In the News

WASHINGTON – Twenty-two members of Texas’ congressional delegation filed an amicus brief Wednesday afternoon supporting landowners in a lawsuit against the federal government over disputed property along the Red River.

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) The Islamic State is claiming responsibility for three violent explosions Tuesday morning that rocked Brussels at rush hour leaving more than 30 dead.

CNN reported that 34 people died and another 170 were injured.

Belgian officials said 31 people were killed and 187 others were wounded in two explosions at the Belgium airport and one at a city subway station.

CBS reported that three Americans, all missionaries from Utah, were injured.

Over the past year, Congressman Roger Williams (R-Texas) has introduced several pieces of legislation that together should serve as a model for pro-growth, conservative tax reform.

This package of legislation lowers individual and business income tax rates, reduces the capital gains tax and FICA/self-employment taxes, creates 100 percent, creates a 5 percent repatriation rate to bring back profits stranded overseas, and promotes pro-growth accounting methods.

While President Barack Obama’s proposed fiscal year 2017 budget of $4.1 trillion sets aside more than $580 billion for Department of Defense spending and offsets the continued effects of sequestration, the budget is fundamentally flawed, according to the offices of U.S. Reps. Roger Williams and John Carter, the two Republican congressmen who represent Fort Hood and the surrounding area.

Obama sent the budget in early February to Congress, which will have months to mull it over before voting on it.

HHS officials open gates of Somervell County camp housing refugee minors

SOMERVELL COUNTY, TX – Pinned above the doorway to Clegg No. 5 is a handwritten and crayon-colored sign that reads, “Jesus Christ is mi love.” The sign sits between coloring book pages depicting children’s television characters SpongeBob Square Pants and Tweety Bird.

The nation's largest gun rights organization declined Wednesday to send representatives to a nationally televised town hall with President Obama on gun violence, calling the prime-time event a publicity stunt by the White House to promote his latest gun control moves.

"The National Rifle Association sees no reason to participate in a public relations spectacle organized by the White House," NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told CNN, which is moderating the event live at 8 p.m. Thursday evening in Fairfax, Virginia.

President Barack Obama’s latest call for state and local governments to enact more controls on weapons purchases at gun shows and elsewhere is getting the same response it has for years: Most elected officials in Texas won’t budge.

And they’re liable to fire back, as they did Tuesday when Texas Republicans began shooting holes in Obama’s gun control plan that he hopes will curb gun violence and prevent some future mass shootings.

Texas Republicans said the president is making the wrong move and clearly exceeding his authority.

Two Texas lawmakers wrote President Obama this week to oppose a possible plan to use Fort Hood military base to house unaccompanied minors who illegally crossed into the U.S. from Mexico.

Republican congressmen John Carter and Roger Williams, whose districts both include parts of the sprawling military base, say they wrote the letter after learning the Pentagon has assigned a team to assess the possibility of using it and other bases to house young immigrants.