Legislature passes budget as session wraps up

Four days before the June 1 end of the 84th regular session of the Texas Legislature, both houses finally agreed after months of deliberation on a state budget for fiscal years 2016 and 2017.   To view more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition. 

Newspaper family suffers major losses

Those of us who have been privileged to do something we love dearly all of our lives belong to a group I named in a speech years ago as the Brotherhood of Community Newspapers. Over time, with more experience in that genre, I decided it could also be called the Texas Country Newspaper Family.

Greeley goes west to warm Texas welcome

The New Orleans Picayune in a May 27, 1871 editorial echoed the same concern Horace Greeley expressed about his trip to Houston, when the New York publisher wrote, “I go to Texas reluctantly.

Building an Ark

It would seem the drought has ended, and the liquid blessings just keep coming. And coming. And . . . uh . . . coming. I’m hesitant to ask God for more provision, for fear of sounding ungrateful. But those ark dimensions . . . I’m thinking I might need a blueprint and some supplies pretty soon.

For the grads

By Lynette Sowell   Friday night is the annual “Walk of Fame” held by the Copperas Cove Education Foundation to honor the top 10 percent of this year’s batch of graduating seniors. Oh, to be 17, 18, or 19 again—not that I’d be willing to go through the throes of the teenage years again.

‘False smarts’ sank pretentious job

By Willis Webb   Everyone knows someone like this person — very bright but not quite as smart as they think they are. In the early 1970s, I was hired as editor of a sizable twice-weekly newspaper in an area adjacent to Houston, which had begun to grow rapidly with a spillover effect for my new town.

Mexican Dictator leaves office feet first

by Bartee Hailie After five years as the tyrannical ruler of the chaotic country south of the border, Venustiano Carranza left office on May 21, 1920 like other presidents before him – feet first. When Gen.

The Tea Party

by Renae Brumbaugh Y’all are my friends, right? Right? Which means I can share something deeply personal with you and you won’t make fun of me and call me mentally unbalanced . . . at least not to my face. Right? Okay. I’ve decided I’m going to tell you about the time I had a tea party with Jesus.

Here’s to the little guy

“Everybody starts somewhere,” theold cliché goes. It’s  meant to tell us not to despise small beginnings, another cliché. There’s some truth to both sayings, especially in business.

Who’s meaner? Big brother or red ants?

My hero Leon Hale, a former longtime Houston Chronicle columnist and current Facebookblogger and tweeter, never fails to prompt a story in my mind. Other than my Life Mate, probably no other person stimulates a lot of thought in that direction for me besides Leon.