Opinion

As you drive through the Hill Country, you will have noticed the gorgeous and vibrant wildflowers teeming with life.

A key House education committee adjourned last week without voting on a school voucher bill that is Gov. Greg Abbott’s top priority this session, the Houston Chronicle reported. Barring some unforeseen maneuver in the last week of the regular legislative session, the bill is effectively dead for now.

It’s official. Fort Hood, named for a high-ranking Confederate officer in the Civil War, has been renamed Fort Cavazos, in honor of native Texan Richard E. Cavazos, the country’s first Hispanic four-star general.

If you grew up anywhere in the south, you probably spent many early summer evenings as I did.

The clock is ticking on getting bills out of the House and to the Texas Senate, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick warned last week in a story in the Austin American-Statesman. Patrick presides over the Senate and is worried many bills that have made it out of House committees but have not gone before the full chamber will not be considered before the session ends.

Each season is a little different from the same season in past years.

As one drives along the highways and back roads in the Hill Country, they’ll likely see fields of tall, bright yellow flowers taking over the roadside and surrounding countryside. More than likely this is bastard-cabbage or Rapistrum rugosum.

The Texas House last Thursday passed two education-related bills, one that allocates $4.5 billion for teacher pay raises and another to increase the annual per-student base funding from $6,160 to $6,300 – a 2.3% increase.

The Texas Senate unanimously approved a $308 billion two-year budget last week, the Austin American-Statesman reported. The next step is to reconcile that budget with one passed earlier by the Texas House.

KWB volunteers span the generations.