The Latest
Austin Police Chief Retires As Policing Crisis Continues
Public safety advocates criticize the city for being unable to hire and retain law enforcement.
Conroe ISD Bus Aide Who Beat Student Had a Criminal Record
Donald Tisdel had previous arrests and convictions for offenses including theft, possession of a controlled substance, and failure to stop and render aid.
Federal Judge Says Texas Can’t Reject Mail Ballots with Wrong Voter ID
The ID requirement was enacted in 2021 as part of a comprehensive election integrity measure.
Y’All Answered: A/C in Prison
Readers offer their insights and experiences.
The Archive
Few But Important State Races To Watch
With only days remaining until the election, few competitive state races exist in Texas. But while few in number, they do have significant implications for the 83rd Legislature. Arguably the most watched state-level race resides in Tarrant County. State Rep. Mark...
Even More Money For Education Needed?
Texas schools are failing to educate kids, so they need more money, right? Of course not, but that isn’t stopping a school finance expert claiming that school districts need $8 billion more per year than what the state has already appropriated. Mind you, expert Lynn...
A Little Debt Context
Yesterday, Comptroller Susan Combs released another earth-shattering report, this one focused on education debt. The statistics within are just as incredible as you might imagine. Public school districts in Texas are responsible for 33% of Texas' local debt, the...
Bad Company
Incumbent House Speaker Joe Straus has some interesting people raising money for him. Signing a Joe Straus fundraising letter circulating this week is Kenny Jastrow, the disgraced former CEO of Temple-Inland and board member of Guaranty Bank who presided over “one of...
Who Needs Teachers?
While two-thirds of Texas’ school districts are suing the state for more “education” money, a new report shows that those same school districts are three times more likely to hire “administrators and other staff” than teachers. A new report from the Friedman...
School Staffing Far Outpacing Classroom Growth
While numerous Texas school districts divert resources to suing the state over the current finance system, new information has come to light about just how much administrative growth there has been in the last twenty years in our school districts. The Friedman...
Gas Tax Hikers Still Among GOP Ranks
On Monday, the Republican Party of Texas came to the defense of HD 136 GOP candidate Tony Dale, after both his Democratic and Libertarian candidates have gone on record supporting higher gas taxes. While it comes as no surprise that the RPT would defend one of its...
Emerging Tech Fund Still Ineffective
With another company filing bankruptcy after receiving millions of taxpayer dollars from the Emerging Technology Fund, Texans have one more reason to call for the end of all the state’s corporate welfare programs. Terrabon, Inc, a Houston-based bioenergy producer,...
Down the ballot – vote against “civil service laws”
It seems amazing that even in the wake of the Wisconsin, where government unions have had a hand in bringing the state perilously close to a fiscal cliff, there is still a clamor for government unions. In Texas, a right-to-work state (meaning unions can exist but...