Criminal justice advocates today told the Texas Public Safety Commission that their proposal to fix the broken Driver Responsibility Program fell far short of the comprehensive approach needed to help more than 1.2 million Texans who have lost their licenses because of the program's steep surcharges. Full Story
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Setting a date for a tete-a-tete between Gov. Rick Perry and Democrat Bill White will take awhile. The Perry camp is refusing to debate White until the former Houston mayor releases more of his income tax returns. Full Story
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Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst went to El Paso today, talked with state, local and federal police, took an aerial tour over the dangerous borderlands and pronounced that Mexico's drug war is a "very serious threat" to all Texans — a threat the feds aren't protecting you from. Full Story
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It's an email you'd expect to see taped up at a coffee shop, not sent out from the Department of State Health Services: "Missing Puppy Found!" Full Story
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The Arizona immigration bill and Texas, earmarks for Kay and the dropout debacle. Full Story
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Even as violence near the border rages and security becomes a more pressing issue, discussions about unifying Big Bend National Park with Mexico may be gaining momentum. Full Story
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Since his appointment, the alternately amiable and peevish, typically cowboy-boot-shod chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission has comported himself as a virtuoso of the bureaucratic dawdle. With the commission's investigation of the now-notorious Cameron Todd Willingham case "still in its infancy," John Bradley has this to say about when it might conclude its review: "However long it takes, that’s however long it takes.” Full Story
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We've built a searchable database of public school rankings based on data collected by the Houston-based nonprofit Children At Risk. In contrast to the Texas Education Agency's "ratings," which rely almost entirely on the percentage of students passing the TAKS test, the rankings blend 12 different measures for elementary schools, 10 for middle schools and 14 for high schools — including TAKS results, ACT and SAT scores, AP exams, attendance rates, graduation rates and the percentage of economically disadvantaged students on every campus. How does your school stack up? Full Story
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Ask Gov. Rick Perrys chief spokesman, Mark Miner, a question on any issue these days and the answer will invariably begin, Liberal trial lawyer Bill White Full Story
Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, says he isn't going anywhere. A hot rumor has him quitting office or giving up his bid for reelection to pursue other ventures, but the senator says there's nothing to it. Full Story
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E. Smith interviews Gov. Rick Perry for the Trib and Newsweek, Philpott dissects the state's budget mess in a weeklong series, Hamilton looks at whether Bill White is or was a trial lawyer, M. Smith finds experts all over the state anxiously watching a court case over who owns the water under our feet, Aguilar reports on the battle between Fort Stockton and Clayton Williams Jr. over water in West Texas, Ramshaw finds a population too disabled to get on by itself but not disabled enough to get state help and Miller spends a day with a young man and his mother coping with that situation, Ramsey peeks in on software that lets the government know whether its e-mail messages are getting read and who's reading what, a highway commissioner reveals just how big a hole Texas has in its road budget, Grissom does the math on the state's border cameras and learns they cost Texans about $153,800 per arrest, and E. Smith interviews Karen Hughes on the difference between corporate and political P.R. — and whether there's such a thing as "Obama Derangement Syndrome." The best of our best from April 19 to April 23, 2010. Full Story
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The University of Texas System is recalling students, faculty and staff participating in university-sponsored programs in seven northern Mexican states. Full Story
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What do "word clouds" tell us about the rhetoric in the governor's race. Full Story
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Forensic Science Commission says consideration of Willingham case "still in its infancy." Full Story
For a one-time-only performance that would have been under an hour, the saga of Tarleton State University’s “gay Jesus” play sure has been a long one. In the latest plot twist, a Tarleton State journalism student has uncovered a conservative activist's allegation that Gov. Rick Perry and his chief of staff were somehow involved. Full Story
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For a certain kind of animal — i.e., the Policy Wonk — this is a gift: Sunset reports on insurance and utility regulators and on the capital city's transportation authority hit the internet this morning. Full Story
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If good things come to those who wait, the Texas Forensic Science Commission must be expecting a spectacular meeting today. Full Story
Because they're already public. Because we're about transparency, open government, and greater access to information. Because you have a right to know how your tax dollars are being spent. Etc. Full Story
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Sign up for state agency e-mail alerts from, say, the Comptroller or TCEQ and they'll let you know when meetings are being held and when proposed rules are ready for review. But click a link in those e-mails and they have the ability to see who looked at which rule and which web page and who didn't look at all. Full Story
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In the early days of the general election campaign for governor, the Perry team has been shouting it from the rooftops at the start of every press release, no matter the issue at hand: “Liberal trial lawyer Bill White …” The Democratic nominee rejects that label, which has morphed into an epithet during years of poisonous tussles over tort reform. So is he one or isn’t he? More importantly, does it matter? Full Story
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