Free Republic

A city council in Waskom, Texas, outlawed abortion procedures Wednesday and declared the city a sanctuary for the unborn. The move was pushed by Right to Life of East Texas and precedes another bill Texas lawmakers are pushing, which would require doctors to care for babies born alive following botched abortions. Abortions are not permitted in the state of Texas after 20 weeks, The Washington Post reports. Waskom sits on the Texas and Louisiana border and is the first city in Texas to declare such a measure. There are no abortion clinics in Waskom. “Congratulations Waskom, Texas for becoming the...

All were from Troop 620 in Hallsville and wore personal flotation devices. Lightfoot says the catamaran was on fire, with sails up, when game wardens arrived. Lightfoot says the preliminary investigation indicates the sailboat came in contact with the power line.

A home invasion in the 400 block of Blume left the suspect with multiple gunshot wounds just before midnight Sunday. Rosenberg Police responded to a number of calls alerting them of gunshots in the area.

In a small town in East Texas, an atheist filed a case against Easter and Passover Holy days. He hired an attorney from up North to bring a discrimination case against Christians and Jews and observances of their holy days. The argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized days.

A TV station in the East Texas town of Tyler reports that hundreds more dead birds have been discovered along the sides of a highway bridge. This news adds fresh fuel to a growing conundrum over the cause of hundreds of thousands of avian deaths in localities thousands of miles apart. The station, KLTV, acknowledges that around 200 birds were found dead this morning on state highway 155. The birds, identified as American coots or mud-hens, are the first of this species to be cited in the recent spate of deaths. As with previous cases, the cause of death is...

NACOGDOCHES, TX (KTRE) - A Nacogdoches man gazed into Sunday night's sky, and was transfixed by mysterious bright shapes. He says he saw a UFO. "It was just sitting up there, just bouncing up and down, bouncing up and down, moving back and fourth," said Albert Davis. He was driving home from work with his family when bright, flickering lights caught his eye. "We knew it wasn't from here on Earth because...we've seen jets flying around and I don't think [it was] jets," said Davis. "We knew jets couldn't make the moves it was making." Davis says the UFO hovered...

NEW BOSTON (March 19, 2010)— SNIPPET: "At least 35 bullet holes were discovered March 12 when a security light was changed at the church near New Boston. Authorities say they may have been made by shotgun pellets. Hilton told the Texarkana Gazette that it must have happened since January when the steeple was tightened, because the bullet holes weren’t there then. Bowie County Sheriff’s Office investigator Robby McCarver said Friday it looks like someone was trying to shoot out a street light and "the church was in the background and got hit."" SNIPPET: "New Boston is about 100 miles northeast...

DALLAS (AP) - A sheriff's dispatcher says fires have struck two more rural east Texas churches, just hours after investigators announced that a blaze last week marked the eighth arson against a house of worship in the state this year. A Smith County sheriff's dispatcher says fire struck a Baptist church near Tyler Monday night. Another hit a church about 3 miles away. The fires come the same day the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced a blaze that happened last week was the seventh east Texas church fire of 2010 to be deliberately set.

EVERY visitor to Caddo Lake on the Texas-Louisiana border seems to come away with a profoundly personal impression. Anglers prize Caddo, the only naturally formed lake in Texas, for its trophy bass; canoeists rate its twisting, interlocking bayous among the most challenging to navigate.

AUSTIN, Texas — If anyone wondered whether Texas toll road rage had subsided or lawmakers' irritation at the Texas Department of Transportation had eased, those questions got answered a few days before Christmas: Not so much. Denouncing the massive transportation agency as dysfunctional and out of control, a group of lawmakers reviewing the department said it will be intensely debated in the legislative session that begins Jan. 13. "This is a big agency that is a mess," said Rep. Carl Isett, a Lubbock Republican and one of the leaders of the Sunset Advisory Commission that periodically examines state agencies. He...

Put a fork in it. That’s what two Texas politicians recently said about the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor. “Everybody in Austin knows it’s dead. Everybody across the state knows it’s dead. It’s just something to be talking about,” House Speaker Tom Craddick, R-Midland, said at a debate in Midland on Oct. 19, according to a published report. But folks fighting the corridor here in Central Texas call it election season bluster. “Yes, they are still planning to do it,” said Mae Smith, Holland mayor. “That’s nothing but political talk. I don’t believe anything Mr. Craddick says, or any politician says prior...

CORRIGAN, TX (KTRE)- A draft environmental impact statement prepared by TxDot is at the heart of the I-69 Trans Texas Corridor debate. Members of the Trinity Neches Sub-Regional Planning Committee want to send TxDot back to the drawing board. Bob Dickens, President of the Trinity Neches Sub-Regional Planning Committee says, "We don'think the law and regulations were followed and we do not think TxDot has taken into consideration the impact of the environment, our wildlife, our water districts, our cities, our school districts, and in essence, our way of life. That's why the Sub-Regional Planning Committee met with the Environmental...

GROVETON, TX (KTRE) - The Trinity-Neches Texas Sub-Regional Planning Committee, or TNT, is set to meet with the Environmental Protection Agency next week. TNT says TxDOT has not given enough thought to the environmental impact of the corridor, and they need the EPA to examine the findings they will get from TxDOT about the TTC. "We're not in opposition to improvement and expansion. We just want to make sure it's done right because once you cover up rural Texas with concrete you can't change it back," says Connie Fogle with TNT. The Trans-Texas Corridor is expected to use thousands of...

In my recent letter to you concerning the TTC, I misquoted some information about the company known as Cintra. Mr. Patrick Rhodes of Cintra wrote in response to my mistake. Therefore, I stand corrected with the following: Fellow citizens, the company, Cintra, is not affiliated with ZAI-ACS. Cintra is partnered with Zachry on some TxDOT projects and ACS is partnered with Zachry on some other TxDOT projects. Therefore, I hope this clarifies the over-zealous statements in my letter. Cintra is a Spanish-owned company, and ACS is a larger Spanish-owned company. Zachry, a Texas company, is affiliated with each of them...

TEXARKANA — The company selected to design Interstate 69 has revealed plans to also implement the world’s first air rail freight system in the corridor, possibly starting in Texarkana, Texas. “You [Texarkana ] have railroads here, you already have an interstate, bringing I-69 is another interstate, you’ve got Oklahoma, you’ve got I-49,” said Gary Kuhn, senior project manager for Zachary American Infrastructure. “This is what the logistics world likes to see — that opportunity to go from one mode to another very efficiently.” In a presentation to the Wilbur Smith Rotary Club, Kuhn said the freight shuttle is a new...

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...

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...

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...

The Texas Transportation Commission never fails to amaze us. Bottom line - this leopard has not changed its spots. Nothing has changed. The Commission and TxDOT are hell bent to sign deals and give away the farm before the legislature can rein them in. Rain, sleet and snow won't stop the mail; and, moratoriums, legislative intent and a sunset review won't stop TxDOT. Just a week ago TxDOT tried to impress everyone with how responsive they could be as they announced their recommendation that TTC-69 focus on using existing facilities rather than building a new highway. The only thing that...

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...