Search

A conference paper on the ability of Texas on the expansion of green energy and transmission infrastructure is presented at the Western Energy Policy Research Conference Boise, Idaho, August 25 to 26, 2011. It discusses the problems associated with the expansion of the power grid and electricity and the negative impact of electricity restructuring on the rural areas in Texas. It also mentions the need of preservation of greenhouse gases and the need for more renewable energy.

The paper builds on earlier research that demonstrates a strong relationship between local level electoral structures and Latino bureaucratic representation. This research suggests that over time, descriptive minority legislative representation leads to a greater minority presence in the bureaucracy, but that the type of election determines the magnitude and scope of bureaucratic representation. A question remains however, concerning the direction of influence. Do minority legislators delegate top-level bureaucratic responsibilities to minority agents, who in turn appoint more minorities to lower level positions (a top-down process)? Or, do minorities enter the bureaucracy at the lower levels and move their way up the organization through time, finally gaining access to legislative positions as they acquire organizational influence (a bottom-up process)? I present a research proposal that is designed to disentangle the causal direction of this process by looking at school board, administrative, and teacher representation of Latinos in school districts of two states -- Texas and California -- across a ten-year period. The cross-sectional time series approach would allow for preliminary causality tests, and provide more leverage than previous studies concerning the direction (and magnitude of effects) of minority access to the bureaucracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charter schools are increasingly being heralded as a solution to the dismal education condition of many schools and school districts across the United States. Despite the proliferation of charter schools and their supporters, the school choice debate remains contentious. This paper seeks to advance the school choice debate by shifting the discussion away from whether charter schools are positive or negative, to explaining why research has found evidence that supports both claims. I ask: what explains the variance in student achievement in different charter schools? To answer this question I analyzed data from all charter and traditional schools in the seven largest urban Texas schools districts. The empirical analysis suggests that school expenditure has a positive and significant impact on student achievement. Urban Texas charter schools appear to respond to competitive pressures for increased academic achievement by increasing teacher salaries and hiring more teachers. Contrary to expectations, however, revenue levels do not seem to impact expenditure levels in the charter schools examined. If expenditure helps explain student achievement levels in charter schools, as this analysis suggests, a deeper understanding of expenditure variation is necessary to more effectively predict when charter schools are likely to have positive impacts on student achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the raid in Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) community on Yearning for Zion (YFZ) Ranch in Texas, by Child Protective Services on April 4, 2014 in response to a phone call from a 16-year-old girl claiming sexual abuse. It discusses the relationship between high teen pregnancy rates in Texas and that in FLDS community as analyzed by liberal-secularism. It focuses on subsequent hearings of the case and laws governing child abuse.

The article discusses a study which investigated the relationship of social capital among race or ethnic groups and whether social capital has an effect on community participation. A case study of social capital in Bexar County in Texas that uses items from the seminar entitled "Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey" is discussed. The article also suggest that the argument over social capital as well as it virtues may be covering the negative impacts of social inequalities and segregation.

The article examines protests in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area in Texas to determine perceptions about the marches and the legacies of the actions for immigrants, Latinos and the political landscape. The Sleeping Giant metaphor used for the Latino community is explored, as well as the context of the 2006 Immigrant Rights protest. A brief background on the Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 is also provided.

This article discusses the findings of a study of an institutionally-based community organizing effort in several communities in west Texas. This study was prepared for the 2008 annual meeting of the Western Political Science Association in San Diego, California from March 20 to 22. It aims to find out whether community organizations are indeed intermediate associations in democratic and civil society settings. It explains that the community organizations are capable of providing spaces for citizens to develop and practice the ability to act publicly.

This paper examines the biased interest group system to determine if it is one of the main reasons minority candidates encounter multiple disadvantages when running for elective office. Bias is demonstrated by inequality of interest groups (which are heavy on the affluent business types) that lead to unequal support through campaign funding and unequal representation in the political system. I argue a candidateÂ’s ethnicity or race, like gender, can affect the likelihood that he or she will have a disadvantage at receiving campaign contributions. I examine the state legislators that were elected to the 2005 session to determine the possible inequities in campaign contributions. I hypothesize minority candidates, men and women, raise less money on average than other candidates. To test this hypothesis, I focus on the states which have a substantial minority population (Texas, California, and Florida). The independent variables include the race or ethnicity and gender of each major party legislative candidate. The dependent variable is the total amount of campaign contributions received by the elected legislator. I find that the data is not consistent with previous literature since there are few significant relationships between ethnicity of the candidate and their total amount of campaign contributions. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the author focuses on the expectations of American Government students and also shares advice for teaching American Government in Texas.

"Luck Be A Lady":An Examination of the Influences of Gender on Judging of Collegiate Moot Court CompetitionsMoot Court, Mock Trial and other forms of experiential competition have become staples in many undergraduate programs, especially as a feature of those programs focused on preparation of students for law school admission. Just as in any game or competition, coaches and students alike perceive a certain element of luck in the assessment of points assigned by the judges. In moot court, judges are typically recruited from the local legal community, or are law students from the sponsoring institution. Odds are, in either case, a little luck for the competitors may silently fall their way, based simply on the gender of the judge, or the gender of the participants themselves. The question then, does the gender of the judge or the gender of the participants, influence the scoring and the outcome of the competition?In order to address this question, ballots from four moot court competitions held in Texas in 2005-2006 will be examined. The gender of the judges and the participants, as well as the scoring for each competitor will be coded, and the difference in the mean scores will be tested for signs of gender bias. Pooled data will also be paired with aggregate data from a similar study conducted in Texas in 1995-1996, with subsequent comparative hypotheses evaluation. As coaches, J.D.'s, board members of the Texas Undergraduate Moot Court Association, and political science professors at respective institutions, the co-authors intend to empirically demonstrate that indeed, "Luck Be A Lady". ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]