Opinion

Top state lawmakers plan to address soaring homeowners insurance premiums when they return to Austin in January for the next legislative session, accordingtothe Houston Chronicle. The state’s insurance commissioner, Cassie Brown, told a Senate committee that home insurance rates increased last year by more than 21% statewide, twice the average increase in 2022.

Over the summer, I had the immense honor of being appointed to the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.

I’ll never forget the look on my father’s face when he learned about the crook who stole my British sports car. It was the spring of 1988, and I was a senseless 26-year-old.

CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS Texas House Republicans who want to oust Speaker Dade Phelan have coalesced behind a single opponent: state Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield.

In the current economy, when a visit to the grocery store requires a long-term financing plan, it has become clear that our family must find ways to spend less. This is especially challenging for us considering that we have two daughters in college, one daughter in private school, and three pets, all of whom seem determined to ensure that we won’t be able to purchase hamburger meat without selling our plasma.

Have you ever pondered how spiritually attracted God is to each of us? It’s a lot like magnetism or the influence of gravity, both found in the elements of Creation that God created for us. If we pay attention, we can feel God pulling us toward him. Have you noticed that we have the same attraction for God. In many ways, it is a symbiotic relationship. When we concentrate on drawing closer to our Creator, he draws closer to us as well.

Good morning and may God lead and guide us in every step, choice and direction we take. As I traveled at the beginning of daylight, the Lord spoke to me about how on a daily pattern we get ready by going to the mirror to see what is not in proper order and what is needed to prepare for proper order. Our hair has to be prepared and at times we realize that we need a haircut. Our face needs a washing, and our mouth needs a cleaning and so forth … The mirror reveals so much about us yet does not do it for us. It is our duty to get it done. To so, so many the mirror is a very valuable help in times of need. A daily tool, James 1:23-24 states, “if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, this one is like a person looking at their own face in the mirror. For they look at themselves and goes away and immediately forgets what sort of person they are” God’s word is our mirror that shows us what is needed for us to live in order with God’s perfect word. Are we doers or just hearers? In order to benefit from God’s word, we must do more than read it we must live it and act on what God says. To be a follower of Jesus Christ is a daily walk not a once a week or to some, once a month. Make the right choice and follow God’s plan. You will be blessed!

CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS Eligible Texans planning to vote in the November general election have until Oct. 7 to register, Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson reminds folks.

As a self-employed writer, I’ve become knowledgeable about how high my income taxes really are. Every now and then I like to reply to readers with tax advice.

As more Americans can do their jobs from any remote location, a trend has been to relocate from urban and suburban areas to lower-cost, rural areas, according to a report by the Center for Rural Innovation. Being something of an expert on the subject — my home is on a hill outside the suburbs in Pittsburgh, Pa.