Every Friday morning I join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk1370 Radio in Austin to announce the week’s Winners & Losers. Yesterday was the 239th Anniversary of the Miracle in Philadelphia when America’s Founders signed off on the Constitution – a document that is still looking pretty good today, despite being constantly under assault. With 48 days to go until the midterm elections, here’s who made the list:

WINNER: America is Beating Poverty

You didn’t see this on most mainstream media reports, but the Census Bureau just released some bright news in these inflation-fueled economic times: the percentage of Americans who are living in poverty is lower than it has been since they started keeping records. A little over 10% of the country is living below the poverty line, which the Census Bureau set at $32,649 for a family of four. Adjusted for inflation, the real median household income jumped 2.6% to $87,460, an all-time high.

Despite criticism from the Stone Center for Research on Wealth Inequality and Mobility at the University of Chicago, the new data includes all cash and noncash benefits, including transfer payments, received by American families – a move long advocated by former U.S. Senator and Texas economist Phil Gramm.

Even the folks at the University of Chicago begrudgingly admit the rise in median household income is positive.

WINNER: UT Eliminates “Grievance Studies” Classes

University of Texas at Austin students will no longer be able to major in African-American Diaspora studies, Mexican-American Latino/a Studies, women and gender studies and race, indigeneity and migration studies.

The Texas media found a Social and Cultural Analysis professor at UT who charged that ending these majors is “censorship” that “curtails students’ career prospects.”

First, nobody at the 40 Acres has said students can’t study these issues. But reviews reveal that if so-called “grievance studies” courses are not required, few people take them. The classes aren’t actually history or cultural analysis but instead are loaded with race and gender theory ideology and calls for activism.

Second, you have to wonder how even one professor believes that not being able to major in one of these “grievance study” programs hampers anyone’s career prospects. The only future with such a degree is teaching the same classes somewhere or working as a barista.

This is another win for UT leadership as they continue to implement Senate Bill 37.

WINNER: Lt. Gov. Patrick Slaps Down ERCOT

With Texas ratepayers paying 32% more for electricity since 2020, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stood up for every fed-up Texan when he slapped down the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) this week after they tried to give their CEO, Pablo Vegas, a new $6.4 million annual salary contract while increasing the salary of every board member by $50,000. Board members currently draw about $160,000 annually for serving on the ERCOT Board, which meets 4 times a year.

The ERCOT Board is busy backtracking on these lavish salary enhancements as Lt. Governor Patrick proclaimed that he had lost total confidence in them to look out for Texas ratepayers. Us too. Watch this space for what comes next.

WINNER: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz Breaks the Spell

After the University of Texas’ epic win over Ohio State on Saturday, it is clear the “Cruz Curse” is no longer being enforced by the football gods. Cruz was on College GameDay, in Austin this week to talk about the Protect College Sports Act, which cleared its first hurdle in Congress by moving forward in the Senate on a 76-24 vote. Throughout his interview Cruz was loudly booed by UT student fans, who were celebrating their free speech rights before the game.

There is no way to know why the Longhorn fans were chanting “Ted, you suck.“ It could have been about the “Curse,” which had held that when Cruz shows up for a game, Texas teams lose. Or it could have been about opposition to the Protect College Sports Act, which some Longhorns oppose because their football program isn’t threatened. Everyone knows that whatever happens, University of Texas football will survive even if the rest of the FBS schools are weakened or destroyed by the current madness in college sports.

Or, the heckling Longhorns could have just been protesting Sen. Cruz because he’s a principled conservative and they don’t like conservatives. The latest survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) found that the ratio of liberal students to conservatives at UT has increased to almost 7 to 1 over the last year. The survey also found that 76% of UT students believe it is acceptable to shout down a speaker they disagree with to prevent him from speaking on campus.

LOSER: Hasan Piker Coming to Austin

The Democratic Socialist guy who said America deserved 911, and has nothing but praise for Hamas, must have missed the news about declining poverty rates yesterday. In his latest podcast rant, he repeatedly proclaimed America to be “the absolute worst country on the face of the planet, straight up, bar none, a capitalist s***hole.”

Piker is scheduled to be in Austin in the next week or so. It will be interesting to see if a Longhorn crowd heckles him.

LOSER: Gavin Newson Will Step Aside for Kamala

California Gov. Gavin Newsom told CNN this week that if former Vice President Kamala Harris decides to run for president again, he will bow out.

This may seem like a gallant move, but it is more likely that Newsom is simply directing big Democrat donors to push her out of the race by refusing to fund her – as many have already done.

Understanding how Democrats think, we know this saves Newsom from being attacked as a big white guy trying to keep a minority woman from succeeding. Still, there is no way to understand why any Democrat thinks nominating Harris to run again is a good idea.

Polls this week show Harris is the leading Democrat contender in the presidential race by a couple points with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Newsom and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, all close behind within the margin of error.

LOSER: Dallas Morning News False Report on Professors Leaving

A headline in the Dallas Morning News this week screamed that “More Professors Want to Leave Texas This Year Citing Political Climate, censorship survey says.” The story was picked up by several radio and TV stations and other newspapers around the state even though it is almost certainly not even close to true.

The survey, which came from the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), was conducted in 13 southern states. It was not a random sample designed to accurately measure the sentiment of Texas higher education faculty. Instead, the AAUP emailed the survey to their members in Texas, who represent less than 5% of Texas professors. 1,126 people answered the questions about whether they had considered leaving Texas because of the political climate, loss of academic freedom or shared governance, DEI policy, salary or other workplace conditions.

According to the Dallas Morning News story, about a third of the respondents – a little over 300 people from a self-selected group – said they had applied for a job out of state in the last two years. That’s 300 professors out of an estimated 100,000 people who teach in Texas public universities.

Even the Editorial writers at the Dallas Morning News was skeptical, saying the AAUP pushes for the “politicization of campuses” and “uniformly takes popular leftist positions with a special focus on Israel and Zionism.” Was their reporter not aware of that?

WINNER: Gov. Abbott Pushes for a 3-Year College Degree Path

Speaking of the AAUP, this week, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed a number of higher education thinkers to develop a 3-year college degree program. A 3-year degree would save Texans anywhere from $15,000 to $40,000, not to mention getting back an extra year in your life. Everybody thinks it’s a good idea except the AAUP, which opposes 3-year degrees.

LOSER: Houston Congressman Al Green’s Last Stand

Rep. Al Green, D-TX, wanted to take one last stab at impeaching President Donald Trump before he leaves Congress so he introduced an impeachment resolution this week. 232 House members voted to table it while only 147 voted to move it forward, so that’s a wrap.

This is the 8th time Green has tried to impeach Trump. Beyond that effort, he has passed no significant legislation for at least a decade. Houston Democrats voted him out in the March primaries.

WINNER: Texas Longhorns on Top of the Leader Board

Nothing can tarnish the glorious 24-23 Longhorn victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday — although there were several efforts to change the conversation. But when the smoke cleared, the University of Texas at Austin was sitting at No. 1.

Tomorrow, the Longhorns will take on the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). A good factoid to take to the tailgate is that, like Longhorn star Arch Manning, the Roadrunner QB, Owen McCown, also has an impressive football pedigree as both his father and uncle played in the NFL. McCown attended the Manning Passing Camp with Arch this summer and was singled out as one of the stars.

UTSA Coach Jeff Traylor has some sobering thoughts about his matchup with UT tomorrow and the future of fielding $5 million teams against $50 million teams, which is not to say the Roadrunners aren’t going to drive up to Austin and give it all they’ve got.

No. 9 ranked Texas A&M demolished Arizona State last weekend and will play Kentucky tomorrow. Meanwhile, in an another all Texas match-up, No. 13 ranked Texas Tech is playing No. 22 ranked University of Houston tonight at 7PM – which means Saturday football is starting early!

Have a great weekend!

Listen to Winners & Losers on Talk 1370, the Cardle & Woolley show, every Friday morning at 8:30 AM. Here’s the listen live link.

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Sherry Sylvester is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the former Senior Advisor to Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.