Hill Country News

A home in North Austin. Oct. 9, 2020. Credit: Amna Ijaz/The Texas Tribune

Analysis: A quick turn on property taxes with the long game in mind

Property taxes are higher in Texas than in all but a handful of other states. Voters know that, and when voters are interested, so are the people who depend on those voters for political … more

By Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune | 10/22/21

State representatives on the House floor earlier this month. Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune

Analysis: Texas legislators set the table for the 2022 elections

In a year when the Texas Legislature just wouldn’t go home — a year marked by a 140-day regular legislative session and three 30-day special sessions — lawmakers gave candidates and … more

By Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune | 10/20/21

A "Now Hiring" sign is displayed at a Dunkin' restaurant on Sept. 21, 2021 in Hallandale, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images/TNS)

Commentary: Unemployment benefits weren't keeping workers home. The latest crummy jobs report proves it

The jobs report from the federal government covering September employment had some bad news and, so to speak, some better news. The report, issued Oct. 8 by the Bureau of Labor … more

Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 10/18/21

A redistricting proposal on the House floor shows the Hispanic voting age population in Tarrant County.

Analysis: An election slogan you won’t hear in Texas in 2022

Democrats won’t be rallying voters with claims they can flip control of the Texas Legislature in the general election a year from now. The redistricting maps nearing approval in … more

By Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune | 10/18/21

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. (Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman/TNS)

Commentary: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's order on vaccine mandates is beyond unhinged

Say what you wish about the COVID-19 vaccines — and their safety and efficacy against the disease are established facts — their ability to turn Republican politicians batty is … more

Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 10/14/21

Gov. Greg Abbott speaks about the state’s response to the coronavirus during a news conference in Austin on March 24, 2020.

Analysis: Greg Abbott and the policy contradiction of an anti-mandate mandate

The governor of Texas is mandating against mandates — resuming the kinds of top-down restrictions on private businesses that got him in trouble with a Dallas hair salon owner in 2020. You … more

By Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune | 10/12/21

A federal judge halted enforcement of a new Texas law that outlaws abortions after detection of early cardiac activity in an embryo — usually around six weeks into a pregnancy. His order was quickly suspended by an appeals court on Friday until it can hear arguments in the case.

Analysis: Intentional loopholes in Texas abortion law draw a judge’s rebuke

The federal judge who temporarily blocked enforcement of the new abortion restrictions in Texas said state lawmakers knew the law was unconstitutional and wrote it to try to prevent the federal … more

By Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune | 10/11/21

Kellogg's Cereal plant workers demonstrate in front of the plant in Battle Creek, Michigan, on Oct. 7, 2021. Workers at Kellogg’s cereal plants are striking over the loss of premium health care, holiday and vacation pay, and reduced retirement benefits. (Rey Del Rio/Getty Images/TNS)

Commentary: A ‘strike wave’ is coming to save America’s working class the old-fashioned way

Motorists zipping down State Road in Lancaster this week could be forgiven for thinking they’d passed through some kind of time warp back to the 1970s when they got to the Kellogg’s … more

Will Bunch, The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS) | 10/11/21

A tray of syringes filled with COVID-19 vaccine (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Commentary: It's time to close the religious vaccine objection loophole

There's something unquestionably alluring about claiming religious exemptions from government mandates and employer policies. For one thing, religious beliefs are almost impossible to disprove. … more

Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 10/10/21

An abortion rights activist holds a sign in support of Planned Parenthood at a rally at the Texas State Capitol on Sept. 11, 2021 in Austin, Texas. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images/TNS)

Commentary: That Texas anti-abortion law is so much worse than you imagined. Here's how

As is widely known by now, the anti-abortion law that took effect in Texas last month set a new standard for malicious attacks on women's reproductive health rights. But it's a fair bet that the … more

Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 10/8/21

The Texas Capitol grounds, covered in snow on Feb. 16, 2021.

Analysis: When Texas legislators admit they don’t know what they’re doing

State government in Texas is more of a slapdash operation than our high school civics teachers prepared us for. Some of the people working in and around the Texas Capitol definitely know what … more

By Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune | 10/7/21

Are Democrats going to get their act together or what?

Back when my kids were little and I was always schlepping them hither and yon, they’d squabble in the back seat at ever-increasing decibels until I would inevitably unleash my most fervent … more

By Dick Polman, Guest Columnist | 10/7/21

A sign at the Whole Woman's Health Clinic in Fort Worth, Texas, on September 7, 2021, the day that Senate Bill 8 went into effect in Texas. (Elias Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News/TNS)

Commentary: What it’s like operating a Texas abortion clinic under the state’s new ban

It’s been nearly a month since our country’s cruelest abortion ban went into effect. As of midnight Sept. 1, most Texans seeking abortion care have been left powerless and afraid. … more

Amy Hagstrom Miller, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 10/2/21

President Joe Biden speaks about combating the coronavirus pandemic, in the State Dining Room of the White House on Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/TNS)

Commentary: Fact check: Will Biden's spending bill hike taxes on those making less than $400,000?

President Joe Biden has repeatedly promised that his massive tax increases won’t hit people earning less than $400,000. Biden even put his family honor on the line, tweeting: “I give … more

Matthew Dickerson, The Heritage Foundation (TNS) | 10/1/21

Crowds march through Austin in celebration of Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 20, 2020.

Analysis: Texas government won’t represent the state’s population unless its political maps do

In a state where more than 60% of the residents are people of color, the Texas Legislature is proposing maps where white people have voting majorities in 50% of the congressional … more

By Ross Ramsey, The Texas Tribune | 9/30/21

From left, Dana Winters Rengers, sister of community reporter Wendi Winters, Summerleigh Geimer and her sister Montana Geimer, daughters of Wendi Winters, after the sentencing of the Capital Gazette shooter in Annapolis, Maryland, on September 28, 2021. (Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/TNS)

Commentary: In Annapolis, an accounting of what they lost on the day of the Capital shooting

One by one, in the most profoundly personal ways, they told us what the depraved violence of June 28, 2018 had cost them. One by one, relatives of the Capital Gazette shooting victims described … more

Dan Rodricks, The Baltimore Sun (TNS) | 9/30/21

United States Postal Service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testifies during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on USPS Financial Sustainability Feb. 24, 2021 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Jim Watson-Pool/Getty Images/TNS)

Commentary: Surprise! Postal service is about to get slower — and more expensive

Is there a federal official more out of step with the purposes of his agency than Postmaster General Louis DeJoy? Sorry, that’s a rhetorical question, because everyone knows the answer: Of … more

Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 9/30/21

This photo taken on July 20, 2015 shows the entrance to the Elwa clinic, an ebola treatment center in Monrovia. (Zoom Dosso/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

Commentary: A lesson from Ebola in 2015 will be key to ending COVID-19

“Too many lives have been lost. Families, communities and nations have been devastated. … Our marathon effort has been a success, but the last mile may be the most difficult … more

David Heymann, Ashish Jha and Edward Kelley, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 9/29/21

A U.S. Border Patrol agent on horseback tries to stop a Haitian migrant from entering an encampment on the banks of the Rio Grande near the Acuna Del Rio International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas on Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021. (Paul Ratje/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

LZ Granderson: The US sees itself as a white knight (emphasis on 'white')

Temple University professor and political commentator Marc Lamont Hill summed up the biggest issue with the country's approach to foreign policy shortly after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. … more

LZ Granderson, Los Angeles Times (TNS) | 9/29/21

Commentary: Pay or punish the unvaccinated?

When society seeks to influence behavior, is it better to pay people to act a certain way, or to penalize them if they don’t? The pandemic and the urgent need for COVID-19 vaccinations brings the … more

By Peter Funt, Guest Columnist | 9/29/21

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