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Nearly Two Years After West Fertilizer Disaster, Lawmakers Finally Consider...
As the second anniversary of the West, Texas fertilizer plant disaster approaches, lawmakers are running out of time to pass legislation addressing the catastrophe’s underlying causes. In the two years...
View ArticleLawmakers Push for Police Body Cameras
As the shooting of Walter Scott dominated national headlines this week, Texas lawmakers discussed legislation aimed at making police officers think twice before using excessive force. In a House...
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West, Texas Blues
On March 17, 2014, an inspector from the State Fire Marshal’s Office arrived in Athens, Texas, to take a look at East Texas Ag Supply, a fertilizer storage facility located just a few blocks from the...
View ArticleSenate Debates Ethics, Picks Apart Major Part of Gov. Abbott’s Agenda
The Senate should eat its spinach, declared Gov. Greg Abbott, the Legislature’s kind-hearted but distant paterfamilias. Among the moderate and nutritious items he laid out as priorities for his first...
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Lawmakers Could Slow Spread of Video-Only Jail Visitations
In 2013, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it was taking action to make long-distance prison phone calls much more affordable. Instead of $17 for a 15-minute call, the new cost would...
View ArticleSenate Brings Texas One Step Closer to Open Carry
A day after nine people died in a massive shootout in Waco, a Senate committee approved a House bill (HB 910) that would expand the rights of gun owners by allowing concealed handgun license holders to...
View ArticleExecution Drugs to be State Secret Under Legislation Headed to Governor
Manufacturers of execution drugs will be shielded from public scrutiny, helping to keep Texas’ capital punishment machine in working order, under a bill headed to the governor’s office. On Tuesday,...
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Senate Passes Open Carry After Intense Debate About Police Checks
Friday’s Senate debate over the licensed open carry of handguns was supposed to be so easy. Open carry, for all its detractors, had been one of the most fêted issues facing the 84th Legislature, passed...
View ArticleHouse Divided Over Cop-Blocking Open Carry Provision
Debate on a bill that would allow license-holders to openly carry handguns pitted friends against friends and created some strange alliances in the House on Wednesday. After a topsy-turvy debate,...
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The Winners and Losers of the Battle for Campus Carry
As in a Chekhov story, a gun introduced in the first chapter of the 84th Texas Legislature was bound to be fired later in the session. The session began with guns, and so it ended. On Sunday, the last...
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