1. Glenn Hegar is a comptroller and was asked by Sen. Royce West, if the sky was falling in Texas. Fossil fuel prices have been dropping recently and West was concerned about it. In response, Hegar told west that he would much rather be in Texas than in the other 49 states, but that they do still need to keep a close watch on the falling prices. He also said that despite the decline in prices, the state budget isn't in jeopardy of being dragged down by the energy market. Severance taxes take 7.5 percent of the market value for natural gas, and 4.6 percent for oil. The prices for oil and natural gases are going down, so the money being brought in is going to go down as well.
2. Donald Trump has decided that instead of going to the debate, he is going to host an event dedicated to war veterans and wounded warriors. The Iowa caucuses are happening on monday, and this Fox News debate is the last one before the caucuses. Im not sure what I think about his decision. I think that raising money for veterans is a surprisingly good thing of him to do, but the reason he's not doing the debate makes me angry. He thinks he has the right to be a sexist asshole and make excuses that that reporter woman was only standing up for herself because he thought she was on her period?! no thank you good bye I don't need this in my life. Clinton and Sanders aren't sure if they want to go to the debate that is now taking place on the 4th of february, which is 5 days before the next debate. The event wasn't sanctioned by the democratic national committee so the newly proposed debate may not happen.
3. Mosquitos are carrying viruses said to be causing birth defects, and the troops that were called in are going into homes and trying to exterminate all the mosquitos in the area. Zika and dengue are diseases that are carried by the mosquitos. Microcephaly is a birth defect caused but zika. The health minister said that the battle was already lost, but that just means that he's lost hope of containing the virus, and I doubt that the public needs that right now. The U.S Centers for disease control and prevention are telling pregnant women to reconsider traveling to brazil and surrounding countries and territories because of the outbreak. Brazil also recommended not getting pregnant until the crisis has passed.
4. UT professor Weinburg said that he was going to ban guns from his classrooms. UT chancellor McRaven said that they would be following the law, like you're supposed to do and uphold the campus carry law. The open carry law went into effect on the 1st of January. Justin said that the people who were concealed carrying are still doing that, and that we just haven't seen people carrying guns and other weapons around openly.
5. Ken Paxton is a Texas Attorney General, and he's angry because Obama relocated seven syrians (a couple and their 5 kids) to Houston without a one week notice prior to the relocation. Paxton filed a suit on Dec. 2 under the pretense of fears of terrorism and that the government can't accurately do background checks on all of the people fleeing Syria. Judge David Godbey rejected the request saying that paxton's reasons were all hearsay with no truth behind it.
6. Texas could win it's 1,000 game in the school's history if they beat Kansas on Wednesday night. It's been a strong season for basketball, and the only problem is that there are a lot of turnovers happening.
7. I liked the New York Times obituary better. I think it's a little more personable and not so much reporting his death as it is remembering him and what he's done.
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