Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

The pristine Christmas Mountains in West Texas will remain in state hands, at least for now. On Tuesday, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and the School Land Board rejected competing bids from two private interests to buy the 9,269-acre tract.

For Texas citizens, the War on Terror means the drug cartels that impact citizens on both sides of the border, Gov. Rick Perry said Monday.

A provision in a major farm bill approved by the U.S. House would bar states from allowing employees of private firms to interact with people who are applying for food stamps or to decide someone's eligibility for the program. The measure could force Texas to rework its plans to privatize food stamp enrollment.

Far from paradoxical, the global fascination with this election is in fact logical. For where America leads, with post-Bush dexterity and purpose, the world will still follow.

Hillary Clinton hammered Barack Obama in voting among Hispanic voters on "Super Tuesday" and he needs to spend more time and money courting them if he hopes to close the gap, political analyst say.

As expected, Clinton won big majorities of Latino voters in nearly all the 22 states participating in the Democratic presidential nominating contests, with exit polls showing her winning two-thirds of the Latino vote in several states.

In his new budget, to be unveiled Monday, President Bush will call for large cuts in the growth of Medicare, far exceeding what he proposed last year, and he will again seek major savings in Medicaid, according to administration officials and budget documents.

Normally a federal issue, state senators have been asked to study and make recommendations to stem the tide of illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and human smuggling.

Governor Rick Perry announced his plans to block a proposal for an enhanced driver's license program for the state, citing high costs and a lengthy delivery time for residents as key factors for doing so.

Washington state, the first state in the nation to embrace an enhanced driver's license program in lieu of passport requirements taking effect Jan. 31 at United States land ports of entry, has had a bigger response from motorists than expected, forcing licensing offices to expand capacity for applications.

On Sunday, I heard the best speech in a long time—the speaker was Rhasean Stephens, a senior at Silva Magnet High School. His speech was the winning essay in the MLK committee contest. The following is the text of Rhasean's essay. It will inspire you as it did me.

With a long-awaited opinion, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott appears to have opened the way for Texas to start an enhanced driver’s license pilot program.

There are 5.7 million people in Texas who did not have health insurance in 2006. Many Texans may know that their state has the nation's highest portion of residents without insurance, but they may not know that most are employed -- they're the working poor and middle class Texans.

Unless state leaders commit to making Texas part of the climate change solution rather than the problem, the next generation of consumers will pay for those shortsighted policies with higher electricity bills, increased damage from coastal flooding and ever higher insurance rates.

An Attorney General's opinion released Tuesday gives the green light for a statewide enhanced driver's license program, but Gov. Rick Perry's office is still uncertain.A bill passed during the 80th Texas Legislative session established the ability to develop enhanced driver's licenses that would show an individual's identity and citizenship. It is a program touted by federal officials as being conducive to quicker border crossing when new document requirements are implemented Jan. 31 at land and sea ports as part of the Western Hemispheric Travel Initiative.

Today, border ports are the front door for trade to all America. So why is it that nearly seven years after 9/11, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff still has not delivered on the major pieces of border security - safe, fast, smart movement of people and products? And workable security for America's future?

The American dream is founded on the belief that people who work hard and play by the rules will be able to earn a good living, raise a family in comfort and retire with dignity.

Drug Free Sport gets $5.6 million, two-year deal to initiate program in the next few weeks

Recently, a constituent wrote to ask about the dream of college education in Texas. She asked, “What happened to tuition and how do we keep the dream of college alive?” This is my letter to her.

In the Army's vision, the war of the future is increasingly combat by mouse clicks. It's as networked as the Internet, as mobile as a cellphone, as intuitive as a video game. The Army has a name for this vision: Future Combat Systems, or FCS.

But even here, far from the housing crisis' epicenter, high earners with good credit may be heading for trouble as their adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) adjust beyond their means, local real estate agents and others say.