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All Coverage

  • How Things Look at the Gate

    By Ross Ramsey

    Republican Gov. Rick Perry is six points ahead of Democrat Bill White in the new University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll. Other numbers in that survey indicate voters might be willing to vote for a new governor but that White hasn't made the sale: 22 percent are undecided, 5 percent would vote for Libertarian Kathie Glass and — this is sort of interesting — 31 percent say they identify with the Tea Party. White got 33 percent in the poll to Perry's 39 percent — a number of some significance, since it was Perry's final percentage in 2006's four-way race for governor. Full Story 

  • 2010: Houston Chronicle Endorses Bill White

    By Evan Smith

    First out of the gate among the big-city newspaper endorsers, the Houston Chronicle today threw its support behind favorite son Bill White, Houston's former mayor, in the gubernatorial square-off against incumbent Rick Perry. Full Story 

    Former Houston mayor Bill White makes an appearance at the Austin Club as part of The Texas Tribune's bimonthly speaker series with host Evan Smith. White is the Democratic nominee in the Texas governor's race.
    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

    By Ross Ramsey

    Ramsey on the fourth University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll (with insights into the statewide races, issues, the budget, and Texans' view of the national scene), Hamilton and Thevenot in Galveston on the anniversary of Hurricane Ike, Ramshaw on secret hearings that separate children from their guardians, Hu on what former state Rep. Bill Zedler did for doctor-donors who were under investigation, Aguilar on the troubles around Mexico's bicentennial, Galbraith talks coal and wind with the head of the Sierra Club, E. Smith interviews state Rep. Debbie Riddle about tourism babies and godless liberals, Grissom on why complaints about city jails go unaddressed, Philpott on the debate that will apparently never happen and Stiles continues to put the major-party gubernatorial candidates on the map: The best of our best from September 13 to 17, 2010. Full Story 

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    Credit: Illustration by Jacob Villanueva

  • Our First-Ever Live TribCast

    By Evan Smith

    This week, the usual TribCast crew — Elise, Ben, Ross and Evan — took to the Austin City Limits stage in the studios of public television station KLRU to tape what was the first (and hopefully won't be the last) live TribCast. Our topics: the UT/TT poll, including the governor's race results; the size of the Tea Party in Texas; budgetary gloom and doom; and that Rick Perry ad shot in enemy territory. Full Story 

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    Credit: KLRU/Todd Wiseman

  • A Conversation With Debbie Riddle

    By Evan Smith

    For the 12th event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the GOP state representative from Tomball about what she really said on CNN, whether "tourism" babies are a threat to national security, why an Arizona-style immigration law would be right for Texas and whether she'll back Joe Straus for speaker. Full Story 

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  • Accountable to No One

    By Brandi Grissom

    The Texas Department of Criminal Justice oversees most state jails. The Texas Commission on Jail Standards presides over county jails. But the 350 city jails across Texas are wholly unregulated. The jail commission receives dozens of complaints about the conditions inside municipal lockups — most commonly about sanitation, food, supervision and medical care — but they have no power to investigate. While critics are calling on state lawmakers to implement at least minimum standards, city officials worry that expensive new rules could result in the closure of their jails, which would mean that already overflowing county jails would get even more crowded. Full Story 

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  • Michael Brune: The TT Interview

    By Kate Galbraith

    The executive director of the Sierra Club on the perils of coal ash, why wind is a good thing, the priorities of state environmental-quality officials and how Texas oil companies are working to roll back California's global warming regulation. Full Story 

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    Credit: Lori Eanes

  • Protection or Exploitation?

    By Emily Ramshaw

    In the last year, Texas probate courts approved more than $6 million in payments from private estates to court-appointed attorneys, guardians and physicians, in many cases depleting funds left to care for incapacitated people. Critics say the practice amounts to destroying the village in order to save it. Probate judges say they're simply making sure people who can't defend themselves have proper representation. Full Story 

    Scherry Levi with her mentally disabled nephew Deartis Preston in Preston's home in Bay City.
    Credit: Rory Pabon