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House Bill 2197, which is authored by Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, was set to continue the funding for the Texas Lottery Commission for the next 12 years.

However, the bill was initially defeated, a move that Anchia said took him by surprise:

According to a city ordinance read into the record Monday night, three-wheeled pedicabs would be allowed to take pedestrians around downtown area.

New Braunfels Mayor Gale Pospisil said there are already business people hoping to start running pedicabs as soon as possible.

"I think it will just be a nice added amenity and particularly since it does cover the historic downtown area where we have a lot of historic buildings and things. I think it will certainly be a nice attraction," Pospisil said.

My piano teacher told me about the story of Ludwig van Beethoven's creation of his biggest Piano Sonata the "Hammerklavier."

It goes back to John Broadwood sending him his best and biggest piano, and Beethoven's reply was this groundbreaking work. When I looked up to confirm what I was told, I found out the story was even more amazing.

San Antonio's District 9, which covers the city's North and Far North sides, has two candidates for city council. One of them is the incumbent for the seat, Elisa Chan, and the other is Chan’s former campaign worker and chief of constituency, Jason Salinas.

Chan would like to see a third term, but Salinas said he wanted to give voters an option, so he signed up for the race on the day of the deadline.

"Democracy works best when voters are given legitimate choices, and when citizens are heard and are properly represented," Salinas said.

A bill that would bring the Lower Colorado River Authority under the review of the Sunset Commission causes sparks to fly in a House committee.

The bill also would allow the district served by the LCRA to elect the members of the quasi-governmental board rather than all 15 being appointed by Gov. Rick Perry. 

The bill’s author, Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, said her second bill addresses the review of the LCRA and its activities by the Sunset Commission.

The San Antonio Conservation Society is hard at work putting together the final touches in La Villita for Night in Old San Antonio, a tradition dating back nearly 100 years.

"We started back in the 1920’s when the city wanted to do an Indian festival, and so we stepped forward and put on a very short one night festival for that," said NIOSA treasurer Barb Machado. "Then it grew and they tried a couple of things along the banks of the Riverwalk and then after that they decided to turn it into this."

Proposals were made by both the Republicans and Democrats in the House, but it is House Bill 3791, the Republican "Texas-ccentric" plan, that is heading to the House floor for a vote. 

The plan is to get federal dollars in the form of a block grant that is used to create a state alternative to Medicaid expansion, though the federal government has not said if such a grant will be given.

In the first segment:

The announcement that CPS Energy is considering changing the amount of money it would reimburse its solar generating customers - cutting it by nearly 40 percent - caused more than a stir in the solar community.