Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

As reported in the San Antonio Express-News, lawmakers expanded CHIP coverage in the previous legislative session to include babies who have not yet been born.

Senator Shapleigh's notes and observations will keep you updated on what is happening behind the scenes in Austin and El Paso.

Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is taking a second stab at prosecuting the state's largest business lobbying group for fronting a direct-mail campaign secretly financed four years ago largely by the insurance industry.

The Texas Legislature has before it an array of bills that would address illegal immigration when it convenes in January. Among them is a proposal by Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, that would deny citizenship to children of illegal immigrants.

Isolated punitive actions against undocumented workers by cities and states are no substitute for a comprehensive national policy

The Farmers Branch City Council's measures targeting illegal immigrants will accomplish little toward addressing very real problems caused by failed enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. But Monday's votes can't be ignored,

Two years ago, the House Committee on Local Government Ways & Means submitted a study of the impact of changing the appraisal cap from 10 to 5 percent. What they found is that an appraisal cap amounts to a tax shift -- from the rich to the poor.

A day after this Dallas suburb passed a controversial measure barring landlords from renting to illegal immigrants, apartment owners denounced the new rule Tuesday.

Texas lawmakers struck hard at illegal immigrants Monday, filing bills that would restrict birthright citizenship, bar them from getting state benefits such as health care and education, make it illegal for them to get business permits and tax them.

James Leininger spent nearly $5 million this year trying to elect voucher-friendly lawmakers to the Legislature, but now the retired San Antonio businessman and physician is farther from his goal than ever.

Texas law says that if a power company obeys the rules, it will get its permit. But what if the rules are no good? That question is erupting into a big Texas political battle over permits for proposed new coal-burning power plants.

Residents were promised nature preserve, but the company is now bankrupt. Ruth Einkauf and her Dona Park neighbors were promised a 30-acre nature preserve behind her home in 1999 as part of an EPA settlement with a nearby recycling plant.

Religion has the luxury of excluding alternative beliefs. Politics should be inclusive. That’s a danger in mixing politics and religion.

President Bush had many explanations for what he called the "thumping" his party took on Tuesday. He blamed corruption, Mark Foley, ballot rules, Democratic organization, Iraq, bad luck . . . and American voters.

With session only two months away, now is the time to gear up! For over eighteen months, we have met with community leaders, gathered information, delivered key committees to our region to develop El Paso’s Five Star Agenda for the coming session.

Senator Shapleigh's notes and observations will keep you updated on what is happening from the campaign trail.

George W. Bush, the "divided we win" president, emerges as the day's biggest loser. Midterm elections are always perilous for presidents, and this year's vote amounted to a referendum on Bush's failing occupation of Iraq.

Today, in nearly every state, immigrants from Mexico and Latin America are the targets of prejudice and discrimination. Despite these challenges, the “lamp beside the golden door” has remained for those who brave all odds to seek it.

Senator Shapleigh's notes and observations will keep you updated on what is happening behind the scenes in Austin and El Paso.

The convenience store, nicknamed “La Chicken” by the day laborers who gather there every morning, is the home office of almost 40 workers. They are among a population of about 11 million in the United States and 1.5 million in Texas.