State sales tax revenue totaled $3.2 billion in June

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar today said state sales tax revenue totaled $3.16 billion in June, 18.1 percent more than in June 2020.

Social Security Matters

Ask Rusty – Can I Get a Higher Benefit Now Because I’m Older? Dear Rusty: I started getting Social Security at age 62 and I am now 77. Can I get a higher benefit now that I’m older? Signed: Needy Senior Dear Needy Senior: Probably not.

Applications being accepted for 2021 Bird City Texas Program

Audubon Texas and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), partners in the Bird City Texas program (BCT), are excited to announce the launch of the 2021 BCT application process. BCT was launched in 2019 as a way to recognize the work communities are doing in the name of conservation.

Would-be-President of Mexico chooses death

“Immortality! God! The soul! What does all this mean?” Don Manuel de Mier y Teran asked a friend in a letter on Jul. 2, 1832. The presidency of Mexico was within his reach, but the tortured general was preoccupied with thoughts of suicide. Gen.

The cat’s meow

New homeowners in Philadelphia heard meowing apparently coming from inside the walls of their house. They called a contractor to check it out and, sure enough, a kitten fell out of the first hole he made.

Go jump in the lake

Like most of us, Chicago resident Dan O'Conor was impacted by the COVID pandemic, but he found a way to deal with his distress. It happened a year ago.

Spell check

One common use of the Internet is to make sure the words you use are spelled correctly and so the folks at Google Trends analyzed data it had gathered to conduct a state-by-state check on the spell checkers, says the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC].

Soft heart, big wallet

So, this guy walks into a bar in Londonderry, NH and runs up a tab of nearly $40. But he doesn’t leave a 15% tip, nor a 20% tip; he’s a big splendor with a heart of gold and so he left a 40,000% gratuity [40 thousand percent], reports the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC].

Better late than never

The late Mary Rowland Fischer of Ann Arbor, MI and Gail Steele of Hayward, CA, who passed away last year, might have chalked up some $8,000, more or less, in combined library late fees for books they checked out of local libraries 70 years ago.

Who knew?

The painting had been hanging on a wall in a villa in the province of Rome, Italy for many years and when it suddenly fell to the floor it was damaged. So, the owners sent it off to be repaired and cleaned.