Free Republic

SAN ANTONIO — Sen. Wendy Davis said Thursday that she supports same-sex marriage and that Attorney General Greg Abbott, her presumed general-election opponent in the race for governor, should stop defending the state's ban. “It's my strong belief that when people love each other and are desirous of creating a committed relationship with each other that they should be allowed to marry, regardless of their sexual orientation,” Davis told the Express-News editorial board. Davis, D-Fort Worth, said she is “pleased” that the state's constitutional definition of marriage, as being between a man and a woman, is under challenge in federal...

Although Mayor Annise Parker has vowed that she and her longtime partner, Kathy Hubbard, will not wed until gay marriage is legal in Texas, in recent interviews the mayor has softened her stance. "The world is changing so fast, maybe I won't wait that long," Parker said last week in a year-end interview with CultureMap when asked when she would marry. "I'm no longer worried that (gay marriage in Texas) is not going to happen in my lifetime. After the Supreme Court ruling and the number of states that now have equal marriage, it's coming." Since then CultureMap has learned...

Deficit may top $1.8 billion by fiscal 2012 with current slate of road projects AUSTIN — The Texas Department of Transportation, working to fend off a funding shortfall, intends to cut hundreds of millions of dollars budgeted for everything from consulting engineers to right-of-way purchases. The plan wouldn't affect existing road projects, and it's "difficult to say" what future projects would be delayed as a result, agency spokesman Randall Dillard said Friday. Projections show that if existing plans on awarding contracts and expenditures were to go forward, the department would have at least a $1.8 billion deficit by fiscal year...

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry's campaign Web site touts public education as a long-standing "top priority" of his, but the school year began this week with teachers and administrators still wondering who will be the next commissioner of education. That question mark is one among many with nearly 400 expired gubernatorial appointments this year alone to state boards, commissions and universities. Senators — worried that Perry is dodging their constitutional role of confirming most gubernatorial appointments — are crying foul. By Friday, 388 of Perry's appointments will have already expired so far this year, but only one in eight have...

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) says it needs to spend $9 million in taxpayer money to sell its vision of transportation policy to the public. Maybe if TxDOT pursued rational transportation policies, the public support would follow, and it could spend that $9 million building and maintaining roads. Here’s why Texans ought to be concerned. Borrowing carries a price tag. The Texas Constitution has traditionally eschewed deficit spending and required existing revenue to pay for existing spending. Now, the state wants to build most of its roads by borrowing, either publicly or by getting a private firm to agree...

   "Protecting Freedoms, Strengthening Families" Weekly Issues Alert    Special AlertOctober 24, 2005 BEWARE - Misleading Information Spreading about Prop. 2 Political Advertising Campaign, "Save Texas Marriage," Is a Fraud! Special Message from Free Market Foundation President Kelly Shackelford, Esq."Deceptive phone calls are now going out telling people to vote NO because of a supposed flaw in the legislation of Prop. 2.  There must be a lot of them because we are getting calls from a number of supporters who are confused.  The calls from "Save Texas Marriage" are so deceptive that they are even ending the call saying "God Bless You."  One of...

The city of Houston's main pension program has a billion-dollar funding shortfall because benefits have been boosted so high that many employees will earn more in retirement than they received while working, according to a report obtained by the Chronicle. A few will retire as millionaires. To properly reduce the shortfall, taxpayers would have to put nearly $100 million extra into the fund next year, according to an analysis prepared for the pension's board. Further, the city cannot reduce the benefits for any employee who already has worked five years, thanks to a Texas constitutional amendment passed by voters last...