Dec
19
Good News Goods – December 2011
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Dare to be Different with Good News Goods
This time of year, I grow weary of the deafening advertisements and discounts! discounts! discounts! I am saddened by the dilution of the true meaning of Christmas in the hustle and bustle– the joy of the coming of Christ. I’ve come to find that alternative giving is one way to celebrate the holiday season in a meaningful way. There are dozens of fair trade and donation-based organizations to choose from, including two extremely special ones within Texas Baptists: Good News Goods and the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering.
Take a look at Good News Goods’ website, and find something special for your loved one this year. Ten percent of each purchase you make is donated back into the World Hunger Offering, and you can be assured that your purchase is giving a hand up, not a hand out, to an artist in a developing country. Check out their stories, and let the power of each one, not the low price and percentage discount, move you to give as a gift this year,.
So let’s do dare to be different this Christmas season, and give the gift of Christ’s love by supporting our brothers and sisters around the world.
Merry Christmas!
Dec
19
In The News – December 2011
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CHURCH/STATE
- Faith leaders don’t see an Obama war on religion
- Supreme Court won’t review NYC ban on worship in schools
- School district settles suit with Tennessee ACLU
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
- New Youth Agency Taking Shape as Two Close
- UTMB gets $45 million to continue prison health care
- Harris County inmates get job training
- Hoping to Reform Justice System, Groups Eye Sunset Review
EDUCATION
- Measuring the Impact of Historic Texas Education Cuts
- Super Committee’s Failure Will Spur Hefty K-12 Cuts Without A Congressional Fix
- Texas Schools Face New Rules on Financial Hardship
- Texas Teachers Say Classes Growing, Layoffs Widespread
- High-School Dropout Rates Are Highest Among Hispanics
- More students taking college entrance exams, but few hit state performance goals, TEA says
- Second school finance lawsuit filed
- Robin Hood an Accepted Reality for Texas Schools
- School Districts Shortchange Low-Income Schools
- Low-Income Schools Less Likely To Have Daily Recess
- Get Involved-Spotlight: Literacy Coalition of Central Texas
- Dozens rally against district plan to host charter program in East Austin
- Democratic Party rolling the dice on education
ENERGY RATE CASE
- The Baptist General Convention of Texas is speaking out against a proposed 80% Austin Energy rate increase on houses of worship
- The City Council will soon vote on a proposed Austin Energy rate increase (Audio)
- Austin’s faith community braces for potential utility hike
- Churches not happy with proposed energy rate hikes
- Austin Energy: We Were Affordable (Before the Proposed 23% Rate Increase)
ENVIRONMENT
- Austin eyes West Texas for solar power
- EPA: Fracking may cause groundwater pollution
- Interactive: Areas Exceeding EPA Ozone Air Quality Levels
- Ozone Pollution Spiked in Texas This Year
GAMBLING
- Democratic Party rolling the dice on education
- Texas lottery sales hit record
- Tiguas’ tribal leaders, members work to improve future
- Special report: Jack Abramoff’s regrets fall short for Tigua officials
- Special report: Tigua casino closure timeline
- Corruption in Mexico casinos takes a toll in the US, too
- Hearing airs tribes’ issues with Internet gambling
- Oklahoma tribe to be granted reservation between Las Cruces and Deming
- Indian claim over Park City land set in Kansas
HEALTH
- State to cover meningitis vaccine for college students
- New study shows health insurance premium spikes in every state
- Safety-net programs insure more Texas children
- Texas may cut Medicaid reimbursements to healthcare providers
- Column: Don’t take the ‘medi’ out of Medicaid
- Health care law changing behavior
HUMAN TRAFFICKING
- HSU Global Awareness Week highlights Fair Trade
- Texas gets a ‘B’ in fighting sex trafficking of minors | It’s one of 4 states getting the highest grade awarded
- Trafficking: False promises, desperation lure woman
- Two Sex Traffickers Convicted in State, County and Federal Probe
HUNGER & POVERTY
- States Hungry for Revenue Leave Billions in U.S. Food Assistance on Table
- More schoolchildren in Central Texas living in poverty
- Midlanders work to end food insecurity through Food Planning Association
- Updated: Interactive Map of Food Stamp Distribution and Economic Impact
- USDA focuses on small neighborhood stores as it fights food stamp trafficking
- Can the Cans | Why food drives are a terrible idea
- Congress Pushes Back On Healthier School Lunches, Fights To Keep Pizza And Fries
- Editorial: School lunch guidelines lose to cooks in Congress
IMMIGRATION
- Immigration Falls as Campaign Border Rhetoric Soars
- Feds offer new guidance on when to dismiss immigration cases
- U.S. to Review Cases Seeking Deportations
- Lawmakers Want Defense Technology on Border
- Immigration Report Raises Doubts About Obama-Backed Visa Program (Audio)
- Arizona Immigration Law Faces Supreme Court Ruling
PAYDAY LENDING
- Why We Spend, Why They Save
- OKC New Baptist Covenant takes aim at payday lending
- Reed pushes amendment to protect military families from abusive financial practices
- Birmingham, Alabama Announces a Temporary Ban on Payday Loans
REDISTRICTING
- Court issues new state legislative maps for Texas
- Court Releases Congressional Maps
- Court shouldn’t reject redrawn map
- Federal Judges Propose Maps for Texas Legislative Races
- Redistricting Orders Throw Texas Politics Into Disarray
- U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments on Texas’ redistricting maps
- Texas AG Abbott accuses federal court of “undermining the democratic process” with redistricting map
- Texas attorney general accuses the U.S. of dragging its feet on redistricting maps
- Greg Abbott to challenge judges’ interim state districts map
- Attorney General Abbott Seeks Emergency Stay, Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Overturn Interim Redistricting Maps
- Abbott: Elections Should Use Legislature’s Maps
- State’s lawyer taking redistrict battle to Supreme Court
- State, feds argue over cause of delays in redistricting case
- State objects to court-drawn legislative maps
- Attorney general’s office has harsh words for court’s redistricting maps
- Speaker criticizes court redistrict map
VOTER ID
- Time running out for voter photo ID law in March primaries
- DOJ Tells State It Needs More Data on Voter ID
- Feds hold up Voter ID law, want more information