One of our regular readers sent a link to an Erica Jong poem about “People who live by the sea.” He thought a lot of our readers might like it.

Michael W. Loftin, who was named city manager of League City on Tuesday, struck me as a good choice to lead the staff of Galveston County’s largest city.

An exchange of email between State District Judge Susan Criss and County Judge Mark Henry is making the rounds. Many people take it as a sample of the ill-humor between Democrats, such as Criss, and Republicans, such as Henry.
 
But there’s an interesting question beyond the zingers: Who is responsible for security at the courthouse? This is not a new question. Judges have been complaining about the security for years.
 
The county auditor is employed by the district judges and would be able to provide the information that Criss requested. But even if you had all the questions answered about how much money is available, any plans to upgrade security would still be a budgeting decision by the county commissioners court, which Henry chairs.
 
The level of security at the courthouse today was set when county commissioners set the budget last year. If anyone wants to increase that level, he or she would have to come before the commissioners court with a specific proposal and its price tag. That person would have to stand in line, along with everyone else.

Here’s the text of a letter State Rep. Larry Taylor of Friendswood sent to Mike Gerick, the chairman of the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association. His basic complaint is that it’s unreasonable for the board to continue to raise rates until it makes a better effort at cutting costs.

In a guest column, V.J. Tramonte is chair of the Galveston Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber could not support the Galveston Housing Authority's plan for mixed-income housing.

Galveston officials recently went to Washington, D.C., to lobby for transportation funds. A memo from the city’s transportation consultant Barry Goodman to City Manager Tom Muehlenbeck (seen below) outlines the agenda for the trip.

Here is the letter the Galveston County Legal Department sent to Attorney General Greg Abbott in response to The Daily News’ request for email from Chris Gonzales, a Galveston City Council member who was employed by the county’s information technology department.

A rumor is going around Galveston that is designed to hurt Mayor Joe Jaworski politically and personally. The rumor starts with a claim that the mayor was involved in a fight in a bar. From there, it descends into some murkier claims about Jaworski's personal and family life.

Amanda Casanova recently reported about a problem with the Galveston Housing Authority’s request for money to cover “soft costs” for its plans to rebuild housing units destroyed by Hurricane Ike.

The Galveston Housing Authority board selected McCormack Baron Salazar as its master developer to rebuild some of the public housing destroyed by Hurricane Ike.