WEEKLY REPORT

November 4, 2011

Texas Cities Step Up Prosecutions of Wage Theft

For two years, Diego Gala, a Mexican immigrant in the country illegally, worked five days a week cleaning a private school for less than minimum wage. His employer refused to pay him overtime even when he was forced to work on the weekends. Gala did not speak up, fearing deportation if he reported his boss.

Some Fort Worth schools lost students but not teachers

Fort Worth school district officials spent months scrubbing the budget, saying they were analyzing each position to make sure it was necessary.

 (View complete article here.)

BLOG: Candidate filing for the Texas primary will start Nov 12.  Or not.

Both the Texas Republican and Democratic parties have set Nov. 12 as the start of their one-month period to allow candidates to file for next year’s primary ballot. 

 (View complete article here.)

State workers cut while firm spends

For more than a year before the state canceled its $144 million contract with an engineering firm it had hired to handle more than $1 billion in federal hurricane disaster relief grants, state managers warned that the firm, HNTB, had radically overspent its budget and should be relieved of most of its duties.

 (View complete article here.)

Are narcos hiding out in Texas?

Two alleged Gulf Cartel leaders arrested last week in South Texas likely were hiding out north of the border to avoid the extreme violence caused by warring cartels in Mexico, analysts said.

 (View complete article here.)

Federal agency questions state’s ability to administer hurricane disaster recovery grants

In its latest scolding for the state’s slow disbursement of disaster funds after hurricanes Ike and Dolly, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is questioning whether Texas can “adequately administer” the $3.1 billion in aid in cities and communities stricken by the storms three years ago.

 (View complete article here.)

Inmate releases coming soon after change in crack cocaine sentencing

Nearly 1,000 federal inmates in Texas could be released early from prison starting this week as a result of changes to mandatory sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine convictions.

 (View complete article here.)

UT officials extend prison medical deadline

With a deadlock on the future of Texas’ prison medical network still not resolved, the University of Texas System regents voted this morning to extend negotiations for 30 days.

(View complete article here.)

Texas 8^th-graders get high marks on national math test

 Changes in school elections studied

Some Texas school board members and other elected officials will serve a year longer than their current voter-approved terms, a change allowed because of the way the Legislature tweaked state election law.

 (View complete article here.)

Texas AG asks Obama to take action on border security on border security, claim drug cartel violence threatens US

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sent a letter today asking President Barack Obama to “immediately dedicate more manpower to border security,” especially along the Texas-Mexico border.

Texas Medical Board could restrict, block experimental stem cell therapy used on Gov. Perry

The experimental stem cell procedure that Texas Gov. Rick Perry underwent this summer could be restricted or even blocked under new rules being considered Friday by the state’s Medical Board.

 (View complete article here.)

House panel kicks off tax reform debate

Tax reform will likely be a big issue during the 2013 legislative session with Texas lawmakers trying to make the state’s tax policy fairer and also to determine the actual size of the structural revenue deficit.

 (View complete article here.)