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One person was killed and seven others were injured when a quinceañera in rural Ellis County exploded in violence, WFAA-TV in Dallas is reporting.Police said four of the victims, including an 11-year-old, were shot, two were stabbed and two others were beaten outside a Ferris-area home early Sunday, the station says.Officials said they believed the violence erupted when the party ran out of beer, WFAA reports.“It doesn’t make sense in a sane world,” Ellis County sheriff’s Lt. R.D. White told the station. “That’s why we’re trying to sort it out.”Officials said the violence apparently broke out between two different groups...

Talk about grist for my mill or even fodder for my cannon: Ready, aim, guess what? Everyone’s favorite “underfunded” state agency, the Texas Department of Transportation, intends to spend $9 million in multimedia advertising promoting toll roads and the unpopular Trans-Texas Corridor. The department is seeking to sway public opinion on a political issue using your tax dollars. Let me re-emphasize: That’s $9 million of taxpayers’ money to tell you that you need to not only pay a gasoline tax but also pay tolls on taxpayer-funded construction. In effect, you are now paying taxes to be propagandized by a state...

A San Antonio-area lawmaker has filed a bill to kill the Trans-Texas Corridor. State Rep. David Leibowitz, D-Helotes, told Waco-based KWTX that the massive toll road project would “destroy rural Texas as we know it.” State Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, whose district includes Ellis and Hill counties, both of which would be impacted by the proposed toll road, said he would be supportive of the measure. “I support efforts to get more control over TxDOT (Texas Department of Transportation) and the Trans-Texas Corridor,” Pitts said. “The Trans-Texas Corridor will have enormous effects on this area and the people who live...

A recent poll posted at KeepTexasMoving.org, shows that visitors to the site consider land acquisition as the most pressing issue needing to be addressed regarding the planned Trans-Texas Corridor. Visitors to the site chose acquisition of property by an overwhelming 64 percent of the vote, with 14,280 votes. The next highest vote was for connectivity to cities with only 12 percent, or 2,659 votes. The Web site is published by the Texas Department of Transportation to release information regarding the planned Trans-Texas Corridor. The Trans-Texas Corridor is a large transportation plan envisioned by Gov. Rick Perry and TxDOT to provide...

The final approved version was whittled down from its original form, but the Ellis County Commissioners Court passed a resolution Monday morning asking the Texas Legislature to reconsider legislation regarding the Trans-Texas Corridor. At the request of Heath Sims, Pct. 3, the commissioners had discussed a possible resolution during their last two meetings that would have opposed the TTC project. During Monday morning’s meeting and the meeting of Oct. 23, a number of Ellis County residents spoke out against the TTC and encouraged the court to pass a resolution showing the county’s opposition to the planned toll road. Jimmie Simmons...

ENNIS - Corridor Watch, a nonprofit organization designed to inform the public about aspects of the Trans-Texas Corridor, presented its perceptions about the highway project to an Ellis County audience Thursday evening. The event was sponsored by Independent Texans and held at the Ennis Sixth Grade Center. Corridor Watch, which was founded by Linda and David Stall of Fayetteville, is “first and foremost an educational entity,” said David Stall, who added that the group’s “biggest concern is stopping the Trans-Texas Corridor.” Stall, speaking for the anti-TTC Corridor Watch, raised several questions about the TTC, ranging from its origins to its...

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has filed a lawsuit to stop three individuals and their organization from falsely claiming they can protect property owners from potential eminent domain proceedings possibly linked to the Trans-Texas Corridor project. The Attorney General’s lawsuit alleges that promoters of “You Can’t Take It” with its associated Web site attempt to scare property into believing their properties may be affected by the future highway projects. The scare tactics then lead to offers to rescue them from speculative eminent domain proceedings for a fee of $600, which will increase to $1,000 by November. The organization also would...

DENTON - "Grandma" lost her argument for a contrived ballot nickname. But Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn of Austin might have found a plank on which to build a campaign against Gov. Rick Perry. It's a plank 600 miles long and a quarter-mile wide. It's a giant, privately owned, multilane tollway that would part the Texas countryside the way the governor parts his ample hair. Strayhorn, a Republican running as an independent candidate, has criticized the Trans-Texas Corridor tollway plan loudly for months. So have the other principal challengers in this traffic jam of a race, novelist Kinky Friedman of Medina...