State Capital HIGHLIGHTS Senate passes tax cut package The Texas Senate last week unanimously approved a $16.5 billion package to lower property taxes and inject billions of dollars into public schools. As reported by the Texas Tribune, the three separate bills require the state to send at least $5.38 billion to public schools while at the same time raising the state’s homestead exemption from $40,000 to $70,000, with an additional $20,000 exemption for homeowners 65 and older.

Higher education gets news coverage in both mass and social media, and much, I’m sure, is true. Technology is changing it at warp speed, and the old descriptions we used to toss about no longer fit.

I was wearing my clerical, a black shirt, and clergy cross, after services at a church, while walking through a Wal-Mart in Vernon, Texas. The woman I was dating had a mischievous streak.

State Capital Bill would require fentanyl education The death of a Leander High School graduate from a fentanyl overdose has prompted state Rep. Terry Wilson, R-Georgetown, to file a bill that would require 10 hours of education annually concerning the dangers of the drug to students in sixth grade and up, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

The Texas High School Coaches Association—organized by 28 coaches in 1930—now has a membership of some 24,000. It also has an education foundation that introduced the “Grant Teaff Coaching Beyond the Game Award” a decade ago.

The Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill that would lower the threshold for felony conviction of making or dealing fentanyl while increasing the penalties for those convicted. Fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid with a lethal dose of less than two milligrams, is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in America every year. The Centers for Disease Control says that 71,000 Americans died of a fentanyl overdose in 2021 and of those, more than 1,600 were Texans. “In just this past week, in downtown Austin - so just a few blocks from where we are - there were 21 overdoses in a 24 hour period and three people died.” said Houston Senator Joan Huffman. “In a three week period this month in Hays County ISD… had three students overdose, the youngest to die was 15 and the oldest was 17.” DPS has seized 353 million fatal doses of the drug, said Huffman, at the border with Mexico. It’s now the number one killer of adults aged 18 to 45.

House pushes armed officer at all schools Under legislation prioritized by House Speaker Dade Phelan, every Texas school would have an armed police officer, and aspiring teachers would receive extra support.

Minnie Pearl—queen of country humor for a half-century— ”country-talked” her way into our hearts, mostly from the stage of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. Nowadays, the $1.98 price tag dangling from her hat is but a distant memory.

To describe the workouts he directed as “grueling” might be an extreme understatement if the athletes who ran for late track coach J. H.

State Capital Street takeover spurs governor’s action Gov. Greg Abbott has created a statewide task force after several “street takeovers” recently took place in Austin in which motorists obstructed intersections, shot off fireworks and drove recklessly.