WEEKLY REPORT
March 30, 2012
Education cuts protested at Capitol rally
Sherry Dana’s reason for joining a rally protesting cuts in public education spending was summed up by a quote from the Italian poet Dante on a cloth bag slung over her shoulder:
“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”
(View complete article here.)
Judge, litigants getting set for complex school finance trial
The Travis County courtroom of state District Judge John Dietz will once again provide the stage for Texas’ looming school finance battle.
(View complete article here.)
Cut the Texas budget or spend what’s needed?
It’s budget week in Austin. That would be state budget, of course, but not the one the Legislature struggled to produce less than a year ago.
(View complete article here.)
BLOG: Longtime legislative budget aide Ursula Parks gets nod as budget staff chief
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, have named Ursula Parks acting director of the Legislative Budget Board and asked her for an immediate review of the agency’s efficiency and the budget process’ transparency.
(View complete article here.)
Lobbyists, Guns and Money
Florida’s now-infamous Stand Your Ground law, which lets you shoot someone you consider threatening without facing arrest, let alone prosecution, sounds crazy — and it is. And it’s tempting to dismiss this law as the work of ignorant yahoos. But similar laws have been pushed across the nation, not by ignorant yahoos but by big corporations.
(View complete article here.)
Video: Health Reform Could Add to Stress on Doctors
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court is holding hearings regarding a lawsuit brought against the federal government by Texas and 25 other states that questions the constitutionality of several key aspects of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Texas Tribune and KTRK-TV in Houston have partnered to cover these proceedings by showing you how the law has already affected some residents and by curating content that explains what’s at stake for nearly 6 million Texans who remain uninsured.
(View complete article here.)
A very uncertain situation
A dust-up between Texas lawmakers and federal officials over Texas Women’s Health Program funding has local health providers wondering if thousands of low-income Texas Panhandle women will have access to health care for much longer.
(View complete article here.)
OPINION: Help will go on without federal assistance
As head of the state’s lead health agency, I believe it’s important to cut through the scare tactics and misinformation campaigns about the Women’s Health Program.
(View complete article here.)
Court’s health ruling could shake fall elections
The Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul is likely to shake the presidential election race in early summer. But the winners in the court will not necessarily be the winners in the political arena.
(View complete article here.)
Democratic legislators say more than half of Texas births funded by Medicaid
In an op-ed column questioning the exclusion of Planned Parenthood clinics from a women’s contraception program, Austin members of the Texas House say the result would be more government-funded births.
(View complete article here.)
BLOG: Straus’ opponent wins national tea party endorsement
Former Texas Congressman Dick Armey, who is chairman of the tea party group FreedomWorks, will endorse Matt Beebe on Tuesday. Beebe is facing an uphill battle in challenging Straus, who has represented the Bexar County district since 2005 and has a considerable fundraising advantage.
(View complete article here.)
Judge rules tea party group a PAC, not a nonprofit
A Travis County district court judge ruled this week that a Houston-based tea party group is not a nonprofit corporation as it claims, but an unregistered political action committee that illegally aided the Republican Party through its poll-watching efforts during the 2010 elections.
(View complete article here.)
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