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 The board reversed its decision and rescinded his parole on March 10.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 …

An oilfield company and a company executive have been indicted in the 2019 poisonous gas deaths of a worker and his wife. The federal grand jury in Midland charged Odessa-based Aghorn Operating Inc. and Aghorn Vice President Trent Day with violating federal clean air laws and obstructing a federal job safety investigation, according to a Justice Department statement Tuesday. They and an Aghorn affiliate also were charged with federal safe water laws and making false statements on forms documenting the mechanical integrity of Aghorn’s injection wells. Aghorn also was charged with three job safety crimes causing the deaths. Jacob and Natalee Dean died Oct. 26, 2019, after inhaling hydrogen sulfide gas at an Aghorn pump house in Odessa. According to the Ector County Sheriff’s Office, Aghorn officials dispatched Jacob Dean to check on the facility. When he didn’t return as expected, his wife tried to reach him by phone but got no answer. She drove with their two children, ages 6 and 9, to the pump house. She left the vehicle to approach the pump house and also was overcome by the colorless, highly corrosive gas when she entered the building. The children were left in the car and weren’t harmed….

A former San Antonio police officer has been indicted for firing at fleeing juvenile suspected of trying to open car doors, officials said Friday. A Bexar County grand jury indicted Oscar Cruz Jr. on Wednesday on a count of deadly conduct with a firearm, the district attorney’s office said in a statement. The third-degree felony is punishable by two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Cruz had been suspended indefinitely after the March 2020 incident. In response to a call of juveniles pulling on vehicle door handles, Cruz tried to detain a suspect who eluded capture. Cruz chased the youth on foot when another juvenile threw a rock that hit him in the face. Cruz fired two shots at the fleeing youths, missing them. Cruz, 27, was arrested Thursday and released on a $5,000 bond. Jail records list no attorney for the former officer, and no published telephone number for Cruz could be found. Courtesy of Texas News – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth …

SpaceX’s Elon Musk said last Thursday that the first orbital flight of his towering Starship — the world’s most powerful rocket ever built — could come in another month or two. While he anticipates failures, he’s confident Starship will reach orbit by the end of this year. Musk provided his first major Starship update in more than two years while standing alongside the 390-foot (119-meter) rocket at SpaceX’s Texas spaceport. He urged the nighttime crowd, “Let’s make this real!” “This is really some wild stuff here,” he said. “In fact, hard to believe it’s real.” Space X Effect SpaceX Effect Nov 18, 2021 The “SpaceX Effect” on the Lone Star State SpaceX Effect Nov 18, 2021 Will SpaceX Turn Brownsville Into the Next Texas Boomtown? SpaceX Effect Nov 18, 2021 SpaceX Effect Extra: Josh Mejia Extended Interview NASA…