My travels took me to Del Rio for a speech this week, a border town in Val Verde County. I had the good fortune to chat with the sheriff, D’Wayne Jernigan. He’s true West Texas lawman who has earned the ire of the left-leaning establishment for doing his job well and right. He is going to face a tough re-election battle this year. We need more sheriffs like him, on the border and elsewhere.

Supporters of “light rail” and “commuter rail” consistently over-sell and under-deliver. Not only does mass-transit fail to reduce congestion, but it is always fraught with cost-overruns and implementation delays. Such is the case in Austin, where the new toy train is going to cost taxpayers a third more than promised.

A lawsuit designed to stop counties from using taxpayer-money to lobby against taxpayers is still brewing in Williamson County. The judge last month gave taxpayers a partial victory, but those who brought the suit are hoping to convince His Honor to make modifications to the ruling that would ensure justice.

No title makes conservatives’ skin crawl like “tax assessor/collector.” It’s just not a job most of us hope our little conservative bundles of joy grow up to be. But thank goodness someone does, because it’s a critically important position.

Speaking in Farmers’ Branch this week I saw a familiar face in the audience – one of my upper-classman from Texas A&M. It turns out that Steven Autry is now seeking to serve as the judge of the Dallas County Criminal Court #4. He was a positive influence on me as a cadet 20 years ago, and I have no doubt he’ll serve the people of Dallas with distinction. Good luck, Mr. Autry, sir!

Hard to believe, but true, we do have a strong number of fiscally conservative lawmakers in the Texas Legislature. While outnumbered, they fight the fight for our values and principles regardless of political pressure. But doing the right thing comes at a cost. One of the taxpayers’ champions in the legislature is State Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale of Harris County.

Confronted with not getting 100% of the money, the city of Nederland (near Beaumont) is backing out of their red-light camera contract.

Voters in three out of four San Antonio area school districts rejected Tuesday’s proposed tax rate increases from $1.04 to $1.17 per $100 valuation. Now the San Antonio ISD (SAISD) superintendent says voters didn’t know what they were doing when they rejected his tax increase.