Tom Leppert: "Why I'm Running"
Exiting Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert has released a lengthy (as in, more than three minutes) video on YouTube explaining why the Republican is running for U.S. Senate. Full Story
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The Midday Brief: Top Texas Headlines for Feb. 25, 2011
Your afternoon reading: Perry defends Wisconsin governor; terror suspect appears in Lubbock court; Leppert announces Senate run Full Story
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Tom Leppert Announces Senate Bid
It's official. Republican Tom Leppert, who stepped down as mayor of Dallas this week, told a Dallas TV station that he is joining the race to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2012. Full Story
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
Perry, O'Malley Talk Wisconsin, Jobs at Governors Meeting
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the Republican Governors Association chairman, squared off with Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, the Democratic Governors Association chief, this morning. Here's the video, courtesy of Politico. Full Story
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TribLive: A Conversation About Health Care
For our latest TribLive event, I talked about federal health care reform with state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, Anne Dunkelberg of the Center for Public Policy Priorities and Tom Banning of the Texas Academy of Family Physicians. Full Story
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![State Rep. John Zerwas, R-Simonton, at TribLive on February 23, 2011.]()
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Months After Spill, Another Look Into the Gulf
With the one-year anniversary of the BP oil-rig explosion approaching, Ian Crawford of KUT News spoke with Carter Smith, executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, about the state of the Gulf and why researchers may be studying its effects for decades. Full Story
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![Response boats work to clean up oil where the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig sank on April 22, 2010.]()
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The Brief: Top Texas News for Feb. 25, 2011
School districts, taking a pummeling under current state budget proposals, got to breathe a tiny sigh of relief on Thursday. Full Story
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Voices of the Mentally Ill
As lawmakers consider cutting community-based mental health care services, the Tribune talks with mentally ill Harris County Jail inmates and with consumers who use community-based services to stay out of jail and off the streets. Full Story
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![Nearly one-quarter of the 10,000 inmates at the Harris County Jail are on psychotropic medications.]()
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Bill Would Shield School Finance System From Lawsuits
Some state lawmakers are hoping a new state constitutional amendment will bring an end to the so-called Robin Hood school finance system, as Texas Public Radio's David Martin Davies reports. Full Story
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Credit: Todd Wiseman -
Mental Health Cuts Would Strain Local Jails
Proposed reductions in community-based mental health treatment, experts say, will mean more mentally ill Texans are likely to end up on the streets, in emergency rooms and behind bars, where it will cost local taxpayers even more to care for them. Full Story
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![Jail officials across Texas are worried that state budget cuts to community-based mental health care services will mean more mentally ill inmates in their facilities.]()
Credit: Todd Wiseman -
Do Texas Schools Spend Too Much on Administration?
For lawmakers scrutinizing every possible saving, “administrative costs” presents an easy mark. But there may be less to cut than they imagine. Full Story
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Credit: Todd Wiseman -
Why Gambling's Odds Have Improved (Hint: We're Broke)
Like the Republican Party of Texas and many of his core voters, Gov. Rick Perry no longer supports expanded gambling here. This year, that might not make any difference. Full Story
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Cigarroa: Campus Carry Creates "Less-Safe Environment"
Today, University of Texas System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa issued a letter to Gov. Rick Perry weighing in on the touchy issue of allowing concealed handguns in college campus buildings. In short: He's against it. Full Story
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TDCJ Bans Thousands of Books in State Prisons
Inmates looking to catch up on their Shakespeare are out of luck. They won't find Love Poems & Sonnets in any Texas lock-up. The Texas Civil Rights Project released a report today on the list of 11,850 books banned by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Full Story
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Credit: Todd Wiseman -
CDC Releases Texas Abortion Stats
There were nearly 81,000 reported abortions in Texas in 2007 — 11 percent of the abortions reported nationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Texas had the 13th-highest rate of women having the procedure that year. Full Story
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Colin Goddard's Right to Bear Witness to a Campus Massacre
Colin Goddard survived the 2007 mass shooting on Virginia Tech's campus that left 32 dead and wounded 16 others. He thinks allowing concealed weapons to be carried on college campuses is a dangerous idea, and he came to Austin to explain why. Full Story
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![Colin Goddard Assistant Director of Legislative Affairs at the Brady Campaign, was at the Capitol lobbying against allowing handguns on college campuses.]()
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Budget Writers Spare Historical, Arts Agencies — For Now
Two agencies that Gov. Rick Perry has suggested suspending funding for — the Texas Historical Commission and the Texas Commission on the Arts — came before House Appropriations this morning. And lawmakers didn't seem particularly apt to shutter them. Full Story
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The Midday Brief: Top Texas Headlines for Feb. 24, 2011
Your afternoon reading: plotted attack targeted Bush's Dallas home; prisons to cut 555 positions; Rainy Day Fund fight still brewing Full Story
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Senators Try to Buy Time for Teachers
With major state funding cuts looming, for many school districts, it's not a question of if — but how and when — teacher layoffs will occur. A new bipartisan bill from education leaders in the state Senate could temporarily change how schools go about that. Full Story
Credit: Bob Daemmrich -
650,000 Employees Now in Government Pay App
We’ve pushed the first update of the New Year to our government salary database, which now includes data on more than 650,000 employees from more than 100 entities. This update refreshes the salaries of more than 20 public agencies and adds 13 new entities. Full Story
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Credit: Illustration by Todd Wiseman
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