The Texas Senate’s chief budget writer said state agencies and higher education institutions have requested nearly $25 billion in funding as the legislative session gets underway. State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, told The Dallas Morning News that the requests for...

I’m fairly certain my dreams have a drug dealer. What is it with dreams? Sleep is supposed to be an 8-hour window (mine’s never that long) when we rest, regenerate, and arise feeling as refreshed as the person in the Folger’s commercial who throws back the covers and...

Ask Rusty – Can my wife claim her SS now and get half my SS benefit later?   Dear Rusty: My wife will reach her full Social Security benefit at 66.5 years of age which is just under 2 years away for her now. If she were to begin to get her monthly check now (i.e....

Ask Rusty – Have I saved social security money by claiming at 62? Dear Rusty: I had to start collecting Social Security at 62, and I am 75 now. I believe that in the last 13 years I have saved Social Security money, so I do not know why I cannot draw my full benefits...

Columnist John Moore likes the local hardware stores. And the free calendars. Photo: John Moore When Wal Mart grew, warnings that it would put the mom-and-pop businesses under seemed to come true. Now, online businesses seem to bring the same threat to Wal Mart. But...

Suggested photo cutline: Columnist John Moore’s graduating high school class recently gathered for their 44th reunion. Photo: Olyvia Howard Bennett In the movie “The Big Chill,” a group of old friends gather for the funeral of one of their own, and it turns into a...

Columnist John Moore grew up seeing a special painting on his grandmother’s wall. At least, he thought it was a painting. When I was a child, there was a painting that hung on my grandmother’s kitchen wall. It portrayed a man who was praying over a meal of bread and...

While much of America enjoys four equal seasons, those of us in Texas celebrate two: Hot and less hot. Between October and February, it’s kinda cold in Texas. The rest of the year, it’s hot and humid. But, as September gives way to October, there is a feeling, albeit...

Columnist John Moore believes some things are better left off holiday menus. Photo: John Moore “It’s a leftover. What a sad word that is. Leftover. How would you like to be… a leftover? Well, it wouldn’t be bad if they were taking people out to be shot. I might even...

Columnist John Moore helped his father assemble a storage building on Thanksgiving Day in 1974. His family no longer lives at the house, but the storage building is still standing. Photo credit: John Moore The Beatles had a song called, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts...