Opinion

To the Editor,

Legislators don’t play fair when they’re drawing political maps. Republican Texas and Democratic Illinois are recent examples, according to the Redistricting Report Card, a collaboration between the Princeton Electoral Innovation Lab and RepresentUS. Both states got failing grades on their latest redistricting efforts.

I’m not complaining, but after 23 years of column writing, it becomes increasingly challenging to find new angles for recurring events such as Mother’s Day or Memorial Day.

Redistricting is when politicians choose their own voters. It’s political as all get out. Officeholders draw districts that contain the highest possible number of supporters and the lowest possible number of opponents, try not to cross any legal lines when they’re doing it and extend their incumbencies by rigging the game from the outset.

The following article is part four of a five-week series focusing on raising awareness about domestic violence. October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, and we hope to educate our community on this very important issue. 1 in 3 women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. Locally, the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center has been serving victims of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and child abuse since 1978. Last year, HCWC served 2,055 victims of abuse (faceto-face) primarily from Hays and Caldwell Counties. 866 of those were victims of domestic violence.

Property taxes are higher in Texas than in all but a handful of other states. Voters know that, and when voters are interested, so are the people who depend on those voters for political survival.

The following article is part three of a five-week series focusing on raising awareness about domestic violence. October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, and we hope to educate our community on this very important issue. 1 in 3 women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. Locally, the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center has been serving victims of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and child abuse since 1978. Last year, HCWC served 2,055 victims of abuse (faceto-face) primarily from Hays and Caldwell Counties. 866 of those were victims of domestic violence.

The governor of Texas is mandating against mandates — resuming the kinds of top-down restrictions on private businesses that got him in trouble with a Dallas hair salon owner in 2020.

The following article is part two of a five-week series focusing on raising awareness about domestic violence. October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, and we hope to educate our community on this very important issue. 1 in 3 women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. Locally, the Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center has been serving victims of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and child abuse since 1978. Last year, HCWC served 2,055 victims of abuse (faceto-face) primarily from Hays and Caldwell Counties. 866 of those were victims of domestic violence.

On Nov. 2, Election Day, we will choose two city councilmembers. Four candidates are running for the two places.

State government in Texas is more of a slapdash operation than our high school civics teachers prepared us for. Some of the people working in and around the Texas Capitol definitely know what they’re doing. There are some real Jedis out there.