When I was first asked to serve as Chairman of the Corrections Committee in the Texas House of Representatives, my first reaction was, “What did I do to deserve this?” As an engineer by training, I did not have a background in criminal justice and was not sure where to begin.
It's been a long time since any Texas Democrat was relevant on the national stage — think then-state Treasurer Ann Richards in 1988 — but a couple of young and very ambitious brothers from San Antonio hope to change that next week at the party's national convention in Charlotte, N.C.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a court filing Monday that Texas' new voting maps for Congress and for the Texas House do not meet federal anti-discrimination requirements, setting up a legal battle that will decide the landscape of future elections in the state.
Former Texas Rangers president J. Thomas Schieffer was hired by Commissioner Bud Selig on Monday to run the Los Angeles Dodgers, less than a week after Major League Baseball took over operation of the franchise from owner Frank McCourt.
Texas House officials criticized one of their own members Tuesday for billing both his campaign and taxpayers for the same travel expenses, saying the reimbursements might prompt an internal investigation, criminal probe or both.
