Staff writer
Ciara O'Rourke joined the Austin American-Statesman in 2009. She has a bachelor's degree in journalism and French from Western Washington University. She shifted from PolitiFact Texas to the Statesman's Hays County bureau in 2011.
The latest Truth-O-Meter items from Ciara O'Rourke
"Phoenix is already one of the kidnapping capitals of the world."
"Obamacare was patterned after (Mitt Romney's) plan in Massachusetts."
Says 11 percent of the nation’s fatal car crashes in 2009 were attributed to distracted driving.
Says the state budget includes spending on commercials for Fortune 500 companies.
Says this month’s special session will cost the state $27,300 a day just for legislators’ daily living expenses.
"Obesity kills 34 children per hour."
Says the Obama Administration has fulfilled all of Texas’ requests for fire management assisting grants.
Says the Obama administration approved a major disaster declaration for Oklahoma in 2009, when nine of the state’s 77 counties burned for "about three days," while Texas wildfires have been burning for longer without such a declaration.
Says the Texas Board of Nursing has a backlog of "3,000 complaints against nurses, many of them sexual assaults, malfeasance."
Recent stories from Ciara O'Rourke
David Dewhurst’s Phoenix kidnapping claim rebornLt. Gov. David Dewhurst of Texas may have been the first political leader to say Phoenix is a world kidnapping capital. Will NRA leader Wayne LaPierre be the last to loft this unsupported claim?
PolitiFact Texas turns 3The Austin American-Statesman's Texas-centric venture in fact-checking political figures just turned three.
Fact-checks of Christmases pastNot even the holiday is exempt from political claims! Here are a few fact-checks from our archive for your stocking.
Chairman McCaul's 2011 baby doll claimMichael McCaul has a short PolitiFact report card, including a baby doll claim.
Supreme Court upholds argument that "penalty" is a taxThe U.S. Supreme Court upholds the health-care law in part by embracing a familiar argument -- that the law's penalty for not obtaining health coverage fits with the power of Congress to levy taxes.
Dewhurst revisits “apples to carburetors”Dewhurst, comparing Border Patrol agents and New York cops, reminds us of a previous time he did so -- which one observer likened to comparing apples and carburetors.
PolitiFact Texas turns twoPolitiFact Texas just turned 2 -- bounding into toddler-hood in part thanks to strong interest in fact checks of Rick Perry and Barack Obama.
Al Sharpton is fired up about Rick PerryOn MSNBC, Al Sharpton called Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign message "fact-free" and then offered up some Texas stats that we've checked before.
Checking Rick PerryNo one in Texas has faced the Truth-O-Meter more than Rick Perry, who's gotten more True ratings than anyone else in the state -- 10 -- while also leading in False (14) and Pants on Fire ratings (7). The just-declared presidential hopeful has generally fared well on our other meter, the Perry-O-Meter, which rates the fulfillment of campaign promises, though given his speech in South Carolina today we're also marking as a Promise Broken his repeated vow not to run for president.
Perry nails jobs claimIn a Texas speech, expected presidential candidate Rick Perry accurately pegged a claim about recent job growth in Texas while touching on claims we’ve previously found incomplete. Meanwhile, an Iowa group’s pro-Perry TV ad, posted to the right, offers an untested take on the job-gains topic.
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