Author: Brandon Kraft

  • Governor Abbott Caves

    The Governor walked backed his weak position on masks by “allowing” local jurisdictions to mandate that businesses require masks. As discussed yesterday, Governor Abbott removed the ability for local jurisdictions to enforce mandated masks. While local officials can still require it, no individual can be fined or jailed for it. In yesterday’s conference (see the…

  • Covid in Austin Update (June 16)

    Covid in Austin Update (June 16)

    Before we jump to today’s update, I wanted to share a little art that Austin Transportation added to Congress Ave today. In addition to the usual data drop, Governor Abbott held a press conference today looking at hospital capacity. Personally, the press conference was overall underwhelming. Numbers are going up, though in some places, Governor…

  • Governor Abbott Should Allow Mask Enforcement

    Today during his press conference discussing the latest in the State of Texas regarding COVID-19, Governor Abbott repeated that he will not mandate nor allow local governments to mandate mask wearing. Per the Governor’s executive orders, while the Texas Government Code 418.173 allows for fines of up to $1,000 or a year in jail for…

  • COVID in Austin Update (June 15)

    COVID in Austin Update (June 15)

    The good news for today is the daily numbers aren’t worse than the weekend. 119 new cases today, which seems to be our new normal now. 23 new hospitalizations, so we’ll stay in Stage 4. Our 7-day average is 22.6. The 142 currently hospitalized is a record high. We’re stable with 52 people in the…

  • Emoji 13 Coming to WordPress

    Emoji 13 Coming to WordPress

    As of r48048-core, WordPress will polyfill Emoi 13 glyphs on devices that do not support them. What this means is whether or not your viewer’s device is able to display a 🫀 or not, you can include one on your WordPress site and it’ll display for them. You have stuff to do — like feed…

  • The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You

    The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You

    In the news recently is a group of Longhorns student-athletes who, among other things, have asked The University of Texas at Austin to stop singing The Eyes of Texas. The Eyes of Texas is rooted as satire making fun of then-University President Prather who used the phrase “The eyes of Texas are upon you” in…