Opinions

This has been an interesting week for our family. Out at the ranch, we’ve been encountering snakes!

I'm writing this on my birthday and feeling more than usually grateful.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick last week issued a sweeping gag order ahead of the impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Houston Chronicle reported, saying “out-of-court statements” by both sides threaten to jeopardize the trial.

I was reluctant to come back from Mexico this spring, knowing it would still be cold and wet and cloudy. But I’d gotten used to looking for pretty things while in Mexico. I wanted to share the festivals and the art and the colors. I’d been taking pictures and sharing them on Facebook so my friends and family could see a little bit of the world that surrounded me.

“In the onion is strength; and a garden without it lacks flavor.

Proponents are calling it the “biggest property tax cut in Texas history.” Both chambers of the Texas Legislature passed an $18 billion package during the second special session, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

Note: The originator of this letter requested that this letter be published unedited in any way.

“Not Impossible”

If you survived the 1970s and are old like me, you might relate to the following story. If you are young, you will not understand. As Baby Boomers, we grew up in a different time and place. As a society, Americans were less safety conscious then, which was fine with us kids. We never wore bike helmets (you should wear one), we drank out of the garden hose, most of us had BB guns, and we stayed outdoors and played all day until it was time to come home for supper. And, for the most part, we were an unsupervised lot. You might say we were “free-range” kids. I think it made us healthy.

The Neighbor Lady

Texas House Democrats unveiled a $20.9 billion plan for property tax relief that drops tax rates, increases the homestead exemption, gives annual rebates to renters, and includes pay raises for teachers, the Austin American- Statesman reported.

LA GRANGE – HCOE signed a term sheet on Friday, the 28, and that term sheet lays out the basis for a transition of management at St. Mark’s Medical Center (SMMC).

The Texas Senate on the first day of the Legislature's second special session unanimously passed a tax bill last Wednesday that increases the homestead ex -

COLUMBUS - Colum -

This column will offend many dog lovers. Please accept my apologies in advance. I myself am a dog lover. I believe dogs are among the very best creations on Earth. Fewer things provide more pleasure than a loving relationship with a well-trained and well-behaved dog. But, the hardest part of training dogs is training their human masters.

Wyoming: The moment hung empty. Or, maybe I was just that dumb. There were several lessons waiting to be learned that was splashing off my hard head like water off a rock. Yet like a smooth river stone, the water eventually has its effect.

Texas’ power grid reported record electricity use early last week. Both the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas are urging residents and businesses to voluntarily reduce electricity use as temperatures soar above100 degrees over much of the state. So far the grid, which administers 90% of the state’s power load, has been able to keep up with demand.

ARTER Asa Hill was born around 1788 in Hillsboro, North Carolina (near Fayetteville & La Grange, NC) to Isaac and Lucy Wallace Hill.

I heard him yelling before I saw him.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick claimed last week that Gov. Greg Abbott is sabotaging the Senate’s work because of their ongoing feud over which approach to property tax reform is best, The Dallas Morning News reported. Abbott vetoed three bills by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, who has been Patrick’s point senator on increasing homestead exemptions in order to provide tax cuts.