The Brief: Sept. 29, 2010
It didn't take long for politics to surface after Tuesday's shooting at the University of Texas. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/UT-Tower_HDR_CC.jpg)
It didn't take long for politics to surface after Tuesday's shooting at the University of Texas. Full Story
Caleb Bryant Miller, a Daily Texan photographer and frequent contributor to The Texas Tribune, was home preparing for a history test news when broke of a shooting on the campus of the University of Texas, where he's enrolled as a second-semester senior. He ditched his books, grabbed his telephoto lens, hopped on his bike and headed to the Forty Acres to capture images of a tragic and frightening day. Full Story
The Innocence Project of Texas will launch a campaign today not only to exonerate Sonia Cacy, a woman who experts say was wrongly convicted of setting fire to her uncle, but also to overhaul of the use of "junk science" in the prosecution of criminal cases. Full Story
Double-billing taxpayers for travel expenses, driving a luxury car owned by a state transportation contractor and repeatedly failing to pay taxes won’t put a lawmaker in good standing with the ethics police, as state Reps. Charles “Doc” Anderson, R-Waco; Joe Driver, R-Garland; and Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, are finding. The three hope the headlines dogging their re-election bids won’t follow them to the polls, while their Democratic opponents are reveling in their misery at every campaign stop. Yet whether a scandal forces an incumbent from office depends on the scenario. Full Story
Bill Flores is the latest in a line of Republicans to try to dislodge U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, from the country’s most Republican district held by a Democrat. But this time, he swears, it’s going to come out differently. The pundit class thinks he may be right. Full Story
The Trib was named a finalist this morning for two Online Journalism Awards — truly a top honor in our little slice of the media biz. Full Story
Your afternoon reading. Full Story
The University of Texas campus has reopened following the apparent suicide of a young man who burst into the Perry-Castañeda Library in a business suit and a face mask, wielding an AK-47, according to witness accounts. We've rounded up the best of the media coverage so far. Full Story
Not long after a gunman ran through the University of Texas campus randomly firing an AK-47 and then shot himself, an old debate resurfaced: Should concealed handguns be allowed on campus? Full Story
The Democratic Governors Association is running commercials critical of Gov. Rick Perry. Full Story
Here with your morning jolt: National Democrats have decided to jump into the governor's race. Here. In Texas. Full Story
The halls of public universities are buzzing about the push for accountability, especially as Texas works to catch up with states that have already taken up the mantle — and dealt with some of the inherent difficulties — of a data-driven examination of higher education. Full Story
Some Texas officials believe that refusing to pass laws aimed at controlling firearms makes the state safer, arguing that a well-armed population makes would-be criminals think twice. But as Matt Largey of KUT News reports, a new study says guns from states like Texas are being used to commit crimes elsewhere. Full Story
Across Texas, defendants charged with misdemeanor offenses are choosing to spend time in the local lockup rather than endure months on probation. They don’t want to deal with the hassle of probation's conditions, and they can’t afford the thousands of dollars in fees that it requires. People on both sides of the criminal justice system agree that the trend is troubling: It’s helping to fill local jails beyond capacity, and even worse, it means that people charged with DWI, possession of small amounts of drugs and family violence are not getting the treatment they need. Full Story
Tension between Texas and the federal government has been a major focus of Rick Perry's re-election campaign. But on Monday, two top Democratic leaders in the Texas House ganged up on Texas Education Commissioner Robert Scott and, by proxy, the governor over the recent federal education funds fight. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports. Full Story
Three years after passing some of the toughest sex offender laws in the nation, Gov. Rick Perry is pitching another effort to crack down on sexual predators. Full Story
In an issue that's sparked a nasty political fight, attorneys for the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association and attorneys for the homeowners who sued them appeared at a Monday hearing to argue whether the legal fees in a record $189 million Hurricane Ike settlement should be kept private. Judge Susan Criss ultimately sided with homeowners' attorney Steve Mostyn and granted a new temporary restraining order that keeps TWIA from releasing settlement details, at least for now. Full Story
There are no viable substitutes for the longest segment of a controversial proposed transmission line through the Hill Country, the state grid operator reported today. Full Story
Your afternoon reading. Full Story
In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs broke several regulations when it contracted with a firm to distribute more than $200 million in disaster recovery funds, according to a federal audit. Full Story