The latest Joe Deshotel news from The Texas Tribune.
Legislating is a social enterprise. It draws crowds of Texans who want to testify, to be heard, to sightsee and to watch government in action. And it’s tailor made for spreading a contagious disease. Full Story
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State Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, told The Texas Tribune he tested positive Thursday — three days after lawmakers gaveled in for this year’s legislative session Full Story
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Adelson's Las Vegas Sands has built a stable of high-powered lobbyists for the session, which starts in January, and the company acknowledged Tuesday that it is serious about bringing casinos to Texas. Full Story
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For people affected by Imelda to get FEMA aid, there have to be at least 800 flooded homes that weren't insured — and it could be weeks before Texans know if that threshold is met. Full Story
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While Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of emergency for Tropical Storm Imelda, it does not qualify individuals for financial assistance. That will have to come from FEMA. Full Story
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Senate budget writers in the middle of what they are describing as "Tax Relief Week" expressed remorse en masse at having created the business margins tax in 2006. Full Story
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We're liveblogging the sessions from the 2014 Texas Tribune Festival's Environment track. The sessions include panels on the state's water needs, the Texas coast, agriculture in the state and Texas' battles with the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Full Story
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Full video of my 2/19 TribLive conversation at Lamar University in Beaumont with state Reps. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont; Allan Ritter, R-Nederland; and James White, R-Woodville. Full Story
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News reports on Tuesday evening that the famously tough-on-immigration lite guv candidate Dan Patrick employed undocumented immigrants at his sports bar in the 1980s had a couple of his rivals condemning him and Patrick complaining of dirty politics. Full Story
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The rise of anti-immigrant rhetoric in the GOP lieutenant governor's race — and personified by state Sen. Dan Patrick — is angering several Hispanic party leaders to the point where one of them is considering voting for a Democrat in the general election. Full Story
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Chris Christie is coming to Texas on Thursday and with a large target on his back placed there by Democrats. Full Story
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Add Greg Abbott, apparently, to those wanting to turn the page on coverage of Wendy Davis' life story. Full Story
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Greg Abbott has reversed the campaign fundraising storyline of a month ago, raising more than three times the cash as the combined efforts of Wendy Davis and Battleground Texas. Full Story
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The focus on Tuesday returns to District Judge John Dietz's courtroom, where the next chapter in the legal challenge to the state's school finance system commences. Full Story
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Wendy Davis' life story is once again under scrutiny, this time after a Sunday piece by The Dallas Morning News' Wayne Slater. Full Story
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Sunset Advisory Commissioners unanimously approved a series of changes to the troubled Division of Workers' Compensation at the Texas Department of Insurance on Tuesday, but not before aggressively rewriting the Sunset staff's original recommendations to improve the division's medical quality review process. Full Story
Lawmakers are pledging to take a closer look at the Texas Department of Insurance’s Division of Workers' Compensation in light of allegations by former employees that their higher-ups failed to sanction or remove dozens of doctors accused of overmedicating patients and overbilling insurers. The chairman of the House panel that oversees workers' compensation says he's planning a hearing on the matter this summer, and the chair of the Sunset Advisory Commission plans to question the division's commissioner at a public hearing next week. Full Story
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