Experience Austin Texas. The Texas Tribune. State Must Alert Parents in Person in Custody Cases — Dept of Family and Protective Services. Texas Supreme Court justices listen to the State of the Judiciary speech on February 23, 2011.
The state must do what it reasonably can to personally notify parents when suing to deprive them of custody of their children, the Texas Supreme Court ruled on Friday. Failure to do so grants parents the right to appeal verdicts, the ruling states, even beyond the six-month deadline for appealing child custody cases. The ruling could have significant consequences for Texas, where, according to the Department of Family Protective Services website, about 66,000 children faced abuse or neglect in 2011, and more than 17,000 children were removed from their homes. It is not yet clear if the ruling will affect how DFPS handles potential child abuse cases, agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins wrote in an email to The Texas Tribune.
The case concerned a woman who was notified via a newspaper advertisement that the state wanted to end her custody of her four children. Amid Cattle Deaths in Central Texas, an Agricultural Mystery — Environmental Problems and Policies. Texas Monthly: the National Magazine of Texas. Home - The Texas Observer. NPR StateImpact: Issues That Matter. Close To Home. Austin Chronicle. Austin daily: pay only access. Austin’s violent crimes rate third-lowest in the U.S. Austin has the third-lowest rate of violent crime among major U.S. cities but has a very high rate of property crime, according to 2011 FBI crime statistics reported by Police Chief Art Acevedo on Tuesday.
According to the latest FBI data, which ranks cities from best to worst in terms of crime, Austin has a rate of 430 violent crimes per 100,000 people, behind only San Jose, Calif., and San Diego. The data came from 33 cities that have more than 500,000 people. Austin has moved up in the rankings since 2010, when it had the fifth-lowest rate of violent crime, Acevedo said. “I think this is something we can be very proud of, despite the Austin Police Department being a very lean department,” Acevedo said, noting the city’s explosive population growth in recent years. The FBI’s data put Austin’s population at about 807,000 people in 2011. However, Acevedo said that Austin still has issues with property crimes.
Austin voters to consider water quality protection purchases... Austin voters can decide in November whether to support $30 million in bonds to buy land and development rights to protect water quality in the Barton Springs portion of the Edwards Aquifer.
Proposition 13 is the latest in a history of bond initiatives aimed at steering developers away from land in the Barton Springs recharge zone to keep the water underfoot pristine. Much of the rain that falls on the porous limestone of the Barton Springs zone trickles underground and, ultimately, washes into Barton Springs.
Since 1998, the city of Austin has spent $128.4 million to acquire the land or development rights of 26,577 acres. Other government entities and environmental groups — including Hays County, the Hill Country Conservancy and the Natural Resources Conservation Service — have contributed an additional $14.9 million toward the acquisitions. Perry says no to exchanges, Medicaid expansion. Home > Postcards > Archives > 2012 > July > 09 > Entry By Tim Eaton | Monday, July 9, 2012, 07:54 AM Gov.
Rick Perry said today that he would not set up a state-run health insurance exchange or expand Medicaid, two key provisions in President Obama’s health care plan. Emily Ramshaw of The Texas Tribune reported this morning that Perry would be sending a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to advise her of Texas’ position.
“I stand proudly with the growing chorus of governors who reject the Obamacare power grab,” Perry said in a statement. When the U.S. Regents freeze in-state tuition, fees at UT for two years. Home > The lowdown on higher education > Archives > 2012 > May > 03 > Entry By Ralph K.M.
Haurwitz | Thursday, May 3, 2012, 01:41 PM The governing board of the University of Texas today froze in-state undergraduate tuition and fees for the next two years at the Austin flagship. But the Board of Regents allowed most of the other academic and health campuses in the UT System to raise in-state academic charges, albeit not as much as some had sought. UT-Austin had proposed raising tuition and fees by 2.6 percent in the fall and another 2.6 percent in fall 2013. Austin cops' "No Refusal" July 4th DWI testing targets civil liberties - Austin Civil Liberties.
Austin Police Department (APD) is once again seizing upon a popular holiday (July 4th) to implement the mandatory blood-testing of motorists suspected of driving while intoxicated (DWI).
In a July 3rd announcement, APD claimed that "The DWI initiative is an effort to enforce DWI laws, keep the public safe, and to conduct blood search warrants on suspects who refuse to give a breath or blood specimen as required by law. " The crackdown will run from 9 pm on July 4th to 5 am on July 5th. Ironically, this abuse of personal freedom occurs on the day when Americans celebrate their supposed freedom and independence from the authoritarianism of 18th-century British rule.
Authorized by Texas state law, the "No Refusal" blood-draw policy can be applied against any DWI suspect who declines to take a breath test to determine blood alcohol level. The individual can be forcibly restrained while his or her blood is drawn. Another concern raised by Esman is medical privacy. GivingCity Austin.