There were nearly 81,000 reported abortions in Texas in 2007 — 11 percent of the abortions reported nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Texas had the 13th-highest rate of women having the procedure that year.
February 2011
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Colin Goddard’s Right to Bear Witness to a Campus Massacre
Colin Goddard survived the 2007 mass shooting on Virginia Tech’s campus that left 32 dead and wounded 16 others. He thinks allowing concealed weapons to be carried on college campuses is a dangerous idea, and he came to Austin to explain why.
Posted in
State Government
Budget Writers Spare Historical, Arts Agencies — For Now
Two agencies that Gov. Rick Perry has suggested suspending funding for — the Texas Historical Commission and the Texas Commission on the Arts — came before House Appropriations this morning. And lawmakers didn’t seem particularly apt to shutter them.
Posted inState Government
The Midday Brief: Top Texas Headlines for Feb. 24, 2011
Your afternoon reading: plotted attack targeted Bush’s Dallas home; prisons to cut 555 positions; Rainy Day Fund fight still brewing
Posted in
Public Education
Senators Try to Buy Time for Teachers
With major state funding cuts looming, for many school districts, it’s not a question of if — but how and when — teacher layoffs will occur. A new bipartisan bill from education leaders in the state Senate could temporarily change how schools go about that.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
650,000 Employees Now in Government Pay App
We’ve pushed the first update of the New Year to our government salary database, which now includes data on more than 650,000 employees from more than 100 entities. This update refreshes the salaries of more than 20 public agencies and adds 13 new entities.
Posted in
State Government
Zerwas’ Rainy Day Proposal Draws Conservative Critics [Updated]
Republican Rep. John Zerwas’ suggestion that he’d get a “spanking” in his district if he cut education and health care to the bone but didn’t touch the Rainy Day Fund has drawn the ire of one conservative activist group: Michael Quinn Sullivan’s Empower Texans.
Posted in
Congress
National Journal: Texans Among Most Conservative in Congress
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Reps. Randy Neugebauer and Sam Johnson are among the most conservative members of Congress, according to National Journal’s annual ranking of votes.
Posted inState Government
The Brief: Top Texas News for Feb. 24, 2011
For those hoping Texas legislators get even tougher on immigration this session, the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll could give them some hope.
Posted in
Energy
Pushing Renewable Energy on a Tight Budget
It’s renewable energy lobby week at the Capitol, and as Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports, the budget shortfall — though sure to dampen hopes for some legislation — isn’t keeping advocates from pushing for a number of energy programs.