Free Republic

This amusing story comes from Ballot Access News: Section 192.031 of the Texas election code says that political parties must certify their presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the November ballot no later than 70 days before the general election. It says, “A political party is entitled to have the names of its nominees for president and vice-president placed on the ballot if before 5 p.m. of the 70th day before presidential election day, the party’s state chair signs and delivers to the secretary of state a written certification of the name’s of the party’s nominees for president and vice-president.” This...

Foods vie for best of fried title at State Fair of Texas 04:52 PM CDT on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 By ERIC AASEN / The Dallas Morning News eaasen@dallasnews.com Who will be crowned this year’s king or queen of fried fair goodness? Maybe it will be a cook who whips up something sweet, like the Fried Banana Split or Texas Fried Jelly Bellys or Fire & Ice, a deep-fried pineapple ring. Or something chocolate, like the Fried Chocolate Truffles or Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Waffle Balls or Deep Fried S’mores. Then again, it could be something savory, like Chicken Fried Bacon or...

WASHINGTON – John Edwards' political career is probably not coming back. But Fred Baron insists he is not going away. The Dallas trial lawyer, both celebrated and vilified as the King of Toxic Torts, made a handsome living confronting big companies on behalf of sick and some not-so-sick plaintiffs. He's a lightning rod again, after admitting he paid to move the presidential candidate's mistress away from prying tabloid reporters. He says political enemies will try to use the episode against his efforts to elect Democratic candidates in Texas....

It's good to see the state's top three leaders now on the same page – literally – on at least a few ways to attack the problem of under-funded roadway needs. Breakthrough No. 1 – admitting a problem. Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick – never political chums – all put their signatures on a joint statement last week conceding that Texas' "ability to fund needed transportation projects in the future is limited." Breakthrough No. 2 – committing to specific fixes. The most welcome one was a pledge to quit siphoning off road money...

EL PASO, Texas — Security is being heightened along the southern U.S. border because of a threat that warring Mexican cartels may send hit men into the United States, authorities said Monday. Law enforcement officials would not discuss specific security measures being taken at the ports of entry, along the border or in the city of El Paso, Texas. "We received credible information that drug cartels in Mexico have given permission to hit targets on the U.S. side of the border," El Paso police spokesman Officer Chris Mears said. Authorities learned of the threat last week. U.S. Customs and Border...

Students in Stripes? by: Deborah Lambert, August 25, 2008 At least one Texas high school has finally decided to get tough with students. Starting this fall, anyone who violates the dress code at Gonzales High School will spend the rest of the day in a prison-like jump suit. Opinions differ on the merits of this plan. “Some parents said the jumpsuits will make students feel like prisoners, but the district said it’s just a way to keep the children dressed appropriately for school,” according to NewsChannel6.com. Student Jordan Meredith suggests that his schoolmates may end up having the last laugh....

Despite the warning signs placed near West University Elementary School, two drivers were caught by surprise this morning as police began enforcing a new ordinance banning cell phone use in the school zone. Parents who were bringing children for the first day of classes praised the new law, which prohibits the use of cell phones or other electronic devices during one-hour periods in the morning and afternoon.... The ban is in effect from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Violators could be liable for a fine of up to $200 for the first offense and...

Kids With History of Skipping School To Wear Ankle Bracelets Equipped With Satellite Technology (AP) Court authorities here will be able to track students with a history of skipping school under a new program requiring them to wear ankle bracelets using satellite technology. But at least one group is worried the ankle bracelets, with Global Positioning System monitoring, will infringe on students' privacy. Linda Penn, a Bexar County justice of the peace, said she anticipates that about 50 students from four San Antonio-area school districts - likely to be mostly high schoolers - will wear the anklets during the six-month...

IRVING, Texas -- Some members of the Hispanic community are calling for a boycott of Frank Parra dealerships after a broken car deal led to an undocumented immigrant's arrest. Frank Parra Dodge insists it is the victim of an immigration smear campaign brought on by community activist Carlos Quintanilla. Quintanilla is calling for a boycott after the sales staff at the dealership had customer Oscar Urbina arrested. Urbina admitted to being in the country illegally and using a fake Social Security number to buy a truck when the finance company flagged the deal. "That's when we said, 'Just give us...

For more than a year, much of the news from the oil industry hasn’t exactly been positive. The price for a barrel of oil reached record highs and seemingly a daily basis, and the quarterly profit statements by the major oil companies hit records as well. With U.S. drivers paying previously unheard-of prices to fill up their tanks, the oil industry was the enemy. This was true here in Southeast Texas, even though oil is a crucial element of the region’s economy. Oil and pump prices have eased recently, and that’s not the only reason the blood pressure of area...

Federal authorities may unravel a tiny Panhandle government with far-reaching powers. The U.S. Department of Justice blocked changes to Texas law that last fall helped create the board of the Roberts County Fresh Water Supply District, a body dominated by employees of Texas billionaire T. Boone Pickens. Losing the district's authority could complicate Pickens' most visible means so far of running pipeline and power line infrastructure across the state. Jay Rosser, spokesman for Pickens' Mesa Water, said the decision as Mesa officials understood it did little to change the board or plans to move massive water and wind energy resources...

CLEBURNE — A 43-year-old woman was arrested Friday on accusations that she engaged in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy.Julie von Tungeln surrendered on a warrant for sexual assault at the Johnson County Jail. Bail was set at $10,000.Sgt. Amy Knoll said Cleburne police began investigating the case this week after receiving a report alleging that Von Tungeln had been involved in sexual relationships with underage teenage boys. Knoll said the report was made by one of the boys’ parents.

Governor Perry and other state leaders have agreed to bring a halt to the practice which some say has led to toll roads...the diversion of money from the state's highway fund to other projects, 1200 WOAI news reports. "Implement a plan that sets a definitive course to end the practice of funding the Department of Public Safety with gas taxes that are needed for road construction, and return to funding the DPS with general revenue," is the first goal in a long term transportation funding plan released by Perry, Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, and House Speaker Tom Craddick. 1200 WOAI...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Public investment funds based in Texas could invest directly in transportation projects through a new corporation under a plan unveiled on Thursday by the state's legislative leaders and the governor. Texas has the nation's biggest road privatization plan but the legislature, reacting to criticisms that developers were enriching themselves at the expense of taxpayers, enacted a two-year moratorium. That has crimped road-building projects and led to a series of clashes between the governor and the legislature, who now have agreed on a compromise plan. Developers, including overseas companies, investment banks and private equity funds all vie...

EDINBURG -- A nearly half-ton woman charged with capital murder in the death of her 2-year-old nephew faces additional charges following a grand jury indictment Thursday. Investigators suspect Mayra Lizbeth Rosales, 27, hit Eliseo Gonzalez Jr. at least two times on March 18, crushing the child's head. The bedridden woman told investigators at the time that she accidentally crushed Eliseo under her own weight while trying to pick him up. In addition to the capital murder charge - which carries a death sentence upon conviction - she was indicted on one count of first-degree murder, a charge punishable by up...

Confronted with a pistol and bound with duct tape, the owner of a northwest Harris County store decided not to quietly submit and hope his attacker would show mercy. The businessman worked himself free, got his own gun and killed the robber in a shootout, sheriff's deputies said. The incident happened about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday when a man walked into the cellular phone store in the 12000 block of Veterans Memorial Drive near Antoine, pulled out a gun and tied up the owner, sheriff's detectives said. "He (the robber) was in the process of trying to disable the surveillance equipment...

<p>A Texas jury has found a man guilty of grooming children as young as 5 to perform sex shows at a swingers club.</p> <p>Patrick "Booger Red" Kelly was convicted of engaging in organized criminal activity Thursday after jurors deliberated about two hours. He faces a possible life sentence. That was the sentence two others linked to the club received this year.</p>

Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

Attorneys for [Jeffery] Wood were in the federal courts this week seeking permission to hire mental health experts to pursue their arguments that Wood is incompetent to be executed tonight. Texas courts have turned down Wood’s appeals. Wood was convicted in the January 1996 slaying of Kriss Keeran, 31, at a Texaco in Kerrville. ...[Daniel] Reneau, Wood’s roommate, was executed in 2002 for shooting Keeran.

(KCPW News) Utah lawmakers took tips on highway funding from a Texas legislator this morning. Texas Republican Representative Mike Krusee joined them on Capitol Hill. He told the Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee that with federal money drying up, the only way to pay for new highways is to make them toll roads. "Guess how many roads pay for themselves in taxes? Zero. Not a one. Most of them are less than 50 percent," said Krusee. "Imagine if you're a grocery a store owner, and you decide, I'm gonna sell sirloin at a buck a pound, and I'm gonna sell...

An apartment resident shoots another man to death after that man tried to enter his southwest Houston unit, according to Harris County Sheriff's deputies. Investigators say Clarence Hill, 28, had an argument Tuesday night with John Cruz, 21, at the Sierra Pines Apartments on the 6400 block of Sierra Blanca Drive near Presidio Square Boulevard. Cruz ran into his apartment and was followed by Hill, who forced his way into the unit, according to investigators. After Hill entered the home, deputies say Cruz shot and killed him. The Harris County grand jury will determine whether or not Cruz will face...

AUSTIN — Two Republican state lawmakers have asked the Texas attorney general how far the state can go in dealing with illegal immigration, from yanking licenses for businesses to banning cities from enacting “sanctuary” ordinances. On Tuesday, Rep. Frank Corte of San Antonio and Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston asked Attorney General Greg Abbott for a legal opinion on the issues, hinting at a possible flare-up over immigration issues in the 2009 legislative session, which begins in January. “I really believe that the citizenry are asking for something to be done,” said Corte, who is chairman of the House Republicans....

Perry says school districts should decide own gun rules By JANET ELLIOTT Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Aug. 18, 2008, 11:35PM AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry said Monday that local school districts should be able to decide whether to allow concealed weapons on their campuses. "I'm pretty much a fan that if you've been trained, if you are registered, then you ought to be able to carry a weapon," Perry said.

TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-182200- HOUSTON-TRINITY-MADISON-WALKER-SAN JACINTO-POLK-BURLESON-BRAZOS- WASHINGTON-GRIMES-MONTGOMERY-LIBERTY-COLORADO-AUSTIN-WALLER- HARRIS-CHAMBERS-WHARTON-FORT BEND-JACKSON-MATAGORDA-BRAZORIA- GALVESTON- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...CROCKETT...TRINITY...GROVETON... MADISONVILLE...HUNTSVILLE...SHEPHERD...COLDSPRING...LIVINGSTON... CORRIGAN...ONALASKA...CALDWELL...LAKE SOMERVILLE... COLLEGE STATION...BRYAN...BRENHAM...NAVASOTA...THE WOODLANDS... CONROE...WILLIS...LIBERTY...CLEVELAND...DAYTON...COLUMBUS... EAGLE LAKE...WEIMAR...SEALY...BELLVILLE...HEMPSTEAD... PRAIRIE VIEW...BROOKSHIRE...HOUSTON...PASADENA...KATY...TOMBALL... HUMBLE...WINNIE...MONT BELVIEU...ANAHUAC...EL CAMPO...WHARTON... PIERCE...SUGAR LAND...MISSOURI CITY...RICHMOND...ROSENBERG... EDNA...BAY CITY...PALACIOS...PEARLAND...LAKE JACKSON...ALVIN... ANGLETON...FREEPORT...LEAGUE CITY...TEXAS CITY...FRIENDSWOOD... GALVESTON 546 AM CDT MON AUG 18 2008 ...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL EXPECTED TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY... AN APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL COMBINE WITH DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE AND A STALLED SURFACE TROUGH TO PRODUCE SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. ADDITIONAL ROUNDS OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY AS THE UPPER LOW SETTLES ACROSS TEXAS AND WEAK DISTURBANCES ROTATE AROUND THE...

Lately I have heard from some of you, asking about the Corridor. Most folks believe it is over, dead, gone from our beautiful East Texas. I have been watching our government's actions on this subject. Did you know that in TxDOT's cover letter to the federal government it states they will only use existing highways to build their corridor? Did you know that TxDOT also stated that it may need to build in non-existing paths also, some time in the future. Citizens, I write you today to make sure you understand that the corridor issue in Trinity County has not...

Michael Gonzales gave a $3,000 teacup poodle to his girlfriend as a graduation gift. Missy, the dog, was almost three-years-old and weighed three pounds. The little pup had a big appetite and last Tuesday morning, Missy choked while gobbling down her dinner. With her airway partially blocked, veterinarian care was a must. "We jumped in the car rushed down to the New Braunfels pet clinic. She had just gone limp right as we ran out of door," said Gonzales. The dash cam video from the San Marcos police officer's car shows Gonzales speeding down I-35, police say at speeds up...

Cleveland High School theatre teacher and Student Council sponsor Laurie Anne Lewis was arrested Aug. 12 on charges of prostitution in downtown Houston. According to a Houston Police Department spokesman, Lewis, 38, was arrested in “an ongoing undercover operation.” Since Lewis’ arrest is part of a continuing investigation, the offense report regarding her arrest has not been made public. Charges were brought against Lewis by HPD officers early in the morning of Aug. 13. Lewis posted a $500 cash bond later that day through local Houston bonding agency A Better Bail Bonds. She is scheduled to be arraigned in Harris...

HOUSTON (Reuters) – A Texas school district will let teachers bring guns to class this fall, the district's superintendent said on Friday, in what experts said appeared to be a first in the United States. The board of the small rural Harrold Independent School District unanimously approved the plan and parents have not objected, said the district's superintendent, David Thweatt. School experts backed Thweatt's claim that Harrold, a system of about 110 students 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth, may be the first to let teachers bring guns to the classroom. Thweatt said it is a matter of safety. "We...

A murder suspect wanted by Abilene police for more than two months was arrested late Wednesday night at the U.S.-Mexican border, according to the police department. Joe Guadalupe Rangel, 26, who is accused of murder in connection with the May death of 29-year-old Albert Cadena, showed either a driver's license or a passport at the U.S. point of entry after returning from Mexico. Border officials there discovered the active murder warrant and took him to the Hidalgo County Jail, a jail officer there said. Rangel also faces a charge of cocaine possession. Cadena's body was found in a North Abilene...

HOUSTON – Houston police say they are investigating a shooting where a homeowner fought back and shot a suspected burglar. Investigators say that the ordeal began after two men broke into a home on Pecan Villas in southeast Houston. The homeowner heard the suspects and then grabbed his gun and shot at the reported intruders, police say. One of the men was hit. He was taken to the hospital and is in serious condition. The second suspect was arrested at the scene.

Condemned inmate Michael Rodriguez, convicted of taking part in killing a Dallas-area police officer nearly eight years ago while a member of the infamous "Texas 7" gang of escaped fugitives, was executed Thursday. He was the eighth convicted killer executed this year in the nation's busiest capital punishment state and the fourth this month. Another is set for next week.

HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- A twice-convicted killer with a history of violence that continued even after he was sent to death row was executed Tuesday for gunning down two video store workers during a robbery 14 years ago in Dallas. "...See y'all when you get there," Leon David Dorsey IV said in his final statement. "Do what you're going to do." Dorsey was the seventh prisoner executed this year in the nation's most active death penalty state and the first of two inmates scheduled to die this week. Two more are to die next week.

Texas Rangers are investigating 20 cases of sexual assault and about 50 bigamy charges involving members of the FLDS Church, the Deseret News has learned. Texas officials on Monday confirmed the number of open cases but would not say how many suspects were involved. "We are working with several other agencies on this investigation, and I do not know what ultimately the team will decide to do as far as possible charges filed," Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said. The investigation has already prompted five indictments, including one against the church's leader, Warren Jeffs. A Schleicher...

Edwards Scandal Puts Texas Plaintiffs Lawyer on the DefensiveTuesday August 12, 3:02 am ET Zach Lowe, The American Lawyer Dallas-area Democrats defended Fred Baron on Monday, saying his loyalty to his friends and passion for Democratic politics were behind his payments to John Edwards' mistress and the Edwards campaign worker who has identified himself as the father of her child. Baron, a trial lawyer who became one of the kings of asbestos litigation, has admitted paying Rielle Hunter and former Edwards campaign staffer Andrew Young's relocation expenses when they moved out of North Carolina and into million-dollar homes in California...

At what price will corn be so expensive that the federal government will decide that it is time to stop driving up the price of food? Three years ago, Congress imposed a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) mandate that has forced the gasoline industry to mix massive amounts of corn-based ethanol into the nation's fuel supply. In 2007, Congress nearly doubled that mandate to require nine billion gallons of ethanol be blended into gas in 2008 and even more in 2009. But, as a safety valve, Congress gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the power to waive the new mandates if...

(Dallas, TX) -- A Dallas killer, one of the most dangerous men on Death Row, will be executed tonight. Leon Dorsey freely admits that he murdered two Blockbuster employees in Dallas during a high-profile 1994 robbery. He shows no remorse over the brutal killings and refuses to apologize. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice keeps Dorsey on its highest lockdown level because of a history of violence and threats. In his eight years on Death Row, Dorsey has amassed nearly 100 infractions including an attack where he stabbed a guard 14 times with a hand-made shank. The guard was saved...

The invisible hand of the marketplace is alive and well in Texas. Over the past 12 months Texas has created 245,000 jobs. That accounts for more than half of the jobs created in America during that time. Not coincidentally, Texas has the second lowest tax burden of the 50 states. Even conservative estimates have projected a $10 billion surplus for the next biennium. Texas also leads the nation in energy production — 30% of the natural gas and 20% of oil produced in America comes from Texas. So what can the rest of the nation learn from Texas when it...

The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday denied a request by Texas to temporarily cut federal ethanol requirements for the nation's fuel supply, saying the state had not proved that the recent rise in corn prices is severely hurting its economy. Under the energy law signed late last year, 9 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel must be blended into gasoline between Sept. 1, 2008, and Aug. 31, 2009, to meet a national Renewable Fuels Standard. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) sought to reduce that to 4.5 billion gallons, on the grounds that the mandate is hurting livestock producers and increasing food...

At least a dozen people have been killed in a bus crash in Sherman, north of Dallas, this morning. Sherman police say the bus was heading north on Highway 75 when it ran off the highway near Park Aveneue a little before 1 a.m. A police department spokesman says they're investigating a report that the bus blew a tire but that has not been confirmed. The bus was apparently on its way from Houston to Missouri. An unknown number of passengers were hurt, some of them critically, and they've taken to area hospitals.

An illegal immigrant from Honduras who claimed his treaty rights were violated when he was arrested for a robbery-murder near Dallas lost his appeal ... at the U.S. Supreme Court, clearing the way for his execution. In the second case of its kind this week in Texas, lawyers for condemned killer Heliberto Chi went to the nation's highest court claiming Chi should have been told he could get legal assistance from the Honduran consulate when he was arrested in California and extradited to Texas to face charges for killing his former boss at a men's clothing store during a robbery...

God Bless Texas! The Lone Star State has done the world a favor by disposing of a piece of human garbage that raped and brutally murdered two teenage girls. What makes this even sweeter is Texas did it in defiance of the International Court of Justice (is that the one Aquaman and Wonder Woman are on?), the Mexican government (the murderer-rapist was a Mexican), the Organization of American States, and a sobbing clutch of bed-wetting, criminal loving "human rights" activists and lawyers. Here's a quote from the article for those who want a good belly laugh: David Fathi of Human...

Heliberto Chi, a Honduran native...moved one step closer to execution Wednesday when [Texas"] highest criminal court rejected his bid for a stay. Chi, condemned for killing Armand Paliotta during an after-hours robbery ...will be put to death tonight in Huntsville unless his lawyers can persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to spare his life. Arlington attorney Wes Ball said the odds are against Chi because Ball’s argument is similar to the one the justices rejected Tuesday when they allowed the execution of Mexican national Jose Ernesto Medellin to go forward.

Folks, By accident of birth, I was born in Canada of British parents. Automagically, that entitled me to two passports: one from Canada and another from the United Kingdom. I married a wonderful Kiwi girl and ultimately emigrated to her homeland and took out Citizenship. That gave me another passport: New Zealand. I am fiercely patriotic to three countries: Canada, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. But I'd really like to be a Texan. Not a fake Texan, but a real one, or at least an Honorary one. Granted, I can't be born in Texas -- but neither was Davy...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Mexican national Jose Ernesto Medellin has been executed by lethal injection, according to Texas prison officials. Jose Ernesto Medellin was put to death for his part in the gang rape and murder of two Texas girls. Corrections spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said Medellin died at 9:57 CT. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the last-ditch appeal of a Mexican national on Texas' death row late Tuesday, paving the way for him to be executed for a pair of brutal slayings, state corrections officials said. Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said about 9:15 p.m. that the court...

Splitting 5-4, the Supreme Court refused Tuesday night to delay the execution in Texas of Mexican national Jose Ernesto Medellin. The majority’s unsigned opinion, and dissents by each of the other four Justices, can be read here. Since the death warrant was to remain in effect until 1 a.m. Eastern time, Texas was expected to go ahead with the exection that had originally been scheduled for 7 p.m. It was delayed at least three hours by the Court’s review of a series of claims for relief by Medellin’s attorneys. The majority said that the chance that Congress or the Texas...

After backing the sovereignty of the state of Texas and rejecting international meddling, the US Supreme Court’s consideration of a last-ditch appeal has put illegal alien rapist/double murderer Jose Medellin’s scheduled execution tonight on hold. Stay tuned for late-breaking developments.

WASHINGTON -- Injecting last-minute uncertainty into a case that has garnered international attention, the U.S. Supreme Court considered a late-hour appeal by Texas death row inmate Jose Ernesto Medellin on Tuesday night, disrupting the timetable for his scheduled execution in the 1993 rape and murder of two Houston teenagers.

The state of Texas urged the Supreme Court on Monday to allow it to go ahead on Tuesday with the execution of Mexican national Jose Ernesto Medellin, arguing that he has several times received all of the review of his case that American or international law requires. But, the state added, if there are other foreign nationals in Texas who have not had the same review of their treaty-based claims, the state will join in to make sure that it happens. Medellin’s lawyers have asked Justice Antonin Scalia, as Circuit Justice for the area that includes Texas, to postpone his...

Eldorado, Texas -- For those inside the fence on a West Texas ranch populated by members of a polygamous faith, Wednesday was a holy day. For those on the outside, it was a day that passed without a hint of the apocalyptic scenario forecast by people in and out of Texas, including some former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. .... The ranch now includes 11 dormitory-style residences, several workshops, a chicken coop, a limestone-mining quarry, a cement plant, a garden and crop fields. It has its own ambulance, firetruck and garbage truck, as...

The Texas Transportation Commission approves the staff recommendation for a proposal by Zachry American Infrastructure and ACS Infrastructure (ZAI/ACS) to develop the Texas portion of Interstate 69. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) selected the ZAI/ACS proposal over a proposal from Bluebonnet Infrastructure Investors. The proposed ZAI/ACS master plan would develop the southern section of U.S. Highway 77 to interstate standards without tolling that portion of the road. The proposal advances planning for I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC). The selection of ZAI/ACS for a development contract has no impact on TxDOT's environmental study that will determine the route for I-69/TTC. TxDOT will...