House Speaker Joe Straus Tells Business-minded Republicans to Keep Fighting, Then He Quits

Joe Straus was jovial and full of smiles at a news conference to announce that he won't seek another term as speaker of the Texas House.His supporters were probably walking the back streets and crying."It's been decades since someone has left the Speaker's office on his own terms," Straus said in a prepared statement before meeting reporters. "But we have accomplished what I had hoped the House would accomplish when I first entered this office, and I am increasingly eager to contribute to our state in new and different ways."  Continue reading...