WEEKLY REPORT

April 6, 2012

Education backlash can fuel turnover in the Legislature

More than a dozen Republicans and Democrats who have sat on school boards are running for the Texas House this year, and a backlash over spending cuts and standardized testing might help them get there.

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Electing educators

More than a dozen Republicans and Democrats who have sat on school boards are running for the Texas House this year, and a backlash over spending cuts and standardized testing might help them get there.

(View complete article here.)

Texas Economy Gains Jobs, Even in Government

The Texas economy continued its upward climb in February, gaining 27,900 jobs while the unemployment rate dropped slightly, from 7.3 percent to 7.1 percent.

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Public, private Texas hospitals spar over Medicaid

Texas’ public hospitals are asking the state to make some taxpayer money now spent on Medicaid care instead pay for the uninsured, a group that soon may be mostly illegal immigrants.

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Work programs for Texas inmates go high-tech

With stacks of broken computers towering toward the ceiling and intense white-clad technicians frowning over workbenches filled with the machines’ electronic guts, this could be any high-tech repair shop in America. Or so you may think until rolls of concertina wire bristling from the walls remind you of where you are.

Texas’ ‘Castle Doctrine’ up for debate in wake of Trayvon Martin shooting

The shooting death of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin is drawing attention to Texas’ self-defense and deadly force laws and prompting a state lawmaker to call for changes.

Advocacy group linked to stem cell industry asks medical board for less-strict rule

An Austin-based group funded mainly by a company that develops stem cell therapies is petitioning the Texas Medical Board for a less-strict rule on adult stem cells an issue the board has struggled with for more than a year.

Texas House likely to become less Republican, more inexperienced

Last month at the Austin headquarters of the Republican Party of Texas, a nervous-looking state Rep. J.M. Lozano of Kingsville stood with his young family beside some the state’s most prominent Republican figures. Lozano announced he was joining their team, becoming a Republican. At that very point, the reigning party in Texas reached its high-water mark in the Texas House with 102 members in the 150-person chamber.

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Texas Could Use Feds’ Grants to Free Up Women’s Health Money

In a fiscal switcheroo, Texas could free up state dollars to fund the embattled Women’s Health Program by seeking federal block grants for other programs, the state’s health commissioner wrote in a letter to House Democrats on Tuesday.

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Campus Carry Debate Likely to Return Next Session

Not long after seven individuals were fatally shot Monday on the campus of Oikos University, a small college in Oakland, Calif., discussions about college gun bans ramped up across the country. In Texas political circles, the debate is both déjà vu and a likely preview of what’s to come.

Suburbs rule in Texas health rankings

If you live in Fort Bend County, feel free to be a bit smug. You, or at least your neighbors, are a little healthier than the rest of us. Most Houston-area counties fared well in a county-by-county health ranking released Tuesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

State comptroller says health care bill will reduce education spending

Texas Comptroller Susan Combs spoke Wednesday about her concern that the rise in Medicaid spending due to the federal health care mandate will result in reduced spending for state programs such as public education.

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OPINION: Registration is first step to have say in primaries

While the ongoing redistricting litigation has understandably created some confusion among voters and candidates, let me take this opportunity to provide clarity to the process and reassure citizens that the State of Texas is fully prepared to assist in the administration of the party primaries. I want to ensure that all eligible Texans can vote, and make their mark on Texas.

(View complete article here.)

Some school districts consider tapping their reserves to make ends meet

For many Central Texas school districts coming off a year of deep cuts in state funding, the fiscal outlook is a little brighter today than it was this time a year ago.

Modernize taxes, invest in best resource: Texans

Week before last, Texans were offered two visions of the future. On March 20, a group calling itself Texans for a Conservative Budget Coalition called for even deeper spending reductions in education and most everything else than those in 2011. Their vision is for less investment in our communities and children.

To keep growing, Texas needs to change systems

While much of the rest of the nation is mired in a jobless recovery, the Lone Star State’s labor market is booming, recently marking a return to pre-recession employment levels and creating more jobs than any other state.

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1 in 4 kids now living in poverty

One in four children in Bexar County lives in poverty, an 8 percent increase since 2000, according to a new study assessing the health and well-being of family and youth in Texas.

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Ferocious tornado storms rake Dallas-Fort Worth

Wave after wave of storms battered North Texas on Tuesday afternoon, smashing homes and apartment complexes, toppling trees, tossing vehicles and forcing thousands of students to seek shelter inside their schools.

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Republicans file ethics complaint against Texas conservative group

Two prominent Republican legislators filed state ethics complaints Tuesday against one of the most influential conservative activist groups in Texas, accusing it and its president of violating lobbying laws.

BLOG: Sullivan says force of habit, not law, spurred his lobbyist registration

After two top Republican lawmakers in the Texas House filed a pair of ethics complaints this week against conservative activist Michael Quinn Sullivan, a nagging question persisted about Sullivan’s on-again, off-again filing as a legislative lobbyist:  Why did he file in 2007, 2008 and 2009, but not in the following two years?