In Our View

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ODESSA AMERICAN

With oil prices exceeding $105 a barrel and the increasing tensions in the Middle East, gas prices in Odessa are higher than the state average and almost even with the national average. Article Facebook Audrey Gray: Odessa gas prices have...... Full story

TEXAS VIEW: End-of-course exams raise stakes

THE POINT — The Legislature failed to clarify exactly how much weight required tests have.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Anyone who believes that standardized testing in Texas public schools couldn’t get much worse should wake up and sharpen his or her No. 2 pencils. The latest mess spilling out of the process has to do with what the Legislature really meant...... Full story

FREEDOM VIEW: Gas prices are on the rise

THE POINT — Oil companies are going to start facing accusations of price-gouging.

The Orange County Register

Gasoline prices are on their way up again. So too is the ire of gasoline purchasers who skipped Econ 101 in school.Retail gasoline prices rose in California and most of the nation during the last week, according to the Energy Department. Average...... Full story

TEXAS VIEW: Taking another look at tenure

THE POINT — Although controversial, post-tenure reviews will be good for UT campuses.

BY: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Some professors at Texas university campuses have had a rude awakening, and at least a few are very unhappy. Recently, University of Texas System regents unanimously endorsed a call for enhanced performance reviews of tenured faculty members....... Full story

TEXAS VIEW: Could a plastic bag ban stop people from being trashy?

THE POINT — Bags don’t litter, people do, and there are problems with paper and reusable.

Corpus Christi Caller-Times

Littering the landscape with plastic shopping bags is indeed a problem. The proposed solution — banning them — doesn’t address the problem at its source, which is the people doing the littering. A bag ban only removes bags from...... Full story

FREEDOM VIEW: Obama budget more of a campaign ad

THE POINT — President’s new spending plan focuses taxing and spending with an eye toward getting him re-elected; the deficit is ignored.

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

President Barack Obama is basing his re-election bid on a platform of tax and spend. That was reaffirmed Monday when he released his proposed budget for fiscal year 2013, which begins Oct. 1. The $3.8 trillion spending plan includes a $900 billion...... Full story

TEXAS VIEW: Blackout threat looms for Texas this summer

THE POINT — Texans need to takes steps and create habits to help prevent rolling outages.

The Lufkin Daily News

The great drought of 2011 has continued into 2012 for much of Texas — 60 percent of its counties, as of Jan. 31, according to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality — and the situation has led to numerous other issues. The lack...... Full story

IN YOUR VIEW: OA online Facebook comments

IN YOUR VIEW

Sixty-year-old Diana Ingram said she has lived her whole life in West Texas — Midland, Crane and Monahans — and has never seen the amount of trash accumulate like it has in Odessa during the past year. Article Facebook Linda Luvw...... Full story

TEXAS VIEW: Time to close loophole on natural gas

THE POINT — Multi-billion-dollar loophole is costing Texas schools and treasury money.

San Antonio Express-News

Technological advances have opened up vast new sources of oil and natural gas in Texas. Hydraulic fracturing in the Barnett and Eagle Ford shale formations has created an energy boom that is the target of huge investments and is the source of huge...... Full story

IN YOUR VIEW: OA online Facebook Comments

IN YOUR VIEW

An irate, gun-slinging father has become an Internet sensation after he avenged his daughter’s bratty Facebook post with his own eight-minute rant that ended with his shooting his daughter’s laptop. Police and Child Protective Services...... Full story

FREEDOM VIEW: Internet oversight bill rebooting

THE POINT — This bill would be a direct assault on the First Amendment freedom of speech.

The Orange County Register

"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” abolitionist Wendell Phillips warned in 1852. Nothing’s changed. Following the Democrats’ weekly strategy session, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., talked to reporters about...... Full story

FREEDOM VIEW: Obama plan would prolong housing pain

THE POINT — President’s mortgage proposal amounts to election-year pandering.

The Orange County Register

It was predictable that President Barack Obama would pander again to entitlement sentiments. This time involves the misguided belief that everyone is entitled to homeownership, even at the government’s — the taxpayers’ —...... Full story

IN YOUR VIEW: OA online Facebook comments

IN YOUR VIEW

LibertyFest West 2012 showed that to “Party like it’s 1776” meant decrying gun control laws, the Federal Reserve System and the government, among other things. LibertyFest West 2012 promotes rights of individuals I’m From...... Full story

TEXAS VIEW: How will the coast recover?

THE POINT — After the Gulf oil spill, a good first step would be to fund monitoring programs.

The Daily News of Galveston County

The crowd was modest, but the topic was vital. After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, what should be done to restore what the public lost in environmental damage to the Gulf of Mexico? The Department of the Interior, the National Oceanic and...... Full story

TEXAS VIEW: Too fast for safety?

THE POINT — New 75 mph speed limit on Interstate 20 could be deadly.

Longview News-Journal

There are plenty of wide-open spaces in Texas where motorists may safely drive 75 mph — or faster — on interstate highways that often carry little traffic. In our more congested corner of East Texas, we’re not sure that’s...... Full story