Pursuant to his powers as Chief Executive Officer of the State of Texas, Governor Rick Perry recently issued a proclamation certifying that 152 counties in Texas are currently threatened by extreme fire hazard.

Karnes County is one of the counties on the list.

Legislation protects taxpayers, legitimate Medicare users by increasing penalties for fraud and abuse

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. John Cornyn joined Sens. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., and several other Senators recently in introducing a bill to combat Medicare fraud and abuse. The legislation, entitled The Medicare Fraud Prevention Act of 2008, would increase the maximum criminal sentence, double civil fines and quadruple criminal fines. It also aims to deter criminal organizations from committing Medicare fraud.

"Each year, millions of dollars of taxpayer money go down the drain because of Medicare fraud and abuse. That money should instead go toward reducing costs and premiums for all Americans," Sen. Cornyn said. "We should do everything in our power to eliminate fraud and abuse. By increasing penalties for offenders, this bill takes important steps to protect taxpayers and legitimate Medicare recipients."

Washington, DC – U.S. Congressman Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX), chairman of the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness, delivered the following statement recently on H.R. 4137, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act, which was on the House Floor recently:

"I rise in strong support of H.R. 4137, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act.

This legislation will complete our work on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and build on the historic investment we made last year in the College Cost Reduction and Access Act.

We opened the 110^th Congress taking a fresh look at our higher education laws.  Specifically, we called for ideas to:

Recently Texas Secretary of State Phil Wilson launched a statewide voter education program called VOTEXAS - You Count. Texas makes sure.

Secretary Wilson will lead the year-long, public education initiative that will focus on educating Texans about their rights as a voter and "Pretty much everything you could ever want to know about voting in Texas."