Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke was in Dallas Wednesday to discuss his plan to lower property taxes for Texans. O’Rourke has proposed making more housing accessible, paying for more public schooling (reducing the burden on homeowners), closing commercial property tax loopholes and expanding Medicaid in the state to reduce the property tax paid to local hospitals. Video from O’Rourke’s address will be added to this story Wednesday afternoon. In a statement prior to his address, O’Rourke said Texans are paying $20 billion more in property taxes since Gov. Greg Abbott took office. Abbott’s office released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying the governor has reduced taxes by $18 billion since taking office and that O’Rourke, as an El Paso City Councilman, twice voted for property tax increases in 2007 and 2010. This week, many North Texas homeowners have experienced sticker shock as they receive their property tax assessments from their local county appraisal offices. In some cases, homeowners are reporting market value increases of more than 50%; homestead exemptions can limit the increase in the appraised value to 10% annually. Courtesy of Texas News – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth …

A man serving a 25-year prison sentence for rigging computers to win lottery jackpots has had his parole revoked after he got into trouble in prison just before his scheduled release. Eddie Tipton was approved for release by the Iowa Board of Parole on Jan. 20 because of good behavior. He had served nearly five years of his 25-year sentence. The board reversed its decision and rescinded his parole on March 10. “He incurred a major discipline or major report within the institution after we granted the parole but before he was physically released,” said Iowa Board of Parole Chairman Andrew Boettger. The Iowa Department of Corrections notified the board of the incident, the board reviewed it and “based on the nature of the discipline decided to rescind the parole grant,” Boettger said. Boettger declined to specify what Tipton did before his release to deserve disciplinary action. A spokesman for Department of Corrections referred questions to Boettger. The prison system spokesman also denied a request to talk with Tipton at the state medium security prison for men in Clarinda. Tipton had worked for an organization in Urbandale, Iowa, that provided random number drawing computers to several states with lotteries. Investigators said…

The price for gas and oil has reached record highs across the nation and farmers in the area have already felt the cost in their budget for production.  According to our Nexstar media partners at KAMC-TV in Lubbock, Cotton farmer in Idalou, Texas, Scott Harmon said the increase in gas prices made it unpredictable how much he’ll have to spend to finish treating his crop for the upcoming season.    AAA’s Daniel Armbuster said it is likely that gas prices have not hit their peak. According to AAA, that means that the average person in West Texas over the last fest weeks has paid less at the pump than a lot of other places in the county. One the other hand, Farmers like Harmon have to adjust their budgets for the extra costs for chemicals and transportation.   To read the full report from our Nexstar media partners at KAMC-TV in Lubbock, click here. Courtesy of Texas News – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth …