Chad’s Morning Brief for 12.13.12
Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of December 12, 2012. Give Chad your feedback below and tune in to The Chad Hasty Show for these and many more topics from 8:30 to 11 am.
1. Welcome Home Kliff (link)
Kliff Kingsbury is back in Lubbock and is the new Head Coach of Texas Tech Football. Texas Tech made the announcement yesterday and even started trending on Twitter. According to KFYO News:
Kingsbury, a New Braunfels, Texas native, played for Texas Tech from 1998 through 2002, and was drafted by the New England Patriots in 2003, and played with several other NFL and NFL Europe teams.
The 33-year-old coach got his start in coaching as an assistant with the Houston Cougars, and then moved on to Texas A&M in 2012, where he served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
One of Kingsbury’s athletes at Texas A&M, Johnny Manziel, became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy earlier this month.
Texas Tech Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt made the announcement around 5:45 Wednesday afternoon by posting this video on his Twitter account introducing Kingsbury as head coach.
Kingsbury replaces Tommy Tuberville, who left Texas Tech for the University of Cincinnati.
Tech has named offensive line coach Chris Thomsen as the interim coach to take charge of the team for their bowl in Houston on December 28th.
Kingsbury was the popular candidate among Tech fans and will go a long way in uniting the fan base.
Is it a gamble? Yes, but just about every hire is. Kingsbury is the right hire for Texas Tech at the right time. He has already fired up the fan base and recruits will like playing for him. I will be very interested to see the staff that Kingsbury puts together. You can expect a few former Red Raiders to join his staff.
Things are looking up for Texas Tech Football.
2. Straus is Ready (link)
Joe Straus is confident that he be re-elected Texas House Speaker and is ready for the upcoming session. According to the Texas Tribune:
Speaking to reporters after a luncheon held by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and Opportunity Austin, Straus said he enjoys the "vast majority of support from members of both parties," though he has not publicly released any names or a headcount to back it up. His opponent, state Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, officially launched his campaign for speaker this week, and he has not released names or a headcount either.
“I’ve talked to most of the members,” Straus said. “They agree with where the priorities that I’ve set for the House should be. Other members, if they have helpful suggestions, are certainly welcome to weigh in. And if Mr. Simpson wants to run for speaker, for example, it’s his choice."
A call to Simpson for comment was not immediately returned.
Asked if House members were being asked to sign pledge cards for him, Straus said he has never collected pledge cards. After a pause, he added, “Pledge cards, I assume, exist.”
Straus said his priorities for the upcoming session are broad: education, transportation, water, jobs and budget transparency.
“It’s 2013 in a couple of weeks,” he said. “We have 17 years before 33 million people live here. They need to be educated. They need to have opportunities and we have not done a very good job in recent years of addressing serious issues. That’s what we’re going to do starting in January.”
Asked about a so-called fetal pain measure to ban abortions after 20 weeks, legislation touted on Tuesday by Gov. Rick Perry, Straus declined to say whether he would support it, but strongly implied that he doesn’t view the proposal as a priority.
“I don’t see how it directly affects the agenda of education and transportation and water resources and budget transparency and manufacturing jobs,” Straus said. “But there are thousands of bills that will be filed as there always are and it sounds like that may be one of them. But the top of the agenda for me will be education, resources, infrastructure, the things that will help Texans cope with the tremendous growth we’re seeing in this state.”
Straus will be re-elected as Speaker and there isn't much doubt about it. Sure, there are some out there who would like to see another outcome, but from those that I have spoken with, no one really sees Simpson winning.
So conservatives shouldn't hold their breath if they hope this session will be more conservative than before. Straus doesn't see the fetal pain bill as a priority. I'd imagine many conservatives would disagree.
3. Pelosi Might Miss Kwanzaa (link)
Another sign that the Democrats are ready to go over the fiscal cliff? Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats are mad that they might have to miss Christmas or Kwanzaa.
"Is there not an appreciation for the Jewish holidays? The Christmas holiday? Kwanzaa? All the other things that families come together around? Bonding rituals important to the strength of our society? Do we not care about that? Well, the American people do. And they want to shop for it." - Wednesday, December 12, 2012, House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on the house floor
Kwanzaa? Seriously Nancy? How about you and the rest of the Democrats do your job instead of worrying about Kwanzaa.
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These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of The Chad Hasty Show. Tune in mornings 8:30-11am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.
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