Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate on Monday killed a plan to send $26.1 billion dollars to states due to deficit concerns, marking a setback for those counting on federal help with budget gaps. The plan would have been paid for by closing tax loopholes enjoyed by big multinational companies. The U.S. Senate will likely consider a revised version in coming days. The plan, which would have provided states with $16.1 billion through June for Medicaid and also give them $10 billion to avert teacher layoffs, went down in defeat because it would have added $5 billion to the deficit. Senate...

AUSTIN -- Texans who are demanding that the state stop building toll roads may get their wish. But they might not like the alternative: Higher state gas taxes. There is broad support in Austin for increasing the state's 20-cents-a-gallon motor fuel tax , says a lawmaker leading the effort to strip the Texas Department of Transportation's authority to build toll roads and enter into agreements with private companies. The Texas gas tax has not gone up since 1991. "The message is loud and clear. You couldn't not hear it. People want us to build roads, and they're willing to pay...

Gay youth panel survives, sort of By Boston Herald editorial staff Saturday, May 13, 2006 As a Republican from Massachusetts it’s true Mitt Romney has to go an awfully long way to prove his conservative stripes. But the governor won’t win any style points for his latest effort, when he apparently set out to abolish the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. The administration was miffed that the panel issued a press release with the governor’s name on it, hyping today’s Youth Pride event in Boston, which is paid for with private funds but organized in part by the...

Jefferson City, MO -- The Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ordered a lower-court judge for the second time to dismiss a state suit aimed at barring Planned Parenthood from participating in the state's family-planning program and receiving taxpayer funding. The state's highest court also asserted Tuesday in its 7-0 opinion that Cole County Circuit Judge Byron L. Kinder had "exceeded his authority" by not dismissing the suit earlier. As a result, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon's lawyers will once again formally ask Kinder Monday to end the state's long-running suit against Planned Parenthood. Kinder is expected to grant the request. The...