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| Around Texas |
Changes to Texas College Grant Program Will Hurt El Paso Students, Lawmakers Say
Fewer El Paso students would be eligible for a college grant program under recommendations in a report the state's higher education board is set to adopt Thursday, a report some lawmakers said will hurt poor and minority students.
Davis Again Cleared to Take on Brimer
A state district judge ruled Tuesday that Wendy Davis is eligible to run against state Sen. Kim Brimer in November.
Disaster Areas Declared in 14 South Texas Counties
Gov. Rick Perry declared 14 South Texas counties disaster areas Tuesday and deployed a variety of state assets in anticipation of Hurricane Dolly's making landfall and dumping what forecasters expect will be more than 15 inches of rain.
Leader Jeffs, 5 Others Indicted in FLDS Polygamist Case
Five members of a West Texas polygamist sect, including leader Warren Jeffs, were indicted Tuesday in Schleicher County on charges of sexual assault of a child. A sixth member was indicted on charges of failing to report child abuse.
6 from Polygamist Sect Facing Charges
Six men from a West Texas polygamist community - including incarcerated sect leader Warren Jeffs - have been indicted by a grand jury on charges including felony sexual assault of a child.
Judge Divides FLDS Child Cases
Nearly four months after the largest child-custody case in U.S. history commenced, Texas 51st District Judge Barbara Walther has broken it up, leaving 234 separate cases involving the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Polygamist Custody Battle Now 234 Separate Cases
The judge who had her custody decision reversed on more than 400 polygamist sect children has ordered the cases divided by mother, meaning there are now 234 separate child welfare cases from the Yearning For Zion Ranch.
Lawmakers Consider More Involvement on Polygamists
Lawmakers and former polygamist church members at a hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday accused a sect under investigation in Texas and elsewhere of denying women and children their basic rights. Democrats Focus on County Elections
Little-known Texas organizations that support Democratic candidates are pouring money and personnel into Harris County at seldom-seen levels for the Nov. 4 election, with the help of a few wealthy statewide donors and national labor unions.
EPA Delays Decision on Waiver for Ethanol
Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday renewed his request for a waiver from ethanol requirements for gasoline, after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's postponement of a decision.
Down-ballot Races May Hinge on Whether Obama, McCain Visit Texas
As local candidates and political operatives look toward November, they are increasingly concerned about the Texas campaigns of presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama.
Bell Vying for Shift in Voting
As politicians go, it might seem like an unlikely trajectory: Houston City Council to U.S. House of Representatives, then a failed run for governor.
Johnson's 1948 Election Still Looms Large
The humming campaign helicopter, the hat-tossing trick with the crowd and the late-arriving, decisive ballots from the suspicious "Box 13" in South Texas. There's no Texas election quite like the 1948 U.S. Senate primary race between Lyndon B. Johnson and Coke Stevenson, a contest that gave Johnson an 87-vote surprise victory and propelled him on his path toward the presidency.
Texas Victory Strike Force Summer Registration Drive
Guess who made a visit to Crawford, Texas, last week?
If you guessed the President and First Lady, you'd be incorrect. Howard Dean! Yes, that's Howard Dean, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. And he was not just in town to see the sites.
Read more State News.... |
| National News |
Louisiana prosecutors asked the Supreme Court on Monday to revisit its recent decision outlawing the death penalty for people convicted of raping children.
Slim Majority of California Voters Would Uphold Gay Marriage, Poll Finds
A bare majority of California voters would continue to allow gay marriage, according to a new poll released Friday.
A voter initiative to reinstate a ban on same-sex marriage will remain on the November ballot, the California Supreme Court decided unanimously Wednesday.
Democratic Senate hopeful Rick Noriega said Tuesday that 100 percent of the energy used to generate electricity for Texas households should come from renewable sources by 2019.
Grassley Won't Be GOP Delegate
Evangelical Christians in Iowa, dominant in the state's Republican Party, have denied Sen. Charles E. Grassley his request for a place on the state's delegation to this summer's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.
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Schooling Waste, Tax Bills, Bree-Cheese Cons
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Michael Quinn Sullivan |
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Have you ever noticed that when government spends too much money, they say it is a "shortfall" and not overspending?
School boards, legislators, congressmen, - they cannot fathom that they've misspent or over-committed, so obviously it's your fault for not presenting enough money to the god of government excess.
School Daze [Friend, is your school district threatening a tax hike?]
School districts constantly cry poverty. Despite ever-increasing revenues, the appetite of school district bureaucracies grows exponentially. Replicated around the state are spurious claims from school district administrators - superintendents, deputy superintendents, finance officers and their legions of assistants and deputies - that unless tax rates are hiked, children will go uneducated.
For example, in Kerrville ISD the school board voted unanimously to increase taxes an additional $244 average per household. They claim that to give teachers a pay raise and run the buses, they have no choice but sock it to Ma and Pa Taxpayer.
Never mind that those same taxpayers face those same cost increases in fuel, with the prospect of lost jobs - or at least no salary gains - and yet will now pay higher property taxes. Taxpayers are tightening their belts so government employees can spend merrily along. A quick review of Kerrville's June check register shows they spent lots of cash buying flowers, Blue Bell ice-cream, and paying for nights at 4-star hotels.
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