Here are the headlines Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe read on-air this week:
Summer brings final hearing in electioneering case
Attorneys were back in county criminal court Tuesday, continuing their negotiations over the misdemeanor charges filed against two Denton elementary school principals.
In their talks, prosecutors in the district attorney’s office and defense attorney Rick Hagen set dates for final hearings in the matter, which can be traced to the Republican primary election.
Denton ISD school principals Lindsay and Jesus Lujan both wrote emails to their elementary school staff, advising them that they would have 30 minutes of leave time to vote in the primaries and encouraging them to support public schools with their vote.
Their emails, along with similar emails from employees in several other school districts, landed on the desk of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton—who then filed civil complaints of illegal electioneering against seven different school districts.
Most districts quickly settled Paxton’s complaints, including Denton ISD.
But then, Jace Yarbrough, a runoff candidate for Denton’s state senate seat and an attorney for Paxton’s wife, Angela, made a criminal complaint through a right-wing litigation group.
Two days after the Denton District Attorney’s charges against the couple went public, Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted that “they should be held accountable.”
Both Paxton and Abbott favor school vouchers, which would send public tax dollars to private schools. Vouchers face stiff resistance from both Democrats and Republicans in the Texas Legislature.
Yarbrough lost to Brent Hagenbuch in the GOP primary run-off.
More information at justice.dentoncounty.com.
Also coming this summer, city’s first climate action plan
After a brief work session Tuesday, most members of the city council appeared ready to move on the city’s first climate action plan, which calls for big changes in local transportation, buildings, and energy and water use.
The staff went back to the drawing board last fall after a few council members balked at the plan, which may require doing things in a new ways or up-front investments.
The city had hired an experienced consultant group to develop the plan with scientific modeling and community feedback. That plan would not only reduce carbon emissions but also save the community money over the long term.
In Tuesday’s work session, the city staff showed how many elements of the plan were built into other city plans, such as the mobility plan and the sustainability framework.
Other elements of the plan are coming soon. For example, the city currently requires irrigation systems be installed for landscapes with new construction. That will have to change if the city is to save water.
Council members noted that the new plan monitors certain changes, such as how many EVs are registered in the city versus gas-powered vehicles, or evaluating new construction for walkability.
Council member Brian Beck was concerned that the first phase of the plan was biased toward data collection and reporting, rather than action.
Brian Beck: “I encourage us to, as quickly as possible, move to an action-biased phase, so that we can reap the benefits of not the additional costs that will come in the future that you so aptly put in the previous presentation. I don’t want to experience any more of those than necessary. So I’m really excited. I love the tracking. I love all the integration.”
The plan calls for 16 specific actions in three focus areas. For example, an estimated 80 percent of the city’s homes and buildings were built under codes that do little to conserve utility use. The staff told council members that the latest international energy conservation code can go a long way to reduce electricity demand. And the code coming in 2027 could do even more. But to benefit, Denton must stay current in adopting the new codes.
Later, in that same work session, a few council members said they were reluctant to require air conditioning in rentals, saying the marketplace could solve the problem.
The council is expected to vote on the final version of the city’s climate action plan later this summer and revisit the plan every June to check on progress and consider policy changes, when needed. The public will be able to monitor its progress on the strategic planning pages of the city’s website.
More information at cityofdenton.com.
Tell the city how best to spend federal housing funds
The city invites public comment on its plans for $1.6 million in federal funds that will be used to help low-income households, including its list of proposed projects for the 2024-25 program year. More information at cityofdenton.com.
Local News currently airs each Wednesday at 10 a.m. on KUZU 92.9 FM-LP in Denton, Texas, with rebroadcasts airing at 3 p.m. Thursday, and 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Friday. The Weekend Edition of Local News airs each Saturday at 4 p.m., with rebroadcasts at 9 p.m. and midnight; and 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Sunday.
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Local News and Weekend Edition scripts are published on Substack. Subscribe for free at peggyheinkelwolfe.substack.com and follow live microblogging of Local News on Mastodon @phwolfe940@denton.social. Peggy is an award-winning, veteran journalist and a Denton County resident since 1993.