American State and Local Government

Table of Contents

Assignments - click on assignments to get the assignments
State and Local Government Stops on the Information Superhighway
Campaigns and Elections
Cities, Counties, and Special Districts
Selecting Judges
Crime and Punishment
Legal Decisions and Education in Texas (including info on the lottery)
Selected Lectures and Other Classroom Stuff
Supplemental Instruction

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**Text for Rausch's POSC102**

State and Local Government Stops on the Information Superhighway

    Council of State Governments - source of information about all 50 states
    Pew Center on the States - source of public policy information from all 50 states
    Center for State Constitutional Studies - source of information on state constitutions
    GURU - free legal search engine for all states
    Texas - general Texas information
    Texas Political Resources - general Texas political information
    About Texas - list of Texas links provided by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
    Texas Voter Guide - an interesting collection of information (The page notes that it is not updated)
    YEEHA - Texas website links by YEEHA
    Texas Newspapers - a comprehensive list of Texas media outlets online
    Texas Constitution - the "basic law" of Texas (opens in new window)
    Texas Almanac - everything you ever needed to know about Texas

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Campaigns and Elections

Elections and voter information from the Texas Secretary of State

Texas Political Parties

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Cities, Counties, and Special Districts

College Station, TX	Randall County, TX
Amarillo, TX	Collin County, TX
Pflugerville, TX	Jefferson County, TX
	Potter County, TX

Annexation - from the City of Austin
City has History of Rapid Growth - article from Amarillo Globe-News (January 31, 1999)
City-County Consolidation - San Antonio and Bexar County, Texas
Information on Special Districts in Texas - from the Comptroller's office
City Government - from the Handbook of Texas Online
County Government - from the Handbook of Texas Online
Special Districts - from the Handbook of Texas Online
Regional Councils - from the Handbook of Texas Online

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Selecting Judges

Selecting Judges - companion website for PBS/Frontline program on judicial selection
Court Structure of Texas - Useful information on the somewhat confusing court structure of Texas
Report of a lawsuit challenging fund-raising in Texas judicial campaigns - From Public Citizen's site
Texans for Lawsuit Reform - group desiring changes in the Texas civil justice system
Texas Trial Lawyers Association - group opposed to "sweeping change" in the Texas civil justice system

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Crime and Punishment Links

Criminal Justice Policy Council

Death Penalty Resources

Texas Execution Tests the Limits of Comprehension - Time Magazine article

Alcoholic Beverages and the City of Amarillo (mostly articles from the Amarillo newspaper)
"To Amend and Serve" - July 22, 2001
"Kanelis: Dry counties: A 21st-century anachronism" - September 2, 2001

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Legal Decisions and Education in Texas

Hopwood case - Higher Education
"Minorities in College: Texas Still Fights Case" - Austin American-Statesman, April 29, 2001
Edgewood case - Public Education
National Center for Policy Analysis - conservative
"Education" - from the Handbook of Texas Online

Texas Lottery Information

Click to access the Texas Lottery page

Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission Gambling Page

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Selected Lectures and Other Classroom Stuff
(Links open in new window; close window to return to this page)
Here you will find some of the "special" lectures given during the regular classroom session. "Regular" lectures can be followed most easily by consulting the outlines that appear at the beginning of each chapter. You also will want to take a look at the website accompanying the textbook (I have) for some additional explanatory material.

These pages are not necessarily formatted correctly. I just "published" as web documents from WordPerfect and the formatting can be a tad odd.

Federalism
Texas Constitutional History
Political Culture
Texas Political Party Platforms (2000)
Legislative Problems, Solutions and Change
The State Legislature
The Texas Bureaucracy
Controlling the Bureaucracy
Texas Judiciary
Comparing Civil and Criminal Law
Texas Taxes: The Basics
Should Texas enact a State Income Tax?
Local Government: Municipalities/Cities
Local Government: Counties
Local Government: Special Districts and COGs

Newspaper Articles
Newspaper articles regularly find their way into lectures.

"Bivins Campaigns in Amarillo, Remains Unsure of Redistricting" - information on Senator Bivins, redistricting, public education funding, and the prospect for new taxes (Amarillo Globe-News, August 10, 2001)

"Canyon School Board Considers Impact of Absences" - information on public school funding (Amarillo Globe-News, August 10, 2001)

"Point-Counterpoint: Should Texas have a state income tax?" - a short debate on the wisdom of a state income tax in Texas (Amarillo Globe-News, September 27, 2002)

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