Pizza at Midnight? Dan Patrick’s Buying, as Texas Senate Rushes Into Action

AUSTIN -- Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called an unusual midnight Senate session Wednesday after hitting a speed bump known as the Senate Democratic caucus.Patrick is driving hard to have senators pass all of Gov .Greg Abbott's agenda for the special session by the middle of next week.On Wednesday, though, he and the staunchly conservative Republican members of the Senate couldn't coax the usually cooperative 11 Democrats in the chamber to help them give rapid-fire approval to an agency-continuation bill.The bill must clear the Senate before Abbott will widen the scope of the special session's agenda to include bills on, among other things, bathrooms, property taxes, school voucher type help for parents of disabled students and abortion.  Continue reading...