Local
Tyler Public Library Keeps Sexually Explicit Book Available for Minors
Local officials rejected parents’ request to move the book out of the section for teens.
Highland Park School District Buys $1.8 Million Home for Superintendent
Superintendent Mike Rockwood will live in the house rent-free.
Kempner Promotes LGBT Agenda With Drag-themed Festival
The festival featured several drag shows, a march, and a drag queen story hour—all targeting children directly.
Gov. Greg Abbott Signs Election Reform Measures Despite Lawsuit Threat
After Abbott signed two important election measures, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee promised he’s “gearing up to sue the state.”
Local Archive
Small Businesses Bracing for Burdensome Business Tax
The San Antonio Express-News reports that many small business owners around the state are facing huge bills due under the new state gross receipts tax which starts in 2007, with the first payment to the state due by May 2008. The article notes that many firms are...
What Wine Goes Best With Pork-Fat?
The Texas Department of Agriculture will this Sunday serve up a heain' helpin' of taxpayer dollars as the chief sponsor of an artsy "wine dinner" in Austin. Were you invited? Me, either... The event benefits the Texas Wine & Food Foundation, an Austin non-profit...
Dallas Shopping Centers Ring Up Lawsuit Against Apprisal District
According to a Dallas Business Journal article , the owners of several Dallas-area shopping centers, including Highland Park Village and Preston Trail Plaza, are suing the Dallas Central Appraisal District and the Dallas Appraisal Review Board, saying the method the...
Too Much Dust, Not Enough Results
Besides just bad philosophy, one of the worst contributors to government growth is our misplaced emphasis on defining success by activity. When you stand on the plains and look to the horizon, a great cloud of dust can be either an army purposefully on the move, or a...
Texas Hotel Taxes Enough to Make You Lose Sleep
Found this revealing tidbit on the Austin American-Statesman's entertainment pages: Those hotel occupancy taxes in Texas’ big cities are so high they’ll give you a nosebleed. Example: My $279 stay at the lovely Granduca Hotel in Houston a few days ago...
More Taxes, Courtesy of Republican Fred Hill
There was once a time when Republicans were known as the tax-cutters; people who – if nothing else – would work to make sure the taxpayers’ money stayed in the taxpayers’ wallet (as State Rep. Rob Eissler likes to say). That was then, this is now. State Rep....
Pork in the State Budget?
The McAllen Monitor reported that the new $150 billion House budget for the 2008-09 biennium includes some arguably pork barrel expenditures - most of those mentioned are earmarks for projects in the Rio Grande Valley. Among the taxpayer-funded projects mentioned are:...
House Committee Unanimously Hangs Up on Telephone Tax
The Lone Star Report brings us the following good news:The House Regulated Industries committee unanimously voted Feb. 21 to eliminate the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF). The tax on consumers’ phone bill was created in 1995 to help wire schools,...
How much to keep Hollywood away?
The Austin American Statesman is calling on lawmakers to enact a slush fund that would attract more Hollywood liberals to Texas. What's not to love about that? They are particularly appalled by the idea that Friday Night Lights (a low-rated show about Texas high...