Opinion

While Texas Democrats are flying off to California and Illinois to coordinate political attacks, I’m exactly where you elected me to be: at the Capitol, doing the work. This special session includes redistricting and it wasn’t called on a whim. It was triggered by a formal letter from President Trump’s U.S. Department of Justice, which determined that several congressional districts in Texas—particularly in Houston and Fort Worth—may violate constitutional standards. The DOJ specifically raised concerns about four “coalition districts” that grouped together different racial and ethnic communities in ways that could amount to racial gerrymandering.

The beginning of cowboy poetry is thought to have originated from the stories and songs of Scottish and Irish shepherds. These were put into rhyme to help them to be remembered easier. This talent came to America through immigration and many of these immigrants became veterans of the Civil War, known in the South as “The War of Northern Aggression.” At the end of this war time, many of these immigrants moved west and made their living as cowboys on western ranches. Many lonely hours were whiled away by making up stories and songs that told about their daily adventures, as well as, their memories of family, sweethearts, and the life left behind in their home countries. This way of life was at its peak in the late 1800s and early 1900s and remains alive in the hearts and minds of all of us that continue to revel in the freedoms offered by the wide open spaces and the land of “big sky.”

The number of people still missing in the July 4 Kerr County flood dropped to two after another body was recovered last week, the Austin American-Statesman reported.