State Sen. Wendy Davis, in her first major policy proposal as a candidate for Texas governor, said that she would increase the supply of teachers and give them more money. But she didn't say how she'd pay for the new programs. Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst gave lawmakers education-related interim charges that include studying technology's impact on higher education and evaluating public school students' writing scores on state assessments.
Oral arguments were made before a three-judge panel from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on the state's new abortion regulations. While Texas awaits a decision, the strict new rules that have forced some facilities to stop performing the procedure remain in effect.
A new PAC will allow Texans for Education Reform, which became a lobbying powerhouse during the 2013 legislative session, to put resources toward candidates for office.
After a contentious town hall meeting concerning the possible links between wastewater injection and a spate of North Texas earthquakes, locals said they cannot afford to wait for state regulators to address the issue. The Texas Railroad Commission later said it would hire a seismologist to research the link between earthquakes and disposal of oil and gas waste in injection wells.
U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Friendswood, may have already begun receiving donations in Bitcoin since embracing the private virtual currency. That puts him firmly in a gray area of campaign finance law. Also, the Sunlight Foundation found $16,000 in donations that were made to Stockman's re-election campaign committee that the committee did not report.
A cold snap gripped much of Texas, leading to a brief threat of rolling blackouts. The state's electric grid operator to ask consumers to reduce their energy use and the feared outages never materialized. In related news, the Texas Oil and Gas Association, the state’s largest and oldest petroleum organization, told regulators it opposes an overhaul of the wholesale energy market. The new market design is intended to ensure enough capacity in the grid to make blackouts more infrequent.