TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Friendswood, may have already begun receiving donations in Bitcoin since embracing the private virtual currency. That puts him firmly in a gray area of campaign finance law.

In this edition of the TribCast, Reeve is joined by a plethora of reporters to forecast the coming year in politics, health care, education, energy, criminal justice, immigration, the environment and more.

A growing percentage of Texans are originally from foreign countries, including one in four in the state’s most populous county, Harris, according to new census data.

More Texans are leaving farming and ranching because of opportunities in urban areas, increased land prices and concerns about weather patterns fueled by drought.

After a contentious town hall meeting concerning the possible links between wastewater injection and a spate of North Texas earthquakes, locals say they cannot afford to wait for state regulators to address the issue.

For Texas Democrats, 2014 marks another run at the statewide offices that have remained out of their reach for two decades. Their challenge: convincing voters that a Democrat can win a statewide race here.

These are heady days for Republican consultants, with an unusually large number of open seats creating a bumper crop of primary campaigns along with a challenge: finding enough staff to work them.

Welcome to the marquee political contest this year in Texas, where the gubernatorial primaries are all but decided and both candidates are looking toward a November showdown with knives drawn.

With a year left to go in Rick Perry's governorship, the future of the Texas Enterprise Fund is unclear. The two front-runners to succeed him have offered mixed messages on the fund in the past.