Sunbelt Builders Show Opens Registration for October Show

The Texas Association of Builders has announced that registration is now open for the Sunbelt Builders Show and Education Conference. This year, the Show is proud to present iBuild at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, TX October 29 – 31, 2009. Registration is now available online at www.SunbeltBuildersShow.com. The ninth annual Sunbelt Builders Show will provide professionals in the home building and light construction industries the necessary tools to stay on top in today’s challenging construction environment. The regional event includes the trade show, education and networking events. More

Special Session Looms

The Texas Legislature, in an 11th-hour meltdown over $2 billion in road-building bonds and future construction projects, adjourned Monday, the last day of the session, without approving a safety-net measure to keep five agencies from shutting down - including the state's primary transportation and insurance agencies. More

Texas Legislature Adjourns with Two Major Agencies Unaddressed

The Legislature’s 2009 session ended in a bitter meltdown late Monday as the Senate refused to vote on whether to keep two major state agencies alive, setting up the possibility of a special session within months to revive the transportation and insurance departments. More

Editorial: It’s a Gas at the Capitol, Volatile Tactics and All

When the 81st regular legislative session ended Monday, we knew what we kind of already knew: The Texas Legislature is a gas, driven by nature to fill its container. In Texas, the container is a 140-day regular session in odd-numbered years. Odd somehow seems appropriate. We'd all be disappointed if it wasn't odd. "What's a little chaos before we go home?" Speaker Joe Straus said late Sunday as legislators and lobbyists continued their work. More

2009 Texas Legislature: Winners and Losers

It was a legislative session without big winners. But if there's any consolation, it's that everybody lost something. Voter identification was lost. A transportation agency overhaul, including North Texas' big gas-tax priority, was lost. And during the five-day chubfest, a lot of time we'll never get back was lost. But even the biggest losers can find a silver lining. More

Cities Must Now Look Elsewhere for Rail Funds

Cities hoping for help from the state in paying for commuter rail service must now reassess plans after Texas lawmakers killed a proposed law that would have allowed local-option elections to raise taxes and fees for transit. The Fort Worth Transportation Authority, also known as the T, has a service area that only includes about half of Tarrant County’s 1.8 million residents. Cities such as Arlington, North Richland Hills and Burleson must now find other ways to connect to the agency’s rail network. More

What Passed, and What Didn’t

A look at some bills that made it and some that didn’t in the regular session of the 81st Texas Legislature, which ended Monday. More

Border Fence to Get Green Light

The City Commission today is poised to approve an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, allowing the construction of the border fence between Brownsville and Matamoros. The proposal also contains provisions that the city's land would revert to the city upon construction of replacement barriers and a new levee. More

Federal Jury Acquits Company, Owner

Jurors have acquitted El Paso businessman Lindsay Holt and his company, Architectural Products, of bid-rigging charges in a federal trial. "The government tried to portray him as a cigar-smoking man who would sit back and allocate jobs," said Joseph "Sib" Abraham, Holt's lawyer. "The jury saw through that and came to the right conclusion." Holt, 76, and his company were indicted in September on charges of conspiracy to restrain trade. An El Paso native, Holt has been in business in the city since the 1950s. Architectural Products provides steel doors, frames and hardware for construction projects. More

Senate OKs Windstorm Insurance Plan

The Texas Senate signed off on a plan Monday to restructure the state's windstorm fund that insures coastal property for hurricane damage, putting to rest a tricky item that could have led to a special legislative session. The Senate voted unanimously to approve a House-Senate compromise for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, sending it on to Gov. Rick Perry. House members approved the plan Sunday. More