Opinion

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State Capital Highlights

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Speaker open to resort-style casinos in state House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, told The Dallas Morning News and other media outlets that he is open to bringing resort-style casinos to Texas. But don’t expect to find slot machines in 7-Eleven stores if casino gambling is legalized.

Some thoughts after the Speaker spectacle

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THE BIG QUESTION on everyone’s mind? “Who is that woman”? It was Cheryl Johnson, House Clerk since 2019, trying to keep calm amid the storm, calling the role 15 times and counting the votes. Since there were no rules during the Speaker dogfight, she had few guidelines for enforcing order amid the chaos. The position of House clerk is filed by election elected every two years, at the start of a new Congress. Each party nominates a clerk after the Speaker is elected. The usual duties include delivering messages to the Senate and certifying the passage of House bills.
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State Capital Highlights

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Abbott pushes back on migrant bus criticism Abbott has drawn criticism after a bus from Texas dropped off more than 100 migrants in freezing weather near Vice President Kamala Harris’ official residence in Washington, D.C. An Austin American-Statesman report noted the state has bused nearly 16,000 migrants to so-called sanctuary cities.
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Field Notes:

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IT SEEMS THERE IS NEVER TIME, these days, to think and read and listen and ponder, and to write this column, which was once the treat I gave myself for getting through each week. I have promised to take a few days this Christmas season to do just that.

Christmas came early, though, with the arrival of this story, published in The Rural Blog, which—along with the Daily Yonder—is on my must-read list of reporting on rural America.

Where there is kindness

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Reprinted from December 22, 1955

Christmas falls on Sunday this year, and local churches will be holding regular Christmas morning services as well as Christmas Eve programs. This is a good time to remember that Christmas is, first of all, a holy day. Go to the church of your choice Sunday morning, and celebrate Christmas in its true spirit.

Letter to the Editor: Skewed View

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Skewed View

Madame Editor,

Diana Gordon's article this week (Two Birds with One Stone) about the bipartisan Farm Workforce Modernization Act seems a great opportunity for our country's gradual re-centering of attention to the common good. With its designation of Certified Agricultural Worker status, we'll even have an acronym (CAW) to crow about!

Mischievously,

Of Note

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THAT WAS A GREAT Field Notes piece on Pete Parra. Almost every week, the Record has something that shows why it is one of the best newspapers in America. I read a lot of newspapers. I see none that look better and read better.
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Field Notes

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I MET LT. COL. PEDRO PARRA—or Pete, as he introduced himself to me—only once. He attended Canadian’s August 2010 All-School Reunion, and I was there to report the event. In the brief conversation that followed our handshake, in the middle of that crowded school gymnasium, Pete Parra made a lasting impression on me.