Where’d You Go, Lance Armstrong? Texas Budget Deal Includes Push to Prolong Anti-cancer Effort

AUSTIN -- The Legislature's top two budget writers are expressing delight over a deal that they and colleagues have struck on state spending for the next two years.Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, and Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond, acknowledged late Friday that the final contours of some of the session's top priorities -- property tax cuts and teacher pay raises -- are still being negotiated by a separate House-Senate conference committee working on the school finance bill, House Bill 3.And details of how much Nelson and Zerwas' 10-member panel on HB 1, the two-year budget, have actually spent -- and on what -- will take several days to emerge.But after the budget conference panel finished weeks of negotiations and sent its compromise package to the printer, Nelson and Zerwas in brief interviews boasted of some accomplishments they said have attracted less than widespread notice.  Continue reading...