State Board of Education eases stance on vouchers after previously rejecting “school choice” policies – Houston Public Media
This comes two days after Gov. Greg Abbott voiced his most explicit support yet of a new school choice policy at a Parent Empowerment Night event in Corpus Christi.
houstonpublicmedia.orgWith full state coffers and bipartisan support, Texas teachers are hopeful they’ll get a raise this year
Laura Herrera’s salary has barely gone up in her 20 years of teaching — about $700 in all.The San Antonio-area teacher takes home about $3,700 a month.[San Marcos, TX] [Hays County news] News San Marcos News, San Marcos Record [Texas State]
sanmarcosrecord.comWith full state coffers and bipartisan support, Texas teachers are hopeful they’ll get a raise this year
The COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and burnout have pummeled teachers in the last few years. Lawmakers from both parties agree they should get a pay bump — but it won’t happen without some negotiation.
Montana lawmaker seeks to overturn abortion ruling
The Montana legislature is considering a proposal that would interpret the state’s constitutional right to privacy to mean that it does not protect the right to an abortion, a move that would echo others in several states to severely restrict or ban abortion. Sen. Keith Regier, the proposal's sponsor, argued during a committee hearing Tuesday that the phrase “individual privacy” in the state Constitution should also refer to unborn babies that are individuals who have rights that should not be infringed upon. State efforts to regulate abortion became more urgent after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June — in the Dobbs v. Jackson case — to leave abortion rights up to the states.
news.yahoo.comWisconsin Senate OKs welfare vote, nixes Evers' abortion ask
Republican Wisconsin lawmakers on Tuesday rejected calls from Gov. Tony Evers and other Democrats to ask voters whether the state should continue to ban abortions, opting instead to advance a ballot question on welfare eligibility. The advisory referendum on welfare proposed by top Republicans is nonbinding, meaning it wouldn't change state law, but supporters said they want the public's feedback on the issue. Democrats argued that Republicans were just trying to increase GOP turnout for a pivotal state Supreme Court race that will determine the ideological balance of the court and is also on the April ballot.
news.yahoo.comViolence looms over New Mexico Legislature as work begins
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is calling for new gun control laws and greater accountability for firearm manufacturers while denouncing recent drive-by shootings against politicians in Albuquerque and what she called a national scourge of violence.
New Arizona governor wants to undo school voucher expansion
Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs wants to undo a massive expansion of a school voucher program championed last year by her GOP predecessor and other Republicans that lets students apply to use public money for private-school tuition and other education costs. In releasing its budget proposals Friday, the governor’s office said the expansion is siphoning money from underfunded public schools and would cost $1.5 billion dollars over the next decade. Hobbs staffers estimated the move would save the state $135 million next fiscal year.
news.yahoo.comNew documents detail Sen. Ron Johnson asking about electors
Newly released documents from the House Jan. 6 committee show that the former Wisconsin Republican Party chairman testified that U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson spoke to him weeks before Joe Biden assumed the presidency about having the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature, rather than voters, choose Wisconsin’s presidential electors.
New documents detail Sen. Ron Johnson asking about electors
The former chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party said Republican Sen. Ron Johnson spoke to him weeks before Joe Biden assumed the presidency about having the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature, rather than voters, choose Wisconsin’s presidential electors, according to newly released documents from closed-door testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee. Johnson, in a statement Tuesday, said he had no recollection of the conversation with Andrew Hitt and accused the committee investigating the 2021 Capitol insurrection of attempting to “smear" him by selectively releasing text messages. Hitt, who resigned as state party chairman in July 2021, testified before the Jan. 6 committee on Feb. 22.
news.yahoo.comWisconsin Republican leaders unified in opposition to train
The Republican leader of the Wisconsin Senate said Thursday that he opposes spending any state money to help Madison bring a passenger rail line that would connect the capital city to Milwaukee, joining the state's other top GOP legislative leader in opposition to the project. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu told The Associated Press that he opposes state funding for the project but had not been briefed by Madison city leaders on what they were attempting. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos was blunt last week when asked about it, saying only “No state funding.”
news.yahoo.comLt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priorities for next Legislature include property taxes and electric grid – Houston Public Media
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday unveiled his priorities for the 2023 legislative session, which include reducing property taxes, tackling improvements for the state’s power grid and going after certain elected officials.
houstonpublicmedia.orgLt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priorities for next Legislature include property taxes and electric grid – Houston Public Media
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday unveiled his priorities for the 2023 legislative session, which include reducing property taxes, tackling improvements for the state’s power grid and going after certain elected officials.
houstonpublicmedia.orgCapital Highlights — Legislators begin filing bills ahead of session
Texas legislators are off to the races, filing more than 850 bills on Monday, the first day of filing season for the 88th session, which begins Jan.[San Marcos, TX] [Hays County news] News San Marcos News, San Marcos Record [Texas State]
sanmarcosrecord.comArizona county leaders end hand-count lawsuit, cite recount
Two Republicans who control the board in a rural southeastern Arizona county have decided to withdraw a lawsuit they filed early this week seeking to force their own elections director to hand-count all the ballots cast in-person on Election Day.
The Texas State Flower: Bluebonnet
Endemic to our state, bluebonnets grow from central Texas’ Blackland Prairie to the Big Bend, thriving in the Edwards Plateau’s arid conditions and often forming expansive carpets in pastures and along highways. Ennis, south of Dallas, is the state’s “Official Bluebonnet City,” and Burnet in the Hill Country is the “Bluebonnet Capital of Texas.” Portrayals of bluebonnets grace Texas galleries and living rooms, none more treasured than the original oil paintings of W.A. Slaughter, 1923-2003, a self-taught as a landscape painter. So, it is fortunate the 1901 Legislature turned down a proposal for the cotton boll to be the state flower, choosing instead Lupinus subcarnosus. Otherwise, historian Jack Maguire’s ode could not have been written: “The bluebonnet is to Texas what the shamrock is to Ireland.”In time, other bluebonnet species were identified, so the 1971 Legislature designated the most striking one, Lupinus texensis, in addition to the 1901 choice and “any other variety of bluebonnet not heretofore recorded.”
texashighways.comThe Texas State Domino Game: 42
Our official state symbols include Texas’ own unique version of a centuries-old domino game. The online Texas State Historical Association handbook notes two enterprising youngsters invented “42” in 1887, mimicking the card game they were forbidden to play by the culture in their small North Texas community at the time. Four-handed Texas 42, which involves bidding and playing for points, spread by word-of-mouth to family parlors, picnic tables, and backrooms at small town cafes before being exported by Texas soldiers to the front lines of World War II. It was an early favorite in Texas A&M dormitories that housed students from rural areas. The Legislature’s 2011 resolution noted Texas 42 “is a true Lone Star original and a testament to the ingenuity and fun-loving nature of Texans, making it a most fitting symbol for our state.”
texashighways.comThe Texas State Bird: Mockingbird
The Legislature’s resolution designating the northern mockingbird as Texas’ official state bird states the case in detail. In 1956, the Texas Ornithological Society selected the more striking scissor-tail flycatcher as its official bird. In the 1927 Legislature’s reasoning, northern mockingbirds are full-time residents statewide instead of using Texas as a migratory waystation. Mockingbirds diving after squirrels like wartime fighter pilots is a familiar sight in Texas backyards. Their repertoire of incantations includes numerous chirps, tweets, whistles, and trills, combining mimicry with original notes.
texashighways.comThe Texas State Hat: Cowboy Hat
A Kilgore Rangerette drill team’s white felt hat with white leather chin strap is in the Smithsonian Museum. Houston Oiler NFL Coach Bum Phillips sported his outsized Stetson at away games, as did his renegade players when they patronized Gilley’s honky-tonk of the movie Urban Cowboy fame. However, Phillips eschewed his hat for home games in the Astrodome because his “mama” taught him not to wear one indoors. Production moved to Missouri and finally to Texas, where Stetsons are fabricated at Hatco Inc. in Garland. Hatco also mass-produces another huge U.S. brand of cowboy hats, Resistol, worn by Texas Highway Patrol officers.
texashighways.comThe Texas State Hat: Cowboy Hat
A Kilgore Rangerette drill team’s white felt hat with white leather chin strap is in the Smithsonian Museum. Houston Oiler NFL Coach Bum Phillips sported his outsized Stetson at away games, as did his renegade players when they patronized Gilley’s honky-tonk of the movie Urban Cowboy fame. However, Phillips eschewed his hat for home games in the Astrodome because his “mama” taught him not to wear one indoors. Production moved to Missouri and finally to Texas, where Stetsons are fabricated at Hatco Inc. in Garland. Hatco also mass-produces another huge U.S. brand of cowboy hats, Resistol, worn by Texas Highway Patrol officers.
texashighways.comTexas Republicans in tight races open to rape and incest exceptions to abortion ban
In some battleground state legislative races, Republicans have been making overtures to those who believe the ban as too extreme. They have said they are open to revising the ban to include the exceptions — and even voiced confidence that the Legislature will do so when it reconvenes in January.
Voter fraud charges dropped against Hervis Rogers, Houston man who waited hours to vote in 2020 – Houston Public Media
Attorney General Ken Paxton pursued charges against Rogers, who was on parole when he voted in the 2020 primary election. But a judge tossed the case after a higher court said Paxton can’t unilaterally prosecute election crimes.
houstonpublicmedia.orgTexas is unlikely to adopt key provision of bipartisan gun bill — a red flag law to take guns away from people deemed dangerous
Red flag laws likely remain a nonstarter among Republican leaders in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott already faced a conservative backlash after he asked the Legislature to consider them four years ago.
Texas House speaker pitches spending more than $100 million for mental health, school safety programs
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had asked House leaders to support his push for arming school police officers with bulletproof shields after the Uvalde shooting. House Speaker Dade Phelan is also asking for more money for mental health and school safety programs.
Confronted with mass shootings, Texas Republicans have repeatedly loosened gun laws
Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders signaled an openness to some gun restrictions after recent mass shootings. But in the last several years, lawmakers have eased gun laws, most notably by passing a permitless carry bill last year.