Free Republic

California voters have narrowly approved Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statewide ballot measure, Proposition 1, which authorizes $6.4 billion in bonds to fund treatment and housing for homeless people with a mental illness or substance-use disorder. Preliminary election results from the California Secretary of State’s website on Thursday showed that 50.2% of voters chose to approve the measure, while 49.8% voted to reject it. That represents a difference of about 29,000 votes in a race where more than 7 million people turned in a ballot. The razor thin results defied predictions made before the state’s March 5 primary election that the measure...

FRESNO, CA (KMJ) When Governor Gavin Newsom suddenly pulled the plug on Monday’s annual State of the State speech with no explanation, insiders and analysts were quick to assume the reason may be due to the extremely close vote on Proposition 1.More than two weeks after the primary election, the race is still too close to call. As of today, Prop 1, Newsom’s $6.4 billion plan to help California’s homeless and addicts leads by 17,000 votes with 200,000 yet to be counted. The tight race reportedly has Newsom’s group scrambling to find more “yes” votes to push it over the...

Restaurants, recalls and resistance are giving California Gov. Gavin Newsom one of the worst months of his political career. California held its presidential primary election on Super Tuesday, March 5, but it was far from super for the state’s ambitious governor. Voters showed more than a little resistance to passing the ballot measure Newsom had branded with his name and image in TV ads for which he had raised $20 million. Given the razor-close outcome, what was really shocking was the amount spent to oppose the governor’s effort: nothing at all.

AUSTIN, Texas — Deep in the heart of Texas is an artery that's been clogged for decades. According to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, the portion of Interstate 35 that runs through downtown Austin is the third-most congested highway in Texas. About a quarter of a million cars in the Austin area use it daily. Gabrielle Guevara, a New Orleans native who works as a nurse at the Austin Cancer Center in Georgetown, drives on I-35 every day. She describes her commute home as "frustrating." "When I first moved here in August, I thought it was going to be about...

The political tide has turned against toll roads in Texas, imperiling a Tomball interchange project and hamstringing frustrated local officials, while setting an ominous tone for projects to come. For years, state officials relied on tolls to tackle some of TexasÂ’ biggest traffic messes as a way to build without adding taxes. Since 2016, however, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have taken hard-line stances against the mixing of Texas Department of Transportation money and toll revenues. Most Popular More men accuse former Texas judge, Baptist leader of sexual misconduct Breaking down 2018 Texas A&M football: Quarterback With...

The distinction between how rail and road projects can happen in Central Texas — state law requires Capital Metro to ask voters for permission to build or expand a rail line, while road builders can proceed, even on a tollway project, without an election — has always rankled transit supporters.The Legislature added that requirement for Capital Metro rail elections in 1997 when the agency was in turmoil and anti-rail lawmakers held sway. Since then, area voters have OK’d one rail project — the MetroRail commuter line in 2004 — and twice said no to light rail (that second rejection, however, was of...

The Texas Department of Transportation has a contractor lined up to add a lane to each side of Texas 130 through Pflugerville, a popular commuter route that often backs up during rush hour.But the $36.7 million contract with OHL Construction is now caught up in the freeze on toll road projects — even though the project would be an expansion of an existing toll road, funded with toll road revenue. It would not use money from the gas, sales and energy taxes that have been the target of grass-roots anti-toll groups.“The planning and (bidding) has been done. The contractor is ready...

Texas lawmakers have gone from championing to criticizing toll roads, a shift that some Houston-area leaders worry has gone too far and could limit coming projects. "Without toll roads and that funding, I don't know what we are going to do," said Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal, citing the need for new roadways in rapidly growing parts of the Houston area. The concern, voiced at a Dec. 15 meeting of the Houston-Galveston Area Council's Transportation Policy Council - the region's transportation planning group - was shared in response to decisions by the Texas Transportation Commission. A day earlier, the commission...

People forgot the asterisk. Or maybe they never noticed it in the first place. The consequences of that oversight took full form about a week ago, and the result is that the prospects for several major highway projects in Central Texas and the state’s other urban centers are now uncertain. Back during the 2013 legislative session, when Texas Department of Transportation officials and their lawmaker allies began pushing for more money through a constitutional amendment, they said that TxDOT needed an extra $5 billion a year to fight traffic congestion. Just give us that much money and all will be...

Texas is spending record amounts on transportation, but lawmakers worried it is not enough are considering extending a controversial program that’s helped spread tollways through some of the state’s largest areas. A bill approved this week by a House committee would give the Texas Department of Transportation a chance to add six additional projects, including the widening of Interstate 45 north of I-10 and a long-planned Hempstead Tollway, meant to relieve traffic on U.S. 290 with the potential for a commuter rail corridor. The bill, by state Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, would also allow TxDOT or regional officials the chance...

The cost of toll roads, the toll of urban congestion, ride-hailing battles and a high-speed train war garnered plenty of attention in Texas this year. And after the Legislature spent two sessions focusing on highway funding, lawmakers now appear poised to tackle other transportation matters next year. Here's a look at the year's biggest transportation stories and how they may continue to unfold in the coming months:1. Uber and Lyft roll out of Austin after losing city electionNational ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft stopped operating in Austin after voters there rejected an ordinance that would have repealed certain regulations, including...

Video at link. Houston Mayor Annise Parker wasn’t exactly gracious in defeat, accusing those who opposed the city’s transgender-rights ordinance of “deliberate lies” and predicting the city’s economy would suffer as a result of the measure’s repeal. In remarks shortly after Tuesday’s balloting, Ms. Parker blamed the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance’s lopsided loss on “a very small but determined group of right-wing ideologues and the religionist right” for waging “a campaign of fear-mongering and deliberate lies.” The ordinance, named Proposition 1 on the city ballot, lost by 62 to 38 percent despite the strong support of national gay-rights organizations, who...

Lesbian nominee approved by Senate committee despite pro-family outcry Washington D.C., Dec 11, 2009 / 12:48 pm (CNA).- Despite the complaints of her critics that she supports same-sex "marriage" as well as previously endorsing polygamous relationships, the Senate HELP Committee on Thursday approved the nomination of Chai Feldblum to be one of five commissioners on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and sent her nomination to the Senate for a full confirmation. “At this time of challenge, Americans need committed, capable public servants working full time on their behalf,” said Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and...

With the LDS church’s recent endorsement of a gay rights ordinance in Salt Lake City, many have begun speculating that the church is on its way to changing its policy on same-sex marriage. Not so, say BYU professors of religion and political science. Last week, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints publicly endorsed a city ordinance that bans housing and employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The BYU professors interviewed said that although the church supports tolerance and equality, it does not approve of homosexuality. Kent Jackson, associate dean of Religious Education, said the church is...

Below is an informative piece by my friend Gary Glenn of the American Family Association of Michigan about the awful decision by the LDS Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) to support legislation granting legal protections based on homosexuality. Gary of AFA-Michigan writes: A Shocker from Salt Lake City: The LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Church now officially endorses so-called “gay rights” laws, specifically a Salt Lake City law prohibiting “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation” (homosexual behavior) and “gender identity” (cross-dressing). From the official LDS Church website: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-supports-nondiscrimination-ordinances ASSOCIATED PRESS: “Mormons throw support...

The stars seemed aligned for supporters of gay marriage. They had Maine's governor, legislative leaders and major newspapers on their side, plus a huge edge in campaign funding. So losing a landmark referendum was a devastating blow, for activists in Maine and nationwide. In an election that had been billed for weeks as too close to call, Maine's often unpredictable voters repealed a state law Tuesday that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed. Gay marriage has now lost in all 31 states in which it has been put to a popular vote — a trend that the gay-rights movement...

Stunned and angry, national gay rights leaders Wednesday blamed scare-mongering ads — and President Barack Obama's lack of engagement — for a bitter election setback in Maine that could alter the dynamics for both sides in the gay-marriage debate.

PORTLAND, Maine — Cecelia Burnett and Ann Swanson had already set their wedding date. When they joined about 1,000 other gay marriage supporters for an election night party in a Holiday Inn ballroom, they hoped to celebrate the vote that would make it possible. Instead, they went home at midnight, dejected and near tears after a failed bid to make Maine the first state to approve same-sex marriage at the ballot box. "I'm ready to start crying," said Burnett, a 58-year-old massage therapist, walking out of the ballroom with Swanson at her side. "I don't understand what the fear is,...

Maine: Reject Gay Marriage Law 55% Precincts Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages? Answer Party Votes Pct. Yes — 166,155 50.9% No — 160,127 49.1 N.Y. District 23 Candidate Party Votes Pct. Bill Owens Dem. 51,292 49.1% Doug Hoffman Con. 47,219 45.2 Dede Scozzafava Rep. 6,012 5.8

28% Reporting, rejection of Gay Marriage up 50.51%