Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

Clearly, there are major differences between the economic policies of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. Mr. McCain wants more tax cuts for the rich; Mr. Obama wants tax cuts for the poor and middle class. The two men also disagree on health care, energy and many other topics.

McCain and Obama want to change the bottom-line effects of the tax code. Here's a dollars-and-cents breakdown of what their plans could mean for you.

The overpayments were among several deficiencies found in work force practices at the Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees four state agencies in a system that employs 50,000 workers with a payroll of $2.2 billion.

Fort Bend County Commissioner James Patterson recalled recently that when he talked about the need for public transportation after being elected in 1999, "I almost got run out of town." Now, he said, commuter buses carry 13,000 passengers a day between Sugar Land and the Galleria or Greenway Plaza, twice the number just two years ago.

Six years after group boasted of its role in electing a pro-business slate of Republican lawmakers, association will face charges that it violated campaign finance laws.

For $85 million, Texans deserve better than an automated payroll system that blindly sends checks to ex-employees while promised evaluations and training are not carried out. Health and Human Services officials must also be held accountable for failing to provide the contract oversight they've been promising for years.

When an Austin appeals court recently issued a ruling that appears to absolve former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay and two co-defendants of money laundering charges, it cited a law passed eight months after the original indictments in support of its ruling.

The rail transit network expansion plan that is expected to be presented to the Legislature in January will include a "menu" of funding options, from a bit of sales tax to a bit of gasoline tax to an "impact fee" for new Texas residents to even a bit of property tax. The final list would be put to a local-option vote, either county-by-county or one big vote covering all of North Texas.

Some Texas lawmakers could launch a new effort to crack down on unauthorized immigrants by punishing businesses that employ them or cities that give them sanctuary, if the ideas get the legal go-ahead from Attorney General Greg Abbott.

In the first year, schools statewide appear to have saved millions of dollars in August utility bills. The Houston Independent School District's monthly payment to Reliant Energy, for example, dropped almost $200,000 between August 2006 and August 2007. Officials attribute about $66,000 of the savings to lower electricity costs.

The Travis County district attorney's office is investigating a criminal complaint involving the Texas Education Agency's watchdog unit, an official in the district attorney's office confirmed Monday.

With highway construction slowing because of red tape and budget woes, Texas' top three leaders — Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick — on Thursday proposed sweeping policy changes to jump-start and pay for new road projects.

The National Trauma Institute, which will host a national meeting of military and civilian doctors, nurses and researchers here beginning Monday, hopes to raise $56 million in private donations and $10 million a year in federal funds to support trauma research across the country.

Austin's trend mirrors statewide results, and national studies that show higher rates of physical inactivity and obesity among Hispanic and poor adults and children put them at higher risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, joint and bone disease, and other health problems.

About $1.1 billion in overbudgeting by the Texas Department of Transportation resulted from bad internal communication, misunderstandings and a complex reporting schedule, according to a new state audit.

In a dissent unusual for its critical tone, Justice Diane Henson, a Democrat, wrote that three Republican colleagues first delayed the resolution of the case for years, effectively tying the hands of prosecutors, and then issued an opinion about 10 days agothat went too far when it concluded that the state's money-laundering statute did not cover checks at the time that DeLay is accused of laundering corporate money into campaign donations.

The number of uninsured has dropped — Massachusetts now has the lowest rate in the nation — and so have the number of those who turn to costly emergency rooms for routine care. And while the state has had to seek additional sources of revenue — mainly because of the program's popularity — the gains in the first 21 months suggest that the plan could become a model for universal health coverage for other states or the nation.

Today, the people of Texas expect a government that works. The DPS plays an important role in keeping our highways safe, keeping our vehicles safe, protecting Texas' history—and increasingly, assisting in the war on terror in a post-9/11 world. So how did DPS let the Governor's Mansion burn down?

The city of Austin, Tex., approved plans on Thursday for a huge plant that will burn waste wood to make electricity, the latest sign of rising interest in a long-dormant form of renewable energy.

Almost one of every four Texas residents – 24.8 percent – was uninsured in 2006 and 2007, based on an average of the rates for those two years. That's up from 23.9 percent for 2004 and 2005.