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China poised to take over U.S. base at Ecuador's invitation Ecuador’s president has offered the Chinese government an airbase currently serving as one of the last U.S. military outposts in South America. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said during his recent visit to China that he would offer Beijing a lease on the Manta Airport, the presidential website reported last week. Currently, Manta is used by U.S. military forces for operations. The contract is up in 2009 and Correa will not renew it, a transport and public works ministry communications official told BNamericas. Correa said access to the air base is...

AUSTIN, TX — Ronnie Earle, who served as Travis County district attorney for more than three decades, died Sunday after a long illness. Earle was 78 years old.

Harry Reid may no longer lead Senate Democrats in Washington, but the political machine he built in Nevada has Republicans on the run. Democrats romped up and down the state in the Nov. 6 midterm elections, ousting Republican Sen. Dean Heller, winning races for governor and lieutenant governor, and expanding their state legislative majorities. The shellacking was 15 years in the making, the culmination of a long-term plan to shift a battleground into the Democratic column. Democrats elsewhere will work to replicate Nevada for years to come. Republicans were humbled. “These things can change, but right now Nevada is a...

Tom Hicks, Kay Bailey Hutchison among those who helped underqualified students get in to UT-Austin, records show. Dozens of highly influential Texans – including lawmakers, millionaire donors and university regents – helped under-qualified students get into the University of Texas at Austin, often by writing to UT officials, records show. Among those who wrote directly to then-President Bill Powers and then-Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa, bypassing the admissions office, were famed golfer and UT grad Ben Crenshaw, former UT regent Scott Craven, Austin lawyer Roy Minton and Sens. Kevin Eltife and Carlos Uresti, records obtained by The Dallas Morning News show. Dozens...

An openly gay United Methodist pastor said his "I Dos" in front of more than 30 clergy members and 100 guests Friday, days after he was forced to resign for having a partner.The Rev. Benjamin Hutchison married his partner, Monty Hutchison, in a ceremony on the steps of the historic Cass County Courthouse.Hutchison called it a joyous occasion."Walking around the courthouse and seeing all the support, seeing all clergy there gathered standing there saying that they support it, they're not opposed to it, it really was a blessing today."Hutchison, 31, resigned earlier this week from his position as senior pastor...

Kudlow & Company, CNBC, September 6, 2006

The statewide race that seems to be gathering the greatest attention among political power brokers is for the position that carries the least power: lieutenant governor. The primary election June 10 is a proxy battle between the state’s two most influential politicians — Democrat Sen. Harry Reid and Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval — and the zeal of the far right. This race normally wouldn’t catch voters’ eyes, but this campaign could define Nevada’s political landscape for 2016 and beyond. That’s because a Republican win could open the door for a well-funded, popular Sandoval to challenge Reid as the party continues...

Do our rights come from the government, or do they come from God or from natural law? The founders of the American Republic thought our rights came from God or from natural law. As such, our inalienable rights are the rights of all mankind and are universal, changeless, and applicable to all people, at all times and in all places. In terms of natural law, if man has a nature, then human rights must be in accord with that nature and must be necessary to the flourishing of that nature. If our rights are thus innate and fixed for all...

.....The bill, introduced by Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Jon Kyl (R-Texas) and dubbed the ACHIEVE Act, would offer a pathway to permanent residency to young undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. by their parents who are seeking a higher education or military service. The bill stops short of providing a separate pathway to citizenship..... Kyl and Hutchison said, however, that they have been working on the bill for about one year, well before the contours of the election took shape in full.To be eligible for legal status under the ACHIEVE Act, an applicant must have lived in the...

Kyl suggests Benghazi 'cover-up' Sen. Jon Kyl, (R-Ariz.) suggests the Obama administration orchestrated a "cover-up" of the events that led to the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that left U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead. "There are three questions that have to be answered," Kyl said in an interview aired Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," appearing on a panel with three other retiring senators. "Why weren't the warnings about the need for security heeded? Why weren't the requests for help during the ted attack answered and why did the administration think...

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison all but endorsed Mitt Romney today, telling MSNBC that Romney has the experience needed in the White House - though she said she isn't technically, formally endorsing him at the moment.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry should not count on the support of his state’s seniority senator (and his 2010 Republican gubernatorial rival) if he decides to run for president. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Dallas, told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell today that she is looking for a Republican candidate with private-sector experience as her choice for the party’s 2012 presidential nomination. ....With the nation facing record deficits and ballooning debt, Hutchison said that real-life experience running a business would be a major asset in the White House — unlike the “academics” and politicians she said populate the Obama administration. “I do hope we...

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., calls his bill to reallocate some spectrum, which passed the Senate Commerce Committee 21-4 Wednesday, his "top priority for the year." But his work on the bill, which faces an uncertain future on the Senate floor and then a collision with Republicans in the House, may be just beginning. Rockefeller's Public Safety Spectrum and Wireless Innovation Act would give away a portion of the spectrum known as the D Block for public safety purposes, and take $10 billion in proceeds from an auction of other spectrum voluntarily relinquished by TV broadcasters to set up an interoperable...

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is hopeful that his bill to create a National Infrastructure Bank will move through the Senate this year. The bill could be the best shot for those seeking to boost transportation, energy and water infrastructure investment in a Congress focused on “rapacious” spending cuts, Kerry said. The Kerry bill, co-sponsored by Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), would create an independent, nonprofit bank that would leverage private investment into infrastructure projects. The bill was introduced in March.

Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones (R) will officially kick off her bid for retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's (R-Texas) Senate seat Tuesday at an event in Dallas. It's the first stop on what will be a statewide tour to hit 14 cities over the next four days. "I am running for Senate because our federal government is out of control," Jones said in a statement. "We have to rein in out of control spending and debt, ban wasteful pork and earmarks, secure our borders and get government off the backs of businesses so they can grow and create desperately-needed jobs."...

Republican U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison has announced that she will retire after her current term expires. In a letter released Thursday, Hutchison said she will not run for re-election in 2012. Hutchison has said she might retire and then changed her mind several times in the last few years. In 2010, she challenged Gov. Rick Perry in the Republican primary for governor, but lost. Hutchison has been in the Senate since 1993.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.), ranking member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee filed an amendment to an appropriations bill aimed at preventing the Federal Communications Commission from adopting net neutrality regulation. Hutchison's amendment, co-signed by John Ensign (R-Nev.) and six other Republican lawmakers, would "prohibit the FCC from using any appropriated funds to adopt, implement or otherwise litigate any network neutrality based rules, protocols or standards." An FCC spokeswoman declined comment on the amendment.

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison will announce Wednesday morning she will stay in the Senate, flip-flopping on her resignation promise that left several candidates eager for the chance to succeed her. The Republican kept the decision close to her vest until the final hours, when she informed her inner circle as well as her Texas counterpart, Republican Sen. John Cornyn, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of her decision to stay through the remainder of her term, which expires after the 2012 election. Hutchison will make the announcement official at a press conference Wednesday morning in San Antonio with Cornyn...

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is expected to announce her political plans today in San Antonio. Aides to Hutchison said late Tuesday that she would appear there with her Texas Republican colleague, Sen. John Cornyn, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for a news conference. Though the statement made no mention of a topic, Hutchison has said frequently that she would leave the Senate before her term ends in 2012. Several state politicians have already declared their interest in running in a special election to replace her. But Cornyn, McConnell, Gov. Rick Perry and every member of the Texas...

A rousing primary that featured a cast of characters ranging from Sarah Palin to George H.W. Bush to Glenn Beck comes to a dramatic conclusion It was no surprise that former Houston Mayor Bill White won the Democrat nomination for Governor handily despite a slew of contenders. The shocker was how easily incumbent Governor Rick Perry dismantled both U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and upstart Tea Party favorite Debra Medina in a highly publicized and viciously fought contest.