The last day to register to vote in the May 29th Texas primary election is Monday, April 30th. Early voting for the primary begins May 14th and runs through May 25th. If you are curious to know how much money a candidate has raised or spent, April 30th is also the day that candidates must file their 30 day campaign finance reports with the Texas Ethics Commission. Those reports are generally accessible within 24 hours on the Commission’s website.
A new report from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shows that although Texas medical schools have increased heir enrollment by roughly 30 percent in the last decade, the slots available for students to complete their medical residencies in Texas have not increased at the same level. The report found that without an increase in the number of first-year residency positions, at least 63 graduates of Texas medical schools will not be able to enter a Texas residency program in 2014. By 2014, Texas will need 220 more residency positions in order to have one for every Texas medical school graduate. The report recommends that the Legislature provide an additional $11.7 million in funding in the 2014-15 biennium to support “10 percent of the cost for new first-year entering residency training positions.”