KSEV Mornings · October 5, 2026 · Hour 1
A new week, a new tech setup, and Wayne fresh off an investigation that ended with a candidate yelling at him on his own lawn.
Monday started the way a lot of Mondays do in the KSEV studio: with Craig Coglianese testing every piece of new technology in the building and Wayne Dolcefino telling him, on and off the air, to stop touching things. Once everyone could hear everyone else exactly once, the show was off and running.
The weekend that wasn’t
Wayne had big plans: a hotel on the island, maybe some trouble. Then the weather forecasters predicted rain all weekend and scared both hosts into staying home. It didn’t rain a drop on Saturday. Wayne settled for black beans, rice, plantains and chicken, and explained that he can’t sit still because he has “spilkes,” a Yiddish word he translated roughly as ants in your pants. Craig, for the record, loves a weekend of doing nothing. His wife does not.
Wayne’s Brazoria County investigation
The main event was Wayne’s new investigative piece on Eugene Howard, a Democrat running for Brazoria County judge. Wayne said he started out thinking Howard must be a top-notch guy because he had been given a Medal of Freedom by President Biden. Then the research started. According to Wayne, Howard’s jobs at HISD and Fort Bend ISD don’t appear on his LinkedIn page, and Wayne’s reporting found why: what Wayne described as misconduct at Fort Bend ISD and the permanent surrender of Howard’s educator license.
Craig said he admired how the reporting was put together, not just what it found. Plenty of people show up in the right place and ask the right questions, he said, but Wayne’s work is also entertaining to watch. His favorite moment was Howard yelling from his front yard that one of his opponents was behind the investigation. Wayne’s response: not only did that person not pay him, he isn’t involved at all, and Wayne will take shots at him too.
That opponent is Lucinda Henry, who is running as an independent. Wayne said her husband, Kevin Henry, runs a local blog where nearly every story is about how great his wife is and how weaselly everyone else is. Wayne added that he has defended Henry in the past when he thought Henry was being unfairly targeted.
Why Wayne calls back the people who hate him
Wayne explained his philosophy: running for office is a job interview, and a candidate who actually believes what they say should be willing to talk to anyone. He returns every call from reporters he knows can’t stand him, including the Galveston Daily News, which he likes to call the “Galveston Democratic News” and which has put him on its front page as a “controversial” figure. He likes publicity, he admitted. Craig was not surprised.
Wayne also broke a little news. He’s investigating the Fort Bend District Attorney’s office, following up on the fake hate investigation in Fort Bend County and looking at District Attorney Brian Middleton’s re-election. Wayne disclosed his history up front. Years ago, after a judge had him arrested for contempt, a grand jury indicted that judge for official oppression, and Middleton threw the case out. Wayne said he’s not a fan and plans to tell viewers so when the stories run.
Craig called Wayne “the antithesis of a typical YouTuber” because he’s transparent about his own motivations, and said he misses that kind of quality from legacy media. Wayne’s reply: the hard part is paying for it, because public corruption investigations are expensive, and he wishes more media covered local politics. Craig’s answer: “Amen.”
Does Angela Paxton’s ad help?
After the break, Wayne raised the question of the morning about Angela Paxton’s ad for her estranged husband’s Senate campaign. He likes Angela Paxton and thinks she’s sharp, but called the ad “the most tortured thing I’ve ever seen.” Does it help? Craig’s answer: it doesn’t. To him it played like, I hate him for what he did to me, but sometimes you still vote for the team.
Wayne said Republicans have great stories to tell and keep failing to tell them: crime coming down, fentanyl deaths dropping, a tough president, and immigration. He brought up Trey Gowdy’s Sunday night interview with the parents of a student killed by a man in the country illegally. Wayne didn’t love the flak-jacket photo ops, but said a lot of really bad people are gone and Republicans shouldn’t be afraid to own that. He also wanted to see more of the good economic news, pointing out that wages are up about 3% against 3.4% inflation. “Are people literally jumping out of buildings?” he asked.
Craig pushed back on one line. When Wayne said he dearly loves the media, Craig suggested what he really loves is what the media should be, the Tom Brokaw and Walter Cronkite kind of news. Wayne agreed. He said nobody at Channel 13 talked about helping one candidate over another. They just investigated everything.
On the governor’s race, Wayne said he believes taxes are the GOP’s best argument and that Greg Abbott has it against Gina Hinojosa over a state income tax: tell Texans that, and you don’t have to tell them anything else. With a month to go, Wayne still thinks Paxton can win. He just wishes Paxton were a better communicator.
Also in this hour
- Wayne had a tooth to get pulled after the show, so Craig promised the tech would work all the way through tomorrow.
Hear Craig and Wayne live weekdays from 7–9 AM Central on AM 700 KSEV, The Voice of Texas. Visit the KSEV Mornings show page for live-listening controls and more episodes.
