AT THE CAPITOL
House Bill 1024, signed into law May 12, allows restaurants and bars to permanently sell alcoholic beverages to-go. (Courtesy Pexels)
Cocktails to-go are here to stay in Texas: Gov. Greg Abbott signs change into law May 12
Federal funding is set aside for public schools to address effects of the pandemic. (Courtesy Adobe Stock)
Why Texas has not yet distributed $18 billion in federal funds intended for public schools
Spearheaded by state Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, the new court, if established, would expand the capacity of the county's criminal court system in hopes of reducing its backlog, which stood at 70,951 total cases pending before criminal district courts in Harris County as of April 8. (Courtesy Adobe Stock)
Harris County supports creation of new criminal district court to tackle case backlog
The Texas Senate passed a bill March 29 aimed at overhauling the state's energy market. (Jack Flagler/Community Impact Newspaper)
Texas Senate passes bill mandating changes to state energy market in wake of winter storm
Voters line up to cast ballots in the November 2020 election at Juergen's Hall Community Center in Cypress. (Shawn Arrajj/Community Impact Newspaper)
State lawmakers' plan to reform elections draws rebuke from Harris County leaders, voting rights groups
Lawmakers have returned to the Capitol for the 87th Texas Legislature. (Jack Flagler/Community Impact Newspaper)
Proposed curriculum, funding changes: 14 public education bills filed in the 87th Texas Legislature
House Bill 3580 would establish a minimum teacher salary of $70,000 annually and would account for an inflation adjustment and increase. (Ali Linan/Community Impact Newspaper)
Minimum teacher compensation bill filed in Texas Legislature
While not all of the bills announced have been filed as of March 9, according to the Texas Legislature Online, legislators have until March 12 to file bills for consideration in the 2021 session. (Ali Linan/Community Impact Newspaper)
After winter storm, electricity reform dominates House, Senate priorities for 87th Texas Legislature
Snow covers I-45 in Houston during a winter storm that hit Texas the night of Feb. 14. (Shawn Arrajj/Community Impact Newspaper)
Legislators probe energy officials over power failures, lack of preparation heading into winter storm
Widespread power outages affected millions statewide during Winter Storm Uri. (Hannah Zedaker/Community Impact Newspaper)
Here’s how northwest Houston legislators have responded to widespread winter storm power outages
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, speaks at a Feb. 1 press conference to introduce "Caitlynne's Bill," aimed at restricting which felony defendants can receive personal recognizance bonds. (Screenshot courtesy Facebook)
Houston senator files bill to restrict use of personal bonds for some felony defendants
If approved, the Lake Houston Dredging and Maintenance District could take on all future dredging in Lake Houston. (Kelly Schafler/Community Impact Newspaper)
To-be-filed bill could fund dredging in Lake Houston by charging additional surface water fee
After every decennial census, states and local jurisdictions must go through a process known as redistricting: redrawing the boundaries for representation. (Ali Linan/Community Impact Newspaper)
More congressional seats, equal populations: What redistricting means for Texas in 2021
The Texas Legislature will convene Jan. 12. (Jack Flagler/Community Impact Newspaper)
Term limits, abolishing county boards of education, stricter abortion measures: Bills filed by North Houston-area legislators
In addition to serving as the Texas House District 16 representative, Brandon Creighton is an attorney, a small-business owner and a rancher. (Courtesy Brandon Creighton)
Q&A: Texas Sen. Brandon Creighton’s 2021 legislative priorities include education, small-business recovery
Gov. Greg Abbott announced a proposal Aug. 18 to keep cities from increasing property tax revenue if they decrease police department funding. (Screenshot of April 17 press conference)
Gov. Greg Abbott says he will freeze cities' abilities to increase property tax revenue if they cut police funding
Texas schools reopening
Gov. Greg Abbott: Texas students will return to school campuses this fall
Tomball Mayor Gretchen Fagan (center) was first elected mayor in 2007. City council members are elected for three-year terms.
Tomball and Magnolia school districts, cities cancel 20 local elections in 10 years
Texasu2019 Hispanic residents are hard to count: About 66 percent of the state's residents u2014 and 85 percent of Texas Hispanics u2014 live in census tracts that exceed the national average for low response scores. All of the stateu2019s 5,265 tracts are shown as dots in the chart below, along with the percentage of Hispanics in each tract. An analysis of the data shows that the higher the percentage of Hispanics in a census tract, the more likely the tract is to be hard to count.n
State news: Ahead of 2020 census, Texans are becoming even harder to count