Texas nurses with substance abuse problems — including showing up to work drunk or high, stealing narcotics meant for patients, and forging doctor signatures on prescriptions for pain-killers — are often not punished for their acts for months or even years and continue to practice in the meantime, according to a Texas Tribune review of state disciplinary records. Full Story
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Republicans in southwest Travis County still need to choose between Paul Workman and Holly Turner before setting their sights on State Rep. Valinda Bolton, D-Austin, in November. Ben Philpott, covering the 2010 elections for KUT News and the Tribune, filed this report. Full Story
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Austin ISD chief Meria Carstarphen talks bluntly about the poisonous politics between the state and the district over the bungled “repurposing” of Pearce Middle School (spoiler alert: she blames the state) and how it informs her efforts to reform the city's failing schools. Full Story
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Gov. Rick Perry said he's activating the "first phase of the state’s spillover violence contingency plan" in the wake of increasing drug violence on the Texas-Mexico border. But the next sentence of the press release says he's not telling anyone what the plan is, for security reasons. Full Story
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Members of the UT-Austin University Democrats said goodbye to a Spring Break filled with fun in the sun... and hello to the vacant stares of congressional staffers today. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading. Full Story
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U.S. authorities teamed with Mexican law enforcement agents on Monday and scoured the streets of the border city of Juarez in search of clues to the weekend murder of three people, including two U.S. citizens, with ties to the U.S. Consulate in that violent city. Full Story
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She's their nominee for Congress in Tom DeLay's old district, but Kesha Rogers — who considers health care reform "fascist" and wants Barack Obama impeached — has few friends in the Democratic Party. Full Story
For the politically disenchanted Texan who can't cozy up to the Tea Party, an alternative brew is now available. It's called the Coffee Party. Full Story
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The GOP sent its online designers to South by Southwest in Austin to talk about the party's efforts to reach wired voters. Full Story
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With the violent Mexican drug war creeping ever closer to the U.S. side of the border, Gov. Rick Perry is calling again for the federal government to put unmanned aerial vehicles and National Guard troops on the Texas-Mexico border. Full Story
This week begins the final push to pass federal healthcare reform legislation, and the Democrats will have to do it without the help of U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco. Full Story
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Who will represent Houston's HD-146 in the Texas House next session is still in question. State Rep. Al Edwards, D-Houston, filed for a recount after perennial foe and former state Rep. Borris Miles beat him by just eleven votes. Full Story
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Your afternoon reading. Full Story
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Following the weekend killing in Juarez of three people with ties to the U.S. Consulate in Juarez, the U.S. Department of State has issued a strongly worded and startling warning for Americans to stay away from Mexico. The department also has told family members of U.S. government officials in Mexican border towns they can return to the U.S. Full Story
The weekend slaughter in Mexico of two U.S. citizens with ties to the consulate’s office in Ciudad Juarez has sparked outrage from Washington, D.C. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have publicly condemned the attacks that left a pregnant consulate employee, her husband and a Mexican national dead. Full Story
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What do Texans think about the fiscal and economic model for the rest of the country? Do they agree with Gov. Rick Perry that the Texas way is the better way? Full Story
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The Driver Responsibility Act, which levies hefty surcharges on minor offenders, has cost 1.2 million Texans their licenses, and most of the fees that were supposed to be collected have not materialized. At the direction of state lawmakers, the DPS is trying to get people to pay up and square things with the law. But critics want the program ended altogether. Full Story
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"You have to do a few things when you run for office in Texas," says one of Rick Perry's allies. "You have to debate. You have to release your tax returns. And you have to say you won't raise taxes." Bill White will surely debate the governor before November's general election, but at the moment he hasn't done the other two. The former probably won't sink him, but the latter could — by declining to drink the no-new-taxes potion, he's handing his opponent a weapon to use against him. Unless, of course, he's successful at changing the way the argument goes. Full Story
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When no one was paying attention to the State Board of Education, the theory goes, the reelection of incumbents was virtually assured, just as it is in any down-ballot races. Now that its controversial doings are the stuff of national headlines, change is in the air. Or is it? Full Story
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