Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Texas diners who like everything — Twinkies to bacon — a heaping lot better if it’s been deep-fried soon may be chowing on healthier cuisine if the Legislature approves a measure to ban heart-clogging artificial trans fats from restaurant meals.

The figures from a Mexican army raid on a stash house used by a drug cartel in Reynosa are staggering. Express-News investigative reporter Todd Bensman recently revealed that the November operation uncovered 540 rifles, 500,000 rounds of ammunition and 165 hand grenades, along with other military ordnance.

State general revenues supply only $81 billion of the next two-year budget. The rest comes from the feds or dedicated state revenues. Washington will pony up about $65 billion; devoted state taxes, mostly gas taxes, provide the other $30 billion or so.

The widening recession could put a damper on Gov. Rick Perry’s plans to spend more than $134 million to beef up security along the Texas-Mexico border, legislators said. Although a proposed state budget passed by the Texas Senate last week exceeds that request by nearly $3 million, lawmakers may have to scale it back based on revenue estimates due this month.

Starting today, experts and the public are set to testify afresh on a Republican-sought mandate that Texas voters present a photo ID or two identifying documents at the polls before casting ballots.

The Perry campaign and the governors group will ask state District Judge John Dietz on Thursday to throw out the case. Perry lawyers say that Bell has not proved that the Perry campaign intentionally hid contributions made by Bob Perry (no relation) and that Bell is now quibbling over a couple of reporting errors that didn't even draw fines from the Texas Ethics Commission.

The fundamentals of Carona's bill are sound. The measure allows county elections on new transportation projects and new taxes and fees to fund them. Communities could choose to expand the region's transit network -- a goal of local leaders for more than five years; Dallas and other DART cities could build roads or make other transportation improvements.

For nearly a century, Texas has led the nation in hydrocarbon energy production. For the next hundred years, Texas is blessed once again to be able to lead in solar energy. All it takes is political will. In Texas, El Paso is literally the "Sun City"—we are best positioned to develop, market and lead the state in encouraging solar energy. We are ready to make El Paso the Energy Capitol of Texas.

Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, believes $3.2 billion in federal dollars that was meant to improve opportunities for Title 1 students was instead supplanted into public education generally. He said this goes against the federal guidelines that mandate how states can use the money.

This is not about a simple problem. It is an undeniable symptom of a much greater problem that we Texans refuse to face: We don't have enough top-end universities that smart kids want to attend.

While Republican Gov. Rick Perry firmly opposes accepting federal economic stimulus money for the state's unemployment system, his Texas Enterprise Fund for businesses steadily pulls in tens of millions of dollars from the dwindling Texas unemployment tax pool.

Over the decades, Texans have relied on private enterprise — coupled with a supportive hand from state government — to develop the state’s wealth of energy resources: oil and gas, coal, nuclear power and, over the last decade, wind. Texas’ recent experience with wind power – fueled by wise choices by the Texas Legislature – has created thousands of jobs and millions in new tax revenue.

The primary is still more than 11 months away, but U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Gov. Rick Perry are already jockeying for position in their bid to win the Republican primary for governor.

House Bill 300 would continue TxDOT under the sunset law requiring state agencies to justify their existence every 12 years. The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission, led by state Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, spent the time between sessions studying the agency and formulating proposed changes. HB 300, the fruit of that effort, came before the House Transportation Committee on Tuesday for its first hearing.

Though they are legally considered adults and can serve in the military, 18-year-old Texans would be considered minors when it comes to smoking under a bill passed unanimously through a Senate committee Tuesday.

A bill allowing local law enforcement officers to set up sobriety checkpoints in the most populous cities and counties in Texas is on its way to the House after gaining final Senate approval on Tuesday. The measure by Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, restores a practice that was banned in Texas 15 years ago because the state at that time had no standards on how to conduct the checkpoints.

The last-minute move has sparked angry protests, mostly by Democratic senators, though at least one Republican joined them. There are rumblings that some senators may try to block the budget from coming up for debate this week.

All this short bill does is require that board meetings be broadcast — with audio and video — over the Internet and that the board Web site maintain an archive of those videos. It was introduced by state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, and passed by the House on Tuesday.

State lawmakers may recognize Communities In Schools as the best and most efficient dropout program in Texas by pumping in $30 million this legislative session. That was the message delivered by state Rep. Veronica Gonzales as she gave the keynote speech at the 20th anniversary dinner of the Communities in Schools program in Hidalgo County at the Cimarron Club in Mission on Saturday evening.

The state Senate voted to step up enforcement against drunken driving Monday, approving sobriety checkpoints – a practice banned in Texas for 15 years – and expanding the situations where police could force suspects to take a blood or breath tests.