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TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

Hu explores on the schism between Bushworld and Perrywold and the increasingly curious question of what Debra Medina wants; Stiles goes all Shark Week on gubernatorial campaign finance, with searchable databases, bubble maps and word clouds; M. Smith on what happens if there's a GOP runoff; Rapoport on the sniping between Perry and KBH on transparency; Hamilton on KBH's abortion issue odyssey; Ramshaw exposes the disgracefully low percentage of state school employees who abuse or kill profoundly disabled Texans and are then prosecuted for their acts; Thevenot on higher ed's tuition time bomb; Aguilar on the Latino pay gap; Ramsey on Farouk Shami's "gift" to Hank Gilbert; Ramsey and Philpott on the the Supreme's Court's corporate campaign cash fallout; and E. Smith's interviews with House Speaker Joe Straus with retiring Republican state representative — and future Texas State chancellor? — Brian McCall. The best of our best from January 18 to 22, 2010.

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It's impossible to pretend any longer that there isn't a Bush-versus-Perry narrative at play in the 2010 governor's race. But what's really going on here?

What the U.S. Supreme Court's campaign finance ruling says, and how it will affect a state like Texas, which has long had a corporate cash ban in effect.

Kay Bailey Hutchison still struggles with how to describe her position on an issue that many Republicans consider sacrosanct.

What happens if neither Rick Perry nor Kay Bailey Hutchison cracks 50 percent in the Republican gubernatorial primary?

A Texas Tribune investigation finds that state employees who commit heinous acts against Texas' most profoundly disabled citizens rarely get charged with crimes, let alone go to jail.

Now that she's been invited to the second GOP gubernatorial primary debate, it's fair to ask what longshot candidate Debra Medina is in it for.

Retiring State Rep. Brian McCall, R-Plano, talks about the leadership of Speaker Joe Straus, the battle for the soul of the Republican party and his decision to leave the Texas House after two decades.

KBH says Texas government should be more transparent. Rick Perry says it already is. Let the sniping begin.

In Texas, Latinos earn 35 percent less than their Anglo counterparts — a disparity that's bigger here than elsewhere.

Search more than $35 million in campaign donations and loans collected by the top candidates in the governor's race. You can also explore how they spent the money. Which professions are giving to which candidates? And from where in the state?

In spite of what both campaigns said last month, agriculture commission candidate Hank Gilbert got two-thirds of his money from gubernatorial candidate Farouk Shami.

It costs an average of 63 percent more to attend a four-year state school today than it did in 2003 — and that's still not enough to keep pace with bulging university budgets.

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Health care Higher education State government 2010 elections Abortion Griffin Perry Rick Perry Texas Legislature