Keyword: opposition

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  • TTC plans for U.S. Hwy. 59 may not come to fruition

    08/30/2008 5:53:24 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 8 replies · 228+ views
    The Daily Sentinel ^ | August 28, 2008 | Andrew Goodridge
    The Pineywoods Sub-Regional Planning Commission met Thursday to hear a presentation by the commission's president, Hank Gilbert, who said the plans to move the Trans-Texas Corridor to the current U.S. Hwy. 59 location may not come to fruition. The Texas Department of Transportation initially planned to build a new highway system, which would have been as large as 1,200-feet wide, that would run through rural areas of East Texas, including Nacogdoches County. However, TxDOT scrapped those plans in June and announced a new proposal to build the TTC along the existing route of U.S. Hwy 59. But Gilbert, of the...
  • Who Cares: Taking aim at gun control

    08/07/2008 5:03:04 PM PDT · by marktwain · 25 replies · 1,088+ views
    wickedlocal.com ^ | 6 August, 2008 | Joe Burns
    Last week police confiscated a small arsenal of illegal guns, ammunition and other assorted weapons from the Marstons Mills home of Kenneth Webster. On July 1 police also removed several guns and knives that had been on his person and in his car. In total, more than 50 weapons were taken from Webster including a sawed-off shotgun, an M14 automatic rifle and a sniper rifle. When he was arrested on July 1 Webster reportedly told police that he had a constitutional right to own those guns. If that sounds scary, here's something scarier. There are a lot of people out...
  • TxDOT Defends Marketing Strategy to House Committee

    07/21/2008 5:48:48 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 5 replies · 200+ views
    KLBJ News Radio ^ | July 18, 2008 | Newsroom
    Executives from the state highway department are again defending themselves at the Capitol against people who say they are using taxpayer money to advance an agenda in favor of toll roads in Texas. At the heart of the issue are claims that TxDOT has hired lobbyists, using taxpayer dollars, to push in favor of projects like the Trans-Texas Corridor. Part of that is the "Keep Texas Moving" website. "Marketing is undertaken to inform drivers in the Austin area about the opening of new toll roads, toll road locations and incentive periods, and about the benefits of paying with an electronic...
  • Elected State Transportion Commissioner Proposed (TxDOT sunset review)

    07/16/2008 7:24:26 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 7 replies · 235+ views
    WOAI ^ | July 15, 2008 | Jim Forsyth
    Member of the Texas Sunset Commission today recommended 'radical' changes in the administration of the Texas Department of Transportation, including placing the troubled and controversial agency into a four year legislative 'receivership' and abolishing the Texas Transportation Commission, which runs TexDOT, and appointment of a Transportation Commissioner who would be answerable to the Legislature, 1200 WOAI news reports. But Sunset Commission member Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon (D-San Antonio) suggested going one step further. "What I am hearing form the public is that they are wanting to see an elected commissioner," she said to loud applause from the TexDOT opponents who...
  • TexDOT Elimination Urged

    07/15/2008 6:24:43 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 14 replies · 456+ views
    WOAI ^ | July 15, 2008 | Jim Forsyth
    Toll road opponents today will ask the Sunset Advisory Committee of the Texas Legislature to abolish the Texas Department of Transportation, saying the agency has become too corrupt and too dysfunctional to fix, 1200 WOAI news reports. "We want to see elected leadership at the helm of Tex-DOT," says long time toll road opponent Terri Hall, the founder of the citizen action group Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom. "We are done with this unelected beaurocracy that is just an arm of private road building companies and the lackeys of this governor." The idea of eliminating TexDOT and establishing a...
  • Commission picks developer for I-69 project

    06/27/2008 6:42:45 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 7 replies · 292+ views
    The Houston Chronicle ^ | June 26, 2008 | Janet Elliott
    AUSTIN — The Texas Transportation Commission on Thursday selected San Antonio's Zachry Construction Corp. and a Spanish toll road developer to plan a superhighway from Texarkana to Brownsville. The $5 million contract calls for Zachry American Infrastructure and ACS Infrastructure to create a financial plan for the Interstate 69 segment of the Trans-Texas Corridor. "This team represents the best in the balance of local and global expertise necessary to complete a project of this scope," said David Zachry, chief operating officer of Zachry Construction Corp. The private developers' plan calls for seven new loops around Corpus Christi and other cities...
  • TxDOT will recommend no new roads for I-69/TTC

    06/20/2008 5:54:37 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 12 replies · 329+ views
    The Nueces County Record Star ^ | June 19, 2008 | Tim Olmeda
    The controversial project known as Interstate 69/TransTexas Corridor became a little less so last week after the Texas Department of Transportation announced it would recommend utilizing existing highway routes rather than building new ones. The announcement comes after months of public meetings during which residents along the path of the proposed path of Interstate 69/TTC voiced varying concerns. TxDOT has designated four priority corridors to address the state's transportation needs in the next decade. "The preliminary basis for this decision centers on the review of nearly 28,000 public comments made on the Tier One Draft Environmental Impact Statement," TxDOT Executive...
  • Zimbabwe opposition figure charged with subverting government (Tendai Biti, MDC secretary general)

    06/19/2008 12:05:44 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 2 replies · 191+ views
    AFP on Yahoo ^ | 6/19/08 | Fanuel Jongwe
    HARARE (AFP) - The Zimbabwe opposition's number two was charged with subverting government on Thursday and faces a potential death penalty, as more violence was reported before next week's presidential run-off. Tendai Biti, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) secretary general, faces four charges including subverting the government, election rigging and "projecting the president as an evil man." MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who faces President Robert Mugabe in the June 27 run-off election, dismissed the charges as "frivolous." The charges stem from documents prosecutors say Biti authored discussing plans to rig the March 29 first-round parliamentary and presidential vote,...
  • TxDOT listens to people about toll road

    06/18/2008 5:15:43 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 13 replies · 317+ views
    The Diboll Free Press ^ | June 18, 2008 | Jerry Gaulding
    A retreat from the Texas Department of Transportation's plan to build a new multi-lane toll road through East Texas is a clear victory for Angelina County and Diboll, local officials said last week. "I'm glad they went back to the original plan," Diboll Mayor Bill Brown said. Instead of a new Trans-Texas Corridor toll road paralleling U.S. 59, Tx- DOT now plans to widen 59 with a new bypass around Diboll and Lufkin. The planned 59 bypass, needed to avoid the signalized intersections in Diboll and Lufkin, provides in the original plan four exits for Diboll. That will be good...
  • Editorial: Interstate relief

    06/16/2008 5:54:26 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 23 replies · 425+ views
    The Dallas Morning News ^ | June 16, 2008 | The Dallas Morning News
    Drivers who get safely off Interstate 35E after arriving in Dallas from Austin or San Antonio have a certain look of relief – like they just outran a buffalo stampede. Only on I-35, the stampede is trucks. The white-knuckle experience helps make the case for some kind of reliever road, even a tolled one. Making that same case has been a harder sell for U.S. highways along the Gulf Coast and East Texas. Drivers there can judge their own level of congestion, and they have insisted that their mostly rural corridor doesn't warrant the major undertaking of a parallel turnpike....
  • Texas to consider existing roads for I-69 project

    06/11/2008 5:39:02 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 11 replies · 397+ views
    The Austin American-Statesman ^ | June 11, 2008 | Jim Vertuno (Associated Press)
    Responding to concerns that a superhighway project running from East Texas to the border with Mexico could cut through private lands, state transportation officials said Tuesday that they will only consider putting it along existing roads. State officials have held almost 50 public meetings and received about 28,000 responses from residents about the proposed Interstate 69 project, which would be part of the so-called Trans-Texas Corridor network of toll roads. The "overwhelming sentiment" of the comments from the public was that the state should focus on using existing roads instead of carving new ones out of the countryside, said Amadeo...
  • Trans-Texas Corridor draws 27,000 public comments

    06/04/2008 6:03:26 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 11 replies · 100+ views
    Land Line Magazine ^ | June 3, 2008 | David Tanner
    Many in the great state of Texas have a lot to say about a proposed network of toll roads and railway lines known as the Trans-Texas Corridor. The Texas Department of Transportation received more than 27,000 public comments during a three-month comment period on a proposed corridor project called the TTC-69, said TxDOT spokesman Mark Cross. Transportation officials had 47 public hearings in February and March and accepted written comments through April 18 on the environmental and social impact of the corridor. Comments ranged from flat-out opposition to the corridor to suggestions about how to lessen its impact, Cross told...
  • Panel proposes changes for TxDOT

    06/03/2008 6:22:44 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 10 replies · 229+ views
    The Houston Chronicle ^ | June 2, 2008 | Peggy Fikac
    AUSTIN — Saying big changes are needed to restore trust in the Texas Department of Transportation, the Sunset Advisory Commission staff is recommending a revamp of its governing board, project planning, and dealings with lawmakers and the public. The commission's report, to be released today, comes in the wake of controversy over planned public-private partnerships on toll roads, the route of the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor transportation network and questions concerning agency funding figures. The Houston Chronicle obtained a copy of the report. "The Sunset review of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) occurred against a backdrop of distrust and frustration...
  • Kolkhorst seeks 'real' reforms to TTC plans

    05/31/2008 9:22:33 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 4 replies · 226+ views
    The Huntsville Item ^ | May 31, 2008 | The Huntsville Item
    State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst said it’s time for Texas transportation officials to talk about real reforms to address the public outrage over the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor. The Brenham Republican’s reaction followed Thursday’s actions taken by the Texas Transportation Commission. The panel adopted a set of guiding principals and policies which will govern the development, construction and operation of all toll road projects on the state highway system and the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor. Bob Colwell, Texas Department of Transportation public information officer for the Bryan district, said the adoption of the guidelines does not reflect the final approval of Interstate 69...
  • New Agreement on the Trans-Texas Corridor

    05/30/2008 6:03:05 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 7 replies · 420+ views
    KTRE.com ^ | May 29, 2008 | KTRE
    Here is the full press release issued Thursday afternoon by State Representative Wayne Christian: Today State Representative Wayne Christian (R-Center), President of the Texas Conservative Coalition (TCC), announces an agreement on vital issues regarding the Trans-Texas Corridor. The Transportation Commission adopted a minute order today reaffirming five statutory requirements proposed by the members of the TCC and issuing two new protections for future transportation infrastructure development.  The minute order is a response to a February 4 letter from the Texas Conservative Coalition (TCC), the conservative caucus of the Texas Legislature.  Rep. Christian, along with thirty-three of his colleagues in the State House, signed it...
  • TxDOT tries to bridge rifts with Texans in Congress

    05/25/2008 2:55:12 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 8 replies · 420+ views
    The Houston Chronicle ^ | May 25, 2008 | Bennett Roth and Stewart Powell
    WASHINGTON — The Texas Department of Transportation, long viewed as hyperpartisan and arrogant by some members of the state's congressional delegation, has been trying to soften its image by reaching out to lawmakers of both parties in the nation's capital. But while state transportation officials are having some success in easing the personal animus, they still face a stiff challenge in selling their policy agenda to the state's elected officials in Washington. Many Texans on the Potomac cringe at the agency's embrace of toll roads, the controversies surrounding the Trans-Texas Corridor and TxDOT's resistance to many of the highway earmarks...
  • DPS withholding video of Mike Krusee's arrest

    05/23/2008 11:00:08 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 19 replies · 742+ views
    KXAN.com ^ | May 22, 2008 | KXAN.com
    The Texas Department of Public Safety is withholding trooper dashboard camera video taken during the arrest of Texas representative Mike Krusee. Using the Texas Public Information Act, KXAN requested the video after the state lawmaker from Williamson County was arrested for DWI earlier this month. A state trooper pulled him over after he noticed him driving erratically in northwest Austin. The license plate on his vehicle also had expired last December. Elected state officials all have personalized license plates. Therefore, the trooper would have known he was pulling over a state official before asking for identification. A spokeswoman for the...
  • Column - John Kanelis: State faces many rural roadblocks

    05/11/2008 2:38:48 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 7 replies · 396+ views
    Amarillo Globe-News ^ | May 11, 2008 | John Kanelis
    Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants to build a big highway through the Lone Star State. No, make that a really big highway, as in a monstrously big highway. The exact route hasn't been determined. The mega-highway would run roughly from Laredo on the Rio Grande River through the Hill Country and the Piney Woods and then through Texarkana in that tiny portion of the state that borders Arkansas. Imagine for a moment if that thoroughfare would be pointed in the other direction - from the Valley, through the South Plains and then through the heart of the Panhandle, right past...
  • Advertisement Anti-corridor rally timed for graduation day

    05/10/2008 6:36:55 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 2 replies · 397+ views
    The Daily Sentinel ^ | May 10, 2008 | Michael Rodden
    While Gov. Rick Perry was in Johnson Coliseum addressing SFA graduates, on the other side of campus a group of citizens were not so happy about his appearance in Nacogdoches. In the free-speech area of campus, near North Street and Vista Drive, many farmers, property owners and concerned citizens gathered for a Citizens Against the Trans-Texas Corridor Rally. Holding protest signs and using a tractor as a symbol of the farming community, those who gathered wanted to make their cause heard by the governor, as well as the community. Many vehicles traveling on North Street honked in support of the...
  • Lebanese opposition to withdraw gunmen from Beirut streets (in compliance with an army request)

    05/10/2008 8:43:09 AM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 2 replies · 101+ views
    AP on Yahoo ^ | 5/10/08 | AP
    BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hezbollah TV says that Hezbollah-led opposition forces will withdraw all their gunmen from Beirut in compliance with an army request. An opposition statement says the move comes after the army called on gunmen to get off the street and reopen the roads. But the statement said that a "civil disobedience" campaign will continue until its demands are met. Hezbollah gunmen seized most of the capital's Muslim sector Friday in the worst sectarian strife since a 15-year civil war ended nearly two decades ago. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier...
  • Anti Trans Texas Corridor Rally Planned

    05/08/2008 5:10:35 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 7 replies · 516+ views
    KTRE.com ^ | May 7, 2008 | Donna McCollum
    Around Martinsville, in eastern Nacogdoches County, country roads trail past farms and ranches. It's a place where people used to talk about hay yields. Now discussion has turned to politics. Protest signs reading, " No Trespassing to Trans Texas Corridor hang on their fences and gates. This week's discussion centers around a rally on the day Governor Rick Perry will be in Nacogdoches delivering a commencement speech. He may need more luck than the graduates. Trans Texas Corridor opponent, Larry Shelton said, " We want to send a message loud and clear to the governor that we are tired of...
  • State Rep. Mike Krusee arrested for DWI

    05/02/2008 5:27:46 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 9 replies · 555+ views
    KXAN.com ^ | May 2, 2008 | AP/KXAN
    GEORGETOWN, Texas (AP/KXAN) -- A state lawmaker who helped pave the way for major toll road projects and stiffer drunken driving penalties now faces a DWI charge. Rep. Mike Krusee of Williamson County is the Republican chairman of the House Transportation Committee. He was charged with first-offense driving while intoxicated after a state trooper noticed his car moving erratically in northwest Austin Wednesday night. The license plate on the vehicle also had expired last December. Elected state officials all have personalized license plates. Therefore, the trooper would have known he was pulling over a state official before asking for identification....
  • Nacogdoches County will fight TTC as new member of regional planning commission

    05/01/2008 5:34:51 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 3 replies · 284+ views
    The Daily Sentinel ^ | April 29, 2008 | Michael Rodden
    County commissioners reaffirmed their stance against the Trans-Texas Corridor, and they took another step toward keeping county government transparent when they met Tuesday. First up on the court's agenda, commissioners heard a presentation by Connie Fogle on behalf of the newly formed Pineywoods Sub-Regional Planning Commission. According to Fogle, the Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 391, requires state agencies to coordinate with local commissions to "ensure effective and orderly implementation of state programs at the regional level." "Critical in the code is the word 'coordinate,'" she said. "This does not mean the commission has to cooperate. The intent is to...
  • Trans-Texas Corridor

    04/29/2008 5:29:55 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 16 replies · 718+ views
    Quarter Horse News ^ | April 29, 2008 | Sonny Williams
    Each day, I make the dreaded drive down Interstate 35 to go to work in Fort Worth. Each day, I slug through the snarl and sludge of ceaseless traffic, which intensifies my growing desire to commit hari-kari, or at least incites a vehement curse of the highway gods. Certainly, we in Texas need more lanes, more roads, more rails, more something to deal with the ever-expanding urban population and growing international commerce. Yet how do we solve our transportation needs without carving up the countryside like some congratulatory cake? Or should the construction of a superhighway-rail-utility corridor even concern us?...
  • Rural residents feel the push from Trans-Texas Corridor

    04/28/2008 5:31:20 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 8 replies · 631+ views
    The Houston Chronicle ^ | April 27, 2008 | Rad Sallee
    Minutes south of Interstate 10 and Sealy, the pastures along FM 1458 are their own silent world in the morning. Mists lift to reveal black cattle, brown and spotted horses, snow-white egrets underfoot in lush green grass. Then a concrete mixer comes churning down the blacktop. Just up the road is a small subdivision. More are sure to come as city dwellers, including weekenders and retirees, move out in search of a quieter, simpler life — and relief from city traffic. Although the gradual influx may bring greater changes in the long run, what disturbs residents most is the planned...
  • Transportation leaders: Texas needs more money for its roads

    04/25/2008 5:13:48 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 13 replies · 390+ views
    The Dallas Morning News ^ | April 23, 2008 | Michael A. Lindenberger
    AUSTIN — Maybe Texas’ transportation problems are a lot simpler to understand than recent fights over toll roads make it seem, North Texas leaders told state senators Wednesday. “My first recommendation: You need to provide a lot more revenue for transportation,” Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, told the Texas Senate transportation committee. That was hardly the only suggestion from Mr. Morris or the many others who spoke to the committee, which is seeking input as it readies an approach on toll roads, TxDOT and more for the next legislative session. But it might...
  • Local man on TTC-69 advisory committee

    04/24/2008 4:25:25 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 6 replies · 195+ views
    The Daily Sentinel ^ | April 23, 2008 | Matthew Stoff
    Continuing a lifelong practice of helping rural East Texans, Nolan Alders attended a meeting in Austin Tuesday as a member of the citizens' advisory committee for the Trans-Texas Corridor highway project. Alders was among 18 representatives of communities that run along the route of the proposed highway, which runs from Laredo to Texarkana. The committee members prepared for their roles as community representatives, and heard comments from state transportation leaders, including Texas Department of Transportation Executive Director Amadeo Saenz and Commissioner Ted Houghton of the Texas Transportation Commission. TxDOT literature says the TTC-69 committee — and another committee to represent...
  • County tables resolution to organize panel (concerning Trans-Texas Corridor)

    04/22/2008 5:57:48 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 3 replies · 305+ views
    The Huntsville Item ^ | April 22, 2008 (environut day) | Holly Green
    It has been roughly three months since residents of Huntsville and Walker County attended town hall meetings to voice their opinion on the Trans-Texas Corridor/I-69 project to the Texas Department of Transportation. There was no question then that there was strong opposition to the proposed 1,600-mile national highway, and it seems as though residents’ efforts to stop it has not lost any of its momentum. Several residents attended the Walker County Commissioners Court on Monday morning, expressing concerns about the project and encouraged the court to take another step of action. The five-member court agrees with the majority of the...
  • Zimbabwe court rejects opposition demand (for immediate release of long-delayed election results)

    04/14/2008 10:05:31 AM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 4 replies · 355+ views
    AP on Yahoo ^ | 4/14/08 | Angus Shaw - ap
    HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's High Court rejected an opposition demand Monday for the immediate release of long-delayed election results, prolonging a political crisis that has paralyzed this southern African nation for more than two weeks. An opposition spokesman said the party would stage a nationwide "stay-away" from work on Tuesday. The main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, says he won the March 29 election outright, and has accused President Robert Mugabe of holding back the results so he can orchestrate a runoff and ensure his 28-year grip on power. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change had hoped that the court — though...
  • McLennan County awaiting plans for Trans Texas Corridor

    04/09/2008 5:10:22 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 13 replies · 360+ views
    The Lariat Online (Baylor University) ^ | April 9, 2008 | Victoria Mgbemena
    As the state's population continues to grow in its urban centers, expansion plans for the highway system continue to be the focus for transportation improvements. The Trans Texas Corridor proposal is aimed to alleviate traffic congestion, improve air quality and provide safer traveling for drivers, among other goals. In 2002, Texas Governor Rick Perry released the plan to create the passageway, which spans northeast from Laredo to Oklahoma and is set to total 4,000 miles in the next 50 years. The $140 billion project calls for the incorporation of new toll roads, commuter railways, power lines and gas pipelines, while...
  • Private tollway?

    04/08/2008 10:07:25 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 27 replies · 874+ views
    The Midwest City Sun ^ | April 7, 2008 | Eric Bradshaw
    Several Oklahoma legislators are concerned that individuals and organizations are quietly working on plans to create a privately-operated tollway in Oklahoma. Many referred to Spain-based Cintra, which has been involved in the development of a proposed Trans-Texas Corridor. Cintra also took over the operation of the Indiana East-West Toll Road from the Indiana Department of Transportation in 2006. Oklahoma State Sen. Randy Brogdon and state representatives Eric Proctor, Richard Morrisette, Scott Inman and Charles Key all expressed concern that efforts to open up Oklahoma to a privately operated tollway system were being kept out of the view of the general...
  • Trans-Texas Corridor foes march on Capitol

    04/06/2008 1:02:09 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 26 replies · 825+ views
    Austin American-Statesman ^ | April 6, 2008 | Patrick George
    For Peyton Gilbert, the battle over the Trans-Texas Corridor is reminiscent of the moment in 1836 when Lt. Col. William Travis drew a line in the sand at the Alamo and invited those willing to fight thousands of Mexican soldiers to step across. "That line in the sand is the Trans-Texas Corridor, and it's a threat to our sovereignty again, just like at the Alamo," said Gilbert, 14, who is from Whitehouse, near Tyler. Gilbert was among a large crowd of people who marched down Congress Avenue to the Capitol on Saturday afternoon to demonstrate against the proposed highway-rail-utility corridor...
  • Zimbabwe opposition reluctant on runoff (fears Mugabe regime preparing a "war against the people")

    04/05/2008 10:39:02 AM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 11 replies · 391+ views
    AP on Yahoo ^ | 4/5/08 | Angus Shaw - ap
    HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's opposition leader on Saturday accused President Robert Mugabe of preparing a "war against the people" and said the party was reluctant to take part in a presidential runoff election. Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai stopped short of threatening a boycott but said there was a mounting climate of fear. "ZANU-PF is preparing a war against the people," Tsvangirai told a news conference. "In the runoff, violence will be the weapon. It is therefore unfair and unreasonable for President Mugabe to call a runoff." On Friday, the ruling ZANU-PF party said Mugabe would fight to...
  • Gorden named to I-69/TTC advisory committee

    04/01/2008 5:50:42 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 2 replies · 493+ views
    The Lufkin Daily News ^ | April 1, 2008 | Gary Willmon
    Lufkin Mayor Jack Gorden has been selected by the Texas Transportation Committee to serve on a citizens' advisory committee for putting together information regarding the proposed Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor. According to Texas Department of Transportation officials, advisory committee members represent a cross-section of community and business leaders, landowners, local transportation experts and others. "Our goal is to enhance the public dialogue and meaningfully involve more Texans in transportation decisions," said Texas Transportation Commission Chair Hope Andrade. "These committees will have an important seat at the table as we work together to shape the future of transportation for our state." Gorden...
  • Zimbabwe's opposition claims win on early results

    03/29/2008 7:37:56 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 24 replies · 981+ views
    Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 3/29/08 | Reuters
    HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition claimed victory on Sunday based on early results from an election in which it is trying to unseat President Robert Mugabe after 28 years of power. "It's a historic moment for all of us. We have won this election, we have won this election," Tendai Biti, secretary general of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told reporters, diplomats and observers at a briefing. The opposition has accused Mugabe of employing election-rigging tactics to stay in power despite Zimbabwe's economic woes and African observers say they detected fraud in Saturday's ballot. Biti said his...
  • Locals chosen to Trans-Texas Corridor citizens’ advisory committees

    03/29/2008 3:34:17 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 9 replies · 424+ views
    The Waco Tribune-Herald ^ | March 28, 2008 | Ken Sury
    The Texas Transportation Commission today selected members to serve on two citizens’ advisory committees for the Trans-Texas Corridor. Area residents on the I-35 Corridor Advisory Committee include Karen Marstaller of Waco, Don Greene of Lorena and John Erwin of Hillsboro. Each committee will advise the Texas Department of Transportation in the planning of two priority corridors. One committee will focus on Interstate 35 corridor and TTC-35, while the other committee will advise the department on the proposed Interstate 69 corridor and I-69/TTC. The Corridor Advisory Committees represent a cross-section of community and business leaders, land owners, local transportation experts and...
  • Officials: 'Trans-Texas Corridor' a taboo, but need real

    03/28/2008 5:55:47 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 18 replies · 1,011+ views
    The Fort Worth Star-Telegram ^ | March 28, 2008 | Gordon Dickson
    FORT WORTH -- The Trans-Texas Corridor is now so controversial, merely uttering the words in most political circles is taboo. "We're calling it a 'regional loop' because you can't say 'Trans-Texas Corridor' in the state of Texas anymore," said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. "The Trans-Texas Corridor is a lightning rod," he told visiting state representatives this week while explaining how the corridor would connect to regional highways by 2030. Opposition to the proposed construction of a $184 billion network of toll roads during the next 50 years is so strong statewide that...
  • McReynolds to TxDOT: 'Drop I-69/TTC absurdity'

    03/26/2008 5:37:17 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 29 replies · 514+ views
    The Lufkin Daily News ^ | March 25, 2008 | Gary Willmon
    State Rep. Jim McReynolds has sent a letter to the Texas Department of Transportation saying he thinks TxDOT should drop the idea of tying the Trans-Texas Corridor in with plans for routing Interstate 69 through East Texas. McReynolds says tremendous negative outcry from his constituents and other East Texas residents has made it clear to him no one wants infrastructure that massive and disruptive to the quality of life to be built, taking big swaths out of the Pineywoods countryside. "Within the past several weeks, I have personally attended every TxDOT hearing held in my district regarding this proposed corridor,"...
  • Putting up a roadblock of questions

    03/20/2008 2:11:38 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 3 replies · 330+ views
    Houston Chronicle ^ | March 20, 2008 | Lisa Falkenberg
    LUFKIN — Mae Smith, the 64-year-old mayor of the teeny Central Texas town of Holland, seized the civic center lectern like a dragon-slayer ascending the throne. In a fiery red pantsuit and a voice that echoed without the help of a malfunctioning microphone, she and her cohorts revealed to a crowd of about 50 souls clad in denim and plaid a little-known weapon against the foe of all in the room: Gov. Rick Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor. The weapon, Smith said, doesn't involve marching on the Texas Capitol, like more than 1,000 did last year, some on tractors and horses. It...
  • Anti-corridor groups apprise locals of ways to 'just say no to TTC'

    03/17/2008 5:19:26 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 3 replies · 417+ views
    The Lufkin Daily News ^ | March 17, 2008 | Steven Alford
    Plots by Communists to infiltrate America. The disintegration of borders and rural areas. Citizens mobilizing and rising up against government agencies and big business. It all sounds like the plot for a summer blockbuster, but it's something that could be happening in your own backyard. These were just a few of the topics addressed in the "How to fight the TTC" workshop, held Monday at the Pitser Garrison Civic Center in Lufkin. The conference served as an informational meeting aimed at informing citizens and local government officials how they can unite in trying to stop the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project....
  • Anti-corridor groups plan Monday workshop at civic center

    03/16/2008 3:04:05 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 10 replies · 491+ views
    The Lufkin Daily News ^ | March 16, 2008 | Steven Alford
    There's been a lot of talk about the new Trans-Texas Corridor — the next-generation "super-highway" — and opinions are varying. Now the debate is coming to Lufkin's doorstep. On Monday, the American Land Foundation, Stewards of the Range and TURF will hold a workshop at Lufkin's Pitser Garrison Civic Center on how to stop the Trans-Texas Corridor 69. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A portion of Texas citizens have voiced their opposition to the TTC-69 in public meetings held by the Texas Department of Transportation, but believing they are not being heard, four cities and their...
  • Deadline looms for ‘corridor’ comments

    03/15/2008 4:08:19 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 5 replies · 314+ views
    The Brenham Banner-Press ^ | March 15, 2008 | Alan Nieschwietz
    Time is almost up for Texas residents who wish to submit a comment on the proposed Trans Texas Corridor, which must be received by the Texas Department of Transportation by Wednesday. Submissions of comments would have to be made either by mail or online at this point, and can be sent to I-69/TTC, P.O. Box 14428, Austin, TX 78761, or go to keeptexasmoving.com, then click on “question or comment” on the left side of the screen. Previously, throughout February and March, TxDOT held 47 well-attended hearings at which oral comments from the public were taken into account. The TTC has...
  • TxDOT makes $1 billion error

    03/12/2008 2:15:26 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 16 replies · 530+ views
    The Cherokeean Herald ^ | March 12, 2008 | Leland Acker
    In the midst of inflation, funding difficulties and halted expansion projects, a budget error on the part of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) may have exacerbated their challenges. "TxDOT does some mysterious accounting," said Rep. Chuck Hopson (D-Jacksonville). "They had close to $1 billion counted in their budget twice." "That was a serious error on our part and we have made changes to try to prevent that type of error from occurring again," said TxDOT Spokesman Chris Lippincott, adding that the amount added twice in their financial statement was unrelated to the $1.2 billion in federal rescissions, which are...
  • McReynolds talks TxDOT at First Friday luncheon

    03/11/2008 1:24:51 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 4 replies · 268+ views
    Diboll Free Press ^ | March 12, 2008 | Jerry Gaulding
    Senior executives of the Texas Department of Transportation can expect some heavy grilling from state legislators when the state Legislature convenes next January, state Rep. Jim McReynolds said Friday. Speaking to the monthly First Friday luncheon of The Chamber, Lufkin-Angelina County, McReynolds said many legislators, especially those from rural East Texas, are unhappy with TxDOT leaders over the Trans- Texas Corridor project and how it has incorporated plans for an Interstate 69 through the region. McReynolds said he attended all four of the TxDOT hearings on the TTC held in his district, which included one in Diboll, and "never heard...
  • McReynolds: Expect legislative fireworks over I-69/TTC

    03/08/2008 8:50:35 AM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 12 replies · 361+ views
    The Lufkin Daily News ^ | March 7, 2008 | Nick Wade
    State Representative Jim McReynolds previewed the 2009 legislative session at Friday's First Friday Chamber luncheon, with the hot topics going into the biennial madhouse listed as the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor, the growing issue of water supply, and the battle over the top 10 percent rule that allows Texas high school students to be admitted to any state college if they graduate in the top 10 percent of their class. According to McReynolds, the legislators are "not too happy" with the Texas Department of Transportation, which has been under fire for its proposed I-69/TTC plans. "This (the I-69/TTC) is something we never...
  • TxDOT accused of breaking federal law

    03/06/2008 1:18:28 PM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 9 replies · 143+ views
    The Navasota Examiner & Grimes County Review ^ | March 6, 2008 | Rosemary Smith
    Texas spirit was alive and well at the Navasota DEIS public hearing on Feb. 28. Opposition groups, such as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, came from as far as Washington, D.C. to give recorded testimony, and get a first hand look at TxDOT process procedures. Assistant Director of Communications, Leigh Strope, who attended the meeting on behalf of the 34,000 Texas Teamsters Union members, says, “Teamsters want to stop the dangerous trend of selling our roads and bridges to foreign investors so they can slap tolls on the driving public. We are also concerned because the Trans-Texas Corridor would form...
  • Texans ponder where superhighway might take them

    03/04/2008 1:28:23 PM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 12 replies · 332+ views
    The Boston Globe ^ | March 4, 2008 | Peter Canellos
    REFUGIO, Texas - With an abandoned Wild West-vintage town of storefronts slumbering just a block from old US 77, tiny Refugio is a place where myth and reality coexist in a ghostly silence. more stories like this Obama faces heat over aide's NAFTA remarks to Canadians Texas, Ohio could decide Dem nomination Canada says didn't misrepresent Obama over NAFTA McCain tags Dems on trade treaty NAFTA seen differently in Ohio, Texas And now this South Texas outpost is swept up in one of the more intriguing tests of myth vs. reality in today's political life: the battle over the so-called...
  • I-69 public hearing draws large crowd

    03/03/2008 2:01:04 PM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 13 replies · 256+ views
    The Tribune ^ | March 3, 2008 | Bonnie McKeena
    Heated comments flew around the room as more than 175 citizens gathered to voice their opinions at the TxDOT open house and public hearing on the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor held at the Humble Civic Center on Feb. 28, 2008. Congress designated I-69 as a high priority corridor in 1991 and again in 1998. In 2002, TxDOT unveiled the Trans-Texas Corridor project to accommodate Texas' future transportation needs. The TTC is a part of a 4,000-mile system of rail lines, truck and car lanes and concentrated utility routes to improve international and intrastate movement of goods and people from Canada to the...
  • City joins anti-TTC forces

    03/01/2008 4:05:42 PM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 3 replies · 87+ views
    El Camp Leader-News ^ | March 1, 2008 | Shannon Crabtree
    Resolution encourages U.S. 59 development El Campo City Council joined in the protest cries against the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor Monday night advocating an improved and expanded U.S. 59 instead. Possible economic impacts from the proposed TTC corridor caused concern with draft versions of the roadway limiting access, cutting through family farms and bypassing many cities completely.
  • County backs community efforts against Trans-Texas Corridor

    02/27/2008 2:16:37 PM PST · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 8 replies · 161+ views
    The Daily Sentinel ^ | February 26, 2008 | Michael Rodden
    The Nacogdoches County commissioners court voted Tuesday to support numerous community members who have recently turned out in droves opposing the proposed I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor by adopting a resolution against the project. The resolution is expected to be sent to the Texas Department of Transportation and to the governor's office. Precinct 4 Commissioner Tom Strickland said that it's apparent most people in Nacogdoches County approved of the original project — a standard Interstate roadway. But now most are opposed to the large TTC structure. 145th District Court Judge Campbell Cox II submitted a map that showed several oil and gas wells...