A new Rasmussen Reports poll finds that 57 percent of Texans favor legalizing casino gambling as a means to draw down the coming budget shortfall, but only 21 percent support higher taxes.
gambling
Posted in
Economy
TribBlog: Gambling 101
Coming soon to a large pink state capitol building in this very state: A day-long seminar on slot machines and casinos and all that, especially as it pertains to the state budget.
Posted inState Government
Rodney Ellis on Bringing Gaming Back
Could casino gaming be coming to Texas? State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, who’s tried and failed to pass gambling legislation in recent sessions, thinks the coming budget crisis gives him and other supporters an opportunity.
Posted in
Economy
TribBlog: Dewhurst Predicts No Tax Hikes or Gaming
The state won’t need new taxes or expanded legal gambling to cover a budget shortfall next session, but higher fees and more budget cuts are a possibility, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said at this morning’s TribLive interview in Austin.
Posted in
Economy
TribBlog: An Off-Track Bet
The Speaker doesn’t have anyone studying gambling in advance of the next legislative session, and a leading Democrat says legislators ought to get together on their own to consider the issue.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
E. Smith interviews Gov. Rick Perry for the Trib and Newsweek, Philpott dissects the state’s budget mess in a weeklong series, Hamilton looks at whether Bill White is or was a trial lawyer, M. Smith finds experts all over the state anxiously watching a court case over who owns the water under our feet, Aguilar reports on the battle between Fort Stockton and Clayton Williams Jr. over water in West Texas, Ramshaw finds a population too disabled to get on by itself but not disabled enough to get state help and Miller spends a day with a young man and his mother coping with that situation, Ramsey peeks in on software that lets the government know whether its e-mail messages are getting read and who’s reading what, a highway commissioner reveals just how big a hole Texas has in its road budget, Grissom does the math on the state’s border cameras and learns they cost Texans about $153,800 per arrest, and E. Smith interviews Karen Hughes on the difference between corporate and political P.R. — and whether there’s such a thing as “Obama Derangement Syndrome.” The best of our best from April 19 to April 23, 2010.
Posted inState Government
The Ditch: A Big Bet
Legislative leaders are not expected to push new taxes as a remedy to the coming shortfall, and yet social service advocates say the safety net can’t afford any more cuts. So where might new money come from? In part four of his series on the state budget, Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune looks at one option that could succeed or fail with a roll of the dice.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Grissom on the fall of Norma Chávez; M. Smith and Ramsey on the runoffs, the results, and the aftermath; Hu on the Tea Party’s birthday party; Thevenot and Stiles on the path between schools and prisons; Ramshaw on prosecutors’ reaction to helping hands from Austin; Hamilton on self-appointed lawyers; Galbraith on property rights and power lines; Aguilar and Grissom sit down with the mayor of Juárez to talk about his crime-ridden city; Kraft on telling the stories of Texans and other Americans who died in Vietnam; Ramsey on slots and horses and casinos; and Hamilton goes on a field trip with Jim Hightower to hear the history of populism. The best of our best from April 5 to 9, 2010.
Posted in
Economy
What are the Odds?
Start with a shortfall and a Legislature that doesn’t want to raise taxes, then dangle budget-balancing money from “volunteers” — a.k.a., gamblers. With that strategy, promoters think they’ve got their best shot in years to legalize slot machines while adding $1 billion a year to state revenues.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Survey Says…
Texans are more worried about the economy and the direction of the country than anything else, according to the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. Other notable findings: Nearly two-thirds support either gay marriage or civil unions, nearly half prefer private health insurance to a government-run plan, and more than a third think the Legislature meets every year.
