It’s looking increasingly unlikely that Texas will be able to enforce its new voter ID law by November. The controversial measure, requiring voters to show a valid form of photo ID at the polls, didn’t win the necessary approval from the Department of Justice earlier this year and is now being litigated in federal court. With the trial set to begin July 9, both sides are pointing fingers at the other for delaying the process. Justice Department attorneys are blaming Texas officials for dragging their feet in complying with subpoenas and producing requested documents, while Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office is charging that federal officials are asking for a staggering amount of unnecessary information.

Testifying before lawmakers who cut state Medicaid spending in the last budget, agency officials this week warned that the program will be facing a shortfall when legislators meet again next year. Cutting $15 billion in state spending and $12 billion in services, they said, is not enough savings to offset the growth of the program, which funds health care for poor children, the disabled and the elderly poor. That population has nearly doubled in the last decade, and in 2010 the number of poor children grew more than 10 percent.

This week, reacting to steep cuts in funding, the Texas A&M University system raised tuition and fees at most of its institutions around the state. Seven of its nine campuses will see tuition increases for the 2013 fall semester, though the flagship College Station campus and the San Antonio campus will remain the same. All of the universities in the system will be subject to increases in fees.

Comptroller Susan Combs released new sales tax numbers, saying collections in April were up almost 11 percent from April 2011. Increases came mainly from the oil and gas industries, but restaurants and retail stores also saw gains.

After getting the green light to begin accepting low-level radioactive waste on April 25, Waste Control Specialists LLC is facing another challenge to its operation in West Texas. District Judge Lora Livingston overturned a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality decision that kept two residents living nearby the dump from disputing the facility at a hearing. The decision won’t stop the company’s ongoing operations, and the company immediately indicated that it would appeal the decision. The two residents are concerned that the area’s air and water may be contaminated by the waste. They will now get a hearing before the State Office of Administrative Hearings and a decision from a judge, which TCEQ can accept, reject or modify.

A new billboard unveiled in San Antonio this week encourages atheists to band together. The Washington, D.C.-based United Coalition of Reason has been placing billboards across the nation since the group’s inception three years ago and funded the placement of the 14-by-48-foot billboard with the message “Don’t believe in God? Join the club.” Fred Edwords, national director of the coalition, said the intent of the billboard is not to attempt to convert believers into non-believers but to offer support to atheists who may feel isolated in their community.