we are being ruled

https://www.texasaft.org/policy/funding/wave-of-layoffs-hitting-public-schools-in-state-with-32-7-billion-surplus/

phwolfe940,
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

@timo21 Oh, yes. First we had Jim Crow laws, then red-lining, then "no child left behind" school rankings (just redlining in sheep's clothing) and now vouchers. Vouchers feels like a return to Jim Crow.

phwolfe940, to denton
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

The BIG rise in 's electric rates is in front of the City Council right now, and longtime council member Chris Watts is extracting a pound of flesh rn.

phwolfe940,
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

Watts doesn't want the local Public Utilities Board in charge of future rate increases, which could come as often as once a quarter.


phwolfe940,
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

electric's GM Tony Puente is explaining the big picture.

Denton lost a lot of money in transmission revenue, more than $30m that "disappeared overnight," Puente said.

Plus they had big losses in Winter Storm Uri, and last summer's heat wave.

Which Watts wonders whether they failed to anticipate and hedge against.

This is what I mean when I talk about the Wild West of the power grid.

phwolfe940,
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

was one of the cheapest places for power. That's not true anymore. Rates will run in the middle of the pack statewide.

If you want to compare nationwide, you can see on this Bureau of Labor Statistics chart that has lost its edge for inexpensive power.

https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/data/averageenergyprices_selectedareas_table.htm

phwolfe940,
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

Watts wants electric rate changes on the city council consent agenda--not because he doesn't trust the local PUB to review and recommend them--but because he wants appropriate public notice of a rate change.

Puente says he worries about the timing in waiting for council approval for rate changes, so the city manager pledges to call emergency meetings of both bodies if necessary.

But it looks like they are going to approve the rate changes, but not delegate the quarterly rate-changing authority to the PUB.

If so, they will be workshopping this in the near future.

phwolfe940,
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

, do you know your electric bill is going up 20-25 percent next month?

phwolfe940, to random
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

Our president scolded the justices for overturning Roe V Wade

Just wow

And watching them squirm; I’m here for that

phwolfe940, to denton
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

In the in-box:

Texas AG Ken Paxton continues his bullying of Texas school districts by suing Frisco, Denison and Castleberry along with ISD.

He's trumpeting his injunction for Castleberry and Frisco with more press releases.

I wonder if some judges are resisting. Is that why a candidate filed a criminal complaint in Denton's case?

This is why taxes are so high, and getting higher.

Remember school taxes here are just an ersatz state property tax.

All hat, no cattle.

https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/press_releases?page=1

phwolfe940, to denton
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

Watching the City Council workshop meeting.

Mayor Gerard Hudspeth explained the shirt, the kids over at LaGrone Academy stitched it for him.

But he hasn't explained the hat. He's been rocking a cowboy hat lately.

I'm old, so guys wearing hats indoors still bothers me.

phwolfe940, to random
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

Fast Car.

I’m an absolute puddle.

phwolfe940, to humanrights
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

Texans seem to need a reminder of this list of human rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted by an international committee lead by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in response to the atrocities of the . This photo features the wall display of the document from the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum. The display links two parts of the museum: the history of the Holocaust and the ten characteristics of genocide.




phwolfe940, to denton
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

In the in-box: is being sued by the state's ignominious Attorney General for Prop. B, the decriminalization ordinance.





phwolfe940, to denton
@phwolfe940@denton.social avatar

Been following the work of various citizen committees since last summer, and is lucky to have so many smart, involved people working to solve its problems.

The city is especially lucky to have longtime civic activists Adam Briggle, Ed Soph and Keely Briggs in it for the long haul on sustainability.

Just watched the sustainability framework committee meeting and will have a report for the weekend.

As much as some on the City Council would rather stick their heads in the sand because they don't know how to lead through such politically fraught waters, the city needs a action plan, and that entire sustainability committee recognizes the need.

It's the kind of work that gives a grizzled, old journalist hope in an otherwise dark time.

In other words, where you want government to get better, be the government you want to see.

Please tune in Saturday at 4p.

https://kuzu.fm

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