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  • Generation Next

    By Ross Ramsey

    Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, may be 50, but he's only been in the House for three sessions. He's part of a youth movement in the power corridors of the Legislature — one that's less about age than lack of seniority. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Jacqueline Mermea

  • Lame Ducks Unlimited

    By Brian Thevenot

    Four members of the State Board of Education who are exiting their seats in January are preparing to cast decisive votes this week on controversial curriculum revisions that will alter social studies textbooks for 4.7 million public school children in Texas. But, just maybe, not so fast: Two Republicans who'll likely win election to the SBOE this fall, and a Democrat who is vying for another soon-to-be-vacated seat, said in interviews that they'd support reopening the standards process if consensus emerged on the newly constituted board. Full Story 

    Cynthia Dunbar and Don McLeroy
    Credit: Jacqueline Mermea

  • Defenseless

    By Brandi Grissom

    Before adopting the Fair Defense Act in 2001, Texas was considered abysmal in legal circles when it came to providing representation for the poor. Proponents and critics of the current system agree the situation has improved since lawmakers started requiring counties to implement minimum representation standards. But has it improved enough? Full Story 

    State Share of Indigent Defense Costs 2001-2009
    Credit: Graphic by Task Force on Indigent Defense

  • 2010: Poll vs. Poll

    By Ross Ramsey

    On the heels of a Rasmussen Poll that had Democrat Bill White well behind incumbent Republican Rick Perry in the race for governor, Austin-based Opinion Analysts released a survey showing a nine-point lead for Perry. But that Democratic polling firm adds a fat caveat, reading the Guv's favorability ratings as negative and pointing out that 48 percent of voters want a change in the state's top office, when asked if they prefer Perry or "someone else." Full Story 

    Rick Perry, Bill White
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller, Callie Richmond

  • The Next Deepwater?

    By Morgan Smith

    While Congress investigates the April 20 explosion that killed 11 people and spiked an underwater oil leak that continues to spill more than 210,000 gallons a day, another BP rig is at the center of its own firestorm. Full Story 

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  • Workers' Comp: What's Next?

    By Elise Hu

    Lawmakers are pledging to take a closer look at the Texas Department of Insurance’s Division of Workers' Compensation in light of allegations by former employees that their higher-ups failed to sanction or remove dozens of doctors accused of overmedicating patients and overbilling insurers. The chairman of the House panel that oversees workers' compensation says he's planning a hearing on the matter this summer, and the chair of the Sunset Advisory Commission plans to question the division's commissioner at a public hearing next week. Full Story 

    Joe Deshotel, Rod Bordelon, Glenn Hegar
    Credit: Graphic by Bob Daemmrich, Caleb Miller

  • Uninformed Consent

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Lawmakers said Monday that the state's newborn disease screening program — which has been used to warehouse infant blood samples for biomedical and forensics research — has misled parents and given them few options to protect their babies' DNA. Full Story 

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  • Unemployment Stimulus Still Available?

    By Ben Philpott, KUT News

    Rick Perry made national headlines last year when he announced Texas was turning down unemployment insurance benefits available as part of the federal stimulus package. Attempts by state lawmakers to get their hands on the money anyway ran out of time at the end of the Legislative session, but as Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Tribune reports, the $555 million is still there for the taking. Full Story 

    An announcement board in an Austin unemployment office.
    Credit: Katie Hayes