I guess it’s fitting that one of the year’s busiest weeks came right before folks started decamping to celebrate the nation’s 236th birthday. There’s nothing like clearing out your holiday schedule by wrapping up lingering work projects, even when those projects happen to be two fairly massive Supreme Court decisions.

I certainly don’t want to be the one to keep you from starting (or continuing) your holiday break. But if you have some time between the fireworks and picnics and you want a little bit of reading, here are some highlights of the last week on some issues that, I suspect, will preoccupy us all after we get back and for a long time thereafter:

– The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a major decision on immigration and how states can and can’t treat immigrants. Here’s my statement on the decision, along with an op-ed I wrote on what it means for Texas.

– There was also, of course, the Court’s massive ruling on national healthcare reform. We’ll be sorting through the implications of that for a while, and it’ll be a big focus of next year’s legislative session. But in the short term, it’s clear that it’ll have huge effects in Austin and Central Texas in terms of how we can help people live longer and healthier lives. Here’s my statement on that.

– Finally, as long as you’re reading about health care, check out this story on a presentation by Central Health (Travis County’s healthcare district) about how vital a new medical school is in terms of providing health care to the people of Austin and Travis County. As you’ll see, our greatest need is a pipeline of doctors to serve our people and fully realize the potential of the new healthcare assets and offerings that this community has created and is creating. A new medical school represents the biggest piece of that pipeline.

That’s it for this week. Now go have fun and be safe. Happy Fourth of July, and God bless America.