Minorities now majority in Texas

• Whites drop to 49.5 percent of state's population

Anglos have slipped below half of the state's population for the first time since, well, almost since the Alamo. Buried within a new Census Bureau report, "Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States," was an estimate that 49.5 percent of Texans in 2003 were "non-Hispanic whites." Texas State Demographer Steve Murdock said demographic trends had long shown that the milestone would inevitably be passed, just not quite so soon. "Recent projections suggested 2004 or 2005," he said. [more ]