Local Texas News

It seems that State Rep. Mark Strama (D-50) has been getting credit for things he did not do. Going to have to give you some background for this one to make sense.  At the Republican convention held in Dallas in June, former party vice chairman David Barton...

School officials in north Texas want to spend $1 million buying the six-month-old iPad from Apple for middle school students. But they don't want to pay for it; they want state taxpayers to pick up the tab for what is undoubtedly a cool toy -- but not an academic...

Your elected political heroes are at it again. On June 24th, the Austin City Council voted to spend $100,000 of your tax dollars on a study to find how the city could afford to pay for a $1.3 Billion (that’s right, I said “Billion”) light rail service that would...

This week transparency in government won a major victory when a judge ruled Grapevine’s City Council violated the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA) by hiring Fred Hill in a secret meeting. The Star-Telegram filed the lawsuit after they were denied a copy of the meeting...

Doesn't that thought just make you....gag? Apparently it was quite the "gag" for Rep. Mark Strama's reelection bid in 2008.  In fact, Strama was so enamored with the idea of a rhyming ticket that he made sure to link the names in people's minds - in fact, in...

If you’re sick of competing in business, become a State Representative so you can award yourself no-bid contracts. The practice of awarding no-bid contracts, shameful as it is, has become less and less commonplace as citizens have increasingly discovered the scheme...

Okay, ladies and germs.  Let's have a little civics lesson, shall we? What is the function of city government, exactly?  Most of us would say "transportation," "police protection."  Some of us would add "essential services," by which we mean water,...

The city of Grapevine has come under fire for hiring lobbyist Fred Hill and now they’re stoking the flame. Last month the city conducted contract negotiations behind closed doors, disregarding the Texas Open Meetings Act. The city is compounding its sins by creating...

Here is some fresh insanity to cap off the school year for you.  The Waco Independent School District is set to spend $84,000 to send staff members to a seminar.  In Las Vegas.  Texas Budget Source's Sara Talbert has a full write-up here.  (If you...