Free Republic

A huge hog weighing in at a reported 416-pounds was shot in East Texas. “Mr. Joe Clowers shared pics of his food plot nightmare that ended late Saturday night,” Gregg County Game Warden posted to Facebook. Texas Parks and Wildlife estimates that there are more than 1.5 million feral hogs in Texas. There seem to be very few inhibiting factors to curtail this population growth, according to TPWD.gov. Clowers told Chron.com the hog preyed on the fawns in the area and Clowers added that he always stayed armed when visiting his deer feeders in case the hog in question charged...

Local residents who want to add their two cents about the proposed Interstate 69 construction won't have to fill their tanks to do it. TxDOT is coming to Longview. The Texas Department of Transportation is holding 46 public hearings this month in East and South Texas along the planned corridor, including Tuesday's meeting in Longview. The hearings will give Texans a chance to comment and ask questions about the proposed Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, a collection of passenger and freight roadways, utility and rail lines from Texarkana to the Rio Grande Valley. A draft environmental impact statement released in November suggests...

Hank Gilbert was not impressed with the 80th meeting of the Texas Legislature. Gilbert, a former candidate for agriculture commissioner and Democratic anti-toll road lobbyist, offered his opinions and reported on his efforts, specifically on bills concerning the toll roads, at the Texas Democratic Women of Gregg County's monthly meeting Thursday. "The 80th session probably had some high points," he said of the Democrats' progress. "But I didn't see them; except the raising of the minimum wage to $7.25, which won't go into effect for another two years." Gilbert spoke in detail about Texas House Bill 1892, a piece of...

The Texas Department of Transportation went on the offensive Friday to quash rumors that it was surveying land in Central Texas for the Trans-Texas Corridor or preparing to acquire property for the proposed tollway project. “We have taken this unusual means of releasing a special statement to assure the people of Bell and McLennan counties that this rumor is untrue,” the department said in a statement. Some local officials and corridor critics said they had encountered similar rumors, which they attributed to uneasy landowners who fear the state's plan to build a 1,200-foot-wide network of roads, railway and utility infrastructure...