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  • Architect of toll road freeze is credited for her tenacity

    05/26/2007 6:07:27 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 10 replies · 701+ views
    Dallas Morning News ^ | May 26, 2007 | Jake Batsell
    Those persuasion skills were key to Ms. Kolkhorst marshaling support for a partial two-year moratorium on private toll roads. The bill could get lawmakers' final blessing today. The Brenham Republican has emerged as a central figure in the Legislature's efforts to slow down the privatization of Texas roads. She has persuaded nearly all of her 149 House colleagues to back the moratorium, which excludes most North Texas toll projects. Ms. Kolkhorst, 42, has parlayed a blend of persistence, fearlessness, smarts and country charm into a more visible role in Austin. In addition to leading the toll road freeze, she has...
  • Toll road agreement reached

    05/25/2007 4:01:11 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 8 replies · 663+ views
    Austin American-Statesman ^ | May 25, 2007 | Ben Wear
    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...
  • Toll-road pact is still in talks

    05/24/2007 10:15:22 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 18 replies · 566+ views
    Fort Worth Star-Telegram ^ | May 24, 2007 | Aman Batheja
    AUSTIN -- Key negotiators were still working Wednesday night to hammer out a compromise version of a toll-road moratorium bill that Gov. Rick Perry won't veto. Earlier Wednesday, Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, said a compromise between the House and Senate versions of a transportation bill had been negotiated, but key House members quickly insisted that a deal had not been reached. The compromise version would require both chambers' approval. Perry vetoed a toll-road moratorium bill last week, citing concerns that it would cost the state federal funding of transportation projects. Different versions of a second moratorium passed both chambers last...
  • TTC Wars: Will Perry’s pet project prevail?

    05/23/2007 3:22:22 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 10 replies · 493+ views
    Lone Star Times ^ | May 23, 2007 | Rick G
    Paul Burka’s blog has a nice update on the legislative efforts to de-rail Gov. Perry’s Trans Texas Corridor project. It hasn’t been stopped yet (reference to bills are bills to halt the TTC): So here’s where we are. HB 1892, the original bill, has been vetoed. SB 792, Carona’s bill, is in conference committee. The governor’s office, through former senator Ken Armbrister, is trying to round up enough votes in the Senate (11) to block an override of the veto. If he is successful, then the governor holds all the cards. He can veto 792 as well, with the calendar...
  • Farm Bureau urges governor support of TTC Funding Moratorium

    05/07/2007 6:06:05 PM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 7 replies · 343+ views
    Southwest Farm Press ^ | May 7, 2007 | Southwest Farm Press
    Waco - Governor Rick Perry should sign a bill that would establish a two-year moratorium on the controversial Trans Texas Corridor (TTC), according to the board of directors of the state's largest farm organization. A letter requesting the governor's approval of House Bill 1892, signed by the 14 members of the Texas Farm Bureau board, including TFB President Kenneth Dierschke, urges a moratorium on the use of private equity comprehensive development agreements, including the TTC. The letter was delivered to Governor Perry today. It said in part, "We believe the moratorium envisioned in HB 1892 will give all Texans the...
  • Private toll road moratorium sent to governor

    05/03/2007 5:51:58 AM PDT · by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · 19 replies · 490+ views
    Houston Chronicle ^ | May 2, 2007 | Jim Vertuno (Associated Press)
    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...
  • Castro's friend

    12/19/2004 10:46:52 AM PST · by Kitten Festival · 2 replies · 218+ views
    The American Thinker ^ | Dec. 18, 2004 | A.M. Mora y Leon
    We've discussed Jimmy Carter's legacy of friendship and warm support for the world's dictators many times already, notably on Venezuela, but a return to Carter's Cuba legacy may be an even worse experience, because of an unmistakable whiff of treason. Where do we start? Remember Jimmy Carter's cabinet appointments? People like Andrew Young, who hung out with the hate-America crowd over at the United Nations and denounced America and Israel with the gamiest dictators on earth? Carter had a lot of these rabid blame-America-firsters on his coattails, and some are more active than ever. One is named Wayne Smith, who...
  • A mysterious influx of Soviet and Chinese arms for Salvador rebels(Cold War history)

    12/15/2002 8:28:23 PM PST · by Jacob Kell · 14 replies · 436+ views
    Morazan, El Salvador -- Seventeen-year-old Odilia playfully pushed her tongue through her teeth as she recalled how she shot seven Salvadoran army soldiers in an ambush a few days before. Odilia's under five feet tall, and her high-powered Soviet-made Dragunov rifle is almost as big as she is. No matter. The bashful Salvadoran teenager is a highly trained sharpshooter for the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN). Over the past several months, eastern-bloc and Chinese-made weapons have been distributed to FMLN guerrilla forces nationwide. The rebels say they bought the majority of the new arms, most of which are...