Texas news

• Texas railroad commissioner wants AG to weigh in on board chair's actions

  21-09-2017 23:41 via texastribune.org
  Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian.
  Two days after Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton and the board's chair, Christi Craddick, clashed publicly at a state meeting, Sitton is asking Attorney General Ken Paxton to weigh in on his colleague's actions. And Craddick is accusing Sitton of seeking "an opportunity for political gain." 
  In a tense exchange Tuesday that was captured on camera, Sitton accused Cradd
  
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• Are any Texans in Congress ready to retire in 2018? We asked them.

  21-09-2017 21:58 via texastribune.org
  WASHINGTON – In recent weeks, several Republicans in the U.S. House announced they would not return to Congress for another term. There’s a sense in the air that more retirements are coming, which leads to the question: Are any more Texans thinking about hanging it up? 
  Two out of the 38 Texans in Congress made clear months ago they weren't seeking re-election: U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Richardson, announced his retirement earlier this year, and U.S. Rep. Beto O'Ro
  
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• Blue-ray Slight Return: ‘Ronin’ and ‘Maurice’

  21-09-2017 21:31
  Every decade has its director(s) of note. Today, it’s Christopher Nolan, and before him it was David Fincher, and then Tarantino and the Coen Brothers, and Cameron, Scorsese, De Palma and Spielberg dominating different years. And then you have helmers in the ’60s like Kubrick and John Frankenheimer turning out classic after classic. Frankenheimer, in particular, excelled in movies that...
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• Miller, Perdue, Conaway uninjured after car accident on Harvey damage tour

  21-09-2017 21:26 via texastribune.org
  Two staffers for U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway and one from the U.S. Department of Agriculture were sent to a hospital near El Campo on Thursday after a major car wreck that interrupted a government tour of hurricane damage to agricultural production. 
  Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who was in the final car in the caravan, was unhurt, as were USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue; Conaway, R-Midland; and other staffers on the trip.
  "We were very lucky," Mi
  
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• Hundreds of Harvey prison evacuees start transfer to cooler Texas facilities

  21-09-2017 19:13 via texastribune.org
  Hurricane Harvey and a federal lawsuit are prompting shake-ups at four Texas prison facilities this week.
  About 3,300 inmates began transfers to other prisons on Thursday morning — a musical chairs scenario spurred by a federal judge's order that more than 700 heat-sensitive prisoners be moved into an air-conditioned facility. Those prisoners had been evacuated from a flood-prone facility to a notoriously hot prison in the midst of Hurricane Harvey. 
  "It's a s
  
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• The Brief: Food insecurity in focus after Harvey

  21-09-2017 13:30 via texastribune.org
  Thanks for reading The Brief, our daily newsletter informing you on politics, public policy and everything in between. Forward this email to friends who may want to join us. They can sign up here. — CP
  What you need to know
  Food banks and pantries in Harvey-affected areas are bracing for the months of recovery that lay ahead. Here's what you need to know: 
  • Food banks, pantries and other food access advocates along the Texas coast were already food insecure before Hurricane Harv
  
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• New law seeks to prevent surprise medical bills from freestanding ERs

  21-09-2017 07:01 via texastribune.org
  Patients who visit freestanding emergency rooms in Texas should now have a better idea of whether their health insurance will cover the bill.
  A new state law that took effect Sept. 1 requires the facilities — which resemble urgent care clinics but often charge hospital emergency room prices — to post notice of what, if any, insurance networks they're in.
  The new law is about “protecting consumers,” said Jamie Dudensing, chief executive officer of the Texas
  
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• Along the Texas coast, food banks brace for post-Harvey need

  21-09-2017 07:01 via texastribune.org
  Dan Maher is watching the inconvenience of disaster settling in as Hurricane Harvey victims trickle back into Beaumont.
  As residents make their first visits to lost homes and begin the daunting Federal Emergency Management Assistance application process, Maher, executive director of the Southeast Texas Food Bank, is preparing his staff for the coming onslaught of people turning to them for meals. Since the storm, they've given out more than 1.5 million pounds of food.
  Right now, the challen
  
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• Report: Indicted state Rep. Dawnna Dukes spent $51k on online psychic

  21-09-2017 05:11 via texastribune.org
  State Rep. Dawnna Dukes, the Austin Democrat facing corruption charges, failed to turn over a cell phone to investigators and spent more than $51,000 on an online psychic, according to a legal filing reported by the Austin American-Statesman on Wednesday. 
  The document obtained by the Statesman reveals that Travis County prosecutors intend to present the information as evidence in Dukes’ misdemeanor trial next month, part of 19 “extraneous acts” chronicled by prosecutors.
  
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• Homeowners join lawsuit against Crosby chemical plant that burned after Hurricane Harvey

  21-09-2017 01:16 via texastribune.org
  Eleven plaintiffs and a new defendant were added Wednesday to a lawsuit against Arkema Inc., an international chemical company whose plant near Houston spewed clouds of smoke from a series of chemical fires earlier this month after it was inundated by six feet of floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey.
  The updated lawsuit alleges that Arkema and the new defendant, Bureau Veritas — an air quality monitoring company that Arkema contracted to conduct testing in the vicinity of
  
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