KTBB News, Weather, Talk

DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports that in court documents made public Tuesday, Texas lawmakers provided a behind-the-scenes look at efforts to scuttle in-person testimony from death row’s Robert Roberson, either at the Capitol or at the inmate’s prison. In the end, the documents said, lawmakers were told Roberson would not be permitted to testify in “any form of hearing” before a House committee examining the inmate’s case. In a brief filed with the Texas Supreme Court, Reps. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, and Jeff Leach, R-Allen, detailed their battle with the attorney general’s office and unnamed executive branch officials to secure public testimony from Roberson. The two lawmakers, both lawyers, sit on the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee and were among seven panel members who voted to subpoena Roberson, ultimately delaying his Oct. 17 execution.

The subpoena compelled Roberson to testify at a Capitol committee hearing Oct. 21. Prison officials began working to bring Roberson to the Capitol — ironing out transportation and security details — before the Texas attorney general’s office stepped in, sending Moody a letter saying Roberson would have to testify from prison by videoconference. Moody began the hearing by explaining Roberson’s absence and said negotiations were underway to allow the committee to hear from the inmate, who argues his conviction and death sentence should be overturned because they were based on outdated science and debunked theories surrounding shaken baby syndrome. In the legal brief filed with the Supreme Court, which has been asked to weigh the legality of the committee subpoena, Moody provided his account of what was happening outside of public view — including his frustration with what he described as an unresponsive attorney general’s office. “The executive branch took exception and refused to honor the subpoena,” the lawmakers wrote. “That impasse remains today.”

AUSTIN (AP) – Texas is clawing back more than $607 million per year in federal funding for special education services, a move local school district officials say will likely worsen already strained budgets for students with disabilities.

The School Health and Related Services (SHARS) program provides hundreds of school districts critical funding for special education services, reimbursing them for counseling, nursing, therapy and transportation services provided to Medicaid-eligible children.

More than 775,000 students receive special education services in Texas, according to the Texas Education Agency. It is not as clear how many of them are eligible for Medicaid, though school district officials say many of the kids who directly benefit from SHARS come from low-income families.

But in the last year, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which manages the program at the state level, began imposing strict limitations on the types of services for which school districts are able to request federal reimbursement. The changes have accumulated into a $607 million slashing to the money school districts typically expect to receive under SHARS per year, according to health agency estimates.

Bewildered by the sudden changes, school district officials and special education advocates say little has been communicated about why these drastic changes are happening.

“We’re seeing an increased number of students that need more and more individualized care,” said Katie Abbott, special education director for a coalition of six East Texas school districts. “And yet, what are we doing?”

In response to their concerns, Texas has blamed the feds.

A 2017 federal audit report found that Texas was improperly billing for services not allowable under the SHARS program. The report concluded the state would need to return almost $19 million, a fraction of the $607 million currently being left behind. It also required that the Texas health commission work to ensure it was complying with federal guidelines.

Afterwards, the commission submitted “every possible denial and request for the opinion to be overturned” but was unsuccessful, the agency told The Texas Tribune. The recent changes reflected an attempt to bring the state back into compliance, according to the commission.

But federal appeals officers, in a ruling last year, said Texas produced “nothing at all” to dispute investigators’ findings that the state billed for unallowable services. The ruling also condemns the state for attempting to submit evidence after the deadline to do so had already passed.

Further, federal officials dispute the notion that Texas is being required to make certain changes to the SHARS program. In a statement to the Tribune, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services made clear that as long as states work within “broad federal parameters,” they have autonomy to make decisions about their programs.

School district officials say Texas has resorted to overcorrecting problems identified by the audit, flouting expectations from the federal government that the state administers the program using the least restrictive means possible.

Many school districts are formally appealing the funding cuts with the state, while other rural districts have decided to exit the SHARS program altogether because of the administrative burden recent changes have created. Those that remain are holding out hope that lawmakers will decide in next year’s legislative session to help fill the financial gaps left in special education services — a lofty expectation for a state with a poor track record in both administering Medicaid and serving students with disabilities.

“We’re talking about our most vulnerable kids,” said Karlyn Keller, division director of Student Solutions and School Medicaid Services for the Texas Association of School Boards. “We can’t afford to continue to make these huge clawbacks in funding when we’ve got kids that need the service.”

AUSTIN – With more than 15 million records digitized in the past year, the Railroad Commission of Texas now has 83.4 million oil and gas records that can be searched and viewed online from anywhere in the world. In a release from the RRC, the enormous amount of work is part of the RRC’s ongoing success increasing transparency and making the vast trove of information held at the agency easily available to the public. 

As the oldest regulatory agency in Texas, the RRC has oil and gas records dating back to the 1930’s on paper in district offices and on microfilm. The agency has been digitizing those records and placing the images online for several years, allowing anyone with internet access to view them.

Documents that have been digitized include oil and gas production records and well completion records that contain information such as well depths and producing fields of a well. These records are used often by researchers, landowners, royalty owners, energy companies and public information requesters.

District office paper records and microfilm records that have been digitized can be found on this RRC webpage.

FORT WORTH – The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that just over a week before Election Day, some Texas residents showing support for Vice President Kamala Harris are receiving threatening notes, authorities say. The San Marcos Police Department said Oct. 26 it received two reports of threatening flyers left on political signs. The next day, officers said they recovered more notes that threaten supporters of the Democratic presidential candidate. “YOU have been identified and are now in our National Database of miscreant Harris supporters, either by social interactions with your neighbors who are on our investigations team, or by yard signs, or vehicle bumper stickers,” the typed note read.

“Rather than the hangman’s nooses of the old days, you are now guaranteed that once the magnificent Donald Trump assumes the Presidency again YOU will be IRS tax audited going all the way back to your very first tax return – and at a minimum – 4 years of painful misery and attorney’s fees.” The flyers were signed by The Grand Dragon of Trump Klan #124 in San Marcos. The Grand Dragon, according to the Bullock Museum, is the highest-ranking Ku Klux Klan official in Texas. Police have not confirmed if the flyers are connected to the KKK. Officers said they are investigating who is responsible for leaving the notes. Officers said anyone who receives one of these flyers should call the department’s non-emergency number at 512-753-2108. “It’s a crime in the state of Texas to try to influence or coerce or even prevent a voter from voting,” San Marcos Police Chief Stan Standridge said. “When we identify the suspect or suspects, then we will present that to the district attorney’s office for consideration of applicable charges.”

DALLAS – The Dallas Morning News reports that Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Republican Rep. Jeff Leach on Monday of making unethical contact with a Court of Criminal Appeals judge in the Robert Roberson case. In a filing Monday, Deputy Solicitor General William Cole reported the correspondence to the Texas Supreme Court, which blocked Roberson’s Oct. 17 execution after the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee issued a subpoena compelling the death row inmate to testify at a Capitol hearing four days after his scheduled lethal injection. In a notice sent to lawyers in Roberson’s case, the appeals court said Leach had contacted an unnamed judge by text message to urge reconsideration of Roberson’s case. The state’s highest criminal court has rejected several requests for a new trial for Roberson, who argues his conviction was improperly based on a now-discredited theory of shaken baby syndrome. The notice from Sian Schilhab, the Court of Criminal Appeals general counsel, said the judge promptly reported the contact.

The court, Schilhab added, viewed Leach’s contact as a “clear violation” of professional conduct rules for lawyers. The Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct prohibit lawyers from any communication outside official channels that seek to influence a judge on a pending matter. Leach has been a licensed lawyer in Texas since 2009, according to the State Bar of Texas. In text messages detailed in Schilhab’s notice, Leach told the judge he struggled with whether and how to “send you this message legally and ethically.” But he felt compelled to do so, he said, noting he has spoken publicly about the case and is neither a party to any active litigation before the court nor representing any party as an attorney. “One Judge,” Leach wrote. “That’s all that is needed to simply say … there are too many questions and too many holes and too much uncertainty … and Robert Roberson deserves a new trial.” Leach called it “my hope and prayer” that the judge would voluntarily speak out to get Roberson a new trial. “Only sending this message to you,” Leach added. “And you alone.” “As my friend and as a wonderful Judge who I have so much faith in,” Leach continued, “I hope you’ll consider doing so.” The judge replied: “I cannot consider your message nor may I discuss any pending matters with you. Thank you in advance for your understanding.” Leach responded that he wasn’t aware of any pending matters before the court but acknowledged his “error.” Leach publicly owned his error as well.