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Top Stories: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick On Possibility Of Special Session

AP Photo/Eric Gay
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick presides over the Texas Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, in Austin.

The top local stories this morning from KERA News:

Governor Greg Abbott has yet to announce if he’ll call a special legislative session – or what the agenda would include if he does calls one.

At times during the regular session that ended last week, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick was accused of trying to overstep Abbott’s authority. He denied that yesterday on WFAA’s Inside Texas Politics.

At the end of the session, the House and the Senate fought over issues such as education, the state budget, and transgender public restroom use. Patrick, who presides over the Senate, also accused House Speaker Joe Straus of being out of touch with Texans.

“Greg Abbott and I run statewide and people either support us or they don’t,” he said. “The Speaker is elected by 130 members. So he really represents 55 Democrats and a block of moderates who elect the speaker.”

Patrick threatened to push a special session if property tax reform and the bathroom bill did not pass. The House eventually passed a compromise version of the bathroom bill, but the Senate rejected it.

Other stories this morning:

  • Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have been looking into reasons why patients return to hospitals within 30 days.  The latest findings in the study found a high rate of patients with anemia as they were about to go home. 

You can listen to North Texas stories weekdays at 8:22 a.m. and 6:20 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM. 

Former KERA staffer Krystina Martinez was an assistant producer. She produced local content for Morning Edition and KERANews.org. She also produced The Friday Conversation, a weekly series of conversations with North Texas newsmakers. Krystina was also the backup newscaster for the Texas Standard.