Whitmire, West Ding Patrick on Charter Bill: “We’re Fixing to Create More...
The Senate Finance Committee approved an extra $1.5 billion for public schools this morning, adding $1.375 million to formula funding and millions more for other education programs. Finance chair Tommy...
View ArticleSenate Finance Recommends Closing Dawson State Jail
Is this the end of the nightmare factory called Dawson State Jail? On Monday, the state Senate Finance Committee recommended against renewing Texas’ contract with Corrections Corporation of America to...
View ArticleSenators Like State-Funded Gun Class for Teachers—But Not its Price Tag
In the first days of the legislative session, within a month of the mass school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst floated the idea of state-funded specialized gun training for...
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Senate Passes Charter School Reform Bill After Compromise with Dems
State Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) The Senate passed Sen. Dan Patrick’s major charter school reform bill Thursday afternoon, in a version far different from what Patrick introduced earlier this...
View ArticleDan Patrick On Parade: Life in the New Senate Education Committee
Six years ago, Houston Republican Dan Patrick debuted in the Texas Senate as an object of fascination, an aggressive harbinger of the Tea Party with a dedicated talk-radio following he addressed from a...
View ArticleFaith Leaders Rally for Bipartisan Support of Medicaid Expansion
On Wednesday, Florida reversed course saying it will now accept a Medicaid expansion, leaving Texas as the last big Republican state to resist the move. Several interfaith groups from across the state...
View ArticleGreg Abbott Proposes Statewide District for Struggling Schools
One of the Texas Legislature’s more entertaining moments in 2013—before, well, you know—was the late-session fight in the House over a bill creating the “Texas Achievement School District,” to...
View ArticleThe Eyes of Texas: Are Police Body Cameras Inevitable?
At a press conference in late November, Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland called universal body cameras on police inevitable. “I think that it’s a matter of time before every law enforcement...
View ArticleLawmakers Debate Public School Takeover Bills
Lawmakers heard testimony today on bills designed to create a new school district, a so-called Opportunity School District, for struggling public schools. Senate Bill 895 by Sen. Larry Taylor...
View ArticleFaith Leaders Rally for Bipartisan Support of Medicaid Expansion
On Wednesday, Florida reversed course saying it will now accept a Medicaid expansion, leaving Texas as the last big Republican state to resist the move. Several interfaith groups from across the state...
View ArticleWhitmire, West Ding Patrick on Charter Bill: “We’re Fixing to Create More...
The Senate Finance Committee approved an extra $1.5 billion for public schools this morning, adding $1.375 million to formula funding and millions more for other education programs. Finance chair Tommy...
View ArticleSenate Finance Recommends Closing Dawson State Jail
Is this the end of the nightmare factory called Dawson State Jail? On Monday, the state Senate Finance Committee recommended against renewing Texas’ contract with Corrections Corporation of America to...
View ArticleSenators Like State-Funded Gun Class for Teachers—But Not its Price Tag
In the first days of the legislative session, within a month of the mass school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst floated the idea of state-funded specialized gun training for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Senate Passes Charter School Reform Bill After Compromise with Dems
State Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) The Senate passed Sen. Dan Patrick’s major charter school reform bill Thursday afternoon, in a version far different from what Patrick introduced earlier this...
View ArticleGreg Abbott Proposes Statewide District for Struggling Schools
One of the Texas Legislature’s more entertaining moments in 2013—before, well, you know—was the late-session fight in the House over a bill creating the “Texas Achievement School District,” to...
View ArticleThe Eyes of Texas: Are Police Body Cameras Inevitable?
At a press conference in late November, Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland called universal body cameras on police inevitable. “I think that it’s a matter of time before every law enforcement...
View ArticleLawmakers Debate Public School Takeover Bills
Lawmakers heard testimony today on bills designed to create a new school district, a so-called Opportunity School District, for struggling public schools. Senate Bill 895 by Sen. Larry Taylor...
View ArticleClik here to view.
John Cornyn’s Democratic Challengers Feel a Little Familiar
When U.S. Senator John Cornyn was last up for re-election in 2014, the Texas Democratic Party was in a bad way. Just a month before the March primary, the party was warning Democrats not to support the...
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Amid a National Reckoning Over Racial Injustice, Royce West Seeks to Upset MJ...
Texas Democratic Senate candidate Royce West was fed up. In the final days of early voting for the runoff election, frontrunner MJ Hegar put out a new ad in which she says that Texans will “stand...
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