Nugent on State of the Union: ‘Yawn’

Rocker Ted Nugent wasn’t all that impressed by President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech on Monday.

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“I’m so glad somebody is going to bring about world peace and save the children,” he said.

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Nugent further added that he wasn’t impressed by Obama’s approach to climate change.

Obama said that if Congress failed to pass legislation to address the issue, he would direct his cabinet “to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.”

Said Nugent: “Thank God he brought up global warming. I was starting to get concerned.”

Not my favorite source: http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Nugent-Obama-guns-State-of-the-Union/2013/02/13/id/490117

What "Unconstitutional" Means (by state senator Kirk Watson)

I wrote some last week about a judge’s ruling that the way Texas finances schools and education is unconstitutional.

But that word, “unconstitutional,” doesn’t really do it justice. The ruling was a sweeping condemnation of the way Texas has failed to invest in our schools and our future, even in violation of our history, our identity and, yes, our constitution.

“The Court declares that the current school finance system violates ... the Texas Constitution," state District Judge John Dietz declared. He called the system "inefficient, inequitable and unsuitable," and he found that it "arbitrarily funds districts at different levels below the constitutionally required level.”

He later called the school finance system “inadequate,” saying it doesn’t give schools the resources they need to achieve that constitutional standard of “a general diffusion of knowledge.”

More including video at http://www.burntorangereport.com/ .

What Would Sequestration Mean for Texas?

Terrell’s lone hospital now shut down following moves by feds, state officials to terminate funding

Schlitterbahn set to break ground Friday for Padre Island water park resort

CORPUS CHRISTI — Schlitterbahn is expected to break ground Friday for its new water park resort on Padre Island.

Water park resort officials worked Tuesday to finalize the land purchase and project financing, said Jeff Henry, co-owner of Schlitterbahn. They are planning Friday to unveil the final look of the project and take questions from the media during a groundbreaking at the Padre Isles Country Clubhouse where the water park resort will be located. The event is not open to the public.

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Schlitterbahn had until the end of February to break ground under its $117 million economic development incentive agreement with the city. A bulk of the tax incentives being offered — $78 million — are from hotel occupancy tax revenue within the area of the planned development. That means most of the incentives being offered rely on the performance of the proposed project.

The water park — a $41 million resort planned west of Park Road 22 — tentatively is set to open in March 2014. It is required to be built two years after the project breaks ground, according to terms of the agreement.

More at http://www.caller.com/news/2013/feb/12/schlitterbahn-set-break-ground-friday-padre-island/ .

Senate committee considers reshuffling state water agency

Apparently the Texas Water Development Board won’t be a witness to its own execution.

Tuesday morning, the Senate Natural Resources Committee took invited testimony on a proposal that would dismiss the agency’s six part-time commissioners and full-time executive director, replacing them with three full-time commissioners and a new director.

The logic, said state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, who chairs the committee and authored the proposal as part of a wider effort to pay for and implement the state water plan, is to professionalize the agency’s leadership.

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In keeping with changes at a host of state agencies the past few years, a shakeup at the Water Development Board could bring the agency, which could have a lot more clout if the Legislature approves financing for the state water plan, under closer control of Gov. Rick Perry, who has long counted Fraser as a dependable ally.

More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/senate-committee-considers-reshuffling-state-water/nWMmn/ .

[font color=green]Because when an agency is going to be spending billions of dollars, Perry has to stick his thumb in the pie. I wonder how many campaign donations Perry will receive from the construction companies contracted to do the work?[/font]

Cancer agency reforms clear first hurdle

Legislation aimed at curbing abuses at the state’s troubled cancer agency and its private foundation cleared its first hurdle Tuesday as the Legislature tries to address the scandal that has halted grants from a $3 billion pot of taxpayer money.

The legislation by Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, includes many of the recommendations of a critical state audit of the agency, the Cancer Research and Prevention Institute of Texas, and its foundation by the same name.

Nelson, who six years ago co-authored legislation creating the state agency, commonly called CPRIT, also included her own reforms.

“Our laws and rules have been twisted in ways that are disappointing and unacceptable,” Nelson said. Senate Bill 149 reinforces our clear legislative intent that CPRIT be operated in a fair, transparent manner that is befitting of its lifesaving mission.”

More at http://www.statesman.com/news/business/cancer-agency-reforms-clear-first-hurdle/nWMmM/ .

Texas A&M Health Science Center joins Alzheimer's research consortium

The Texas A&M Health Science Center has been accepted into the Texas Alzheimer's Research and Care Consortium.

Other members of the state-funded consortium are the Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and health science centers at Texas Tech University, the University of North Texas and the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Faculty members at the Texas A&M Health Science Center are studying Alzheimer's development and working on markers for earlier detection, as well as testing drugs against the disease.

"Alzheimer's not only affects the individual but also puts a tremendous strain on caregivers and our society, and our faculty are committed to finding how to prevent, treat and perhaps even eradicate this devastating disease," said David Carlson, TAMHSC vice president for research and dean of the School of Graduate Studies, in a news release.

More at http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/article_39ad9445-6d1d-5e69-9db5-fe9c7e74e037.html .

[font color=green]Here's hoping that this consortium works out better than CPRIT.[/font]

Sen. Ted Cruz at gun hearing: Cities with strictest laws have highest murder rates

WASHINGTON - At a hearing packed with victims of gun violence, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Tuesday that cities with the strictest guns laws have murder rates many times those in his home state, where guns are readily available.

“For example, if you look at six cities with the highest murder rates, Detroit sadly in 2011 topped the list with 48 murders per 100,000 people,” said Cruz. “Baltimore, Maryland, was second with 31 murders per 100,000. Philadelphia was third with 21 murders per 100,000 people. Memphis, Tennessee, the only one of the top six without especially vigorous gun laws, was fourth with 18 murders per 100,000 people. Washington, D.C., was fifth with 18, and Chicago, Ill., was sixth with 16 murders per 100,000 people.”

By contrast, he said in his hometown of Houston, the murder rate was 9 murders per 100,000 people; in San Antonio, the number was seven, Austin, 4, and El Paso, 2. “That means that the rate in Detroit is 24 times higher than it is in El Paso,” said Cruz.

Cruz is the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, which was holding a hearing Tuesday on what subcommittee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., described as the need to reconcile Americans’ right to life, liberty and the happiness, with their Second Amendment right to bear arms.

More at http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2013/02/12/sen_ted_cruz_at_gun_hearing_ci.html/ .

Feds arrest man who admitted 'sexting' relationship with girl, 11

Federal agents Friday arrested a Lubbock man on a felony complaint of attempting to entice an 11-year-old girl to have sex with him.

Njeazeh Roderique Ambeabet, 24, was booked into Lubbock County Detention Center at about 5 p.m. Friday, after admitting to a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent earlier in the day he had “engaged in a texting relationship” with the girl.

According to Special Agent Keith Quigley’s affidavit, the girl sent a picture of her pubic area to his cellphone at his request.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy M. Koenig issued the arrest warrant Friday afternoon.

More at http://lubbockonline.com/crime-and-courts/2013-02-11/feds-arrest-man-who-admitted-sexting-relationship-girl-11 .