It might not matter, in the end, whether the Senate wants to use some of the Rainy Day Fund to balance the budget. The House isn’t likely to go along unless the proposition is delivered on a tea cart pushed by Gov. Rick Perry and third-party conservative groups who have been hounding lawmakers to hold the line. Full Story
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Despite some efforts to lessen the blow to pediatric health care providers, Texas’ proposed budget cuts will likely have a disproportionate effect on children’s hospitals, which treat the state’s youngest and poorest patients. Full Story
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Local-food advocates and small-farm owners are lobbying lawmakers to pass legislation that would make it easier for them to sell directly to consumers. Erika Aguilar of KUT News reports on the various food bills circulating at the Legislature. Full Story
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For the latest installment of our unscientific survey of political and policy insiders, we asked whether the state should pay the costs if identities are stolen using state data, whether the state is can be trusted with data, and whether the comptroller will suffer politically for the latest data breach. Full Story
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It's a misleading headline; they've been serious. But this was the week with redistricting on the floor of the House and no budget on the floor of the Senate. Redistricting is often a noisy and bloody affair, and this might be a case when the availability of information took the sting out of the fight. Not so long ago, redistricting maps and data were closely held until the big reveal on the House floor. Members got to see pieces of the maps — their own districts and some of their neighbors' — but it wasn't unusual to see politicians in near cardiac condition when the maps were put on the easels for the first time and they got a peek at the whole state. Full Story
The University of Texas and Texas A&M University are working on a system that will allow high school students who demonstrate sufficient competency in English, math, science, a social science and a foreign language to receive a certificate that can be traded for a high school diploma at any time. Full Story
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Aguilar and Weber on a subdued debate over homeland security, Galbraith on rising concern about natural gas drilling, Grissom on a controversial psychologist, Hamilton on the aftermath of the Rick O'Donnell episode, Philpott on the comptroller's apology, Ramshaw with more on the statewide database of child abusers, E. Smith interviews Lance Armstrong, M. Smith on what House budget cuts would mean for school districts, M. Stiles on how redistricting would change things for each House member, Tan on the Senate's wobbly attempts to approve a budget and my interview with David Dewhurst: The best of our best content from April 25 to 29, 2011. Full Story
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The Texas Senate, digging publicly for money while it battles quietly over a proposed budget, approved a "non-tax revenue" bill that would make $4.3 billion available for spending over the next two years. Full Story
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No time to follow every twist and turn of the Texas Legislature? We've made it easier for you with our weekly recaps of the action under the dome. Full Story
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Anyone planning to email Gov. Rick Perry for the remainder of this session need not bother trying to reach him on his personal account. He won't be using it. Full Story
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A bill authorizing a major rethink of teacher evaluation in Texas public schools has teachers organizations scuffling with Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano. Full Story
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Consider it a do-over. The House today tentatively approved the Texas Department of Transportation Sunset bill, the measure that last year sent lawmakers into a surprise special session. Full Story
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At a panel hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation today, Bill Powers, the president of the University of Texas, and Robert Strawser, an accounting professor at Texas A&M University and the speaker of its faculty senate, responded to the conservative think tank's proposed higher education reforms. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading: budget could hit Senate on Monday; Zaffirini may let higher ed bill die; House committee OKs yacht tax break Full Story
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With fewer than five weeks left in the regular session, none of Gov. Rick Perry's emergency items — voter ID, sanctuary cities, sonograms for women getting abortions, a federal balanced budget amendment, and eminent domain protection — have made it to his desk. Full Story
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The Senate today passed a bill that would make it illegal to make "bath salts," a drug that can have effects similar to cocaine or amphetamines and can be bought legally online or in smoke shops. Full Story
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Comptroller Susan Combs, whose office exposed the Social Security numbers and other data of millions of Texans, struck a decidedly new tone Thursday. Full Story
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Taxpayers and students make considerable financial investments in Texas universities. As such, they deserve excellence in both teaching and research. Full transparency and accountability are needed to ensure that neither of those priorities is shortchanged. Full Story
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More than 2,000 people listed in a statewide database of people who mistreat children are caught in a backlog of cases waiting for appeals, many with their careers and families hanging in the balance. Full Story
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The greatest chronicler of drought and wildfires — the person everyone in Texas turned to for perspective at times like these — is no longer with us to make sense of it all. But according to his son, he'd see an a silver lining in all the devastation. Full Story
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