Meanwhile, the Astros take a two-game advantage to Cleveland and may sweep the Indians this afternoon. FWIW, the team's choice of nickname in honor of a popular Native American player from in the late 19th century is probably a myth—or at least not entirely accurate.
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With the deadline to register to vote in the November midterm elections tomorrow, the Texas Progressive Alliance encourages you to double-check your status if you have already registered to be certain you are ready to cast your ballot.
The state's voter rolls have surged to 15.6 million Texans, surpassing the 14 million registered voters since the last midterm election (2014). More than 400,000 have signed up to vote since March, and Harris County led the way with over 55,000 of those.
The state's website link to request a voter registration application (within the first link above) crashed and stayed down for several hours this past Saturday.
dbcsez: We're about four weeks away from finding out whether, and to what extent, this 11-12% increase in registrations will correlate with midterm turnout numbers.
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On to the roundup of lefty blog posts and news from around the Lone Star State from last week!
The Texas Tribune collects everything you need to know about voting this autumn.
Texas Standard says that the Brennan Center will be closely watching Texas again for indications of the kind of voter suppression tactics--excessively strict application of the voter id requirement, voters illegally purged from the rolls, and the like—the state has long been guilty of.
Grits for Breakfast seems encouraged by Greg Abbott's apparent evolution on marijuana decriminalization, revealed in his debate with Lupe Valdez ten days ago. Michael Barajas at TO is somewhat more skeptical.
The Fort Worth Star Telegram has the details on Ag Commissioner Sid Miller complaining about a homemade yard sign, and the police going to the woman's Central Texas home and confiscating it. (Quoth PDiddie: Never forget who Sid Miller is: a fascist who tramples on the free speech that offends him.)
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution of Juan Segundo after questions about his mental capability were raised.
David Collins posted Parts II ("Shut Up About Purity Tests") and III ("The Harder Way") of "Demanding Better," his pleadings to the progressive electorate to just let the two-party system die already.
Brains and Eggs blogged about the debate between the Houston firefighters union president and Mayor Sylvester Turner over Proposition 2, the "pay parity" referendum.
SocraticGadfly sees that the Corps of Engineers could soon be pushing an Ike Dike, which he continues to oppose.
Charles Watson at Rural Texas Voices writes about substance abuse trends in Texas.
Texas Vox wants you to know that the state has a plan to ship nuclear waste through your neighborhood, and there is still time for you to speak out about it.
Jim Schutze's observations about the plight of the homeless in the Dallas Observer reveal the sociopathy of city leaders and those who support them in this endeavor.
And the Texas Observer's collection of "Strangest State" news (from the third quarter of the year—July, August, September) features a woman in Corpus who spoke at a city council meeting dressed as a cockroach.