Free Republic

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...

Driving down to Austin lately has become a real trip. I-35 is usually packed for most of the 185 miles, and what used to take three or four hours now can take five or six. Flying down can take almost as long, when you figure in airline security delays, more flight delays, and the time it takes getting into and out of crowded airports. But what if it took 45 minutes to travel from the Metroplex to Austin by train or an hour to make a trip to Houston? Advocates of high-speed rail lines are floating these ideas once again...

It's not the least bit hard to describe the choice that Texas Transportation Commission members will face Thursday at their meeting in Austin: (1) Agree with the overwhelming preference of this region's elected officials and allow the North Texas Tollway Authority to build the Texas 121 toll road in Denton and Collin counties, or (2) award the lucrative project to the apparent favorite among state toll road devotees, the Spanish company Cintra.From here, it's an easy decision: Pick NTTA.But there is reason to worry that in the boiling pot of Austin politics, the commission may see things differently. Because of...

A two-year ban on long-term toll road leases with private companies, pockmarked with exceptions and thus largely symbolic, cleared a Texas Senate committee Wednesday on a unanimous vote. However, the more meaningful action on toll roads should begin in the next two weeks, when a large bill addressing a wide range of concerns over tollways will be introduced in the Senate. The much-publicized moratorium bill by Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, Senate Bill 1267, has an excellent chance of passing the Senate, given that 29 of 31 senators have either signed on as co-sponsors or voted for it in committee. But despite...

In the political world, rapid change only occurs when the public focuses attention on a specific issue. We have that situation right now in Austin. Public and legislative attention is focused on the Texas Department of Transportation and a proposed moratorium on the Comprehensive Development Agreement process, including the recently announced CDA to construct State Highway 121 in Collin County. This public and legislative attention may offer an opportunity for Texas to reaffirm our commitment to focus government spending on core functions – in this case, transportation. There are many subplots swirling in this complex CDA moratorium issue – reining...

Hundreds of people angry with the state's toll road contracts sounded off before state senators Thursday. Public hearings on toll roads and the Trans Texas Corridor began early Thursday morning. Senators invited public input because state lawmakers will make some important decisions this session about how to pay for highways. So many people showed up that crowds were forced into overflow rooms. The Texas Department of Transportation and toll roads have found many critics, largely because of the private companies hired to build and run them. There are also questions about how much taxpayers pay for the roads. Speakers sounded...

DENTON - "Grandma" lost her argument for a contrived ballot nickname. But Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn of Austin might have found a plank on which to build a campaign against Gov. Rick Perry. It's a plank 600 miles long and a quarter-mile wide. It's a giant, privately owned, multilane tollway that would part the Texas countryside the way the governor parts his ample hair. Strayhorn, a Republican running as an independent candidate, has criticized the Trans-Texas Corridor tollway plan loudly for months. So have the other principal challengers in this traffic jam of a race, novelist Kinky Friedman of Medina...

Aid push made for 5 tied to Hamas Backers seek to raise $500,000 for Muslim brothers' legal team 02/15/2003 By STEVE McGONIGLE / The Dallas Morning News Supporters of five brothers accused of doing business with Middle Eastern terrorists are asking the Dallas-area Muslim community to help raise $500,000 to pay for a team of prominent attorneys hired to defend the men. The Muslim Legal Fund of America, a nonprofit group established by friends of Richardson businessman Ghassan Elashi and his brothers, is having a fund-raiser Saturday at the Dallas Central Mosque. A leaflet distributed by the fund described...

The tinderbox that is North Texas erupted Tuesday into wind-blown grass fires that torched homes in Tarrant and Hood counties and blackened thousands of acres across the region. In Hood County, flames destroyed 20 to 30 homes, displacing 50 to 75 people, officials said. Five homes in Arlington and three in Kennedale were seriously damaged or destroyed, officials said. Near Gainesville, a woman died trying to protect a home from fire, authorities said. "I can't tell you how fast these fires have ignited," said Traci Weaver, a spokeswoman for the Texas Forest Service. "It's just crazy." Gov. Rick Perry issued...

The Texas Department of Transportation is in the process of identifying preliminary routes for its proposed Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, some of which could be located in Montgomery County. According to Gaby Garcia, spokeswoman for TxDOT's Turnpike Authority Division, TxDOT will conduct approximately 38 public meetings this summer, at which time the proposed routes would be unveiled. A public meeting is tentatively scheduled in Montgomery County in August, she said, although the date and time have not yet been determined. The initial study areas of the I-69/TTC corridor, which is to extend from Mexico to northeast Texas, range from 20 to...

FORT WORTH - Wesley Wayne Miller, convicted more than 20 years ago in the highly publicized killing of 18-year-old Retha Stratton, will be back in Tarrant County next week as the prison system makes another attempt to release him on parole. Tarrant County commissioners approved a deal with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on Tuesday to charge the state $45 a day to keep Miller in jail through Aug. 31. Miller will technically be on parole and his arrival at the jail will be the first step toward living outside prison, Sheriff Dee Anderson said. However, at least until...

Three shot in Tarrant County 02/07/2003 From Staff Reports One person died and two others were wounded Friday morning in a shooting incident in Everman. The shooting was reported about 8:30 a.m. in the 800 block of West Barron Avenue in that southern Tarrant County community. WFAA-TV Police set up crime scene tape around the scene of the shooting. Police said one man was killed in the gunfire; a man and a woman were wounded and transported to local hospitals. Authorities were continuing to investigate the incident late Friday morning. No additional information was immediately available. WFAA-TV reporter Karin...