Lawmaker calls for probe into $95 million lottery jackpot The Texas Lottery Commission and its former director are under scrutiny after they allegedly helped a single entity win a $95 million Lotto Texas Jackpot, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Written testimony at a state legislative hearing last week from an attorney indicated an entity called Rook TX guaranteed it would win the jackpot by buying virtually every one of the nearly 26 million possible six-number combinations in the drawing, held in April 2023.
Houston lawyer Manfred Sternberg said that he represented clients victimized by a conspiracy between the lottery commission, former head Gary Grief, and online ticker vendor Lottery.com. He sent a 22-page letter outlining the allegations to multiple state officials, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“Our clients have been ignored by the State of Texas, and the State of Texas has been silent on investigating and prosecuting those responsible for serious crimes,” Sternberg wrote.
The allegations raised concern among members of the Senate Finance Committee, gathered to consider the commission’s budget.
“We just need to call in the Texas Rangers immediately,” said Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham.
NYSE and Nasdaq move next door to ‘Y’all Street’ The Texas Stock Exchange, which debuted in Dallas last June, has new neighbors: branches of the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, which have moved from Chicago to the Dallas metroplex. The Dallas Morning News reported the two venerable exchanges apparently feel the heat of competition from the upstart stock exchange.
The TXSE began with $120 million in backing, a fraction of those of the two older exchanges. The upstart exchange has clearly “rattled NYSE and NASDAQ,” said Kirti Sinha, a University of Texas-Dallas assistant professor of accounting.
The Texas exchange sees a major opportunity in the 10-state Southeast providing a potential pipeline of 14,000 sponsor-backed private companies. Texas is already home to more than 50 Fortune 500 companies. The state has the largest number of NYSE listings, and more than 200 Texas-based companies are listed on Nasdaq, which caters to tech companies.
All of this indicates the emergence of the Dallas-Fort Worth area as a major player on the financial stage, The News reported.
Lawmaker proposes seat belts on all school buses A bill in the Texas Legislature would require Texas school districts to install seat belts on all school buses, the Austin American- Statesman reported. The measure comes after a collision between a concrete pump truck and a Hays County school bus last March killed a 5-yearold boy and a man driving behind the bus.
“We just believe that having them physically restrained in their seats would help minimize – mitigate – any potential harm to the children,” state Sen. Josè Menéndez, D-San Antonio, said. “It is just some common sense.”
A 2017 law requires seat belts on all newly purchased buses but not on buses purchased before that and still in service. District officials have blamed a lack of funding for not being able to retrofit seat belts on older buses.
Abbott back in D.C. seeking border reimbursement
The governor returned to Capitol Hill for the second time in eight days in his pursuit of $11 billion from the federal government to cover the costs of Operation Lone Star along the Texas-Mexico border.
The News reported Abbott met with most of the Texas Republican congressional delegation as well as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
Abbott’s initiatives including sending state troopers and the Texas National Guard to the border, stringing buoys in the Rio Grande and razor wire along the banks, and busing more than 100,000 migrants to Democratic run cities over the past four years.
At least one Texas GOP congressman agrees.
“We think the people of Texas should be reimbursed for the money they’ve already spent and are spending to secure our borders,” Lance Gooden, R-Terrell, said.
Texas HHS employees fired for accessing sensitive data Nine employees of the Texas Health and Human Services have been fired for accessing restricted data of Texans applying for programs offered by the agency, the Texas Standard reported. The employees were accessing the private information of people seeking to apply for Medicaid or assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
About 60,000 people who applied or received assistance from June 2021 and December 2024 were affected. No arrests have been made to this point..
HHS Commissioner Cecile Young was asked at a Senate finance committee hearing if it was true that more than 8,000 HHS employees had access to private information, according to The Texas Tribune.
“One thing I wanted to make clear is oftentimes when you hear someone breaching privacy it’s coming from the outside,” she said. “And in this case, sadly, it was actually coming from our employees.”
Texas leads nation in toptier
universities
A new report from the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching indicates 16 universities in Texas have reached Tier 1 designation, the most coveted level. That means the state is home to more such institutions than any other state.
In the report, California has 14 and New York 12 top-tier universities. To reach that designation, a university must spend at least $50 million and award at least 70 research doctorates on average each year.
The five new additions in Texas since the last release of university classifications in 2022 are Baylor College of Medicine, Southern Methodist University, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the UT Southwestern Medical Center.
The news is “a testament to the quality of our higher learning institutions and the investment the state has made into education,” Andrew Mahaleris, the governor’s press secretary, said.
Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: [email protected].
