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Texas creates its own version of DOGE as Gov. Greg Abbott says regulatory environment is 'too burdensome'

Texas creates its own version of DOGE as Gov. Greg Abbott says regulatory environment is 'too burdensome'

Yahoo23-04-2025
It's DOGE, Texas style.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday signed a bill to create the state's own version of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in an effort to get rid of unnecessary rules and slash regulations.
In Austin, Abbott signed SB 14, which would create the Texas Regulatory Efficiency Office and streamline the way state agencies establish and enforce regulations.
"The regulatory environment in Texas is getting too burdensome," Abbott said before putting pen to paper. "The regulatory environment in Texas is well-known for being good, but it seems like it's not as easy to navigate as it once was."
Texas Poised To Create Its Own Version Of Doge As Bill Passes Both Chambers
An advisory panel would be created to work with the governor's office to streamline processes. It would be made up of business owners, researchers, state agencies and the public.
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The bill also aims to create an accessible online portal, so the public can look up state regulations.
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"Texas businesses, Texas citizens, they deserve regulations that are in plain English that you can understand what they mean," said Dustin Burrows, the Republican speaker of the Texas House. "They deserve to know what they actually do, and they deserve to make sure they're consistent and as few as possible."
The legislation was authored by state Republican Sen. Phil King and backed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
It passed the Texas House with a 97-51 vote and the Senate 26-5.
The bill is similar to what the Trump administration has aimed to do with DOGE by getting rid of unnecessary rules, as well as rooting out fraud and wasteful spending.
Abbott said DOGE "crystalized" what Texas lawmakers were seeking to achieve.
"It gave strategies to it," he said. "Texas DOGE will lead to spending cuts, regulation cuts and a more user-friendly government."Original article source: Texas creates its own version of DOGE as Gov. Greg Abbott says regulatory environment is 'too burdensome'
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English Premier League has become a soccer juggernaut. Can it remain on top?
English Premier League has become a soccer juggernaut. Can it remain on top?

Los Angeles Times

time13 minutes ago

  • Los Angeles Times

English Premier League has become a soccer juggernaut. Can it remain on top?

Alan Shearer was in his prime and in the starting lineup for Blackburn when the English Premier League kicked off its first season 33 summers ago. Shearer scored two goals that day in a 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace. But he had no idea that season would give birth to the most dominant force in the history of club soccer — and perhaps the most dominant force in the history of international sports. 'There's no way anyone could have predicted back in 1992 that it was going to be this incredible, huge, gigantic force that it's become,' said Shearer, who would go on to become the leading scorer in EPL history, of the Premier League. 'It is sort of chalk and cheese in terms of where it was then to where it is now.' That's an English way of saying the league, which kicked off a new season Friday, has progressed. International soccer is a sport ruled by money, and the Premier League became the best league in the world because it's also the richest. Six of the 10 wealthiest teams in the world play in the EPL, where the average franchise value is $1.5 billion, according to Sportico. And the 20 teams combined to earn more than $8.5 billion in commercial revenue in 2023-24, according to Deloitte. That's allowed the EPL to outbid others for the top talent, resulting in deeper rosters and a level of play no other league can match. Other leagues may have one or two better teams — France's Paris Saint-Germain, for example, is the reigning European champion and Spain's Real Madrid has won 15 continental titles, more than twice what any English club has won — but top to bottom, no league is as competitive as the EPL. That's why its games are broadcast in 189 countries to a potential audience of 4.7 billion people, part of an international and domestic broadcast package valued at $5.1 billion a season, according to CNBC. 'It is where it is because of the interest and because of how many people want to watch it,' said Shearer, now a soccer pundit for the BBC. 'We've got, without a doubt, a lot of the best players in the world. We've got the best atmosphere in the world. The finances are there. 'Basically everyone wants to be a part of it. And whilst that is the case, it's only going to get bigger.' It certainly didn't start that way. The Premier League formed when English soccer was emerging from a low point that threatened to sink it. In the mid 1980s, hooliganism was rife, English teams were banned from European competition for five years following a deadly clash between Liverpool and Juventus supporters in Belgium, and the Football League First Division, the country's top level since 1888, lagged well behind Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga in attendance and revenue. As a result, the best English stars, not to mention international talent, played elsewhere. By 1990 the situation had gotten so bad, England's top clubs — Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Everton, known collectively as the 'Big Five' — had begun discussions to form a breakaway league that would have commercial independence, allowing it to increase revenue by negotiating its own broadcast and sponsorship deals. Two years later, the Premier League debuted. The revenue growth that EPL has enjoyed in the three decades since is well beyond the wildest dreams of the league's founding fathers. And that's turned around an exodus of top players out of England; now nearly three-quarters of Premier League players are foreign-born, among them Egypt's Mo Salah, Norway's Erling Haaland and Sweden's Alexander Isak. But what has really made the Premier League great is its relative balance. Although just seven teams have won a title in the league's 32 seasons, that qualifies as parity in Europe, where Bayern Munich has won 12 of the last 13 German championships, PSG has won 11 of the last 13 French crowns and just one team not named Real Madrid or Barcelona has won the Spanish league in the last 21 years. In the Premier League, on any given weekend every game is in doubt. That competitiveness is why three EPL teams have won the UEFA Champions League since 2019 and in two of those three seasons, the European champion didn't win the Premier League title. This summer Chelsea won the FIFA Club World Cup, making it arguably the best team on the planet, two months after finishing fourth in the Premier League table. 'One week the team at the bottom can beat the team at the top and that's not a fluke,' said Shearer, who played for a Newcastle team that finished second in the EPL in consecutive seasons, then fell to 13th in each of the next two. 'I don't see that jeopardy in other leagues at all. That's why the Premier League works and why the Premier League is the most watched.' The challenge now for the Premier League is staying on top. When the EPL came into being, Serie A and La Liga were widely considered the best leagues in the world, winning a combined six Champions League titles between 1990 and 2000. But financial issues, tactical stagnation and a lack of investment in infrastructure combined to sink Italian soccer while La Liga became so top-heavy, with superclubs Barcelona and Real Madrid choking off all competition, that it became a league of two Goliaths and 18 Davids. Shearer said there are lessons to be learned from those experiences. 'Every huge business has to evolve and keep going forward and keep improving,' he said. 'The Premier League is no different. Since that very first day when I ran out for Blackburn against Crystal Palace to what it is now, there's been improvement. Whilst the interest is there, whilst the finance keeps coming in, whilst we all want to watch, it is getting bigger and better. 'But yeah, you have to keep an eye on your competitors.' ⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week's episode of the 'Corner of the Galaxy' podcast.

Man convicted of killing woman abducted from insurance office to be executed in Florida's 10th execution of the year
Man convicted of killing woman abducted from insurance office to be executed in Florida's 10th execution of the year

New York Post

time13 minutes ago

  • New York Post

Man convicted of killing woman abducted from insurance office to be executed in Florida's 10th execution of the year

A man convicted of abducting a woman from a Florida Panhandle insurance office and killing her is scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening. Kayle Bates, 67, is set to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke under a death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. It would be Florida's 10th death sentence carried out in 2025, further extending the state record for a single year. Two more executions are planned within the next month. Advertisement 3 Kayle Bates, 67, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Starke, under a death warrant signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. AP Since the US Supreme Court restored the death penalty in 1976, the highest previous annual total of Florida executions was eight in 2014. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, while Texas and South Carolina are tied for second place with four each. Advertisement Bates was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and attempted sexual battery in the June 14, 1982, killing of Janet White in Bay County in the Florida Panhandle. Bates abducted White from the insurance office where she worked, took her into some woods behind the building, attempted to rape her, stabbed her to death and tore a diamond ring from one of her fingers, according to court documents. Attorneys for Bates have filed appeals with the Florida Supreme Court and the US Supreme Court, as well as a federal lawsuit claiming DeSantis' process for signing death warrants was discriminatory. 3 Bates was found guilty of murdering Janet White in Bay County on June 14, 1982, along with charges of kidnapping, armed robbery, and attempted sexual battery. Family Handout Advertisement The federal lawsuit was dismissed last Tuesday, with the judge finding problems with the lawsuit's statistical analysis. The court ruled that even if the numbers were correct, they wouldn't necessarily prove discrimination. On the same day, the Florida Supreme Court denied Bates' pending claims, including arguments that evidence of organic brain damage had been inadequately considered during his second penalty phase. The court ruled that Bates has had three decades to raise these claims. A US Supreme Court decision is still pending on Bates' final appeal. 3 It would be Florida's 10th death sentence carried out in 2025, further extending the state record for a single year. AP Advertisement A total of 28 men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the US, and at least 10 other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. Curtis Windom, 59, is set to become the 11th person executed in Florida on Aug. 28. He was convicted of killing three people in the Orlando area in 1992. David Pittman, 63, would be the 12th person executed in Florida if his death sentence is carried out as scheduled Sept. 17. He was found guilty of fatally stabbing his estranged wife's sister and parents at their Polk County home before setting it on fire in 1990. Florida executions are carried out using a three-drug lethal injection: a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.

‘Damned if they'll be shortchanged;' Mass. studies equity of payments towns get for state-owned land
‘Damned if they'll be shortchanged;' Mass. studies equity of payments towns get for state-owned land

Yahoo

time14 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

‘Damned if they'll be shortchanged;' Mass. studies equity of payments towns get for state-owned land

How much is cleaner air worth? What's the dollar value of flood control? Local food? How about the value of hiking and hunting and boating? It's in the billions, but for generations, the state's been paying Western Massachusetts cities and towns a pittance in PILOTs – payments in lieu of taxes – that compensate for hosting state parks and forest lands that aren't on the tax rolls, but nonetheless impose costs on communities. 'We have the land out here. Our communities want to steward it,' state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, said in an interview Monday. 'They'll be damned if they'll be shortchanged.' Last week, Gov. Maura T. Healey announced that a new commission will work on the issue of payments in lieu of taxes for state-owned land. The panel is expected to advise Healey on potential reforms to the PILOT program that could include the economic benefit for conservation and the value added by helping the state reach its carbon-reduction goals. 'We are calling it ecosystem services,' said state Rep. Natalie M. Blais, D-Deerfield. Comerford and Blais introduced legislation in 2023 and again this year to change the formula based on the recommendations of a 2020 report by former state Auditor Suzanne M. Bump. Blais and Comerford welcomed Healey's move, saying in interviews Monday that it follows up on legislative changes they've advocated for years. The PILOT issues cropped up for decades, with calls for change gaining steam with Bump's report on how the formula for determining PILOTs puts rural communities in Western Massachusetts at a disadvantage compared to towns in affluent areas. Since Bump's report, the state has been budgeting more money to make PILOT payments. But who gets how much of that fund is still determined by the market value of area real estate. In the Pioneer Valley and Berkshires, where property values go up more slowly or not at all, this means towns get less money. The average PILOT on state-owned land paid by the Commonwealth to a town in Hampden County was $59 an acre as of 2024. In Berkshire County it was $33 an acre and in Hampshire County, $61. In Worcester County, the average was $85 an acre. But the numbers go up as one heads east. In Suffolk County, which includes Boston, the payment was more than $5,000 an acre, Blais and Comerford said, based on state statistics. In the town of Warwick, in Franklin County, the PILOT amount was $13 an acre for each of 11,870 acres. That's half of Warwick's landmass, Blais said. Hosting public lands costs towns, said Donald F. Humason, town administrator in Chester and a former mayor of Westfield who also served as a Republican state senator and state representative. 'We still have to provide fire protection and police protection for the parkland within our town,' Humason said. 'We have to respond if there are trees down. Our municipal services are used, but it's not paid for.' In May the Chester Volunteer Fire Department tracked down two lost hikers near Sanderson Brook Falls, a popular recreation spot in the Chester-Blandford State Forest. Chester also gets a similarly small payment from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as compensation for the presence of the Knightville and Littleville dam properties partially in the town. Massachusetts freely promotes outdoor recreation as a positive, which it is, Humason said. 'We end up being the hosts.' Blais and Comerford cited towns that turn down land conservation projects because they can't afford the lost revenue when privately owned land goes off the tax rolls. That's a problem because there are a number of large-scale preservation efforts underway, including the Kestrel Land Trust buying timber property from W. D. Cowls. Comerford said meeting the state's climate and environmental goals will require contributions from Western Massachusetts and its land resources. 'Natural habitat, carbon sequestration, outdoor travel,' Comerford said, ticking off assets in the region. 'You name it, Western Mass. is holding it down for the Commonwealth.' Read the original article on MassLive. Solve the daily Crossword

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