Free Republic

McALLEN -- State senators on Tuesday ordered transportation officials to assess Texas' highway system and prioritize which regions are most in need of new roads. "We're expecting a full report, not some two-page letter," said state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security. "You can't begin addressing the funding problems until you know when the roads are expected to come on line." The transportation committee, which met Tuesday morning at McAllen City Hall, has been at odds with the Texas Department of Transportation since earlier this year, when the agency announced the halt...

Democrats' racial tactic may backfire Thursday, August 28, 2003 The continuing complaint of Democratic senators who fled to New Mexico is that fines for their absence amount to a poll tax: a fee that once kept minorities from voting. Underlining race might be good legal strategy for the Democrats, who allege that forced congressional redistricting injures the influence of Hispanics and African Americans and amounts to racial discrimination under the U.S. Voting Rights Act. But unless they include discrimination against rural voters (including whites) — and what difference they think it makes in congressional votes on jobs, Social Security and...