The Latest Breaking News from Paul Bettencourt

AUSTIN, Texas — Elections have remained a hot button issue among Democrats and Republicans amid continued concerns about election security stoked by a rise in misinformation and disinformation that arose with the election of former President Donald Trump in 2016.

The state has spent $4 billion on border initiatives in the past two years, including $40 million to bus migrants out of Texas into Democrat-led cities.

While the Legislature will soon start its new session, some laws passed in 2021 are just now taking effect.

At a senate committee hearing in Marshall, Texas Republican lawmakers accused investment firms of pulling back on fossil fuels, running afoul of a 2021 law that prohibits the state from contracting with or investing in companies that “boycott” oil, natural gas and coal companies.

The dueling approaches are coming into focus as lawmakers prepare to return to Austin for the session which begins Jan. 10.

A Democrat who is the top official in Texas’ largest county on Thursday acknowledged problems around Houston on Election Day that included paper ballot shortages and delayed openings of polling locations

Local governments in Texas have spent the summer preparing their budgets for next year, wrestling with inflation and a law that prohibits them from raising property tax revenues beyond 3.5% without voter approval.

The head of the Texas state police pronounced the law enforcement response to the Uvalde school shooting an “abject failure.”

Steve McCraw testified before a Texas Senate committee, laying blame on local police officers in Uvalde for not acting faster to save children during the school shooting.