Newsroom Stew's Blog (513)

Spelling Bee champions from Midland

In honor of Jace Brandl, who will be participating in the National Spelling Bee this week.

Reporter-Telegram Regional Spelling Bee champions since 1993
1993 Jeremy Gengler, Goddard; 1994 Tarfia Faizullah, Trinity; 1995 Vinesh Patel, Abell; 1996 Vinesh Patel, Abell;

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Added by Newsroom Stew on June 2, 2010 at 10:17am — No Comments

Thumbs up to MISD, its students and teachers

We have to give kudos to MISD for what appears to be improved TAKS scores this year.

Here is the story.

While we cross our fingers for the best ratings possible for the schools and district, we congratulate the teachers and students for their hard work.

We also address a major misconception. There might be some people who believe we hope for bad scores or bad rating

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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 26, 2010 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Nobody show this to our county commissioners.

They happen to control the purse stringers of our County Library.

According to the Dallas Morning News, To deal with a dramatic decrease in revenue, the city of Dallas is looking at decreasing the hours of operation of its libraries.

Here is the blog entry.

According to the News:

If proposed cutbacks are implemented, the downtown central

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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 24, 2010 at 10:47pm — No Comments

Low tax rates don't always tell the entire story

In Wednesday's edition, we read this from a county budget hearing report.

In the past 10 years, said Precinct 4 Commissioner Randy Prude, commissioners have cut the property tax rate from 30 cents per $100 in valuation to 21.1805 cents while expanding the jail and constructing the county annex, JPs' court building, The Horseshoe and new courthouse. Prude said the county has a $37 million fund balance.
"We have one of the lowest tax rates in Texas," he said.

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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 21, 2010 at 12:00pm — 2 Comments

Bus operator: You want state bus funding, more local funds are needed

The message from the Midland City Council has been simple: We are not spending any more for EZ Rider at this time. The amount will be $235,000. That's it.

That isn't sitting well with at least one McDonald Transit official who told the EZ Rider board the decision to not spend more locally could affect state funding.
"If the other Texas cities increase and we stay the same, we will lose," said McDonald Transit Associates Senior Vice President John Wilson of Lubbock.

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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 20, 2010 at 9:46am — 3 Comments

Arlen Specter, John Murtha, Rick Perry and Rand Paul

Thoughts from Tuesday night's primary elections around the country.

- Arlen Specter got what he deserved.

- We are happy for Rand Paul. As for the big-talking tea party people around here, take notes. That's how you make an impact in an election. Go find a candidate people can get excited about and ride that enthusiasm to victory. You don't settle for someone no one knows and then struggles to get 10 percent.

- The disappointment of the night? The Republican vying

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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 19, 2010 at 12:00am — 2 Comments

MDC misses out on a "coyote"

On Monday it was announced that the MDC missed out on the finalist list of an economic development project they were calling project "Coyote."
MDC officials weren't saying much. Some details were available in an Odessa American article as it appears an Odessa Chamber representative gave the ODC a pretty complete review last week.
Here is the link.

According to the article:
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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 18, 2010 at 11:50am — 1 Comment

It's over: Burka says Rick Perry appears headed to victory

Here's the post from the Texas Monthly writer. It's in response to a Rasmussen Poll, which shows Perry leading Bill White 51-38.

The numbers speak for themselves. We are seeing an instant replay of the Republican primary. Another Perry opponent has been unable to find a theme that resonates with the voters. Meanwhile, Perry has found a strange political bedfellow–Anise Parker, White’s successor as may

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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 17, 2010 at 10:54pm — 1 Comment

MISD got its man, just ask the people of Marble Falls

Here is the story from Ruth Campbell. It appeared in Sunday's edition.

Here are some excerpts.

- Colt Elementary School instructional technologist Michelle Noble, who counts Warren as a friend, cried at her desk the morning she found out he was leaving.
"I'm happy and excited for him," Noble said. "I know he has family in West Texas,

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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 16, 2010 at 10:15pm — No Comments

Wrestling with the worth of sports tourism funding

I have been wrestling with this 60-something percent mid-year increase in SEAM funding. I believe there is something to sports tourism and its impact on the community. At the same time I think, in some cases, it appears organizations and booster clubs are taking advantage of the tax payer and making SEAM look like a $200,000 slush fund.

We hopefully will figure it all out and have a longer entry by the end of the week.

Update

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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 14, 2010 at 11:30am — No Comments

A Permian impostor question I ask because I'm a parent and not a sports writer

We have to be careful with how we word this, but is anyone going to look into the relationships he had with other students at the high school?

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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 12, 2010 at 3:48pm — 3 Comments

OA: We have a right to wear our flag

You got that right.

That came from an Odessa American editorial about the situation in California where students were sent home for wearing shirts with the American flag on them during Cinco de Mayo.

Here is the editorial. Nice job guys.

Some excerpts I highlighted.

"Whether the students were intentionally disrespecting Cinco de Mayo doesn’t matter.
The school’s rea

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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 11, 2010 at 11:00pm — No Comments

An update on Big Spring product and A&M standout Ryan Tannehill

Former Big Spring football star Ryan Tannehill expects more of the same when the 2010 football season takes place. Tannehill is a wide receiver and back-up QB for the Ags.

"This year will probably be the same as last year," Tannehill said to Fox Sports Southwest. "Mostly receiver reps, maybe some Jerrod backup role, if Jerrod gets hurt. Or something happens there. But mostly receiver.”

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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 10, 2010 at 1:22pm — No Comments

A small reason to be excited at Midland International

Enplanements (people boarding an airplane) was up slightly in April.
Enplanements increased 0.3 percent.
The positive enplanement number (0.3) stops a streak of 19 straight months of negative numbers compared to the previous year or 19 straight months when fewer people traveled than during the same month in t

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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 10, 2010 at 12:58pm — No Comments

Former Houston Astro not a big fan of Midland

And the even better news for Midland RockHounds fans is the demoted catcher and current Corpus Christi player J.R. Towles will be in Midland today.

According the article on MLB.com, Towles, 26, hit .191 (9-for-47) with one homer and eight RBIs in 17 games with the Astros. The article continues,… Continue

Added by Newsroom Stew on May 5, 2010 at 5:01pm — 1 Comment

How does your school rank?

Go here to find out.

As indicated on the Texas Tribune site, the non-profit research group Children at Risk did a statewide study of Texas schools based on Texas Education Agency
records, and ranked them statistically by academic performance. The same search could also be found on the Houston Chronicle website.… Continue

Added by Newsroom Stew on May 3, 2010 at 12:56pm — No Comments

Sleepless in Midland on the Choc Harris situation

George Johns at "Sleepless in Midland" is providing his thoughts on the reports that the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards & Education is investigating an allegation about the Midland County Precinct 2 Constable's Office.

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Added by Newsroom Stew on May 1, 2010 at 3:23pm — No Comments

Catching up with Clayton Williams' water project

Here is a story from the Texas Tribune.

According to the story:

The gist of Williams' argument can be distilled to one single point: Fort Stockton Holdings is not asking for more water than it already has government permission to pump.

Williams and Fort Stockton Holdings can currently pump 47,418 acre-feet of water annually thanks to the

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Added by Newsroom Stew on April 30, 2010 at 10:52pm — No Comments

EZ Rider sees most Midland passengers since October 2008

It appears it was also the biggest increase in Midland since the 2007-08 fiscal year. Strangely, the transit system reported its decrease in total revenue (year-to-date) grew from 2 to 3 percent in March.

EZ Rider in March
2010 2009
Total 40,141 31,225
Midland 21,146 17,443
Odessa 18,995 13,782
Fiscal year-to-date ridership is 216,957 (up 11.02 percent from sa… Continue

Added by Newsroom Stew on April 29, 2010 at 11:12pm — 2 Comments

Midland on American Lung Association's clean air list

Top 25 cleanest U.S. cities for year-round particle pollution provided by the American Lung Association

1. Cheyenne, Wyo.
2. Santa Fe-Espanola, N.M.
3. Honolulu, Hawaii
4. Anchorage, Ark.
4. Great Falls, Mont.
6. Tucson, Ariz.
7. Amarillo
8. Albuquerque, N.M.
9. Flagstaff, Ariz.
10. Bismarck, N.D.
11. Salinas, Calif.
12. Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo.
13. Duluth, Minn.-Wis.
14. Pueblo, Colo.
15. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.
16. Pa… Continue

Added by Newsroom Stew on April 28, 2010 at 10:43am — No Comments