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All Coverage

  • A Conversation With Annise Parker

    By Evan Smith

    For the 17th event in our TribLive series, I interviewed the mayor of Houston about why Bill White lost, how a state budget shortfall and ballooning federal debt impact urban areas and whether it's possible for the fourth-largest city in the United States to go green. Full Story 

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  • The Cost of Disrepair

    By Mose Buchele, KUT News

    Think repairing the state’s roads and highways is costly? Try not repairing them. That's the message from transportation advocacy groups, which say poor road conditions are costing Texas drivers $22.6 billion per year in car damage, fuel costs and traffic accidents. But as Mose Buchele of KUT News reports, before any of those problems can be addressed, we should all prepare for a bumpy ride. Full Story 

    Traffic congestion on Interstate 35 in Austin. The freeway through central Austin is among the state's most congested road segments, according to a TxDOT study.
    Credit: Illustration by Charles Stricklin/Todd Wiseman

  • Business as Unusual

    By Julián Aguilar

    “Fear is paralyzing,” says Jose Luis Mauricio, the president of LaRED, a group of Mexican professionals who have banded together and are networking in El Paso as a result of the violence that’s ravaged Ciudad Juárez. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Todd Wiseman

  • No New Textbooks?

    By Nathan Bernier, KUT News

    The State Board of Education is scheduled to vote Friday on approving the purchase of new textbooks at a cost of almost half a billion dollars. But state legislators are facing a budget gap of as much as $28 billion in the next biennium, and some observers fear that textbook spending could be on the chopping block. Nathan Bernier of KUT News reports. Full Story 

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    Credit: Ross Ramsey

  • Arlene Wohlgemuth: The TT Interview

    By Ross Ramsey

    The former budget-slashing Texas House member and current executive director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation on how she reads the mood out there, what reductions in state spending should be on the table, whether cost-shifting to local school districts is a plausible option, why lawmakers should forget about new sources of revenue, the trouble with Medicaid and what members of the Republican near-supermajority in the Legislature must do to keep the confidence of voters — and get re-elected. Full Story 

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  • The Weekly TribCast: Episode 55

    By Elise Hu

    In this week's TribCast, Evan, Ross, Elise and Ben discuss the latest in the race for House speaker, ongoing budget woes and how governing may prove a lot harder than campaigning come January. Full Story 

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  • TribBlog: Straus Rebuffs Patrick

    By Elise Hu

    State Sen. Dan Patrick issued a release saying he would host a sit-down meeting of the three candidates for speaker in a "neutral" location. But House Speaker Joe Straus' office says it never agreed to to the meet-up. Full Story 

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    Credit: Bob Daemmrich

  • On the Records: How White Fared at Home

    By Matt Stiles

    A few days ago, we noted the geographic similarities in the statewide performance of Democrats Bill White and Barack Obama in their respective (and losing) Texas campaigns. The same patterns held true in Harris County, where the former Houston mayor narrowly defeated incumbent Gov. Rick Perry, according to precinct-by-precinct maps. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Matt Stiles

  • TribBlog: KSP v. TDP: It's On

    By Morgan Smith

    The King Street Patriots, a Houston-based Tea Party group, have filed a counter-lawsuit against the Texas Democratic Party. And they've retained some high-powered counsel: James Bopp Jr., of Citizens United fame. Full Story 

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    Credit: Jacob Villanueva