Advocates for shuttering Texas’ institutions for the disabled thought they had the numbers on their side: a budget crisis so severe that lawmakers would have to close some state-supported living centers. With less than a month left in the session, their hopes are largely dashed. Full Story
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Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden tried, and failed, to get 20 state senators to vote with him on a proposed state budget Tuesday. On Wednesday, he's going to see if he can find 15. Full Story
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On Tuesday night, House Bill 1942 by state Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington, which seeks to reduce bullying in schools by providing what the bill analysis calls "a minimal framework" for how to address incidents of bullying, was tentatively approved by the House with a vote of 102-34. Full Story
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Compromise isn't the first word that comes to mind when you think of the Alamo. But today, state senators from San Antonio reached an agreement on a bill to improve how Texas' most historic site is managed. Full Story
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The House has tentatively voted to let rural, critical-access hospitals in counties with populations of 50,000 or less hire doctors — partially lifting a long-standing ban on hospitals directly employing physicians. Full Story
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Less than a month before his scheduled execution, Cary Kerr had no attorney. And the ones he had had up to that point, he argued, didn’t do him much good. Tonight, his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop his execution was turned down. Full Story
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House lawmakers have given an early endorsement to Rep. Lois Kolkhorst’s bill to protect Texans’ private medical information. Full Story
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A bill directing the Department of Motor Vehicles to create an anti-abortion license plate to raise money for crisis pregnancy centers got an early OK from the House — and staved off a flurry of amendments from Democrats. Full Story
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When the Senate approved an amendment to state Sen. Judith Zaffirini's higher education bill that would permit the carry of concealed handguns on university campuses by a vote of 19 to 12, the Laredo Democrat killed her own legislation to prevent it from going through. Full Story
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The Texas Tribune is liveblogging the Senate's debate over its substitute for House Bill 1, the proposed budget for the next biennium. Full Story
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Nice to discover — belatedly — that Fast Company magazine named the Tribune one of the 10 most innovative media companies in the world in its March 2011 issue, which is all about the most innovative companies of 2011. Full Story
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Eighteen months ago, we launched the Tribune as a nonprofit, nonpartisan, statewide news organization dedicated solely to public interest journalism. No one knew if it would work. Well, it has — and beyond anyone's expectations. Now help us keep it going. Full Story
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The newly named Texas Oil and Gas Commission won't be able to meet in secret to discuss contentious issues after all. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading: senators battle over Alamo bill; panel targets Planned Parenthood; re-evaluating the legacy of George W. Bush Full Story
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GOP lawmakers' battle against Planned Parenthood resumed today, as members of a Senate subcommittee passed out a bill that would renew the Texas Women's Health Program but prohibit the country's most prominent family planning organization from participating. Full Story
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An increasingly bitter disagreement over the future of the University of Texas at Austin between University of Texas System regents' chairman Gene Powell and state Sen. Judith Zaffirini is ratcheting up the ongoing debate surrounding higher education in Texas. Full Story
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With one major tweak, abortion sonogram legislation inched closer to the governor's desk Monday. Full Story
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It's exactly 18 months since we launched, and by now you know that we're in this for you — for Texas. If you believe in our brand of public service journalism, if you care about the big issues affecting every one of us, now is the time to become a member of The Texas Tribune. Full Story
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It’s big tobacco vs. little in the effort to smoke out new revenue for the Texas budget. Large tobacco companies, which fork over half a billion dollars to the state every year as part of a 1998 lawsuit settlement, want small cigarette manufacturers to pay their share. Full Story
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Jeff Sandefer, the author of the "seven breakthrough solutions" that have rocked the Texas higher education community, has broken his silence on the matter. Full Story
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