Ah, Texas.  Biggest and best in everything, right?  And with the passage of Senate Bill 7, an omnibus health care spending bill festooned with controversial amendments, Texas potentially achieves another "biggest":  we are now the biggest state to attempt defunding Planned Parenthood.  Which, depending on how you look at it, is either sucky for women, or great for fetuses. more ›

It could be a long summer at the Capitol for Texas legislators (at least for some). Gov. Rick Perry commented Wednesday that if the Legislature could not reach an agreement on reforming the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association ("TWIA"), he would call a second 30-day special session. more ›

Rep. Larry Taylor is on vacation with his family in the Bahamas, leaving the Lege struggling to find a quorum during the special session. According to the Chron, Taylor indicated that the vacation couldn't be rescheduled: "This gathering has great personal significance for my family and I could not cancel our plans," Taylor, an avid surfer who previously has publicly sung the praises of his hobby, said in a statement." He also missed a Republican Caucus meeting earlier this week where lawmakers were debating abortion language in a health care bill. Rep. Larry Taylor is on vacation with his family in the Bahamas, leaving the Lege struggling to find a quorum during the special session. According to the Chron, Taylor indicated that the vacation couldn't be rescheduled: "This gathering has great personal significance for my family and I could not cancel our plans," Taylor, an avid surfer who previously has publicly sung the praises of his hobby, said in a statement." He also missed a Republican Caucus meeting earlier this week where lawmakers were debating abortion language in a health care bill. He's not the only one missing -- on Monday, the House adjourned after only two hours because only 99 of 150 members were there -- but Taylor might be the only one missing due to an unavoidable desire to blue crush it in the Bahamas. As he undoubtedly knows, if you want the ultimate, you've got to be willing to pay the ultimate price. more ›

Did anyone see any disgruntled legislators fleeing the scene? Hours after announcing to reporters that he intended to call a special legislative session later this summer, Gov. Rick Perry crashed his mountain bike and broke his collarbone. The governor was treated and released from the hospital last night, but has cancelled all of his appointments today. [KVUE] more ›

Today Gov. Perry announced to an unsurprised Capitol Press Corps that there will indeed be a legislative special session, but the schedule for it is still being decided. The special session is likely to deal with the issues the Senate left unresolved at sine die. Whether the session will also include the contentious topic of Voter ID is up in the air. [KVUE: Political Junkie] more ›

Yesterday was Sine Die for the Legislature, but the State Senate skipped out before passing legislation to cover the operations of state transportation and insurance agencies through 2011 (the next legislative session). With this hanging over his head, Gov. Rick Perry will have to come up with some sort of solution. Does this mean a Special Session in the near future? Many suspect that one may have to called to resolve this issue, but neither the Governor nor House Speaker Straus think it necessary. . . yet. [Dallas Morning News] more ›

Some survivors of WWII’s Bataan Death March got their first in-person apology from Japan's ambassador to the United States, Ichiro Fujisaki. Some surviving POW’s at the San Antonio event were still angry about having been on a “Death March.” Today is the last day of the Texas Legislative session. Chances are they won’t get everything done. Dude who helped finance the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" campaign in the 2004 election is now bringing actual toxic sludge to Texas. Hog wild huntin' in Milam County. Turns out there’s no bag limit or season on the capture of wild hogs. Them’s good eatin’, too. (Don't forget to notify your local game warden if you'll be huntin' hogs at nighttime with spotlights!) BBC Scotland’s political editor compares Texas to Scotland. The Scots in the BBC’s comment section are mostly not amused by this. Conan remembered to visit the Alamo when he was recently in San Antonio. No word if he asked to visit the basement. Hey Austin, wake up and smell the transition to digital TV! A Nielsen report claims that -when it comes to the upcoming analog-to-digital tee-vee switchover--Austin is the fourth least-prepared city in the nation! more ›