New State Budget Cuts & Midday Roundup

By KERA News and Wire Reports

Dallas, TX –

Top Three State Leaders Request Additional Budget Cuts

Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus wrote to state agencies Tuesday, requesting they find savings of 2.5 percent in their current-year budgets in advance of next year's legislative session.

The savings are in addition to cuts implemented earlier this year at the request of the Texas leaders.

The Legislature will enact selected cuts in a "supplemental budget." It's used to handle unexpected savings or expenses in the current spending plan.

The state's next two-year budget is expected to have a revenue shortfall of more than $20 billion.

Lawmakers File Bills Related To Bullying

Texas lawmakers have filed at least seven bills related to bullying for the new legislative session that begins in January.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports the measures aim to better define bullying in schools as students are targeted on campus and online.

Current state law says schools must prohibit bullying in their student code of conduct. But critics say more needs to be done.

Garland ISD Cancels Classes at Webb Middle School

More than a thousand students in Garland got an unexpected day off Tuesday.

The district canceled classes at Webb Middle School. That's after a fire last night in an unoccupied classroom.

No one was hurt. Several classrooms were left with fire or water damage.

Pleasant Grove Area Gang Leader Pleads Guilty to Shooting

A member of a Pleasant Grove area street gang called the Highland Hills Posse has pleaded guilty to shooting a federal agent during a drug raid in September.

Prosecutors say Gary Montgomery - also known as "G-Bone" - fired several times through his front door as federal agents attempted to serve a warrant.

Montgomery also pleaded guilty to cocaine and firearms charges. He faces as long as 29-years in prison when he's sentenced.

Atheist Ads Appear on Fort Worth Buses

Fort Worth city buses rolled out Monday with controversial ads saying "Good Without God". The atheist group Coalition of Reason paid for the ads.

A group of pastors earlier called for a bus boycott, but Joan Hunter with the transit agency commonly referred to as the "T" said it was business as usual for bus riders.

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief is among those who oppose the ads. He's requested a meeting between the "T" and the City Council to talk about what Moncrief called divisive ads.

Hunter says a religious ad saying "Jesus is the Reason for the Season - Merry Christmas" goes up on a bus Tuesday. 2-more "religious" ads will appear on "T" buses later this month.

Fort Hood Shooting Suspect Faces Mental Evaluation

The Army psychiatrist charged in last year's shooting deaths at Fort Hood faces a mental evaluation this week.

His attorney yesterday said a three member military mental health panel could evaluate Maj. Nidal Hasan as early as Tuesday. But John Galligan objects to the evaluation. He said the panel lacks documents in the case.

The panel will determine whether Hasan is competent to stand trial, along with his mental status the day of the shootings.

Hasan has been charged with killing 13-people at the Central Texas army base and hurting 32 others.

Texas Parks & Wildlife Scraps Land Swap Proposal

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has dropped a widely criticized proposal to swap land with a Dallas businessman.

The agency now proposes keeping a remote area in West Texas popular with hikers and kayakers while still acquiring Rod Sanders' 17 thousand-acre Devils River Ranch for $13 million in public and private money.

The department would manage the ranch and its existing 20 thousand-acre Devils River State Natural Area.

Environmentalists and others had opposed exchanging the public land with Sanders.

A public meeting's scheduled Thursday night in Del Rio, near both large tracts of land on the Texas-Mexico border.