Texas Lunch Links: Payday Loans, Death Threats and High-Stakes Testing

by: Nick Hudson

Wed Mar 27, 2013 at 11:59 AM CDT

PAYDAY LOANS: Rev. Gerald Green, Jr. of Dallas-based CitySquare proposes four specific changes to Republican State Senator John Carona's, "dramatically weakened payday lending bill."

GALLEGO CHALLENGED: San Antonio Express News is reporting that Representative Pete Gallego, the Democrat who was elected to Texas' 23rd congressional district in November, has an early Republican challenger for 2014.

EDUCATION: The Texas House voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to reduce the required number of high school end-of-course exams from 15 to five and to change high school graduation plans to emphasize career and vocational training.

GUNS: Texas would require its residents to acquire concealed handgun licences in Texas under a bill authored by State Senator Juan Hinojosa, Democrat of McAllen. Texas currently recognizes other states' handgun licenses.

RICK PERRY: Governor Goodhair called the Obama administration's decision to award a competitively bid grant directly to a Texas coalition of women's clinics, instead of Texas' Department of State Health Services, "a clear attempt to circumvent the will of the Texas taxpayers and impose their own values on the people of Texas." The coalition of clinics will serve more than 160,000 women.

WELFARE DRUG-TESTING: Texas' Health and Human Services Committee unanimously approved a bill that would strip welfare recipients of benefits for one year if they fail a drug test this week.

EAGLE FORD SHALE: South Texas' Eagle Ford Shale oil and gas drilling operation had an estimated $61 billion impact on South Texas last year, according to an ongoing University of Texas at San Antonio study released at the Capitol on Tuesday. The study is being paid for by America's Natural Gas Alliance.

WHITMIRE SAFE: A prison investigator says that a death threat against Texas Senator John Whitmire from the Mexican Mafia was an unusual scam by a confidential informant. The death threat, which the Houston Chronicle reported yesterday, was the bright idea of confidential informant who hoped that recruiting and then reporting the conspirators would earn him cash or a reduced prison sentence.

FLASHBACK ON DOMA: Not a single Texas Democrat voted against the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996.

Google+ Hangout on ACA, DOMA and the War on Critical Thinking

by: Joe Deshotel

Sun Jul 08, 2012 at 07:00 PM CDT

We're still tweaking the format but we managed to keep this hangout under 30 minutes. We plan to post a Hangout every other Sunday at 7pm but if you would like to participate please look for our live broadcast announcement on the preceding Thursday or Friday evening and tweet us at @BOR.

We wrapped up the Hangout with an eye to the pending Voter ID challenge in DC court and a last call to enter the BOR's Win Breakfast With Pete Gallego contest!

AG Eric Holder and President Obama request Supreme Court ruling on DOMA

by: Joe Deshotel

Wed Jul 04, 2012 at 09:00 AM CDT

The announcement is another of many pro-LGBT policy shifts of the past 2 years. In 2011, the AG and President Obama concluded that section 3 of DOMA (defining marriage as one man, one woman) was unconstitutional and said the Justice Department would no longer defend it in court.

Read the DOJ's statement below the jump:

Original Cartoon: "Same-sex Marriage"

by: bartholoviews

Sun May 13, 2012 at 10:46 AM CDT

Man is set straight about gay marriage.

See more cartoons from Richard Bartholomew at Bartholoviews.