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Incumbent Sen. Mike Lee (R) is leading Independent challenger Evan McMullin by 4 points in the Utah Senate race, according to a new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll. The poll, conducted last week, found that 41 percent of the Utah voters surveyed say they will vote for Lee, while 37 percent say that they will vote for McMullin. Two percent of those surveyed expressed support for Independent American candidate Tommy Williams and 1 percent for Libertarian James Arthur Hansen, while an additional 5 percent said they will write in another name. Meanwhile, 12 percent were undecided on who they...

A family in Colorado is outraged after two men, who were accused of gang-raping a 13-year-old girl with their brothers and cousins, were only sentenced to probation. Tommy Williams, 20, and Clarence Williams, 19, were each sentenced on Tuesday to a minimum of 10 years of sex offender intensive supervised probation, with a maximum of life on probation, KKTV reported. The men are two of six suspects accused of sexually assaulting the young teen in December 2016 inside of the Stonebrook Terrace apartment complex in Colorado Springs. INTELLECTUALLY DISABLED GIRL, 15, SUSPENDED AFTER REPORTING GANG RAPE AT NYC SCHOOL, LAWSUIT...

House, Senate passage seem likely The careening vehicle that has been this legislative session's toll road overhaul appeared to pull into the garage about 4:35 p.m. Thursday. At that moment, Republican state Sen. Robert Nichols of Jacksonville, after spending several moments huddling on the floor with Sen. Tommy Williams, sponsor of Senate Bill 792, affixed his signature to a compromise version of the bill, and the two shook hands. "We've got a deal now," Williams, R-The Woodlands, said about an hour later. "This is really going to move transportation issues forward, particularly in large metropolitan areas." The deal was among...

Senate rebuffs House changes to SB 792, pushing final action on the tollway overhaul into the session's last week. The Texas Senate declined to accept House changes in a key toll road bill Friday, thus requiring a House and Senate conference committee to craft a compromise version and triggering a gubernatorial veto of another bill. When the House decided to knock off work for the weekend early Friday afternoon, Senate Bill 792 was put on ice until Monday. That led Gov. Rick Perry to follow through on his pledge to veto the legislation that SB 792 is meant to replace,...

AUSTIN — The House gave final approval Wednesday to placing a two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts, sending the bill to Gov. Rick Perry and setting up a showdown over the future of the state's transportation policy. Perry had urged the Legislature to reject the freeze but has stopped short of promising a veto. The House approved the measure 139-1, showing it has broad enough support that lawmakers could vote to override the governor if he tries to kill it. The Senate approved the bill 27-4 last week. The Legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds vote of...

AUSTIN -- The Texas Senate passed its second bill this session creating a two-year moratorium on privately funded toll roads Friday, a sharp rebuke of Gov. Rick Perry's plan to solve the state's transportation problems. Senators voted 27-4 to approve the bill, which would prevent the creation of toll roads made by public entities contracting with private companies. The Senate passed a similar bill earlier, but that version appears dead in the House. The version approved Friday easily passed the House this month by a vote of 137-2. The bill's Senate sponsor, Republican Tommy Williams of The Woodlands, said he...

New Planned Parenthood Head Faces Home State Clinic Cuts By Randy Hall CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor January 20, 2006 (CNSNews.com) -- The Planned Parenthood Federation of America is marking the 33rd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision on Jan. 22 with a new president. However, even as Cecile Richards takes the reins of the nation's most frequent provider of abortions, the organization may be forced to curtail services and even shut down clinics in an ironic location: her home state of Texas. The likely cutbacks are the result of amendments to the two-year budget passed in 2005 by the Texas...

Candidates begin filing papers to run in 2004 primary election AUSTIN (AP) — Candidates for president, Congress, the Texas Legislature and other offices began filing papers for the 2004 primary election Wednesday, even as a dispute simmered over which congressional districts will be used. Democratic U.S. Rep. Martin Frost of Arlington filed to run in the district he has represented for 25 years. Frost said he was confident a federal court will uphold existing congressional boundaries and toss out a GOP redistricting plan approved this fall. The Republican map, which Democrats claim violates minority voting rights, decimated Frost's heavily minority...