At 4:03 a.m. on July 4, the Guadalupe River breached its banks in Kerr County. The flood came fast and silent—crashing through windows, sweeping entire homes off their foundations, ripping families from their beds. At least 132 people are confirmed dead. Nearly 100 remain missing. The Hill Country has become a graveyard of wreckage and...
Texas local governments use taxpayer dollars to hire lobbyists to influence state legislation—creating conflicts of interest, distorting democratic accountability, and undermining the interests of Texas taxpayers. Key points: Taxpayer-funded lobbying expenditures more than doubled from the 85th to the 89th Legislature, now reaching as high as $111.5 million. Taxpayer-funded lobbyists consistently opposed legislation involving property...
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has a lot to say about the environment and also about government-funded high-speed rail in his state. As usual, he leaves out a lot of important context. In the third and final part of our look at Shawn Ryan’s marathon mid-July podcast with Newsom, we share what Newsom won’t. In the...