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<p>AUSTIN - Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick unveiled key portions of the upper chamber's education agenda on Tuesday, reviving proposals long unpopular with teacher groups that Patrick said would empower parents and help students leave poor-performing schools.</p> <p>"We'll be talking about school choice and pre-K at a later date," Patrick said at a morning press conference in the Capitol, flanked by members of the Senate Committee on Education. "But reforming education is more than a single shot. It is a comprehensive plan that takes in every area of the state, takes in every student, every parent and every teacher."</p>

Dear Justice Kennedy, June is nigh, and with it will comes your ruling on the most contentious political issue of our time: marriage. I write because I am one of many children with gay parents who believe we should protect marriage. I believe you were right when, during the Proposition 8 deliberations, you said “the voice of those children [of same-sex parents] is important.” I’d like to explain why I think redefining marriage would actually serve to strip these children of their most fundamental rights. It’s very difficult to speak about this subject, because I love my mom. Most of...

Covering Clinton, what is one thing that has surprised you about her? Amy Chozick: Hmm. She likes to drink. We were on the campaign trail in 2008 and the press thought she was just taking shots to pander to voters in Pennsylvania. Um, no.

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20150303/new-mexico-house-approves-two-right-to-carry-reform-bills | New Mexico: House Approves Two Right-To-Carry Reform Bills On Monday, the New Mexico House of Representatives approved House Bill 106 by a 48 to 19 vote, with the measure receiving unanimous support from the House Republican Caucus and roughly a dozen members of the minority party. HB 106, sponsored by state Representative Paul Bandy (R-Aztec), extends the renewal period for a concealed handgun license from 60 to 90 days before and after it expires, removes the fingerprint requirement for license renewals and eliminates the mid-term two-year refresher course. Additionally, the House approved House Bill 189 by a 39...

Federal agents searched three dozen homes Tuesday in California during a crackdown on so-called maternity tourism operators who arrange for pregnant Chinese women to give birth in the U.S., where their babies automatically become American citizens. The investigation of three alleged birth tourism rings may be the biggest yet by federal homeland security agents who say that, while pregnant women may travel to the United States and deliver their babies here, they cannot lie about the purpose of their trip when applying for a visa.

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Bill would eliminate destructive and costly insurance mandates while giving consumers more choice and freedom Washington, D.C. (Office of Ted Cruz) — On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced the Health Care Choice Act, which would remove Obamacare’s costly insurance mandates and allow residents in one state the option to purchase a health insurance plan of their choice in any other state. The bill is cosponsored by Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and David Vitter (R-LA). Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 543. "Every last...

Temple activists were euphoric Monday after a precedent-setting ruling by Magistrates’ Court Judge Malka Aviv in the case of Yehuda Glick vs. the Israeli Police, a day earlier. The judge ruled that the police “must make sure that Jews are able to pray on the Temple Mount”—in a ruling replete with harsh criticism of the police’s policies on the Temple Mount. Activists were quoted on a Temple activists blog as saying: “This day will be remembered for generations in the annals of the struggle for the return of Jews to the Temple Mount.” The police are legally bound “to ensure...

"In the future, close attention may be paid to the content published by Students for a Conservative Voice to ensure that any material that is produced with student fee funds does not compromise the cultural harmony of the campus."

Tim Scott drives liberals crazy. The black senator from South Carolina doesn’t fit the left’s narrative about what a conservative should look like, and the mainstream media often try to criticize or trip up the lawmaker. That’s exactly what happened on MSNBC, where host Thomas Roberts tried to imply that Scott doesn’t care about the poor. “You say you’re concerned about kids that are growing up in the wrong zip code and, like yourself, had a tough start on the way out,” said Roberts. “But if we look at agencies that are following some of your voting records, they have...

Sheriff’s officials say when deputies got to the church, they found a charred wooden cross propped up against the church’s sign near the road. Investigators have collected evidence from the scene for submission and analysis. The predominantly black congregation, 200 members strong, has called Burnet home for nearly ten years. They meet out in the country on FM 2342 northeast of Kingsland. Pastor Willie L Monnet, Sr. founded the church in New Orleans, and was forced to relocate after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

THE teenager wrongly branded a terrorist by The Age has slammed the paper for the “devastating” mistake which put his family in “potential danger”. Abu Bakar Alam, 19, even feared he would not be able to pursue his dream of becoming a police officer after his picture was printed on the front of Fairfax newspapers last September. He was incorrectly identified as Numan Haider, the man who stabbed two police officers before he was shot and killed in Endeavour Hills. Mr Alam reached an out-of-court settlement with Fairfax Media as he prepared to launch a defamation lawsuit. The exact figure...

M. Stanton Evans, arguably the funniest serious man in America for much of his 80 years on the planet, died Tuesday after a long bout with pancreatic cancer. For most of his life, as Mr. Evans watched fellow conservatives come and go, he lamented — always with humor, not bitterness — their tendency to catch “Potomac fever” as soon as they come to power. “When our people get to the point where they can do us some good, they stop being our people,” he said, uttering what became known as “Evans‘ Law of Politics.”

Target's chief executive, Brian Cornell, said Tuesday the retailer will cut several thousand jobs within the next two years as part of a $2 billion cost savings plan. The company also announced 2015 guidance of $4.45 to $4.65 adjusted earnings per share. Wall Street expected Target's guidance at $4.50 adjusted earnings per share. Target also expects digital sales to increase 40 percent and same-store sales between 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent, with modest improvement in gross margins and expense rates. It also expects sales to grow between 2 and 3 percent during the year. The company's stock closed at $78.02,...

A Kiwi war veteran waited 41 years until he finally came across a design that he fell in love with for his second tattoo and the social media world feels just as strongly about the new piece of body art. New Zealander Bruce Neal was just 18 when he got his inked creation of a kiwi bird on his shoulder - and now at 52 years old he has World War I soldiers marching into the distance in a shape of a fern with the words 'Lest We Forget' written below. When Pieces of Eight Tattoo Studio, on the northeast...

The mother-daughter murder victims of the early morning triple shooting in eastern New Orleans are 25-year-old Walesha Williams and 8-year-old Paris Williams, grieving family members said Tuesday (March 3). Mercedes Brown said the victims were her niece and great niece, and that she notified her brother, Walter, the victims' father and grandfather who lives near Houston.Police said the mother and daughter were shot early Tuesday at at 14535 Duane Rd. in eastern New Orleans. Police said a 39-year-old woman was also shot multiple times at the house and is hospitalized and expected to survive. Williams' relatives said the woman is...

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. —Six young protesters are blocking Highway 1 in Santa Cruz where the fishhook merges with Highway 17. A California Highway Patrol officer told KSBW that the protesters are University of California Santa Cruz students. They are using their bodies, trash cans filled with cement, and pipes to block southbound lanes. Students are linked together and laying down across the usually-busy highway. While holding a banner reading "Fight The Hikes," demonstrators said they are standing up against tuition hikes by the University of California system, as well as police brutality.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) proposed last week to prohibit gun companies from manufacturing and selling 5.56mm projectiles for M855 cartridges that provide ammunition for AR-15 rifles. The Protecting Second Amendment Rights Act, introduced Friday by Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.), would roll back the ATF’s power to regulate ammunition. “The Obama administration’s proposal would unilaterally strip law-abiding hunters and sportsmen of their Second Amendment rights,” Rooney said in a statement. “Congress has made its intentions clear that this ammunition is for sporting purposes and should not be restricted. We cannot and we will not stand by...

Robert Kennedy Jr.’s underage younger daughter Kyra Kennedy made a scene when she was refused entry at an upstate New York nightclub, screaming at security, “I am a Kennedy, Google me!” In a scene far from the Paris Bal des débutantes, where a Dior-clad Kyra made her formal society debut in December 2013, the 19-year-old made a drunken stink at club Lava at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, NY, last Thursday when security didn’t accept her ID. Witnesses said Kyra appeared inebriated when she arrived at the club and was trying to enter an over-21 area using a...

“We were never going to win in Congress.” That is the epitaph spoken by Speaker Boehner ally Representative Tom Cole on the collapse of House Leadership’s resolve to legislatively fight Executive Amnesty. It may also be the final nail in the coffin for the notion of co-equal branches of government, as President Obama has already announced that he is considering using unilateral executive actions to ban ammunition and raise corporate taxes, on top of his massive Internet regulation announced last week.