If you wonder how open government laws affect you, think about these basics: The local taxes we pay. The roads we drive on. Even, sometimes, matters of life and death. Access to information through public meetings and records helps us know about the decisions elected...
By John Moore We had a clothesline, but no washer or dryer. So the Laundromat was a weekly destination. Today, most folks would find the absence of a laundry room in the home as foreign as no air conditioning or Wi-Fi. Fifty years ago, most...
By Jon Smiley With Texas voters heading to the polls again this month for primary runoff elections, transparency and open accountability should be top of mind for voters and a top priority for our elected officials. That’s especially true in the election of the...
By Ray Miranda Two guys are walking in the heart of New York City. As you can imagine they hear honking horns, the sounds of cars moving, people talking – really, just a whole at once. As one guy talks, he notices the other looks like his mind is wandering. He’s...
By Lynn Burgess A verse that has been on my mind lately is John 3:16. If you’re familiar with the bible at all, you probably know this verse… For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not...
By Jeremy B. MazurThe trials of drought weave throughout the story of Texas in tales of devastation that had lasting effects on the families, businesses, and communities that survived them. These withering dry times prompted Texans to make big changes to shore up...
By Todd Baughman This weekend I had the opportunity to celebrate two men in my life turning 90 years old. One was my grandfather Bob Houser and the other, my friend and founding pastor Gene Getz. These milestones gave me the opportunity to celebrate the...
No matter how hard we try, we really can’t avoid one another. We live in a world where what takes place somewhere else on the globe has a very good chance of affecting us, along with many others. The pandemic, of course, is a useful – if sobering – example. A virus...
The COVID-19 pandemic has produced too many tragedies to tally, but here is one that does not get talked about enough: It has worsened conditions that leave children and youth especially vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation, a human trafficking crime. Human...
