400,000 Texas Children and Pregnant Women Could Lose Health Insurance: Your Texas Roundup

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Hey @espn & @MSU_Athletics , without a doubt @MeanGreenSports is the hottest athletic dept in the country. BUT you can’t just try to steal #MeanGreen. It’s trademarked and has been for a very, very long time. Cease and desist letter on the way.”

—Wren Baker, vice president and director of athletics at the University of North Texas, on Twitter. ESPN borrowed the trademarked Mean Green, UNT’s mascot, to promote an upcoming Michigan-Michigan State game. The real Mean Green might have a bye this week, but its athletics department is on it. The cease and desist letter promised in Baker’s tweet is expected to be sent on Wednesday morning.

BIG NEWS

CHIPped Away
Almost 400,000 children and pregnant women in Texas could lose health insurance after Congress failed to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides insurance to low- and middle-income families. As the Texas Tribune reports, “[CHIP] also offers prenatal care to about 36,000 pregnant women in Texas. About 340,000 Texan children ineligible for Medicaid are covered under CHIP, and another 249,000 Texan children on Medicaid benefit from CHIP’s 92 percent matching rate. Together, Medicaid and CHIP cover about 45 percent of all children in the state.” Since Congress missed the September 30 deadline to extend the federal program, it’s currently up to the states to find funding. Without federal funding, Texas has enough money to keep CHIP operational until February 2018, according to the Tribune, which additionally noted that CHIP cut the percentage of uninsured children nationwide from 25 percent in 1997—when the program was founded—to 5 percent in 2015. Federal lawmakers are currently working on plans to continue the program. A spokesperson with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission told the Houston Chronicle that the agency is hopeful that Congress will be able to renew the program soon.

MEANWHILE, IN TEXAS

Texas Guns
Some of the 49 guns that Stephen Paddock—the shooter who killed 59 people in Las Vegas—had in his arsenal were bought in Texas, according to the Dallas Morning News. According to the report, the pistols, shotguns, and rifles Paddock owned were purchased in Texas, Nevada, Utah, and California, though officials have yet to release which specific 23 guns Paddock brought with him to Mandalay Bay Hotel.

Flood Control
The Texas Water Development Board is drafting the state’s first flood plan, according to the Texas Tribune. The document is designed to “broadly evaluate statewide flood risks and detail projects local governments want to pursue to mitigate those vulnerabilities with suggestions as to how the state could help fund or finance them,” according to the Tribune. The board is set to have the report finalized by 2019, when the legislature reconvenes.