WEEKLY REPORT
October 21, 2011
Shapiro Taking Job With Academic Partnerships
As state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, winds down her career in the Legislature, she is fixing to begin a new one with Academic Partnerships, a Dallas-based company that helps public universities convert their courses into online offerings.
(View complete article here.)
Texas Lobbyist Mike Toomey is Force Behind Rick Perry
Behind every politician there are men and women working in the wings, operatives who can make calls, fix problems, raise money, punish enemies.
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Drug trafficking helping economy along border
By all appearances, Marin “Gordo” Herrera was a prospering South Texas real estate developer immune from the economic downturn and rising foreclosure rates buffeting the nation.
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Texas ranchers, farmers, seeing record losses in grip of drought, say, ‘These are desperate times’
The land that Don Casey raises cattle on in Blanco County has been in his family since Sam Houston gave a land grant to a Texas soldier after the Battle of San Jacinto, a piece of paper that eventually found its way to Casey’s great-great-great-grandfather and set the family toward the port of Galveston from Germany.
The truism is one of the sturdiest in Texas transportation: The state sends much more gas tax money to Washington than it gets back to help build roads.
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A Quest for Hybrid Companies That Profit, but Can Tap Charity
A new type of company intended to put social goals ahead of making profits is taking root around the country, as more states adopt laws to bridge the divide between nonprofits and businesses.
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Speaker announces key issues
Similar to his counterpart in the Senate and only two days later, House Speaker Joe Straus has focused on wildfires and the drought among other topics on his key issues list.
(View complete article here.)
SBOE Could Give Schools More Control Over New Exams
In early February, Texas Education Agency chief Robert Scottstood before 6,000 school administrators who had just seen an initial budget from the Legislature that cut $10 billion in state funding from public education.
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Texans to be affected by $2B in Medicaid cuts
Texans soon will feel the effects of state Medicaid cuts as spending is reduced on assistance for the elderly and disabled, payments to hospitals, and physical and speech therapy for children.
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In Bid to Cut Costs at Some Texas Prisons, Lunch Will Not Be Served on Weekends
Texas prison officials last month ended the decades-old practice of serving last meals to inmates about to be executed after one man ordered an elaborate feast of hamburgers, pizza and chicken-fried steaks that he did not eat.
(View complete article here.)
Texas receives ‘incomplete’ on health insurance exchange report card
Texas is among 24 states, including neighbors Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, that got an “incomplete” in a scorecard on health insurance exchanges that was released Tuesday by a consumer group’s research arm.
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Texas trails most states, many countries in young adults with degrees
Texas trails most other states and many developed countries in the percentage of young adults with a college degree, and demographic changes suggest the underperformance will worsen as time goes on.
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Class sizes grow amid state budget cuts
Thousands of Texas public schoolchildren are in more crowded classes this year as districts claim financial hardship following state budget cuts.
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Texas Insurance Commissioner Raises Campaign Money From Insurance Industry
Texas Insurance Commissioner Eleanor Kitzman has been on the job less than three months, but it appears she already has an affinity for the pay-to-play political culture of Gov. Rick Perry’s administration.
(View complete article here.)
The mind of Straus: Manufactured efficiency
House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, did more Thursday than hand out homework assignments to his chamber’s committees for the next year. To a considerable degree, he revealed his mindset. And he’s thinking about jobs, especially manufacturing jobs, and state efficiency.
(View complete article here.)
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