Opening Day is tomorrow night even though the Mariners and A’s have already played two games. Got it?
Name the four MLB clubs who have lost 100 or more games during the past five seasons?
MLB.com picks the Astros to win it all this season. Check it out here:
https://www.mlb.com/news/2019-world-series-predictions.
Here is from the prediction article:
World Series champion: Astros
Houston fell short of repeating as World Series champion in 2018, but our experts predict the Astros will return to the pinnacle of the baseball world this fall, beating the Dodgers in a rematch of the 2017 World Series, and in the process handing Los Angeles its third straight World Series loss. With young stars who have a championship pedigree all around the diamond, including Altuve, Correa, Bregman and George Springer, as well as the addition of Michael Brantley and a starting rotation featuring Verlander and Cole, the franchise looks to make another deep October run that will culminate in a second title in three years. Houston received 28 votes, 13 more than the Yankees, who were second in the balloting.
Finally. The Chron has an a very lengthy piece on Local 341 honcho Marty Lancton. Say what you want about him, but he has outmaneuvered the H-Town Mayor over the past year. Say what you want.
This is a must read from Jacob Carpenter of the Chron who covers HISD. H-Town, I hate to break it to you but, we have a racial calamity going on or brewing so to speak. We need to be talking through it or else it is going to get worse. Maybe we ought to ask for all of the HISD Board Trustees to resign effective when their successors get elected in special called elections so we can get a fresh set of faces on the board. It would also probably be a good idea if the Acting Superintendent would also resign or at least put herself out of contention for the permanent top job. Check this from Jacob Carpenter and the Chron:
Local education leaders on Tuesday continued to question the timing of a last-minute directive for Houston ISD to suspend its superintendent search, openly wondering why the state halted the effort one day before a finalist likely would have been named.
Texas Education Agency officials have not explained why they chose Monday to stop the search, creating a void of information that has been filled by speculation about the state’s motives.
HISD has been led by Interim Superintendent Grenita Lathan since March 2018, when Richard Carranza abruptly resigned the permanent post to become chancellor of New York City public schools.
In her order directing HISD to suspend its search, state-appointed conservator Doris Delaney noted her demand, authorized under state law, coincided with the expansion of a state accreditation investigation into the district. The inquiry initially centered on allegations of Texas Open Meetings Act violations, but expanded to include potential procurement-related issues tied to unnamed individuals. Delaney did not say when state officials uncovered evidence that prompted the deeper investigation.
HISD Board President Diana Dávila said Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath told her Monday that “he felt it was too much” to hire a superintendent amid the state investigation, which could trigger severe sanctions against the district.
However, the timing of the announcement led to skepticism about the TEA’s intentions. HISD Trustee Sergio Lira and Houston Federation of Teachers President Zeph Capo, openly questioned whether Morath caught wind of candidates for the superintendent position and sought to prevent their hiring.
“It sure seems and feels like, for one reason or the other, that someone in the decision-making process at TEA had knowledge or information regarding who the board was going to choose, and preempted that decision at the last minute,” Capo said, adding that he did not have direct evidence to prove the assertion. “It’s anyone’s guess at this point. That’s what they should be sharing at this point. Why are we still in limbo?”
Lira, who criticized Delaney’s order as poorly timed and unnecessary, said the reason behind the timing of the directive is “the obvious question” that remains unanswered.
“It lends itself to the obvious interpretation of a last-minute ploy, perhaps to keep the interim superintendent,” Lira said.
TEA officials declined to comment Tuesday on the questions raised by Capo and Lira, as well as Dávila’s characterization of Morath’s comments, citing the ongoing investigation.
HISD trustees are in a peculiar position as they seek to replace Carranza amid the looming threat of a state-ordered replacement of HISD’s school board.
If TEA investigators find serious wrongdoing during their inquiry, or if any one of four chronically low-performing schools fails to meet state academic standards in August, it is widely expected that Morath will remove HISD’s locally elected school board and appoint a new governance team. If that occurs, Morath will choose the district’s superintendent, with no obligation to keep the incumbent.
As a result, Morath could wield significant power over HISD’s superintendent search. Candidates are unlikely to leave their current position and accept HISD’s top job unless they are confident Morath will retain them. If HISD trustees were planning to hire a superintendent whom Morath would not keep, the suspended search could prevent HISD from installing a leader who would be replaced months after assuming control of the district.
At a press conference Thursday, several prominent Houston clergy and NAACP Houston Branch Education Committee Chair Carolyn Evans-Shabazz hailed Delaney’s order, arguing the superintendent search process has not been fair. The group has advocated for retaining Lathan, citing the reduction in schools rated “improvement required” for low academic performance last year. A majority of the school board has supported a nationwide superintendent search.
“Even though it was an eleventh-hour move, I think it was very appropriate to make that move,” Evans-Shabazz said. “I’m not just totally in favor of governmental bodies stepping in, but that actually is their job, to make sure that the process and procedure is done appropriately and equitably.”
HISD trustees were planning a second, final round of interviews with superintendent candidates on Monday and Tuesday before Delaney’s order. They have not publicly named the candidates.
Dávila said trustees do not plan to contest Delaney’s order, given that state law allows a state-appointed conservator to “direct an action to be taken” by a school board.
Delaney has served as a conservator in HISD since September 2016. Her role initially involved oversight of the district’s longest-struggling campus, Kashmere High School, but later expanded to include monitoring of dozens of lower-scoring campuses and school board operations.
Trustees are scheduled to meet Thursday to consider hiring an outside lawyer with expertise in special accreditation investigations, with discussions set for an executive session not open to the public.
“The new discoveries in the investigation tend to always mention board members, and we only have one legal counsel that works directly with the board,” Dávila said. “We’d like to have someone who’s a little more experienced in being able to provide answers on this.”
jacob.carpenter@chron.com
twitter.com/chronjacob
All the HISD Trustees at this point could all offer mass resignations so to speak and do us all a favor and prevent H-Town from heading down a perilous racial divide situation. Please, just saying! We certainly need fresh faces.
What a dumb s__t. Check this from the Chron:
In the wake of the Deer Park chemical fire, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has employed her bilingual skills to deliver updates in English and Spanish, prompting criticism from a commissioner in a neighboring county.
Despite Hidalgo’s effort to communicate with Hispanic viewers about the Intercontinental Terminals Co. fire, a Chambers County commissioner on Tuesday publicly criticized her use of Spanish during a recent press conference.
“She is a joke,” Chambers County Precinct 2 Commissioner Mark Tice said in a comment under a live feed of a press conference Monday afternoon. “English this is not Mexico.”
Tice acknowledged making the comment Tuesday afternoon during a phone interview with the Chronicle.
“It’s real simple,” he said during the interview. “This is the United States. Speak English.”
Hours after the interview, Tice attributed his comment to frustration over what he believed was the lack of an English translation for Hidalgo’s remarks.
“Like many citizens concerned about the ITC fires, I was very emotional about the effect it was having on everyone,” Tice said in a lengthy mea culpa posted to Facebook.
“I apologize to Judge Hidalgo, the citizens of my County, and most importantly the entire Hispanic community for hastily acting out with transgression on social media,” he continued. “I recognize how my response could have been interpreted in a derogatory manner and for that I am sorry. I immediately regretted my choice of words. I’m not proud of my behavior, that is not the example I wish to lead by. I can only hope, in time, that my actions can be forgiven.”
Here is the entire article: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/This-is-not-Mexico-Chambers-Co-commissioner-13717618.php?src=hp_totn.
It is good that he apologized but he is still a dumb s__t.
The Chron E-Board is against the garbage fee that is on the City Council agenda today. Here is the E-Board take: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/editorials/article/A-garbage-fee-is-no-way-to-fund-firefighter-13718724.php.
We should not be in the mess. We should not be in this mess.
In 2016, the Twins lost 103 games and last season the White Sox lost 100 games, the Royals lost 104 games, and B’More lost 115 games of course.
Vegas predicts we will win the most games this season and like I posted today, MLB.com says we will win it all. It starts tomorrow.
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