Local
Austin City Council Proposes Controversial Reserve Police Force
The plan to vote on this ordinance comes after Mayor Kirk Watson tried and failed to end the partnership between the Texas Department of Public Safety and Austin Police Department last week.
State Rep. Four Price Announces He Will Not Seek Re-election
Price, a member of the Texas House since 2010, received failing marks from different conservative organizations.
Sting Leads to Second Arrest of Texas Teacher Who Admitted Sharing Infant Porn
Former Judson ISD band teacher Mark Mallow was charged last year with promoting child pornography via Snapchat but was out on bond.
East Texas Teacher Arrested for Possession of Child Pornography
The elementary school teacher was arrested at a conference in Plano.
Local Archive
Proposition 6: Drowning Us In Debt?
The state’s demand for water is undoubtedly growing. The question is not if we need water. It’s a debate regarding the most prudent method by which to fund the State’s Water Plan. Conservatives are already frustrated by Republican legislators who sided with Democrats...
Davis Enters Gubernatorial Race
As State Sen. Wendy Davis enters the 2014 gubernatorial race, the president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility – Michael Quinn Sullivan – offered the following statement. On issue after issue, Wendy Davis has styled herself as a politician eager to please a narrow...
Texas CPS should clean up its act
What’s going on with Texas Child Protective Services? No doubt most at the agency are hard working folk trying to protect children from bad situations but, in the last couple of years enough bad things have been alleged to make you wonder if there is a culture problem...
Tarrant Regional Water District Sued Over Election Shell Game
You wouldn’t think that a Water Board could cause so many problems for Texans. Perhaps that's precisely why, much like rebellious toddlers, some public officials at TRWD insist on overstepping the legal boundaries designed to hold them accountable. We’ve already...
Comptroller Delivers Despite Legislative Failure
We recently criticized the state for creating a hopelessly complex information maze that keeps unsuspecting Texans in the dark, and enables local officials to further fuel their borrowing addiction. The State Comptroller’s office, headed by transparency champion Susan...
Witch Hunt Denies Wallace Hall His Right to Cross-Examine
Monday, the House Select Committee on Transparency in State Agency Operations (or as I like to call it, the “He’s a witch! Get him! Committee”) met at the Texas Capitol. This is a committee that has been tasked by Joe Straus with investigating the activities of...
Water Board Shrouded in Secrecy
Despite previous claims from district board members, staff and legal counsel, the Tarrant Regional Water District is required by law to make committee meetings open to the public. Until very recently the public was not notified of, or allowed to attend, these...
Taxpayers Bamboozled Over Bonds
The issuance of debt by government officials is a passive form of taxation, because debt issued today will require taxes on future income. And because borrowing requires the payment of interest, the cost to taxpayers is typically twice the amount borrowed and spent....
Murphy Turner & Associates Ordered To Pay $41,000 Bill
A state district judge in Bexar County today ordered Murphy Turner & Associates to pay $41,000 in discovery costs in a trademark infringement case. The lawsuit results from alleged infringement on the Empower Texans name "Texans for Fiscal Responsibility." The suit...