Michael Smith

Galveston

Managing Editor at Galveston County Daily News

Managing Editor of The Galveston County Daily News.

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Articles

Beach Band concerts a fine Galveston tradition

1 week ago | galvnews.com | Michael Smith |Michaël Smith

If you’re in Galveston and in the mood for a genuine, hometown sort of experience, stroll down to Sealy Gazebo and catch a performance by the Galveston Beach Band. The band’s first concert of the 2025 summer season is 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the green space at the corner of 24th Street and Sealy Avenue (also known as Avenue I) in the island’s historic East End.
Park board is park board's worst enemy on transparency

1 week ago | galvnews.com | Michael Smith |Michaël Smith

Galveston City Council’s decision Wednesday to hire a law firm to sue the Park Board of Trustees over violations of the Texas Open Meetings Act was a jaw-dropper, unprecedented. It’s impossible not to have sympathy for the volunteer members of the tourism group’s governing board. They are caught in a civic civil war that’s mostly about millions in hotel tax revenue with maybe a personal grudge, vendetta or political agenda or two thrown in for flavor.
Galveston needs new ideas about 'enforcing' rules

1 week ago | galvnews.com | Michael Smith |Michaël Smith

Improved enforcement of various rules and regulations is much on the minds of Galveston leaders lately, and, we can reasonably assume, on the minds of their constituents. It has formed a committee to deliberate those issues, but several members, especially District 6 Councilwoman Marie Robb, wants immediate action on parking violations around short-term rental units. Robb at a meeting Thursday said her West End constituents can’t go through another summer without better parking enforcement.
On Monday, we should reflect on the price of freedom

2 weeks ago | galvnews.com | Michael Smith |Michaël Smith

The official observance of Memorial Day is Monday. The core meaning of the day often gets lost among all the other things it has come to represent — the beginning of summer, the end of the school year and the first weekend of make-it-or-break-it time for many local businesses. Even people not tuned out of the original intent often miss the point. They thank veterans and active members of the armed services. Nothing is wrong with that, but it’s slightly off the mark.
Take steps to ensure a safe, fun start of the summer season

2 weeks ago | galvnews.com | Michael Smith |Michaël Smith

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Sheriff's Jeep Weekend plan worked, but in an odd way

2 weeks ago | galvnews.com | Michael Smith |Michaël Smith

Sheriff Jimmy Fullen, his staff and the hundreds of law officers who deployed to Bolivar Peninsula for Jeep Weekend have earned some praise. There’s no question the event was tamer by far than it had been during recent years. That’s not to say there are no questions at all; there are. Some of them are practical and some just sort of speculative. The event was tamer by far than it had been during recent years, but the crowd was microscopic compared to those years of chaos.
League City attorney jailed for parking violation sues in federal court

3 weeks ago | galvnews.com | Michael Smith |Michaël Smith

LEAGUE CITYR. Scott Shearer was legally parked in a handicapped spot outside his gym, just idly scrolling on his phone as he waited for a meal to settle one July day in 2023 when the police arrived, he asserts in a civil rights lawsuit filed in Galveston’s federal court Tuesday against League City and three of its officers.
Voters should give La Marque's bond issue a sober, informed hearing

3 weeks ago | galvnews.com | Michael Smith |Michaël Smith

They can do that by making a sober, informed, rational decision about taking on some debt to improve the city’s police facilities. That’s opposed to having a knee-jerk reaction against the idea of the government spending money to do anything. We argue that a sober, informed, rational decision-making process will lead voters to support a November referendum to issue bonds to raise money for improving the city’s police station.
Fullen to Jeep Weekend: Move along, nothing to see here

3 weeks ago | galvnews.com | Michael Smith |Michaël Smith

Will nearly 400 law enforcement officers, a just-keep-moving traffic control plan and numerous bans on things Jeep Weekenders think are fun tame an event that Bolivar Peninsula residents have come to dread almost as much as hurricanes? We’re fixing to find out. Galveston County Sheriff Jimmy Fullen’s campaign promise to get an event that typically draws about 100,000 people under control will be tested this weekend on the sand and asphalt near Crystal Beach.
Texas Senate should join Trump's fight against fentanyl

3 weeks ago | galvnews.com | Michael Smith |Michaël Smith

There’s a strange contradiction among Republicans about the fentanyl crisis, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans since 2020. The Trump administration claims the crisis is so acute that battling it justifies roiling the economy with on-again, off-again tariffs against China, Canada and Mexico, which, like it or not, are among our biggest trading partners. Canada once also was a U.S. ally. Tariffs against Canada and Mexico were especially worrisome for Texas, according to numerous sources.