March 10, 2018

Arkansas lawmakers approve $5.6B budget

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—Arkansas lawmakers have approved the state's $5.6 billion budget for the coming year, wrapping up this year's fiscal session in four weeks.

The House and Senate on Friday approved identical versions of the proposed Revenue Stabilization Act, which calls for increasing state spending by about $173 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The measure now heads to Gov. Asa Hutchinson's desk.

The House passed the measure on a 90-3 vote, while it passed the Senate 30-1. The legislation mirrors the budget Hutchinson proposed earlier this year, with $64 million in projected surplus money set aside for highway needs and tax cuts.

Lawmakers plan to formally adjourn this year's session on Monday. They're expected to reconvene the following day for a special session on several other issues.

http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2018/mar/10/arkansas-lawmakers-approve-56b-budget/716862/

March 10, 2018

Governor says he'll call special session

LITTLE ROCK—Arkansas' governor says he'll call a special session next week for lawmakers to take up pharmacy reimbursement rates, highway funding and other issues.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Friday he plans to call a special session that will begin Tuesday to take up the issues.

http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/arkansas/story/2018/mar/10/governor-says-hell-call-special-session/716864/

March 10, 2018

Suit seeks to split Texas 38 electoral votes as part of national fight

Federal lawsuits filed simultaneously in Texas and three other states are seeking to end the system that awards every electoral vote to the winning presidential candidate in each state.

The lawsuits argue that the winner-take-all system violates voting rights by discarding ballots cast in support of losing candidates in the four states, particularly Democrats in the GOP strongholds of Texas and South Carolina, and Republicans in Democratic California and Massachusetts.

The winner-take-all system — a standard for more than 180 years that is used by almost every state — not only violates the “one person, one vote” principle, but it has turned democracy on its head, allowing presidential candidates to ignore millions of voters while focusing on the handful of competitive “battleground” states where the outcome is not preordained, the lawsuits argue.

It’s not just Lone Star Democrats — “everyone in Texas is being ignored, because Texas just doesn’t matter to the presidential election,” said Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard University law professor who was a leading organizer of the legal effort.

Read more: https://www.mystatesman.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/suit-seeks-split-texas-electoral-votes-part-national-fight/K0lwtWqqeo0x2dazip7tAP/

March 10, 2018

Sen. Bernie Sanders and CNN's Jake Tapper cover lots of political ground in SXSW 2018 talk

In a Friday afternoon on the first day of South by Southwest 2018, CNN’s Jake Tapper and independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders had time to stretch out in front of a live audience.

Addressing a over-full Ballroom D at the Austin Convention Center on Friday afternoon, Sanders and Tapper sparred and covered a wide range of political issues that largely focused on Sanders’ frustrations with President Donald Trump and his efforts to get more citizens voting, running for office and participating in the electoral process.

Sanders came out to a standing ovation and stated at the outset that he wanted to go beyond the 10-12 minutes he and Tapper usually have to discuss issues on the CNN show “State of the Union.”

“We don't talk about the most important issues facing the working people of this country: the collapse of the middle class, wealth inequality, the country’s move to an oligarchy, the Koch brothers. Those issue we often don't talk about on television and I want to do that today,” Sanders said.

Read more: https://www.512tech.com/technology/sen-bernie-sanders-and-cnn-jake-tapper-cover-lots-political-ground-sxsw-2018-talk/CjWjDYXph7G7KGxjOL5tIM/

No articles have been published about Bernie's appearance in San Antonio on Friday evening.

March 10, 2018

Valley woman pleads guilty to federal conspiracy charge

McALLEN — The last of five Rio Grande Valley residents charged with healthcare fraud pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge this week, according to court records.

Aurora de la Garza, 54, of Harlingen, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of conspiracy to solicit or receive illegal remunerations, court records show.

De la Garza was arrested along with Luis Manuel Garza, 39, of Brownsville; Sonia Garcia, 51, of McAllen; Francisco Rangel, 60; and Brenda de la Cruz, 39, both of Mission, in connection with Medicare fraud charges, according to court records.

The group was charged following a federal investigation lead by the Rio Grande Valley healthcare fraud task force — assigned to focus on Medicare fraud and the payment of illegal kickbacks, according to officials from the U.S. Attorney’s office at the time.

Read more: http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_89a98462-240f-11e8-b7de-9fd6f31b9937.html

March 10, 2018

Hannah Overton to receive more than $500K restitution for seven years spent in prison

A Corpus Christi mother who was declared innocent of capital murder after being sentenced to life in prison for the death of a 4-year-old boy will receive more than $500,000 in restitution fees, according to an ABC News report.

Hannah Overton was sentenced in 2007 in connection with the death of 4-year-old Andrew Burd, a boy she had planned to adopt with her husband. Her conviction was overturned after she spent seven years in prison and prosecutors decided not to retry the case.

She was declared innocent in May 2017. Her declaration of innocence qualified her to receive state funds and will protect her from being retried on the charge.

Overton’s 2007 capital murder conviction gained international attention because it was widely believed she was wrongfully convicted of the salt poisoning death of Andrew Burd.

Read more: https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/2018/03/08/hannah-overton-receive-more-than-500-k-restitution-seven-years-spent-prison/406820002/

March 10, 2018

Texas A&M spent more than a $250K to draw attention from Richard Spencer's 2016 visit to campus

Seventeen thousand dollars on t-shirts. $11,000 for flashing LED bracelets. $60,000 for big-name musicians and a string quartet. $9,500 for an “expression wall” that event attendees could draw on.

Texas A&M University officials decided it was worth paying those costs and more to divert attention from a controversial speaker's visit to campus in December 2016.

While lawmakers and campus administrators agree that protecting free speech on college campuses is essential, doing that can be expensive for schools. Take A&M. When a self-described leader of the "alt-right" movement, Richard Spencer, came to the College Station campus that year, A&M held an "Aggies United" event that filled the university's football stadium with musical acts and feel-good speeches.

The cost of that three-hour rally? Around $299,000 – or nearly $100,000 an hour.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/03/09/texas-m-spent-more-quarter-million-dollars-draw-attention-richard-spen/

March 10, 2018

In Texas' Zavala and Foard counties, no Republicans voted in primaries

by Rishika Dugyala, Texas Tribune


More than 1.5 million Texan Republicans cast their ballots in the first statewide primary since President Donald Trump was elected to office. But in Foard and Zavala counties, not one voted.

In Foard County, near the Texas-Oklahoma border, only one person even showed up to the polls. Zavala County, about 100 miles north of Laredo, didn't even hold a primary.

The counties, which are heavily Democratic, don’t have GOP chairs. Zavala County Clerk Oralia Trevino said her county didn’t hold a Republican primary for this reason. She said the county could have contracted with the state to provide Republican ballots but that she "called too late."

"There wasn't enough time, and I was very busy with doing the Democratic primary," Trevino said.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/03/08/texas-republican-primary-zavala-foard-counties/

March 9, 2018

Stephen Colbert and the internet react to nickname feud between Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz

AUSTIN — In his first ad of the general election campaign, Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz accused Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke of changing his name to score political points in Texas.

O'Rourke, who represents El Paso in Congress, goes by Beto, although his given name is Robert.

The advertisement, a jingle that attacks O'Rourke for his nickname, drew jokes on Twitter and television, as people noted a contradiction in Cruz's messaging: He also goes by a nickname.

-snip-

O'Rourke didn't have much to say about the ad, but shared a post to his social media pages to clear up any doubt that he made the decision to go by Beto when he started his political career.

https://twitter.com/BetoORourke/status/971467245477081092

Read more: https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/03/08/internet-reacts-nickname-robert-beto-orourke-rafael-ted-cruz-late-show/407398002/

March 8, 2018

Bernie Sanders tells Democrats to back off primary attacks

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Bernie Sanders is warning the Democratic Party not to attack its own candidates in primary battles, as happened in a Houston-area congressional race.

The Vermont senator said it's "appalling" that the party's congressional campaign arm targeted Laura Moser ahead of Tuesday's primary election. Moser, an activist, is endorsed by Sanders' Our Revolution group.

Sanders told The Associated Press on Wednesday that such attacks are "not acceptable."

Moser advanced to a runoff with Democratic front-runner Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, despite the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee publishing an opposition research memo calling her "a Washington insider who begrudgingly moved to Texas" to run for Congress.

Read more: https://www.mrt.com/news/texas/article/Bernie-Sanders-tells-Democrats-to-back-off-12736602.php

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The linked source is the Midland Reporter-Telegram.