Texas lawmakers approved a school funding system two years ago that provides no new money to cover rising costs – especially for fuel, utilities and health insurance – and officials warn the plan’s tax revenue limitations will allow inflation to push some school districts into bankruptcy.

Now here's a new one. University regents holding the line on spending and using their power under the tuition deregulation bill to freeze tuition, instead of raise it through the roof like has happened at the University of Texas and Texas A&M. But that's exactly what regents at Texas Tech University have done. More details can be found in the El Paso Times story, link below.
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El Paso Times story on tuition freeze

To read the Lone Star Report, link here:

In our rush to get last week's issue published, we inadvertently omitted one electric question we asked Chairman Phil King. We'll print it in next week's issue, but we also thought it appropriate to post below:

LSR: You passed a nuclear decommissioning bill last session. Has the state done all it needs to do to enable more nuclear power if companies want to build a plant?

King: I think there' six applications for nuclear power plants in Texas right now. I've met with Dale Klein [chairman of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission] and talked about the application process and how it applies to Texas. NRG is probably moving forward as fast as anyone. I think Texas may be the first place in the nation [in recent decades] to build a nuclear power plant. It will be the first time, I guess in world history, that there's been a merchant nuclear power plant built, meaning one built without subsidized dollars or guaranteed rate of return, with the risk being on the investors.

If there is anything else we can do to encourage that industry, then I want to do it. Nuclear power is cheap. It's clean, and it's the kind of base load that we need to carry Texas into the future.

To read the Lone Star Report, link here:

The Texas Democratic Party has announced that it is appealing a district court ruling that Midland City Council member Bill Dingus is ineligible to run for State Representative. The U.S. District Court had held that Dingus did not resign from his city council seat, and therefore, is ineligible to be a candidate for state representative. Dingus is running against House Speaker Tom Craddick.

To read the Lone Star Report, link here:

Research has shown that more than a third of anti-malarial drugs sold in Africa have failed quality tests. The study of drugs bought in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda reveals that 35 percent contained too little active ingredient or failed to dissolve, rendering them ineffective.

Toyota, a Japanese car-maker, has posted a 28% fall in profit for the first three months of 2008 and predicted its first annual profit fall in seven years.

According to BBC News, “it blamed falling demand in the U.S. and a stronger yen, which makes Japanese exports more expensive. Net income dropped to 316.8bn yen ($3bn) in the quarter to March, down from 440bn yean a year ago.”

In Europe, young adults deliberately binge on alcohol and drugs to improve their sex lives. Great Britain has one of the worst reputations for binge drinking and under-aged sex, but there are remarkable similarities between other European countries as well, a study found.

On May 2, The Austin American-Statesman ran an expose about House members who are hiring former legislators and other employees, classifying them as “full-time,” and paying them a few hundred dollars a month.

House Regulated Industries Chairman Phil King (R-Weatherford) is a critical member of Speaker Tom Craddick’s leadership team. I caught up with King to talk about utilities and other key political matters. Due to the interest in these issues, we are splitting the interview into two parts. In this week’s installment, King discusses electricity issues.