State Rep. Charlie Geren filed legislation that would let restaurants battered by the coronavirus pandemic permanently sell alcohol to go. The measure already has backing from top state officials.
Mitchell Ferman
Mitchell Ferman covered energy and the economy from 2020 to 2022, based in Houston. Before joining the Tribune he was a reporter for The Monitor in McAllen, where he covered cross-border trade, politics and the city of McAllen. He also regularly freelanced from the Rio Grande Valley and beyond for The New York Times, Texas Monthly and Reuters, writing about topics including the family separation crisis and unexpected consequences of the border wall. He graduated from the University of Missouri.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2021
Recession cuts how much lawmakers can spend with the next state budget, but decrease isn’t as bad as feared
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar estimated that lawmakers have $113 billion to spend when they write the next two-year budget.
Posted in
Politics
Julián and Joaquin Castro call on Ted Cruz to resign after he objected to Joe Biden’s victory just before pro-Trump rioters breached Congress
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner also said, “Texans should hold Sen. Ted Cruz accountable for this fiasco.”
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Hungry and homeless Texans are waiting anxiously for Congress to act. The day after Christmas, pandemic jobless aid expires.
President Donald Trump has suggested he will veto COVID-19 aid legislation, creating uncertainty about when assistance may reach Americans. Meanwhile, Texans are living in cars and the state is sitting on unspent relief money.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
More than 315,000 gig workers and independent contractors in Texas will lose unemployment relief without action from Congress
Although normally ineligible, gig workers and independent contractors qualified for unemployment aid during the pandemic. The assistance is set to expire at the end of December.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller says he has tested positive for coronavirus
Miller said he will quarantine at his ranch. He’s the second Texas statewide elected official to confirm testing positive for the virus.
Posted in
Texas Legislature 2021
GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson readies 2021 lobbying blitz to bring casinos to Texas
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.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Federal loans helped more than 400,000 Texas companies retain workers during the pandemic, new data shows
Despite details released from the Paycheck Protection Program this week, a full snapshot of the program remains unclear.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
She lost work to the pandemic. Now she helps thousands of jobless Texans maneuver through the state’s unemployment system.
While struggling to figure out the state’s unemployment system, Alia Kirschner found a Facebook group for thousands of jobless Texans. Now she spends hours a day online, helping others with their benefit claims during the COVID-19 recession.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Despite staggering pandemic losses, Texas budget forecast better than expected, state comptroller says
Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar didn’t provide details as he told lawmakers Monday that the financial forecast isn’t as dire as earlier feared. But he said revenues are still down “significantly” compared with last year.
