Free Republic

HOUSTON - The teachers at Spring Forest Middle School asked KHOU 11's Verify team whether Beltway 8 has been paid off and if the tolls will ever go away in the foreseeable future. "Why do we still pay for toll roads?" wondered 7th grade teacher Rebecca Mustachio. "To be honest, I thought we would be done paying for toll roads." We are not even close to paying the bill for those roads, according to Roxana Sibrian of the Harris County Toll Road Authority. In a statement emailed to KHOU, the authority says it will be paying off construction debt until...

A U.S. Navy ship named after former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will be commissioned in a waterfront ceremony in Galveston, Texas, on Saturday. The Gabrielle Giffords is an Independence-class littoral combat ship. It is the 10th littoral combat ship in the Navy, the 16th Navy ship named after a woman and the 13th ship named after a living person, according to a Navy video released on Friday.

The apprehension of illegal border crossers by Border Patrol agents jumped 31 percent in May from the previous month. The jump follows a six-month decline in apprehensions after the election of President Donald Trump. The increase comes as Border Patrol agents report “catch and release” programs are quietly continuing. ... Border Patrol agents believe the resurgence can be attributed to the Trump Administration’s quiet continuation of the Obama “catch and release” program ... “Obama’s catch and release is definitely continuing and our government is releasing illegal aliens into U.S. communities,” Border Patrol agent Brandon Judd ... make no mistake, ICE...

Gov. Greg Abbott knew exactly what pot he was stirring when he recently spoke about Travis County and Austin’s tendency to be left-leaning. During the Bell County Republic Dinner earlier this week, Abbott said, “as you leave Austin and start heading up north you start feeling different and once you cross the Travis County line, it starts smelling different and you know what that fragrance is? Freedom. It’s the smell of freedom that does not exist in Austin, Texas.”

A third-grade student has a simple message for lawmakers. “I was born with a body of a boy, but in my heart, my spirit says I’m a girl so I shouldn’t be forced to share a bathroom with the boys,” said Tristan Reyna. Tristan was 2 years old when she discovered she was a girl.

A former Austinite is now The United Methodist Church's first openly non-binary trans person to be ordained as a deacon. After 12 years, M Barclay, who prefers the pronouns them/their, can call themself reverend. It's a title that took 12 years to earn-- more than twice as long as most Methodists pursuing the same ordination. "I am just filled with joy and excitement that this wall has been broken down-- at least in this moment," says Barclay.

A 19-year-old woman in Kerr County is accused of leaving her two infant girls inside a car for 15 hours, leading to their deaths, authorities said Friday. The investigation started after Hawkins took the girls to a medical center in Kerrville, who were then taken in grave condition to University Hospital in San Antonio, Hierholzer said. Hawkins told hospital staff she had been at Flat Rock Lake and the girls “were smelling flowers” when the two girls collapsed.

The Collin County commissioners have decided to stop paying the three attorneys who’ve been prosecuting Attorney General Ken Paxton, citing concerns about the legality and expense of the arrangement, but they’re still paying a fourth attorney who might prove to be even less popular with their conservative voters. Collin County has paid some $82,347 and counting to attorney David Feldman for legal work such as thinking up a reason why the prosecutors shouldn’t have to disclose which reporters they’ve been talking to. Feldman is being paid the same $300-an-hour rate as the prosecutors, on the order of District Judge George...

A United Airlines spokesperson has confirmed the company is reviewing an incident where a Houston employee allegedly attempted to "wrestle" a violin from a passenger. Classical musician Yennifer Correia's attorney said her client was boarding a flight from Houston to St. Louis when a United Airlines supervisor told Correia she could not carry a violin with her. Attorney Philip Macnaughton said her client was told there were "no options" to board with the violin. When Correia asked for the employee's name, Macnaughton said it "triggered the United Airlines supervisor to get angry" and say "well if you want my name,...

In San Francisco’s public schools, Marc Benioff, the chief executive of Salesforce, is giving middle school principals $100,000 “innovation grants” and encouraging them to behave more like start-up founders and less like bureaucrats. In Maryland, Texas, Virginia and other states, Netflix’s chief, Reed Hastings, is championing a popular math-teaching program where Netflix-like algorithms determine which lessons students see.

A 25-year-old federal contract worker from Augusta, Georgia has been charged by the Department of Justice for taking Top Secret materials from her workplace and mailing them to a news outlet. Reality Leigh Winner was arrested by the F.B.I. on June 3 and appeared in federal court in Augusta on June 5. She was charged with gathering, transmitting or losing defense information that could have been damaging to the U.S. It’s alleged that she took a Top Secret document, copied it and mailed it to a news organization, believed to be a podcast that wasn’t identified by authorities. Here’s what...

On May 22, the Texas House of Representatives approved an amendment to a school hazard preparedness bill, which would require schoolchildren to use restrooms, locker rooms, and changing facilities that correspond to their biological gender. Once this bill, or a similar version of it, likely clears the Texas State Senate, it is expected to be signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott. As was to be expected, this “bathroom bill” has liberals up in arms. Representative Senfronia Thompson (D) assailed the bill as bigoted: “I happened to be a part of this society during a period of time in this...

Talks have been bubbling in recent months about making major route changes to Interstate 14, but the primary organization behind the push says it’s facing resistance from a West Texas representative and the state’s senior senator. Regional transportation lobby group Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance (MOTRAN) has pushed to change the congressionally approved western route of I-14, also known as the Forts to Ports Highway and the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway System. Forts to Ports aims to connect Fort Bliss in El Paso with Fort Hood in Central Texas and Fort Polk in Louisiana. The plan also connects to military deployment ports...

Video shows the moment two bounty hunters cornered a fugitive at a car dealership in Greenville, Texas on Tuesday The bounty hunters, Fidel Garcia Jr and Gabriel Bernal, and the suspect, Ramon Hutchinson, were all killed in the shoot out The video was taken by a bystander on a cellphone camera Hutchinson was wanted on felony charges of disarming a police officer, fourth-degree assault of an officer and felony first-degree narcotics possession Video has emerged showing the deadly shootout between two bounty hunters and the Minnesota fugitive they were pursuing Bounty hunters Fidel Garcia Jr. and Gabriel Bernal were killed...

THIS WAS CRAZY—- Democrat lawmaker Attacks TEXAS REPUBLICAN LAWMAKER after he calls ICE on Illegal alien protesters. The illegals were holding signs that read, “I am an illegal and here to stay,” and “No SB4 No Hate.” The illegals were chanting in Spanish in the House Gallery. Hat Tip Cernovich That’s when Republican Representative Matt Rinaldi called ICE to report the illegals at the protest. Rinaldi’s actions caused Democrats to come unglued. Democrats threatened physical violence on the House floor. Unhinged Democrat Rep. Ramon Romero threatened to shoot Rinaldi and attacked him on the House floor. Democrats were very upset...

<p>Lawmakers scuffled on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives on Monday after a Dallas-area Republican told Democrats that he called Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on protesters in the House gallery.</p> <p>“We were just on the floor talking about the SB4 protests, and [state Rep.] Matt Rinaldi came up to us and made it a point to say, ‘I called (ICE) on all of them,’ ” state Rep. Philip Cortez (D) said. “And this is completely unacceptable. We will not be intimidated. We will not be disrespected.”</p>

HOUSTON - The Sam Houston statue has been at Hermann Park since 1925, but a group that calls itself Texas Antifa has started a campaign to take down this and any other landmark that bears the name Sam Houston. The statue has been a site to see for nearly a century and for some people, it's a site they want to see for years to come. More News Headlines Sam Houston statue in Hermann Park causing controversy "Honestly, I think they should keep it up. Yeah," Nicole Nelson said. But Texas Antifa group members want the Sam Houston statue gone....

<p>On Monday hundreds of illegal aliens and other sanctuary city advocates filled the Texas House gallery to protest a bill that will protect Texans from criminal illegal aliens.</p> <p>During these protest some illegal aliens held signs saying ‘I am illegal and here to stay.’ Texas Republican Representative Matt Rinaldi then decided to call ICE on the self described illegals.</p>

Democratic members of the Texas Legislature reportedly assaulted and threatened a Republican colleague over his call to immigration authorities, prompting the GOP lawmaker to say he’d defend himself with deadly force if the Democrats followed through on their threats. Rep. Matt Rinaldi, Irving Republican, said the altercation began when he called Immigration and Customs Enforcement in response to repeated disruptions of the day’s proceedings by illegal-immigrant demonstrators over a bill targeting sanctuary cities........

A shoving match and war of words nearly turned into a fistfight on the Texas House floor Monday, the final day of a bitterly contentious 140-day legislative session. "This session has been very, very difficult," said Rep. Celia Israel, D-Austin. "There are enough of us here who remember a time in Texas when respect and decorum ruled the day." Those rules flew out the House door when a group of protesters crashed the chamber's gallery Monday, chanting opposition to the so-called sanctuary cities ban. Legislators approved a bill this year that would force local governments to enforce federal immigration laws,...