Results tagged “johnwhitmire”

If you've ever been refused a drink in a bar because you've, uh, overindulged, you may be in fairly distinguished company: A former bartender at a Capitol-area watering hole in Austin claims she refused state Sen. John Whitmire of Houston another drink — and got fired for doing it. Rebekah L. Lear claims she was working at the Cloak Room, a legislative hangout, on March 8 when Whitmire arrived "acting intoxicated" and with a "glazed...

Mayor White traveled to Austin two weeks ago to speak to the state legislature about SB 1317, a bill that would prevent cities from creating ordinances that protect air quality. It was no secret that the bill was targeted at the mayor's recent move to minimize the pollution caused by refineries that lie outside Houston city limits. The bill, authored by State Sen. Mike Jackson (R - LaPorte), was passed by the Senate yesterday, despite...

What could be more fun than building another Texas prison? Building one in Mexico, says Sen. Craig Estes, north Texas state senator and fertilizer magnate, in his recent Bill SB 185. The very hypothetical prisons would be intended for Mexican nationals doing time for nonviolent crimes.

Well, it looks like Mayor Bill White has given up on his quest to avoid holding a special election to fill former City Councilwoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs' seat: Yesterday, the mayor asked for a special election to be held May 12, setting off a process he has estimated could cost as much as $4 million. White had planned to ask the state Legislature for an exception to Texas election law so that the city wouldn't have to hold a May election, then hold another election for the seat in November, but then he found out Sen. John Whitmire was going to block that plan.

State lawmakers are planning to take another look at the crackdown on drunks in bars after public outcry over busts at 30 Dallas-area bars this month. And it does seem people are pretty ticked off about the whole thing: