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A woman claimed in a lawsuit Thursday that state Sen. Mario Gallegos inflicted emotional and physical pain during a 17-year affair. In the lawsuit, Susan Delgado also asks for $14,000 to repay cash loans she said she made to Gallegos. In a prepared statement, Gallegos' attorney, Mike Gallagher, expressed outrage at the allegations and said the suit will be "appropriately and vigorously fought." Delgado, 39, a former stripper who now works as a waitress at a strip club, also seeks unspecified "exemplary damages" for distress she said Gallegos inflicted, including "spankings, slappings and hair pulling" during "intimate relationships." Included in...

Legislator files for re-election State Rep. Gabi Canales, the Alice attorney who came under fire by an Austin political watchdog group for filing legislative continuances, has filed for re-election. Canales, D-Alice, said addressing education, water rights and prescription medication costs are her priorities for the next legislative session. Canales, 29, said that though she spent much of her first term as a legislator learning the procedure and the political system, she was able to address the needs of her district. She said she has laid the groundwork for medical malpractice lawsuit legislation and health care and prescription legislation. "I'm not...

Public Hearings on Congressional Redistricting have been scheduled for NEXT WEEK. Speaker Tom Craddick has divided the House Redistricting committee into 3 subcommittees to take public testimony on the issue before the beginning of the special session June 30. The subcommittees and hearings are listed below. Please contact your reps and do everything you can to make it to the hearing nearest you. SUBCOMMITTEES AND THEIR HEARINGS: ---------------------------------------------- The Subcommittee on Congressional Redistricting One: Chair Rep. Geanie Morrison (R-Victoria) phone: (512) 463-0456 Vice Chair Rep. Ron Wilson (D-Houston) phone: (512) 463-0744 Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford) phone: (512) 463-0738 Rep. Vilma...

Pending calls for special sessions by Governor Perry, the 78th session of the Texas Legislature became history on Monday, 2 June 2003. Several issues were left on the table including school funding via Robin Hood, property tax relief, tort reform, and congressional redistricting. Since the democrats lost control of the Texas House in 2002, they were not interested seeing the legislature address congressional redistricting, since they would not control the process. Note that the maps drawn in 2001 by a judge was meant as temporary. The trip by 51 of the Texas democrats to Ardmore, Oklahoma prevented a quorum, which...