Go Ahead and Mess With Texas

Mom, child killed in separate blaze in tinderbox state

(NEWSER) - A mother and child have been killed in a blaze near Dallas, while another "catastrophic" Texas wildfire has destroyed 300 homes and sent thousands of residents near Austin fleeing for their lives. The 16-mile-long Austin fire has burned through 14,000 acres and is now threatening an additional 700 houses, reports the American-Statesman . Firefighters were battling a dozen brush and grass blazes throughout eastern and central Texas yesterday as dry conditions and winds whipped up by Tropical Storm Lee turn the state into a tinderbox. Two of the fires were started when flames jumped from barbeque pits, and one ignited as a teen burned love letters outdoors, said officials. More»

DC is No. 1, but Texas has a bunch in the top 10

(NEWSER) - The number-crunchers at Forbes have come up with a list of the top cities where the recession is easing. The formula takes into account projected job growth and housing prices. Here's the list:

1. (tie) Washington, DC-Arlington-Alexandria
2. (tie) Austin-Round Rock
3. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington
4. (tie) Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington
5. (tie) Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown

Northeast, Midwest would lose seats if today's census was used

(NEWSER) - The South is gaining population and power at the expense of the Northeast and Midwest, according to Census Bureau estimates released yesterday. If House seats were distributed based on the estimates, which are believed to be a strong predictor of the 2010 census results, Texas would be the big winner, gaining three seats, with Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah, and Washington each adding one. More»

Vows to resist with 10th Amendment

(NEWSER) - Texas Gov. Rick Perry is gearing up for a constitutional fight over President Obama's health care plans. He warned that he might invoke the 10th Amendment’s protections for states’ rights to resist them, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. “I’m certainly willing and ready for the fight if this administration continues to try to force their very expansive government philosophy down our collective throats,” Perry told a Dallas radio host. More»

(NEWSER) - Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s stand against the intrusion of federal power on states’ rights is straight from an 1832 playbook, Ed Kilgore writes for the Democratic Strategist. And the argument John C. Calhoun made then is still wrong. Miffed that the GOP is out of power, Kilgore writes, Perry is “asserting the right to ignore any laws that don’t comport with his own view of ‘the letter and spirit of the US Constitution.’” More»