With a little more than a week left in the veto period, requests for Gov. Greg Abbott to kill bills are piling up. Four ethics commissioners, acting solely on their own behalf, sent a letter to Abbott asking for vetoes of two ethics bills that were modified to allow officeholders to withhold information about a spouse's property and financial activity from personal financial statements. Over the weekend, the executive committee of the state Republican Party asked for a veto of a Senate bill reworking school academic standards that critics are calling "Common Core Lite." And progressive activists are calling on Abbott to veto budget language that cuts Planned Parenthood from a cancer screening program.

Abbott signed a bill Thursday that allows clergy members to refuse to conduct marriages that violate their beliefs. He said that because of Senate Bill 2065, "pastors now have the freedom to exercise their First Amendment rights."

Abbott on Tuesday signed House Bill 11, the comprehensive border security legislation that culminated a massive effort by lawmakers to bolster the ranks of state police, increase technology and establish intelligence operations units on the Texas-Mexico border.

Abbott also made waves this week by openly wooing General Electric to move its headquarters from Connecticut to Texas. As part of his pitch, Abbott touted the Legislature's passage of $3.8 billion in tax relief during the recently concluded legislative session.

A three-judge panel at the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals this week upheld a requirement passed by the Legislature in 2013 that abortion facilities be built to the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers. The judges concluded the state was not imposing an "undue burden" with the requirement, which lawmakers said was aimed at safeguarding women's health and safety. Abortion rights advocates said the requirement would leave just eight clinics in the state. The decision is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Reverberations continued in McKinney after police actions to break up a gathering at a pool party last week thrust the Dallas suburb into the national conversation on race and police.

GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz visited the Rio Grande Valley this week, a trip built around a fundraiser being held there for him. While there, he reiterated his promise to repeal "every word" of Obamacare and affirmed that border security shouldn't be a permanent responsibility of the National Guard.

The University of Texas at Austin is reviewing several possible cases of cheating or academic noncompliance by former basketball players following a report by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

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