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News For July, 2010

  • They Want Their GOTV

    By Erika Aguilar, KUT News

    The push to get out the vote is underway. Democrats in Austin scattered about town Saturday morning to reach out to registered voters and sign up new ones for the November election — a strategy they banked on in 2008. But as Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports, they've got competition. Full Story 

    Democrats and Republicans have started their efforts to register voters for the 2010 election in Texas.
    Credit: Courtesy KUT

  • The University of Someplace Else

    By Elizabeth Titus

    Fewer students from Mexico have enrolled at border schools like the University of Texas at El Paso, UT-Pan American, and Texas A&M International since 2006, while their ranks have grown at schools farther from the Rio Grande, like UT-Austin and Texas A&M. Can the drop be attributed to the drug war, or is the growing violence simply compounding the decades-old problem of border "brain drain"? Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacob Villanueva

  • Follow the Money

    By Ross Ramsey

    The mid-year campaign finance reports reveal which races have the attention of the political players. They're a down-in-the-weeds look at where the fights will be this fall. Full Story 

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  • The Off Switch

    By Kate Galbraith

    Rather than building new power plants just to meet peak electricity demand on hot summer afternoons, why not just persuade people and companies to use less electricity? "Demand response" is quickly taking hold in Texas. Full Story 

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    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • Hide in Plain Sight

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    A few elected officials and municipalities in Texas are asking a federal judge to throw out the state’s open meetings law, which they claim is an infringement on free speech. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story 

  • A Size Thing

    By Ross Ramsey

    The last Democrat who outraised Rick Perry in a governor's race — Tony Sanchez — was writing his own checks. But without lifting his own pen, Democrat Bill White raised more money than the Republican incumbent and had $3.1 million more in the bank than the governor at mid-year, according to their campaign finance reports. Full Story 

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Evan Smith

    Grissom's three-part series (here, here and here) on prosperity and peril along the U.S.-Mexico border, Hu on the Division of Workers' Compensation audit report, Stiles puts more than 3,000 personal disclosure forms filed by politicians, candidates and state officials online, M. Smith on attempts to curb the practice of barratry (better known as ambulance chasing), Ramsey interviews the chair of the Texas Libertarian Party, Hamilton on attempts to improve the success rates of community colleges, Galbraith on whether electric deregulation has helped or hurt Texans, Aguilar talks to a chronicler of the bloody narco-wars and Ramshaw on doctors who most often prescribe antipsychotic drugs to the state's neediest patients: The best of our best from July 12 to 16, 2010. Full Story 

    The best of our best from the week of July 12th.

  • TribBlog: Suspending Driver Suspensions

    By Brandi Grissom

    The Texas Public Safety Commission on Thursday approved changes to the Driver Responsibility Program that would include an amnesty program for drivers with outstanding surcharges, reduced fines for poor drivers and new incentives to encourage more people to pay up. Full Story 

    A Texas Department of Public Safety official seal.
    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • "This Report Backs Us Up"

    By Elise Hu

    State auditors found muddled chains of command, missing files and a massive backlog of cases when they dug into the enforcement process at the Division of Workers' Compensation, according to a report released Thursday. The findings support the claims of former employees who exited the division this year amid complaints of stalled action on dozens of cases against workers' comp physicians accused of abusing the system. Full Story 

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    Credit: Todd Wiseman

  • Blood Lines: Peace in Poverty

    By Brandi Grissom

    For years, the sister cities of Presidio and Ojinaga watched jealously as other border cities prospered. Now when they look east to the Rio Grande Valley and west to El Paso and Juárez, they see fear and bloodshed, and the envy fades to thankfulness. The poverty and isolation that have held them back keep the violence at bay. But for how long? Full Story 

    Elevated view of Presidio, Texas.
    Credit: Jacob Villanueva

  • Baby Bump

    By Sarah Acosta

    At a hearing today, the Department of Family and Protective Services will consider stricter caregiver-to-child ratios for child care centers — but improved care for Texas toddlers could also mean less income for child care providers and higher tuition for families. Full Story 

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    Credit: Justyna Furmanczyk

  • TribBlog: DHS Payday

    By Julián Aguilar

    DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano in Laredo today announced more money for border states and defended an administration under fire from folks on the Mexican border. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmrich, Caleb Miller