Free Republic

AUSTIN — Early voting for the March primary is more than half over, and Democrats have outpaced Republicans at the polls on each day. Through Sunday in the 15 Texas counties with the most registered voters, 135,070 people had voted in the Republican primary and 151,236 in the Democratic. Compared with the first six days of early voting in 2014, Democratic turnout increased 69 percent, while Republicans saw a 20 percent increase.

HUMBLE, TX — The traffic in Kingwood is already an issue, but it's about to become more frustrating as crew prepare to shut down parts of the Interstate 69 bridge that spans the San Jacinto River, just south of Kingwood. The Texas Department of Transportation announced this week that they will close the southbound lanes of I-69 over the river at the end of this month to repair damages caused during flooding from Hurricane Harvey. The construction is expected to continue through the start of summer, and the start of the 2018 hurricane season, which begins in June. Humble, Kingwood...

President Trump endorsed a slate of Republicans running for reelection in Texas, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz, and encouraged Texas voters to support those who are “helping me to Make America Great again.” “I want to encourage all of my many Texas friends to vote in the primary for Governor Greg Abbott, Senator Ted Cruz, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Attorney General Ken Paxton. They are helping me to Make America Great Again! Vote early or on March 6th,” Trump tweeted.

More Democratic voters than Republicans have cast ballots ahead of next month’s primary elections in Texas, in what some party officials interpret as a new sign that a blue wave is building ahead of the midterm elections. The Texas Secretary of State’s office said 168,000 voters had cast ballots in the Democratic primary in person or by mail in the state’s ten largest counties through the end of Sunday. By contrast, 138,000 voters had cast ballots in the Republican primary. It is the first time in a decade that Texas Democrats have turned in more ballots than Republicans at this...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned supporters in a fundraising email Monday about Democrats’ turnout for the March primary, which he says should “shock every conservative to their core.” So far, more Democrats have voted early than Republicans, Dallas News reports. Through Sunday in the 15 Texas counties with the most registered voters, 135,070 people had voted in the Republican primary and 151,236 in the Democratic. Compared to the first six days of early voting in 2014, Democratic turnout increased 69 percent, while Republicans saw a 20 percent increase. The Democrats even surpassed their early voting totals from the 2016 primary...

President Trump’s call to arm more qualified teachers is going nowhere fast with the states and with teachers unions, although some individual teachers support the idea. A mini-lecture that Mr. Trump received Monday from Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee at the White House was typical of the broad pushback against his idea of putting more guns in the hands of trained adults in schools. “I have listened to the people who would be affected by that, I have listened to the biology teachers, and they don’t want to do that at any percentage,” Mr. Inslee told the president at a...

Social-media giant waits 5 years before taking action.

TCMS tradition was broken last year for two very good reasons. That, by default, started a new tradition ~ holding the shoot in the same location! I only fought a little bit to go back to original idea of not going to the same range in consecutive years. The wise ole planning committee feels that the TCMS has found its home. The TXMS VIII shoot will be held at Hicksville Gun Range, in Gatesville, TX on October 6th, starting at 10:00 a.m. Where once again we can enjoy the range dogs, the owners and lunch provided by our own cook,...

On a drizzly February morning 25 years ago, a Waco Tribune-Herald reporter knocked on a door on Double EE Ranch Road, 12 miles east of town. He was preparing to ask permission to set up to observe “a news story” expected to unfold at a religious commune across the street. A face appeared in the door, twisted in surprise and anger. The man didn’t let the reporter finish the question. “Get the f--k out of here,” the man sputtered. The reporter, Tommy Witherspoon, hurried back to a silver Honda Accord, where a photographer and another reporter waited. The car backed...

The new Texas land commissioner was a future governor or senator, maybe even a future president, in waiting. But somehow, less than four years later, Bush’s future is uncertain. “Yours truly is stuck here in Texas this week, but will be out on the trail,” Bush said. “There’s no better experience than getting involved in a presidential race because you truly do absorb so much more information than say, running for dog catcher like I did in Texas.”

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts is encouraging the National Rifle Association to hold its annual convention in his state after one of Dallas' top elected officials urged the group to find another location. Ricketts said in a tweet Friday "We want your convention in Nebraska. Nebraskans love our constitutional rights!"

WASHINGTON — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's fundraising lagged far behind his top Democratic challenger during the first six weeks of 2018, a new federal campaign filing shows. Cruz raised $800,000 through Feb. 14. That’s well below El Paso Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s $2.3 million haul, according to the most recent federal report. The Republican also spent more than he raised — nearly $1.2 million, while O’Rourke burned through roughly $2 million in his bid to unseat the powerhouse incumbent. Both face nominal competition in March 6 primaries and most nonpartisan handicappers view Cruz as the heavy favorite in his Senate re-election...

Early voting data from Texas is just bonkers. % change over 2014: Democrats: 70% Republicans: 8% This is the first midterm since 2006 when Democrats are casting more early ballots than Republicans. (This is from the Texas SOS, and there are a couple of graphs present.)

A long-running feud between a South Texas rancher and the Border Patrol has escalated into a civil lawsuit after the rancher confiscated a surveillance camera he found on his property. The suit filed by Ricardo D. Palacios, a lawyer who lives on a ranch near Encinal, north of Laredo, against federal agents and a Texas Ranger raises questions about how much leeway law enforcement officials have to enter private property near the border. ---SNIP-- The camera Palacios found on his property appears to be part of Operation Drawbridge, a multimillion-dollar effort by DPS that began in 2012 to build a...

Ahearn admitted to shooting the U.S. Mail carrier as she was delivering mail because she would not give him her cell phone. She is still recovering from the gunshot wound that pierced both her legs. Ahearn left the scene in her pickup truck, which had her purse, personal items and a "considerable amount" of mail. His co-defendent Sarah Richford, 27, followed him in a Toyota Venza. A United States postal inspector spotted the Toyota Venza at a restaraunt near the location of the shooting just two days later. The inspector tried to make an investigative stop, but Ahearn fired a...

Mack Beggs is back. He's still wrestling, still competing for a state championship and still undefeated. And he's still wrestling against the girls. It's just been a lot quieter since last year when his march to a state championship was dogged by a last-minute lawsuit that tried to stop him and boos from the crowd when his hand was raised as the victor. The senior from Euless Trinity High School near Dallas is transgender and in the process of transitioning from female to male. It was his steroid therapy treatments while wrestling girls that stirred a fierce debate about competitive...

This guy will probably be Pete Sessions democrat opponent in the 32nd district in Texas.

Scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee have discovered a chemical reaction to turn CO2 into ethanol, potentially creating a new technology to help avert climate change. Their findings were published in the journal ChemistrySelect. The researchers were attempting to find a series of chemical reactions that could turn CO2 into a useful fuel, when they realized the first step in their process managed to do it all by itself. The reaction turns CO2 into ethanol, which could in turn be used to power generators and vehicles.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz was in Philadelphia yesterday, but he wasn’t there for the cheesesteaks. He was holding a rally at Philadelphia Energy Solutions, the owners of a major northeastern refinery which the EPA managed to bankrupt this winter. Arguing on behalf of those who are being put out of work because of EPA mandates, particularly the Renewable Fuel Standard, Cruz made the case for less government licensing and more flexibility in U.S. energy development, leaving some to wonder if this was actually a campaign stop for an upcoming election bid. (Dallas News) Texas Sen. Ted Cruz led a...

SAN ANTONIO — The courtroom was silent and thick with anxiety Thursday morning as the judge’s deputy read the verdicts: “Guilty,” “guilty,” “guilty” — 11 times over, and on all felony counts. State Sen. Carlos Uresti sat stone-faced, his gaze directed at the deputy, as he heard the ruling that throws into question his two-decade career in the Texas Legislature and opens up the possibility of years in federal prison and millions in fines.