Jul

27

In The News – July 2010

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ALCOHOL | ADDICTION

BUDGET

CHILDREN

CHURCH/STATE

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

EDUCATION

ENVIRONMENT

GAMBLING

HUNGER & POVERTY

IMMIGRATION

PAYDAY LENDING

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Jun

16

In The News – June 2010

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BUDGET

CHILDREN

CHURCH/STATE

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

EDUCATION

ENVIRONMENT

GAMBLING

HUNGER & POVERTY

IMMIGRATION

PAYDAY LENDING

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May

24

In The News – May 2010

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ALCOHOL, TOBACCO & ADDICTION

CHILDREN

CHURCH/STATE

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

EDUCATION

ENVIRONMENT

GAMBLING

HUNGER & POVERTY

IMMIGRATION

PAYDAY LENDING

STEM CELL

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Apr

21

In The News – April 2010

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ALCOHOL, TOBACCO & ADDICTION

BUDGET

CHILDREN

CHURCH/STATE

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

EDUCATION

ENVIRONMENT

GAMBLING

HAITI

HUNGER & POVERTY

IMMIGRATION

MINISTERIAL ETHICS

PAYDAY LENDING

DailyFianace.com Costly Cash Payday Loans Series:

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Mar

18

In The News – March 2010

Filed Under CLC In The News | Leave a Comment

ALCOHOL

CHILDREN

CHURCH/STATE

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

PAYDAY LENDING

DailyFianace.com Costly Cash Payday Loans Series:

ENVIRONMENT

GAMBLING

HUNGER & POVERTY

IMMIGRATION

*The views and opinions expressed in any sites to which this article links do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of either the Christian Life Commission or the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

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Your comments and recommended resources are welcome in the comments box below.

ALCOHOL

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/23/AR2010022302195.html?wpisrc=nl_headline

Parent notification policies for underage drinking evolve

CHILDREN

http://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=3239

Consumer Alert: Parents Should Keep Children Away From new Video Chat Web Site Chatroulette.com

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/new-center-aims-to-help-children-fight-off-311391.html

New center aims to help children fight off pounds

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/obesity-expert-backs-tax-on-sugary-drinks-352677.html

Obesity expert backs tax on sugary drinks | Yale psychologist Kelly Brownell says unhealthy food should cost more.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/nyregion/14hunger.html?sudsredirect=true

The Obesity-Hunger Paradox

http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/study-childrens-snacking-packs-a-punch-311428.html

Study: Children’s snacking packs a punch | Snacks now account for more than a quarter of children’s average daily caloric intake, researchers report

CHURCH/STATE

http://www.bjconline.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3364

Faith-based council presents reform recommendations to Obama Administration

http://www.bjconline.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3334&Itemid=112

Faith-based council adopts reform recommendations

http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/4831/53/

Faith-based panel narrowly recommends separate 501(c)(3) entities for churches

http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/4930/53/

Federal appeals court says Pledge of Allegiance is constitutional

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=22627
N.Y. agencies to monitor Salvation Army practices

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/dallas-megachurch-pastor-promotes-rehabilitation-of-criminals-303373.html

Dallas megachurch pastor promotes rehabilitation of criminals

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2010/02/16/prison_cuts_3000_jobs_meds_pro.html

Prison cuts: 3,000 jobs, meds, programs to get axe

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/031210/fea_585576414.shtml

Starting Over: Second Chance Community Church caters to people looking for a new start, especially ex-convicts

ENVIRONMENT

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/02/23/1991849/new-txu-solar-power-venture-drops.html

Get solar panels installed for free through TXU program

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/03/05/2018937/a-bright-idea-on-solar-panel-leasing.html

A bright idea on solar panel leasing

http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/4838/53/

Building Green: Experts give advice on greening church facilities

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/council-urged-to-pass-renewable-energy-plan-248485.html

Council urged to pass renewable energy plan

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/energy-plan-would-put-austin-among-nation-s-239683.html Energy plan would put Austin among nation’s greenest cities, but comes at a cost

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/plan-to-add-wind-farm-land-heads-to-280317.html

Plan to add wind farm land heads to council | Utility wants city to buy West Texas acres for future power source

http://wallaby.telicon.com/library/2010021041.PDF

Texas Businesses Ask Governor Perry to Support Solar Power

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/texas-sues-to-stop-epa-from-regulating-greenhouse-245086.html

Texas sues to stop EPA from regulating greenhouse gases

http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/key-senators-abandon-cap-and-trade-climate-legislation-298233.html

Key senators abandon ‘cap-and-trade’ climate legislation | Lawmakers crafting alternative to market-based approach to curbing greenhouse gases.

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/ranchers-team-up-with-feds-to-clear-cedar-337004.html

Ranchers team up with feds to clear cedar, boost water supply | Range management is important strategy, conservationists say.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/green/entries/2010/03/09/report_by_environmental_groups.html?cxntfid=blogs_salsa_verde

Report by environmental groups says most Texas cities do little to wring out water supplies

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/business/energy-environment/09solar.html?th&emc=th

Solar Industry Learns Lessons in Spanish Sun

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/state-aims-to-make-groundwater-rules-more-uniform-298450.html

State aims to make groundwater rules more uniform | Different districts have different sensibilities.

GAMBLING

http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/03/15/2042083/gaming-supporters-gambling-on.html

Texas gaming supporters gambling on new inroads with 2011 Legislature

http://wallaby.telicon.com/library/2010021126.PDF

Commissioners examine possible lottery conflict

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/05/AR2010030503862.html?wpisrc=nl_headline

Ex-official charged in theft from Thomas Jefferson High | Money used to support a gambling habit

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/mar/05/spend-more-lottery-urges-floridians-recession-hits/

Lottery pushes Floridians to spend more amid recession

http://www2.dothaneagle.com/dea/news/local/article/bingo_timeline/132540/

Timeline: Bingo start to finish

HUNGER & POVERTY

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2010/feb/24/goal-feed-more-children/

Goal: Feed more children

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2010/feb/10/organizations-fight-hunger-in-san-angelo/?partner=RSS

OUR OPINION: Organizations fight hunger in San Angelo

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/022410/upd_567110809.shtml/

Lubbock churches work to end hunger

http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10823&Itemid=53

Ranch provides beacon of hope to hungry and hurting

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/022510/rel_567340149.shtml

State campaign works with food bank, churches to tackle problems of feeding those in need

http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10819&Itemid=53

Texas Baptists set record in giving to world hunger offering

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/02/AR2010030202316.html?wpisrc=nl_pmheadline

New formula to give fresh look at U.S. poverty

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas-politics/state-joins-effort-to-encourage-younger-farmers-352770.html

State joins effort to encourage younger farmers

http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10843&Itemid=53

Texas Hunger Initiative seeks to make state food secure by 2015

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2010/03/02/key_texas_food_stamp_official.html

Key Texas food stamp official is reassigned

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/texas-digest-food-banks-will-help-handle-food- 07699.html?cxtype=rss_texas

Texas Digest: Food banks will help handle food stamp applications

IMMIGRATION

http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10764&Itemid=53

New abolitionists shine light on human trafficking

http://cbs11tv.com/local/child.trafficking.prostitution.2.1535703.html

North Texas Groups Work To End Child Trafficking

http://www.statesman.com/news/texas/illegal-immigrants-in-texas-get-in-state-tuition-359251.html

Illegal immigrants in Texas get in-state tuition

http://wallaby.telicon.com/library/2010021121.PDF

Perry seeks reimbursement for detained immigrants

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6867471.html

Poll: 52% back visa or path to legal status…But 38% of Texans favor deportation in survey on illegal immigration

PAYDAY LENDING THIS NEEDS TO ALSO BE IN THE CLC CONFERENCE REGISTRATION AREA

http://www.baptiststandard.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10779&Itemid=53

Analysis: What does the Bible say about lending practices?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/02/profiting-from-recession_n_482297.html

Profiting From Recession, Payday Lenders Spend Big To Fight Regulation

DailyFianace.com Costly Cash Payday Loans Series THIS NEEDS TO ALSO BE IN THE CLC CONFERENCE REGISTRATION AREA

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/credit/costly-cash-the-great-recession-is-paying-off-for-pawnshops-and/19378332/

1st Costly Cash: The Great Recession Is Paying Off for Pawnshops and Payday Lenders

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/credit/costly-cash-how-a-retiree-wound-up-with-a-375-loan/19378471/

2nd Costly Cash: How a Retiree Wound Up With a 375% Loan

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/credit/costly-cash-in-texas-towns-try-zoning-out-payday-lenders/19380708/

3rd Costly Cash: In Texas, Towns Try Zoning Out Payday Lenders

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/credit/costly-cash-dont-expect-federal-regulators-to-protect-you-from/19384014/

4th Costly Cash: Don’t Expect Federal Regulators to Protect You From Payday Loans

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/credit/costly-cash-where-to-turn-if-youre-strapped-for-money/19387076/

5th Costly Cash: Where to Turn If You’re Strapped for Money

Feb

24

Environmental damage hurts children and elderly most

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By Ken Camp, Managing Editor   
Published: February 05, 2009
AUSTIN—Environmental degradation presents the greatest danger to the most vulnerable people—particularly children and the elderly, a Houston pediatrician told the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission’s annual conference.

Scientists have reached consensus about the reality of global warming, and children especially will bear the brunt of its effects, said Susan Pacheco, a faculty member of the pediatrics department at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston.

Pacheco, who treats children who suffers from allergies and immune-deficiency disorders at the school’s clinic, noted children are more vulnerable than the general population to heat stress, air pollution, water-borne diseases and extreme weather events.
 
Heat-related deaths take a particularly heavy toll on the elderly population, while children especially suffer ill effects from air pollution, she said.

“Children are more susceptible to harm from ozone air pollution,” she said, due in part to the time they spend outdoors and in part because of their increased breathing rate relative to their body size.

“Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children,” she said, adding that air-borne irritants linked to vehicle traffic and other pollutants increase the risk. Also, as the overall global temperature has increased, it has resulted in a dramatic increase in pollen production, she explained.

Global warming already has begun to present greater risk to population centers in coastal areas, which tend to have a high percentage of the poor, the elderly and the very young, she said.
“The intensity of hurricanes is going to increase significantly. That’s a no-brainer,” Pacheco said. “It is primarily due to the increase in sea temperatures.”

That, in turn, presents greater risk of flooding and resultant diseases that are water-borne or spread by insects.

As a resident of a coastal city, Pacheco noted she and her family have learned how to secure their home against the elements and cope with the inconvenience of occasional power outages. But for the chronically poor in developing countries, those options are not available, she observed.

“We are people in a privileged position,” she said.

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Feb

24

Horse, gambling interests lobby Texas Legislature to allow slot machines at racetracks

Filed Under CLC In The News | 1 Comment

09:03 AM CST on Monday, February 16, 2009
By EMILY RAMSHAW / The Dallas Morning News
eramshaw@dallasnews.com

PILOT POINT – The paddocks at Valor Farm look promising: Their stallions are virile, their mares’ bellies bulge with future racehorses. But the numbers tell a different story.

Valor’s thoroughbred breeders have lost almost 40 percent of their business in the last five years, even before the economy hit the skids. Their best customers are leaving for states with more lucrative horse races, states – unlike Texas – that allow slot machines at racetracks.

"I hate to think what will happen to us without them," says Valor Farm general manager Ken Carson, his eyes locked on two wobbly foals (future Derby winners?) nursing under their tail-swishing mothers. "With Texas racing purses going the wrong way, we’re losing a reputation and an industry."

The horse breeders are just one layer of a complicated and competitive web of gaming interests in Texas. All – the racetrack owners, the prospective casino investors, the Indian tribes – want to loosen Texas’ current gambling prohibition. All have different, and so far ineffective, strategies for doing it. But they’ve got two things in common: their persistence and their checkbooks.

In the last year alone, gambling interests have contributed a combined $1.7 million to Texas lawmakers, $1.3 million of it from the horseracing industry alone. And they’re hoping for a stacked deck – with a new House speaker from a racetrack family, a legislative committee that seems open to gambling initiatives, and an economic slump that could send lawmakers looking for new revenue.

"I think it’s breaking out that way, simply because of the economy," said Rep. Edmund Kuempel, R-Seguin, chairman of the House committee that oversees gambling issues. "We’ll consider it if we need to provide some additional revenue to the state of Texas – which it looks like we will. But of course it’s still going to be up to the will of the House."

But while gambling may get a closer look than in sessions past, supporters acknowledge it’s just as likely their efforts could fall short.

Foes ‘just as loud’

Speaker Joe Straus, whose father founded the Retama Park racetrack outside San Antonio, has formally recused himself from all gambling legislation. Top state leaders say economic conditions in Texas aren’t bad enough to consider expanded gaming, particularly while casinos across the country are struggling. And though the newly appointed members of the House committee that oversees gaming seem open to it – and have accepted a combined $100,000 in campaign contributions from gambling interests since 2007 – any bills still would have giant hurdles in the House and Senate.

"There’s a lot of positioning of the lobbyists around the Straus connection, and the gambling push is always harder at a time when there’s a deficit in state spending," said Suzii Paynter, director of the Baptist General Convention’s Christian Life Commission. "But the voices are just as loud on the anti-gambling side."

The messages, five weeks into the legislative session, are the same as they’ve been for years. Top-dollar developers want to build resort-style casinos across the state by putting the issue on the ballot for voters to decide. Two Texas Indian reservations want to reopen casinos shuttered by the state in 2002, and a third wants to expand its limited gaming. And the horse and dog track operators, the thoroughbred breeders and, most recently, the Texas Farm Bureau want to allow slot machines at tracks, a move they say will save their foundering industry and bolster the struggling Texas Racing Commission.

Of these oft-aligned, oft-competing interests, the Indian reservations are the most persistent. They narrowly missed getting approval to reopen their casinos last session and have once again hired lobbyists they say they can’t afford. They’re a frequent presence at the Capital.

"It’s a sad sight right now," Carlos Bullock, chairman of the Alabama-Coushatta tribal council, said of conditions on the East Texas reservation. "We’re optimistic that we’ll be able to help our local economy with jobs and employment."

Supporters of resort casinos – the longest shot for success this session – have a new card up their sleeves: the prospect of using them to save storm-wrecked Galveston. They also have the strongest opposition, not just from Christian conservatives who reject gambling but from major casino companies fearing more competition in a tight market.

Boyd Gaming Corp. and Isle of Capri, which both operate casinos in six states, have registered lobbyists in Texas, as do several other Las Vegas-based casino companies. So do the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes of Oklahoma, which operate casinos over the Texas border but say their lobbying efforts are about far more than gaming.

Farm interests

The racing industry, meanwhile, seems the best organized – a stark contrast from previous sessions. The politically disparate racetrack operators, long prone to infighting, have set their differences aside, joining forces with the horse-breeding industry, the feed producers and the veterinarians to get slot machines on the ballot. They’re also enjoying the support of the Texas Farm Bureau, which says declining Texas racetracks are affecting everyone from hay producers to grain farmers.

"We’re better organized, better unified and better prepared this session than we’ve ever been," said Tommy Azopardi, president of Texans for Economic Development, which represents racetrack operators. "We’ve got an economy that is faltering, a legislative body faced with a budget shortfall. It’s just a more favorable climate."

Carson, the Valor Farm general manager, is keeping his fingers crossed. Right now, he’s got four regal racehorses siring 75 foals a year on this sprawling, 400-acre ranch. But since Louisiana, Oklahoma and New Mexico started offering other gaming options at racetracks, their purses have swelled, and Texas’ have plummeted. The result: Louisiana-bred racehorses are selling for twice as much as those bred in Texas, and the number of licensed racehorse owners in Texas has dropped by more than 1,000 in the last year.

"So much of the news is bad," Carson says, his boots planted between sky-high stacks of sweet hay and alfalfa. If not for the doggedness of Valor Farm’s owners, "I’d already be on my way to Kentucky."

BY THE NUMBERS

$1.7 million: Amount gambling interests contributed to Texas lawmakers in 2008

76: Percentage of these contributions that came from the horseracing industry

$100,000: Contributions gambling interests gave to Dallas-area lawmakers in 2008

$95,000: Contributions gambling interests gave in the last two years to lawmakers on the House committee that oversees gaming

CONTRIBUTIONS TO LAWMAKERS

Among gambling contributions to local lawmakers in the last year:

Sen. Chris Harris: $30,000

Rep. Allen Vaught: $21,000

Rep. Kirk England: $18,500

Sen. Royce West: $12,500

Rep. Roberto Alonzo: $12,000

Rep. Rafael Anchia: $2,000

Rep. Will Hartnett: $1,500

Sen. John Carona: $1,000

Rep. Jim Jackson: $500

Rep. Burt Solomons: $500

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Feb

24

Texas horse-racing advocates tout the benefits of slot machines at racetracks

Filed Under CLC In The News | 1 Comment

By DAVE MONTGOMERY
dmontgomery@star-telegram.com
Published Wed, Feb. 04, 2009.

AUSTIN — Legalizing slot machines at Texas racetracks would generate a multibillion-dollar windfall in Texas and would pave the way for a major expansion of the 13-year-old Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie, horse-racing officials said Tuesday. 

A study released by Texans for Economic Development, an organization representing the horse-racing industry, projected a statewide economic boost of up to $6 billion and 53,000 new full-time jobs across all sectors of the economy, generating about $1 billion a year in tax revenue.

"It would help us tremendously," said Drew Shubeck, president of Lone Star Park. If the Legislature approves a slot machine bill, the park would start a $100 million construction project to build "new and more glamorous facilities" housing 2,500 to 3,500 video lottery terminals, he said.

"It would be a tremendous boom for the city of Grand Prairie and the Metroplex as a whole," Shubeck said. "We would definitely see an addition to the main grandstand or possibly a whole new stand-alone facility."

Texas racetracks are pushing to install slot machines to reverse an economic decline that has seen gambling dollars flow to neighboring states.

"We know for a fact that Texans are spending billions across the border, and we would like to recapture some of that money," said Mike Lavigne, a spokesman for Texans for Economic Development.

Horse-racing interests hope that the potential benefits in tax revenue could help persuade cash-strapped lawmakers who are trying to find ways to fund existing services and possibly new initiatives. The Legislature has $9.1 billion less in available revenue than it did at the start of the 2007 session.

Gambling opponents have raised fears that advocates might have an edge during this session because the family of House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, has ties to Retama Park, a San Antonio horse track. But Straus has said he will stay out of issues in which he or his family has business or personal interests.

Over the last 10 years, an estimated 50 percent of thoroughbreds and quarter horses in Texas have left the state because of declining purses. Billions of dollars in gambling and tourism money is also leaving the state as Texans go elsewhere to place their bets, industry officials say.

In 2007, according to the racing industry group’s study, Texans spent $2.8 billion on gaming and related activity in surrounding states such as Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Mississippi.

About 40 percent of Louisiana’s gambling revenue in 2007 came from Texans, as did 22 percent of New Mexico’s, according to the report.

"We want all this to flourish in Texas," Shubeck said.

If slot machines were legalized at racetracks and American Indian casinos, the study suggests, Texas could reclaim $1.8 billion in revenue lost to other states, plus $1 billion in related spending. Economic ripple effects would generate an added $4 billion throughout the state, the report said.

But opponents say that gambling supporters cannot get the votes necessary to pass a bill legalizing casinos or slot machines.

"We don’t think they stand any more of a chance this session than the last," said Rob Kohler of the Christian Life Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Plus, Gov. Rick Perry remains "opposed to expanding the footprint of gambling," said spokeswoman Allison Castle.

This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
 
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