WEEKLY REPORT
March 16, 2012
Emergency rooms becoming the new dentist’s office
Hospital emergency rooms across the panhandle are seeing a growing number of one type of patient they really can’t help, dental patients.
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2012 job outlook is rosier than in 2011
Companies are generating waves of jobs, and unemployment is down.
The same thing happened last year around this time. Then everything faded to black starting with the earthquake in Japan, which struck a year ago Sunday.
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Experts predict a low turnout, topsy-turvy Texas primary
Campaigns are scrambling to energize a Texas primary that’s been delayed so long, and now falling as kids are finishing the school year, that there’s widespread fear voters will have lost the mood.
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No Funds Left Behind
Last spring, as the Texas Legislature debated massive cuts to public schools—one of many desperate measures to close a $27 billion biennial budget deficit—10,000 protesters massed in Austin for a “Save Our Schools” rally. In the end, the damage to the state’s already-underfunded schools added up to $5.4 billion, forcing districts to lay off tens of thousands of teachers and staffers. In the city of Austin, public schools with rapidly growing enrollment found themselves facing a 5.5 percent cut in the 2011–2012 school year and 8.5 percent the next year. The quandary was far from extraordinary—37 states spent less on education in 2011 compared to 2010. Neither was one of the Austin schools’ solutions: seeking grant money from the world’s largest philanthropic organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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Texas’ voter ID law heads to federal court
A federal court in Washington will now decide whether Texas can enforce its new voter ID law after the Justice Department on Monday rejected the restrictive voting measure, saying state leaders failed to prove that it would not discriminate against minority voters.
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Texas challenging federal government oversight of election laws in voter ID case
Texas upped the stakes Wednesday in the fight over its law requiring photo identification to vote, asking a court to overturn a long-standing civil rights law requiring federal approval for any change in election rules.
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Retired teachers face health plan changes
Retired school employees in Texas could face major changes to their health care because the state fund that pays for their insurance is projected to run out of money in 2015.
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Texas should consider education standards waiver
Education Secretary Arne Duncan was in Austin last week, and while here, he encouraged Texas to apply for a waiver from meeting certain performance standards demanded by the No Child Left Behind law.
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Confusion reigns in Texas election calendar
The primaries are delayed more than two months because of political wrangling and scheduled to be the second major election day in May, calling voters back to the polls just over two weeks city and school district elections.
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Justice Department rejects Texas’ voter ID law, but court fight goes on
Citing concerns about discrimination, the U.S. Department of Justice declined to give its blessing Monday to the voter identification law passed last year by the Texas Legislature.
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Health law faces its biggest test
It’s assumed that the four liberal justices will uphold the law, because they typically favor strong federal regulation, and Justice Clarence Thomas will strike it. So the task for the law’s opponents will be to seal the deal with the other four conservatives while the Obama administration tries to pick off one or two of them.
(View complete article here.)
Texas Elected Officials Who Didn’t File for Re-election
Thirty members — that’s about 20 percent — of the Texas House have said they won’t seek re-election. That includes seven Democrats and 23 Republicans. Looked at another way, it includes 17 members who are leaving to run for other offices including district attorney, state Senate, Congress and the Railroad Commission. Thirteen of the members are leaving with no announced plans for public office.
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What’s Next for Texas’ Women’s Health Program?
A state rule that forces Planned Parenthood out of Texas’ Women’s Health Program takes effect today, and in response, the Obama administration is preparing to halt federal funding for the program. But the change won’t be immediate: Texas health officials say it will take a few weeks to transition to a fully state-run program from one that had been 90-percent funded by the federal government.
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Second in command at TCEQ is lone applicant for top job
A former environmental adviser to Gov. Rick Perry is the lone applicant to run the state’s environmental agency after spending about 2½ years as the agency’s second in command.
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Survey: Youth in State Lockup Concerned Over Violence
More than 100 youths surveyed at one of the state’s largest juvenile correctional facilities said their most important concern is attacks from their peers, according to a report released today by the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition.
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Editorial: Enterprise Fund gets a winner with Apple
Gov. Rick Perry’s Texas Enterprise Fund scored a major coup last week when Apple Inc. announced plans to expand its operations in Austin.
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