Burn baby burn

As many of you know, in June of last year, during the renovation of the governors “mansion” an arsonist torched the mansion burning it to a crisp. The proposed cost to restore the “mansion” to its original state and renovate it is $27,000,000 (that’s twenty-seven million dollars!). Many ask, “Where are we going to get that kind of money?” Previously, state funding had been requested to pay $25 million while private fundraising was expected to raise the other $2 million dollars. Instead, however, “the chairman of the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee suggested, on Tuesday, that the restoration of the fire-gutted historic Texas Governor's Mansion should be paid for with federal stimulus money.” Texas is due to receive $16 billion dollars in federal stimulus funds as part of President Barack Obama’s $787 billion dollar measure signed into law, this past Tuesday. Although it is easier said than done, John Sneed, the State Preservation Board's interim executive director, first has to find out if they can even use the money to do this. I highly recommend you check out the original article for yourself from the Austin American Statesman.