Topics
The GOP Failed to Ban Paid Sick Leave and the Business Lobby is Livid
The $9 Billion School Finance Problem in Speaker Bonnen’s Backyard
While legislators focused on school finance and property taxes, a silent culprit continued to metastasize. If Chapter 313, a corporate welfare program, is left unaddressed, it could undermine any progress made this session, critics warn.
There’s a $9 billion (and growing) problem looming in the backyard of House Speaker Dennis Bonnen. That problem is formally known as Chapter 313. As Texas’ ...Read More
In Battle Between Big Oil and Big Corn, Ted Cruz Finally Called Out Trump
Cruz has studiously avoided confronting Trump. But when it came to helping oil refiners get a bigger share of the EPA's deregulatory spoils, the senator was more than willing to play hostage politics.
Ted Cruz has finally found the courage to call out the Trump administration. He’s demanding that the president and his bureaucrats stop providing cover for th...Read More
Texans ‘Will Die’: House Republicans Pass Anti-Planned Parenthood Bill After Emotional Debate
Senate Bill 22 is the latest in the Legislature’s years-long vendetta against Planned Parenthood. Despite the GOP sponsor refusing to debate the bill, it could soon land on the governor’s desk.
With her voice cracking, state Representative Ana-Maria Ramos described her experience of being a struggling teen mom on the Texas House floor on Friday. A moth...Read More
Texas Republicans Poised to Make Voting ‘Harder, Scarier and More Confusing’
SB 9’s passage out of committee Friday sets the stage for a heated debate over voting rights in the waning days of the session.
A bill raising criminal penalties for certain election-related offenses and imposing new voting restrictions cleared a major hurdle Friday, setting the stage fo...Read More
Yes, I am a Sorceress
Representative Jonathan Stickland has brought the dark truth at the heart of pediatric medicine to light.
Last week, Baylor pediatrician-scientist and vaccine advocate Dr. Peter Hotez pointed out on Twitter that vaccination rates in some Texas schools have fallen be...Read More
With a Bizarre Assist by Democrats, Police Groups Kill Bill to Limit Arrests for Fine-Only Offenses
A combination of incompetence and sabotage appears to have killed a police reform bill that had passed the House with an overwhelming bipartisan majority.
Law enforcement’s ability to arrest Texans for crimes punishable only by fine, including traffic violations, will likely remain unchecked after House Democrat...Read More
Renter, Beware: Millions of Texans Could Soon Face Higher Fees for Late Rent, with Little Recourse to Fight Back
Tenant advocates say proposed legislation nearing the governor’s desk could lead to increased evictions.
In July 2014, Cathi and Tara Cleven signed a one-year lease and moved into an apartment at Colonial Grand at Canyon Creek, a sprawling, shady complex in northwe...Read More
Carbon Sequestration Isn’t The Long-Term Solution. Is it a Short-Term One?
Experts have long debated the efficacy of capturing and storing carbon underground to reduce emissions. Now, in North Texas, oil and gas companies are getting in on the game.
– by Sammy Feldblum May 15, 2019 The Farnsworth Unit Oil Field is a small oil patch in North Texas’s Anadarko Basin, just south of where the skinny Okla...Read More
Beasts of the Border
Fernando A. Flores’ debut novel paints a vivid, if cynical, portrait of life on the U.S.-Mexico border.
It’s the near future in South Texas, and things haven’t gotten any better. A global food shortage has killed 20 percent of the world’s population and spaw...Read More