Fort Worth Star-Telegram. March 15, 2020.
Texans, don’t cower over coronavirus. Be patient and generous, and help the vulnerable.
It would be easy to already be cynical about the coronavirus, the government response and the closures and cancellations that seem to come minute by minute. We’ve seen failures and slow responses at all levels of government.
But it was still extraordinary to see Friday, over the course of just a few hours, officials at the federal, state and local levels declare broad emergencies or disasters.
After several days of surreal developments, the scope of what may lie ahead is setting in. As a nation and in our communities, we face weeks, if not months, of uncertainty and fear. We could be in for significant economic disruption. At a minimum, we’re all bound to develop severe cases of cabin fever.
In times like this, we think first of ourselves and our families. That’s natural and appropriate. But this moment calls for each of us to be bigger and more generous than usual. We must rally in particular to protect the most vulnerable: the elderly, the isolated, the lonely.
Gov. Greg Abbott and other state officials leading the virus response outlined this effectively Friday. Issuing a statewide declaration of disaster, Abbott asked for “all Texans to do their part to help the state respond to this situation.”
What he could have said is simply: “Don’t be selfish.”
STOP HOARDING SUPPLIES
Take, for instance, the frenzied buying of supplies we’ve seen. There’s no reason to think we won’t be able to get toilet paper, bottled water or food in the next few weeks. But news cameras and social media have captured people loading as if a hurricane were coming.
“Hoarding is neither necessary or productive,” Abbott said.
ip restaurant servers as generously as you can, because the volume of their business will surely be down. If you can, give to museums, theater groups and other local arts institutions that will be hurt if they have to close.
And if you can help parents of school-age children, do so. Some may need a hand with child care and, if they face lost wages, putting food on the table. They’re facing weeks without school, with limited options to entertain the kids. Even libraries will be closed, so acute boredom will set in soon.
We’re all in this together. In one way or another, we’re all going to suffer. Even those who don’t get sick are going to go a little stir crazy. The loss of sports and spring festivals - and the monotony of spending day after day mostly stuck in the house - are going to give many of us short fuses.
Resolve now to try to be patient and to help others who need it most.
___
El Paso Times. March 11, 2020
Good and bad news about Texas’ fiscal watchdog.
If you, like most people, don’t like paying taxes, starving a government agency probably sounds great in theory. But in practice, you wouldn’t want to starve the agency whose job is to keep an eye on the spending.
In Texas, that agency is the Legislative Budget Board. Its job is to analyze the financial implications of what your elected and appointed state officials propose to do with your tax dollars and to make recommendations based on those analyses.
The LBB is not supposed to play favorites with any political party. It’s not supposed to make its analyses fit someone’s political agenda. It’s supposed to tell it like it is - to those who want to hear it and those who don’t. That’s important.
OBJECTIVITY UNDER ASSAULT
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, has been trying to starve the LBB to near death since he became lieutenant governor in 2015. In that time, the LBB staff has dwindled from 146 to 108 employees and until this month it had gone without a director - or, as the Texas Tribune described it, “headless” - since October 2018.
Patrick fancies himself a fiscal hawk but, but in reality, he’ll spend your money liberally if it’s a program he favors, such as border security.
It helps to have a compliant LBB to get things done his way. And he’s in a better position than any other state official to see that he gets one.
That’s because he shares the power of appointing the board members and the agency director with the House speaker. And right now the House speaker is Dennis Bonnen, a lame duck who lost his clout in a political scandal.
NEW CHIEF IS OVERDUE
The good news is that, finally, Patrick and the politically neutered Bonnen have settled on a new LBB director. He’s Jerry McGinty, longtime chief financial officer of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
On paper, McGinty looks like a solid hire. We’ve found no evidence to suggest otherwise. Patrick pointed out, rightly, that McGinty has considerable experience overseeing a big government agency’s budget and dealing with members of the Legislature.
Again, that’s the good news. But here’s the rub:
Patrick has an agenda. He wants control of an agency that needs independence. He tipped his hand in response to a Texas Tribune story in October 2019 calling attention to his war on the LBB, when he said in a written response it was “absolutely right” that he was letting the agency fall apart. He said he was working “to eliminate the influence of the liberal bureaucrats who were running the LBB when I got there.”
Who’s Patrick kidding with that deep-state hoax? The Republican Party has ruled the state capitol for a generation now. Those LBB bureaucrats, working under an iron Republican grip, do their best to provide objective analyses. To Patrick’s way of thinking, that’s liberal.
Patrick said in October that he intended to find a new director “who shares my commitment … for a lean and efficient state budget.”
WE DON’T NEED A YES-PERSON
Commitment to leanness and efficiency is a mantra that has a nice ring to it. But the LBB director needs to be above all that. The LBB director should be committed to providing objective financial analyses. What to do with those analyses is the Legislature’s decision. Lawmakers choose where to be lean and where to be generous.
Patrick’s words and his actions add up to him wanting a yes-person at the helm of the Legislative Budget Board.
It would be good for Texas if McGinty didn’t turn out to be Patrick’s yes-person. If he’s not, the question will be how long he can last.
___
Amarillo Globe-News. March 9, 2020.
Dairy industry plays key role in state’s economy.
Slowly and surely, the Texas dairy industry has proven its resiliency, using new approaches and fresh ideas to ensure a bright future, which is of great importance locally and beyond.
Despite two recent major bankruptcies, the industry has witnessed production growth during the past few years. Overall, the Texas dairy industry has a $3.3 billion economic footprint, comprising more than 350 Grade A dairies and 500,000 cows.
The year started on an ominous note with Borden Dairy Co. filing for bankruptcy protection. Borden has 13 plants across the country, including three in Texas, according to our story. The company’s decision came two months after Dallas-based Dean Foods made a similar move. Subsequently, Dean and the Dairy Farmers of America struck a deal worth $425 million for almost half of its milk processing facilities, and the agreement is expected to protect jobs of many current employees.
The filings sent a shudder through the industry, but it has since moved forward, continuing to rely upon innovation and technology breakthroughs to help it remain a vital and vibrant component of the state’s robust agricultural sector.
“We’ve been lucky with new plants and ventures going on in the Panhandle,” Darren Turley, executive director for the Texas Association of Dairymen, said. “Technology is coming in quite rapidly through the dairy industry with robotic stalls and dairy barns now being built, and there’s more being looked at all the time, so I think we’re going to see that change work its way through the industry.”
Along those lines, a robotic dairy barn was installed a year ago at T&K Dairy in Snyder. It was the first of its kind in the state and provided statistical data on each cow while it was being milked. The technology allows the dairy to shift its model from treatment to prevention, creating greater operational efficiencies.
Other innovations in the industry are also taking place in West Texas. Examples include the Continental Dairy Facilities Southwest in Littlefield, which converts milk to dry milk or butter and the Lone Star Dairy Products in Canyon, according to our story.
Investing in such advancements allows the West Texas dairy industry to not just survive, but thrive. As has been the case throughout this region’s agricultural history, the tougher the times, the more resilient and determined the people. It is the kind of thinking that sees opportunity in every challenge, an outlook that is equal parts optimism and pragmatism.
“We’re seeing growth,” Turley said. “We’re seeing some robotic and some traditional dairies, but I think we’re in a better spot, and I think we’ll continue to see that type of movement for quite some time.”
The approach is working. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, production for Texas dairies has increased by almost 9 percent between November 2018 and 2019. That equates to roughly 1.1 billion pounds of milk.
The economic impact and contributions of the dairy industry (nationwide and within Texas) should not be taken for granted. The economic storms will come and go, but the industry’s commitment to uncovering new knowledge and leveraging new technology will continue to serve it well, which is a good thing for West Texas.
___
Please read our comment policy before commenting.