WEEKLY REPORT
March 2, 2012
Tech to go with tobacco-free policy
The Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas announced earlier this month a new tobacco-free policy for all current and future grantees, which includes Texas Tech and the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
(View complete article here.)
How Partisan Are Texas State Senators?
For decades, political scientists have employed roll call votes to rank members of the U.S. Congress on a liberal-conservative range. The Texas Tribune published my comparable analysis of the Texas House of Representatives in July 2011.
(View complete article here.)
New Texas political maps issued by court, clearing way for May 29 primaries
A federal court in San Antonio cleared the way for May 29 primaries on Tuesday, issuing election maps that — as the U.S. Supreme Court had demanded — hewed more closely to the Legislature’s plans for carving up political power across the state.
(View complete article here.)
Texas primaries set for May 29
Political candidates, volunteers and activists celebrated Thursday when a federal court in San Antonio set May 29 as the date for the primary elections, with runoffs July 31.
(View complete article here.)
Federal rules will increase number of Texans with health insurance, officials say
State officials told lawmakers that the percentage of Texans with health insurance would rise from 74 percent to 91 percent under new federal health care rules.
(View complete article here.)
BLOG: Ds, Rs get in licks about national health care law, Texas’ preparations
Republican lawmakers on Monday belittled the federal health care overhaul’s vaunted goal of near-universal coverage, while their Democratic colleagues questioned if Texas may be missing out on potential advantages by posturing against the law.
(View complete article here.)
Health Leaders Say They’re Ready for Federal Reforms
Like it or not, Texas lawmakers know they may eventually have to implement federal health care reforms.
(View complete article here.)
Home health care advocates praise government’s billing fraud investigation
Home health care advocates on Wednesday lauded the government’s investigation of a Rockwall doctor and six associates accused of masterminding the largest medical billing fraud scheme of its kind in the country.
(View complete article here.)
Seven Indicted In $375 Million Medicare Scam
A Texas doctor and six others were indicted Tuesday on charges they defrauded Medicare and Medicaid to the tune of nearly $375 million dollars.
(View complete article here.)
Texas Lawmakers Split on Saving Women’s Health Program
Two of the Legislature’s top public health leaders are defending Republican lawmakers’ pledge to end the entire Women’s Health Program rather than allow Planned Parenthood to participate. The joint state-federal reproductive health program provides contraception and cancer screenings — but not abortions — to 130,000 poor Texans, many of them at Planned Parenthood clinics.
(View complete article here.)
Suehs: Feds’ Stand on Women’s Health Sets Bad Precedent
The state’s health commissioner is blasting the Obama administration’s argument that it can’t renew a joint state-federal health program because Republican lawmakers have banned Planned Parenthood from participating in it.
(View complete article here.)
Drugs Now Under Managed Care, Despite Pharmacists’ Fear
Texas is expanding Medicaid managed care today to include prescription drugs, despite pharmacists’ cries that the likely cuts to their reimbursement rates will be “managed care Armageddon.”
(View complete article here.)
Agency Will Investigate Violence in Texas Youth Prisons
The independent ombudsman of the state’s juvenile justice system will investigate reports of increased violence among youths in the state’s secure facilities following an in-depth review by The Texas Tribune of youth-on-youth assaults over the last 10 years.
(View complete article here.)
LTE: NCLB hurts rather than helps
Ten years ago, No Child Left Behind became law. Initiated by the Bush administration but passed with overwhelming bipartisan Congressional support, these educational reforms have focused some much-needed attention on our education system, but they have done so through actions that have divided the public, narrowed the curriculum, strained student and teacher relationships, and left the most serious problems unaddressed.
(View complete article here.)
New consortium of Dallas-area school districts wants an alternative to current standardized tests
An association of several of the most successful North Texas school districts recently jumped into the argument about statewide standardized testing.
(View complete article here.)
Honesty about border security
Breaking through the noise of election-year rhetoric on both sides of the border is essential if we are to gain a more complete understanding of the situation on the ground in Mexico.
(View complete article here.)
Debra Medina eyes run for state comptroller
Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina said today she is weighing a run for comptroller in 2014.
(View complete article here.)
Austin passes bag ban
At 2 a.m. today, the Austin City Council passed one of the broadest bag laws in the nation, agreeing to ban disposable paper and plastic bags at all retail checkout counters starting in March 2013.
(View complete article here.)
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