The preliminary injunction hearing in the case filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against Gov. Abbott and the state of Texas for the removal of the 1,000-foot buoy barrier took place on Tuesday, August 22. The DOJ alleged that the state of Texas, in violation of the Rivers and Harbors Act (RHA), built a...
Dallas city councilmembers on Wednesday took up an agenda item to set a ceiling on the city’s proposed tax rate for fiscal year 2024. The actual tax rate will be formally debated and adopted at a future hearing (Sept. 20), thereby determining what the average Dallas homeowner will pay in city taxes. While discussing what...
Americans deserve to know how Republican presidential candidates would face existential threat from China. When Republicans face off on Wednesday night, expect rhetorical fireworks over the dumpster fire that is comprised of Bidenomics, the border crisis, and the weaponization of federal law enforcement to go after President Biden’s political enemies. But one huge issue that should...
China’s worsening economy and Biden’s ineptitude increase the likelihood of Xi playing the jingoistic card of war and invasion. China’s economy is in serious trouble. Paramount leader Xi Jinping’s turn toward Chinese Communist Party control is finally ending the People’s Republic of China’s experiment with state-directed capitalism. China has cut off the outside world from...
Pearland ISD’s school board may soon ask voters to approve a major tax increase, potentially eroding some of the new property tax relief agreed upon by the 88th Texas Legislature before it even materializes. On Monday, the Houston Chronicle reported that trustees are considering seeking voter-approval for a permanent nine-cent tax rate increase that officials...
One of the key stories in higher education finance is so-called “state disinvestment,” which alleges that states have made relentless cuts to college and university funding. But state disinvestment is a myth—states have not, in fact, disinvested in higher education. In this debate, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here is a figure...
Earlier this week, we wrote about the great work that Tarrant County commissioners had accomplished through their FY ’24 budget framework (which cut spending, kept the tax rate to a minimum, and included a homestead exemption). And now, it appears more North Texas local governments are prepared to act in ways that benefit taxpayers. The...
Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines the word ‘rapacious’ to mean: excessively grasping or covetous; ravenous. There may be no better word to describe the spenders on the Austin city council. On Tuesday, all but one councilmember (Mackenzie Kelly) voted to approve a massive $5.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2024, which is being billed as “the largest...
Broken families take a lot of healing. That’s because familial support is a person’s greatest resource in life. We gain support in many ways across our lifespan: friendships, relationships, family, and within our communities. If we are fortunate, we gain the best of all of these. The notion of family can be likened to a...
Texas cities are in an abusive relationship with the English language. As city officials draft their budgets for the upcoming fiscal year, you might think these public-facing documents are being filled with data points and explanations. But increasingly, they’re being filled with something else: woke-speak, the dialect of the progressive intelligentsia. Without fail, these municipal...
More than $1,300 each year—that’s how much a Texas family will save each year due to the Texas Legislature’s recent property tax relief deal. Gov. Greg Abbott worked with House and Senate leadership, finally reaching a compromise plan that ultimately provides the largest amount of property tax relief ever. The bill, SB 2, allocates $18...
Jennifer DeStefano answered the phone, hearing her daughter’s voice on the other end: “Mom, I messed up.” Her daughter’s voice was followed by a man’s; he made it clear that if she ever wanted to see her daughter again, she needed to cough up $1 million. It was a fake—a deepfake. The voice on the...