Update: On May 24, the conference committee for SB 215 filed its official report but did not include the discriminatory amendment added by Rep. Krause. The House and Senate both adopted the report and forwarded the bill to Gov. Perry for his signature. This means the discriminatory amendment will not become law. ———————————————– We have […]
TFN
Texas Observer Report: State Failed to Spend Available Family Planning Money as Clinics Closed
It was bad enough that Texas lawmakers in 2011 cut funding for family planning services for low-income women by two-thirds. Scores of family planning clinics closed around the state, and tens of thousands of women lost access to those critical services. But now the Texas Observer reports that the state even failed to spend federal […]
So Where Are They?
For months Tea partyers and other assorted activists on the right have attacked the developers of the CSCOPE curriculum management system for supposedly doing their work in secrecy. They’ve screamed that parents and taxpayers are kept in the dark while the Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative (TESCCC) writes lessons that (allegedly) indoctrinate students into […]
Equality Wins and Religious Right Loses in Texas School Board Elections
In what had become a referendum on equality, voters in the Austin-area Pflugerville Independent School District on Saturday re-elected two embattled incumbents to the district’s Board of Trustees. Religious-right activists had opposed incumbents Carol Fletcher and Mario Acosta, who last December voted for a policy offering access to health insurance benefits to the domestic partners […]
Reason for the Season
With Christmas celebrations on the brink of extinction in Texas, the Texas House intervened yesterday by passing the “Merry Christmas bill” to ensure public schools remain a welcome place for Jesus Santa. Santa’s attorney — and lobbyist for the religious-right group Texas Values — was at the Capitol to whip votes and remind us all of the […]
