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  • Buyers Behind Bars

    By Matt Stiles

    Inmates serving time in Texas prisons and state jails can buy certain “free world” goods provided that people outside unit walls send them money. During the last fiscal year, they spent about $95 million at prison commissaries. The most popular items? Instant soup, stamps and soft drinks, according to data obtained under the Texas Public Information Act. Full Story 

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    Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice

  • The Inquisition

    By Morgan Smith

    Ninety minutes of back-and-forth on Wednesday between a House committee and representatives of the Texas Forensic Science Commission — but not its chairman — covered the besieged agency’s nonexistent enforcement power, lack of written procedural guidelines, and public records policy. Oh, and the late Cameron Todd Willingham. Full Story 

    From left to right: Garry Adams, Sarah Kerrigan, and Aliece Watts at the House Public Safety Committee hearing.
    Credit: Caleb Bryant Miller

  • 2010: What's on the Special?

    By Ross Ramsey

    Voters in Central Texas, Dallas and Plano will get to vote for the third month in a row in May, in special elections for the Texas House and Senate. Three officeholders — Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, and Reps. Terri Hodge, D-Dallas, and Brian McCall, R-Plano — resigned before their terms were up. Today was the deadline for candidate filing. Full Story 

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  • TribBlog: Gay Jesus Resurrected

    By Emily Ramshaw

    A theater student's production of Terrence McNally's play Corpus Christi — canceled amid protest at Tarleton State University — will see the stage after all, at Fort Worth's Rose Marine Theater, according to The Dallas Morning News. Full Story 

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    Credit: Reeve Hamilton

  • The Applicant

    By Emily Ramshaw

    Can an energy regulator who’s on the board of an entity he oversees make a play for the top job there? Industry and government sources say that’s what Barry Smitherman, the chairman of Texas’ influential Public Utility Commission, is doing, though Smitherman won't say whether he's in the running. Full Story 

    Barry Smitherman

  • Counting the Counties

    By Matt Stiles

    Only three states — Louisiana, New Mexico and Alaska — are returning the census form at lower rates than Texas. But two dozen Texas counties are outperforming the national average, according to our interactive map. Full Story 

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    Credit: Matt Stiles

  • TribBlog: Drop-Out Throw-Down!

    By Brian Thevenot

    Bill White and Rick Perry fought over the hotly contested high school drop-out rate on Tuesday. Is it 30 percent (White)? 10 percent (Perry)? Or, more likely, somewhere in between? Full Story 

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

  • The Senate's Biggest Spenders

    By Erin Mulvaney

    The 31-member body spent nearly $16 million last fiscal year on travel, staff and office expenses, according to records from the office of the Secretary of the Senate. Overall spending by individual senators ranged from $206,000, by Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, to $637,000, by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston. Full Story 

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    Credit: Graphic by Matt Stiles

  • TribBlog: Small Businesses Fear Effect of Healthcare Reform

    By Erin Mulvaney

    The uncertainty over the Congressional healthcare bill has incited fear among some small business associations in Texas. They gathered with U.S. Chamber of Commerce representatives on Tuesday to say they're worried about ripple effects from the national healthcare reform — and unintended consequences for small businesses. Full Story 

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  • 2010: Lubbock or Leave It

    By Morgan Smith

    Low voter turnout means that in a downballot statewide race like that between Debra Lehrmann and Rick Green the winner could be decided by chance — whose name comes first, or whose name sounds the friendliest. Green and Lehrmann are working to combat that dynamic in an unlikely place: Lubbock. Full Story 

    Rick Green and Judge Debra Lehrmann at a Young Republicans debate in San Antonio.
    Credit: Morgan Smith

  • 2010: Trouble in the Chavez Camp

    By Brandi Grissom

    Three sources close to the campaign of Democratic state Rep. Norma Chavez in Austin and El Paso today are reporting that some of her closest local campaign staffers are abandoning ship just a week before the April 13 election. Full Story 

    Norma Chavez works attaches a campaign button to the sweater of one of her supporters at an El Paso senior center before the 2010 Democratic primary election.
    Credit: Brandi Grissom