comms & public affairs professional for a leading developer/operator of utility-scale batteries || recovering journalist ||
#txlege
|| Opinions = mine ||
NEW:
@TXAG
Paxton landed in Austin this afternoon after a trip to Utah last week. It’s the first time we have seen the attorney general in-person since the energy crisis across the state last week. I tried asking some questions, he didn't answer any.
#txlege
@KXAN_News
.
@SouthwestAir
weighs in on
@GovAbbott
’s latest EO: “We’re reviewing all guidance issued on the vaccine and are aware of the recent Order by Gov. Abbott. According to the President's Executive Order, federal action supersedes any state mandate or law, and we would be…(1/2)
"If we wait for those in positions of power in D.C. to save the day here in Texas, we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives. That is a big reason why I'm running for governor,"
@BetoORourke
weighs in on the SCOTUS opinion leak, and Texas' trigger law:
.
@TulsiGabbard
on the debate of how much our country should spend on
#Coronavirus
prevention: “The high number is $8 billion...that’s two months of what we’re spending in Afghanistan.”
BREAKING: Texas Military Department is hitting back on reports about Texas National Guardsmen deployed with
#OperationLoneStar
. Multiple sections: "In regards to four service member deaths, there has been misleading and false information pushed to the public..." (Thread)
President Trump scheduled to land in
#Harlingen
in minutes, then head here to a section of the border wall in
#Alamo
. The event isn’t open to the public, but Trump supporters line both sides of this street as far as the eye can see awaiting is arrival:
Was on hold with 911 for 15 mins today in Austin. On my way to the gym around 5pm, in broad daylight, two men were fighting in the parking lot of a 7-11 on S Congress. One pulled out a knife, stabbed the other, then they continued fighting IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD (1/2)
My car completely shut down on Capital of TX Highway this morning. Called police when I realized I couldn’t put it in neutral to get it to the side of the road/would be a traffic hazard. It’s now been an hour (still waiting for tow truck) and still no APD. 🫠
After 2 years covering all things politics & breaking news across Texas in our capital bureau, I’m happy to announce I’ve officially been promoted to weekend morning anchor here at
@kxan_news
! I’m so excited for this new chapter, and so grateful to my KXAN family ❤️ Can’t wait!
Today is officially my last day reporting on-air, bringing my 4-year TV news career to an end. It’s been such a blessing covering stories across TX, from Amarillo down to the RGV, but most often right here at the Capitol. Exciting things to come - I’ll still be at the Capitol 😉
Picking up my
@HEB
curbside order right now, and I’m excited because I placed the order 10 days ago, so I’m not even sure I totally remember everything I ordered. It’s gonna be like opening presents when I unload them at home 😂
PERSONAL NEWS: In a little more than a week, I’ll be joining
@wesrap
at
@KXAN_News
in Austin as one of our Texas Capitol Correspondents for Nexstar! Super excited to start this new journey 😄🎊
#NexstarNation
#BREAKING
:
@ERCOT_ISO
issues its second conservation appeal of the week. Asking Texans to again conserve power, voluntarily, from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. today. "Currently, no system-wide outages are expected," spox tells me.
#txlege
They were both still screaming at each other, the one guy was having his dog try to attack the other guy, traffic was halted. It was behind me so I drove off when light turned green. Genuinely scared if I ever personally need 911’s help. No call back. Scary (2/2)
.
@ERCOT_ISO
tells me Texans 'took action,' and the grid saw 500 MW of demand dropped off when the conservation appeal took effect at 2 p.m. That's about enough power for 100,000 homes.
#txlege
According to
@ERCOT_ISO
’s dashboard - we broke the all-time record for demand in TX today at 5:10, reaching 74.997 GW (prev. 74.8); the good news here - we still had plenty of power on tap, nearly 10GW of excess power still available at the time. Could still increase
#txlege
.
@SpeakerPelosi
in Austin today with
@RepLloydDoggett
discussing Medicaid; but brings up disappointment w/ SCOTUS’ decision to leave TX’s SB 8 (fetal heartbeat bill) in place. She says Congress will act to strike it down when lawmakers return to D.C.
#txlege
Yesterday - my Twitter got hacked by someone who then changed my name to Elon Musk, and started replying to the actual
@elonmusk
. Today, we got it back. 😭🙌🏼 S/O to
@AustinKellerman
for the help!! Now back to your regularly scheduled programming 🤠 selfie to prove it’s me lol
BREAKING:
@GovAbbott
has directed 6 points of entry along our southern border to close: “I have directed the Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to surge personnel and vehicles to shut down six points of entry along the southern border…” (1/2)
Well…yes & no. Yes, the grid was close to record demand today (73,367MW, record: 74,820MW), but we didn’t *avoid* peak DEMAND b/c of new tools…we just stayed out of conservation levels b/c ERCOT increased SUPPLY. This still falls below the *projected* summer peak: 77,144MW
Texas power grid was slated to hit a record high demand w/the heat on Tuesday.
It didn’t happen!
Why?
New strategies & tools used at ERCOT & PUC are increasing capacity & reducing demand.
Result: ERCOT easily met demand as the chart below shows—with 8,000 Megawatts to spare.
TODAY: The House Sergeant-at-Arms is delivering the civil arrest warrants to the offices of House Democrats still breaking quorum. This is when he walked into Rep.
@Senfronia4Texas
’ office. She wasn’t there, but one of her staffers was.
@KXAN_News
#txlege
NEW: We (again) broke the record for demand on our power grid Friday, ERCOT tells me. This surpasses what
@ERCOT_ISO
had projected at the beginning of the summer for the summer peak; ERCOT still expects “sufficient generation” heading into tomorrow’s extreme heat statewide.
To be clear - I called police to help redirect traffic (not for myself, I already had roadside assistance on the way). This is a highway…and a busy one at 8am. Couldn’t put my car in neutral to push it to the shoulder because it was locked up. Was trying to prevent an accident.
1. Every single year more than 600,000 people in the US die from cancer.
The country has never once shut down.
Not a single school has closed.
And every year, over 600,000 people, of all ages and all races will continue to die from cancer.
Nurses told me today they aren’t nervous about treating people with the
#coronavirus
, they’re worried about having to quarantine themselves afterward, and not being able to help more people while in quarantine. Talk about selflessness.
NOW:
@MayorAdler
announces directive that will designate Austin as a
“Safe & Inclusive City” for transgender families amid the state’s orders to DFPS to investigate gender-affirming care as child abuse. “What we’re seeing at the state level is frightening, & horrific,” he says.
BREAKING: Texas Military Department is hitting back on reports about Texas National Guardsmen deployed with
#OperationLoneStar
. Multiple sections: "In regards to four service member deaths, there has been misleading and false information pushed to the public..." (Thread)
People are lining up in
#Houston
to pay their respects to
#GeorgeFloyd
today at the public visitation. This man made the trip from Dallas, and brought the portrait of Mr. Floyd he painted.
@kxan
BREAKING:
@BetoORourke
officially announces he is running for Texas Governor. I sat down with him for his first TV interview ahead of his campaign announcement this morning to discuss the timing of his announcement, and what he will be focusing on here:
SOD POODLES WIN THE 2019 TEXAS LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP !!! I’m screamin’ in the studio, y’all!!!! 😂 Talk about a legendary inaugural season,
@sodpoodles
!!!!
Happy birthday to the [lege]nd of all things
#txlege
! Throwback to the first special session this year (how was this only 4 months ago)
@scottbraddock
The
#MarchForOurLives
rally is beginning now at the Capitol, with families of the victims of the
#Uvalde
mass shooting, along with those of the Santa Fe shooting years ago. This began as a smaller group protesting at the Governor’s mansion this morning.
#txlege
Going to be using my mom’s Facebook response to any negativity/questioning regarding
@Simone_Biles
’ decision to withdraw from now on. Mental health = physical health. Period.
Mach 1’s powerhouse team has expanded to include former
@KXAN_News
anchor and Capitol correspondent
@maggie_glynn1
Her years of experience producing news stories on the
#txlege
will give Mach 1 clients a tremendous advantage.
Troopers arriving at the
#Capitol
today right as I pulled up ahead of a planned protest this morning at 11:00 a.m. Protesters are asking
@GovAbbott
to reopen bars.
#txlege
Bar owners claim
@GovAbbott
can’t prove people got
#COVID19
from their bars, citing his reference to the spike in young people contracting the disease. This is the crowd outside the Capitol this morning.
#txlege
Sorry now I’ve just been stewing on this. Not only is this scary from a crime standpoint - it’s also terrifying from a medical emergency standpoint. What if someone were having a heart attack? Minutes matter.
Was on hold with 911 for 15 mins today in Austin. On my way to the gym around 5pm, in broad daylight, two men were fighting in the parking lot of a 7-11 on S Congress. One pulled out a knife, stabbed the other, then they continued fighting IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD (1/2)
LIVE for the first time from
#Hodgetown
for the
@sodpoodles
inaugural game!! They’re playing down in Corpus Christi, but there’s a viewing party here tonight for season ticket holders!
So last night, my mom & dad met
@andy
and one of my idols,
@AC360
. My mom told Anderson I’m in my first year of anchoring, and took this photo 😭 I am SCREAMING
@houstonpolice
@TroyFinner
Regarding the rumor of a male security guard saying his neck was pricked;
@houstonpolice
says they located that man, his story is not consistent with that. He says he was struck in the head and woke up in a medical tent.
Threw out the first pitch for the
@sodpoodles
last night, definitely one of the coolest things I’ve gotten to do here in Amarillo !! I promise I’ll practice more before next time 😂 my mom is embarrassed lol
.
@JackieKingston1
knows me too well. LOOK WHAT SHE GOT ME FOR MY BIRTHDAY. Last week, she heard me say I want an old-fashioned popcorn machine in my house some day. Today, I walk in & see this sitting at my desk!! O.M.G.
Just now in Midland,
@GovAbbott
asked about possibility of a 4th special session; he says a 4th special is possible “any time,” but the focus right now is securing the border, especially with another caravan on the way.
#txlege
NOW:
#Dallas
salon owner
#ShelleyLuther
is speaking to the crowd. She says
@GovAbbott
did not save her, her attorney and the Supreme Court did. She’s now giving advice to bar owners.
#txlege
.
@ERCOT_ISO
tells me today it does not anticipate rolling blackouts. "We are not in an emergency situation at this time." What are the steps between a conservation appeal and the final alert, rolling blackouts? I explain here:
#txlege
Hello good Friday morning I just walked in & out of Target with the ONE ITEM I set out for, and nothing else. I would just like some praise for this self-control, thank you.
We just broke the summer record for peak demand again! We hit 76,687 MW at 4:45 p.m.; that beats the last record we set just last Sunday by ~1,600 MW. We again have plenty of power available; & we expect to continue setting records as the state continues to grow.
@KXAN_Weather
Up & down the tower at COTA 4 times this morning, representing the 94 flights of stairs of the Twin Towers in honor of all the lives lost on that tragic day 20 years ago.
#NeverForget
#911Anniversary
.
@GovAbbott
announcing new legislative proposal today at his
#BacktheBlue
pledge signing: “Cities that defund their police departments will forever lose their annexation powers,”
@KXAN_News
CBP spox tells me this is not happening. “The Department of Homeland Security is not seeking assistance from the State of Texas to shut down ports of entry. It would be a violation of federal law for the Texas National Guard to unilaterally do so.”
BREAKING:
@GovAbbott
has directed 6 points of entry along our southern border to close: “I have directed the Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard to surge personnel and vehicles to shut down six points of entry along the southern border…” (1/2)
During yesterday’s board meeting -
@ERCOT_ISO
said Fri morning would be peak-demand w/ this cold front, hitting 61 GW (Feb freeze was ~74). Now, they’re forecasting we hit 62 GW by tomorrow night, and increased our peak to nearly 65 GW by Friday morning. Read this thread:
All is calm on the Texas coast for now, but
@CityofGalveston
has officially ordered a mandatory evacuation ahead of
#HurricaneLaura
. Residents are advised to leave the area by noon today.
#txwx
#Laura
.
@ERCOT_ISO
issues a notice to TCEQ about tight grid conditions expected starting tonight. I've reached out asking if any conservation alerts are expected. "ERCOT anticipates tight grid conditions late this evening through Friday, February 25."
#txlege