Pay at the Pump

I came across with this article in gifts for breakfast.  The article said Corpus Christi is having an insurance checkpoint, towing and even auctioning uninsured vehicles. The report showed that one in four vehicles don’t have auto insurance. The city of council gave the police department authority to take action against uninsured vehicles, and also approved fund to increase enforcement. The penalty ranges between $175 and $350 for first offense, and about $280 to get the vehicle out of impound. Their cars can be sold if violators don’t pay their fine within 30 days.

Something has to be done about the large number of uninsured vehicles, and this “pay at pump” might be a better option.  This might help uninsured people get auto insurance. But all people do not agree in this matter.  They say DPS have record of insurance data of people having insurance, so this  doesn’t require to create any checkpoints. As this state has higher rate of illegal immigrants and they don’t have state valid driving license. Without license on cannot get insurance, so there is another backdrop also.

Therefore, people are curious to see whether this policy helps to solve inequity between insured and uninsured drivers.

Crime, Guns, and Money

In this article Wealthier, More-Conservative Texans Have Gun Permits by Gun Permits

by Brandi Grissom, Matt Stiles and John Tedesco in The Texas Tribune talks about group of  people who owns gun. The article tells that people from low- income south side do not have gun permit where as north side is popular for concealed handgun license. The pattern is surprising because residents in low-income are not taking that much advantage of concealed handguns as compared to wealthier and more conservative areas.  The rates are low in the inner city areas where crime rates are higher.  Michael Arnold, Concealed handgun instructor, makes a statement saying to win a fight you need to avoid it, and stress how a handgun owner should avoid pulling the trigger unless there is no other choice. It is said that area where crime rate is higher more people have low chance in getting the gun license.  Texas can legally keep guns without a license so there are people who don’t care what’s legal and carry guns with them.  Thus, this article is showing what range of people have guns and in what areas. This article also talked about the various reasons to keep gun with you. 

The Dream Act

I found an article in Texas Tribune about the Dream Act, and this topic has been hitting news nation-wide and state-wide. The Dream Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) is for undocumented immigrants to give them permanent status. In order to qualify you must be student of good moral character, who came to the US before the age of 16, obtained a degree from an institute of higher education or served in the uniformed services for at least two years. I think that young people should not be penalized for the behavior of their parents in entering the US illegally. These graduate students should be given a chance to work, and government should use them as human capital.